Transcript The Young Republic

Chapter 6 Notes
Washington - Madison
Section 1: Washington Heads the New
Government
The New Government Takes Shape
• -As a hero of the revolution, Washington was the
unanimous choice in the first presidential ballot.
• -Although the Constitution provided a strong
foundation, it was not a detailed plan for
governing.
• -With no judicial system set up, Washington and
the Congress came up with the
• *Judiciary Act of 1789- this law provided for a
Supreme Court consisting of a chief justice and
five associate justices.
• -It also setup 3 federal circuit courts as well as
13 federal district courts spread throughout
the country.
• -Section 25 of the act allowed state court
decisions to be appealed to the federal court,
when constitutional issues were raised- thus,
guaranteeing that federal laws remained
• “the supreme law of the land,” as stated in the
Constitution.
• -The executive branch was shaped next.
• -Washington needed help to make policies and
carry out the laws passed by Congress.
• -Three executive departments were created:
• -The Department of War led by Henry Knox, to
handle military matters.
• -The Department of State led by Thomas
Jefferson, to deal with foreign affairs.
• -The Department of Treasury led by Alexander
Hamilton, to manage finances.
• -These departments soon became the president’s
Chief Advisers, or *Cabinet.
• Hamilton and Jefferson Debate
• -Political divisions in the new nation were great.
• -No two men embodied these differences more
than Hamilton and Jefferson.
• -Hamilton believed in a strong central
government led by the educated elite of the
upper class.
• -Jefferson distrusted a strong central government
and the rich. He favored strong state and local
governments rooted in popular participation.
(Contrasting views page 185)
• -Hamilton’s Economic Plan
• -He proposed to pay off the foreign debt and
issue new bonds to soldiers who had received
them during the war as certificates that promised
payment plus interest.
• -Hamilton also proposed that the federal
government assume the debts of the states.
• -He reasoned that this would give creditors (the
people who originally loaned the money) an
incentive to support the new federal government.
• -This plan made many Southern states furious
because many had already paid off most of their
debts.
• -Plans for a National Bank
• -Hamilton believed that there should be a
national bank that would be funded by both the
federal government and the wealthy private
investors.
• *The Bank of the United States- would issue
paper money and handle tax receipts and other
government funds.
• -Opponents of the National Bank, such as James
Madison, claimed that it would forge an
unhealthy alliance between the government and
the wealthy business interests.
• -Madison also argued that since the Constitution made no
provision for a national bank so Congress had no right to
authorize it.
• -This argument began the debate between those who
favored * “strict” interpretation of the Constitution – one in
which the federal government has very limited powers and
*“loose” interpretation, which favors greater federal
powers.
• -People in favor of loose interpretation appealed to the socalled *Elastic Clause of the Constitution (Article 1, Section
8, Clause 18) which gives Congress the authority to do
whatever is “necessary and proper” to carry out its specific
enumerated powers such as regulating commerce.
• -In the end, Hamilton had convinced Washington and much
of the Congress to accept his views, and the federal
government established the Bank of the United States.
• The First Political Parties and Rebellion
• -As the differences between Hamilton and Jefferson grew, their
conflict divided the Cabinet and fueled a growing division in
national politics.
• The Split
• -The two parties formed around one of the key issues in American
history- the power and size of the federal government in relation to
the state and local governments.
• *Federalists- were those who shared Hamilton’s vision of a strong
central government.
• -Those who supported Jefferson’s vision of strong state
governments called themselves Republicans. (No relation to today’s
Republican Party)
• -Later, they became *Democratic-Republican. (This party will
become today’s Democratic Party)
-Washington was opposed to different parties. He felt that they were a danger to national
unity.
-Despite the criticism, the two parties continued to develop, and the *Two- Party System- was
established.
• The Whiskey Rebellion
• -In 1789, Congress passed a *protective tariff- an import
tax on goods produced in Europe.
• -It was meant to encourage American production, but
brought in a great deal of revenue.
• -Hamilton wanted more money so he pushed through an
*excise tax- a tax on the products manufacture, sale, or
distribution – to be levied on the manufacturers of whiskey.
• -Whiskey was the main source of cash for the frontier
farmers, so they were furious about this tax.
• -In 1974, farmers in western PA refused to pay the tax and
even threatened to secede from the Union.
• -Washington set out 15,000 militiamen to put this rebellion
down without the loss of one single life.
• -This marked the first major challenge to the federal
government.
Jay’s Treaty
• To avoid war with GB
• Justice Jay sent to GB
• British gave up their forts on American soil,
and they kept most of their restrictions on
American ships.
• Americans repay prewar debts to the British.
• Dem-Rep denounced this treaty as a sellout.
• Kept peace temporarily.
Pinckney’s Treaty
• 1795 treaty with Spain.
• Spain controlled Mississippi River.
• Treaty with Spain gave Americans free
shipping rights on the Mississippi River and
access to New Orleans; established northern
boundary of Spanish Florida.
Farewell Address
• 1: Political parties
• 2: Foreign nations
• 3: Sectionalizing the nation.
• Adams Provokes Criticism
• -The presidential election of 1796 was between Adams
and Jefferson.
• -Adams won the most electoral votes and Jefferson came in
second.
• -At the time, the Constitution stated, the runner-up should
become the VP.
• -The election underscored the growing danger of
*sectionalism- placing the interest of one region over those of
the nation as a whole.
• Jefferson won most of the Southern electoral votes and
Hamilton won most of the Northern states.
• French crisis briefly united the nation.
• -Adams was soon faced with his first crisis, a
looming war with France.
• -France regarded the Jay Treaty (US-GB) as a
violation of the French-American alliance
(1778).
• -The French refused to receive the new
American ambassador and began to seize
American ships bound for Britain.
• Adams sent envoys to Paris to negogiate
peace.
• -Adams sent three key men to delegate a
negotiation.
• -France sent three low-level officials, who
Adams called “X, Y, & Z”- to demand a bribe
from the US diplomats. $250,000 in bribes
just to speak to them. This became known as
the *XYZ Affair, and provoked a wave of antiFrench feeling at home.
• Adams broke off negotiations.
• -In 1789, Congress created a Navy Department
and authorized American ships to seize the
French vessels.
• -The Congress authorized the creation of an
Army of 50,000 troops and brought
Washington out of retirement to be Lt.
General and Commander in Chief of the
Army’s.
• -War with France was never declared, but the
undeclared naval war between France and the
US raged on for two years.
• -To counter the growing suspicion that the French
agents were plotting to overthrow the government,
the Federalists pushed the *Alien and Sedition Acts
through Congress in 1798.
• -The Alien Acts raised the residence requirement for
American citizenship from five years to 14 years and
allowed the president to deport or jail any and all he
considered undesirable.
• -The Sedition Act set fines and jail terms for anyone
trying to hinder the operation of the government.
• -Under this act, the federal government prosecuted
and jailed a number of Democratic- Republican
editors, publishers, and politicians
• *Virginia and Kentucky adopted resolutions opposing that
Alien and the Sedition Acts.
• -The Kentucky resolutions, in particular, asserted the principle
of *nullification- that states had the right to nullify, or
consider void, any acts of the Congress that they deemed
unconstitutional. Statement of states’ rights by Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison
– States’ Rights v. Federal Gov’t
– Dem-Repub. V. Federalists
– Jefferson v. Hamilton
• -The issue would soon die out after the 1800 of elections.
Section 3: Jefferson Alters the Nation’s Course
• -Jefferson would defeat Adams in the election of 1800.
• *Aaron Burr- Jefferson’s running mate, received the same
number of electoral votes as Jefferson.
• -The House of Representatives decided who would be
president and vice president.
• -This deadlock revealed the flaw in the electoral process as
spelled out by the Constitution. As a result, Congress passed
the *12th Amendment- which called for electors to cast
separate ballots for president and vice president.
• -Although Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican, the judicial
branch remained mainly made up of Federalists.
• *John Marshall, a staunch federalist, was the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court.
• -Before Adams left office, he pushed through Congress, *The Judiciary Act
of 1801 which increased the number of federal judges by 16.
• -Because Adams was leaving office he wanted to make sure that there
were as many Federalists as possible on the bench.
• -The judges were called *midnight judges because Adams signed their
appointments late on the last day of his administration.
• -Since the documents authorizing some of the appointments had not been
delivered by the time Adams left office, Jefferson argued that these
appointments were invalid.
• -This argument led to one of the most important Supreme Court decisions
of all time:
• *Marbury v. Madison (1803)- where the Supreme Court ruled that it had
the power to abolish legislative acts by declaring them unconstitutional.
This became known as the *judicial review.
The United States Expands West
• *The Louisiana Purchase- in 1800, Napoleon
Bonaparte of France persuaded Spain to return to
the French, the Louisiana territory, which it had
received from France in 1762.
• -Americans reacted with alarm. Jefferson feared that
a strong French presence there would force the US
into an alliance with Britain.
• -Jefferson wanted to buy the territory- as it turned
out, Bonaparte had to abandon his hope for an
American Empire, and so he decided to sell the US
the territory for $15 million. The size of the US would
more than double.
Lewis and Clark
• -Jefferson was eager to explore the new
territory.
• -Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were
ordered to take command of the expedition
from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast.
• -50 men started on the journey, later, a Native
American woman *Sacajawa who served as n
interpreter and guide was added.
• -The expedition took two years and four
months and recorded much information about
the western territories.
Section 4: The War of 1812
The War Hawks Demand War
• -After the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson was reelected in
1804.
• -During this time, renewed fighting between France and
Britain threatened American shipping.
• -Napoleon decided to exclude British goods from Europe, or
seal up its ports and prevent ships from entering or leaving.
• -By 1807, Britain seized more than 1,000 American ships and
confiscated their cargoes while France had seized about half
that number.
• -Although both France and Britain engaged in these acts of
aggression, Americans focused their anger on the British.
• -One main reason was the British policy of *impressment- the
practice of seizing Americans at sea, and “impressing”, or
drafting them into the British Navy.
• -In 1807, Jefferson convinced Congress to declare an
*embargo- a ban on exporting products to other countries.
• -This ended up hurting America more than Britain.
• -In 1809, Congress lifted the ban on foreign trade…except to
France and Great Britain.
• -In 1809, General *William Henry Harrison- the Governor of
the Indiana territory sat down with many Native America
chiefs and persuaded them to sign away 3 million acres of
tribal land to the US government. Not all chiefs were happy
about this.
• -The Shawnee Chief, *Tecumseh, believed that the only way
to protect their homeland was to form a Confederacy, a
United Native American Nation.
• -For the next few years, Tecumseh traveled the Midwest and
the South trying to win followers to his confederacy.
• -He also began negotiations with the British for assistance in
what seemed like an inevitable war with the Americans.
• -Tecumseh’s brother led the Shawnee in an attack against
Harrison. Tecumseh was unaware that this had occurred and
Harrison came out victorious.
• -This battle became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe
(1811).
• -It was soon discovered that the Native American
Confederation was using arms from British Canada.
• -This made a group of young Congressmen from the South
and the West, known as the *War Hawks, call for war against
Britain.
The War Brings Mixed Results
• *James Madison- who was another Democratic-Republican, won the
election of 1808.
• -By spring of 1812, Madison decided to go to war against the British.
Congress would soon approve.
• -The American military was in no way prepared for this war.
• -Many Native Americans fought with the British, while others fought for
the US. Each depended on their relationship prior to the war.
• -In 1813 Tecumseh was killed by the US forces at the Battle of Thames.
This would lead to the collapse of Native American support for the British.
• -At sea, the US was badly outnumbered, with only 16 ships.
• -Britain began a blockade of Chesapeake and the Delaware bays.
• -Even though the US was holding its own, they were also being bottled up
at port as the British extended their blockade of the East Coast. (p.204)
• -In August of 1814, the British burned the capital, the White House, and
other public buildings in retaliation from when American troops burned
the upper Canadian capital after victory at the Battle of York.
• -During this time, a general from Tennessee named *Andrew Jackson was
gaining national fame for victories in the south and for destroying the
military power of the Southern Native Americans.
• -Jackson’s biggest victory would come at the *Battle of New Orleans
(1814), where he was well outnumbered by British troops.
• -Unknown to General Jackson, British and American diplomats had already
signed a peace agreement. The *Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas
Eve 1814. It declared an *armistice- or and end to fight.
• -Although it did not address every issue, they would be sorted out over
the next few years.
• -The two nations would also agree to a 10-year joint occupation of the
Oregon Territory.
• -At home Americans were unable to resolve differences that had already
begun to divide the nation.