Liberty vs. Order – The 1790's

1. Liberty vs. Order – The 1790's

2. Essential Questions • What was Alexander Hamilton's program for dealing with national and state debt? • How did foreign policy issues divide Americans? • What issues led to the emergence of political parties?Ch. 6-1 P. 200

3. Key Terms • tariff • interest • strict construction • loose construction • neutral • Jay's Treaty • Whiskey Rebellion • political party

4. Hamilton's Plan for the Debt • The states and the federal government owed, all together, $52 million in debts. • Hamilton's plan was for the federal government to take over responsibility for all of this debt. • This way, the people who were owed money by the states would, instead, look to the federal government for repayment.

5. Debt Plan - Problems • First, some states (VA, GA, other southern states) had already paid their debts off, and didn't want to help pay off other states' debts. • Second, Hamilton proposed paying the debts back at full value – their value had dropped significantly since the war. • Third, some people thought, by raising taxes to make these payments, Hamilton was robbing the poor to make the rich richer.

7. Foreign Policy Issues • The French Revolution split America. • Anti-Federalists believed that the violent overthrow of the French monarchy was a necessary, good thing. • Federalists were horrified at the level of violence in France, and felt that things were out of control.

8. Foreign Policy Issues • Citizen Genet • A French ambassador, Edmond Genet, was trying to enlist American citizens to join them in a war against England. • Washington was insulted – Genet had gone over his head in not talking to him first.

9. Foreign Policy Issues • Neutrality • Americans were divided over taking the side of the French or the English in the war. • In April of 1793, Washington proclaimed neutrality in the war. • American businesses tried to do business with both sides.

10. Foreign Policy Issues • Neutrality • The British began to capture American ships sailing for French ports. • The British also supported and armed Indians in the Northwest.

11. Foreign Policy Issues • Jay's Treaty • In 1794, Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to England to negotiate a treaty. • The British agreed to leave the northwest, but would continue to stop American ships and search them for British subjects.

12. Political Parties

13. Whiskey Rebellion • In the west, farmers were producing whiskey and shipping it east for sale. • The federal government passed a tax on whiskey. • The farmers hated the tax and began an armed rebellion to fight against the tax. • This time, however, the federal government sent an army of more than 12,000 to Pittsburg to put down the rebellion.