ABSTRACT
The periods of the James Monroe presidency—hailed as the "Era of Good Feelings" because of the restoration of American confidence after the War of 1812, the cessation of inter-party rancor after the functional collapse of the Federalist party, and the almost unanimous electoral college vote for Monroe in his reelection of 1820—and that of John Quincy Adams and the "Jacksonian" presidents—Andrew Jackson himself and his chosen successor Martin Van Buren—are not, to be sure, a continuum. The general subject areas that the history of the period 1817-1840 indicates for purposes should be considered are these: governing socio-politico-economic principles; federalism, sectionalism, and the growth of federal and overall governmental power; growth of executive branch power; democratization, citizen rights and law, and developments in political life; economic policy, and the rise of the working class; military power, nationalism, and expansionism; socio-cultural developments and intellectual currents; and voluntary associations, popular movements, and the emergence of the Whigs.
