After the War of 1812 (1812-1815), there was a significant rise in nationalism. This led to the Era of Good Feeling. After the war was over, there were huge economic consequences. After the war was over, both U.S. exports and imports rose dramatically. American goods found Europe were in great demand.
“European demands for American goods, especially staples like flour, cotton, and tobacco increased.” It was necessary to expand the land available to satisfy them. Due to a lack of territory, expansion was required. It was a time when paper money became less common. It was easy to get credit by borrowing bank notes. To help people collect on their credit and buy more land to farm, banks would pay out in gold or silver. People wanted land and so banks started paying them. Banks had to stop paying them when they took all of the gold and silver from banks. Due to a combination between the halt on payment and “Swelling crops yields in Europe,” which “reduced American farmer products demand”, the Panic began and the Depression followed. Many American banks were unable to pay their specie obligations and many other businesses succumbed. Public lands sales fell by a lot. Unemployment rose, and in certain regions food and other essentials were hard to come by.” The economy was suffering, but there was also political turmoil in the United States. The Missouri Territory was being considered for inclusion in the United States’ southern region. The Missouri Territory became a US slave state. But the southern states did not object to it. “Eventually, Speaker Henry Clay, Speaker of Congress, engineered the Missouri Compromise in March 1820: Congress admitted Missouri to the US as a slave state and granted Maine, which was previously a part Massachusetts, as a free, independent state.
Furthermore, the agreement provided that all of Louisiana Territory above the 36deg30’parallel–the Southern boundary of Missouri—-was to be exempt from slavery. The Missouri Crisis marked the beginning and end of sectionalization of national politics. The Era of Good Feeling began with a booming economy and farming, but soon fell into depression as demand decreased and banks collapsed. This led to the US political system experiencing a crisis, which caused the Era’s fall.