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{{Short description|Period in the political history of the United States}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Infobox historical era
|name = Era of Good Feelings
|image = 4th-of-July-1819-Philadelphia-John-Lewis-Krimmel.JPG
|caption = ''Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square'' by John Lewis Krimmel, 1819
<!--|caption = Era of Good Feelings, a political period in US history-->
|start = 1815
|end = 1825
|century = 19th
|before = [[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian era]]
|after = [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian era]]
|presidents = [[James Monroe]]
|key_events = [[Missouri Compromise]]<br>[[Panic of 1819]]<br>[[Adams-Onis Treaty]]<br>[[Monroe Doctrine]]
|including=[[Antebellum South]]}}
{{Periods in US history}}
The '''Era of Good Feelings''' marked a period in the political [[history of the United States]] that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=ammon1971p366>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=366}}</ref><ref name=wilentzp181>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=181}}</ref> The era saw the collapse of the [[Federalist Party]] and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant [[Democratic-Republican Party]] during the [[First Party System]].<ref name=ammon1958p4>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=4}}</ref><ref name=brown1966p23>{{harvnb|Brown|1970|page=23}}</ref> President [[James Monroe]] strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating [[Political party|political parties]] altogether from national politics.<ref name=ammon1971p366/><ref>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=24}}</ref> The period is so closely associated with [[Presidency of James Monroe|Monroe's presidency]] (1817–1825) and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous.<ref name="Dangerfield 1965 page=35">{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=35}}</ref>
During and after the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]], the Democratic-Republican Party split between supporters and opponents of [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian Democracy]], leading to the [[Second Party System]].
Historians often designate the era as one of good feelings with irony or skepticism, as the political atmosphere was strained and divisive, especially among factions within the Monroe administration and the Democratic-Republican Party.<ref name=ammon1958p4/><ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|page=77}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=32,35}}</ref>
The phrase ''Era of Good Feelings'' was coined by [[Benjamin Russell (journalist)|Benjamin Russell]] in the Boston [[Federalist]] newspaper ''[[Columbian Centinel]]'' on July 12, 1817, following Monroe's visit to [[Boston]], Massachusetts, as part of his good-will tour of the United States.<ref name="Dangerfield 1965 page=35"/><ref>{{harvnb|Unger|2009|page=271}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Patricia L. Dooley|title=The Early Republic: Primary Documents on Events from 1799 to 1820|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxV7IjQBOs0C&pg=PA298|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood|pages=298ff|isbn=9780313320842|access-date=November 17, 2015|archive-date=January 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120193604/https://books.google.com/books?id=pxV7IjQBOs0C&pg=PA298|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Post-war nationalism==
[[File:Election Day 1815 by John Lewis Krimmel.jpg|thumb|''[[Election Day in Philadelphia]]'' by [[John Lewis Krimmel]], 1815]]
The Era of Good Feelings started in 1815 at the end of the [[War of 1812]].<ref name=wilentzp181 /> Exultation replaced the bitter political divisions between Federalists and Republicans, the North and South, and the East Coast cities and settlers on the [[American frontier]]. The political hostilities declined because the [[Federalist Party]] had largely dissolved after the fiasco of the [[Hartford Convention]] in 1814–15.<ref>{{cite book |last=Banner |first=James M. |date=1970 |title=To the Hartford Convention: the Federalists and the origins of party politics in Massachusetts, 1789-1815|url=https://archive.org/details/tohartfordconven0000bann |url-access=registration }}</ref> As a party, Federalists "had collapsed as a national political force".<ref name=wilentz2005p42>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=42}}</ref><ref name=ammon1958p5>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=5}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1953|page=9}}</ref> The [[Democratic-Republican Party]] was nominally dominant, but in practice it was inactive at the national level and in most states.<ref>{{harvnb|McCormick|page=14–16}}</ref>
The era saw a trend toward national institutions that envisioned "a permanent federal role in the crucial arena of national development and national prosperity".<ref>{{harvnb|Berstein|Issenberg|2010|page=564}}</ref> Monroe's predecessor, President [[James Madison]], and the Republican Party, had come to appreciate – through the crucible [[War of 1812|of war]] – the expediency of Federalist institutions and projects, and prepared to legislate them under the auspices of [[John C. Calhoun]] and [[Henry Clay]]'s [[American System (economic plan)|American System]].<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|page=27}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=David S. |date=2008 |title=Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson. |url=https://archive.org/details/wakinggiantameri00reyn_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Harper Collins |___location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/wakinggiantameri00reyn_0/page/9 9]|isbn=9780060826567 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=243}}</ref>
