Download the revolution of 1800

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THE COMING OF NEW REVOLUTIONS
"No man is more ardently intent to see the public debt soon and sacredly paid off than I am. This
exactly marks the difference between Colonel Hamilton's views and mine, that I would wish the
debt paid tomorrow; he wishes it never to be paid, but always to be a thing where with to corrupt
and manage the legislature."
Thomas Jefferson
I. Introduction
In our previous discussion we examined the factors that led to the creation and ratification of the
Constitution. We also explored some of the domestic and international challenges the United
States faced during this period. More specifically, we analyzed Hamilton's fiscal program and the
opposition it created. We also explored how the French Revolution contributed to internal
division in the United States. These challenges, along with others, fueled the rise of "party
politics" as individuals rallied to the ideals of either the Federalists or Republicans. We ended
our discussion with an overview of the key events in the Washington and Adams
administrations. Today's discussion will focus on the administration of Thomas Jefferson. For
Jefferson, a new revolution was necessary, "as real as a revolution in the principles of our
government as that of 1776 was in its form." Jefferson believed that the Federalist measures
needed to be reversed. In 1810, Jefferson wrote "I have been ever opposed to the party so falsely
Federalists because I believe them desirous of introducing into our government, authorities
hereditary or otherwise independent of the nation will. These always consume the public
contributions and oppress the people with labour or poverty." How effective was Jefferson in
addressing his concerns? By the time we finish this discussion you should be able to do the
following:
1. Explain the impact the Industrial Revolution had on the United States.
2. Identify causes and effects of the Political Revolution of 1800.
3. Explain the factors that led to the War of 1812.
4. Analyze the impact of westward expansion on Native American communities and
slavery.
II. A New Revolution is Felt
A. The Industrial Revolution and Cotton
1. Historians generally agree the second part of the Dual Revolution had its
origins in Great Britain in the 18th century. It was fueled by the following factors:
a. Atlantic economy where British textile goods were marketed.
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b. An agricultural boom that produced more crops at a cheaper price.
c. Britain also had an effective bank and credit market.
d. Britain also had a stable government.
2. The industrial revolution first made its presence felt in the textile industry.
Changes in the textile industry were fueled by a taste for cotton rather than wool.
Originally, cotton textiles were imported from India (calicoes - Calicut). Hoping
to compete with calicoes from India, British manufacturers started to buy cotton
from North America. The problem they faced was how to spin it effectively to
meet the demands.
a. James Hagreaves (1720-1778) was the first to tackle this challenge with
an invention called the spinning jenny. It was hand operated, but
mechanized spinning cotton.
Image 1A41i01: Spinning Jenny
b. Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) to spinning to a new level when he
developed the water frame.
c. Across the Atlantic, Eli Whitney's (1765-1825) "Cotton Engine" (1793)
made cotton a viable commodity. It accelerated the removal of seeds.
Image 1A41i02: Cotton Engine
3. This mechanization led to the first factories, textile factories. There still was
one problem looming that would eventually be resolved, energy. James Watt
(1736-1819) tackled this problem by developing an effective steam engine.
a. It was applied to existing industries such as the textile industry.
b. It revolutionized transportation.
B. The Implications for North America
1. The Cotton Engine made cotton as a commodity viable.
a. The end result was that by 1840 the American South produced about
60% of the world's cotton supply and it accounted for about 2/3s of
American exports.
2. Innovations in transportation also contributed to economic growth.
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a. Forms of water transportation were developed as exemplified by the
building of the Erie Canal (1818-1825). By 1840, over 3,300 miles of
canals had been built.
Image 1A41i03: Erie Canal
b. Steamboats began to appear after Robert Fulton (1765-1815)
demonstrated the benefits of having a boat propelled by steam engine. By
1855 there were 727 in service.
Image 1A41i04: Steamboat
c. Important railroads began to appear by about 1830. By 1840 over 3,000
miles of track had been placed down.
Image 1A41i05: Railroad
3. Factories were constructed and some had a new "spin" to them. Francis Cabot
Lowell established in 1814 a textile factory at Waltham (Massachusetts) that both
worked cotton and manufactured cloth.
