Transcript Document
Chapter 6 – Forging the New Republic
Section Notes
Video
Washington Becomes President
Challenges of the 1790s
Jefferson’s Presidency
The War of 1812
Maps
Quick Facts
The Cabinet, 1789 to Today
Hamilton’s Economic Plan
Reactions to the XYZ Affair
The Election of 1800: Power
Changes Hands
Causes and Effects of the War
of 1812
Visual Summary: Forging the
New Republic
Forging the New Republic
Northwest Territory Battles
The Louisiana Purchase
Lewis and Clark’s Journey to the
Pacific
The War of 1812
Images
The President’s Cabinet
Washington Reviewing the
Western Army at Fort
Cumberland, Maryland
The Election of 1800
Political Cartoon: Alien and
Sedition Acts
Washington Becomes President
Main Idea
President Washington and other leaders tried to solve the
new nation’s economic problems. This led to the rise of
political parties.
Reading Focus
• What steps did Congress and the president take to organize the
new government?
• What was Alexander Hamilton’s plan to settle the nation’s debts?
• What was the debate over the national bank?
• How did the first political parties form?
Organizing the Government
• February 1789—Washington was elected president; John
Adams became vice president.
• Congress created the first executive department: state,
treasury, and war. The department leaders became
known as the president’s cabinet.
• Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of Treasury: Alexander Hamilton
• Secretary of War: Henry Knox
• Federalists: led by Hamilton, wanted a strong central
government
• Jeffersonian Republicans: led by Jefferson and Madison,
wanted a smaller central government, more rural than
urban, with powerful states
Organizing the Government
The first Congress
• Only 10 states had joined the government;
presided over by Vice President Adams
• Sent proposed amendments to the states (Bill
of Rights)
• The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized the
judicial branch. It had a six-person Supreme
Court with one chief justice and five
associates.
• John Jay named as first chief justice
Settling the Nation’s Debts
Hamilton’s Plan to Pay Debt
• Federal government should take on all the debt from the war
• Find ways to bring revenue to government
• Establish national bank to control credit and make loans to
government
New taxes
• Tariff of 1789 taxed imported goods
• Excise tax, 1791, taxed the production or sale of liquor, sugar,
snuff, and carriages
• Hamilton compromised with Jefferson and James Madison, who
led the opposition to his economic plan.
• The capital would be moved to the South by 1800. In return,
the southerners would allow Hamilton’s debt bill to pass.
• Washington chose the area; Pierre L’Enfant planned the city.
Debating a National Bank
• Most controversial part of Hamilton’s plan was the
national bank
• Two views of the Constitution:
– Strict construction: the government should do
only what the Constitution specifically states it can
do
– Loose construction: the government can take
reasonable actions that are not outlined in the
Constitution—as long as those actions are not
specifically prohibited.
• Hamilton pointed to the “necessary and proper” clause
of the Constitution when he proposed a national bank.
• That was a prime example of loose construction.
Debating a National Bank
• Jefferson was only lukewarm to the Constitution in
its final form.
• He favored a smaller national government.
• A strict constructionist, he felt that Hamilton’s
interpretation of the “necessary and proper” clause
was going beyond the powers that the Constitution
specifically allowed.
• Jefferson opposed a national bank.
• Congress passed the bill, and Washington signed it
to charter the first Bank of the United States in
February 1791.
First Political Parties Form
• The excise tax led to a violent clash between supporters and
opponents of strong government.
• Settlers in the western frontier felt their interests were ignored
by the government.
• In 1794 farmers on the western Pennsylvania frontier objected
to the excise tax on whiskey. Their livelihoods depended on
turning surplus grain into rye whiskey.
• Uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion
• Farmers attacked tax collectors and burned barns of people
who gave away the locations of their whiskey stills.
• A crowd of more than 2,000 angry farmers threatened
Pittsburgh.
• There was talk of setting up an independent nation.
First Political Parties Form
• After the farmers ignored Washington’s orders to stop the
rebellion, Washington and Hamilton led a force of some 13,000
or more men into Pennsylvania.
• The farmers scattered in all directions instead of resisting the
militia.