Madison announced this shift in policy with his [[1815 State of the Union Address|Seventh Annual Message to Congress]] in December 1815, subsequently authorizing measures for a [[Second Bank of the United States|national bank]] and a [[Dallas tariff|protective tariff]] on manufactures.<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=5,6,20}}</ref> Vetoing the [[Bonus Bill of 1817|Bonus Bill]] on [[strict constructionist]] grounds, Madison nevertheless was determined, as had been his predecessor, [[Thomas Jefferson]],<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=18}}</ref> to see internal improvements implemented with an amendment to the US Constitution.<ref>{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1953|page=19}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=387}}</ref> Writing to Monroe, in 1817, Madison declared that "there has never been a moment when such a proposition to the states was so likely to be approved".<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=19,20}}</ref>
The emergence of "new Republicans" – undismayed by mild nationalist policies – anticipated Monroe's "era of good feelings" and a general mood of optimism emerged with hopes for political reconciliation.<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=20}}</ref>
Monroe's landslide victory against Federalist [[Rufus King]] in the [[1816 United States presidential election|1816 presidential election]] was so widely predicted that voter turnout was low.<ref>{{harvnb|McCormick|page=102}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Burns|1982|page=264}}</ref> A spirit of reconciliation between Republicans and Federalists was well underway when Monroe assumed office in March 1817.<ref name=ammon1958p4/><ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=143}}</ref>
==Monroe and political parties==
[[File:James Monroe 02.jpg|thumb|President [[James Monroe]], portrait by [[John Vanderlyn]], 1816]]
As president, Monroe was widely expected to facilitate a rapprochement of the political parties in order to harmonize the country in a common national outlook, rather than party interests. Both parties exhorted him to include a Federalist in his cabinet to symbolize the new era of "oneness" that pervaded the nation.<ref name=ammon1971p366/><ref name=ammon1958p4/>
Monroe reaffirmed his conviction that the Federalist Party was committed to installing a monarch and overthrowing republican forms of government at the first opportunity.<ref name=dangerfield1965p3>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=3}}</ref> He stated that if he appointed a Federalist, he would prolong their inevitable decline and fall, and that his administration would never allow itself to become tainted with Federalist ideology.<ref name=ammon1958pp5-6>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=5,6}}</ref>
Monroe stated that his drive to eliminate the Federalists was part of his campaign to eliminate party associations altogether from national politics, including his own Republican party. All political parties, he wrote, were incompatible with free government by their very nature. He worked to deflate the Federalist Party through neglect. Federalists were denied political patronage, administrative appointments, and federal support. Monroe indicated that he wished to eradicate Federalists from positions of political power, both Federal and State, especially in its New England strongholds. He believed that any expression of official approval would only encourage hope for a Federalist revival, and this he could not abide.<ref name=ammon1958pp67>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=6,7}}</ref>
Some historians believe that Monroe reduced party politics, evidenced by his unopposed run in the [[1820 United States presidential election|1820 presidential election]]. The Federalists ran no candidate to oppose him, running only a vice-presidential candidate, [[Richard Stockton (U.S. senator)|Richard Stockton]]. Monroe and his vice president, [[Daniel D. Tompkins]], would have won reelection unanimously through the [[United States electoral college|electoral college]], had there not been a handful of [[faithless elector]]s; one presidential elector cast his vote for [[John Quincy Adams]], while a handful of electors (mostly former Federalists) cast votes for a number of Federalist candidates for vice president. It remains the last presidential election in which a candidate ran essentially unopposed.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
==Great Goodwill Tour and national republicanism embrace==
[[File:BenjaminRussell Boston.png|thumb|Benjamin Russell is credited with coining the term "Era of Good Feelings" in 1817.]]
The most perfect expression of the Era of Good Feelings was Monroe's country-wide Goodwill tour in 1817 and 1819. His visits to New England and to the Federalist stronghold of Boston, Massachusetts, in particular, were the most significant of the tour.<ref name=ammon1958p7>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=7}}</ref> Here, the descriptive phrase "Era of Good Feelings" was bestowed by a local Federalist journal.
