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FEDERALIST ERA
Problems
Population is doubling/90% rural/moving
west
Western settlers do not have defined
loyalty yet
Tax revenues were down/economy was
unstable
Worthless currencies/speculators in war
bonds
How exactly do we do this?
Washington is elected
a. Washington is unanimous
choice by electoral college
a.Capital is still in New York
b.Establishes cabinet system
– 3 members full time –
Jefferson at State, Hamilton
at Treasury and Knox at War
c.Defines presidents role in
relation to Congress (State
of Union)/Mr. President
d.Was very aware that
others would follow his lead
FORMING THE GOVERNMENT
• Since all of this was brand new, some
ideas that we take for granted had to be
developed.
• First question was, who was to help the
President? The solution was called the
Cabinet. The Cabinet is a group made up
of all the heads of all the departments of
the government, such as State, Treasury,
etc.
WASHINGTON’S PRESIDENCY
• Because he was the first president, Washington spent a lot of time
setting precedents or patterns for later presidents
• He was president for two terms (8 years) and no other president had
more than 2 terms except for Franklin Roosevelt during the Great
Depression and the Second World War. He held office for 12 years
and after him an amendment was passed to limit presidents to two
terms.
• He set the pattern for calling him “Mr. President”. His aides thought
about calling him “your lordship” but Washington thought that was
too much like what they fought the Revolution to get away from, so
he just made it “Mr. President” and it has been ever since.
• One of the most enduring things he did was give a Farewell
Address.
• In his Farewell, Washington warned against “getting involved in
foreign entanglements”. What he was talking about was staying out
of European wars. What happened is that the US maintained what
is called an “isolationist” policy for the next 100 years.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
• Alexander Hamilton was one
of the most impressive
individuals in Washington’s
cabinet. He was the Secretary
of the Treasury and so he was
in charge of the nation’s
finances.
• Hamilton was a strong
Federalist, so he believed that
the central government should
be strong so that it could assist
the financial growth of the
country.
• To do this, Hamilton wanted
the Federal government to
take on the war debts of the
states
THE WAR DEBT
• Each individual state had paid for its’ own part in the
Revolution. The way they did this was to see Bonds.
• Bonds are notes that the government sells to its’ citizens
promising to pay a high interest rate at a later date.
• For example, if the state sold you a bond for $5 today, all
you had to do was to hold onto it for 2 years and then the
state would give you $20 dollars when you redeemed it.
• The states sold millions of dollars worth of bonds to its’
citizens. It did this to pay for the war, but it also made the
citizens want the state to succeed so they would get paid
back. This is called a vested interest.
HAMILTON’S PLAN
• Hamilton wanted the Federal government to
assume the debts of the states. He had a couple
of reasons for wanting to do this.
• First, he wanted the states in a position of owing
something to the Federal government.
• Second, the wealthy people of each state held
most of the bonds. Hamilton wanted the upper
classes to support the Federal Government in
the future and also to buy more bonds to expand
the government.
JEFFERSON AND MADISON
OPPOSE HAMILTON’S PLAN
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Thomas Jefferson believed that the central government should remain weak and the states should have the most
power. He opposed the Constitution, he was a leading Anti Federalist. He was head of the
Democratic/Republicans, a political party dedicated to small government.
Jefferson opposed Hamilton’s plan because he said the Constitution wouldn’t allow it and because it would make
the states weaker.
Madison had different reasons for opposing the plan.
First of all, Madison was from Virginia and Virginia had already paid off its’ bonds, so the assumption of the debt
would not help it.
Second, Madison said that northerners owned 80% of the bonds and the money would be used to pay off the
north’s debts. The tax money used to pay for this would come from southern states that had already paid off their
debt.
Lastly, speculators or people that take a business or investment risk now for future profit, had bought up most of
the bonds. If the Federal government assumed the debt, it would simply be paying off gamblers.
The Compromise
• The Capital of the United States in 1790 was in New York. The
capital was too small and plans were being made to build a new
capital on neutral ground. The last thing left was to decide where.
The Northerners obviously wanted it in the North, just as the
Southerners wanted it in their territory.
• Jefferson wanted the capital to be in the South.
• Hamilton knew this and proposed a compromise to Jefferson.
• If Jefferson and his party, the Democratic/Republicans would
support the Federal assumption of the state debts, then Hamilton
and the Federalists would support the building the new capital in
Virginia
• Jefferson agreed and in July of 1790, the deal went through.
• Hamilton got his plan and Jefferson got his city, Washington D.C.
