Jeffersonianism & the Era of Good Feelings 1801-1824

•TJ’s view reflected in expenditures, judiciary, & LA purchase•Republican party divided during his 2nd term•Why did J. Madison abandon TJ’s “peaceble coercion” and go to war with Britain 1812•How did War of 1812 shape domestic politics•To what extend did Jeff’s legacy persist (& discarded) into the Era of Good Feelings

The Age of Jefferson: man & his philosophy• The man: talents, career,

controversies

• His views:– feared race war, high taxes,

standing armies, corruption

–Advocated black colonization, strong state power,

–Saw educated farmers as more virtuous than city dwellers

The Age of Jefferson: TJ & the Judiciary

• Disagreed w/ Federalist over– Alien & Sedition Acts & enforcement

– Fed.-sponsored Judiciary Act of 1801• From 6 to 5 justices; created 16 new federal

judgeships

• Marbury vs. Madison: judicial review– Marbury petitioned Supreme Court to issue a

writ to compel Madison to deliver commision; J. Marshall ruled that Judiciary Act was unconstitutional

The Age of Jefferson: TJ & the Louisiana Purchase 1803

• Spain owned Louisiana Ter. + E. & W FL, but handed LA Ter. to France

• Reasons for purchase ($15M)– Fr. & Br. Cooperate to expand in N.A.

– Br. Seize LA Ter. to sandwich USA

– New Orleans as important port

• Believed in strict (“constructed” to its letter) interpretation of the Constitution: worried about constitutionality of this purchase

The Louisiana Purchase

The Age of Jefferson: 1804 Election

• Federalist no longer a threat; his VP Aaron Burr was–Burr tried to manipulate tie in electoral

college to be president

–Intrigues with Federalists, so he got dumped as VP the during TJ’s 2nd term

–12th Amendment in 1804: separate ballots for pres. & vice pres.

The Age of Jefferson: The Lewis & Clark Expedition May 1804

• Sent his personal secretary Lt. Meriwether to find water route to the Pacific

• St. Louis; William Clark w/ 50 others – Toussaint Cahrbonneau & wife Sacajawea +

infant

• Result: scientific info, 300+ miles of mt. separated MO fr. The Columbia river; led to more accurate maps , interest in the West

The Gathering Storm: at home• Aaron Burr conspired with extreme Federalists

to form a pro British Northern Confederacy (Nova Scotia, NE, NY, PA)

• A. Hamilton published “despicable opinion” of Burr

• Burr & Hamilton dueled and killed H

• While indicted for murder, he conspired with Spanish (LA Ter.) to separate western states into independent confederacy

• Tried for treason, but Marshall said acts not intention are guilty

The Gathering Storm: at home• TJ challenged by Republicans called

Quids– Led by john Randolp

– Quids: “country” ideology fr. 1770; TJ changed but they didn’t

– Over Yazoo cheap land deal: land companies bribed legislature, but investors bought in good faith

Storm: American trade & impressment• 1803 Peace of Amiens collapsed• Fr. & Br at war; US prospered in trade by

supplying France• Br. War policy includes strangulation of Fr.

Trade– Made “broken voyage” illegal (see Br. Rule of

1756)

• France retaliated by Continental System– Ships obeying Br. laws subject to seize

• Strong Br. Navy impressed Americans: Chesapeake Affair enraged Americans

Storm: The Embargo Act of 1807• Controversial embargo: prohibited

vessels fr. Leaving US ports for foreign ports

• TJ’s goal’s: “peaceable coercion” on Fr. & Br.– Br. Found new markets in S. America

– Blown off course loophole by US ships

– US (esp. NE): out of work, bankruptcy, debtors; called him “Mad Tom”

• Manufacture at home; producing products

Storm: James Madison & failure of Peaceable Coercion• J. Madison became pres.

– Liberty rests on virtue, which is tied to growth & agricultural prosperity, which depends on trade (clearer than TJ)

• The Embargo Act: revived the Federalist– JM agued embargo w/ West Indies will

destroy Britain– Wrong! West Indies & Canada traded!– 1809 Congress replaced this embargo w/

Non-Intercourse Act, but then replaced that with Macon’s Bill # 2 (involves bribery w/ Fr. & Br)

Storm: Tecumseh & the Prophet • Governor of Indiana Ter. got lands from

half starved Indians – Led to outraged by many tribes

– Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, recruited other tribes

– His brother Lalawethica (Prophet) attacked Harrison’s encampment: Battle of Tippecanoe• Harrison became hero; Prophet was critized;

Tecumseh became legit leader who then sided w/ Br. as last resort.