The president's physical appearance, wardrobe and personal attributes were decisive in arousing good feelings on the tour. As the last U.S. president who was a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veteran, he donned a Revolutionary War officer's uniform and tied his long, powdered hair in a [[Queue (hairstyle)#Other queues|queue]] according to the old-fashioned [[1775–1795 in Western fashion#Men's fashion|style of the 18th century]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=202}}</ref> "Tall, rawboned, venerable", he made an "agreeable" impression and had a good deal of charm and "most men immediately liked him ... [in] manner he was rather formal, having an innate sense of dignity, which allowed no one to take liberties. Yet in spite of his formality, he had the ability to put men at their ease by his courtesy, lack of condescension, his frankness, and what his contemporaries looked upon as the essential goodness and kindness of heart which he always radiated."<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=22}}</ref><ref name=ammon1958p8>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=8}}</ref>
Monroe's visit to Boston elicited a huge outpouring of nationalist pride and expressions of reconciliation. New England Federalists were especially eager to demonstrate their loyalty after the debacle of the [[Hartford Convention]]. Amidst the festivities – banquets, parades, receptions – many took the opportunity to make the most "explicit and solemn declarations" to remove, as Monroe wrote afterwards, "impressions of that kind, which they knew existed, and to get back into the great family of the union".<ref name=ammon1958p9>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=9}}</ref> [[Abigail Adams]] dubbed the catharsis an "expiation".<ref name=ammon1958p8/>
Here, in the heart of Federalist territory, Monroe gained the primary goal of his tour; in effect, permitting "the Federalists by solemn public demonstrations to reaffirm their loyalty to the government and their acceptance of Republican control".<ref name=ammon1958p7/> Even in this atmosphere of contrition, Monroe was assiduous in avoiding any remarks or expressions that might chasten or humiliate his hosts. He presented himself strictly as the head of state, and not as the leader of a triumphant political party.<ref name=ammon1958p8/>
In the ensuing years the New England states capitulated, and all but Massachusetts were in Republican Party hands. De-Federalization was virtually complete by 1820, the appointment of former Federalist Party members seemed in order and Monroe feared a backlash. Most anti-Federalist sentiments were political posturing, but he was not so secure of support for his domestic and foreign programs and was concerned at the mounting hostilities over the upcoming presidential contest in 1824, a purely intraparty affair. He never consummated his final reconciliation with the Federalists.<ref name=ammon1958p9/>
==Failure of amalgamation and rise of the Old Republicans==
Monroe's success in mitigating party rancor produced an appearance of political unity, with almost all Americans identifying themselves as Republicans.<ref name=brown1966p23/> His nearly unanimous electoral victory for reelection in 1820 seemed to confirm this.<ref>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=11}}</ref>
Recognizing the danger of intraparty rivalries, Monroe attempted to include prospective presidential candidates and top political leaders in his administration. His cabinet comprised three of the political rivals who would vie for the presidency in 1824: [[John Quincy Adams]], [[John C. Calhoun]] and [[William H. Crawford]]. A fourth, [[Andrew Jackson]], held high military appointments.<ref name=ammon1958p10>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=10}}</ref> Here, Monroe felt he could manage the factional disputes and arrange compromise on national politics within administration guidelines.<ref name=ammon1958p9/> His great disadvantage was that amalgamation deprived him of appealing to Republican "solidarity" that would have cleared the way for passage of his programs in Congress.
"From the moment that Monroe adopted as his guiding principle the maxim that he was head of a nation, not the leader of a party, he repudiated for all practical purposes the party unity" that would have served to establish his policies. The result was a loss of party discipline.<ref name=brown1966p23/><ref>{{harvnb|Ammon|1971|page=380}}</ref> Absent was the universal adherence to the precepts of Jeffersonianism: state sovereignty, [[strict constructionism|strict construction]] and stability of Southern institutions. Old Republican critics of the new nationalism, among them [[John Randolph of Roanoke]], Virginia, had warned that the abandonment of the Jeffersonian scheme of Southern preeminence would provoke a sectional conflict, North and South, that would threaten the union.<ref name=brown1966p23/> Former president James Madison had cautioned Monroe that in any free government, it was natural that party identity would take shape.<ref name=ammon1958p10/>
The disastrous [[Panic of 1819]] and the Supreme Court's ''[[McCulloch v. Maryland]]'' reanimated the disputes over the supremacy of state sovereignty and federal power, between strict construction of the US Constitution and loose construction.<ref>{{harvnb|Dangerfield|1965|page=97–98}}</ref> The [[Missouri Compromise|Missouri Crisis]] in 1820 made the explosive political conflict between slave and free soil open and explicit.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=217,219}}</ref> Only through the adroit handling of the legislation by Speaker of the House [[Henry Clay]] was a settlement reached and disunion avoided.<ref name=wilentz2005p42/><ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1970|page=25}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wilentz|2008|page=240}}</ref>
