Professional Learning Conference
Professors: Ellen Barshop and Jennifer Chamberlain
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Course: PLC5420 - What Happened Here?
History/Geography - Course Outline
Course: PLC5420 - What Happened Here?
Course Description: In this course, participants will investigate how during the Era of Good
Feelings, regions did not always have friendly with other regions due to the deepening of
sectionalism in the United States.
Learner Outcomes:
• Given information on sectionalism in the United States, the participant will be able to politically, socially,
and economically compare and contrast the three regions of the United States.
• Given information on sectionalism in the United States, the participant will be able to analyze primary
sources on sectionalism.
• Given information on sectionalism in the United States, the participant will be able to analyze
informative text.
Section
Topic
1
What is Sectionalism?
2
Movement of the United States
3
Regional Differences
4
Analyzing the Past
5
What Does This Cartoon Mean?
Recommended Texts:
Between North and South: Delaware,
Desegregation, and the Myth of
American Sectionalism
Patchwork Nation: Sectionalism and
Political Change in American Politics
Sectionalism, Politics, And American
Diplomacy
Sectionalism in American Politics,
1774-1787
Assignments for This Course:
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•
•
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Compare and Contrast Chart: Nationalism vs. Sectionalism
Excerpts - Main Idea GO
Sectionalism GO
Exit Ticket: Political Cartoon
Congress and the Emergence of
Sectionalism: From the Missouri
Compromise to the Age of Jackson
1815
1815
Spot the Differences
1492
1
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
2
SECTIONALISM
SECTIONALISM
Era of
good
Era
of feelings
bad feelings
SECTIONALISM
SECTIONALISM
1819-1860
1819
Era
ofEra
good
feelings
of-1860
bad feelings
1819-1860
1819 -1860
211
211
Section 3-1
1860
Pre
1860
Pres
2
1492
1815
1
1815
Spot the Differences
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
2
SECTIONALISM
SECTIONALISM
EraSECTIONALISM
ofEra
good
of feelings
bad feelings
SECTIONALISM
1819
-1860
Era1819-1860
ofEra
good
of feelings
bad
feelings
1819-1860
1819 -1860
211
Section
2113-2
1860
1860
Pres
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
SECTION 15
NATIONALISM AND SECTIONALISM
Nationalism
1815-1860
Looks Like…
1492
1815
1860
Sectionalism
Present
SECTIONALISM
SECTIONALISM
Era ofEra
good
of feelings
bad feelings
1819-1860
1819 -1860
NATIONALISM
Era of good feelings
1815-1825
211
Can Be Described As…
SECTIONALISM
SECTIONALISM
Era ofEra
good
of feelings
bad feelings
1819-1860
1819 -1860
211
Section 3-3
Section 3-4
0
0
0
100 Miles
0
100 Miles
Note: Until 1863, the state of Virginia comprised its present territory and the territory of present day West Virginia.
100 Miles
0 100 Miles
1830
City Population
City Population
Note: Until 1863, the state of Virginia comprised its present territory and the territory of present day West Virginia.
100 Miles
0 100 Miles
1810
0
0
0
100 Miles
0
100 Miles
Note: Until 1863, the state of Virginia comprised its present territory and the territory of present day West Virginia.
100 Miles
0 100 Miles
1840
City Population
City Population
Note: Until 1863, the state of Virginia comprised its present territory and the territory of present day West Virginia.
100 Miles
0 100 Miles
1820
Excerpt 1 - Setting the Geographic Stage
The nation in 1800 was very different from what it is today. Two out of every three Americans still
lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Coast. Fewer than one in ten lived west of the Appalachians.
These round-topped, forested mountains extended like a bumpy spine from Maine through Georgia.
They made travel between east and west very difficult.
!
Beyond the mountains, the land flattened out and was covered by dense woods. More and more
settlers crossed the Appalachians in the early 1800s, clearing trees and starting farms and mills. For
Americans of the day, this land between the eastern mountains and the Mississippi River was known
as “the West.” Across the Mississippi lay the frontier, a vast, unexplored wilderness.
!
Everywhere, travel was difficult and slow. Nothing moved faster than a horse could run—not people,
not goods, not messages. News could take weeks to travel from one city to another, as the post
office labored to deliver letters and newspapers over rutted, muddy roads.
Excerpt 2 - What the Regions Thought of Each Other
The “Yankees” of the Northeast, with its growing cities and bustling trade, were seen as enterprising,
thrifty, and—in the eyes of southerners—quick to chase a dollar. The rich plantation owners of the
South were seen as gracious, cultured, and—in the eyes of northerners—lazy. The frontier settlers
who sought their fortunes in the West were seen as rugged, hardy, and—in the eyes of people on the
East Coast—crude.
Excerpt 3 - Developing the “American Spirit”
After the British burned Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812, Congress hired architects to
rebuild the White House and the Capitol in a style that would equal the grand, stately buildings of
Europe. Congress complained about the cost, but not about the result. These magnificent buildings
are admired to this day as national symbols.
!
White American men saw themselves as devoted to individualism and equality. Their commitment to
these values may not have extended to enslaved African Americans, American Indians, or women.
