US History/Constitution Early Years 1

US History/Constitution Early Years

Early Immigration to the Americas as of 1790According to the source, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Kory L. Meyerink and LorettoDennis Szucs, the following were the countries of origin for new arrivals coming to the United States up to 1790.The regions marked * were a part of Great Britain: None of these numbers are definitive and only "educated"guesses. The ancestry of the 3.9 million population in 1790 has been estimated by various sources by sampling lastnames in the 1790 census and assigning them a country of origin. Needless to say this is also a somewhat uncertainprocedure. Particularly when it comes to Scot-Irish, Irish and English names which can often be the same. The Irishin the 1790 census are mostly Irish Protestants and the French Huguenots. The total U.S. Catholic population in 1790was probably less than 5%.

Group Immigrants before 1790 Population 1790

Africa 360,000 (most as slaves) 800,000

England* 230,000 1,900,000

Ulster Scot-Irish* 135,000 300,000

Germany 103,000 270,000

Scotland* 48,500 150,000

Ireland* 8,000 (Incl. in Scot-Irish)

Netherlands 6,000 100,000

Wales* 4,000 10,000

France 3,000 50,000

Jews 1,000 2,000

Sweden 500 2,000

Other --- 200,000

Some, such as author James Webb, have argued that not enough credit is given to early Scots-Irish for the role theyplayed in early American history, as they formed a full 40% of the American Revolutionary army and their culture isnow dominant in the American South, Midwest and Appalachian Region.

The Constitutional ConventionIn 1787, a Convention was called in Philadelphia with the declared purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.However many delegates intended to use this convention for the purpose of drafting a new constitution. All statesexcept for Rhode Island sent delegates, though all delegates did not attend. At the convention, the primary issue wasrepresentation of the states. Under the Articles, each state had one vote in Congress. The more populous stateswanted representation to be based on population (proportional representation). James Madison of Virginia crafted theVirginia Plan, which guaranteed proportional representation and granted wide powers to the Congress. The smallstates, on the other hand, supported equal representation through William Paterson's New Jersey Plan. The NewJersey Plan also increased the Congress' power, but it did not go nearly as far as the Virginia Plan. The conflictthreatened to end the Convention, but Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed the "Great Compromise" (orConnecticut Compromise) under which one house of Congress would be based on proportional representation, whilethe other would be based on equal representation. Eventually, the Compromise was accepted and the Conventionsaved.

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After settling on representation, compromises seemed easy for other issues. The question about the counting ofslaves when determining the official population of a state was resolved by the Three-Fifths Compromise, whichprovided that slaves would count as three-fifths of persons. In another compromise, the Congress was empowered toban the slave trade, but only after 1808. Similarly, issues relating to the empowerment and election of the Presidentwere resolved, leading to the Electoral College method for choosing the Chief Executive of the nation.The Convention required that the Constitution come into effect only after nine states ratify, or approve, it. The fightfor ratification was difficult, but the Constitution eventually came into effect in 1788.

Federalist and Anti-Federalist PartiesDuring 1788 and 1789, there were 85 essays published in several New York State newspapers, designed to convinceNew York voters to ratify the Constitution. The three people who are generally acknowledged for writing theseessays are Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Since Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were consideredFederalists, this series of essays became known as "The Federalist Papers," and The Federalist Party was for peoplewho supported ratification. Anti-Federalists did not support ratification. The Anti-Federalists, such as Patrick Henry,argued that the Constitution did not provide for a Bill of Rights protecting the people, nor did it protect individualstates against abuses of power by the federal government.On December 7, 1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution. The vote was unanimous, 30-0.Pennsylvania followed on December 12 and New Jersey on ratified on December 18, also in a unanimous vote. Bysummer 1788, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and NewYork had ratified the Constitution. On August 2, 1788, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution withoutamendments.

The Federalists and the Democratic-RepublicansIn 1788, the Electors unanimously chose George Washington as the first President of the United States. Washingtonhelped bring the government together, but rivalries arose between his closest advisors, reflecting important domesticand international developments. Out of these developments evolved two new political parties: The Federalists, whoshared the same name as the earlier pro-ratification party, and the Republican Party, also known as the Democratic -Republican Party or the Jeffersonian party.Washington was the first President of the United States. He was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Americanforces during the American Revolution. George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799) was thesuccessful Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783,and later became the first President of the United States, an office to which he was twice elected unanimously(unanimous among the Electoral College), and held from 1789 to 1797.Washington first served as an officer during the French and Indian War and as a leader of colonial militia supportingthe British Empire. After leading the American victory in the Revolutionary War, he refused to lead a militaryregime, though encouraged by some of his peers to do so. He returned to civilian life at Mount Vernon.In 1787 he presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the current United States Constitution and, in1789, was the unanimous choice to become the first president of the United States. His two-term administration setmany policies and traditions that survive today. After his second term expired, Washington again voluntarilyrelinquished power, thereby establishing an important precedent that was to serve as an example for the UnitedStates and also for other future republics.Because of his central role in the founding of the United States, Washington is often called the "Father of hisCountry". Scholars rank him with Abraham Lincoln among the greatest of United States presidents.