Storm: Congress votes for war • Pres. Madison decided on war w/ Br.

– Unaware that Br. Is repealing the Orders in Council due to economic caused by US embargo

• His rationale: impresment, Br. Ships in US waters, violations of neutral rights, Br. Incitements of Indians,

• Main cause for war: economic recessoin in the South & West; John Calhoun & followers blamed British policy; J Madison believed Br. Intentionally strangle US trade

The War of 1812: On to Canada• Losses: Failed to take Canada

–Tecumseh cut Hull’s supply line when he tried to attack Canada

–BR crushed Americans at Battle of Queeston, near Niagra Falls

–Militi refused to advance into Canada

• Turnign points–Harrison led to victory at Battle of the

Thames, Tecumseh died there–

The War of 1812: The Br Offensive• Br General G. Prevost attacked

Plattsburgh vs. US Capt. Thomas Macdonough–US won

• Br success in Bladensburg, MD –US militia fled; Br. Took Washington DC

–Dolly Madison took portrait of GW

The War of 1812: Treaty of Ghent• At Ghent, Belgium, peace

negotiations began in August 1814–Status quo ante bellum

–US & BR gained no lands

• 2 weeks after Ghent, Br attacked New Orleans and lost against “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson–He inflicted 2000 casualties, lost only 13

The War of 1812: Hartford Convention• Federalist was eroded by Battle of New Orleans

• They met in Hartford, CT, to propose:–to amend Constitution to abolish 3/5

clause

–To require 2/3 vote of Congress to declare war & admit new states into Union

–Single term pres., no 2 successive pres. Fr. Same state, embargo last no more than 60 days

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Madison’s Nationalism

3 results of war:

– 1) Eliminated Federalists 2) Convinced Republicans that US was strong 3) Republicans began to embrace doctrines long associated with Federalists

– Madison called for: 1) internal improvements 2) tariffs 3) new national bank

– Henry Clay’s American System: to be self sufficient economically from Europe

– 2nd Bank charted in 1816

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Madison’s Nationalism

(continued)– Though Madison urged for internal

improvements, he felt a constitutional amendment would be necessary, so he vetoed the bill before leaving office

– “Era of Good Feelings” coined during Monroe’s administration: no war and avoidance of political controversy

– It was paper thin; issues of federal roles and slavery constitutionality arose

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Dartmouth College v. Woodward

– Dartmouth College v. Woodward : NH wanted to transform the private Dartmouth College into a state university; Marshall ruled that the contract for the private college was with George III and that the constitution forbade the federal gov. to interfere with contracts

– This ruling made it so any contract made by the states could therefore not be altered or regulated afterwards, b/c the gov. could not interfere

The Awakening of American Nationalism: McCulloch v. Maryland

– McCulloch v. Maryland : The state of Maryland wanted to tax the National Bank b/c they argued that most of the stock holders were private citizens, whom they had the right to tax.

– Marshall: ruled that the Bank was legal (due to his loose interpretation); was a federal bureaucracy, over which the federal gov. had supreme domain, and the states could not interfere with its powers

◄James

Madison

Henry ► ▲John

Clay Marshall

The Awakening of American Nationalism: continued– Marshall argued that the constitution was

a creation of the ppl & not of state govs., and therefore was more fundamental

– It dismayed Republicans, whose theory of a state confederation and the powers of the Constitution were outlined in the VA-KY resolution

– Republicans saw Marshall’s decisions as the stripping of the states’ powers

The Awakening of American Nationalism: The MO Compromise

– MO attracted southerners w/ slaves

– The House of Reps. approved a bill that would prohibit any more expansion of slavery and free slaves’ offspring after 25; rejected by the Senate

– MO as a slave state would give more states to the south, upsetting the balance in Congress

– With Federalists gone, the Republicans had no need for unity, so they began to split over this

The Awakening of American Nationalism: The MO Compromise

(continued)

– MO compromise line at 36°30’

– Mo could be a slave state b/c Maine would become a free state in the north

– It collapsed; 2nd by Henry Clay was formed : it prohibited MO from discriminating against other states’ citizens (e.i. free blacks)

– Reinforced Northwest Ordinance: said federal gov. could regulate the where slavery was allowed

Note: Missouri (slave) and Maine (free)

Maintenance of state balance in Congress

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Foreign Policy Under Monroe

– Policy had more consensus; Napoleonic wars were over, eliminating strife between the Federalists (British support) and Republicans (French support)

