Transcript The Presidencies of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas

The Presidencies of
George Washington,
John Adams,
and
Thomas Jefferson
The Washington Presidency
When the Constitution was ratified, George
Washington was the obvious choice to become
the first president of the United States
because he was a hero during the
Revolutionary war and was loved by pretty
much everybody.
As the first president, Washington had the
responsibility of developing the example of
how the government should act.
One of his first actions was to create his
“cabinet”. The cabinet was his group of
advisors.
The two main cabinet members were
Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of Treasury,
and Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State.
Hamilton vs Jefferson
Hamilton was a Federalist, who believed the national government should be strong. He could
also be called a “loose contructionist”. A loose constructionist was someone who believed that
if the Constitution did not say the government could not do something, then the government
could do it.
He had a few plans to strengthen the country and the government. First he wanted to create a
“tariff” or tax on imports, that would raise money for the country and also protect the northern
factories from competition from Europeans. The Southerners hated the idea of a tariff because
as farmers they needed to buy tools. The tools were made either in the north or in Europe. By
adding a tariff to European imports, the Southern farmers were forced to either buy inferior
Northern tools, or more expensive European tools.
A National Bank should also be created. This bank would take over all of the debts held by
individual states. Hamilton believed that any debts that had been taken were actually helping
the entire country and therefore should be paid off by the entire country. He also felt that if all
of the states worked together to pay the debts, they would become more unified.
Unfortunately most of the debts were held by Northern states and the Southern states hated
the idea.
Hamilton vs Jefferson
Jefferson, on the other hand was an antifederalist.
He wanted a weak national government with
most power held by individual states.
Jefferson could also be called a “strict
constructionist”. A strict constructionist
believed that the government could only do
things that were specifically mentioned in the
Constitution. If it wasn’t in it, the government
couldn’t do it.
As a loose constructionist, Jefferson
completely opposed the National Bank idea.
Not only was it not specifically mentioned in
the Constitution, but the idea of rolling all
states’ debts into one big ball was offensive to
him. As a southerner, Jefferson could not see
how it was fair to force southerners to pay for
the debts of northern businessmen.
Hamilton vs Jefferson
Hamilton and Jefferson also had differences
when it came to foreign policy. Hamilton, being
someone who wanted a strong national
government, was a supporter of England and its
traditional King and royal family.
Jefferson, on the other hand supported France.
The French had helped the US gain its
independence and its people had also recently
overthrown their own king and were in the
process of trying to become a democracy of the
people much like the United States.
Decisions of President Washington
As President, it was Washington’s job to carry
out the laws created by Congress. He listened
to the advice of his two main advisors,
Hamilton and Jefferson, and then made
decisions.
He usually sided with Hamilton. First
Washington decided that the tariff was good for
the country. Next he decided that the National
Bank was also a good idea. He took both ideas
to Congress and convinced them to create both
a National Bank and a tariff.
The one time Washington did not side with
Hamilton was over which European country to
support. In the wars and arguments between
France and England, the United States would
remain Neutral and not get involved. While this
was intended to make life easier for the US, it
actually made things worse.
Hamilton vs Jefferson
The arguments between Jefferson and
Hamilton eventually led to the creation of
the first political parties. Hamilton’s
followers became known as the Federalists
while Jefferson’s became known as the
Democratic Republicans.
Political parties continue today as a way to
get major differences of opinion into the
public view, so that decisions can be made.
John Adams as 2nd President
John Adams was elected as the 2nd President of the United
States after Washington decided not to run for a 3rd term of
office.
As president, Adams faced many problems, mostly foreign
but some at home.
France and England were fighting again and the US wanted
to remain neutral. That meant we could continue to trade
with both countries. That didn’t work, because neither
England or France wanted us to trade with the other
because that would help the other side fight the war.
The English started stopping US trade ships bound for
France and stealing their supplies. To stop this, the US
signed the Jay Treaty. The Jay Treaty said the US would pay
money to the British and the British would stop stealing our
stuff.
The Democratic-Republicans saw this as a sell-out and
argued against it.
John Adams as 2nd President
The French were so mad about the Jay Treaty, that
they started to stop American ships and take our
stuff also.
To stop this, Adams sent ambassadors to France to
negotiate. The ambassadors met with three French
men, known only as “X”, “Y”, and “Z”. The French
demanded the US pay money to get the French to
stop stealing from US ships. This became known as
the XYZ Affair. The US refused.
The US actually declared war against the French
and had a few naval battles.
John Adams as 2nd President
The Democratic-Republicans were mad again
at what appeared to be support of the English
and fighting against France. They spoke out
against the government leaders (especially
Adams).
In response, the Federalists passed laws called
the “Alien and Sedition Acts”. These laws said
that if any non-citizen spoke against the
government, they would be deported. If a
citizen spoke against the government they
would be thrown in jail.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were obviously
against the 1st amendment to the Constitution
which protects free speech so two states,
Virginia and Kentucky said that they would
refuse to obey the laws. This created a
problem because no one really knew…Did
individual states have the right to ignore
national laws they did not agree with?
Jefferson is the 3rd President
In 1800 Thomas Jefferson was elected President
with the promise that he would reduce national
government power.
In his presidency, Jefferson ended the Alien and
Sedition Acts, cut taxes, cut the national debt,
cut jobs in the national government, and cut the
army and navy.
Jefferson still had problems with foreign
countries. The Barbary Pirates of northern
Africa began stopping US ships trading in the
Mediterranean Sea and demanded the US pay
them money to stop this theft. Instead,
Jefferson created the US Marines as a part of the
Navy. This group fought the Barbary Pirates and
won. The US never paid to prevent piracy again.
