Topic 9

James Monroe and John Quincy Adams

 

 

 

A. James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings

 

 

  1. Monroe: a good, second-rate man, like the 6th man on your basketball team.

 

 

 

 

  1. Made a goodwill tour of much of the country

 

–         Some editors began referring to an Era of Good Feelings

 

 

–         Era of Good Feelings faded pretty quickly

 

 

 

  1. Westward expansion, slavery and the Missouri Compromise

 

–         Americans, and slavery were moving west, and one of the by-products of this westward expansion was the westward expansion of cotton production and slavery.

 

 

 

 

–         Cotton production was moving west because of the development of the cotton gin that made the production of upland cotton profitable for the first time.

 

§         Upland cotton – A hardy plant that could be grown almost anywhere in the lower South. But it was not profitable at first to grow because the fiber was so tightly wound around the seed.

 

§         Whitney’s cotton gin made it profitable for the first time to produce upland cotton.

 

–         So, after the development of the cotton gin, cotton production moved west, and slavery moved west with it.

 

 

–         Northerners not concerned about the westward expansion of slavery as long as it was confined to the South and Southwest.

 

 

–         But some started to become concerned when slavery began moving into the upper portion of the Louisiana Purchase.

 

 

 

–         Slavery became an issue when the Territory of Missouri applied for statehood.

 

–         The Tallmadge Amendment – No more slaves could be brought into Missouri and children born to slaves in Missouri would become free at age of 25.

 

§         A threat to the future of slavery!

§         22 states with an equal number of slave and free states – 11 free and 11slave.

§         Not equally represented in House of Representatives.

§         House of Representatives: 105 – 81

§         Still had an equal voice in the Senate and THIS WAS THE BOTTOM LINE (most important consideration) FOR THE SOUTH!

 

 

 

–         Touched off a very bitter debate in both houses of Congress and was talk of leaving the Union!

 

 

–         Henry Clay looks for a compromise

 

 

–         Compromise, but some saw this was not the end of the matter.

 

§         Missouri admitted to the Union as a slave state without the Tallmadge Amendment

§         Maine admitted as a free state

§         Slavery was prohibited north of the line 36-30’

§         John Adams: “I take it that the present crisis is but a preamble to a great, tragic volume.”

 

 

B. Diplomacy during the Monroe Years

 

  1. Rush-Bagot Agreement – April 1817 – The Great Lakes were demilitarized.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Convention of 1818 – Extended the U.S./Canadian border westward to the crest of the Rocky Mountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Adams-Onis Treaty – February 1819 – Settled the Florida question and established a western border for the Louisiana Purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The Monroe Doctrine – December 1823 – A huge bluff, but we got away with it because of British sea power.

 

C. The Democratic Spirit and Election of John Quincy Adams

 

  1. Spirit of democracy growing

 

 

 

  1. Political changes that resulted:

 

–         Property qualifications for voting dropped and all white men were given the right to vote. (No blacks, no ladies)

–         Change in the method used for choosing members of electoral college – popular election

–         Change in the method for choosing presidential candidates – caucus system died and eventually would be replaced by the convention system.

 

 

 

 

  1. Election of 1824: the candidates

 

–         William H. Crawford

–         John Quincy Adams

–         Henry Clay

–         Andrew Jackson

–         And there was also John C. Calhoun of South Carolina

 

 

  1. The Results

 

–         Jackson got more votes, but he did not have a majority of the electoral vote.

–         The House of Representatives would choose the next president

–         Clay decided to give his support to Adams and the House elected Adams

–         Like Gore’s supporters, Jackson’s said, “We were robbed!” They said they had been robbed by a “corrupt bargain” worked out between Clay and Adams.

–         Was there a bargain? It is not clear, but what is important is what Jackson and his followers thought!

 

 

 

D. The Presidency of John Quincy Adams

 

  1. A cold, unfriendly man out of place as president at this time.

 

–         Perhaps John and Abigail to blame for his personality – extremely demanding parents who were never satisfied!

 

–         “I well know that I never was and never shall be what is commonly termed a popular man.”

 

–         His situation complicated by the bitter opposition of Jackson’s followers.

 

 

  1. He was also a man who was looking in two directions at one time.

 

–         Wanted to use federal resources to establish a system of roads and canals; create a naval academy; build a system of observatories to study the universe; provide federal aid to education. Jackson people laughed and ridiculed his proposals; nothing but a federal power grab!

 

–         Looked to the past and wanted the government to be run by the most qualified: wealthy, educated aristocrats like himself.

 

 

  1. Indian Removal in the South – The Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw

 

–         White southerners wanted them removed so that they could get their lands!

 

–         Treaty of Indian Springs – Early 1825: Creeks gave up most of their lands in Georgia, but not all their lands. One of the minor chiefs of the tribe, William McIntosh, had been bribed by the government to sign the treaty. Other tribal leaders protested and killed McIntosh!

 

 

–         Treaty of Washington – January 1826 – Creeks gave up even more of their lands, but not all their lands, and the treaty guaranteed them that they could keep the lands they had not given up. That infuriated white Georgians who wanted all!

 

 

–         To sum up, was trying to deal fairly with the Indians, but in the end made new enemies for himself in the South.

 

 

 

  1. The tariff question and the Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. The South Carolina Exposition and Protest – John C. Calhoun and Nullification. The spirit of nationalism was dying in the South!

 

 

 

  1. The Showdown: Election of 1828 – Our dirtiest presidential campaign down to that time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E. John Quincy Adams after the presidency…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topic 9 Review

 

  • What was the Tallmadge amendment?
  • In trying to protect slavery, what was the “bottom line” for the South?
  • What were the terms of the Missouri Compromise?
  • What was the Rush-Bagot Agreement? The Convention of 1818? The Adams-Onis Treaty?
  • Why did John Quincy Adams not want to issue a joint statement with the British opposing European intervention in the Western Hemisphere?
  • Why would you say the Monroe Doctrine was at first a bluff?
  • What political changes did the rising spirit of democracy produce in America in the early 1800s?
  • Who were the presidential candidates in the election of 1824? What was the outcome of this election?
  • When and why did Jefferson’s Republican Party split? What were the names of the rival groups?
  • Why would we say that John Quincy Adams was out of place in the presidency in the 1820s?
  • What was the South Carolina Exposition and Protest? Who wrote it? What does the document tell us about changing southern attitudes?
  • What was the presidential election of 1828 like and who won this election?
  • What office did John Quincy Adams occupy after he left the presidency?