1789 – 1800

Alexander HamiltonHe was one of the youngest and most brilliant of the Founding Fathers, who might have been president but for his ultraconservatism, a scandalous adultery, and a duelist’s bullet. Hamilton favored a strong central government with a weak legislature to unify the infant nation and encourage industry. His chief rival, Thomas Jefferson, who extolled states’ rights as a bulwark of liberty and thought the United States should remain an agricultural society, regarded Hamilton as a monarchist plotter and never forgave him for insisting that “the British Govt. was the best in the world: and that he doubted much whether any thing short of it would do in America.”

Hamilton• Born in West Indies• Served as Washington’s aid in the Revolution• Wanted to concentrate debt in the national

government• Way to monitor/regulate state banks• Modeled after Bank of England

• “Make debt an asset for vitalizing the financial system as well as the government itself” p 203

• Urged Congress to “fund” the entire national debt “at par” and to assume completely the debts incurred by the states during the recent war• Wide speculation of bonds

Strict vs. Loose Interpretation

• Hamilton’s Views:o What was not forbidden in the Constitution was permitted.o A bank was “Necessary and Proper”o He evolved the Elastic Clause – Congress has power to “make all laws

necessary and proper to carry out its function”• Jefferson’s Views:

o What was not permitted was forbidden.o A bank should be a state controlled item (9th Am.)o The Constitution should be interpreted literally and strictly

Bank of the US• Hamilton won• Bank of the United States created in 1791 –

chartered for 20 yearso Located in Philadelphiao Capital of $10 milliono Stocks open to public sale

Whiskey Rebellion• Excise Tax approved by Congress 1791 - 7 cents

on a gallon of Whiskey

Whiskey Rebellion• 1794 farmers in western Pennsylvania revolt• Challenged the new national government• Washington summons state militias

o 13,000 troops appear• Significance: government strengthened• Some argue the force was too much

Foreign Affairs• France

o French Revolutiono Some favored honoring the

Franco-American alliance of 1778

o Washington and Hamilton push for delay and favor inaction

o Neutrality Proclamation 1793 – America is neutral and urges citizens to impartial as well

• Jeffersonians = Pro-French

• Federalists = Pro-British

• Jeffersonians upset because WA passes Neutrality without consulting Congress

• Citizen Genet

Foreign AffairsBritain Jay’s Treaty 1795

• Strained relations• British troops still in

NW Territory• Begin to impress

sailors and seize American ships

• British agree to pay damages for lost cargo

• Evacuate military posts in west

• Did avoid war

• But never pledged to stop seizing ships or impressing sailors

• Trading rights for neutral nations were not protected

SpainPinckney Treaty 1795

• Treaty gave Americans free navigation of the Mississippi and large part of northern Florida

• 31 Parallel boundary with Florida

Political Parties Emerge

Federalists Democratic-Republicans• Who: Hamilton,

Washington, Adams• Where: Northeast• Issues: strong central

government, pro-business

• Loose Interpretation• Pro-British

• Who: Jefferson and Madison

• Where: South and West

• Issues: States rights and small farmers

• Strict Interpretation• Pro-French

Farewell from Washington

• Warns against binding, permanent alliances• Condemned political parties

John Adams• Member of the Continental Congress• Attorney From Massachusetts• Served as a diplomat to France during American

Revolution• VP under Washington

• Hamilton favored at first but falls out of favor due to financial policies that benefitted speculators

Election of 1796• Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) ran against

Adams for Presidency• Adams wins majority vote = Federalist (71)• Jefferson becomes VP = Democratic Republican

(68)

• This two-party combination was addressed with the Twelfth Amendment (1804)

Quasi-War with France• French angered by Jay’s Treaty and seize

American ships• Adams sends diplomats to Paris• French foreign minister refuses to meet with

delegation• XYZ Affair – 3 officials offer bribe of $250,000 to

meet with officials• Wave of patriotism and anti-French sentiment

“Unofficial fighting with France”

• Americans and French skirmish in Caribbean• No declaration of war• DR still sympathetic to French• Federalist Congress passes legislation to suppress

opposition to war against France

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

• 3 aimed at foreigners (leaned to DR Party)o President could expel any foreigner deemed a threat to the nationo Foreigners could be deported or jailed by President during war timeo Residency for citizenship extended from 5 to 14 years

• Sedition Act o Highly controversialo Limited free speech:

• Illegal to defame or criticize President or Government• Aimed at newspapers critical of federalists and war critics• Is it a violation of the First Amendment?

o 10 Jeffersonian editors tried and convicted o Matthew Lyon (the Spitting Lion)

