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Madison takes the western part of America from Spain
In 1810 President James Madison had snapped up the extreme westen section of he United States without eliciting any effective response from Spain. -
The War of 1812
America wanted to go to war with Britain becuase they believed the latter was provoking Indians to attack America, as a plus if America won they could also claim Canada. Contreversity over war split the country into two, merchants and Federalists did not want to go to war while the republicans supported the idea of war. America was beginning to split and disagree over issues which would later lead to more specific sectional issues. -
The Era of Good Feelings
The time during the presidency of James Monroe, when the country was at peace and the economy was prosperous. In his second term as president, the feeling of factionalism and sectionalism faded into a "good feeling". -
Government sold 3.5 million acres of land
The Land Act of 1800 allowed for land to be sold at $2 with 320 acres as a minimum, also with banks pursuing an easy-credit policy, 3.5 million acres of western land was sold. Events like this made people debate about how the price of land should be. -
Depression that struck the U.S.
Another example of sections fighting, which would later cause high sectional tensions, is the westerners wanting to go to war because they were suffering an agricultural depression. Prices were falling partly due to the ever declining loss of foreign markets of the British. Poor means of transportation also affected the westerners. They wanted to go to war because they believed if Britain lost, the seas would be free, and income would increase. -
The Panic of 1819
Issues with the bank led to inflation and when a depression struck the country in 1819, the country was hard pressed. The North opposed the national bank, mostly because of that particular proposal and not because of the actual bank, and the other sections supported it. The collapse occasioned by the Panic of 1819 produced further opposition to the institution in the West. -
Issue of tariffs
At first, every section supported high duties, but eventually the South rejected it completely. The Southerners increased the prices of everything they bought. They exported most of their cotton and tobacco so high duties on imports limited the foreign market for southern staples by inhibiting exchange. The West was divided on this issue, and the North supported the high duties because manufacturers and factory workers wanted protection from inexpensive foreign-made products. -
Missouri Compromise
In 1817 Missouri petitioned for statehood, however if Missouri were to become a state it would become a slave state which would create an unequal number of slave states and free states. It was finally decided that Missouri would become a slave state and another state would be added, called Maine, as a free state. It also banned slavery from part of the Louisiana Territory. This further divided the country between slave states and free states.
