A Conservative Triumph • The minority had triumphed again, and the transition had been peaceful • Only about ¼ of the adult males in the country (mainly those with land) had voted for the ratifying delegates • Conservatisms was victorious, as the safeguards had been erected against mob-rule excesses • Federalist believed that every branch of government effectively represented the people, unlike Anti-federalists who believed that only the legislative branch did so.
Transcript
A Conservative Triumph
• The minority had triumphed again, and the transition had been peaceful
• Only about ¼ of the adult males in the country (mainly those with land) had voted for the ratifying delegates
• Conservatisms was victorious, as the safeguards had been erected against mob-rule excesses
• Federalist believed that every branch of government effectively represented the people, unlike Anti-federalists who believed that only the legislative branch did so.
Washington and Franklin on the Constitution
• “Our constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Franklin
• “I do not expect the Constitution to last for more than twenty years.” Washington
“A More Perfect Union”
• It has lasted much longer than 20 years• It has provide a model of republican
government• It has been repeatedly borrowed by other
nations through the years• It has been resilient and flexible for the people
of the United States
Terms you need to know
• Consent of the governed – The people of a country have to give their consent to be governed, otherwise they have the right to over-throw the government. This theory was coined by John Locke
• Mobocracy – The term is the fear that the nation would be ruled by a mob
• Anarchy – This is the lack of a strong government, often resulting in chaos
• James Madison – “Father of the Constitution”
First Political Parties
• Originally, political leaders believed the republican experiment’s success depended on political harmony
• They wanted to avoid organized political parties• Yet parties quickly formed, first in Congress, an then
spread throughout the nation• The 1790s was a decade of intense partisanship, an
“age of passion” in which the survival of the republic, the revolution’s legacy, and American liberty seemed at stake.
Washington’s Cabinet
• John Adams – Vice President• Thomas Jefferson – Secretary of State• Alexander Hamilton – Head of the Treasury• John Jay – Chief Justice
Bill of Rights to the Constitution
• James Madison and George Mason wrote the BofR• They provided safeguards for certain fundamental
individual rights: freedom of religion, press, speech, and assembly; the right to keep and bear firearms; the right to refuse to house soldiers in private homes; protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; the right to refuse to testify against oneself; the right to a speedy public trial, with legal counsel, present before an impartial jury; and protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
• Bill of Rights became effective on December 15, 1791.
Bill of Rights to the Constitution
• Ninth Amendment: Any rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution are also guaranteed against government infringement.
• Tenth Amendment: All powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.
Hamilton’s plan frays national unity
• Using Great Britain as his model• He wanted to stabilize the nation’s
finances• He wanted to garner the support of
powerful financiers• Foster economic development –
National Bank• He saw the US as a military and
commercial power• Know the specifics of his plan.
Opposition to his plan
• Most were from the southerners who had already paid off their debts
• Strict constructionist argued that the federal government could only use powers that were explicitly in the Constitution
Jefferson and the French Revolution
Jefferson• Sees it as a victory for self-
government everywhere
Washington & Hamilton• Revolution invited anarchy• Believed that America
should befriend Britain• 1793 – remain neutral
between France and England
By the Mid-1790s two parties appeared
Federalists• Supported the Washington
Administration• Well-to-do merchants, farmers,
lawyers, established political leaders (esp. North)
• They were elitist who saw society as a fixed hierarchy in which political office should go to wealthy men
• They feared the spirit of liberty generated by Rev. was degenerating into anarchy
Democratic Republicans• Led by Madison and Jefferson• Embraced popular politics• Supported France and had more
faith in democratic self-government
• Southern planters, ordinary farmers and urban artisans who sympathized with the F.Rev. supported this party
• They were far more critical of social and economic inequality, and more congenial to broad democratic participation by ordinary people
What did these new parties do?
• Expanded the public sphere and the democratic content of American Freedom
• It increased the number of citizens who attended political events and read newspapers
• It also invigorated discussion of women’s rights.• Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights
of Women
Farewell Address
warned against parties and partisanship
AND“permanent alliances”
Foreign Affairs During Washington’s Presidency
The French Revolution
Proclamation of Neutrality
“Citizen” Genêt
The Jay Treaty (1794)
Mob hysteria and mass executions. America was alliance with the French Monarchy, not with the revolutionary republic. Jefferson argued that the US should join France in its defensive war against Britain.
President Washington, however, believed that the young nation was not strong enough to engage in a European war. He issued a proclamation of US neutrality. Jefferson resigned from the cabinet.
Objecting to Washington’s policy, “Citizen” Edmond Genêt, the French minister to the US, broke all the rules of diplomacy by appealing directly to the American people to support the French cause. Washington and Jefferson agree that he should be removed.
Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay on a special mission to Britain to talk that county out of its offensive practice of searching and seizing American ships and impressing seamen into the British navy. After one year, Jay brought back a treaty in which Britain agreed to evacuate its post on the US western frontier. But the treaty said nothing about British seizures of American merchant ships
Comparison between Political Parties of 1796
Federalists Democratic-Republicans
Leaders
View of the Constitution
Foreign Policy
Military Power
Domestic Policy
Chief Supporters
John AdamsAlexander Hamilton
Loose interpretationStrong central government
Pro-British
Large peacetime army and navy
Aid businessNational bank Tariffs
Northern businessmenLarge landowners
Thomas JeffersonJames Madison
Strict interpretationWeak central government
Pro-French
Small peacetime army and navy
Favor agricultureNo national bankOpposed tariffs
Skilled workersSmall farmersPlantation owners
The Election of 1796“First Contested Presidential Election”
John Adams/Thomas PinckneyFederalists
Thomas Jefferson/Aaron BurrRepublicans
The Changeover• Even as Washington was writing his address, political parties were
active in every state to gain majorities in the two houses of Congress.
• The vice president, John Adams, was the Federalists’ candidate, while the former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson was the choice of the Democratic Republicans
• Adams won by just three electoral votes.• Jefferson became the vice president, since the Constitution as
originally written provided that the candidate receiving the second highest number of votes would become the vice president.
• (This method for selecting a vice president was changed by the Twelfth Amendment in 1804)
John Adams’ PresidencyThe Alien and Sedition Acts
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Public anger against France strengthens the Federalists in the congressional elections of 1798. Winning a majority of seats in both houses, the hoped to take advantage of their victory by enacting laws that would restrict their political opponents, the DemReps. They adopted the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act, and the Sedition Act
Republicans argued that the A&S Acts violated rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. In 1799, the Supreme Court had not yet established the principle of judicial review. Republican leaders challenged the legislation of the Federal Congress by enacting nullifying laws of their own in the state legislatures. (Kentucky-Jefferson) and (Virginia-Madison). Both resolutions declared that the states had entered into a “compact” in forming the national government, and, therefore, if any act of the federal government broke the compact, a state could nullify the federal law
The immediate crisis over the Alien and Sedition Acts faded because of two developments:
• The Federalists lost their majority in Congress after the election of 1800, and the new Republican majority either allowed the acts to expire or repealed them.
• The Supreme Court under John Marshall asserted its power as the court of last resort in deciding whether or not a certain federal law was constitutional.
The Election of 1800John Adams/Thomas PinckneyFederalists
Thomas Jefferson/Aaron BurrRepublicans
The Election of 1800
• During Adams’ presidency, the Federalists rapidly lost popularity. People disliked the Alien and Sedition Acts and complained about the new taxes imposed by the Federalists to pay the costs of preparing for war against France.
• ELECTION RESULTS – It swept the Federalists from power in both the executive and legislative branches of the US government. A majority of the presidential electors voted for two Republicans: Jefferson and Burr. Because both these Republican candidates received the same number of electoral ballots, it was necessary to hold a special election in the HofR to break the tie. Hamilton urged his followers to vote for Jefferson who he deemed less dangerous
Revolution of 1800?
• A Peaceful Revolution – The passing of power in 1801 from one political party to another was accomplished without violence. This in itself was a rare event for the times and a major indication that the US constitutional system would endure the various strains that were placed upon it.
• The Federalists quietly accepted their defeat in the election of 1800 and peacefully relinquished control of the federal government to Jefferson’s party, the DemReps. This is sometimes known as the Revolution of 1800.
The Jefferson Democracy• The Federalist Finale – Adams was the last
Federalist president, and the party sank away afterwards
• Still, the Federalists had been great diplomats, signing advantageous deals with the European nations, and their conservative views had given the US a political balance
• On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated president in the new capital of Washington D.C. (address)
• There were two Thomas Jeffersons: the scholarly private citizen who philosophized in his study and the harassed public official who discovered that bookish theories worked out differently in practical politics
• Jefferson had to rely on his casual charm because his party was so disunited still
What is Jeffersonian Democracy?
• It emphasized the limited role of the national government, equality, individual liberties, and faith in the abilities of ordinary people.
• His secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, oversaw the downsizing of the federal budget – including cutting the army budget in half and shaving the navy budget by two thirds.
• Taxes were repealed, and proposals to reduce debt.• No Alien and Sedition Acts.
The “Dead Clutch” of the Judiciary
• The Judiciary Act, passed by the Federalists in the their last days of Congressional domination in 1801, packed newly created judgeships with Federalist-backing men, so as to prolong their legacy
• Chief Justice John Marshall, a cousin of Jefferson, had served at Valley Forge during the war, and he had been impressed with the drawbacks of no central authority, and thus, he became a lifelong Federalist, committed to strengthening the power of the federal government
The “Dead Clutch” of the Judiciary
• Marbury v. Madison (1803): William Marbury had been one of the “midnight judges” appointed by John Adams in his last hours as president. He had been named justice of peace for Washington DC, but when Secretary of State James Madison decided to shelve the position, Marbury sued for its delivery.
