The Rise of Jeffersonian Democracy, 1796 - 1808

1. The Rise of Jeffersonian Democracy, 1796 - 1808 Political Factions, the Adams Administration, and Revolutionary Change in Governance.

2. The Presidency of John Adams, 1797 - 1801 Conflict and Change to Protect the Fledgling Revolution

3. Factions • The Federalist Party • Led by A. Hamilton • “Classical Republicans” • Favored Aristocracy over the arbitrary passions of democracy. • Pro England in Foreign Policy. • The Jeffersonian Republicans • Led by Jefferson & Madison • “Liberal Republicans” • Favored agrarian interests and expansion of democratic participation • Pro France in Foreign Policy

4. Factions Quicken • In the Election of 1796, John Adams was the presumptive nominee to assume the office of the President, and supported by most Federalists. The Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was considered his chief rival for the position, and, although both men denied any allegiance to their parties, maneuverings began promptly.

5. Alexander Hamilton • Behind the scenes, Alexander Hamilton spent much of his time attempting to influence the outcome of the election. As the leader of the Federalist Party, he viewed Adams as unmanageable, and favored Thomas Pinckney – the hero of the South and west who had created a treaty to access the Mississippi with Spain.

6. The Electoral College • In an effort to steal the election from Adams and promote Pinckney to the Presidency, Hamilton advises some members of the Electoral College to vote Pinckney, but to simply throw out their second ballot. When Adams supporters heard of the scheme, they abandoned Pinckney. Some voted for Jefferson. Ultimately, a split ticket assumed power as a result of the Election of 1796. President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson. The 12th Amendment would eventually prevent these sorts of peculiarities of the Electoral College from doing further harm.

7. Adams and Hamilton • Suffice to say that John and Abigail did not frequently enjoy Alexander Hamilton’s company. Problems emerged within the administration immediately, as Adams attempted to assert control over the government. He was often concerned that members of his own party were conspiring against him, and in the case of Hamilton, he was often correct. Nevertheless, Adams was able to manage the office with dignity and his patriotism grew.

8. Major Events of the Adams Adminstration • At the time of Adams rise to the office of the Presidency, France cut off all diplomatic ties with the United States and began seizing American vessels. Adams, never one to equivocate, removed the sympathetic minister James Monroe and replaced him with the more hardened Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (the brother of Thomas, his former rival.) John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry were sent along as well, to help negotiate a resolution.

9. The XYZ Affair When Pinckney and his entourage were solicited by French businessmen for a bribe just to engage in diplomacy with the French, indignation was the word. Declaring “No, no, no, not a sixpence!” Pinckney stirred up a patriotic fervor which would lead to war – or at the very least, “Quasi-War.”

10. The Naturalization Act – changed citizenship process from a 5 year to a 14 year process. • The Alien Act – allowed for the deportation of any foreigner deemed “dangerous”. • The Alien Enemy Act - allowed the government to ban or imprison foreigners during a national emergency. • Since many of the Republican opposition fell into these categories, this lead to a stifling of political expression. The Quasi-War and Political Factions on the Homefront Led by Hamilton’s zealous desire to vilify his pro-French rivals and Adams desire to protect the fledgling Revolution, a series of laws were passes which undermined the Republican Party’s base of support and endangered the liberties of all Americans.

11. The Sedition Act No law, however, was more despised by the Republicans than the Sedition Act. The law led to a crackdown on the Republican press, an essentially forbid criticism of the national government. Editors were arrested, tried, and imprisoned – mostly of Republican journals. “It is patriotism to write in favor of the government, it is sedition to write against it.”

12. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions • Feeling that the rights free speech, assembly, and the ability to petition the government were being threatened, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson composed two “states rights” tracks proposing that states had the right – collectively according to Madison, but via interposition according to Jefferson – to override federal law. In this case, since they found the Sedition Act overreaching, it could be undermined, ignored, and violated by the states. The can of worms opened by one of the principle authors of the Constitution offering this argument was huge.

13. Fries Rebellion • Tax regulations proposed by the Federalist government under John Adams was in line with Hamilton’s pro-business and industry mindset: the taxes were highest on landowners – agrarian farmers. When farmers were jailed for failure to pay taxes in Northampton County, PA, Federalist supporter John Fries broke them out of prison. He and his associates were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Adams would pardon the men later in his administration, but showed no hesitation to use force to bring the farmers to justice, just as George Washington had during the Whiskey Rebellion.