Still, they were united in the belief that they were different—and better—than Europeans.
!
Another national symbol was born during this period: Uncle Sam. Legend has it that the name came
from Sam Wilson, a New York butcher. “Uncle Sam,” it was said, had provided the army with meat
during the War of 1812. More likely the name was made up to match the initials U.S. for United
States. After the war, “Uncle Sam” became a popular nickname for the federal government.
Adapted from: Hart, D. (2005). The United States through industrialism (Student ed., ). Palo Alto, CA: TCI, Teacher's Curriculum Institute.
Section 3-5
Excerpt 4 - Henry Clay and The American System
The swelling of nationalist spirit was reflected in proposals that the federal government take a more
active role in building the national economy. One of the leading supporters of such measures in
Congress was Henry Clay of Kentucky.
!
Clay believed that America’s future lay in capitalism, an economic system in which individuals and
companies produce and distribute goods for profit. Most supporters of capitalism agreed that
government should have a limited role in the economy. But Clay believed that the national
government had a role to play in encouraging economic growth. Clay supported an economic plan
called the American System. This plan called for taxes on imported goods to protect industry as well
as federal spending on transportation projects like roads and canals.
!
A third part of Clay’s plan was a new national bank to standardize currency and provide credit.
Congress adopted this idea in 1816 when it created the second Bank of the United States. (The first
national bank had lapsed in 1811.) The bank was a private business, but the government owned onefifth of it and deposited government funds there.
Excerpt 5 - John C. Calhoun and States’ Rights
Another early champion of economic nationalism was South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun. In Congress,
Calhoun supported the national bank, a permanent road system, and a tax on imports. Yet in other
ways he resisted federal power. By the 1830s, he would become the leading spokesman for states’
rights, largely to protect slavery in the South. His career illustrates the tensions between nationalism
and the pull of regional differences.
Excerpt 6 - Daniel Webster
A third proponent of nationalism was Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Webster served several terms
in both the House and Senate. Unlike Clay, who was a War Hawk, Webster bitterly opposed the War
of 1812. After the war, however, he voiced strong support for Clay’s American System. “Let us act
under a settled conviction, and an habitual feeling, that these twenty-four states are one country,”
Webster urged in 1825. Later, he would strongly challenge Calhoun’s claim that states had the right
to defy the federal government.
Adapted from: Hart, D. (2005). The United States through industrialism (Student ed., ). Palo Alto, CA: TCI, Teacher's Curriculum Institute.
Section 3-6
Excerpt 1
Main Idea:
Excerpt 2
Main Idea:
Excerpt 3
Main Idea:
Excerpt 4
Main Idea:
Section 3-7
Excerpt 5
Main Idea:
Excerpt 6
Main Idea:
Big Picture
Main Idea:
Section 3-8
the North, South,
and West.
ISSUES
W
E
S
T
E
R
N
L
A
N
D
L
A
B
O
R
ISSUES
Agricultural economy
(small/large cotton
farms; slave labor)
WESTERN FARMER
I
N
T
E
R
N
A
L
M
O
N
E
Y
NORTHERN INDUSTRIALIST
LOW PRICES—to aid
settlement by small farmers
LOW PRICES—1) to encourage
HIGH PRICES—to discourage
westward expansion of slavery
westward migration of northeastern
2) to expand cotton
labor force
farming
★ SECTIONALISM: ISSUESby
THREATENING NATIONAL UNITY, 1819-1860
replacing
worn-out
farm land
FREE LABOR (no slaves)—to
avoid job competition on farms
from cheap slave labor
WESTERN FARMER
HIGH TARIFF—with revenue
used to build roads, bridges, and
T
canals for shipping western farm
A
products to eastern markets
R
I
F
F
(a tax on
imports)
I
M
P
R
O
V
E
M
E
N
T
S
SOUTHERN PLANTER
interests.
Forty years of sectional rivalry
led to the Civil War (1861-65).
To unravel the causes of the
War, let’s tune in to what each
section wanted.
SLAVE LABOR—to do the hard,
non-wage work of producing
cotton, the south’s “white gold”
FREE LABOR (no slaves)—to
provide a skilled work force for
business
SOUTHERN PLANTER
NORTHERN INDUSTRIALIST
LOW TARIFF—
220 1) to export raw
farm products on favorable terms
2) to keep down cost of buying
manufactured goods
HIGH TARIFF—to protect
manufactured goods from being
undersold by foreign competitors
FOR INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENTS (roads, bridges,
canals)—to create eastern market for
farm goods
AGAINST INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENTS—to avoid large
government expenditures which
might require a higher tariff to refill
the treasury
FOR INTERNAL
IMPROVEMENTS—to create a
western market for manufactured
goods
SOFT (OR “CHEAP”) MONEY—
paper money not backed by specie
(gold), thus in large supply; of less
worth, and easier for debtor farmers
to obtain
SOFT MONEY—Farmers
(agrarians) often were in debt
because crop markets were
unpredictable. They liked paying
their debts with
cheap, inflated
dollars, but
their creditors
didn't like it. Through
inference, can
you figure
out why?