• Marshall dismissed the case, but he said that the Judiciary Act of 1801 was unconstitutional, thus suggesting that the Supreme Court could determine the constitutionality of laws (AKA “judicial review”).
The Louisiana Purchase• In 1800, Napoleon secretly induced the king of Spain to cede the
Louisiana territory to France.• In 1803, Jefferson sent James Monroe to join regular minister Robert
R. Livingston to buy New Orleans and as much land to the east of the river for a total of $10 million, tops.
• Instead, Napoleon offered to sell New Orleans and the land west of it, Louisiana, for a bargain of $15 million, thereby abandoning his dream of a French North American Empire.
• The Louisiana Purchase was finalized on October 30, 1803.• The Senate quickly approved the purchase of Jefferson’s urging, and
the Louisiana Purchase (828,000 sq. mi) doubled the size of the United States. This was the biggest bargain in history averaging 3 cents per acre.
Thomas Jefferson’s chief reason for purchasing Louisiana was to:
a) Challenge Hamilton’s loose interpretation of the Constitution
b) Challenge Napoleon’s bid for world empirec) Give the United States control of the
Mississippi Riverd) Provide a rationale for the Lewis and Clark
Expeditione) Strengthen the Republican party in the trans-
Mississippi West
Election of James Madison (1808)
• Jefferson believed in tradition (2 term)• Supported Secretary of State, Madison• Becomes the second Democratic Republican
president of the United States.
Mr. Madison’s War(War of 1812) Causes of the War
Neither Britain nor the United States wanted their dispute to end in war. And yet war between them did break out in 1812From the U.S. point of view, the pressure leading to war came from two directions: the continued violation of U.S. neutral rights at sea and troubles with the British on the western frontier.• Free Seas and trade – people sided with the French and
remembered the Revolution• Frontier Pressures – Added to long-standing grievance over British
actions at sea, were the ambitions of western Americans for more open land. Americans on the frontier longed for the land of British Canada and Spanish Florida. Standing in the way of their ambitions were the British and their Indian and Spanish allies.
Native Americans• For decades, settlers had been gradually pushing the
Native Americans farther and farther westward. In an effort to defend their land from further encroachment, Shawnee twin brothers – Tecumseh, a warrior, and Prophet, a religious leader - attempted to unite all of the tribes east of the Mississippi River.
• White settlers became suspicious of Tecumseh and persuaded the governor of the Indiana Territory, General William Henry Harrison, to take aggressive action.
• In the Battle of Tippecanoe, in 1811, Harrison destroyed the Shawnee headquarters and put an end to Tecumseh’s efforts to form an Indian Confederacy.
• The British had provided only limited aid to Tecumseh. Nevertheless, Americans on the frontier blamed the British for instigating the rebellion.
War Hawks• A congressional election in 1810 had brought a group of new, young Democratic-
Republicans to Congress, many of them from frontier states (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio).
• Known as War Hawks because of their eagerness for war with Britain, they quickly gain significant influence in the House of Representatives.
• Led by Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, the war-hawk Congressmen argued that war with Britain would be the only way to defend American honor, gain Canada, and destroy Native American resistance on the frontier
Declaration of War
• British delays in meeting U.S. demands over neutral rights combined with political pressures from the war-hawk Congress finally persuaded Madison to seek a declaration of war against Britain.
• Ironically, the British government had by this time (June 1812) agreed to suspend its naval blockade. News of its decision reached the White House after Congress had declared war.
Military Defeats and Naval Victories
• Invasion of Canada• Naval Battles – USS Constitution (Old
Ironsides)• Chesapeake campaign – Spring of 1814, British
army burns down the White House• Southern Campaign – Commanded by Andrew
Jackson
The Treaty of Ghent
• By 1814, the British were weary of war. At the same time, Madison’s government recognized that the Americas would be unable to win a decisive victory.
• On Christmas Eve, 1814, an agreement was reached. The terms were: – a halt to the fighting– the return of all conquered territory to the prewar claimant– and recognition of the prewar boundary between Canada and the United States
• The Treaty of Ghent, promptly ratified by the Senate in 1815, said nothing at all about the grievance that led to war. Britain made no concessions concerning impressment, blockades, or other maritime differences. Thus, the war ended in stalemate with no gain for either side.
The War’s Legacy• Having now survived two wars with Britain, a great
power, the United States gained the respect of other nations
• The United States came to accept Canada as a neighbor and a part of the British Empire
• Widely denounced for its talk of secession and disunion in New England, the Federalist party came to an end as a national force and declined even in New England.
• Talk of nullification and secession in New England set a precedent that would later be used by the South
The War’s Legacy
• Abandoned by their British allies, Native Americans in the West were forced to surrender large areas of land to white settlement
• As European goods became unavailable due to the British navel blockade, more U.S. factories were built, and Americans took a big step toward industrial self-sufficiency.
• War heroes such as Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison would soon be in the forefront of a new generation of political leaders
• As a result of the war, there was a strong feeling of American nationalism and also a growing belief that the future for the United States lay in the West and away from Europe