Image 1A41i06/07: Textile Factory
C. The Implications
1. "We could bring the whole world to our feet." "Cotton is King" Slavery - Native Americans
2. Transportation revolution
III. The Political Revolution of 1800
A. Thomas Jefferson's Administration (1801-1809) and Agrarian Republicanism
1. Thomas Jefferson's election, referred to the Revolution of 1800, signaled a
transition from Federalist leadership to a Democratic-Republican one. For
Jefferson, this was an opportunity to commit the United States to republican
principles, to limit the role of government, to curve its expenses, and to promote
westward expansion.
a. Historians believe that Jefferson's years as ambassador to France had a
profound impact on his political views. How? While in Europe, he
witnessed the extremes of wealth and poverty. He was also exposed to
England’s factory system. Finally, Thomas Malthus's Essay on the
Principle of Population (1798) also impacted Jefferson.
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Image 1A41i08: Poverty
b. Jefferson believed that the Federalist program would move the United
States toward the same conditions.
Image 1A41i09: Farmer
c. To counter this, Jefferson envisioned an expanding agrarian republic.
The yeoman farmer becoming a landowner would allow them to earn their
living from the soil and be dependent on no one.
2. Under Jefferson's administration the US doubled in size. This was
accomplished through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Louisiana was originally
control by the Spanish. In 1800 the Spanish ceded control of Louisiana to the
French. Jefferson's worst fears became reality as New Orleans port was closed to
American shippers. However, it was Napoleon's failure to regain control of Haiti
that made the purchase of Louisiana possible. A frustrated Napoleon is said to
have exclaimed, "Damn sugar, damn colonies, damn coffee." Without Haiti,
Frances's hope for an American Empire came to an end.
a. James Monroe (1758-1831) was sent to France with instructions to offer
$2 million for New Orleans and part of the Gulf Coast.
b. What the American negotiators got was Louisiana (830,000 sq. miles)
for $15 million.
Map 1A41m01
c. Jefferson wanted detailed information about new acquisition. There was
hope for a convenient waterway to the Pacific. Jefferson secured funding
from Congress for an expedition to chart unknown land. Meriwether
Lewis and William Clarke in 1803 headed this expedition. It reached the
Pacific coast in 1805 and returned in with details in 1806. It fueled transMississippi expansion.
3. Jefferson's first major political battle was against the federal courts. When he
took office, not one single federal judge was a Republican. The bone of
contention was the Judiciary Act of 1801. Congress passed it five days before
Adams's term as president ended. It created 16 new federal judgeships all
awarded to Federalists by Adams. It also reduced the number of US Supreme
Court justices beginning with the next vacancy.
a. Adams appointed William Marbury (midnight judges) to one of the
federal courts, but he had not received his papers by the time Jefferson
took office. Jefferson instructed the new Secretary of State, James
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Madison, not to issue them. Marbury asked the court to issue a Writ of
Mandamus (we command).
Image 1A41i11: William Marbury
b. In 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall issued his decision in Marbury v.
Madison. The court could not issue the Writ Mandamus because it was not
stated in the Constitution that it had the authority to do so.
Image 1A41i12: John Marshall
c. This case set precedent for the Supreme Court to rule on the
constitutionality of legislative acts without formal amendment. It also
established the Court's right to judicial review. The Court was given
power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional if not in accordance
with the Constitution. It also gave it the right to review all cases in the US
to determine their constitutionality.
IV. The War of 1812
A. The Course of Neutrality is Challenged
1. From 1803 to 1814 Napoleon was on the move in Europe.
Image 1A41i13: Napoleon
Map 1A41m02
a. The US tried to maintain a course of neutrality, although it became
increasingly difficult.
b. Between 1803-1811, the British had impressed 6,000 American sailors.
c. Fueling matters even further was the Leopard (British man-o-war) Chesapeake (Us frigate) confrontation that saw the death of 3 American
sailors.
2. Jefferson responded with the Embargo Act 1807. It imposed an embargo on all
foreign trade. Jefferson hoped it would give, ". . . time to the belligerent powers to
revise their unjust proceedings and listen to the dictates of justice, of interest and
reputation, which equally urge the correction of their wrongs, has availed our
country for the only honorable expedient for avoiding war. . . ."
3. Unfortunately, it did not accomplish Jefferson's goals in the end. The Act
harmed the American economy more than that of the British and French.
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B. The Administration of James Madison (1809-1817)
1. The burden of office weighed heavily on Jefferson. So much that Jefferson
wrote, "Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall
on shacking the shackles of power." Matters would be no easier for Jefferson's
successor, James Madison. When Madison took office, John Adams wrote,
"Jefferson expired and James Madison came to Life last night . . . . I pity poor
Madison. He comes to the helm in such a storm . . . ."
