The Early Presidencies

1. The Early Presidencies Establishing Precedent & History

2. The Constitution • Officially Recognized In 1789 • The Constitution Recognized An Executive Branch (The Presidency) • Natural Born Citizen • 35 Years of Age • Lived 14 Years Within The U.S. • National Capital Established In New York City • George Washington Takes Oath of Office In New York On 30th April, 1789

3. George Washington • Born 22nd February, 1732 • Father A Virginia Planter Near Wakefield Virginia • 1748 Began Surveying Career On The Frontier • Served As An Officer During The French & Indian War • Wealthy Virginia Planter, Married To Martha Dandridge Custis • Served As Commander-in-Chief During The American Revolution • Served Politically During The Constitutional Era

4. Washington Takes Office • Unanimously Elected By The Electoral College • 1789 & 1792 • John Adams Picked As Washington’s Vice President • Second Pick For President • Inaugurated At Federal Hall In New York City

6. Washington Takes Office • Congress Votes To Pay Washington $25,000 Annually • Refused Salary • Independently Wealthy • Eventually Accepted So As Not To Limit The Office To The Wealthy • Immediately Begins Setting Precedent • Takes Title “Mr. President” • Establishes A Cabinet • Judiciary Act of 1789 • 2 Terms Of Service

7. Washington As President • Confident Delegator Of Power & Administrator • Residence Act of 1790 • Capital Moved To Philadelphia • Washington Rotates His Slave Staff • Nations Capital Would Lie Along The Potomac River • Washington Personally Oversees Surveying Work Of Nations Capital • “The City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia” Named In His Honor

8. Issues Of The Presidency • Massive National Debt • $52 Million • Lacked Military Support • No Standing Navy • Only 400 Men In The U.S. Army • Indian Uprising/Raids In The Northwest Territory (Ohio River Valley) 1790 & 1791

9. Indian Uprisings • Raids Along The Ohio River Valley • Initial Military Efforts Proved To Be A Failure • Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, & Tecumseh Main Native American Leaders • Anthony Wayne • Commander Of The American Legion • Spent Time Training For Forest Warfare • Battle of Fallen Timbers • 1794 • American Victory • Treaty of Greenville “Officially” Ended Uprising

11. Whiskey Rebellion • Secretary Hamilton Proposes A Tax On Liquor • Signed Into Action In 1791 • Bitterly Opposed By Frontier Farmers • Traditionally Converted Excess Grain Into Whiskey • Attacks By Farmers On Tax Collectors Became Violent • Washington Calls Up State Militias • Washington Personally Leads Army Of 13,000 • October Of 1794 Uprising Fizzles Out • Washington Proved Capable Of Leading The Country & The Army

12. Foreign Affairs • Great Britain • Britain Refuses To Adhere To Treaty of Paris • Kept Forts Within American Territory • Made Threats Against American Shipping In The West Indies & On The Atlantic Ocean • Jay Treaty, 1795 • Negotiated By Chief Justice John Jay • British Would Evacuate Forts • Small Scale Shipping Would Return • America Would Remain Neutral Of French Affairs • Commissions Set Up To Negotiate U.S. to U.K. Debt

13. Foreign Affairs • Barbary Bribes • Barbary Pirates Attack American Shipping • Treaty of Tripoli • Signed Between American & Pasha of Tripoli • Washington Agreed To Protection Money To Keep American Ships Safe • Spain • More Productive • Pinckney’s Treaty, 1795 • Cleared Relations Between The U.S. & Spain

14. The French Revolution • July 14, 1789 • The Storming Of The Bastille In Paris • French Revolution Begins • Many Americans Supported The French Efforts To Overthrow The Monarchy • U.S. Sent Aid To White Slave Holders In Haiti • Haitian Slave Rebellion Extremely Bloody • Washington Sympathized With Ousted Slave Holders

