Chapter 8 stuff

Tariff of 1816 After the war, British competitors dumped their goods onto America at cheap prices. America responded with the Tariff of 1816, the first in U.S. history designed for protection It put a 20-25% tariff on dutiable imports.

Panic of 1819 In 1819, a paralyzing economic panic engulfed the U.S., bringing deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and overcrowded debtors’ prisons. A major cause of the panic had been over speculation in land prices, where the Bank of the United States fell heavily into debt. The West was especially hard hit, and the Bank of the U.S. was soon viewed with anger. There was also attention against the debtors, where, in a few overplayed cases, mothers owing a few dollars were torn away from their infants by the debtors. Americans had also increased their consumption of English woolen and cotton goods In 1818 Farmers and planters faced an abrupt 30% drop in world agriculture prices The prices in SC fell from 34 to 15c a point and as Britain closed the West Indies to American Trade, wheat prices plummeted as well. Farmers couldn’t pay debts.

Commonwealth system The republican system of political economy created by state governments by 1820, whereby states funneled aid to private businesses whose projects would improve the general welfare.

Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. Admission of Missouri as a slave state would upset that balance; it would also set a precedent for congressional agreement in the expansion of slavery. Earlier in 1819, when Missouri was being organized as a territory, Representative James Tallmadge of New York had proposed an amendment that would ultimately have ended slavery there. This effort was defeated, as was a similar effort by Representative John Taylor of New York regarding Arkansas Territory.

Continued… The extraordinarily bitter debate over Missouri's application for admission ran from December 1819 to March 1820. Northerners, led by Senator Rufus King of New York, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in a new state. Southerners like Senator William Pinckney of Maryland held that new states had the same freedom of action as the original thirteen and were thus free to choose slavery if they wished. After the Senate and the House passed different bills and deadlock threatened, a compromise bill was worked out with the following provisions: (1) Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) as free (2) Except for Missouri, slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30.

Continued… The Missouri Compromise was criticized by many southerners because it established the principle that Congress could make laws regarding slavery. Northerners condemned it for conceding in the expansion of slavery (though only south of the compromise line). Nevertheless, the act helped hold the Union together for more than thirty years. It was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which established popular sovereignty (local choice) regarding slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, though both were north of the compromise line. In 1857, the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, on the ground that Congress was prohibited by the Fifth Amendment from depriving individuals of private property without due process of law.

2nd Great Awakening 1790 The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. It began in 1800 in New England, New York, Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of the religious revivals in the West occurred as camp meetings and also served as social gatherings with the opportunity to trade. It differed to the first as the focus of the revival meetings moved from traditional evangelism and conversion, to recruiting people into different denominations

Continued… It sought to awaken the consciences of people. It sought to change the beliefs and lifestyles of people by the adoption of virtues such as temperance, frugality and the ethic of hard work. It also sought to awaken people to the plight of the less fortunate in society, such as slaves, convicts and the handicapped, and work to make their lives better. Many of the preachers believed that the Gospel not only saved people, but also it was a means to reform society. The enthusiastic preachers believed that every person could be saved through revivals The Second Great Awakening spread across both the Northern and Southern states but there were differences in focus and in interpretation. In the North, the movement resulted in the creation of voluntary, reformist societies, which led directly to the anti-slavery abolitionist movement. In the South, white evangelicals began to preach that the Bible supported slavery, a notion that was in the interests of the Slave Plantations. The First Great Awakening had brought Christianity to the African slaves, the second brought the message of spiritual equality, a conviction that there would be deliverance from slavery and a rise in the number of black preachers.