By any criteria the years following the Peace of Ghent, a period inaugurated by what has been superficially called "the era of good feelings," must be considered a time of exceptional growth and development in the United States. [Editors' Introduction]

Peace with Great Britain was proclaimed in Washington on February 18, 1815; and with the passing of the War of 1812, the shadow of political Europe withdrew from the scene which it had darkened and confused for many years, and a new light seemed to fall upon the map of the United States. [Chapter 1]