What was the era of good feelings

He married Elizabeth Kortright in and began practicing law in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Monroe was elected to the U.

Appointed minister to France by George Washington in , Monroe worked to maintain friendship with that country. From to he was governor of Virginia. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Robert McNamara. History Expert. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. He was Amazon. Updated March 11, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. McNamara, Robert. Era of Good Feelings.

Legislative Compromises Over Enslavement, — American Civil War: Causes of Conflict. For this reason, northern states wanted Maine admitted as a free state to maintain the balance. The Compromise of was an important example of Congressional exclusion of slavery from U. In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in , the Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have authority to prohibit slavery in territories and that those provisions of the Missouri Compromise were unconstitutional.

Under the Admission Act of Missouri, it ruled that African Americans and mixed-race individuals did not qualify as citizens of the United States. The Monroe Doctrine opposed efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America.

The doctrine noted that the United States would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. The doctrine was issued at a time when nearly all Latin American colonies of Spain and Portugal had achieved independence from the Spanish Empire except for Bolivia, which became independent in , Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

The United States, working in agreement with Britain, wanted to maintain its new influence in the regions and to guarantee that no European power would move on these newly independent countries.

It became a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets. Later it would be invoked by many U. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. The intent and impact of the Monroe Doctrine persisted—with only minor variations—for almost two centuries. The Monroe Doctrine was inspired in large part by American government fears that European powers victorious in the Napoleonic Wars — would revive monarchical forms of government.

France had already agreed to restore the Spanish monarchy in exchange for Cuba. In particular, the Holy Alliance authorized military incursions to re-establish Bourbon rule over Spain and its colonies, which were establishing their independence.

The United States, dedicated to the ideals of republicanism, wanted to uphold republican institutions in these newly independent states, as well as to seek treaties of commerce on a most-favored-nation basis. Allowing Spain to reestablish control of its former colonies would have cut Great Britain from its profitable trade with the region. On the surface, the objective of the Doctrine was to free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention, ensuring that the colonies in the Americas would not become a battleground for European powers.

The doctrine put forward that the Americas and Europe were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, being composed of entirely separate and independent nations.

In reality, the Doctrine reflected a battle for economic and political power in the region in which the United States wanted the upper hand. The full Monroe Doctrine is long and couched in diplomatic language, but its essence is expressed in two key passages. The first is part of its introductory statement:. Because the United States lacked both a credible army and navy at the time, the doctrine was largely disregarded internationally.

However, the Monroe Doctrine met with tacit British approval, and the Royal Navy mostly enforced it as part of the wider Pax Britannica, which maintained the neutrality of the seas. This was in line with the developing British policy of laissez-faire free trade: Fast-growing British industry was ever seeking outlets for its manufactured goods, and if the newly independent Latin American states were to become Spanish colonies once more, British access to these markets would be cut off by Spanish mercantilist policy.

John Quincy Adams was elected president by the House of Representatives in , despite not winning the popular vote. John Quincy Adams was elected president on February 9, , in the United States presidential election of , after the election was decided by the House of Representatives.

The presidential election of is notable for being the only election since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment to have been decided by the House of Representatives.

The Twelfth Amendment, passed in , addressed concerns that had arisen in the elections of and and stated that an election would be turned over to the House if no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote. The election of is often claimed to be the first in which the successful presidential candidate did not win the popular vote; however, the popular vote was not measured nationwide at the time, making this claim somewhat speculative. The presidential election of featured five candidates, all of whom ran as Democratic-Republicans the Federalists having ceased to be a national political force.

Candidate Adams had broken with the Federalists in the early s and served on various diplomatic missions, including the mission to secure peace with Great Britain in He represented New England. A second candidate, John C. Calhoun from South Carolina, had served as secretary of war and represented the slaveholding South.

He dropped out of the presidential race to run for vice president. A third candidate, Henry Clay, the speaker of the House of Representatives, hailed from Kentucky and represented the western states. He favored an active federal government committed to internal improvements, such as roads and canals, to bolster national economic development and settlement of the West.

William H. Crawford, a slaveholder from Georgia, suffered a stroke in that left him largely incapacitated, but he ran nonetheless and had the backing of the New York machine headed by Martin Van Buren.

Jackson had very little formal education, but he was popular for his military victories in the War of and in wars against the Creek and the Seminole. He had been elected to the Senate in , and his popularity soared as pro-Jackson newspapers extolled the courage and daring of the Tennessee slaveholder. The election was as much a contest of favorite sons as it was a conflict over policy, although positions on tariffs and internal improvements did create some significant disagreements.

In general, the candidates were favored by different sections of the country, with Adams strong in the Northeast; Jackson in the South, West, and mid-Atlantic; Clay in parts of the West; and Crawford in parts of the East. With tens of thousands of new voters, the older system of having members of Congress form congressional caucuses to determine who would run no longer worked. The new voters had regional interests and voted on them.

For the first time, the popular vote mattered in a presidential election. Electors were chosen by popular vote in eighteen states, while the six remaining states used the older system in which state legislatures chose electors.

The Electoral College, however, was another matter. Of the electoral votes, Jackson needed or more to win but secured only Adams won 84, Crawford 41, and Clay Meanwhile, John C. During this period, America also stepped up its western expansion. The era of good feeling was at an end by The period of one-party rule was also coming to an end. Since the Federalist party had collapsed, the presidential election of featured candidates who were all from the Democratic-Republican party.