Transcript Politics, Expansion, Sectionalism 1800-1861

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Establish executive departments/secretaries
1st Secretary of State:
Thomas Jefferson
1st Secretary of Treasury:
Alexander Hamilton
1st Secretary of War:
Henry Knox
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Establishes Federal Court System including
the Supreme Court
1st Chief Justice:
John Jay
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French minister to the U.S./1793
G.W. wary of Genet wanting to stay out of
involvement of French Revolution
Genet challenges G.W.’s authority
1. Attempts to raise army to attach Florida
2. Commission privateers to attack British
ships, (Threatens to appeal to American
people)
G.W. demands the recall of Genet.
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Jay’s Treaty/1794
Years following Am. Rev. relations between
America and England deteriorate.
1. England refused to evacuate the frontier
forts in the Northwest Territory
2. Seized American ships, forcing American
sailors to serve in England's war against
France (Impressment)
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United States passed navigation laws that
were potentially damaging to Great Britain.
John Jay went to England to negotiate
disagreements
Terms of Treaty signed November 1794:
1. British evacuate western forts in 2 years
2. Establishes America's claim for damages
from British ship seizures
Treaty of San Lorenzo (1795) AKA Pinckney’s
Treaty
 Diplomatic aims of G.W.’s administration was
to secure recognition of American borders
from European powers
 Spain held port of New Orleans
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Thomas Pinckney, U.S. minister to Britain, was
sent to Spain and negotiated two concessions:
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1. Spain
recognized U.S. borders at the
Mississippi and the 31st parallel (the northern
border of Florida, a Spanish possession)
2. Spain
granted Americans the right to deposit
goods for transshipment at New Orleans.
The right of deposit allows one nation to
temporarily store goods on another nation's soil
without paying any fees or duties.
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Why was Spain willing to negotiate?
Not from fear of America's military might:
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Concern w/major power diplomatic realities.
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Spain was a rival of Britain.
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Noted the warming relationship between Britain
and the U.S. as evidenced in Jay's Treaty.
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Spain hoped to keep Britain off balance by
establishing a positive relationship with America.
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Warns American people to be suspicious and
look down upon anyone who seeks to
abandon the Union. (Secede)
Offers strong warnings on the dangers of
sectionalism
True motives of a sectionalist are to create
distrust or rivalries between regions and
people to gain power and take control of the
government
Avoid wars between neighboring nations
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First contested American presidential
election.
Only one in which a president and VP were
elected from opposing tickets.
Federalists John Adams and Thomas Pinckney
Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr
Constitution set up elections so that person
who received most EC votes became
president and 2nd most EC votes became VP
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Federalists identified the DemocraticRepublicans with the violence of the French
Revolution
Democratic-Republicans accused the
Federalists of favoring monarchism and
aristocracy.
Denounced the Federalists over Jay’s Treaty
as too favorable to Britain.
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Adams won the presidency
Thomas Jefferson received more electoral
votes than Pinckney and was elected vicepresident according to the prevailing rules of
electoral balloting.
The ratification of the 12th Amendment made
such a result unlikely in the future. (1804)
Electors required to cast a distinct vote for
president and VP instead of 2 for president.
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XYZ Affair (1797-1798)
Anti-French sentiment still strong from Genet
situation
Jay’s Treaty angers France who begin to seize
American ships (Starts Quasi-War)
Adams attempts to negotiate with France
France refuses to negotiate unless payments
are made to the French agents (Known as
agents X Y and Z)
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Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
Under the threat of war with France, Congress
passed four laws in an effort to strengthen
the Federal government.
The legislation sponsored by the Federalists
was also intended to quell any political
opposition from the Republicans, led by
Thomas Jefferson
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1. Naturalization Act:
Required that aliens be residents for 14 years
instead of 5 years before they became eligible
for U.S. citizenship
2. Alien Act:
Authorized the President to deport aliens
"dangerous to the peace and safety of the
United States" during peacetime
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3. Alien Enemies Act:
Allowed the wartime arrest, imprisonment
and deportation of any alien subject to an
enemy power.
4. Sedition Act:
Declared that any treasonable activity,
including the publication of "any false,
scandalous and malicious writing," was a high
misdemeanor, punishable by fine and
imprisonment.
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Twenty-five men, most of them editors of
Republican newspapers, were arrested and
their newspapers forced to shut down.
One of the men arrested was Benjamin
Franklin's grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache,
editor of the Philadelphia DemocratRepublican Aurora causing public outcry.
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Americans questioned the constitutionality
of these laws
Public opposition to the Alien and Sedition
Acts was so great that they were in part
responsible for the election of Thomas
Jefferson, a Republican, to the presidency in
1800
Jefferson pardoned all those convicted
under the Sedition Act, while Congress
restored all fines paid with interest.
Reorganization of the Federal Court
System by Adams
 Created new circuit judge positions
 In the final days of Adams
administration he pushed through
many judge appointments
 3 were signed before midnight of the
day of Jefferson’s inauguration.
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Adams ran as Jefferson's main opponent
Federalists attacked Jefferson as an unChristian deist whose sympathy for the
French Revolution would bring similar
bloodshed and chaos to the United States.
Democratic-Republicans denounced the
strong centralization of federal power under
Adams's presidency. Republicans' specifically
objected to the expansion of the U.S. army
and navy, the attack on individual rights in
the Alien and Sedition Acts
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Running mates Jefferson and Aaron Burr
received the same number of electoral votes.