• Federalists intentionally write law to expire in 1801 to ensure it would not be used against them in the chance of losing the election

Impact• Federalists believe war was imminent• Jeffersonians saw it as proof that individual

liberties were at stake in the hands of a strong central government

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

• State legislatures pass legislation in response to taxes on citizens

• States could judge constitutionality of laws passed by Congress

• If national government overstepped its powers, states could nullify laws

• Authors anonymous at first because fear of retribution of Sedition Act

• James Madison wrote VA’s Resolution• Thomas Jefferson wrote KY’s Resolution

• President had signed laws and VP writing resolutions to upturn same legislation

Native Americans• Henry Knox (WA’s Sec of War) implements policy

of assimilation• Somewhat successful• Belief that American culture was superior to

Indian culture• Many Natives used traditional and European

items in daily life• Still many white Americans saw Native Americans

in Ohio Valley as a barrier to settlement in the West

• Northwest Territory organized by land ordinances under Articles of Confederation

• Violence existed because US never negotiated with Natives for access to land

• Natives defeat Americans in two skirmishes, one killing more than 600 whites

Native Americans• British, in defiance of Treaty of Paris, still occupy

forts in NW and supply Natives to help resist Americans

• 1794: Battle of Fallen Timbers – General “Mad” Anthony Wayneo Defeat the Miamis, British refuse to shelter Miamis so they seek peace

with Americans

• Treaty of Greenvilleo Give up tracts in Old Northwest (IN, OH)o Natives receive - $20,000, annual annuity of $9,000, right to hunt,

recognition of their sovereign statuso Establishes US as dominant power and opens Ohio Valley to US

settlement

Key Concept: Dividing governmental power

• Should the government be allowed to pass legislation like the Alien and Sedition Acts? During wartime?

• Does the Bill of Rights go far enough, or too far, in protecting civil liberties?

• How strong should the central government be in relation to the states?

Age of Jefferson1800 – 1815

Election of 1800• Federalists were split as President Adams sought

peace with France• The Press attacked Adams as a monarchist

attacking individual liberties; Hamilton’s pamphlet published by JDR’s

• Jefferson attacked as well; atheist, radical, Sally Hemings

Presidential Election of 1800

(with electoral vote by state)

•New York was the key state in this election, and Aaron Burr helped swing it away from the Federalists with tactics that anticipated the political “machines” of a later day. Federalists complained that Burr “travels every night from one meeting of Republicans to another, haranguing . . . them to the most zealous exertions. [He] can stoop so low as to visit every low tavern that may happen to be crowded with his dear fellow citizens.” But Burr proved that the price was worth it. “We have beat you,” Burr told kid-gloved Federalists after the election, “by superior Management.”

Election of 1800• Jefferson popular in the South• Aaron Burr gained votes in NY• Problem – Jefferson and Burr tie in Electoral College• Solution – House of Representatives had to chose

winnero Federalists dominate HoRo After several ballots, Jefferson declared winner

• Adams was the last Federalist presidento Unable to yield to American public – unable to evolve, they died

• Jefferson inaugurated in new capital of Washington, D.C. (March 4, 1801)

Impact of the Election of 1800

• Twelfth Amendmento Electors would cast separate votes for president and vice president

• Peaceful transfer of power showed success of American experiment in democracy

Thomas Jefferson• Influenced by the Enlightenment

o Read Greek and Latino Designer and architect – designed Monticelloo Popularized the polygraph which made copies of letterso Shy, over six feet, red hairo Not a great public speaker sent State of the Union to Congress

instead of delivering himself (precedent lasts until Woodrow Wilson)o Often meet visitors in robe and slippers

Jefferson• Early Career in Government

o Member of Continental Congress o authored Declaration of Independenceo Governor of Virginiao Minister to France

A Man of Contradictions

Beliefs/Writings Reality• Value of common man• All Are Equal• Limited government

power• No intermixture

• Monticello and money• Slave owner• Bought Louisiana

• Sally Hemings

“Jeffersonian Restraint”

• Pardons those convicted under Sedition Act• New naturalization law returns years to 5 from 14

to be a citizen• Persuades Congress to repeal Hamilton's excise

taxo Burden to farmerso Bred bureaucracy

• Costs government roughly a million a year

Courts• Adams named several Federalists to positions in

the judiciary • Goal: maintain Federalist influence in the

governmento 12 judges nicknamed the “midnight judges”

