Politics, Expansion, Sectionalism 1800-1861

Politics, Expansion, Sectionalism1800-1861

1st Congress under G. W. • Establish executive departments/secretaries • 1st Secretary of State: • Thomas Jefferson • 1st Secretary of Treasury: • Alexander Hamilton • 1st Secretary of War: • Henry Knox

Judiciary Act/1789 • Establishes Federal Court System including the Supreme Court • 1st Chief Justice: • John Jay

Citizen Genet Affair(Edmond Genet) • 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.

G.W. Foreign Policy • 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)

Cont. • 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. • Spain recognized U.S. borders at the Mississippi and the 31st parallel (the northern border of Florida, a Spanish possession) • 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.

Warnings of G.W. • 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

Election of 1796 • 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

Cont. • 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.

Results of Election • 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.

Adams Presidency • 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)

Cont. • 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.

Results of Alien/Sedition Acts • 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.

Effect on John Adams • 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.

Midnight Judges/Judiciary Act of 1801 • 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.

Election of 1800 aka Revolution of 1800 • 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

Cont. • 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."

Jeffersonian Democracy • 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

Cont • Jeffersonians were devoted to: • Principles of Republicanism • Civic duty • Opposition to privilege, aristocracy and corruption.

A. Hamilton and Debt Plan • 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

Cont. • 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.

A. Hamilton and National Bank • 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.

Cont • 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.

A. Hamilton and Industry • 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

Hamilton’s Overall Vision • 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.

Back to T.J. • 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.

The Louisiana Purchase • 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."

Napoleon Loses Interest in L.T. • French expelled from Haiti by a slave revolt. • War with Great Britain was impending. • Raise money by selling L.T. to the U.S.

Jefferson’s Dilema • 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

Overall Effect of Purchase • 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.

Corps of Discovery Expedition 1804-1806 • 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

Other Goals of Jefferson • 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

Jefferson’s Second Term • 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

Effects of Embargo Act • 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.

Cont. • 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.

Politics, Expansion, Sectionalism 1800-1861