James Monroe was the last of the quartet of Virginia Presidents which
had begun with George Washington. He was elected after serving as
Madison’s Secretary of State, but before that he had fought in the
Revolution, sat in the Continental Congress, been a Senator, a governor,
and a minister to France. His term as President is known as the Era of
Good Feeling because of the absence of serious problems to divide the
country. It was a period of rapid growth as settlers pushed west and the
beginnings of the industrial revolution began to change the East.
During the early decades of the nineteenth century the wilderness across
the Allegheny Mountains began to fill up with farmers. Throughout
Jefferson’s administration there were occasional skirmishes with the
Indians, but gradually the Indians were pushed out of their traditional
hunting grounds. While Madison was President, the Shawnee chief
Tecumseh, who had attempted to organize Indian resistance, was crushed
by William Henry Harrison in the Battle of Tippecanoe. Meantime, Ohio
had become a state in 1803, and in 1816, the year that James Monroe was
elected President, Indiana was admitted to the Union. Two years later,
Illinois joined the growing Union.
In the selections reprinted in this part of _The Jeffersonians_ we have
chosen four pieces that show various aspects of life in the Mississippi
Valley. Here you will find examples of farm life, religion, and politics
in the new states west of the mountains.