• They were caught and arrested; two were convicted of treason,
but Washington eventually pardoned them.
• Federalists established local associations, gave political offices
and other favors to their supporters.
• Jeffersonian Republicans influenced elections in various states
by working together.
• A two-party system was on its way.
• Jeffersonian Republicans became Democratic Republicans.
Challenges of the 1790s
Main Idea
The United States faced many challenges during the 1790s.
It tried to remain neutral in European wars while dealing
with conflicts with Native Americans in the Northwest
Territory.
Reading Focus
• Why did Washington want to remain neutral in response to
events in Europe?
• What conflicts took place in the Northwest Territory?
• What challenges did John Adams face as president, and
what was the XYZ Affair?
Remaining Neutral
• In 1789 the French monarchy was overthrown. Austria,
Prussia, Great Britain, and Spain declared war on the new
French government.
• Democratic-Republicans feared that if the French Revolution
failed, republican governments everywhere would fail.
• Federalists had respect for French monarchy.
• France and Britain tried to draw the United States into their war
and force it to take sides.
• Washington wanted to remain neutral. He issued the
Neutrality Proclamation in April 1793.
• Edmund Genet, the new French ambassador to the United
States, enlisted an American crew to fight on a French ship
against the British.
• Washington demanded that Genet be replaced.
Remaining Neutral
• In early 1794 the British began seizing American merchant
ships.
– British claimed the ships carried French goods or were
sailing to a French port.
– American sailors were thrown into British prisons.
• The British were stirring up trouble among the Native
Americans in the Northwest Territory.
• John Jay negotiated Jay’s Treaty with the British.
– British would pay for damages to American ships.
– British would leave their forts in the Northwest Territory.
– The United States would pay debts owed to Britain.
• Thomas Pinckney negotiated Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain
and settled many border disputes between the United States
and Spain.
Conflicts in the Northwest Territory
• In 1790s violence broke
out when Native
American nations
resisted white
settlement.
• Little Turtle led Miamis,
Shawnees, and
Delawares against St.
Clair’s army and won.
• American army returned
in force and built forts
and brought in supplies.
• Battle of Fallen
Timbers in 1794:
American forces won
over the Miamis
• Treaty of Greenville:
the Miamis gave up
large territories in Ohio
and parts of Indiana,
Illinois, and Michigan
– The treaty also
recognized the Miamis’
claim to the land they
still had.
President Adams and the XYZ Affair
Presidential election of 1796
• Washington retired after two terms.
• Thomas Jefferson was the Democratic-Republican
candidate.
• John Adams was the Federalist candidate.
• Though Adams became president, he did not have the
full support of the presidential electors.
• Because of sectionalism, the southern Federalists
preferred his running mate, Thomas Pinckney of South
Carolina.
• Thomas Jefferson came in second with 68 votes to
Adams’s 71 votes.
• Jefferson became vice president.
President Adams and the XYZ Affair
XYZ Affair
• France had attacked
American merchant
ships.
• French agents (referred
to as X, Y, and Z)
demanded bribes of the
American diplomats who
went to France to
negotiate an end to the
ship seizure.
As a result, Congress:
• Cut off trade with
France
• Canceled wartime
treaties it had made
with France
• Authorized building
warships
• Allowed the U.S. navy
to capture French
vessels at sea
The XYZ Affair brought a general resentment of foreigners,
which led to passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
President Adams and the XYZ Affair
• Alien Acts: three laws that allowed the president to order
foreigners considered to be a threat to national security to be
jailed or deported.
– Targeted French and Irish refugees, most of whom
supported the French
– Increased the period of residency required for citizenship
from 5 years to 14
– Required foreigners to register with the government
– Allowed the president to jail or expel any foreigner thought
to be “dangerous to the peace and safety” of the country
• The Sedition Act outlawed any opposition to government
policies by actions or by “false, scandalous, or malicious
writing.”
– Targeted the Democratic-Republicans, who historically
supported the French
President Adams and the XYZ Affair
• Nine Democratic-Republican newspaper editors and a
member of Congress were convicted under the Sedition
Act.
• Jefferson and Madison drafted the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions, where they argued that the
Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.
• They hoped states would nullify the laws.
• Only Virginia and Kentucky passed the resolutions.
• In the end, there was a deeper and more bitter political
divide in Congress and the country.
Jefferson’s Presidency
Main Idea
The rise of political parties influenced the election of 1800,
bringing Thomas Jefferson and a new outlook to the
presidency.
Reading Focus
• Why was the transfer of power in the election of 1800
significant?
• What changes did Jefferson make when he took office?
• What was the impact of the Louisiana Purchase?
• How did the role of the Supreme Court change?
The Election of 1800
• This contest marked the first time that power passed
from one American political party to another.
• Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson against
Federalist John Adams
• The campaign was vicious.
• Supporters of each side made their arguments in letters
and newspaper editorials, which often made wild
accusations and spread scandalous stories.
The Election of 1800
Federalists claimed that
• Jefferson was dangerously pro-French.
• Jefferson wanted to destroy organized religion because
of his interest in science and philosophy.
Democratic-Republicans claimed that
• Adams wanted to crown himself king.
• The Federalists would try to limit Americans’ rights (using
the Alien and Sedition Acts as proof of their claims).
The Election of 1800
Problems
• The election ended in a tie between Jefferson and Burr.
• Political parties did not specify who was the party’s preferred
candidate for president.
• The House of Representatives was deadlocked for 35 votes.
• Hamilton urged Federalists to vote for Jefferson. On the 36th
vote, Jefferson was chosen president.
• These problems with the voting system led to the passage of
the Twelfth Amendment (1804), which said that electors
must cast separate ballots for president and vice president.
• Burr held a grudge against Hamilton for supporting Jefferson
and for preventing him from winning the governor’s race in
New York in later years. In 1804, Burr killed Hamilton in a duel.
Jefferson Makes Changes
Succeeded in reducing
government
Succeeded in reducing
size of military
• Only customs duties and
the sale of lands
produced revenue for
the government.
• Reduced the size of the
army and navy
• Reduced the size of the
executive department
staff
• However, built up navy
to help merchant ships
when attacked by
pirates
The Louisiana Purchase
• General Napoleon
Bonaparte wanted to
build a French empire.
• In 1800 Spain returned
Louisiana to France.
• Bonaparte to regain
France’s former lands
called the Louisiana
Territory
• Spanish officials closed
the lower Mississippi
and New Orleans to
American shipping.
• Those lands had gone to
Spain in the Treaty of
Paris in 1763.
• Spain turned over
control of the area to
France.
The Louisiana Purchase
• Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to try to purchase New
Orleans and West Florida.
• At the meeting, France offered to sell the United States all of
the vast Louisiana Territory.
• On April 30, 1803, they signed an agreement with France to
buy the land—final price about 80 million francs, or $15 million
• Almost doubled the territory of the United States
• The Constitution did not directly give Jefferson the authority to
buy new territory for the nation.
• Jefferson and his fellow strict constructionists decided that the
right to acquire territory was implicit in the president’s
constitutional power to make treaties.
The Louisiana Purchase
• Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery, usually called the Lewis
and Clark expedition, to explore the land of the Louisiana
Purchase.
• Led by Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and William
Clark, an experienced frontiersman
• Their ultimate goal was to reach the Pacific Ocean.
• They mapped the country and surveyed its natural history,
including plants, animals, and landforms.
• Were helped by their guide, a Shoshone woman, Sacagawea
• Zebulon M. Pike led an 1805 expedition that traveled 2,000
miles to explore the upper Mississippi Valley.
• In 1806 he explored the Southwest and gathered information
about the economy and defenses of Spanish New Mexico and
Texas.
The Role of the Supreme Court Changes
• Federalist legislators in Congress passed the Judiciary
Act of 1801, which created new positions in the
judicial branch.
• Departing President John Adams hurried to fill them
with Federalists.
• Adams’s signed documents had to be delivered to each
man to make the appointments official.
• Not all were delivered before Jefferson took office the
next day.
• James Madison, the new secretary of state, refused to
deliver the remaining commissions.
The Role of the Supreme Court Changes
• William Marbury, one of the men who did not receive his
commission, brought suit in the Supreme Court.
