Governing a New Nation

Washington Elected the First President•The first national capital was in New York City (1789-1791).•It moved to Philadelphia in 1791 and remained there until 1800.•In 1800 the permanent capital became Washington, District of Columbia•The President lived in “The President’s House”

Washington strongly opposed political parties,

which he called “factions.”

First Cabinet Members:

Henry Knox Secretary of War

Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State

Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury

Edmund Randolph Attorney General

Early Congressional Acts

• Judiciary Act of 1789• The Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights = First Ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

1—Freedoms of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition the government for redress of grievances

2— “Right to bear arms.”3—Quartering of soldiers4—Unlawful search and

seizure5—8--Rights of the

accused9 -10—Remaining rights

reserved to the states

Chisholm Vs. Georgia

• Chisholm (on behalf of R. Farquhar) sued Georgia for payment for products Farquhar supplied Georgia during the Revolutionary War

• Georgia did not show up for the trial, claiming it was sovereign and could not be sued by an individual

• Court ruled against Georgia and prompted 11th amendment, giving states immunity in suits by individuals or other states

Alexander Hamilton

• Concerned with the new country’s ability to pay its war debt

• He did not think the states would give up power easily

• He thought individual states would be unwilling to make sacrifices for the larger nation

• He thought appealing to the financial best interest of wealthy citizens would be more beneficial to the country than appealing to the common person

Hamilton, Tariffs and Taxes

• Knowing the debt must be paid off, Hamilton proposed tariffs (import taxes) and excise taxes (tax on a specific good)

• Manufacturing--tariff• Whiskey—excise tax

Report on Public Credit

• Restructure federal debt• Pay holders of bonds/certificates at face value,

regardless of who held them• Pay off debt of states (known as Assumption)

—Southern states, who had mostly paid their debts—were opposed to this, but Hamilton wanted states to feel beholden to the national government as well as states to honor their debts.

Paying off creditors at face value

• Soldiers and others had sold their “IOUs” from the colonial government at way under face value. The buyers, who were wealthy speculators, would now stand to make a fortune if they were paid face value.

• Hamilton was sympathetic but insisted on being a country that honored its debts, even if it seemed unfair to the soldiers.

A Capital In the South• In order to get the votes of Virginia’s delegates

to Congress, Hamilton agreed to moving the U.S. capital to land on the border of Virginia and Maryland. This enabled his bill to pass.

Infant Industries protection

• “Infant industries” are emerging industries in a particular country that might not be able to grow if they have to compete with better developed companies in other countries.

• Hamilton got a few tariffs passed in order to protect manufacturing, something he saw as the future of the economy of New England.

Bank of the United States

• Modeled after the Bank of England• Private bank but the government would be

the major stockholder• Could hold excess money, print paper money,

provide for a badly needed stable monetary system

• “not worth a Continental”

Bank of the United States--Opposition

• States thought a national bank would compete with their state banks, driving them out of business

• Jefferson strongly opposed this, saying their was no specific authorization in the Constitution for this

• Anti-Federalists saw this as too much power to the federal government

Hamilton cites “Necessary and Proper Clause”

• At Washington’s request, Hamilton wrote a rebuttal to Jefferson’s arguments

• Hamilton cited Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that gave the government the right to create institutions “necessary and proper” to carry out the duties required by the Constitution.

“Necessary and Proper Clause”

“The Congress shall have Power - To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.” --Section 8, Clause 18, U.S. Constitution

Bank of the United States

• The Federalist-dominated Congressed passed the Bank of the United States in 1791

• Against Jefferson’s advice, Washington signed the bill into law

• Chartered for twenty years• Sale of bank stock was a

huge success (20% owned by government, rest by people)

Whiskey Rebellion

1794• Pennsylvanians strongly

opposed to the Whiskey Tax• Defiant distillers tarred and

feathered revenue officers reminiscent of the Stamp Tax days

• Washington ordered militia to halt the rebellion, led them himself part of the way, rest with Hamilton

Two Philosophies

Hamiltonian• Federalist• Favored manufacturing, urban

society• Closely allied with Great

Britain• Thought that what the

Constitution did not specifically forbid, it permitted

Jeffersonian• Anti-Federalist• Favored rural, agricultural

society• Closely allied with France• Thought that what the

Constitution did not specific permit, it forbade

Hamiltonians vs. Jeffersonians• Believed in government

by the upper classes • Government should

foster business but not interfere with it.

• Foreign trade is of key importance

• Believed in the rule of the (literate) people

• Thought the best government was the one that governed the least

• Proponent of free speech

Who would have said, “Those who own the country ought to run the country?

Hamilton? Jefferson?

“Those who own the country ought to run the country.”

