Document 1 (for) – The Treaty of Ghent, signed between American and Great Britain in 1814, shows very clearly that there was an Era of Good Feelings in the United States. This is because with the signing of the treaty, Americans began to see in themselves national pride as, once again, they won a war against Great Britain, they finally began to be recognized as a (semi)powerful nation by the rest of Europe. For the first time since the Revolution, people began to feel pride in being American.
Document 2 (against) - James C. Calhoun’s speech to congress on February 4th, 1817 shows the opposite of what Doc 1 showed. With the victory of the war of 1812 came a period of immense expansion. While this in itself shows the EGF, Calhoun argues that the farther we expand, the harder it is to govern, thus, we should do one of two things: (a) not expand west or (b) take it slowly.
Document 3 (for) – The picture shown as Document 3 portrays an immense amount of American nationalism. This is because, as stated before, America had once again defeated a major world super-power and this they began to believe that anything was possible and began to feel immense pride in their young country (as it’s shown in the party being thrown by (almost) all Americans to celebrate victory).
Document 4 (for) – The decision of the Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland shows again an Era of Good Feelings....