Does the Bill of Rights apply to the
States as well as the Federal
Government?
• When the Constitution was first written, it was
written to apply only to the Federal government.
The reason for this was that the central
government’s power was what everyone feared,
so they wrote the Constitution to only apply to it.
• Later, the Bill of Rights in incorporated, or added
to the constitutions of the states. But this is
much later.
THE NATIONAL BANK
• Also as part of his plan, Hamilton also wanted to
create a National Bank to store the nations’ tax
dollars, to issue and support currency (money)
and to make loans or subsidize new businesses.
• Madison opposed the bank. He said that the
Constitution was a document of Enumerated
Powers and that the power to create a National
Bank was not on the list.
• Enumerated Powers are powers that are listed in
the Constitution.
The National Bank
• Hamilton responded to Madison’s opposition by
saying that there were enumerated powers, but
there are also implied powers.
• For example, the Constitution says that the
government has the power to tax. Hamilton said
that if they had that power, they would also have
to have a place to put the money, they couldn’t
keep it in the White House.
• Implied powers are powers needed to actually
do the things that enumerated powers ordered
the government to do.
ADAMS’ PRESIDENCY
• The second president was John Adams.
He had been the First Vice President.
• He was a dedicated Federalist. He was
more activist than Washington, which
means that he used the office more.
• He was presented with a number of
problems that no one had predicted.
• The first was how to deal with the French.
The XYZ Affair and the Quasi War
• The French and British were involved in another war. Both of them
were stopping US ships at sea and seizing or impressing sailors
that they said were deserters from the French or British navy.
Sometimes this was true, sometimes not but it was still humiliating to
the US.
• Adams sent Charles Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall to
Paris to negotiate for the end to this process.
• They had to meet with the French Foreign Minister, Talleyrand.
Talleyrand and others demanded a bribe to get the negotiations
going.
• The Americans refused and sent a letter to Adams describing this.
This event was called the XYZ Affair. This made relations between
the US and France worse.
• At this time, the US was fighting an undeclared war with the French
at sea.
THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACT
1798
• The elections in 1798 were particularly vicious. Both
sides accused each other of corruption and the
Federalists accused the Republicans with being ProFrench.
• Because it was so vicious, the newspapers got involved
and some attacked the President.
• The Federalists passed a series of laws that made it
illegal to prints “malicious or scandalous” against the
government.
• The government arrested 15 newspaper editors, all of
whom were Democratic/Republicans.
• This was obviously in violation of the 1st Amendment
right of freedom of the press, but no one knew what to
do.
The Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions
• The issue of the Sedition Act was that it was obviously
unconstitutional, but up to now, no one knew who could
declare a law unconstitutional.
• Was it the President? Was it the Congress? Was it the
Court?
• Thomas Jefferson and James Madison thought they
knew who could decide – the states.
• Each of them went back to their home states, Virginia
and Kentucky and wrote the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions.
• The Resolutions said that the states and ONLY the
states could decide if a law was constitutional and, if not,
declare it NULL.
The Election of 1800
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The election of 1800 was special for a
number of reasons.
First, it was the first of the new, 19th
century
Second and most important, it was
obvious that Jefferson and the
Democratic Republicans were going to
win the Presidency and the Congress.
This was important because the
Federalists, who supported a strong
central government, had been in
office for the last 12 years. Now the
Democratic/Republicans, who were in
favor of a weak central government
were going to be in charge.
Jefferson called this election a
“revolution” because it was going to be
a change as big as the American
Revolution.
JOHN MARSHALL
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The longest serving Chief Justice in
Supreme Court history, Marshall dominated
the Court for over three decades (a term
outliving his own Federalist Party) and
played a significant role in the development
of the American legal system. Most notably,
he established that the courts are entitled to
exercise judicial review, the power to strike
down laws that violate the Constitution.
Thus, Marshall has been credited with
cementing the position of the judiciary as an
independent and influential branch of
government. Furthermore, the Marshall
Court made several important decisions
relating to federalism, shaping the balance
of power between the federal government
and the states during the early years of the
republic. In particular, he repeatedly
confirmed the supremacy of federal law over
state law and supported an expansive
reading of the enumerated powers
MARBURY V. MADISON
1803
• Marbury v. Madison was the first time the
Supreme Court declared something
"unconstitutional," and established the
concept of judicial review in the U.S. (the
idea that courts may oversee and nullify
the actions of another branch of
government). The landmark decision
helped define the "checks and balances"
of the American form of government.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE
• The Louisiana Purchase
was the acquisition by the
United States of America
of 828,800 square miles
of France's claim to the
territory of Louisiana in
1803.
