George Washington’s Administrations, 1789-97

1. George Washington’s Administrations, 1789-97 Dr. Greg O’Brien Department of History University of Southern Mississippi

2. Washington elected unanimously

3. The New Government and Federalist Rule • First things first: • Executive branch departments: • Foreign Affairs (State) • Jefferson • Finance (Treasury) • Hamilton • War • Knox • Judiciary • Judiciary Act, 1789 • Bill of Rights • Passed by Congress • 1st Congress: • House: 37 Federalists, 28 Anti-Federalists • Senate: 18 Federalists, 8 Anti-Federalists • Tariff

4. Domestic Political Crisis • Setting precedents • Hamilton vs Jefferson • How to interpret the Constitution? • Ideological differences • Impact of French Rev. • Hamilton: • Who was he? • Most important appointment • His likes • Wrote a series of reports on state of the nation in early 1790s • Report on Public Credit (1790) Jefferson vs. Hamilton

5. Hamiltonianism • Powerful national government • Redemption Plan • Permanent National Debt • Assumption of state debts • To create taxes, civil service, benefit creditors • Compromise with VA & MD • New capital on the Potomac • National Bank • Goal: U.S. financial security, centralized power, respect

6. The Jeffersonian Critique • Hamilton’s plans benefiting the wealthy at the expense of farmers, small merchants, soldiers • Argued that Bank was unconstitutional • Implied vs. expressed powers • Warned that monarchy was the “ultimate object of all this” • Saw “aristocratic tendencies”

7. Development of Political Parties • Jeffersonian Republicans vs. Hamiltonian Federalists • Loosely followed Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist lines • Rigid opposition est. by 1792 • Newspapers follow a party line • Jeffersonian Republican ideal: • agrarian, small farmers, planters • "Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God" • wanted all citizens to be independent, self-sufficient • distrusted merchants and bankers • wanted to avoid a large class of propertyless people in America as existed in European countries • wanted government to be as democratic as possible, meaning landowners (every family) should vote

8. Whiskey Tax, 1791 • Hamilton’s plan to fund redemption and assumption Whiskey Rebellion, 1794 • -farmers in western PA attacked tax collectors – WHY? • renounced the authority of the national gov't • -similar to Shay's Rebellion (1786) and Sons of Liberty in the 1770s • -Army of 12,000 put down the rebellion • national government would protect its authority with force

9. Foreign Affairs, part I • War in Ohio Valley • U.S. need for land • Little Turtle’s multi-tribal confederacy • Opposed to American expansion • Defeated two US armies • Obliterated St. Clair’s force in November 1791 • Fought to a draw by Gen. Anthony Wayne’s forces at Fallen Timbers, 1794 • 2/3 of Ohio ceded to U.S. Anthony Wayne Little Turtle

10. Foreign Affairs, part II • French Revolution and war between France and Britain • Initially, Americans welcomed the overthrow of the French king and end of feudalism • Federalists tended to support Britain, Republicans France • Excesses of French Rev. caused Federalists to recoil in horror and worry that it could happen here • French ambassador, Edmond Genet arrived in US in 1793 • Organized support for France • Interfered in US affairs • Jefferson resigns Federalist criticism of Jefferson & Genet

11. Foreign Affairs, part III • Neutrality Proclamation, 1793 • Treaties: • Jay Treaty, 1795 • With Britain • Pinckney’s Treaty / Treaty of San Lorenzo, 1795 • With Spain

12. Washington’s Farewell • Warned against “entangling alliances” with other countries • Warned against internal political divisions • Viewed Jeffersonian-Republicans as a “faction” • Established a two-term limit precedent