American Spirits Were Exceptionally High At The End Of The...

American spirits were exceptionally high at the end of the War of 1812 which brought about a defeat of the British once again. In the years that followed the War, a sense of national unity materialized throughout the country as a One Party System grew out of James Monroe’s presidency with the disappearance of the Federalists. The Columbian Centinel proclaimed that this time period after the War of 1812 was an â€Å"Era of Good Feelings†, a phrase applied to Monroe’s presidency ever since. But contradictory to this label, this time period in American history was actually turbulent, for sectionalism propagated and a nationwide panic heightened. Therefore, with emerging sectionalism in subsequent events that followed the War of 1812, the time†¦show more content†¦During his presidency, Monroe supported the American System in which the government supported economic growth and protective measures for domestic manufacturers from foreign competition. Unfortunat ely, not everyone favored the American System. In the South especially, Southerners opposed such a protective tariff for it only supported Northern manufactures, while hurting the Southern economy at the same time. The South, primarily agricultural with a large exporting economy, had to import all of its goods having to pay up to â…“ it’s price in tax in order to comply with the American System. John Randolph, a Southerner, expressed his grievances to Congress hoping to alleviate the struggles of the South by saying, â€Å"no one interest in the country should be sacrificed by the management of taxation to another†¦ the agriculturalists bear the whole front of the war and taxation† (Document A). In saying this Randolph not only questioned Congress s intentions of collecting revenue and favoring the North, but also its job to regulate commerce, not taxes. The American System clearly drove a wedge between Northern and Southern interests. The institution of chartering a Second National Bank also stimulated many controversies. Once again, the Bank, an element of the American System created to strengthen national currency, placed commercial interests of the North over farmers and agriculturalists of the South. In the