[USA] - 5th President of the USA James Monroe - Part 2

James Monroe	Birth: 28 April 1758
	Died: 4 July 1831
	Party: Democratic-Republican
	Presidency: 1817 ~ 1825
	Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins
	Nickname: Last of the Cocked Hats Last president who has served as an officer during the Revolutionary War

 

● McCulloch vs Maryland

The first Bank of the United States was created in 1791 as George Washington authorizes the bill of the creation of a federal bank.

Alexander Hamilton has stretched the necessity of the federal bank to control governmental finance and the country’s economy.

 

 

After the War of 1812, the US government was financially depleted. Financiers like Joh Jacob Astor claimed the demand of a new federal bank. In 1816, the second Bank of the United States was opened.

The Maryland state attempted to tax the Second Bank of the United States. However, the cashier of the Baltimore branch James W. McCulloch refused the taxation.

 

 

 

The Maryland state put James McCulloch on court and the McCulloch vs Maryland case ended up at the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Maryland cannot tax the Second Bank of the United States.

This case recognized the federal government’s authority by the ‘Implied Power’ based on the constitution. John Marshall’s ruling includes the below.

 

 

“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”[1]

 

● The American System and the Cumberland Road

As America expanded and the demand in infrastructure increased, the controversies of required roles between the federal government and state governments increased.

Henry Clay and John Calhoun proposed the ‘American System’ which was a project to build roads and canals for better transportation.

 

Henry Clay

 

To financially support the ‘American System’ project, Henry Clay suggested to put tariff on imported products which would help encourage domestic product consumption as well. James Monroe worried that such construction maybe an abuse of constitutional power. However, James Monroe did approve the American System project.

 

 

James Monroe however initially vetoed (this was his only veto during his presidency, he did consider vetoing to the Missouri Compromise and the American System but eventually after consideration he didn’t) Cumberland Road extension however he signs the extension on 1825.

 

 

The Cumberland Road was also named the ‘National Road’ as it was the first highway built by the federal government although later on, maintenance depended on the state governments.

It became the road for settlers in the west extending from Cumberland Maryland to Vandalia Illinois when construction was finished.

 

 

● The Missouri Compromise

In 1819, the people of Missouri applied for statehood to the congress. However, despite the ban on slavery trade by the US government, the significance of slavery in terms of the Southern part of America’s economy limited the ban of slavery throughout the whole country.

The ‘free’ states couldn’t tolerate slavery and trades spreading throughout the country.

 

 

The Missouri region also depended on slavery for its economy and the federal government worried as this would make the number of slavery states more than the free states. However, Maine also applied for statehood and Maine was highly likely to join as a free state.

 

 

If Maine also joined statehood, including Missouri, there would be 12 states each for the free states and the slavery states. By the last moment, James Monroe considered to obsolete the Missouri Compromise against slavery.

 

 

However, the southern slave states proposed to ban slavery north of Louisiana 36° 30′ and James Monroe knew that the Southern states would prepare for a civil war if he doesn’t’ t agree to the compromise.

After consideration, James Monroe signs the Missouri Compromise on 6 March 1820.

 

 

● The Mason and Dixon Line & Slavery in the New States

 The Mason and Dixon Line was originally a remnant of Great Britain’s governance of the American colonies. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon took an expedition to set the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

After Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon set the ‘Mason and Dixon Line’ which was 39° 43′ latitude, the king of England declared this the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

 

 

However, the Mason and Dixon line became a symbol of the division of the free states and the slavery states later on in the Civil War.

Raw materials grown by agriculture, plantations and the slavery labor that sustained them was the crucial economic foundation in the South.

 

 

However, in the north starting from the New England factories, manufacturing started to dominate the economy.

Due to such differences, the states in the north and the south started to worry the political dominance within congress and federal level as well.

 

● Regionalism

There was a total of 24 state after 1821. After the Missouri Compromise, there was a equal number of free states and slavery states.

However, as manufacturing became the dominant economic factor while agriculture and slavery remained the dominant economic engine in the south, the political stance between the north and south started to significantly diverge.

 

 

For the northern free states, slavery was inhumane and ban on slavery had no impact on the economy.

However, for the southern slavery states, slaves themselves were an important financial asset and the labor was mandatory to sustain the massive productions of their plantations including cotton.

(The invention of cotton gin allowed such vast cotton plantation expansion).

 

 

Also, for the north, tariffs for imported goods and cheap raw material was mandatory to increase net profit.

However, for the southern states, regardless of the origin of manufacture, cheaper products and higher raw material costs increased their net profit.

 

 

● The Monroe Doctrine   

 

 

After accepting John Quincy Adams’s advice on consolidating the US government’s position against the European powers, James Monroe delvers a speech on the 2nd of December 1823.

This speech became the foundation of the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ that would guide the United States even throughout the Cuban missile crisis and present days.

 

It was also a symbol that the US government settled internal affairs and stabilize its domestic status that was solid enough to pursue national interest overboard.

James’ Monroe’s speech to the congress implied that (1)the United states shall not intervene with other European country’s internal affairs (2)the United States acknowledges the authority of already existing colonies in the Western hemisphere (3) however, the United States will not allow further colonization in the Western Hemisphere and the United States shall respond to any action for further colonization.

 

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[1] McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision & Significance - History. https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland.