Jefferson: The Dawn of a New RepublicOseas Romero AP US History Stafford High School

A New America• This New America was to be filled with a society of

• Sturdy, independent farmers• Free from workshops, industrial towns, and the city mob • System of universal education geared to teaching the Enlightenment • Localism and the simple life

• Government with limited power and the states would retain most authority

• Nothing turned out to be this way as the American economy became more and more diversified and the teaching Enlightenment ideals did not survive against American Revivalism• Few things did work, Jefferson was able to take down the large

bureaucratic power structure created in the previous decade and left the federal government with few avenues of power • American shipping prospered• Cities’ primary function was international trade• 7% of population would be urban

• Jefferson called for a “crusade against ignorance”• It was imperative that the voters of the country be an

educated electorate• All male citizens should receive free education • Wouldn’t be able to do this in the end, but their dreams did

not die• Jefferson himself in retirement founded the University of Virginia

• It took more than thirty years for a state to have a comprehensive public school system• The private school system was thriving• Meant that only the affluent could attend due to cost

• Women or Republican mothers(from Ch. 6) needed to have an education if they were to mold the new generation of Americans

Regional Identities in a New Republic• Rapid population growth • 7.2 million in 1810, 2 million more than in 1800• 20 % black slaves • Children under sixteen largest single demographic

• Strong regional identities • Transportation improvements • Defensiveness • Early secession movements threated national unity

Westward we go • Migration to the West after 1790 is massive • New states emerge • Kentucky—1792• Tennessee—1796• Ohio—1803

• Settlers would buy land fraudulently from NA • Resistance • Tecumseh, would fight until defeat in War of 1812• Creek defeated by Andrew Jackson • Horseshoe Bend

• Jefferson wanted NA’s moved west of Mississippi to become yeomen farmers with the help of federal agents

• Beginnings of Feminism and Women Suffrage begins with Judith Sargent Murray, who in 1784, wrote an essay defending the American’s women right to an education • Went as far as to say that women and men were equal in

intelligence and potential• Did not receive much support, but her writing became

the inspiration for women almost a century later• Relative few Free Blacks received an education, though

only in the North

• Education was coming of age in America, but it was still limited

A New Cultural America• Wanting to be something other than the bastard

step child of Britain, they wanted to have their own identity • Literacy and art would rival the greatest work of Europe• The destiny of America was to become an empire and

the last great civilization the world would offer• Does this sound familiar?

• Noah Webster wrote the first American dictionary • American Spelling Book,1783• Changed the basic English to American English • Labour or honour

• Only problem the American literary situation was not off to a good start. A few success stories but more failures than success

Religion What is it Good For• Traditionally seen as a Christian nation, the ideals of the

Revolution weakened the power of organized religion• At this time there was little to no concept of separation of church and

state• By the 1790’s less than ten percent of the country were members

of a church• Leaders of these churches believed that these new ideologies and

philosophies of the Enlightenment were creating a heathen and demonic society that would be brought to judgment by God if they did not repent.

• Contrary to most beliefs, most of our Founding Fathers would not be considered Christians today• They were in fact deist- people who believe in the existence of

God, but consider Him an absent creator, who has allowed mankind to do their own thing• Thomas Paine himself famously called Christianity the strangest

religion on earth

An American Schism?• The religious difference grew out of control and

American Christians once again had to make a choice. • Universalist • Unitarian • Many religious leaders believed that Americans would

make the wrong choice• They didn’t realize that the religious fervor of the Great

Awakening was still strong in the United States even seventy years later• A rejection of organized religion had taken place, not a

rejection of God• Rational Christians would never regain their influence after

1800.

It Happens Again• The duty of most conservative theologians was to fight the spread of religious

rationalism and create a strong community of churches. • Different denominations got together and put their efforts into evangelizing the United States

once again. • Methodist• Anabaptist • Baptist

• These churches were especially hostile towards the so called “New Light” Christians• People who altered the faith to fit scientific rationalism

• Unlike today, the fervor of the Second Great Awakening began in colleges specifically Yale• Spread rapidly specially in the west and frontier states• Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterians

• The exact message wasn’t always the same, but this revival called for • Individuals readmitting God and Christ into their daily lives • Active piety• Rejections of rationalism that threatened traditional beliefs

• Some ideas were never accepted again like predestination and the belief that a person would become lost if they tried to change their destiny• The old faiths were still there, but no longer did they dominate the religious scene

• It was accepted that every Protestant faith would at its core serve God and life a good Christian life.

