The ¡°Era of Good Feelings¡± was the period in U.S. history when people were stimulated by two events of 1816, during the presidency of James Madison: the enactment of the first U.S. protective tariff and the establishment of the second National Bank. With the decline of the Federalists the United States was a one-party state on the national level; heading the Democratic-Republicans. Under the surface, however, vast sectional issues were shaping themselves, and personal rivalries also were gathering strength to break loose in the campaign of 1824.
             Nationalism was a very important quality of this era in time. To Americans, the War of 1812 was viewed as a second war of independence. They were proud that their united nation had stood up to the British. The feeling of patriotism stayed steady into the 1820¡¯s. Document C shows how Americans were still celebrating how united their nation was, even though it was four years after the end of the war. Another thing that helped unify the U.S. was the Tariff Act of 1816. As the first complete protective tariff, it was principally intended to promote the production of textiles, hats, leather, paper, and cabinetwork. Even people like John Calhoun, who would normally be against any type of tariff, supported this. He wanted to bind the country together by building roads and canals, rather than making things worse by causing ¡°disunity¡± (Doc. B). This was all part of Henry Clay¡¯s ¡®American System¡¯, which included support for a high tariff to protect, maintenance of high public land prices, preservation of the Bank of the United States, and development of a system of internal improvements (such as roads and canals) which would knit the nation together and be financed by the tariff and land sales revenues. In 1816, the Second Bank of the United States was created to satisfy the need for a central fiscal agent. Of course, critics again decried the Bank¡¯...