<P> The phrase Era of Good Feelings was coined by Benjamin Russell, in the Boston Federalist newspaper, Columbian Centinel, on July 12, 1817, following Monroe's visit to Boston, Massachusetts, as part of his good - will tour of the United States . </P> <P> ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS During the late Presidential Jubilee many persons Have met at festive boards, in pleasant conversation, Centinel, July 12, 1817, introducing the term "Era of Good Feelings" </P> <P> The Era of Good Feelings started in 1815 in the mood of victory that swept the nation at the end of the War of 1812 . Exultation replaced the bitter political divisions between Federalists and Republicans, the North and South, and the East Coast cities and settlers on the American frontier . The political hostilities declined because the Federalist Party had largely dissolved after the fiasco of the Hartford Convention in 1814--15 . As a party, Federalists "had collapsed as a national political force". The Democratic - Republican Party was nominally dominant, but in practice it was inactive at the national level and in most states . </P> <P> The era saw a trend toward nationalization that envisioned "a permanent federal role in the crucial arena of national development and national prosperity". Monroe's predecessor, President James Madison, and the Republican Party, had come to appreciate--through the crucible of war--the expediency of Federalist institutions and projects, and prepared to legislate them under the auspices of John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay's American System . </P>

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