– John Quincy Adams: Secretary of State w/ Monroe– He effectively negotiated with G.B.– Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 demilitarized the Great

Lakes & the British American Convention restored American fishing rights to the Newfoundland coast and defined the American / Canadian border

– He got Oregon to be “free and open” to both British and American citizens

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Foreign Policy Under Monroe

(continued)

– 1812, U.S. adds West Florida to LA and Miss. Territory

– Spain still claimed right to East and West FL

– Andrew Jackson uses military in the south to seize FL from Spain

– Spain cedes all FL and defines US border in Adams-Onís (Transcontinental) treaty

MO Comp. / Deals w/ G.B. / Adams-Onís

◄James

Monroe

Andrew ► ▲John Quincy

Jackson Adams

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Monroe Doctrine, 1823

– Adams believed in Manifest Destiny (though the term had not yet been coined)

– Holy Alliance: defend “Christian” and monarchist principles and squash rebellion: Spain and Russia, GB would not join

– GB Prime Minister Canning suggested an Anglo-American “union” to prevent European interference in S. America w/o annexing any of Spain’s old empire

– Adams wanted to be able to take those lands

The Awakening of American Nationalism: Monroe Doctrine, 1823, continued

– 1) unless American interests are involved, U.S. policy is to abstain from European wars

– 2) the “American continents” are not subject to future colonization by any European power

– 3) any attempts by European powers to colonize the Americas would be taken as an “unfriendly act” to the U.S.

– Not really taken seriously; fear of the British navy prevented interference, not the doctrine

(Chapter 8) Map 8.1 Louisiana Purchase and Exploration of the West

Americans had a hard time comprehending the magnitude of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of their nation overnight. British, French, and Spanish explorers had never glimpsed more than a tiny fraction of the territory.Despite his keen interest in the West, President Thomas Jefferson had never been more than fifty miles west of his home in central Virginia. Like many Americans, his vision of the West was based on hunches and questionable evidence. The available maps gave conflicting pictures of the West. Some omitted the "Stony" (Rocky) Mountains, while others disagreed about their location (see Technology and Culture feature on mapping in Chapter 8). The Lewis and Clark expedition eventually produced substantially accurate maps of the Purchase, stimulating popular fascination with the West.

Picking Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Purchase, Jefferson ordered them to follow the Missouri River to its source and then the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Yet the map clearly shows other rivers that could have been followed west and southwest. It stood to reason that Jefferson would have sponsored an expedition to explore the Purchase. He had two enticing directions before him: the largely unknown northwest, and the southwest, where territory claimed by the Spanish provided a possible challenge.

1. Why did Jefferson insist Lewis and Clark take a northerly route? Why not follow the Arkansas River to the Colorado River and head for the Gulf of Mexico? To rephrase this question, why was it more important for Jefferson that the United States gain access to the Pacific than to the Gulf of Mexico?

(Chapter 8) Map 8.1 Louisiana Purchase and Exploration of the West

(Chapter 8) Tecumseh Tecumseh grew to manhood amid warfare

between Indians and whites in the Ohio Valley during the late eighteenth century. His father was killed by whites in 1774. Raised by an older sister, he fought against the United States at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and he refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, by which Indians ceded to whites much of Ohio.Tecumseh was initially reluctant to accept his brother, Lalewéthica, the Shawnee prophet later known as Tenskwatawa, as a leader, but after Lalewéthica accurately predicted an eclipse of the sun in 1806, Tecumseh joined with his brother. He gradually transformed his brother's religious movement into a political one by seeking to unite the tribes against the incursions of white settlers. He and his brother moved their village, now known as Prophetstown, to the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, where in 1811 the Prophet was defeated by United States forces.

The occasion for this attack was Tecumseh's outrage, communicated in person to Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory, at the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, by which several tribes ceded some three million acres along the Wabash to the United States for two-and-one-half cents an acre—far less than white settlers would have to pay for the land.

Harrison conceded that Tecumseh was extremely intelligent. But Tecumseh failed to unite the tribes and in 1812 went over to the British. Why did so able a leader fail? It was his view that the land belonged collectively to all the tribes, but individual tribes kept ceding land to the United States in return for annuities and gifts.

1. Was Tecumseh a victim of the white man, or of the tribes themselves, each of which claimed their land as their own property?

(Chapter 8)Tecumseh

38

Map 8.1: The Louisiana Purchase and the Exploration of

the West

Map 8.2: Major Battles of the War of 1812

40

Map 8.2: Major Battles of the War of 1812 (cont’d)

41

Map 8.3: The Missouri Compromise, 1820–1821