The debates on tariff and public improvements of 1824 indicated a
speedy termination of the era of good feeling and a return to some
kind of political parties. This was to be accomplished not by a revival
of the old Federalists and Republicans, but by a division in the ranks
of the leaders. The Republicans, as has been pointed out in preceding
pages, were so transformed as to be scarcely recognisable. Only an
occasional veto and a conservative minority stood between old party
principles and the desires of an expanding people and the demands of
growing industries. The old Republicans were bewildered by the onward
march of events under the hand of compulsion. Familiar landmarks had
disappeared.
"We have our bank," complained one writer, "our standing army, our
permanent navy, with all the officers, sub-officers, and their
connections, ramified throughout the whole nation, all of which appears
to me to be of a piece and in direct hostility with the liberties of the
people. The people seem contented with the government's pursuing a
policy which in 1800 caused a complete revolution."
The announcement of the Monroe doctrine and the culmination of
"Americanism" were contemporary with the cessation of party spirit.
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