Affects on Minorities • Women converts outnumbered the men

• Women began to outnumber men in church membership• Why?• The changing situation in the United States• In some areas the old vagabond culture reemerged, which left many areas

filled with women and no men• Not everywhere

• Most importantly was the economic situation of the United States• The beginnings of the American Industrial Revolution are starting to take

place, women have begun to work out of the home• With this new mobility women, especially younger women, began to

charge of their faith and put that faith into action

• Slavery and Black America• Both Slaves and Free Blacks embraced the revival fervor• Many of the religious leaders preached that salvation was not

just for whites but for everyone• Had the unintended effect of causing racial unrest in the South

• The Native American Experience left many tribes at a lost for words.• Their teachings called for a personal relationship with the

spirits and nature. If they denounced the ways of the white man, their ancestors and gods would once again make them a great people.• The mass dislocation of the tribes changed all of this

and the Indian tribes were ready to be converted. They would use Christian beliefs to foster their hopes to see the white man disappear from their lands. • Presbyterian and Baptist missionaries were the most active

and were able to initiate many conversions. It wasn’t until one of their own, that the Christianization of the Indians was fully under way• Handsome Lake

The Beginnings of Industrialization

• Even though Jefferson detested the idea, the United States was well into becoming an industrialized nation, especially in the North. • Their however was a deep hatred of anything English, even technology.

England tried hard to protect its secrets and keep skilled workers from immigrating to the United States• It happened anyways

• It wasn’t until Eli Whitney that American Industrialization truly began• Revolutionized cotton production and weapons manufacturing• Cotton Gin changed the South• Helped spread cotton growing into northern South• Slavery which had been in decline, was now back in high demand

• All the cotton changed the North as well. • They were not going to allow the English textile industry to thrive with American

cotton, so they created their own factories and industry. • A division would begin to emerge. An industrialized North and an agriculture

South

• One of the requirements for true industrialization is an effective means of transportation. • The United States lacked in this area• It would need to improve trade at home and afar• The United States would take steps to help spur industry and

expansion, but the true money maker was • Europe and WAR• Because of this the United States proportionally had the second largest merchant

fleet in the world

• River Transportation• High-pressure steam engine (John Fitch)• More efficient than the rational steam engine invented by James Watt• Steamboats came into prominence because of two men• Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston • Sailed up the Hudson River in 1807

• River transportation would become the norm, known as the turnpike system• Private companies needed to make sure they would make a profit so

effective transportation on rivers was in the east coast

Jefferson the President• Known to share his opinion, Jefferson ran on the premise that all Americans were

united in one common effort• Privately he believed that his election would rival the American Revolution

• Wealthy and aristocratic planter, widowed • Owned more than 100 slaves

• However he portrayed himself as an ordinary citizen with ordinary problems• Dressed down for the position

• Even though he was shy and awkward (classical GT!) Jefferson was a highly intelligent man • Author/literary• Diplomat• Architect• Educator• Inventor• Scientific farmer• Philosopher-scientist

• Unlike Washington and Adams, Jefferson saw no prestige in being President. He believed that the legislature should make laws without the apparent influence of the office of the President. • He however believed that he was the leader of his party and should lead from the front.

• Sometimes this meant threatening his own party members

• Primary goals were simple • Reduce size and cost of government • Repeal Federalist legislation • Keep the US out of War

• By the end of his first term, Jefferson had replaced about half of the holdovers from the Adams administration. • The Republicans stance against patronage didn’t stop Jefferson from

appointing his allies and friends to high positions in the government.

• Hamilton’s economic plan was into full effect by Jefferson’s first term. It was his job to make that trend stop• Stopped most internal taxes except custom duties and sale of

western lands• Cut government spending• Cut the staff of the executive department • Cut the armed forces to 2500, cut the navy to seven ships• Though he did help create the United States Military Academy and

the Corp of Engineers • Was able to cut half of the national debt during his presidency

Jefferson, Betrayer of the Cause?

• The Imperial ambitions of Napoleon were well known in Europe. Having secured the friendship of the Spanish Crown, Napoleon and France regained all of the land west of the Mississippi River.

• Treaty of San Ildefonso • Napoleon would create a new grand French Empire in the Americas

• However most important at the time were the Caribbean French Islands which were making a lot of money• Toussaint L’Ouverture leads a rebellion in the Caribbean which forces Napoleon to send a military

response• Known as the Haitian Revolution• England and France had taken a break in the war• Adams supported the rebellion, which caused some friction between America and France

• The rebellion is crushed, but things do not go as plan

• Jefferson welcomed Napoleon with open arms• Jefferson was a well known admirer of the French • America an ardent pro-French Ambassador Robert Livingston promised on the behalf of the

United States that America would stand by its first and closest ally.• When Jefferson discovered the plans of Napoleon, he became concerned

• In 1802, the Spanish Intendant of New Orleans began to enforce a new regulation• American ships would no longer be able to deposit their cargo in New Orleans

• The Lower Mississippi was now closed to America• The Frontier called for immediate action by Jefferson, but Jefferson was not about to declare war on France

• He told Livingston and James Monroe to offer to buy New Orleans. Livingston on his own asked to buy the whole thing

• Napoleon decided it was a good idea• His army in America had been plagued with yellow fever• He was preparing for another war in Europe

• Not knowing what to do with the opportunity for all this land. James Monroe and Livingston are instructed to talk to Napoleon• Didn’t know if they had the authority to even buy the land, but thinking Napoleon

might change his mind they went ahead with the purchase• April 30, 1803, for 80 million francs, the United States was sold the entire

territory known as the Louisiana Purchase.• French citizens in New Orleans were to be given American citizenship and rights.

• It was great news for Jefferson, but also terrible news because he had been insisting for the better part of the last fifteen years that the government could only do what the Constitution said it could• The Constitution did not say it could buy all of this land• His advisors persuaded him that the treaty-making power given to the executive

would justify the purchase. • December 1803, General James Wilkinson, accepts Louisiana as American territory• The assumption would be that all these new territories would in time become

states as well• Louisiana became one in 1812

Lewis and Clark• Jefferson planed an expedition to cross the entire

North American continent• Even before they had bought Louisiana • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the expedition• Economic promise confirmed Jefferson’s desire to buy

• Other explorers were sent around the country. Most important was the expedition of Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike• His account of the west endured• The plains were considered a desert better left to the

Indians

The First American War

Conflict with the Barbary States• North African states demanded tribute from ships

sailing in the Mediterranean • Jefferson will refuse and dispatch the US Fleet to

intimidate • Goes horribly wrong • Crew of the USS Philadelphia kidnapped, US pays

ransom • Negotiations took place after blockade of Barbary States

instituted

The Supreme Court: Attack on the Judiciary Act

• Already in control of the Executive and Legislative Branches, the Republicans looked at the Judiciary with concern • Repealing of the Judiciary Act of 1801• Would eliminate the judgeships of Adams midnight appointments• This would lead to one of the biggest court cases in history• Federalist • Republicans

• 1802—Jeffersonian will try to repeal Judiciary Act and abolish the courts set up by the act and the judges that come with

• Marbury v Madison (1803)• Ruled Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional • Court ruled that the court didn’t have the power to enforce the rightful

commission of Marbury• Court found that Congress had exceeded its authority, the

Constitution had defined the powers of the judiciary not anyone else• Judicial Review

Attack on the Judges: Impeachments • 1803—Federalist John Pickering is impeached • Alcoholism and insanity • No “high crimes” committed

• Republicans begin to fear the destruction of an independent judiciary • Jefferson makes things worse by trying to impeach

influential Federalist judge, Samuel Chase• Republican Senate refuses to convict • Impeachment cannot and will not be used for political ploys • Judges should remain independent

Aaron Burr• In hopes to curtail the inevitable the Federalist were coming up with

wilder and wilder ideas• They knew that all of this new territory would mean less influence for them• They openly talked about seceding from the Union and forming a Northern

Confederacy.• Alexander Hamilton shot down the idea, but it did have substantial support• They turned to Hamilton’s greatest rival, Aaron Burr

• Who accepted the Federalist invitation to run for governor of New York • Hamilton immediately went on the attack. Burr ended up losing the election and he put

the blame solely on Hamilton • Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel. Hamilton not wanting to be seen as a coward

agrees. • Hamilton is mortally wounded and dies the next day• He fled to the west where rumors of him starting a new empire were quickly

spread by his political enemies• In 1806, Burr was arrested and brought to trial in hopes of finding him guilty of

treason• John Marshall however made it impossible for Jefferson and the Republicans to

indict Burr• The damage had been done, Burr fled to Europe• What does the Burr Conspiracy foreshadow?

Europe: The Continent that doesn’t quit

• The later years of Jefferson’s presidency were nothing to his first• Mainly due to the wars in Europe• They weren’t about to let their enemy have the upper

hand by trading with the United States• So both France and England began to harass American

merchant ships in the open seas

• Secondary but the expansion into the west was happening to fast• The threatened tribes mobilized against the Americans

and ally themselves with other European powers in the North America

The High Seas• After his navy was defeated at Trafalgar, Napoleon decided that he

would attack Britain economically. • Continental System- Berlin and Milan Decrees

• European Continent was closed to British merchants and American ships would be confiscated

• The British response with a massive blockade of the European coast.• Orders in Council

• Both powers would attack American ships if they were found to be trading with the other• Americans viewed the British as the biggest offender

• Impressment- Britain claimed the right to stop and search American vessels in search of deserters. 6,000 Americans impressed from 1808-1811• An impasse was reached with the event known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair

• The Leopard fired on the American ship and the captain of the American ship surrendered• 3 dead, 18 wounded

• Political firestorm in the United States• Congress enacts the Embargo of 1807, the most politically decisive piece of legislation of its

time• Caused a depression in the United States especially in the North• Exports in 1807 = 108 million exports in 1808 = 22 million

The Embargo and why it failed • Everyone tried to evade the embargo, but it was impossible to

deny the harm that it had caused• People were calling Jefferson a traitor and his actions unconstitutional

• Jefferson, before he leaves office, ends the embargo• James Madison, his friend and secretary of state, is now President of the

United States. Both Jefferson and Madison want to avoid a war, but the economic instability of the nation is making that difficult• A few months before Madison became President, Congress passes the

non-Intercourse Act of 1809• Could trade with everyone but GB and France• Opened up trade to GB and France, but allowed America to stop trading with

either one if it gave American ships trouble again• Napoleon promises to stop badgering American ships, causes the US to blockade

GB alone

• US underestimates their dependence on British trade• Americans openly ignore the embargo• American pirating

• America is weaker due to loss of naval capabilities

The Rise of Tecumseh and the Prophet

• The relative peace between the Indian nations and the whites was shattered following the events of Chesapeake-Leopard affair. Three powerful men arose from the Indian conflicts• William Henry Harrison, the Prophet and Tecumseh• Harrison would be appointed the governor of the Indiana Territory• He would administer Jefferson’s solution to the Indian problem

• If they didn’t assimilate, they would be marched west• In this case resistance is futile

• Jefferson believed his solution was the only humane one. The NA thought differently • WHH was a shrewd politician. He would use bribery, tricks, and even out right lying to

pin NA tribes against each other• By 1807, Eastern Michigan, southern Indiana, Illinois had all been given to the US

• Tribes openly wished for allies, specifically the British• Relationship had been frayed by Fallen Timbers, but the NA’s knew GB and

Canada were their only hope

• Tenskwatawa or the Prophet • Religious leader and orator• Proclaimed the evils of the white culture

• Was able to bring many different tribes together

• The Prophet’s brother Tecumseh, the true star of the family, emerged as a leader of many tribes• Understood that victory could only be achieved through united

action• After Indiana was lost to them, Tecumseh set out to unite the

North and Southern Mississippi Valley• Proclaimed that WHH tricks of talking to one tribe and not the other

nullified the ‘fake’ land titles that were signed• On one of his missions to the Southern Mississippi Valley, WHH took action

• Battle of Tippecanoe• Prophetstown was destroyed and Tecumseh lost many of his

warriors• Those that were left, urged by the British in Canada, fought alongside

the border• Canada supplied the NA forces• Perfect excuse for the US to declare war and annex Canada

War is Coming• Frontiersmen in the North wanted Canada• Frontiersmen in the South wanted Florida

• Included parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana• Mostly wanted for economic reasons

• In 1810, American settlers attacked a Spanish fort in Baton Rouge and asked the Federal government to annex the land immediately • Madison was more than happy to do so

• Spain at this time was Britain’s ally, they were now openly fighting against Napoleon

• War is inevitable because the British were trampling all over the Republican vision of America• It was imperative that American farmers had access to foreign markets.

• The British were not going to allow this to happen• The Republicans were not going to allow farm prices to plummet. Two major reasons

• The men known as War Hawks soon emerged• Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C Calhoun of South Carolina

• Clay would become Speaker of the House in 1811• Would appoint liked minded people to powerful committee jobs• Together with Calhoun, who was on Committee of Foreign Affairs, they pushed for war

• June 18, 1812, Congress declares war

War of 1812• Already at war with Napoleon, GB was not prepared to fight the Americans.