The election was decided in the House of
Representatives where each state wielded a
single vote.
Most Federalists preferred Burr
Alexander Hamilton shaped an unpredictable
outcome
After numerous blocked ballots, Hamilton
helped to secure the presidency for Jefferson
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First peaceful transition of political power
between opposing parties in U.S. history
Jefferson appreciated the momentous change
and his inaugural address called for
reconciliation by declaring that:
"We are all Republicans, we are all
Federalists."
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Jeffersonians believed in democracy and
equality of political opportunity:
(For male citizens)
Priority for the "yeoman farmer" and the
common person
They distrusted the:
Elitism of merchants and manufacturers
Factory workers
Supporters of the dreaded British system of
government
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Jeffersonians were devoted to:
Principles of Republicanism
Civic duty
Opposition to privilege, aristocracy and
corruption.
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Paramount problem facing Hamilton was a
huge national debt
Proposed that the government assume the
entire debt of the federal government and
the states.
Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina,
and Virginia, which had already paid off
their debts, saw no reason why they should
be taxed by the federal government to pay
off the debts of other states like
Massachusetts and South Carolina
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Six months bitter debate in Congress.
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson
engineered a compromise.
In exchange for southern votes, Hamilton
promised to support locating the national
capital on the banks of the Potomac River.
Hamilton's debt program was a success
By demonstrating Americans' willingness to
repay their debts, he made the United States
attractive to foreign investors. European
investment capital poured in large amounts.
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A national bank would collect taxes, hold
government funds, and make loans to the
government and borrowers.
Criticism against the bank was that it was
unrepublican"--it would encourage
speculation and corruption.
Bank was also opposed on constitutional
grounds.
Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison charged that a national
bank was unconstitutional
 Position became known as "strict
constructionism“
 The Constitution did not specifically
give Congress the power to create a
bank.
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Hamilton’s response to the charge that a
bank was unconstitutional:
Formulated doctrine of "implied powers."
Congress had the power to create a bank:
Constitution granted the federal
government authority to do anything:
“Necessary and proper" to carry out its
constitutional functions.
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In 1791, Congress passed a bill creating a
national bank for a term of 20 years.
Question of the bank's constitutionality up
to President Washington.
G.W. reluctantly signs the measure out of a
conviction that a bank was necessary for
the nation's financial well-being.
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Hamilton proposed to aid the nation's new
industries:
1. High tariffs designed to protect American
industry from foreign competition
2. Government subsidies
3. Government-financed transportation
improvements
Thomas Jefferson believed that
manufacturing threatened the values of an
agrarian way of life
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Based on investment, industry, and
expanded commerce.
Economic idea that had no place for slavery.
Before the 1790s, the American economyNorth and South--was intimately tied to a
trans-Atlantic system of slavery
Hamilton was a member of New York's first
antislavery society
Wanted to reorient the American economy
away from slavery and colonial trade.
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By 1800 Jefferson and his vision is
successful:
T.J.’s ability to paint Hamilton as an elitist
defender of deferential social order and an
admirer of monarchical Britain
Pictured himself as an ardent proponent of
republicanism, equality, and economic
opportunity.
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Shortly after Jefferson became president,
Napoleon forced a weak Spanish government
to cede the Louisiana Territory back to
France.
French plans for a huge colonial empire just
west of the United States seriously threatened
the future development of the United States.
Jefferson concerned that if France took
possession of Louisiana, "from that moment
we must marry ourselves to the British fleet
and nation."
 French
expelled from Haiti by a
slave revolt.
 War with Great Britain was
impending.
 Raise money by selling L.T. to the
U.S.
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Strict constructionist (constitutionalist)
The Constitution contained no explicit power
to purchase territory
TJ wanted to propose an amendment, but
delay might lead Napoleon to change his
mind.
Sec. of State Madison advises that the power
to purchase territory was inherent in the
power to make treaties
TJ makes the purchase
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Obtained the "Louisiana Purchase" for $15
million in 1803 (3 cents per acre)
Doubled the area of the country
2,600,000 square kilometers
Port of New Orleans
Rich plains, mountains, forests, and river
systems that within 80 years would become
heartland of the U.S.
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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
Commissioned by President Thomas
Jefferson
The expedition had several goals:
Both scientific and commercial
Study the area's plants, animal life, and
geography
Discover how the region could be exploited
economically
Find a “direct & practicable water
communication across this continent,
for the purposes of commerce with
Asia”
 Declaring U.S. sovereignty over the
Native Americans along the Missouri
River.
 Getting an accurate sense of the
available resources in the new territory
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Declares American neutrality in war
between Britain and France
 British navy searched and seized
American ships
 Impressment continues
 December 1807 Congress passed the
Embargo Act:
 Stopped all foreign commerce
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Law required strong police authority
Increased the powers of the national
government
American exports fell to one-fifth of their
former volume.
Shipping interests were almost ruined by the
measure
Agricultural interests also suffered:
Prices dropped drastically when the Southern
and Western farmers could not export their
surplus grain, cotton, meat, and tobacco.
Embargo failed to persuade Great
Britain into a change of policy
 Early 1809 TJ signed the NonIntercourse Act permitting commerce
with all countries except Britain or
France and their dependencies.
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