Politics, Expansion, Sectionalism1800-1861

Establish executive departments/secretaries 1st Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson 1st Secretary of Treasury: Alexander Hamilton 1st Secretary of War: Henry Knox

1st Congress under G. W.

Establishes Federal Court System including the Supreme Court

1st Chief Justice: John Jay

Judiciary Act/1789

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.

Citizen Genet Affair(Edmond Genet)

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)

G.W. Foreign Policy

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

Cont.

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

Thomas Pinckney, U.S. minister to Britain, was sent to Spain and negotiated two concessions:

Cont.

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.

Cont.

Why was Spain willing to negotiate?Not from fear of America's military might:

Concern w/major power diplomatic realities.

Spain was a rival of Britain.

Noted the warming relationship between Britain and the U.S. as evidenced in Jay's Treaty.

Spain hoped to keep Britain off balance by establishing a positive relationship with America.

Cont.

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

Warnings of G.W.

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

Election of 1796

Federalists identified the Democratic-Republicans 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.

Cont.

Adams won the presidency Thomas Jefferson received more electoral

votes than Pinckney and was elected vice-president 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.

Results of Election

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)

Adams Presidency

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

Cont.

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

Cont.

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.

Cont.

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 Democrat-Republican Aurora causing public outcry.

Results of Alien/Sedition Acts

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.

 

Effect on John Adams

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.

Midnight Judges/Judiciary Act of 1801

Adams ran as Jefferson's main opponent Federalists attacked Jefferson as an un-

Christian 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

Election of 1800 aka Revolution of 1800

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

Cont.

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."

Cont

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

Jeffersonian Democracy

Jeffersonians were devoted to: Principles of Republicanism Civic duty Opposition to privilege, aristocracy and

corruption.

Cont

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

A. Hamilton and Debt Plan

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.

Cont.

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.

A. Hamilton and National Bank

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.

Cont

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.

Cont

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.

Cont.

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

A. Hamilton and Industry

Based on investment, industry, and expanded commerce.

Economic idea that had no place for slavery. Before the 1790s, the American economy-

North 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.

Hamilton’s Overall Vision

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.

Back to T.J.

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."

The Louisiana Purchase

French expelled from Haiti by a slave revolt.

War with Great Britain was impending.

Raise money by selling L.T. to the U.S.

Napoleon Loses Interest in L.T.

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

Jefferson’s Dilema

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.

Overall Effect of Purchase

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

Corps of Discovery Expedition 1804-1806

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

Other Goals of Jefferson

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

Jefferson’s Second Term

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.

Effects of Embargo Act

Embargo failed to persuade Great Britain into a change of policy

Early 1809 TJ signed the Non-Intercourse Act permitting commerce with all countries except Britain or France and their dependencies.

Cont.