16. The French Revolution • 1793, France Began Taking Extreme Measures • King Louis XVI Executed-1/21/1793 • Queen Marie Antoinette Executed-10/16/1793 • Hundreds Of Clergy, Nobles, & Revolutionary Dissidents Slaughtered At The Guillotine's Blade • The U.S. Government Remained Neutral, Public Cried For Action • Edmond-Charles Genet Sent To Washington’s Second Inauguration • Proclamation of Neutrality, 1793 Officially Drew The Line For American Involvement In Europe

18. Retirement From Office • By The End Of This Second Term Washington Was Exhausted From Public Service • Issued Public Farewell Address In 1796 • Returned Home To Mt. Vernon • December 12, 1799 • Spent Day Riding Horseback In The Snow & Rain Inspecting His Farm • Awoke Ill The Next Morning And Was Bled • Passes Away On December 14, 1799 • The World Mourned Washington’s Death

19. John Adams • Born October 30, 1735 • Came From A Moderately Wealthy/Influential Family • Studied At Harvard; Considered Becoming A Minister; Chose Law Instead • On October 25, 1764, He Married His Third Cousin Abigail • Had Five Surviving Children • Often Unpopular And Contentious

20. The Presidency • Served As President From 1797-1801 • Kept Many Of The Programs & Institutions Washington Had Created • In Office He Was Described As “Prickly” • Fought With His Own Party (Federalists) As Well As The Democratic-Republicans • Spent Much Of His Term At His Massachusetts Home • First President To Live Within The White House

21. Foreign Relations • Tried To Remain Neutral In European Affairs • French Viewed American As Britain’s Junior • Began Seizing American Ships & Sailors • The XYZ Affair • The Adams’ Administration Wanted To Negotiate With The French • Three French Diplomats (X,Y,& Z) Demanded Huge Bribes Before Beginning Talks • Finally Pushed Americans Away From French Support

22. Foreign Affairs • Quasi-War Broke Out Between The French & The Americans In 1798 • Adams & The Congress Pushed To Improve The Army & Navy In Preparedness For An Attack • Convention of 1800 • American Diplomats Sent To France • Napoleon Agreed That A Conflict Was Useless • American Freed From Any Entanglement In European Affairs For The Time Being

23. The Alien & Sedition Acts • Series Of Four Separate Acts, 1798 • Government Could Arrest & Deport Immigrants Who Spoke Against The Establishment • Worked Against The Democratic-Republican Efforts • Worked Heavily Naturalizing Immigrants • Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions Declared Acts Unconstitutional

24. Election Of 1800 • He & Charles Pinckney Fought Hard Over The Republicans Jefferson & Aaron Burr • Lost By 8 Electoral Votes To Jefferson • Alexander Hamilton Had Worked To Undermine Adams’ Campaign • Jefferson Extremely Popular In The South • Midnight Judges • Judiciary Act of 1801, Created Series Of Appeals Courts • Loyal Federalists Judges Appointed To Fill These Courts • John Marshall Picked As The Fourth Supreme Court Chief Justice

25. Post-Presidency Years • Returned Home To Massachusetts • Did Not Attend Jefferson’s Inauguration • 1812, Reconciled With Jefferson • Abigail Died In 1818 • July 4th, 1826 • Fiftieth Anniversary Of The Declaration of Independence • John Adams Died • Jefferson Passed Hours Prior • Passed While His Son Still Remained In Office

26. Thomas Jefferson • Born April 13, 1743 • 3rd of 10 Children • Born Into A Well Connected Family • Well Educated • Became A Planter, Lawyer, & Teacher • January 1, 1772 Married Martha Skelton • Had Six Children, Only One Lived Beyond 25 • September 6th, 1782, Martha Died • The Relationship With Sally Hemmings • Politically Involved, Nationally & Internationally

27. Jefferson Presidency • Served As President From 1801-1809 • Highly Supported In The South • Electoral Vote A Tie • Jefferson & Aaron Burr • Hamilton Undermines Burr & Wins Jefferson The Election (Burr Would Eventually Kill Hamilton In A Duel) • Pushed To End Adams Era Policies • Paid Down National Debt • 80 to 52 Million Dollars