Jefferson is the 3rd President
Jefferson’s major act as president went completely
against the rest of his presidency. He wanted mostly
to limit the government, but in 1803 the French gave
him a deal he could not refuse.
In order to pay for their war against England, France
needed money. In order to help US trade, the US
needed control of the port of New Orleans.
Jefferson offered to buy New Orleans from the
French. The French instead offered to sell not only
New Orleans, but all of their territory in North
America for only $15 million.
Jefferson immediately accepted and the US made
the Louisiana Purchase. With this one deal, the size
of the US doubled and the western border moved
from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and John Clark to
explore this new territory. On their 2 year trip they
became the first Americans to see the Pacific Ocean.
The War of 1812
The United States grows up
After the United States bought the Louisiana Purchase from France, we began to feel
good about ourselves as a country because we were growing. As of 1812, we
continued to have problems between the North and the South because of the
differences in the northern manufacturing and the southern farming economies but
overall the new country was doing well.
A major problem for the country continued to be British interference with our trade.
The English navy had actually begun a policy of “impressment”. Impressment meant
that the British would stop American ships and not only take supplies, but also
started taking American sailors. They basically kidnapped Americans and forced
them to join the British Navy in their continuing war with France.
American citizens complained to the government about the
impressment of our citizens until President James Madison was forced ask
Congress to declare war on England.
It was a very strange war because for the first two years, there was
almost no fighting. The British were still fighting France and therefore did not
want to waste troops on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean fighting the pesky
Americans. Instead of committing their best soldiers to America, they sent
their new untested soldiers to fight in North America.
When there was fighting it was usually a small battle in Canada or a
small naval battle in the Great Lakes or the Atlantic Ocean and the Americans
won more fights than they lost.
Finally, in 1814, the British were able to defeat the French. They
immediately moved their best troops to America to fight. In August of
1814, the British moved to end the war quickly by attacking the new
American capital of Washington DC. The English moved into the city
easily as many American soldiers ran from the mighty Redcoats. The
British wanted to punish and insult the Americans, so they decided to
burn every government building in Washington DC.
What happened next was one of the strangest events in American
history. With the city of Washington DC burning and almost all buildings
reduced to ashes, several tornadoes dropped out of the skies. The
British troops, experienced and trained through the toughest fighting
they could imagine against the French, had nowhere to hide from the
storms. Left out in the rain, lightening, and over 100 mile per hour
winds, they were beaten, injured, and some even killed. Most of
England’s best troops would never fight again in the war.
After being run out of Washington DC by the weather, the British
decided to attack another major American city in Baltimore, Maryland.
The only way to get to Baltimore was by water through the Chesapeake
Bay. As the British Navy moved on Baltimore, the Americans made
unusual plans to defend the city.
The city of Baltimore was guarded by Fort McHenry. The general in
charge of Fort McHenry knew that he must stop the British ships from
entering the water immediately by Baltimore. To stop them, he ordered
several ships to be sunk into the harbor. By sinking the ships, he blocked
entrance to the port. The British ships could not pass over the sunken
ships without ripping the bottoms of their own ships. Forced to remain
outside of the harbor, the British could only shoot cannons into Fort
McHenry and hope to drive the soldiers from the fort.
After a full night of bombing, shooting, and explosions the sun rose on
Fort McHenry. An American named Francis Scott Key, wondering who
had won the battle, looked over to Fort McHenry and saw, flying above
the Fort, a massive American flag that the general of the fort had
ordered. This showed the Americans had held out against the superior
British forces. Key was so emotional about the victory, that he took out
a pen and paper and began to write a poem about what he saw the
previous night…”Oh say can you see, by the dawns early light? What so
proudly we hailed, in the twilights last gleaming…” This poem was
called the “Star Spangled Banner” and would become our national
anthem.
In January of 1815, the final battle of the war was fought. The British
abandoned their attempts along the Atlantic Coast and believed they
could win the war by shutting off most trade coming from America. To
do this, they decided to cut off the mouth of the Mississippi River by
taking the city of New Orleans.
The job of protecting New Orleans fell to General Andrew Jackson.
Jackson had few trained soldiers and decided to use whatever resources
he had to fight of the attacking English. He rounded up a fighting force
that included soldiers, pirates, slaves, freed slaves, outlaws, whites,
blacks, French, Spaniards, farmers, bar owners, business men, rich, poor,
and middle class. In other words, Jackson’s fighters were America.
People from all walks of life who came to this place to have a better life.
Once the fighting started, it was a blood bath. The highly trained British
soldiers made horrible mistakes, like forgetting boarding ladders needed
to climb steep hills. The Americans, on the other hand patiently held
their ground and shot invader after invader. When the battle was over
and the British retreated in defeat, they had lost 2042 men…the
Americans had lost only 71, and only 13 of those were killed.
The war officially ended with the Treaty of Ghent. In this treaty,
the British again promised to pull all of their soldiers off of United States
soil (they had promised this after the Revolutionary War but had not
done it). This time they DID. The British also agreed to end the
impressment of Americans.
As a people, Americans were now feeling especially cocky about
themselves. They had now taken on the strongest military in the
world…twice, and won both times. Americans began to think of
themselves as special. What could they not accomplish if they wanted
to? A new belief called “Manifest Destiny” began to spread. This was
the belief that it was God’s will that the United States expand to control
all land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the next 33 years, we would.