Hamilton

Spain expands in North America(map as of 1784)

Disputed Land Claims, 1783-1796•New Orleans was closed by the Spanish to American goods•Spanish were trading with Indians to keep peace•Spain was trying to bribe some westerners in Kentucky and Tennessee to become Spanish citizens

America and Its Natives

• Treaty of New York• Alexander McGillivray• Choctaws and Chickasaws • Yazoo Tract•Georgia sells Yazoo lots• Harsher policy toward Ohio Valley Indians•Treaty of Greenville 1795•General “Mad” Anthony Wayne• Benevolent policy toward Indians elsewhere• Treaty of New York renounced in 1792

French Revolution•1789, bloody overthrow began the Reign of Terror where enemies of the revolution were executed

•French revolutionaries thought Americans would support them

•1793 France declared war on Spain and Great Britain

Proclamation of Neutrality

• Passed in 1794• Washington wants to stay out of conflict

between France and European countries• Southerners are sympathetic to French because

of slave uprisings in French Caribbean islands (Anti-Federalist stand)

• Northerners need British trade and dislike the new French disdain for religion in favor of reason (Federalist stand)

Sample Test Question

50. President Washington's Neutrality Proclamation of 1793 was issued in response to • (A) Spanish expansion in the Southeast • (B) Dutch economic activity in the mid-Atlantic states • (C) Canadian alliances with northern American Indians • (D) French diplomatic overtures to invoke the Franco-

American Alliance • (E) English boycotts of selected American agricultural

products and manufactures

Sample Test Question

50. President Washington's Neutrality Proclamation of 1793 was issued in response to • (A) Spanish expansion in the Southeast • (B) Dutch economic activity in the mid-Atlantic states • (C) Canadian alliances with northern American Indians • (D) French diplomatic overtures to invoke the Franco-

American Alliance • (E) English boycotts of selected American agricultural

products and manufactures

Citizen Genet—French

• French Minister to the US• Tried to get Americans to

battle British• Made Elijah Clarke (GA)

and George Rogers Clark (KY) generals

• Ordered to leave by Washington

• Eventually become US citizen

Impressment

• British policy of stopping American ships and taking ships

• Required American sailors to join the British navy by force

• British also plundered the cargo of these ships

Jay Treaty

• John Jay, Chief Supreme Court Justice, went to Britain to stop impressment

• Treaty did not stop impressment, only addressed British military posts in western territory

• Ratified but extremely unpopular

• Actually beneficial• 1794

Pinckney Treaty

• Thomas Pinckney, US minister to Spain

• Negotiated opening lower Mississippi to trade without duties

• Recognized border of Florida as 31st parallel

• Popular, hailed a huge success

• 1795

Washington Retires to Mt. Vernon

• Sets precedent of two term President

• Farewell address warns against parties (“factions”)

• Cautions against getting involved in other countries’ battles with each other

Election of 1796

John AdamsFederalist

Thomas JeffersonDemocratic-Republican

John Adams

• More comfortable with ideas than people

• Wife Abigail a strong influence

• Not strongly supported by other Federalists

• Religious• From Massachusetts

XYZ Affair

Charles Talleyrand

• French angered by Adams victory• Threatened to hang Americans found

on British ships (including impressed)• Adams sent delegation to negotiate• Talleyrand, French minister, refused

to meet Americans• Sent three unnamed agents (later

called X, Y and Z in Congressional hearings) to ask for bribe before negotiations could begin

• Negotiators left in anger• Adams and negotiators hailed as

heroes for standing up to French

XYZ Affair

• The fallout from this French fiasco continued on into the elections for Congress in 1798, which the Anti-French Federalists dominated.

• Common slogan was, “Millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute.” Tribute means bribery money.

• With prior experience from Citizen Genet and other underhanded French tactics, people began to believe the French had spies in the US.

• Congress supported building up the military, something favored by Federalists anyway.

Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798The threat of spies was used to pass these laws:

1) Naturalization Act—increase from 5 to 14 years the time for immigrants to become citizens2) Alien Acts—deport dangerous aliens anytime and detain aliens in wartime3) The Sedition Acts—illegal for newspapers to criticize either the President or Congress and imposed heavy penalties for editors who violated the law.

To protest, Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions opposing the Sedition Act that proved hard for the Federal government to combat.

Election of 1800

John AdamsFederalist

Thomas JeffersonDemocratic-Republican

Electoral College Crisis of 1800Aaron Burr • Jefferson ran for President,

Burr for VP• No constitutional distinction

between electoral votes for President and votes for VP

• Electoral vote tied 73-73• House of Representatives

decides with one vote/state• Tied 35 times over 6 days• Hamilton threw his support

to Jefferson, calling him a “by far less dangerous man.”

• Led to 12th Amendment