1817

  

February 17: Municipal lighting is turned on in Baltimore, one hour after sunset. Lamplighters hurried from post to post, touching off each gas jet by hand.

 

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The “existence of parties is not necessary to free government.” 

March 4: The phrase, the “Era of Good Feelings,” was coined by a Federalist newspaper in Boston in 1817. By this time, Republicans had come to accept the need for a national bank, and supported a protective tariff. 

James Monroe’s inaugural address, according to Ammon, was “badly read in an almost inaudible voice.” Monroe called for an effort to construct a national system of roads and canals, with “constitutional sanction.” He hoped to foster American manufacturing, to free us from dependence on foreign imports; and he advocated improvement of the nation’s defenses. 

He entered office believing that the “existence of parties is not necessary to free government,” and he made eliminating them a primary goal. In the spring of 1817, the new president announced that he would tour the New England states – and did so, traveling as a private citizen, at his own expense, and without a private escort. 

Monroe made himself completely accessible to all parties and went out of his way to show respect to former Federalist leaders. Monroe was the ideal person to undertake this reconciliation. Most men immediately liked him, although he never aroused the same kind of enthusiasm which Jefferson could among his associates. In spite of his rather formal manners, Monroe had a rare ability of putting men at ease by his courtesy, his lack of condescension, his frankness and by what his contemporaries looked upon as his essential goodness and kindness of heart. These traits seem not only vague, but rather unexciting, yet they were the ones most commonly stressed by the people who knew him.

 

Abigail Adams who met him during the tour, said all “were captivated by his agreeable affability…unassuming manners…[and] his polite attentions to all orders and ranks.” (24/369, 371, 373) 

Monroe particularly enjoyed seeing “Old Ironsides,” which he hoped would be preserved as a national monument. He was hailed, not as a hero, but as a symbol of national unity. Monroe saw himself as head of the nation, not leader of a party. 

Main gun deck of the U.S.S. Constitution.

“Historically,” Ammon explains, “the Republican Party had been bound together as much by a shared fear of Federalism as by a common set of principles.” Ammon notes repeatedly that Monroe was the master of important issues, and led, in part, by his in-depth understanding of the fundamentals. 

He proposed that Congress takes steps to facilitate the introduction of the “arts of civilized life” to the Indians, that the Constitution be amended to authorize federally sponsored internal improvements and to permit the establishment of “seminaries of learning,” and that pensions be provided for veterans of the Revolution. His final suggestion was the most welcome of all to the people and politicians alike – the repeal of the internal taxes levied during the war. (24/387)

 

The new president had already been busy, putting together his administration: 

While Monroe regarded political parties as an anomaly in a democratic state and hoped to facilitate the amalgamation of all parties into one, he was not prepared to go quite so far as to act on Andrew Jackson’s suggestion that Federalist William Drayton of North Carolina be made Secretary of War. Nor was he prepared to endorse George Sullivan’s recommendation of Daniel Webster as Attorney General. He did not think the time was right for such an advanced step, although he agreed with Jackson that many Federalists who had rallied to the government during the war merited recognition. However, many others still cherished “principles unfriendly to our system of government,” of which the Hartford convention had furnished adequate proof. (24/357)

 

John Quincy Adams admired Monroe’s ability to carefully listen to and to evaluate advice, which Adams felt was a quality “which in so high a place is an infallible test of a great mind.” (24/362) 

All of his cabinet heads remained with him for eight years, save Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin W. Crowninshield. Vice President Daniel Tompkins had serious financial problems and found comfort in the bottle. “On the rare occasion when he presided over the Senate, he was often drunk.” (24/365)

 

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April 28-29: The Rush-Bagot Agreement is reached, banning naval armaments on the Great Lakes, save for customs purposes. The agreement was made by Richard Rush and Sir Charles Bagot. (24/345, 349)