William Marbury• Set to become a justice for Washington D.C.• Never received commission• James Madison (new Secretary of State) refused

to deliver commission• Marbury sued Madison

o Claimed Judiciary Act of 1789 required delivery of such documents

Marbury v. Madison• John Marshall (another midnight Adams

appointee) was Chief Justice• He actually failed to deliver the commission • Conundrum: Marshall was a cousin of Jefferson

and knew Jefferson would ignore the ruling if in favor of Marbury

• Significance – the Court would become subservient to the other branches of government

John Marshall on Assuming

the Chief Justiceship, 1801

•Depicted here as a young man, Marshall was destined to serve on the Supreme Court for thirty-four years and deeply molded constitutional law. Born in a log cabin on the Virginia frontier, he attended law lectures for just a few weeks at the College of William and Mary— his only formal education. Yet Marshall would go on to prove himself a brilliant chief justice. One admiring lawyer wrote of him, “His black eyes . . . possess an irradiating spirit, which proclaims the imperial powers of the mind that sits enthroned therein.”

Court Decisions• Madison should deliver the commission, but the

Supreme Court couldn’t force him• The Constitution never gave the Court the power

to issue such rulings• The section of the Judiciary Act granting this

power was unconstitutional

Impact• Short Term:

o Courts lost power to force delivery of commissions• Long Term:

o Established power of Judicial Review

• Judicial Review: power of Courts to review constitutionality of laws

• Significant because it made Supreme Court equal to other branches in the federal government

Pacifist Turned Warrior

• Jefferson reduces militia to 2500 men and navies reduced as well

• Standing armies seen as open invitations to tyrannical rule

• Jefferson’s republican ideals pushed with the emerging problem in the North African Barbary Stateso Pirates looting US shipso 1801 – pasha informally declares war by cutting down flagstaff at

American consulateo Jefferson responds by dispatching gunboats to the “shores of Tripoli”

Tripolitan War• 1801-1805 • Peace treaty - $60,000 (merely ransom for

captive Americans)

• Jefferson enthusiastically calls for 200 gunboats to be builto “Mosquito Fleet” not very sturdyo One ship ends up 8 miles inland in Savannah, Georgiao Federalists mock his decision

Philadelphia• Ship was

captured and set to be used against Americans

• Stephen Decatur burns the ship to the waterline

Louisiana Purchase• 1800 – Napoleon signs pact with Spain to cede

Louisiana territory to France (including Port of New Orleans)

• 1802 – Spaniards deny American farmers right to deposit goods to transport (was guaranteed by Pinckney’s Treaty)

• Spain’s power declining in US• France’s power escalating under Napoleon• Jefferson decides to act quickly

America’s Response• James Monroe sent to Paris to join forces with

Robert Livingston (minister to France)• Instructed to buy as much land as possible to the

east, not to exceed $10 million• Livingston accepts Napoleon’s offer of $15 million

and all the land to the westo Napoleon’s offer stemmed from unrest in Haiti and Napoleon’s desire

to renew war with Britain

Toussaint L’OvertureA self-educated ex-slave and military genius, L’Ouverture was finally betrayed by the French, who imprisoned him in a chilly dungeon in France, where he coughed his life away. Indirectly, he did much to set up the sale of Louisiana to the United States. His slave rebellion in Haiti also (briefly) established the first black government in the New World, striking fear into the hearts of slave-owners throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Louisiana Purchase• April 30, 1803 – Louisiana Purchase finalized• Jefferson, a strict interpreter of the Constitution,

goes against his beliefs to approve LP• Senate approved

o Average 3 cents per acreo Doubled size of US

Impact of Louisiana Purchase

• Precedent of acquiring land through purchase• Avoided possible problems with France

o And consequently an entangling alliance with Britain• Incorporation of new lands into Union as equals• Federal govt accept legal code of French

Louisianao Louisiana legal code based on French civil law, unlike the other states

based on British civil law

The Corps of Discovery

• Jefferson’s secretly convenes Congress to dispatch Lewis and Clarko Jefferson a Deist, fascinated by the West

• Meriwether Lewiso Jefferson’s aide

• William Clarko Army officer

• 27 additional members

The Mission of the Corps

• Scientific Expeditiono Study and survey the land, plants, animalso Determine economic potential

• Study Native American culture and lifestyle; possibly establish a trade network

• Successes:o Detailed observations in journalso Biased descriptions of Natives but informative about lifestyle and

Native cultureo Improved U.S. claim to Oregon country

Aaron Burr• Increasing fear of secession and foreign influence

in the large territory• Burr and other Federalists plot the secession of

New England and New York • Hamilton exposes plot to Jefferson• Burr challenges Hamilton

o Hamilton felt his honor was at stake, accepts challenge but refuses to shoot

o Hamilton dies and with it goes the Federalist’s last hope of effective leadership