Image 1A41i14: James Madison
2. In 1809, Congress replaced the failed Embargo Act with the Non-Intercourse
Act. It specified that foreign trade would once again be conducted except with
England and France. In 1810, Napoleon agreed to cease seizing American ships
and cargoe. Madison warned Britain should follow example. Although England
soon did, it was too late as the US declared war on England in 1812.
a. War was declared on England in large part to defend Americans and
American interests at sea. But also because many believed that the British
fueled the Native American conflict in the frontier.
b. Treaty of Ghent (1814) resolved little other than Britain's agreement to
evacuate the West.
C. Native Americans after the War of 1812
1. Tecumsah (Shawnee military leader) organized Native American resistance to
western expansion in the Trans-Appalachian region. By 1811, this movement had
made its presence felt in Indiana and Michigan. Tecumseh was even able to
secure an alliance with the British. His death in 1813, and the end of the War of
1812, brought an end to this movement.
Image 1A41i15: Tecumsah
2. The end of the war brought debate as to what policy the US should implement
with regards to Native American treatment. During Jefferson's administration, two
policies were already being debated. One favored assimilation, the other removal.
3. Jefferson had pushed for removal as a way of ensuring the
survival of Native American culture. James Monroe also promoted
removal policy as he sought to settle all eastern Native Americans
in western lands. It would be under Andrew Jackson, as we will
see later, that removal policy reached a new apex.
V. 1818 and 1819: The Watershed of America
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A. The Presidency of James Monroe (1817-1825)
1. The years 1818 and 1819 provided defining moments in US history. For many
historians, these years brought an end of an era the opening of a new one.
a. The Revolutionary generation was almost gone (10% left), the nation
was experiencing unprecedented geographic expansion, and economic
growth seemed limitless.
b. These years also witnessed the rise of political divisions and sectional
rivalries that as one historian has noted, "would dominate the country's
politics for the next forty years."
2. Postwar America experienced a period of relative tranquility.
a. Historians define the period from about 1815 to 1824 as the Era of
Good Feelings.
b. The nation was being pulled back together after the War of 1812. It also
referred to a period of economic prosperity.
c. There was a new westward surge as population increased from 5.3
million to 9.6 million.
d. Finally, James Monroe's presidency continued the "dynasty" of
Democratic Republican.
B. Geographic Expansion and Crisis
1. Monroe's administration secured the Transcontinental Treaty 1819 (AdamsOnis).
a. This treaty secured for the US Florida and got Spain to relinquish claims
to Louisiana and Oregon territories. In return, the US would relinquish any
claims made on Texas. Negotiations for this treaty were aided by Spain's
struggle with independence movements in its empire.
b. The Land Act of 1820 promoted western expansion as land sold at
$1.25 per acre with a minimum purchase of 80 acres.
2. In 1819, a crisis emerged that was, according to Jefferson, like "a fireball in the
night." This crisis was fueled by Missouri's application for statehood. What was at
stake was the status of slavery west of the Mississippi. In 1819, Missouri applied
for statehood as a slave state and the crisis was ignited.
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a. At stake were moral issues, property issues, and sectional balance. For
Northerners, allowing Missouri to enter as a slave state would tip the
balance in the Senate (11-11). For Southerners, they believed that
Congress did not have the power to limit slavery (their property).
b. After much heated debate, a compromise was reached in 1820. It was
agreed that Missouri would enter as a slave state. But Maine, which
applied for statehood during the debates, would enter as a free state. It also
established the 36-30 line. Slavery was not go above it.
c. John Quincy Adams referred to the Missouri Crisis as the "title page to
a great tragic volume."
3. In 1819, an economic crisis also hit the US.
C. The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
1. America's most immediate neighbor, Spanish American, was filled with
instability. It was rumored that Spain had plans for regaining its lost colonies to
independence movements. Adding further concerns, Russia claimed control of the
entire Pacific Coast from Alaska to Oregon.
2. Spurred by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Monroe made a unilateral
declaration of American policy in the "New World." On December 2, 1823 he
declared in a message to Congress that, "the American continents . . . are
henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any
European power."
3. The rights and interests of the US in the Western Hemisphere had now been
defined.