The Jeffersonian Era

1. The Jeffersonian Era

2. This Day in History • 1776: General George Washington writes to president of the Continental Congress, John Hancock about the Battle at Harlem Heights • Morning of September 16 Washington ordered Continentals to hold line at Harlem Heights • Sent Captain Thomas Knowlton and a volunteer group of Rangers to scout British movements and possibly lure the British into combat. • Captain Knowlton and the Rangers engaged the British in a frontal assault • Washington sent second force to attack British from their right flank. • Americans were able to force a small British retreat • Battle of Harlem Heights restored public confidence in the American troops • Lifted the spirits of the Continental Army

3. Slaves and African Americans • 11% of African Americans free • Slave revolt on Saint-Dominique (Haiti) fanned fears of slave revolt in southern states • French slaveholders slaughtered • Yellow fever ravaged Napoleon’s forces as they tried to quell rebellion • Gabriel’s rebellion: a planned slave revolt in Richmond • 1000 slaves involved, put down by militia, leaders executed • Other isolated rebellions occurred and only reduced anti-slavery sentiment

5. Slaves and Religion • Slaves were all Christians by the early 1800s • Some converted voluntarily, some forced by masters and missionaries • Worshiped under supervision of white ministers (Baptist, Methodist) • Sometimes incorporated voodoo or other traditions • Natural leaders among slaves became preachers • Emphasized the dream of freedom and deliverance • Key ideas of slave revolts

6. Election of 1800 • “Revolution of 1800” Presidential Elections • Adams (Federalist) v. Jefferson (Republican) • Aaron Burr (Jefferson’s running mate) rallied Revolutionary War veterans to help Jefferson win NY • Debt, expenditures, taxes had increased • Tie between Burr and Jefferson decided by House • Hamilton instrumental in Jefferson’s win • Burr betrayed

7. Republican Victory • Jefferson defeated John Adams • All 73 delegates in Electoral College voted for Jefferson and Burr, thus both tied for office • House of Representatives decided presidency • Burr reached out to Federalists • Blocked by Hamilton who claimed Burr unreliable • Congress had Republican majority • Republicans viewed victories as salvation from tyranny

8. Adams’ Last Act as President • Judiciary Act of 1801 • Enacted by lame duck Federalist Congress • Reduced the number of Supreme Court Justices by one (6 to 5) • Increased the number of general federal judgeships • Adams appointed Federalist judges into new positions • Rumor: Adams stayed up late his last night in office, thus “Midnight Appointments” • Repealed by Congress in 1802

9. Pirates! • 1801: Tripoli declared war on US • Jefferson stopped “tribute” payments to Barbary States • Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli • Naval squadron sent to Mediterranean • Four years of fighting – first foreign military conflict • Hostilities ended after coup in Tripoli • Tribute payments did not end until 1815

10. Second Great Awakening • Presbyterians moved west, Baptism spread in south • Basic message: God and Christ should be in one’s daily life • Rejected skeptical rationalism • Embraced active piety and traditional beliefs • God’s grace could be attained through faith and good works • More females than males: religious activity gave women purpose as industry moved out of homes and into factories • Some revivals open to all races • Black preachers spread egalitarian message of salvation to slaves

11. Handsome Lake • Handsome Lake of Seneca called for revival of traditional Indian ways • Restoring communal equality, rejecting white society’s individualism • Spread message through Iroquois nation • Many gave up whiskey and gambling

12. Native American Revivalism • Developed own code similar to Christianity • Called for hunters to farm and women into domestic roles • Encouraged Christian missionaries • Seneca of Western NY and Pennsylvania rejected Handsome Lake’s calls for assimilation • Men did not want to farm • Women did not want to give up farming and influence as heads of households

13. Native American Issues • William Henry Harrison: congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory in 1799 • Appointed governor of Indiana Territory in 1801 • delivered Jefferson’s solution to the “Indian Problem”

14. Mixed Signals • Harrison wanted Indiana to become a state and needed a white population, so offered Indian land to settlers • Many whites were moving west in north and south in large numbers • Jefferson wanted to give Indians the choice of converting to farming and assimilate to white society or migrate west of the Mississippi • Harrison used threats, bribes, played one tribe against another • Resisted by tribes