• For the first months of the war, it was a war in name only• The British wouldn’t engage American forces

• Napoleon’s Russian offensive fails EPICLY• GB is ready to bring on the pain

• Canada was the first objective, but the invasion of Canada failed• Shocking I know!

• There was initial success in the water• American employed pirates to help them out

• With the GB not preoccupied with Napoleon they were able to effectively counterattack the American fleet

• Great Lakes proved to be the best front of the early war• Americans took control of Lake Ontario

• Staging area for raid on York, capital of Canada• We burned it to the ground

• Americans then seized Lake Erie, through the work of Oliver Perry at the Battle of Put-In Bay

• Allowed WHH, commander of the Western forces, who had just recently won a victory where Brigadier General Tecumseh died to begin his offensive• Battle of Thames

• Invaded Canada once again

Old Hickory & The Return of the Redcoats

• The Southern Indians, most notably the Creeks were not faring any better. After continuously attacking white settlers, American forces were dispatched to deal with them. • They were led by Andrew Jackson, who wanted revenge• Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson and his men massacred the Creeks• This victory broke the Creeks and the US promoted Jackson to Major General in

the US Army • In this role he was able to lead his men in Florida and begin that invasion

• Napoleon is defeated in 1814. GB is ready to invade the United States. Their fleet meets almost no resistance and the march up to Washington DC• The governments flees and in retaliation for what American troops did in

York, they try burn Washington to the ground• The army moves towards Baltimore, but the forces at Fort McHenry were

ready• They stopped them by closing the mouth of the harbor by sinking their own ships

• Forced the British to bombard the fort• Francis Scott Key, was on board one of the British ships and retold the story in the most

famous American poem, The Star-Spangled Banner• The British forces abandon their plans for Baltimore

Battle of New Orleans• Most of the military excursions of the American military will humiliating

defeats• Led to increasing opposition to the government and the war

• Got so bad that Federalist began to cheer for GB victories• In Congress, the Republicans had to deal with the new leader of the Federalist Daniel

Webster, who enjoyed embarrassing the administration • Talk of secession reached a climax towards the end of the war

• Meeting in Hartford, Connecticut• Secessionist were outnumbered, but the right of nullification was reasserted and the

Federalist proposed seven new amendments to the Constitution • The assumption was the Republicans would agree because they would want to keep

the New England States

• Jackson and his band of thugs• Creoles, Kentuckians, Tennesseans, blacks, and pirates

• Protected and awaited for the attack of the British on New Orleans• January 8, 1815 the British attack

• Jackson is able to outmaneuver the British• American losses: eight dead and thirteen wounded• British losses: seven hundred dead, fourteen hundred wounded and five hundred prisoners of war

• America however had already signed a peace treaty with GB• The victory kills the Federalist Party

Treaty of Ghent: Peace at last• Serious negotiations began in 1814• The ridiculously high demands of both sides were

forgotten• GB was tired of war and in debt• France was no longer a problem

• Americans were tired of the war as well• Treaty of Ghent called for the return of tribal land to the

NA’s• This did not happen• NA’s in the East and now in the Frontier were gone

Final Thoughts• Was the election of 1800 truly revolutionary?

• How/Why?

• Republicans held many ideas, but were not able to successfully implement them all. Who is to blame for this failure?

• Economic ventures rule the day to day policies of the American government. Europe does not take kindly to this double dipping. Forces Americans to choose sides • Hartford Convention

• Foreign Affairs• France vs. Great Britain

• Kept the Hamiltonian system intact with the exception of excise taxes • Maintained the Bank of the U.S.• Retained the mildly protective tariff • Did not tamper with Federalist programs for funding national debt at par and

assuming Revolutionary War debts of the states. • As president, Jefferson became more of a pragmatist than an idealist

• Louisiana Purchase- he believed what he was doing was unconstitutional, but did it anyways

• Do not mess with the Supreme Court• Marbury vs. Madison, 1803

• Judicial Review • Samuel Chase

• Tried to remove Federalist from bench• Failed, no attempts to reshape the courts by impeachment

• Louisiana Purchase• Doubled the size of the US

• 3 cents an acre• Access to important waterways

• Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico • New Orleans

• Paved way for more westward expansion • Accelerates rise of US as economic and political power • Indian Removal accelerates • John Jacob Astor and the American Fur Company begin claiming the newly acquired

territory • Boost national unity

• Beginnings of Manifest Destiny• Federalist no more than a sectional party