14. Adams in Control • When an opportunity came about to negotiate for peace with France with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, John Adams was eager to take advantage. He immediately sent diplomats to France to broker peace. When he was accused of treasonous behavior by some of the more Hamilton-influenced members of his own cabinet, he fired them. The Quasi-War came to an end in the year 1800, prior to the Election.

15. The Revolution of 1800: The Rise of Jefferson Why the Peaceful Transition of Power was so Essential to American Democracy…

16. The Election of 1800 • The Election of 1800 was partisan politics at its worst. The two candidates themselves attempted to stay above the fray, yet the political vocal pieces for each party continually traded barbs and insulted the characters of the candidates. Political cartoons like the one to the right insinuated that Jefferson kept a mistress – Sally Hemings– who was one of his enslaved workers.

17. The Election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson John Adams Northerner, with support of urban elite God-fearing Christian Aristocratic Concern over the excesses of democracy Federalist – although not very popular with the party. • Southerner, with support from Western farmers. • Atheist or Deist • Commoner • Radical faith in Democracy • Republican

18. Republican Victory • With Alexander Hamilton actively campaigning for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney – which was practically scandalous during an age of disinterested politicians – the Federalist vote was split. • As a result, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ended up tied in the Electoral College, and the House of Representatives – dominated at the time by Federalist politicians – would have to choose who would be President. • Hamilton preferred Thomas Jefferson’s plantation owning, aristocratic pedigree to the merchant’s background of Aaron Burr. • The peculiar ending to the Election of 1800 motivated Congress to ratify the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, which binds the Presidency and the Vice Presidency together for the Electoral College.

19. Jefferson’s Inaugural Address • Since this was the first transfer of power between well-formed political rivals, the peaceful succession of Jefferson to the Office of the Presidency was essential. In a conciliatory inaugural address, Jefferson stated, “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. “

20. Jefferson’s Vision for America • Congress immediately eliminated the Alien and Sedition Acts. • Jefferson sought a nation of citizen-farmers, low population density. • Jefferson feared too much money and power in the hands of just a few elite merchants. • He viewed the vast western land reserves – which were about to grow – as a source of revenue for the future and as a guarantee that agrarian virtue would continue indefinitely. • He believed in laissez-faire economics and free trade, and expected American farmers to satisfy Europe’s need for food and resources in exchange for finished goods.

21. Major Events of the Jefferson Presidency • The Supreme Court case of Marbury V. Madison: In Marbury V. Madison, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall ruled that the judicial branch did not have to power to compel the President to deliver orders of appointment to the Federal Court System. However, in the same ruling, Marshall did argue that the Supreme Court had the ability to interpret the Constitutionality of laws and actions of the President – a process known as judicial review.

22. Downsizing Government Finding that the nation was in debt, Jefferson and his Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin closed offices, shut down foreign embassies, ended social parties, and cut the military – all in effort to show fiscal responsibility. There was partisanship in it, too, though, as most of the positions cut were held by Federalists. In keeping with his greater vision for the United States, Jefferson kept taxes very low – allowing only the collection of import duties and the sale of western lands in order to raise revenue for the government.

23. War with the Barbary Pirates In an effort to allow Americans access to European markets, Thomas Jefferson authorized warfare against the Barbary Pirates of the northern coast of Africa. The less than formidable United States Navy was unsuccessful, however, in teaching them their lesson. When the battleship Philadelphia was taken over, an expeditionary force sent to save the crew was defeated. Eventually, for a $60,000 pay off, Americans extracted a promise from the Barbary pirates that they would leave our vessels alone to trade in the Mediterranean. It was a dubious promise at best.

24. Turmoil on the Mississippi • When a real estate transaction between France and Spain resulted in a transfer of power along the Mississippi and in New Orleans, Jefferson feared the worst. With navigation of the river suspended, he pursued a two-pronged strategy. First, he attempted to create a military alliance with England. Meanwhile, he sent Robert Livingston to France with the ambitious goal of purchasing New Orleans. He would do better yet.

25. The Louisiana Purchase For just a little over $15 Million, Livingston gave Jefferson the entire Louisiana Territory, eliminating a rival in France, granting complete control over the Mississippi River, and double the size of the United States in one fell swoop.

26. A Question of Constitutionality • Jefferson, the strict constructionist who feared that the President might attempt to expand his powers in the image of a monarch, found the Louisiana territory too good to refuse. • Interestingly, Jefferson had authorized an expedition – a espionage expedition at the time – to explore the territory before it was purchased. The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwethew Lewis and William Clark, would begin its mission in 1804.

