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Era of Good Feelings
A nickname given to James Monroe’s early years as president (1816–1819), when the Democratic-Republicans were the only political party and nationalist Americans concentrated on improving America. The Era of Good Feelings dissipated after the crisis over Missouri in 1819 and the Panic of 1819.
Panic of 1819
A financial panic, caused in part by overspeculation in western lands, that slid the U.S. economy into a decade-long depression. Farmers in the West and South were hit hardest, but the depression’s effects were felt everywhere. The panic helped bring an end to the Era of Good Feelings.
Nullification Crisis
A crisis over the Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations), which was enormously unpopular in the South. Andrew Jackson’s supporters pushed the tariff through Congress during John Quincy Adams’s term, but when Jackson took office, his vice president, John C. Calhoun, opposed the tariff vehemently. Calhoun secretly wrote and published an essay called “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” to encourage state legislatures in the South to nullify the tariff. Though Jackson personally disliked the tariff, he refused to allow any state to disobey a federal statute. When South Carolina did nullify the tax in 1832, Jackson threatened to use the military to enforce the law. Fortunately, Henry Clay proposed the Compromise Tariff of 1833 to reduce the tariff gradually over a decade.
“Trail of Tears” Removal
The forcible removal of thousands of Native Americans, primarily Cherokee in the 1830s from their southeastern homelands and relocated to new reservations west of the Mississippi. This program of relocation was initiated under Andrew Jackson’s 1830 Indian Removal Act. The journey has been labeled the “Trail of Tears” because countless Native Americans, forced to walk hundreds miles under horrible conditions, died along the way.
The Black Hawk War
A brief 1832 war in Illinois in which the U.S. Army defeated Chief Black Hawk and about 1,000 of his Sauk and Fox followers, who refused to be resettled according to the Indian Removal Act.
The Bank War
A conflict between Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay over 1832 legislation that was intended to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States. Clay pushed the bill through Congress, hoping it would slim Jackson’s reelection chances: signing the charter would cost Jackson support among southern and western voters who opposed the bank, whereas vetoing the charter would alienate wealthier eastern voters. Jackson vetoed the bill, betting correctly that his supporters in the South and West outnumbered the rich in the East. Upon reelection, Jackson withheld all federal deposits from the Bank, rendering it essentially useless until its charter expired in 1836.
Panic of 1837
A financial panic caused by the default of many of the smaller “pet banks” that Andrew Jackson had used to deposit federal funds when he withheld them from the Bank of the United States in the 1830s. The crisis was compounded by overspeculation, the failure of Jackson’s Specie Circular (which required that all land be purchased with hard currency), and the Lack of Available Credit due to the banking crisis.
Seminole War
A war fought by the U.S. Army against members of the Seminole tribe in Florida who refused to be resettled west of the Mississippi River in the late 1830s.
The Aroostook War
A small-scale 1838–1839 turf war, fought between American and Canadian woodsmen in northern Maine, that threatened to errupt into a larger war between Britain and the United States. The Aroostook War convinced both countries that settlement of northern Maine territorial disputes had to be negotiated promptly. The dispute was resolved by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, negotiated by Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Lord Ashburton of Britain, which established a permanent border between Maine and Canada.
Seneca Falls Convention
A convention of early Women’s Rights activists in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848 to launch the American feminist movement. The convention’s Declaration of Sentiments, penned by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was modeled on the Declaration of Independence in its declaration that all men and women were created equal.