With the decline in political consensus, it became imperative to revive Jeffersonian principles on the basis of Southern exceptionalism.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1970|page=23,24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Varon |first=Elizabeth R. |date=2008 |title=Disunion!: The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |___location=Chapel Hill |page=39,40}}</ref> The agrarian alliance, North and South, would be revived to form [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian Nationalism]] and the rise of the modern [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1970|page=22}}</ref> The interlude of the Era of Good Feelings was at an end.<ref name=dangerfield1965p3/>
==References==<!-- Freehling, 1965, p. 224. was removed-->
{{Reflist}}
{{notelist|2}}
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last=Ammon |first=Harry |date=1971|title=James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity |url=https://archive.org/details/jamesmonroequest00ammo |url-access=registration |___location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=9780070015821 }}
* {{cite journal |first=Richard H. |last=Brown |date=1970 |title=The Missouri Crisis, Slavery, and the Politics of Jacksonianism |journal=[[South Atlantic Quarterly]] |pages=55–72 }} Cited in {{cite book|title=Essays on Jacksonian America|editor-first=Frank Otto|editor-last=Gatell|___location=New York City|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|date=1970}}
* {{cite book |last=Burns |first=James M. |date=1982 |title=The Vineyard of Liberty |url=https://archive.org/details/vineyardoflibert00jame |url-access=registration |publisher=Knopf |___location=New York }}
* {{cite book |last1=Berstein |first1=Andrew |last2=Issenberg |first2=Nancy |title=Madison and Jefferson |date=2010 |publisher=[[Random House]] |___location=New York }}
* {{cite book |last=Dangerfield |first=George |date=1965 |title=The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815-1828. |url=https://archive.org/details/awakeningofameri00dang |url-access=registration |publisher=Harper & Row |___location=New York }}
* {{citation |last=McCormick |first=Richard P |title=New Perspectives on Jacksonian Politics }}, cited in ''American Historical Review'', LXV (January 1960), pp. 288–301.
* {{cite book |last=Remini |first=Robert V. |date=2002 |title=John Quincy Adams |publisher=Holt |___location=New York }}
* {{cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. Jr |date=1953 |title=The Age of Jackson. |publisher=Little, Brown |___location=New York }}
* {{cite book |last=Unger |first=Harlow G. |date=2009 |title=The last founding father: James Monroe and a nation's call to greatness |publisher=Da Capo Press |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts }}
* {{cite book |last=Wilentz |first=Sean |date=2008 |title=The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. |publisher=Horton |___location=New York }}
{{refend}}
==Further reading==
* [[George Dangerfield]]. ''The Era of Good Feelings'' (1952).
* [[George Dangerfield]]. ''The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828'' (1965).
* Howe, Daniel Walker. ''What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848'' (2008).
* Jenkins, Jeffery A., and Charles Stewart III. "Committee Assignments as Side Payments: The Interplay of Leadership and Committee Development in the Era of Good Feelings." ''Annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association'' 1998. [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.514.1558&rep=rep1&type=pdf online]
* Kaplan, Lawrence S. "Jefferson as Anglophile: Sagacity or Senility in the Era of Good Feelings?" ''Diplomatic History'' 16.3 (1992): 487–494.
* Phillips, Kim T. "Democrats of the Old School in the Era of Good Feelings." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' 95.3 (1971): 363–382. [https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/42764/42485 online]
* Silbey, Joel H. "The Incomplete World of American Politics, 1815–1829: Presidents, Parties and Politics in 'The Era of Good Feelings'." ''Congress & the Presidency: A Journal of Capital Studies'' 11#1 (1984) 1–17.
* Sprague, Stuart Seely. "Town Making in the Era of Good Feelings: Kentucky 1814–1820." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 72.4 (1974): 337–341. [https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=msu_faculty_research online]
==Primary sources==
* {{cite book|editor=Patricia L. Dooley|title=The Early Republic: Primary Documents on Events from 1799 to 1820|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxV7IjQBOs0C&pg=PA298|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood |page=298ff|isbn=9780313320842}} text of Benjamin Russell editorial
* {{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=65899 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001539/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=65899 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead |title=President Madison's Veto Message |date=March 3, 1817}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=66322 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211032207/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=66322 |archive-date=2018-02-11 |url-status=dead |title=President Monroe's Veto Message |date= May 4, 1822}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=66323 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205130115/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=66323 |archive-date=2018-02-05 |url-status=dead |title=President Monroe's Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements |date=May 4, 1822}}
{{US history}}
{{Democratic-Republican Party}}
{{James Monroe|state=expanded}}
[[Category:Era of Good Feelings| ]]
[[Category:Eras of United States history]]
[[Category:1810s in American politics]]
[[Category:1820s in American politics]]
[[Category:Presidency of James Monroe]]
[[Category:Political history of the United States]]
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