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The Bill of RightsGeorge Washington was inaugurated as the first United States president on April 30, 1789. However, NorthCarolina, Vermont, and Rhode Island had not ratified the Constitution. On September 26, 1789, Congress sent a listof twelve amendments to the states for ratification. Ten of the amendments would become the Bill of Rights. NorthCarolina ratified the Constitution in November of 1789, followed by Rhode Island in May 1790. Vermont becamethe last state to ratify the Constitution on January 10, 1791.The Bill of Rights was enacted on December 15, 1791. Here is a summary of the ten amendments ratified on thatday:1. Establishes freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, petition.2. Establishes the right to keep and bear arms.3. Bans the forced quartering of soldiers.4. Interdiction of unreasonable searches and seizures; a search warrant is required to search persons or property.5. Details the concepts of indictments, due process, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, rules for eminent domain.6. Establishes rights to a fair and speedy public trial, to a notice of accusations, to confront the accuser, to

subpoenas, and to counsel.7. Provides for the right to trial by jury in civil cases8. Bans cruel and unusual punishment, and excessive fines or bail9. Lists unrenumerated rights10. Limits the powers of the federal government to only those specifically granted by the constitution.

Domestic Issues: Strong or Weak Central Government?Within Washington's first Cabinet - Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury AlexanderHamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox - Jefferson and Hamilton opposed each other on most issues. Hamilton wassoon to become a leader of the Federalist Party, while Jefferson would help to found the Republican Party.The first major conflict involved how to pay off Revolutionary War debts. Hamilton wanted to put state debts andfederal debts into one huge national debt. When the new federal government succeeded in paying off this debt, itwould increase confidence in the stability of the central government, encouraging foreign governments to loan theUS money. Hamilton also proposed the creation of a national bank designed to help stabilize the national economy.This Bank of the United States, although a private institution, would serve as a place to put the government's money,thus increasing central financial power and economic control.Jefferson, on the other hand, did not agree with Hamilton's idea of a national bank. Unlike Hamilton, who wanted toincrease trade and investment, Jefferson believed America's best direction lay in teaching people to be self-sufficientfarmers, and he wanted the federal government to stop interfering in state matters.Despite Jefferson's opinion, the government adopted Hamilton's program. Some evidence suggests that Jefferson didin the end support Hamilton's plan for paying off state debts in exchange for Hamilton's agreement to locate thegovernment's permanent capital in the South, specifically, on the Potomac River (Washington D.C.). On the whole,however, it soon became clear that the Hamiltonian program was the one that both President Washington andCongress favored, and Jefferson eventually resigned as secretary of state.

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Foreign Affairs

The French RevolutionIn 1789, a few months after the Constitution went into effect, the French Revolution began. At first, as Franceoverthrew the monarchy and declared it a republic, many Americans supported the revolution, believing that theirown revolt against England had now spurred France to embrace republicanism. But as the reign of terror began andthousands of French aristocrats went to the guillotine, many Americans were shocked at the revolution's excesses.By the mid-1790s, as France went to war against neighboring monarchies, the revolution polarized American publicopinion. Federalists viewed England--France's traditional enemy-- as the bastion of stable government against agrowing tide of French anarchy. Members of the emerging Republican Party, on the other hand,--who took its namein part from the French Republic--believed the Terror to be merely a temporary excess, continuing to view Englandas the true enemy of American liberty.President Washington's policy was one of neutrality. He knew that England or France, as well as Spain, would beonly too happy to assimilate American resources and territory if given the chance. His hope was that America couldstay out of European conflicts until it was strong enough to withstand any serious foreign threat to its existence--astrength that the United States lacked in the 1790s. Unfortunately, both England and France would try to playAmerican resources off against the other.Here, too, Hamilton and Jefferson clashed. Hamilton argued that the mutual defense treaty that the United States hadconcluded with France in 1778 was no longer binding, since the French regime that had made that treaty no longerexisted. Jefferson disagreed, but Washington sided with Hamilton, issuing a formal Proclamation of Neutrality in1793.That same year, Citizen Edmund Charles Genêt arrived as the French minister to the United States, and he soonbegan issuing commissions to captains of American ships who were willing to serve as privateers for France. Thisblatant disregard of American neutrality angered Washington, who demanded and got Genêt's recall.

