Who’s In Charge: Central vs. Local Control

1. Who’s In Charge: Central vs. Local Control Federalism: The U.S. has a federal system of government. Ultimate sovereignty (the power to govern) resides in the people, but the operation of government is divided in a federal structure, among three levels: local, state, and national.

2. In theory, each level is supposed to be sovereign within in its sphere. But as the U.S. grew, tensions arose between localists and nationalists. American History has been a working out of conflict over who is in charge (central or local), whether it is the fight over tariff and banking policy in the Early National and Jacksonian Eras, or secession crisis of the Civil War, or the economic crisis of the New Deal, or the constitutional battle that was the Civil Rights Movement.

3. Precedent: The first time a thing is done that sets an example or a rule to follow later – George Washington, being the first President of the U.S., established many precedents: (1) to called “Mister;” (2) to serve only two terms despite no constitutional limitation (changed by the 22nd Amendment); (3) [and maybe] to add the words “so help me God” to the Oath of Office. Images of George Washington: First in War, First in Peace, First in the Hearts of his Countrymen

4. Partisanship: acting in the interests of a political party rather than in the interests of all the country: Political differences grew between 1789 and 1800 as leaders debated whether power should be based in the states or in the national government. Two parties emerged. The Federalists (including Alexander Hamilton and John Adams) supported a strong central government; and the Democratic-Republicans (a.k.a. Jeffersonian Republicans, and including Jefferson and James Madison) called for state-based governmental authority. George Washington included men of both views in his cabinet, including Jefferson (Secretary of State) and Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury).

5. Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia: Jefferson’s view of the U.S. economy appears in his Notes on Virginia. It pictured a population of yeomen--self-reliant farmers who owned their land and were tied to it by what they produced on it not by a debt they owed some landlord . Even in bad times, a farmer could at least grow his own food. But factory workers, relied on wages; I rkers were thrown out of work, then they would become a drain on society. Let virtuous farmers have America, Jefferson declared. “Let our workshops remain in Europe.” Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures: Alexander Hamilton’s economic vision. It called on government to spur investment in industries to create a diversified economy of farming, manufacturing, and commerce. It said government should aid manufacturing by imposing a high protective tariff on imports that could be produced in the U.S. This would give American companies a competitive advantage, but it hurt consumers by raising prices and hurt American exporters because foreign countries could retaliate with high tariffs of their own, making American farm products less competitive and less attractive.

6. Hamilton's Economic Plan: Faced with substantial government debts, such as those incurred during the Revolutionary War, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton developed a multi-part plan to establish a viable and expanding American economy • Hamilton insisted that the war bonds be paid off in full. This would ensure the credit of the national government and enable the U.S. to borrow money in the future. • Hamilton required the federal government to assume the debts of the states. • To levy taxes to pay off the debts. Hamilton wanted a high tariff and excise taxes--taxes on specific commodities, such as whiskey. • He called for a national bank. The Bank of the United States (BUS) would act as a depository for federal revenue and help to control currency and national credit.

7. Whiskey Rebellion (1794): Minor conflict that erupted when farmers in western Pennsylvania refused to pay a federal excise tax on whiskey. Farmers roughed up federal marshals; Washington led troops to put down the rebellion, but by the time they arrived, the farmers had dispersed. The event showed that the federal government, unlike during Shays' Rebellion, had the power to end public disturbances

8. Washington's Farewell Address: In 1796, Washington declared that he would not run. As he left office, the General gave some advice to the nation. He and called for national unity, warning against political or regional parties: “To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. . . . The spirit of party . . . unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.“

9. The John Adams Administration, 1797-1801 XYZ Affair and Quasi-War: Tensions with France increased as Adams took office. Adams sent a delegation to France. French agents, referred to as X, Y, and Z, demanded the U.S. give France a loan and pay a bribe to see the French diplomat, Talleyrand. Federalists demanded war. Adams resisted, but soon the two countries were in an undeclared “Quasi- War” in the West Indies. Adams asked Washington to lead an army while he negotiated peace with Napoleon. In the Convention of 1800 (a.k.a. Treaty of Mortefontaine), France refused to pay for U.S. losses but agreed to end the 1778 alliance, ending the war.

10. Alien and Sedition Acts:Four laws enacted by Federalists to restrict political activities of Republicans . The Alien Acts limited political activity of foreigners; the Sedition Acts limited rights of citizens to criticize government. Republicans were outraged and called the laws unconstitutional. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Jeffersonian Republican response to Alien and Sedition Acts, written by James Madison. They argued for nullification, saying states could nullify federal laws which a state viewed as unconstitutional. Nullification renewed the debate over federalism and who’s in charge

11. The “Revolution of 1800” A turning point in American political history, the 1800 election pitted the Federalist John Adams against Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson. Given the Adams administration's failures and a split between Hamilton and Adams, the Federalists lost. Adams refused to attend Jefferson's inauguration, but the peaceful transition of government from one party to its opponent was remarkable for the time.

12. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803 As Spain gave its Louisiana Territory to France, Jefferson worried Napoleon would close the Port of New Orleans, blocking trade via the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers. Jefferson planned to buy New Orleans for $9 million, but Napoleon offered all of the Louisiana Territory for $15 million. Although he had no clear constitutional authority to do so, Jefferson made the purchase.

13. The total amount of land bought according to the treaty was imprecise, but it included ‘all the lands drained by the waters of the Mississippi River.’ The purchase more than doubled the size of the U.S., extending the nation west to the Continental Divide in the Rockies.

14. Lewis & Clark Expedition Trip by the Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with the help of Shoshone Indian guide Sacajawea, to explore the West. It began in St. Louis in 1804. The expedition was a great success. They did not find the hoped-for all-water route to the Pacific, but Lewis and Clark mapped the territory, brought back animal and plant artifacts, and firmed up the U.S. claim to the region. They also started an explosion of commerce in the region, expanding the fur trade.

15. Impressment: Britain still did not accept U.S. neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars. This became a cause of the War of 1812. It had long been British custom to raid British and kidnap men. Now, Britain even stopped U.S. vessels and impressed American sailors.

16. Embargo Act of 1807: With Britain and France restricting the freedom of the seas for American trade and as a result of the Chesapeake Affair, Jefferson chose to avoid war by ending all foreign trade. The Embargo Act banned all foreign trade. It backfired badly. U.S. and merchants (especially in New England) protested. Many evaded the law. In 1809, Congress repealed the law and advanced the more limited Non-Importation Act, which allowed trade with everyone but Britain and France.

17. Tecumseh and the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811): Despite the Greenville Treaty, relations with Indians in the Ohio Valley remained strained because of the influx of settlers. By 1811, the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh, and his brother, The Prophet, were determined to keep Indian hunting lands open by uniting with other tribes. In response, Military Governor William H. Harrison, assembled troops at Tecumseh’s village on the Tippecanoe River. The Shawnee attacked, were defeated, and retreated to Canada. Westerners blamed Britain for the conflict, saying they had incited the Indians. Tecumseh was killed during the War of 1812; Harrison, “Old Tippecanoe,” became POTUS in 1841.

18. “War Hawks” “No man in the nation desires peace more than I. But I prefer the troubled ocean of war, demanded by the honor and independence of the country, with all its calamities and desolations, to the tranquil, putrescent pool of ignominious peace.” Henry Clay Group of young Republicans from the lower south and the west who demanded that America be respected overseas. They included: Henry Clay (KY), John C. Calhoun (SC), and Andrew Jackson (TN). They insisted that Britain’s refusal to accept American neutrality and allow America’s free movement on the seas were worthy of war. They also blamed the British for inciting the Indians to violence in the West, and hoped to gain new lands in Canada. They voted Clay in as Speaker of the House and almost completely controlled Congress. They would not ignore impressment or the Indian raids on the west, and convinced President Madison to ask for a declaration of war.

19. War of 1812 Sometimes called the “Second War of Independence” or “Mr. Madison’s War,” it was the war between the U.S. and Britain that grew out of tensions arising from America’s policy of neutrality. Battles raged in the Great Lakes region as U.S. invaded Canada.

20. “It would be difficult to conceive a finer spectacle. The sky was brilliantly illumined by the different conflagrations, and a dark red light was thrown upon the road, sufficient to permit each man to view distinctly his comrade’s face.” -- British Soldier The English attacked Washington, DC, destroying the Capitol and the “President’s Palace.”

21. Important battles included Battle of Lake Erie where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British (“We have met the enemy and they are ours”) and the British attack at Fort McHenry at which Francis Scott Key wrote the “Star Spangled Banner.” “O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O’er the ramparts we watched so gallantly streaming? And the rockets red glare, the bomb bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, O say does that star spangled banner yet waved O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation, Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust” And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

22. The war ended in a tie with the Treaty of Ghent. The war and treaty led to a long-standing peace with England, but before word of the treaty reached the U.S. a final battle occurred. The Battle of New Orleans was a rare U.S. victory and it made Andrew Jackson a national hero. Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans

23. Hartford Convention: December 1814 meeting of New England Federalists opposed to the War of 1812. After the Battle of New Orleans a new nationalist fervor developed that made the conventioneers look unpatriotic. The Federalist Party died out within a year of the end of the war.

24. Era of Good Feelings: The end of the War of 1812 ushered in a spirit of nationalism in America. The Federalist party disappeared, leaving a one-party nation. James Monroe won the presidency with 85% of the Electoral College vote in 1816 and 99.6% in 1820. Out of many, one