HARD MONEY—paper money
backed by specie. Northern
businessmen often were creditors
(lenders). To get their dollars’s
worth, they wanted debts repaid
them in hard, sound money
(backed by gold)—not soft, cheap,
inflated money.
Tally the bottom line of these sectional economic views, and you quickly see that the North and South differed on all
adventuretalesofamerica.comfive issues. This caused a political power struggle between the free labor states of the North and the slave labor states
of the South. The section controlling the federal government would set economic policies, such as tariffs, that would
Section 3-9
affect the very livelihood of the other. Political power, then, became crucial to economic interests.
BY 1861 THE POLITICAL POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH WOULD LEAD TO CIVIL WAR.
Section 3-10
Northern States
Western States
Southern States
Sectionalism - Map of the United States (Pre-1840)
1
[W]e have another proof that the present government have renounced the true republican
principles of Jefferson's administration on which they raised themselves to power, and that
they have taken up, in their stead, those of John Adams . . . . [T]heir principle now is old
Federalism, vamped up into something bearing the superficial appearance of republicanism
. . . . Sir, I am convinced that it would be impolitic, as well as unjust, to aggravate the
burdens of the people for the purpose of favoring the manufacturers; for this government
created and gave power to Congress to regulate commerce and equalize duties [tariffs] on
the whole of the United States, and not to lay a duty [tariff] but with a steady eye to
revenue . . . .
!
John Randolph in a speech to the House on the proposed tariff of 1816 2
“The paper system . . . having of itself no intrinsic value . . . is liable to great and sudden
fluctuations, thereby rendering property insecure, and the wages of labor unsteady and
uncertain.”
!
- Andrew Jackson’s farewell Address 3
[I have] considered the bill this day presented to me entitled 'An act to set apart and
pledge certain funds for internal improvements,' and which sets apart and pledges
funds. . . for constructing roads and canals, and improving the navigation of water courses.
. . . The power to regulate commerce among the several states cannot include a power to
construct roads and canals. . . . I am not unaware of the great importance of roads and
canals and the improved navigation of water courses, and that a power in the national
legislature to provide for them might be exercised with signal advantage to the general
prosperity. But seeing that such a power is not expressly given by the Constitution. . . I
have no option but to withhold my signature from it . . .
!
James Madison: Message to Congress vetoing an Internal Improvements Bill, March, 1817 Section 3-11
4
I thank you, dear sir, for the copy you have been so kind as to send me of the letter to your
constituents on the Missouri question… But this momentous question, like a firebell in the
night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the
Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final
sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political,
once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and
every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.
!
The cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a bagatelle which would not
cost me a second thought, if, in that way, a general emancipation and expatriation could
be effected; and gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might be. But as it is, we
have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in
one scale, and self-preservation in the other…
!
I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the
generation of 1776, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be
thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only
consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it…
!
- Thomas Jefferson: Letter to John Holmes - April 22, 1820
5
I wish with you that Congress had the power of expending our surplus monies (if ever we
are to have them) on public improvements, and have long wished for such an amendment
to the constitution, with the condition expressed that the federal proportion of each state
should be expended on improvements within the state. otherwise all, like our lighthouses
Etc. would go to New England.
!
- Thomas Jefferson: Letter to William Short - October 19, 1822
6
“It is to be regretted,” Jackson said, “that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts
of government to their selfish purposes. . . . [W]hen the law undertakes to . . . make the
rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society—the farmers,
mechanics and laborers . . . have a right to complain of the injustice of their
government.”
!
- Andrew Jackson - Explanation on the Veto [Second Bank of the United States] - 1831
Section 3-12
7
…the Missouri question aroused and filled me with alarm. The old schism of federal &
republican, threatened nothing because it existed in every state, and united them
together... But the … geographical line, once conceived, I feared would never more be
obliterated from the mind; that it would be recurring on every occasion & renewing
irritations until it would kindle such mutual & mortal hatred, as to render separation
preferable to eternal discord. I have been … believing that our Union would be of long
duration. I now doubt it much… my only comfort & confidence is that I shall not live to see
this: and I envy not the present generation the glory of throwing away the fruits of their
fathers sacrifices of life & fortune, and of rendering desperate the experiment which was
to decide ultimately whether man is capable of self government? This treason against
human hope will signalize their epoch in future history, as the counterpart of the medal of
their predecessors. …
!
-Thomas Jefferson, Correspondence with William Short, 1820
8
The constitution declares “that congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property of the United
States.” Under this power congress have passed laws for the survey and sale of the public
lands, for the division of the same into separate territories; and have ordained for each of
them a constitution, a plan of temporary government, whereby the civil and political rights
of the inhabitants are regulated, and the rights of conscience and other natural rights are
protected…
!
The territory of Missouri is a portion of Louisiana, which was purchased of France, and
belongs to the United States in full dominion; in the language of the constitution Missouri is
their territory or property, and is subject, like other territories of the United States, to the
regulations and temporary government, which has been, or shall be prescribed by
congress…
!
!
- Rufus King - November 22, 1819
Section 3-13
#
North
South
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Section 3-14
West
Section 3-15
Henry Clay - Project Gutenberg eText 16960Public Domain