15. Jefferson • Classically educated, wealthy aristocratic planter • Affair with Sally Hemmings? • Author of Constitution, owner of slaves • Supported states rights, educated farmers • Cities bred corruption • Public good > private interests • Government must be watched and controlled by the people

16. Conditions of Successful Nation • Government free from corruption • Federalist financial system bred corruption • Unobstructed access to ample supply of land • Access to world market for agricultural products

17. Against the Bank of United States • Hamilton: debt strengthens a nation • Debtors have stake in national success • Taxes paid by people (farmers)

18. Presidential Actions • Repealed Judiciary Act of 1801 • Believed agriculture more important than overseas commerce • Land meant individual liberty • Self reliance • United States Military Academy at West Point Established

19. Republican beliefs • Independent farmers backbone of freedom • Men should be secure in property • Limited federal government with power in the states • American success the result of lack of restrictions on individuals • In step with Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations • Agriculture must be developed before manufacturing

20. 1802 • Jefferson persuaded Congress to repeal internal taxes • High taxes meant large government power • Controlling instead of serving the people • Revenue instead came from customs duties, sales of western lands • Reduced government spending • Cut federal staffs • Reduced army from 4,000 to 2,500 • Standing army a threat to national liberty • Reduced navy from 25 ships to 7

21. Judicial Review • Principle that the Supreme Court can review and reject measures passed by Congress • Keeping Congress in check • Reverse actions that are unconstitutional

22. Supreme Court Flexes Muscles • Marbury vs. Madison: Supreme Court exercised power of Judicial Review • Chief Justice John Marshall introduced Supreme Court to its full power • Declared that Jefferson’s secretary of state, James Madison, could not be compelled by the court to give Adams’ appointment of Marbury as Justice of the Peace in D.C. • Congress overstepped its bounds when passing the Judiciary Act of 1789, so the appointment could not be forced.

23. Impeachment Determined • Republicans tried to removed judges from “Midnight Appointments” • Use Impeachment • Republicans believed tool of checks and balances • Not just for criminal behavior • 1804 impeachment attempt of Justice Samuel Chase • House impeached, Senate did not convict • Impeachment only applies to “treason, bribery, other high crimes and misdemeanors.

24. Trouble in the West • Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800) • France regained Louisiana Territory (nearly whole of western Mississippi Valley) from Spain • Secret at first • French control of New Orleans • Key port of Western US • Only port used by farmers along Mississippi and Ohio rivers • Would necessitate alliance with British navy

26. French Flexes its Muscles • French state that US cargo cannot be deposited in New Orleans • Violates Pickney Treaty of 1795 • Closed lower Mississippi to American shippers • Westerners demand Jefferson take action • Asks Congress for money to expand the army, create a river fleet, possibly align with Great Britain

27. France’s Trouble Overseas • Saint-Dominique under ToussantL’Ouverture • Napoleon wanted the island back • Yellow fever ravaged French troops • Defeated by former slaves

28. Louisiana Purchase • Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe: April 30, 1803 • Napoleon planning war in Europe, needed the money • Sold for $15 Million ($298 million in today’s amount) • US also received commercial privileges to France via New Orleans • Territory claimed in December, 1803 and doubled the size of the US • All residents of Louisiana part of the union with rights and privileges of citizenship • Boundaries of the purchase undefined

31. Constitutional? • Jefferson did not have authority to make land purchase since the Constitution said nothing about land acquisition • Justified purchase under treaty-making powers of president • Supported purchase because new land meant more land for farmers

32. Justification • Jefferson a strict constitutionalist • Disagreed with Hamilton’s “implied powers” argument • Means to promote republican liberty • Opposed by Federalists • Decreased importance of eastern cities

33. Culture • American culture formed independent of European influence • Washington Irving • Legend of Sleepy Hollow • Revolution elevated ideas of individual liberty and reason • Deism: rejection Calvinism, the Trinity, Jesus as son of God

34. Science • Medical studies in America limited • Gross anatomy required dissection of cadavers • Bleeding still widely used technique • Childbirths began to be attended to by physicians instead of midwives • Narrowed opportunities for women and restricted care for poor mothers

