The period covered in this chapter was marked by definition and expansion. Having achieved political independence, Americans struggled to achieve cultural independence as well, and this search for self-identity touched almost every phase of the nation's life. "American" tastes in music, literature, and art developed. Religious bodies with ties to colonial ways declined as the Second Great Awakening swept America. The global process of industrialization began to have an impact in the United States while technology, unrestrained by mercantile regulations, expanded to solve problems that were particularly American. Meanwhile American politics began to take on characteristics and respond to needs with little precedent in European systems. At the center of this activity, at times leading it and at times being led, was Thomas Jefferson, a president whose versatility seemed to mirror the diversity of the nation. A pragmatic politician, Jefferson was also a committed idealist⎯one who deserves to be the symbol of the age that bears his name. The War of 1812 did more than test the army and navy of the United States⎯it tested the nation's ability to survive deep internal divisions that threatened America's independence as surely as did the forces of Great Britain. Hoping to keep his nation out of war, Jefferson followed a policy that kept the peace but raised fears among his political enemies. The rest of the nation, feeling that Britain was insulting its sovereignty, rallied to the president. In the end, these divisions, although they hampered the war effort, did not survive the conflict, and the United States entered the postwar period with a new sense of nationalism.