CHAPTER III
THE MONROE ADMINISTRATIONS—1817 TO 1825
ERA OF GOOD FEELING—JEFFERSON'S OLD AGE
Is nature's secretary, the philosopher
And wily statesman."
We have seen how, on the eve of James Monroe's election to the Presidency, Jefferson had written to advise a change of policy towards England, acts of comity rather than commemorations of hatred. These seeds of good counsel fell on good ground, and on the whole Monroe's two administrations from 1817 to 1825 were correctly designated as 'The Era of Good Feeling' at home and abroad. The words, it appears, were first used by the Boston Sentinel in July, 1817, when the President's visit to the fortress of Federalism was promoting good will and allaying the party passions which had been kindled by the fire and fury of the French Revolution. The Federalists indeed must have felt that their day was over; for at the presidential election their candidate, Rufus King, had received but 34 votes against 183 for Monroe. Only three states, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware, had chosen Federalist electors. And so it came about that with the subsidence of party conflict this phrase was generally adopted as the symbol of Monroe's government.
Has called 'the era of good feeling,'"
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