English and Spanish NegotiationsThe Royal Navy, meanwhile, began pressing sailors into service, including sailors on American merchant ships.Many English sailors had been lured into the American merchant service by high wages and comparatively goodstandards of living, and England needed these sailors to man its own fleet, on which England's national securitydepended. This violation of the American flag, however, infuriated Americans, as did the fact that England had notyet withdrawn its soldiers from posts in the Northwest Territory, as required by the Treaty of Paris of 1783.In response, President Washington sent Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay to negotiate a treaty with England. ButJay had little leverage with which to negotiate: the final treaty did require immediate English evacuation of thefrontier forts, but it said nothing about the matter of impressments. The Jay Treaty provoked an outcry amongAmerican citizens, and although the Senate ratified it narrowly, the debate it sparked was the final blow whichsolidified the Federalist and Republican factions into full-scale political parties, Federalists acquiescing in the treaty,and Republicans viewing it as a sell-out to England (and against France).Spain, meanwhile, viewed the Jay Treaty negotiations with alarm, fearing that America and England might bemoving towards an alliance. Without being certain of the treaty provisions, Spain decided to mollify the UnitedStates and give ground in the southwest before a future Anglo-American alliance could take New Orleans andLouisiana. Spain thus agreed to abandon all territorial claims north of Florida and east of the Mississippi, with theexception of New Orleans, and to grant the United States both the right to navigate the Mississippi and the right ofcommercial deposit in New Orleans. This would give westerners greater security and allow them to trade with theoutside world. This Treaty of San Lorenzo, also called Pinckney's Treaty after American diplomat CharlesPinckney, was signed in 1795 and ratified the following year. Unlike Jay's treaty, it was quite popular.

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If Jay's Treaty alarmed Spain, it angered France, which saw it as a violation of the Franco-American mutual defensetreaty of 1778. By 1797, French privateers began attacking American merchant shipping in the Caribbean.

Election of 1796George Washington won a second term with the unanimous approval of the Electoral College, but he refused to runfor a third term, setting a precedent for future Presidents that would last until 1940. In 1796, Washington's FederalistVice President John Adams, and Republican Thomas Jefferson ran against each other in an election that marked theinfluence of political parties. Also, the Federalist Thomas Pinckney and the Republican Aaron Burr ran, intending tobecome Vice President if the other candidate from the party gained the Presidency.The original system of the Electoral College required that Electors chosen by the states cast two votes for President.The President would be the winner of the election, while the Vice President would be whoever came in second place.Due to this system, John Adams won the required majority, but Thomas Jefferson came in second place, leading to aPresident and Vice President from opposing parties. This awkward situation resulted in Jefferson's isolation from theadministration, and he did not play a significant role in governing over the next four years.

The XYZ AffairNewly-elected President John Adams resolved to negotiate a settlement with France, and sent a delegation to Paris.The delegates, however, made no headway, finding it impossible even to secure an appointment with Talleyrand, theFrench foreign minister. The delegates were then approached by three minor functionaries, who insisted that theAmericans must pay a bribe in order to inaugurate negotiations, warning them of "the power and violence of France"if they refused. The delegates did in fact refuse ("The answer is no; no; not a sixpence," one of them retorted. Thiswas popularly rendered as "Millions for defense, not a penny for tribute."), and reported back to Adams. WhenAdams made the correspondence public (after replacing the names of the French functionaries with X, Y, and Z),American sentiment swung strongly against France. Congress, strongly under the control of the Federalists, initiateda military buildup, fielding several excellent warships and calling Washington out of retirement to head the army.(Washington agreed, but only on condition that he not assume actual command until the army took the field, whichnever occurred).The result was the Quasi-war, or the undeclared naval war with France. It consisted of ship-on-ship actions, mostlyin the Caribbean, from 1798 to 1800. Eventually the United States and France agreed to end hostilities and to end themutual defense treaty of 1778. Adams considered this one of his finest achievements.