• He claimed that the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Court the
power to force Madison to deliver the commission.
• The Court ruled that the Constitution gave the Supreme Court
the power to hear only certain kinds of cases.
• The Constitution did not give the Court the power to force
Madison to deliver Marbury’s commission.
• It ruled the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.
• Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s power of
judicial review, to declare that a law violates the
Constitution.
The War of 1812
Main Idea
In the early 1800s, Americans unified to face Great Britain in
war once again and to battle resistance from Native
Americans over attempts to seize their lands.
Reading Focus
• What violations of American neutrality led to the
War of 1812?
• How did Tecumseh resist American settlers?
• How did the War of 1812 begin? How did the war affect the
new nation?
Violating Neutrality
• Unresolved tensions between the United States and
Britain, on the northwest frontier and on the seas,
caused the nations to war again.
• Napoleonic Wars affected American merchant shipping.
• France and Britain tried to cut off each other’s access to
European ports.
• Both nations ignored American neutrality.
• The British were more of a threat because they would
impress American sailors, forcing them to serve in the
British navy.
Violating Neutrality
• In 1807 the British ship Leopard stopped the American
frigate Chesapeake and seized four Americans.
• Congress passed the Embargo Act, which prohibited
exports to foreign countries.
• This ban was a disaster to the economy.
• Goods piled up in warehouses, shops sat in the harbors,
people lost their jobs, and businesses failed.
• In 1808 James Madison was elected president.
• A new law reopened all trade except that with Britain and
France.
Tecumseh Resists Settlers
• As anti-British feelings grew in the United States, the
British tried to rebuild their old alliances with Native
Americans.
• William Henry Harrison was governor of the new
Indiana Territory and carried out Jefferson’s new Native
American policy.
• Native Americans could choose either to become farmers
and join white society or to move west of the Mississippi.
• As Harrison implemented the policy, Native Americans
made treaties in which they lost millions of acres of tribal
lands in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.
Tecumseh Resists Settlers
Native American leaders
• One was a religious leader
called the Prophet, or
Tenskwatawa.
• Thousands came to hear
him speak against white
culture at Prophetstown in
present-day Indiana.
• He taught his followers to
reject white culture.
Tecumseh
• Also called Shooting Star,
he was the Prophet’s
brother and an inspiring
leader.
• He began to unite his
brother’s followers in 1809.
• In 1811, while Tecumseh
was away, Harrison’s army
attacked, burning
Prophetstown.
• The Battle of Tippecanoe
made Harrison a national
hero.
The War of 1812 Begins
• The Chesapeake and
Leopard neutrality
incident had some
American politicians
calling for war.
• They were known as
War Hawks.
• The United States
declared war on Great
Britain in 1812.
• The war was fought on
land and sea, from
Canada to Louisiana.
• Much of the war took
place along the U.S.Canadian border.
• The British staged a
massive blockade of the
American coast and New
Orleans.
The War of 1812 Begins
• In August 1812 the USS Constitution sank the British Guerriére.
• The naval war moved into the Great Lakes; the United States
won the Battle of Lake Erie.
• The Americans made several unsuccessful invasions of Canada.
• Tecumseh joined the British in a campaign to capture Detroit
and invade Ohio.
• Battle of the Thames: Harrison’s army met British and Indian
forces and was victorious
• Tecumseh was killed in the battle, ending the British-Native
American alliance.
• Tennessee militia leader Andrew Jackson led a force against
the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend where women,
children, and warriors were massacred.
The War of 1812 Begins
• In August 1814 the British fleet sailed into Chesapeake Bay.
• Their soldiers marched to Washington, where they burned
several major buildings, including the White House.
• Then they bombarded Fort McHenry at Baltimore Harbor. After
an overnight battle, the American flag was still flying. The sight
inspired Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics to “The StarSpangled Banner.”
• A British force landed near New Orleans in December 1814.
• Andrew Jackson and a militia were waiting for them. He
became the hero of the Battle of New Orleans.
• Treaty of Ghent: peace treaty between the United States and
Great Britain, signed in December 1814 in Ghent, Belgium
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