35. Trouble on the Atlantic • Napoleonic wars made Britain and France seek to keep one another from trading with the US • The US coffee and sugar trade with Napoleon drove prices down and hurt British profits • During war, Native Americans joined forces with British in Canada • Also aligned with Spanish to resist white expansion

36. Election of 1804 • Jefferson had filled all federal offices with Republicans • George Clinton ran as Jefferson’s Vice President • Replaced Aaron Burr • Federalists nominees carried 2 states

37. Burr and the Federalists • Essex Junco group wanted New England to secede • The extreme Federalists needed NY, NJ’s support • Hamilton refused to give his support • Burr supported the Essex Junco • Became candidate for governor of NY • Was defeated and blamed Hamilton,

38. Enemies

39. Duel • Personal and political enemies • Burr believed Hamilton the “author of all his misery” • Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel in Weehawken, NJ on July 11, 1804 • Hamilton mortally wounded

40. Results • Burr (still Vice President!) now wanted for murder • He and General James Wilkinson (governor of Louisiana Territory) wanted to capture Mexico from the Spanish, and rumors said to create a western empire • Jefferson and political enemies believed the rumors • Burr eventually arrested and acquitted • Became a recluse, died in Staten Island after two strokes

41. Western Exploration Begins • Merriwether Lewis: Indian wars veteran, knew wilderness • William Clark: chosen by Lewis, frontiersman, Indian fighter • Lewis, Clark, 4 dozen men headed west. Met Shashane Sacajawea as an interpreter • Traced the Mississippi River north to its source • Followed Snake and Colombia Rivers west • Lewis and Clark reached Pacific coast in 1805 • Recorded geography, Indian civilizations

43. Jefferson sent Zebulon Montgomery Pike to explore the upper Mississippi Valley in 1806 • Pike explores up Arkansas River to what would become Colorado • Inaccurately described area as desert • Allowed Indians to remain on land for longer since farmers not interested in land

44. Conflict Resumes • 1799: Napoleonic Wars began, resumed in 1805 • Battle of Trafalgar: British destroyed the French navy • Continental System: Napoleon’s attempt to close the European continent to British trade through the Berlin and Milan decrees • Barred British and neutral ships with British cargo from landing at French-controlled ports • Britain responded by blockading Europe • Only goods carried by British or allies permitted • Great Britain resumes seizure of American vessels

45. Trade Issues • US Merchant Marines controlled a large amount of trade between Europe and West Indies • Could not sail to Europe because of French and British decrees • Thus trade with US outlawed by Europe’s most powerful countries

46. Impressments Returns • British practice of taking deserters from American ships, even after they enlisted as Merchant Marines or into American navy. British also took native-born Americans • Chesapeake-Leopold incident: American frigate refused to allow Leopold to search ship • Leopold fired, boarded Chesapeake, took 4 men off ship

47. Reaction • People in US called for revenge, Jefferson and Madison wanted peace • US expelled British ships from US waters to avoid conflict. • After Chesapeake incident, British began to expect an American invasion of Canada and renewed friendships with Indians • James Monroe, US ambassador to England demanded end of impressments • Great Britain disavowed Leopold commander’s actions, recalled CO, offered compensation, returned the 3 living men • Refused to renounce impressments • Between 1803-1812: 6,000 Americans impressed into British navy

48. The Embargo Act of 1807 • Prohibited US ships from leaving the US for any foreign port • Created a depression in the US • Farmers hurt • Merchants and ship owners in Northeast (Federalists) hardest hit • Animosity towards Jefferson grew • British found new markets in South America

49. 1808 • James Madison Elected President (George Clinton, VP) • Defeated same candidates that lost to Jefferson • Federalists gained seats in Republican-held congress • Dolley Madison • Held parties, charmed Republicans and some Federalists to support husband

50. 1809 • The Embargo promoted US manufacturing • Prior to 1808, US has 15 cotton textile mills • By 1809, 87 mills constructed • March 1, 1809: Congress repealed Embargo Act and replaced it with Non-Intercourse Act • Opened world trade except with Great Britain and France • Allowed President to reopen trade if neutral rights violations ceased. They did not.