The American System

Leading members of the Republican party, long known for their opposition to federal power, began to view central government more favorably after the victory of Britain in 1815. Young republicans such as Henry Clay of Kentucky and John c. Calhoun of South Carolina urged Congress and the president to encourage the growth of enterprise, with the aid of the government, creating roads, canals, a strong navy and a national bank. The future of the country, Clay and Calhoun believed, lay in commerce and industry. The government should ally itself with the forces of trade. These nationalists called their vision the “American System.” Because far too little cash spread across its vast growing territory, much business within the country rested on nothing more than trust and promises. Monroe supported a new national bank to stabilize the economy and distribute scare money more uniformly. The expanding country's economic system needed a central institution to coordinate the flow of money. Accordingly, in 1816, congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States. The bank pumped large amounts of paper currency into the system in an attempt to feed the voracious hunger of the postwar economy, especially in the new states of the West where specialization in land fueled demands for access to easier credit.

Courts increasingly favored market forces over customs and stability in property relation, shifting the advantage from farmers and landowners to developers. The Supreme court, under Chief Justice, John Marshall issued number of important decisions following the War of 1812 that also hastened economic development.The outcome of the Dartmouth College V. Woodward case sheltered corporations form legislative interference. The McCulloch V. Maryland case established the consiutionality of the bank of the United States and protected it from state taxation.

The preceeding year, 1818, the U.S. government opened the "National Road" connecting the Potomatic River at Cumberland, Maryland with Wheeling, West virginia on the Ohio River. The raod was the best that technology could provide at the time, with excellent bridges and a relatively smooth stone surface. Fortunately for New York, a passage broke through the Appalachian mountains within the state's borders. New Yorker's believed that a canal through this area, connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie would far surpass any other kind of transportation. Other states looked enviously upon the glorious and profitable Erie Canal and began their own plans and excavations.

Rivers offered faster and cheaper travel, especially along Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio. As soon as Jackson won at New Orleans in 1815 the Enterprise churned its way upriver from Lousiana all the way to Louisville Kentucky. Though the shallow, high powered and top heavy steamboats showed a dangerous propensity to explode, run aground, and slam into submerged obstacles, no one thought of going back to the old way of travel.

Jackson kicks Spain out of Florida

Like the American Indians, the Spanish who remained in Florida after 1815 had become vulnerable. White Americans, for their part, felt they had a right, even an obligation to drive the Spain from the mainland, in part because Anglo Protestants had a long tradition of distrusting Catholic, monarchical Spanish. To make relations even more volatile, 60 miles from the southern border of the United States stood the so-called Negro Fort (above) near Pensacola, occupied by runaway slaves and their Indian allies. Spain was eager, in fact to overthrow it but they did not have enough military power. Though his authorization form Washington was doubtful, Jackson invaded Spanish territory, executed a Creek prophet and two British men who accused of abetting the Indian cause, and overran the weak, Spanish presence in the most important outposts. Many white Americans thronged the cities where Jackson appeared along the way, celebrating him as a decisive hero rather than castigating him for being the military despot Henry Clay (right) claimed.

Expanding Borders with James Monroe

Americans had gained a new confidence after winning the War of 1812. Thereafter came the election of 1816, where James Monroe ran unopposed of another party, but against five others of his own cabinet:

1. John C. Calhoun from South Carolina
2. Henry Clay from Kentucky
3. John QUINCEY Adams from Massachusetts
4. William H. Crawford from Georgia
5. General Andrew Jackson from Tennessee

Monroe and his wife set a new tone for the presidency, with greater emphasis on etiquette, style, and entertaining, had the executive mansion painted a brilliant white to cover the smoke stains from its burning during the war with England, the residence became known as the "White House".

There were fights over territories all over the country. Because of this, states were determined to safeguard their policies, despite the conflicts they created, which led to clashing economies. The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 calmed conflict on the Great Lakes and the convention of 1818 fixed the border of Canada at the 49th Parallel.

By the early 19th century, the American Indians had lived in contact with Europeans for more than 200 years. Indians clothing reflected the combination of cultures. The intermingling worked both ways, for considerable numbers of English and Scots traders lived among the Indians. African Americans too often took refuge with the Creeks and Seminoles, so that by 1815 mixed ancestry had become common.

The removal of the British troops after the War of 1812, dealt a strong blow to the hopes of the American Indians. Alliances with the British, both actual and threatened had helped hold back the white Americans. Jackson used heavy-handed treaties to force Indians from their former land. Many of the natives resisted the removal, objecting that the treaties extracted by Jackson had been signed by Indians who had no authority to make such concessions. But whites insisted on lumping these diverse people into groups so they could be more easily dealt with. The U.S. government made it easy for white settlers to buy land and sold about a million acres a year throughout the next decade. After northern Indians' disastrous losses in the War of 2812, they posed little threat to white settlers. The grown numbers of white farmers made it difficult for Native Americans to hunt for a living. No matter what accommodations they made, however, the American Indians suffered repeated conflicts with whites who relied on shee numbers, trickery violence and the law to dispose native Americans of their land claims.