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

 

 

 

 

–        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.

§         Sea island cotton – Fiber loosely wound around the seed; easy to extract seeds by hand. But it had to have very favorable climatic conditions.

§         Upland cotton – A hardier plant that only had to have 100 frost free days. But not profitable at first 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.

 

–        Slavery moved west because cotton production was moving west

 

 

–        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

 

§         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!

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  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 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: E