What role did nationalism play in the Era of Good Feelings?

Answer 1

The Era of good feeling mostly was started due to the end of the Federalists party. This led the nation with one party or no parties, creating unity. With this new sense of unity nationalism rose. So nationalism, in that regard, created a revolution during the Era of good feeling. A revolution consisting of a level of sectionalism minimized and nationalism maximized.

Nationalism played a large role in the Era of good feelings. After the victory of the War of 1812 President Madison and many Americans felt proud to be part of the United States. The war had boosted NATIONALISM in many people to better themselves. Now that nationalism was in the country's spirt people felt the need to better the economy, technology, and overall well being. As a result of the War of 1812 Madison and other politicians felt the need for internal improvements to better the country.

Believe it or not nationalism was a direct cause of Internal Improvements. Internal Improvements were an array of things ranging from road improvement to building canals. The Cumberland National Road and Erie Canal were just two results of this. The Erie canal had linked all five Great Lakes. This link would in turn better trade enormously. To accompany canals steam boats were built to transfer both goods and people.

Internal Improvements would later bring about issues between the morality of Federal funding or State Funding. The role of banks played a large role in the sense of loans for improvements. If this is for a paper you might want to work in Jackson and his views upon the bank. (VERY IMPORTANT, HE HATED IT).

Nationalism also gave people the notion to travel beyond the Mississippi River (hmmm what a great idea). The government encouraged people to move west, the government even gave away land for free. The land out west allowed people to claim it and farm it. Though after a while the government forced people to buy it. This is a large role for the bank because farmers started to take out loans during the Era of Good Feelings. The bank loosely guarded these loans. (IF this is for a paper you might want to include Jackson's Land Act and "Hard Money" aka Gold and Silver and possibly the recharter of the Bank of the U.S.).

Though Nationalism got the best of us as the Panic of 1837 basically ended everything. The Panic was a combination of lack of gold and silver and crop failure. Without gold and silver we could not survive.

So, Nationalism played an enormous role in the Era of Good Feelings. I hope this article will help you in your endeavors.