Alien and Sedition ActsUnder Adams, the Federalist-dominated congress pushed passage of a series of laws that openly justified battlingdangerous "aliens" but in reality was used to hush political opponents. The Alien and Sedition Acts generally refer tofour acts:1. The Alien Act authorized the president to deport an alien deemed "dangerous."2. The Alien Enemies Act authorized the president to deport or imprison any alien from a country that the United

States was fighting a declared war with.3. The Sedition Act made it a crime to criticize government officials and publish "false, scandalous, and malicious

writing" against the government or its agents.4. The Naturalization Act changed the residency requirements for aliens to become citizens from 5 to 14 years.Although it was openly deemed to be a security act, it provided powerful tools to the ruling Federalist party to quietopposition from the growing Democratic-Republican Party. By extending the time required to become a citizen, theydecreased the number of new voters that might choose to support the minority party.

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However, these acts were rarely enacted against political opponents due to the possibility of conflict such actionscould create.

Election of 1800Thomas Jefferson won the election of 1800 against Aaron Burr to become the nations third president. The electionwas controversial because Jefferson and Burr tied for first place with electoral college votes. The presidency wasdecided by the House of Representatives. Jefferson restored Republican values by dismissing Federalist members ofthe administration, previously placed by Washington and Adams, and replacing them with Democratic Republicans.The Alien and Sedition Acts expired under Jefferson's term. The Naturalization Act of 1798 was also repealed.Congress repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 that the Federalists enacted to retain power.

Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819Due to the act of purchasing the Louisiana territory in 1803, the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819 (purchasing Floridaterritory), and the incorporation of the northern territories of Mexico into the United States in 1847 (MexicanCession), the number of Catholics in the United States nearly doubled.

EducationWomen's careers were very limited so people didn't think they needed the education in which men did. For exampleuniversities would not accept women at all. Common studies women learnt were French, needlework, geography,music and dancing. Studying anything else was thought to be unnecessary and hurtful to the mind of women. In the17th and 18th centuries schooling was focused on how to govern a household and how to behave properly within thesocial class in which her marriage placed her. A lot of the focus was to teach women how to run a household. (1)Nuns were among the most educated women of the time. Women who wanted to be educated would join theconvents to get a good education. In the convents women would have access to many books that most women did nothave access to. Protestants actually became jealous of the education that these nuns received. They began to openprivate schools for young women whose families could afford to put them in the school. (1) In well off families bothboys and girls went to a form of infant school called a petty school. However only boys went to what you callgrammar school. Upper class girls and sometimes boys were taught by tutors. Middle class girls might be taught bytheir mothers. Moreover during the 17th century boarding schools for girls were founded in many towns. In theboarding schools girls were taught subjects like writing, music and needlework. In the grammar schools conditionswere hard. Boys started work at 6 or 7 in the morning and worked to 5 or 5.30 pm, with breaks for meals. Corporalpunishment was usual. Normally the teacher hit naughty boys on the bare butt with birch twigs. Other boys in theclass would hold the naughty boy down. (2) In the 17th and early 18th centuries women were not encouraged to getan education. Some people believed that if women were well educated it would ruin their marriage prospects and beharmful to their mind. Protestants believed that women as well as men should be able to read the bible. Only thedaughters of the wealthy or nobility could get an education. By the mid 17th century young women were allowed togo to school with their brothers. Sometimes if you had the money you would be placed within a household of afriend and within the household and you would be taught various things. Some of the things you would learn wouldbe to read and write, run a household, and practice surgery. (2)1. www.localhistories.org. 2. A people and A Nation Eight edition.

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Review QuestionsUse the content covered in this chapter and/or from external sources to answer the following questions. Remember toproperly cite any sources used.1. Identify or explain the significance of the following people:(a) James Madison (b) William Paterson (c) Alexander Hamilton (d) Patrick Henry (e) Thomas Jefferson (f) EdmundGenet (g) Charles Pinckney2. What was accomplished during the Constitutional Convention in terms of states' representations in the nationalgovernment?3. How did Congress take measures to ensure the ratification of the Constitution?4. On what issues did Jefferson and Hamilton differ? How did this affect policies during the Washingtonadministration?5. What did Jay's Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty accomplish?6. How did the United States respond to the French Revolution?7. What was the XYZ Affair? What was its result?8. What was the original purpose of the Alien, Sedition, and Naturalization Acts? How did their purpose change?

Article Sources and Contributors 8

Article Sources and ContributorsUS History/Constitution Early Years  Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?oldid=1994583  Contributors: Adrignola, Bcan1, Beamathan, Ccny930, Cgerber5, Etothex, Illinifan1280,Jason, Jguk, Jklemak, Jomegat, Krice24, Lord Emsworth, Neoptolemus, Panic2k4, QuiteUnusual, Rakrom, Rchurch, Recent Runes, SBJohnny, Tannersf, Tatest5, Tomos, Tonywiki,Tweetybird1990, Whiteknight, Withinfocus, 58 anonymous edits

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