So, Monroe was the only presidential candidate in the election of 1820. He received the vote of every elector, except for one. William Plumer of New Hampshire voted for John Quincy Adams. He explained later that George Washington had been the only president to get all the electoral votes. Plumer said he did not want anyone to share this honor given to Washington.
Monroe's first four years as president had been successful. He had increased the size of the United States. Florida was now part of the country. And the problem of slavery had been temporarily settled. There had been economic problems—some of the worst in the nation's history. But the situation was getting better.
And the nation was growing. As it grew, new problems developed between its different sections. There were really three separate areas with very different interests.
The northeastern states had become the industrial center of the nation. The southern states were agricultural with large farms that produced cotton, rice and tobacco. Much of the work on these farms was done by slave labor.
The western states were areas of small farms where grain was produced with free labor. It was a place where the land did not cost much and where people could make a new start, and build a new life.
This division of the nation into different sections with opposing interests ended the one-party system of Monroe's administration. The industrial Northeast wanted high taxes on imported products to protect its industry from foreign competition. This part of the country also believed the national government should pay for roads and waterways to get their products to markets.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
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2013-11-25