• U.S. acquires land but finds it difficult to govern it effectively

Foreign Affairs• Napoleon provokes war with England• Trade suffers

o Orders in Council – closed European ports under French control to foreign shipping unless ships stopped in British ports first

o Napoleon orders seizure of all merchant ships that entered British portso America unable to trade with either nation without facing harsh

consequences

War of 1812: Causes• Trading rights and impressment of American

sailorso War in Europe America neutral and benefits by trading graino 1805 both British and French forces blockade other’s trade and start

seizing American ships• British impressment of sailors

o Pay and conditions were poor for British sailors (some desert to American side)

o Royal Navy searches American ships and forced British sailors to return along with 6,000 Americans

Chesapeake-Leopard Affair

• Chesapeake – US war ship; refuses to be boarded by

• Leopard – British frigate; fire canons at close range and kill 3 Americans and wound others

• Affair angers Americans

• Response – Jefferson passes Embargo Act

Embargo Act (1807)• 1. Prohibited all U.S. exports

o Intent: European reliance on American goods would force recognition of neutral rights

o Result: failure; unemployment rose and policy was unpopular in US

• Madison’s Response (1809)o Loosely supported embargoo Ships still being seizedo Americans turn anger toward British because Britain controlled the

seas

War of 1812: Causes• 2. British support of Native American resistance

to US presence in NW Territoryo Settlers move west and come into conflict with Nativeso Natives angered with American officials negotiating with Indians who

had no authority to speak with American officialso Settlers often violated terms of treaties

• Tecumseh (Shawnee Chief)o An experienced Warrioro Worked with brother; the Propheto Aimed to create an Indian Confederacy of all Indians from Canada to

the American southo Encouraged Indian settlement in towns like Tippecanoe as a challenge

to Americans

Battle of Tippecanoe• William Henry Harrison (Gov of Indiana)

concerned about Indian resistance• The Prophet called for an attack on Harrison’s

forces• Natives were outnumbered and were defeated

and the town was burned• Harrison becomes the hero of Tippecanoe• Tecumseh convinced on necessity of allying with

British to stop American expansion

Conflict in NW Territory

• Natives begin to work more closely with British• Harrison called for war against Indians and British

War of 1812: Causes• 3. election of new congressional members called

War Hawkso Supporters of war with GBo Strongest in South and Westo Henry Clay and John C. Calhouno Some call for annexation of Canada

Declaration of War• Opposition strong in Federalist states like New

York and New England• June 1812 – Madison sends list of grievances to

Congress• June 1812 – Congress issues first declaration of

war• Critics called it “Mr. Madison’s War”

War of 1812• Fighting lasts a little over 2 years• Early on, Americans led unsuccessful invasions of

Canada o Surrender of Fort Detroit

• Oliver Perry defeats British at Put-in-Bay giving Americans control of Lake Eerie

• Tecumseh killed at the Battle of the Thames• Battle of Bladensburg – Americans routed and

British move towards D.C.

War of 1812• 1814 - D.C. unprotected and British burn

Washington including presidential mansion• Britain withdraws from D.C. the following day

after damaging capitol building

Treaty of Ghent• American and British officials meet in Belgium• Agree to end hostilities• Terms restore relations to pre-war status• Takes 2 months for news of the terms to reach

Americao Fighting continuedo Battle of New Orleanso Andrew Jackson’s troops vs. 6,000 British soldierso 21 casualties vs. 2,000o Battle is after peace agreement but is symbolic victory for Americans

Hartford Convention (1814-1815)

• Federalists meet in Hartford, CT to discuss grievances with war

• Some talk of secession from Union• Talk of Constitutional Amendments

o 1. require a 2/3 vote to declare waro Prohibit election of two successive Presidents from the same state

• Aimed at VA Dynasty (Jefferson and Madison)• When news of Treaty of Ghent and Jackson’s

victory spreads, Federalists viewed as traitors and Convention seen as nail in the coffin for Federalist Party

Resulting Theme of the Period

• Rise of Nationalismo White Houseo Star Spangled Banner written by Francis Scott Key while imprisoned at

Fort McHenryo New hero: Andrew Jackson

Discussion Questions• Did the Supreme Court decisions under John

Marshall’s leadership extend federal power too much? Is it appropriate that someone who was not elected should have such tremendous power to shape the government and the law? Is it appropriate that a political party’s ideology be implemented through the judiciary?

• To what extent was the War of 1812 truly a Second War for Independence? Consider the battles, the politics, and the peace settlement.