ard movement is described in various chapters of volumes
IV and V of McMaster, _History of the People of the United
States_. The significance of the movement is best explained in F.
J. Turner, _Rise of the New West, 1819-1829_ (in _The American
Nation_, vol. 14, 1906), which contains also excellent chapters on
the social and economic life of the different sections of the
country. The highways and waterways to the West are described in
A. B. Hurlbert, _Historic Highways of America_ (10 vols.,
1902-05). A summary account of the development of transportation
is given in J. L. Ringwalt, _Development of Transportation Systems
in the United States_ (1888). Among the biographies which
contribute materially to an understanding of the new West may be
mentioned Theodore Roosevelt, _Thomas H. Benton_ (1887), and James
Parton, _Life of Andrew Jackson_ (3 vols., 1860). Edward
Eggleston, _The Circuit Rider_ (1888), and the _Autobiography of
Peter Cartwright_ (1856), touch upon important aspects of frontier
life. The importance of the German element in American history is
admirably set forth in Faust, _The German Element in the United
States_ (2 vols., 1909). The spread of New Englanders in the West
is described by L. K. Mathews, _The Expansion of New England_
(1909). The diplomatic negotiations which resulted in the cession
of Florida are reviewed by F. E. Chadwick, _The Relations of the
United States and Spain_ (1909).

CHAPTER XV

HARD TIMES

The phrase "era of good feelings" applied to the Administration of
President Monroe is a misnomer. It is descriptive neither of politics
nor of business and industry, for the historic Democratic party was all
but rent by bitter personal animosities, and the country was prostrated
by a severe industrial crisis.

The first symptoms of hard times appeared in the early months of the
year 1819. Undoubtedly the causes of the crisis were world-wide; but
local conditions go far to explain the industrial collapse in the United
States. All indications point to the conclusion that the country was
experiencing the inevitable reaction from a period of too rapid
commercial expansion and of unsound speculation. The high prices of
commodities after the war had given a sort of fictitious prosperity to
industry and trade, and had encouraged unduly the spirit of commercial
enterprise. On cre