• The U.S. paid 15 million
dollars for the Louisiana
territory.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Napoleon was preparing to invade Russia in 1802 and he needed
money.
He had inherited the Louisiana Territory in America after he
conquered Spain.
He thought at first that he would set up a new empire in America,
so he sent an army to Santo Domingo to prepare. The army was
destroyed by malaria and the slave armies of Toussaint
l’Overture, so he decided to sell the Louisiana Territory.
Jefferson wanted to buy New Orleans because it controlled all the
trade on the Mississippi River.
He was offered the whole of the Louisiana Territory for 15 million
dollars.
At first Jefferson wasn’t sure he had the constitutional authority to
buy the land, but the deal was too good to pass up.
CORPS OF DISCOVERY
1805
LEWIS AND CLARK
• The Louisiana Purchase in
1803 sparked interest in
expansion to the West Coast
of the American continent. The
United States did not know
precisely what it was buying
and France was unsure of how
much land it was selling. A few
weeks after the purchase,
President Thomas Jefferson,
an advocate of western
expansion, had Congress
appropriate $2,500 for an
expedition.
LEWIS AND CLARK
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In 1803, President Thomas
Jefferson commissioned the
Corps of Discovery as a
scientific expedition to explore the
newly acquired Louisiana
Purchase.
The expedition's goal was "to
explore the Missouri River and
communication with the waters of
the Pacific Ocean, In addition, the
expedition was to learn more
about the Northwest's natural
resources,
Jefferson selected U.S. Army
Captain Meriwether Lewis–his
aide and personal friend–to lead
the Corps of Discovery. Lewis
selected William Clark as his
partner.
LEWIS AND CLARK
• They left St. Louis in 1804 on the Missouri
River.
• The expedition collected specimens plants
and animals and were the first white men
to see the Great Plains, The Rocky
Mountains and the Continental Divide.
• It is one of the greatest adventures in
history.
THE WAR OF 1812
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Back in the east, things were not going so
well.
British impressment of US sailors was
causing a problem
Another problem was that as the US
expanded west, they put pressure on the
British forts that were still in the wilderness.
This expansion was the primary reason for
the War of 1812.
It was a war without resolution to a large
extent. The British captured and burned
Washington D.C.
Andrew Jackson, a frontier aristocrat, used
frontiersmen to defeat the British forces at
the Battle of New Orleans.
This made Andrew Jackson a national hero
and eventually led to his being elected
president.
The other big result of the War of 1812 was
a sense of Nationalism or National Pride in
America. This was the first time the people
of the US had actually felt they were part of
something important.
THE ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS
• The Era of Good Feelings (1817–25) was a
period in United States history in which partisan
bitterness abated.
• It lasted approximately 1816-1824, during the
administration of U.S. President James Monroe,
who deliberately downplayed partisanship.
• The political bitterness declined because the
Federalists had largely dissolved and were no
longer attacking the president, then causing an
era of good feeling because there was only one
political party, the Democratic/Republicans.
PROTECTIVE TARIFFS
• A tariff is a tax placed on imported and/or
exported goods, sometimes called a customs
duty.
• A revenue tariff is set with the intent of raising
money for the government.
• A protective tariff, usually applied to imported
goods, is intended to artificially inflate prices of
imports and "protect" domestic industries from
foreign competition.
McCulloch v. Maryland
• McCulloch v. Maryland, (1819), was a landmark decision by the
Supreme Court of the United States.
• The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a
branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax
on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland.
• Though the law was generally applicable to all banks it was obvious
that it specifically targeted the U.S. Bank.
• The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the
Constitution which allowed the Federal government to pass laws not
expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of express powers
• This fundamental case established the following two principles:
– The Constitution grants to Congress implied powers for implementing
the Constitution's express powers, in order to create a functional
national government. The idea of Implied Powers was reinforced.
– State action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by
the Federal government.
MONROE DOCTRINE
1823
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The Monroe Doctrine is a United
States policy that was introduced
on December 2, 1823, which
stated that further efforts by
European countries to colonize
land or interfere with states in the
Americas would be viewed by the
United States of America as acts
of aggression requiring US
intervention. The Monroe Doctrine
asserted that the Western
Hemisphere was not to be further
colonized by European countries.
It was actually written by the
Secretary of State, John Quincy
Adams.