Launching the New Republic

1789-1800

Constitutional Government Takes Shape

• Defining the Presidency– The First national capital is New York City– Congressional leaders are elected and arrive in New

York for the first session in March of 1789– George Washington arrives April 23rd and is sworn is

as president on April 30th.– Congress establishes the first cabinet by legislation

and four departments are created• Secretary of State• Secretary of the Treasury• Secretary of War• Attorney General

National Justice and the Bill of Rights

• Judiciary Act of 1789 creates a Federal District Court in each state.

• James Madison leads in drafting the first ten amendments (Bill of Rights) and the are ratified in December of 1791

• First 8 protect individual rights and the last 2 deal with powers of the States and powers of the Federal Government

National Economic Policy and Its Consequences 1789-1794

• Hamilton and His Objectives– Alexander Hamilton is Secretary of the

Treasury– Strong Nationalist– Government’s success depends upon gaining

the support of the politically influential commercial class and benefitting them economically

Report on the Public Credit 1790

• Hamilton sent a Report on the Public Credit to Congress in January of 1790– Federal Government should pay off foreign debt– Pay off Domestic War Bond Holders at 4% interest.– Pay for interest payments through an excise tax on

Whiskey– Many had already sold their bonds to speculators and

many southern states had already paid their war debt.– Compromise for Hamilton’s economic plan was that

the capital of the nation would move to Virginia

Creating a National Bank 1790-1791

• Hamilton proposed a National Bank that would stabilize currency, be a depository for taxes, regulate state and private banks and provide credit for the New Country.

• Owned jointly by the Federal Government and private investors

• Hamilton and Jefferson both write to President Washington giving advice concerning the new National Bank

• Letters detail the principals of strict interpretation of the Constitution vs. Loose interpretation of the Constitution.

Hamilton’s Legacy

• Beneficiaries of Hamilton’s policies included speculators, merchants, shippers, manufacturers, they became known as Federalists

• The Federalists were strong in New York, New Jersey, New England, Pennsylvania and South Carolina

• Agriculturists in the South and West were opposed, they favored Jeffersonian Republicanism

The Whiskey Rebellion 1794

• March 1791 Congress imposes the Federal tax on Whiskey

• Pennsylvania farmers saw the tax as unfair because they bore much of the burden.

• July 1794 and angry mob attack a US Marshall who comes to arrest them for nonpayment of taxes

• George Washing decides to crush the rebellion and marches 13,000 militiamen to march west

The United States on the World Stage 1789-1796

• The political polarization caused by Hamilton's Economic plans becomes more pronounced over foreign policy.

Spanish Power in Western North America

• Spain tries to revive it’s domination of North America by stretching its Empire to California

• Spain hopes to control trade with Asia and gain control of the Pacific Northwest

• These efforts are challenged by America, Russia and Britain

Challenging American Expansion 1789-1792

• Americans continue to move West of the Appalachian Mountains

• Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee are added to the United States

• President Washington seeks to integrate eastern tribes into the white society

• Indians and whites reject this idea• The policy becomes to force Indians to

mover further west

France and Factional Politics 1793

• French Revolution starts in 1789• France goes to war with Great Britain, Spain and other

European countries• Southerners and Westerners are sympathetic to the

French because they hope a French victory means that the British will be too weak to stir up Indians against westward expansion

• Northeastern merchants relied upon British trade and were afraid that a French victory would hurt their commerce

• French Ambassador Edmund Genet recruited the Americans to help France, but, Washington issued a Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793

Avoiding War 1793-1796

• British began to impress American sailors• Spanish continue to move up the western coast• President Washington send John Jay to Great Britain

and Thomas Pinckney to Spain to negotiate• Jay’s Treaty settled little except that Great Britain would

give up northwestern forts. That was settled after General Anthony Wayne defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and halted the Northwest Indian wars. Southerners and Westerners saw little benefit to Jay’s Treaty

• Pinckney’s Treaty opened New Orleans for American trade

The Emergence on Party Politics

• Ideological Confrontation 1793-1794– The Federalists were horrified by the violence

of French Radicals– Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were

Pro-French and encouraged politics of the common man.

– National Gazette allowed ordinary citizens the opportunity to speak out against the government

The Republican Party 1794-1796

• President Washington decides not to run for a third term

• Farewell Address- Washington warns against political parties and entangling alliances

The Election of 1796

• The Republicans ran Thomas Jefferson

• The Federalists ran John Adams

• Adams wins and Jefferson becomes Vice President

The French Crisis, 1798-1799

• French begin to seize American ships because of Jay’s Treaty

• XYZ Affair- Adams sends delegates to France and they are met by agents of the French government that demand a bribe

• News of the XYZ affair leads to anti-French sentiment and the Republicans lose the mid-term elections in 1798

The Alien and Sedition Acts 1798

• Federalists in Congress take advantage of the anti-French sentiment and pass the Alien and Sedition Acts– 14 year wait for citizenship– Crime to speak, write of print anything

unfavorable about the President or the government

– Jefferson and Madison fight back with the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

The Election of 1800

• Republicans nominated Thomas Jefferson for President and Aaron Burr for Vice President

• Adams negotiates a peace with France so the crisis is averted. Federalists are upset because this means that the anti-French sentiment will die down

• Jefferson and Burr end up tied for the Presidency and Congress/House of Representatives decides for Jefferson

Economic and Social Change

• Households and Market Production– Majority lived and produced on small farms– Self sufficient– New England farms were not sufficient to support

growth so young couples began to move West– Those that stayed supplemented their income through

home manufacturing– This cottage industry led to the Industrial Revolution

and support for Hamilton’s Economic plan

White Women and the Republic

• Women began to assert themselves and to call for equality

• New jersey actually allowed Women to vote for a time

• Divorce, Educational Opportunities, right to choose a husband

Native Americans and the New Republic

• Many Native Americans simple gave up the fight

• Others moved West

• Some sank into Alcohol and dispair

Redefining the Color Line

• 1793 Fugitive Slave Law

• Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Kentucky gave freedmen the right to vote and then rescinded it

• 1800 Gabriel’s Rebellion in Virginia

• Eli Whitney- 1793