27. The Corps of Discovery • The Lewis and Clark Expedition, in an attempt to learn as much as possible about the Spanish, French, and Native American populations west of the Mississippi River, set out by boat up the Missouri River in 1804. Camping that winter at Mandan, in the Dakota Territory, the men learned from the Sioux about the fur trade, the Plains economy, and the environment of the region.

28. The Corps of Discovery • Touissant Charbonneau and his Shoshone wife Sacajawea joined the expedition in 1804, and helped the Corps of Discovery in establishing a chain of hospitality which allowed them to cross the continent. They reached the Pacific in the 1805, having gained enormous quantities of information on the geography, the environment, and the inhabitants of the West.

29. The West Grows in Isolation • As more and more farmers flooded into the West to populate the region, the area developed a character all its own. Unfortunately, the Appalachian Mountains were an obstacle which proved very difficult to surmount. Westerners could navigate the Ohio River to a large degree, but it was extremely difficult to get goods to market. The best case scenario was to sail down the Mississippi River to New Orleans – but the mighty waters of the Mississippi were only suitable for one way traffic. Rafts were usually chopped up for firewood, and a long walk home followed.

30. Rationalism Vs. Religion • Thomas Jefferson, like many of the Enlightenment influenced Founding Fathers, was not a member of any organized religion. He was committed to solving the problems of mankind through rational though, and even went so far as to remove any supernatural events from the Bible, so as to focus on the moral principles of Jesus Christ the philosopher.

31. Evangelicalism • Meanwhile, evangelical faiths were developing in the nation, particularly the backcountry and the West, which emphasized the emotional moment of conversion – being born again – and the need for the saving grace of God in order to achieve ultimate salvation. The religious revivals stood in stark opposition to Jefferson’s rationalism.

32. Jefferson and Race • Thomas Jefferson was a devoted racist, in part because society demanded it of him. But you don’t have to read his Notes on Virginia for very long before some strongly racist themes present themselves. The great irony, here, of course, is that Jefferson had a long standing love affair with an African-American woman named Sally Hemings. His mulatto children were enslaved until his death, and Hemings, so as not destroy his reputation, remained a slave until her death.

33. Inalienable Rights • If Jefferson’s transgressions are particularly alarming due to his stature as the author of the Declaration of Independence he was assuredly not alone in his hypocrisy. On plantations all over the South, secret trysts took place, and children of mixed racial heritage were enslaved by their own fathers. As manumission increased and abolitionism became more than just a fringe movement in the Northern States, all Americans would be forced to grapple with the nation’s most palpable original sin. Jefferson likened slavery to holding a wolf by it’s ears.

34. Toussaint L’Ouverture • In the early 1800s, a revolution led by Toussaint L’Ouverture resulted in the independence of the island nation of Haiti. In addition to forcing Napoleon to give up on his plans for a Caribbean Empire – and sell the United States the Louisiana Territory – this example inspired other enslaved African-American groups – including slaves in the United States, to consider similar methods of securing their “inalienable rights.”

35. Gabriel’s Rebellion, 1800 • Under the banner of Liberty, a slave named Gabriel – with at least two white conspirators – attempted armed rebellion in order to win freedom for himself and his fellow slaves. Since he hired himself out for wages in the city of Richmond and had learned to read and write, Gabriel was particularly aware of the philosophical discourse regarding liberty and freedom. Whites in and about Richmond responded to the threat of rebellion fearfully. Dozens were killed in retaliation. Worse rebellions that this were on the horizon in Virginia. Gabriel’s owner, Thomas Prosser, was largely condemned for allowing Gabriel too much freedom, and allowing him to read and write. There are no known images of Gabriel himself.

36. Jefferson and the Indians • Like many of his beliefs about race and gender, Thomas Jefferson was largely conflicted when it came to Indian policy. He claimed to believe that Native Americans were capable of learning and assimilation into American Society, but his administrations policy was to segregate Indians – by encouraging their relocation to the West of the Mississippi – as frequently as possible. In Jefferson’s mind, this policy was for the Indian’s own good, for less enlightened Americans than he were frequently the inhabitants of the backcountry, and they were known Indian-haters. Paternalism often lead to negative consequences for marginalized groups like women, African-Americans, and Indians. Punishing the victim, unfortunately, was not an unusual theme during Jefferson’s Era.