28. Jefferson Presidency • Pushed For Major Cuts To The Army & Navy • Streamlined Washington Bureaucracy • Sought Financial Benefits By Selling Off Frontier Lands & Duties At Seaports • Marbury vs. Madison • Supreme Court Case • Marbury: A Midnight Judge • Madison: Jefferson’s Secretary of State, Refused To Deliver Marbury’s Appointment Papers • Marbury Victorious

29. The Expanding Nation • Nation Needed To Stretch Out • Louisiana Purchase • 1803 • France Needed The Money, France No Longer Needed The Land • 828,000 Square Miles • Lewis & Clark Expedition • Meriwether Lewis & William Clark • Traveled As Explorers, Scientists, & Ambassadors • Aided By Sacagawea They Blazed A Trail To The Pacific • Brought Back Valuable Information & Scientific Data

31. Barbary War • Barbary Pirates Again Interfering With American Trade In The Mediterranean • Barbary Leaders Demanding More Money To Keep Shipping Safe • Jefferson Decided The U.S. Could Fight The Pirates • Jefferson Sent A Naval Force Into the Mediterranean • Systematic Bombardment Of Tripoli • Americans Come Out Victorious At The End Of The War, June 10th, 1805

32. Retirement From Office • Retires From Office In 1809 • Helped Establish The University of Virginia • Health Began To Fail In 1825 • By 1826 He Was Confined To His Bed • Died On July 4th, 1826 • Died A Few Hours Before John Adams • Though Born Wealthy, Died In Debt

33. James Madison • Born March 16th, 1751 • Oldest Of 12 Children • Father Wealthy Tobacco Planter • Highly Educated • Married Dolley Todd 9/1/1794 • Adopted Her Son John • One Of The Authors Of The Federalists Papers • Politically Active • Worked For Religious Freedoms • “Father of the Constitution”, Writer Of The Bill of Rights

34. Madison Presidency • Served From 1809-1817 • Initially Worked Against The National Bank • Would Expire In 1811 • Used To Finance The War of 1812 • Rechartered The Bank In 1814 • Dealt With The Second Barbary War • Conclusive End To American Tribute To Tripoli

35. War of 1812 • British Navy Interfering With American Trade • Seizing American Ships, Impressing American Sailors • Madison Pushes Congress To Prepare For War • Southern & Western “War Hawks” Back Madison • War Declared By Congress In June Of 1812 • American Launches A Canadian Invasion • Utter Failure • American Troops Perform Poorly • The American Navy Redeems Itself With A Victory At Lake Erie

36. War of 1812 • Native American Skirmishes On The Frontier • Tecumseh Killed In October Of 1813 • Andrew Jackson Defeats Creek & Seminole Forces In AL & FL (Respectively) • Washington Threatened • Four Major British Forces Land In The U.S. • Maine, New York, Maryland, & New Orleans • The Capital Threatened With Capture • Madison Flees The City Before British Troops Arrive • Dolley Madison Remains In The City

37. War of 1812 • Washington Threatened • British Forces Began Nearing The Capital • Mrs. Madison Empties The White House Of President Madison’s Letters, Valuables, & Art • Saves The Portrait Of George Washington • British Capture The City • Burn The White House & Capital Building • A Terrible Storm Kills Many British Troops & Slows Their Advance

39. War of 1812 • Battle Of Fort McHenry • Francis Scott Key • Poem “Star-Spangled Banner” • Treaty Of Ghent • Battle Of New Orleans • Americans Led By Andrew Jackson • 71 American Casualties, 2036 British Deaths • American Victory • Fought After The Treaty of Ghent Signed

40. Post-Presidency • Ushered In The “Era of Good Feelings” • Retired To Plantation At Montpelier • Left The Presidency Poorer Than When He Entered • Bedridden Over Anxiety Of Debt • Latter Years He Remained Politically Active • June 28, 1836 • Madison Died • Last Of The Founding Fathers