Editing Democratic-Republican Party (section)

===Monroe and Era of Good Feelings, 1817–1825===
{{Further|Presidency of James Monroe}}
[[File:James Monroe White House portrait 1819.jpg|thumb|[[James Monroe]], 5th President of the United States (1817–1825)]]
[[File:ElectoralCollege1824.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Four Democratic-Republicans sought the presidency in 1824: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay.]]
Monroe believed that the existence of political parties was harmful to the United States,{{sfnp|Howe|pp=93–94}} and he sought to usher in the end of the Federalist Party by avoiding divisive policies and welcoming ex-Federalists into the fold.{{sfnp|Cunningham|1996|pp=19–21}} Monroe favored infrastructure projects to promote economic development and, despite some constitutional concerns, signed bills providing federal funding for the [[National Road]] and other projects.<ref name="JM:DA">{{Cite web |url=https://millercenter.org/president/monroe/domestic-affairs |title=James Monroe: Domestic Affairs |author-first1=Daniel|author-last1=Preston|date=October 4, 2016 |publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia |access-date=February 22, 2017}}</ref> Partly due to the mismanagement of national bank president [[William Jones (statesman)|William Jones]], the country experienced a prolonged economic recession known as the [[Panic of 1819]].{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=206–207}} The panic engendered a widespread resentment of the national bank and a distrust of [[banknote|paper money]] that would influence national politics long after the recession ended.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=209–210, 251–252}} Despite the ongoing economic troubles, the Federalists failed to field a serious challenger to Monroe in the [[1820 United States presidential election|1820 presidential election]], and Monroe won re-election essentially unopposed.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|p=217}}

During the proceedings over the admission of [[Missouri Territory]] as a state, Congressman [[James Tallmadge, Jr.]] of New York "tossed a bombshell into the Era of Good Feelings" by proposing amendments providing for the eventual exclusion of slavery from Missouri.{{sfnp|Howe|2007|p=147}} The amendments sparked the first major national [[slavery in the United States|slavery]] debate since the ratification of the Constitution,{{sfnp|Cunningham|1996|pp=28–29}} and instantly exposed the [[Sectionalism|sectional]] polarization over the issue of slavery.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2004|p=376|ps=: "[T]he sectional divisions among the Jeffersonian Republicans...offers historical paradoxes...in which hard-line slaveholding Southern Republicans rejected the egalitarian ideals of the slaveholder [Thomas] Jefferson while the antislavery Northern Republicans upheld them – even as Jefferson himself supported slavery's expansion on purportedly antislavery grounds.}} Northern Democratic-Republicans formed a coalition across partisan lines with the remnants of the Federalist Party in support of the amendments, while Southern Democratic-Republicans were almost unanimously against such the restrictions.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2004|pp=380, 386}} In February 1820, Congressman [[Jesse B. Thomas]] of [[Illinois]] proposed [[Missouri Compromise|a compromise]], in which Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, but slavery would be excluded in the remaining [[Territories of the United States|territories]] north of the [[parallel 36°30′ north]].{{sfnp|Cunningham|1996|pp=101–103}} A bill based on Thomas's proposal became law in April 1820.{{sfnp|Cunningham|1996|pp=103–104}}

By 1824, the Federalist Party had largely collapsed as a national party, and the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]] was waged by competing members of the Democratic-Republican Party.{{sfnp|Parsons|2009|pages=70–72}} The party's congressional nominating caucus was largely ignored, and candidates were instead nominated by state legislatures.{{sfnp|Parsons|2009|pages=79–86}} Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, former Speaker of the House Henry Clay, Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, and General [[Andrew Jackson]] emerged as the major candidates in the election.{{sfnp|Kaplan|2014|pages=386–389}} The regional strength of each candidate played an important role in the election; Adams was popular in New England, Clay and Jackson were strong in the West, and Jackson and Crawford competed for the South.{{sfnp|Kaplan|2014|pages=386–389}}

As no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote in the 1824 election, the House of Representatives held a [[contingent election]] to determine the president.{{sfnp|Kaplan|2014|pages=391–393, 398}} Clay personally disliked Adams but nonetheless supported him in the contingent election over Crawford, who opposed Clay's nationalist policies, and Jackson, whom Clay viewed as a potential tyrant.{{efn|Clay himself was not eligible in the contingent election because the House could only choose from the top-three candidates in the electoral vote tally. Clay finished a close fourth to Crawford in the electoral vote.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=254–255}}}} With Clay's backing, Adams won the contingent election.{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=254–255}} After Clay accepted appointment as Secretary of State, Jackson's supporters claimed that Adams and Clay had reached a "[[Corrupt Bargain]]" in which Adams promised Clay the appointment in return for Clay's support in the contingent election.{{sfnp|Kaplan|2014|pages=391–393, 398}} Jackson, who was deeply angered by the result of the contingent election, returned to Tennessee, where the state legislature quickly nominated him for president in the [[1828 United States presidential election|1828 election]].{{sfnp|Wilentz|2005|pp=256–257}}