THOMAS JEFFERSON, LOUISIANA & THE WAR

OF 1812

Election of 1800• Jefferson becomes the first Democratic-

Republican (Republican) President. Chosen by the House of Representatives.

• Wants to reduce the size of government.

• Before Adams left office he was to appoint judges to the federal bench.

• Adams left them for Jefferson to appoint.• Jefferson told his Secretary of State, James

Madison, not to deliver the commissions because the judges were Federalists.

MARBURY v. MADISON• William Marbury did not receive his

commission and took James Madison to court.

• Marbury argued that the Judiciary Act of 1789 allows the Supreme Court to force Madison to give Marbury the Commission.

The Decision• Chief Justice John Marshall disagrees with

Marbury.• He also said the Constitution is where the

Supreme Court gets its power.

• Since the Judiciary Act of 1789 gives the Supreme Court that power, then the Act is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

LOUISIANA• In 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte took Louisiana

from Spain in a secret deal.• The US had an agreement with Spain to use the

Mississippi River and the Port of New Orleans.• We had no such agreement with France.

• Jefferson sends James Monroe to France to offer $10 million for New Orleans.

• Instead Napoleon offers all of Louisiana (600 million acres) for $15 million.

• This would double the size of the US.

JEFFERSON’S DILEMMA• Jefferson was a STRICT CONSTRUCTIONIST.• It doesn’t say in the Constitution that the

President can make this purchase.• If he makes the purchase he will be going

against his beliefs.

• Jefferson looks at both sides of the issue and puts the interests of the country ahead of his own beliefs.

• He agrees to the purchase and doubles the size of the US overnight.

LEWIS AND CLARK• With the acquisition of this new land America

now has to secure it and find out what is out there.

• He can’t send American citizens to settle the area if it is filled with ferocious Indians, Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my).

• Jefferson selects his personal secretary, Merriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition.

• Lewis selects William Clark, an army officer as co-leader.

• They leave St. Louis in May 1804 traveling northwest on the Missouri River.

SACAGAWEA• In the spring of 1805 they met a French fur

trader, Touissant Charbonneau, and his wife Sacagawea.

• They agree to go on the expedition with them and act as interpreters.

• Sacagawea had been kidnapped as a child and wanted to find her family once again.

• In the summer she finds her Shoshone village and meets her brother, now the chief of the tribe.

• They convince her brother to guide them through the Rocky Mountains before winter sets in.

• They reach the Pacific Ocean and establish Fort Clatsop.

• They spend the winter there and head back to St. Louis, arriving there on September 23, 1806.

• They bring back trunk loads of information, exceeding Jefferson’s expectations.

ZEBULON PIKE• While Lewis and Clark headed north and west,

Zebulon traveled up the Mississippi Valley.

• After that he went west toward the Rocky Mountains. He named the highest peak he could see after himself, Pikes Peak.

• They headed south into Mexico and got arrested as spies. They were released in the Spring of 1807 and headed back to St. Louis.

• Pike wrote a book about his expedition and mistakenly labeled the “Great Plains” as a desert. Because of that, for years, people bypassed this area when heading west.

INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT• For years the “Barbary States” along the north

coast of Africa, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis & Tripoli had been attacking American trade ships.

• Presidents Washington and Adams had been paying tribute money to these countries so the pirates would not attack American ships.

• Jefferson refused to pay any more tribute.

• He sent the US Navy to attack the Pirates. • The US Navy was defeated.• In 1815 ships from the US and several

European countries are able to defeat the Pirates.

ENGLAND, FRANCE & NEUTRALITY• England and France are still at war.• Jefferson declares the US as neutral, but

continues to trade with both countries.

• Both England and France blockade each others countries to prevent other nations from trading.

• They also attack US ships heading to each others ports.

• In the meantime Jefferson wins his second term as President, defeating Charles Pinckney.

• In 1807 the British ship HMS Leopard demands to search the USS Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia. The US captain refuses.

• The British ship attacks the American ship, killing or wounding 21 US sailors. One deserter was found on the Chesapeake. The British hung him.

• The US now wants to go to war with England.

THE EMBARGO ACT• Instead of war, Jefferson issues a complete

EMBARGO on trade with the US.• This hurts America more than it hurts the

enemy.

• The embargo failed. Lots of other measures put in place to stop the attacking of US ships also fail.

• In 1808 Jefferson refuses to run for a third term. Instead he supports James Madison, who wins very easily.

THE WAR OF 1812• Several Reasons:• Napoleon agrees to stop attacking US ships.

The US now has a reason to go to war with England.

• Also in the west – the Indians are causing trouble.

• When Governor Harrison defeats the Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe he discovers that the Indians were using British made weapons from Canada.

• In June of 1812 the US declares war on England.

• Part of our plan was to invade Canada and we did it three times. And lost three times.

• The Indians were supporting the British.• March 1814 – General Andrew Jackson

defeats the British at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

• August of 1814 the British attack Washington DC. They

burned

the President’s

house to the

ground.

• After the burning of Washington the British attacked Baltimore, Maryland.

• The harbor was guarded by Fort McHenry.• The British bombarded it for over 24 hours

• On a British ship was Francis Scott Key, an attorney & author who wrote a poem about the assault called “The Defense of Fort McHenry”.

THE HARTFORD CONVENTION• Federalists who became tired of the war, met

in Hartford, Connecticut to organize their opposition.

• Upon returning to Washington with their demands no

one was listening to them

because people were

celebrating the victory at New Orleans and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS• On January 18, 1815 – 5,300 British troops

attacked the City of New Orleans.• The battle lasted ½ hour. 2,000 British soldiers

were killed and only 8 Americans died.

• The battle was successful because of the defenses set up by Andrew Jackson. It made him a national hero.

• Unfortunately the battle did not have to be fought. The treaty had already been signed.