Download THE FEDERALIST ERA: NATIONALISM TRIUMPHANT

THE FEDERALIST ERA:
NATIONALISM TRIUMPHANT
• Border Problems
– interstate conflicts immediately reasserted
themselves at the end of war
– government faced struggle to assert
control over territory granted by Treaty of
Paris
– Great Britain removed forces from 13
states but refused to surrender its outposts
on frontier in
– southwest, Spanish closed Mississippi
• Foreign Trade
– Americans could trade with European
powers, and a Far Eastern trade
developed
– British import duties reduced American
exports to England and its colonies in
western hemisphere
– British merchants poured inexpensive
manufactured goods into United States
– Congress could not pay the nation’s debts;
states raised taxes to pay their debts; and
the entire economy was cash poor
– states experienced hard times from 1784
to 1786
– retaliatory tariffs on British goods would
have dealt with some of problems, but
Confederation lacked authority to levy
them
– a move to grant Congress power to tax
imports failed when it did not gain
unanimous consent of states
• The Specter of Inflation
– Continental Congress and states paid for
Revolutionary War by printing paper
money, which resulted in inflation
– some states attempted to restore credit by
raising taxes and restricting new issues of
money
– powerful deflationary effect had its greatest
impact on debtors, particularly farmers
– debtors clamored for the printing of more
paper money; some states yielded to
pressure resulting in wild inflation
• Daniel Shays’s “Little Rebellion”
– determined to pay off state debt and
maintain sound currency, Massachusetts
legislature levied heavy taxes resulting
deflation leading to foreclosures
– in 1786, mobs in western part of state
began to stop foreclosures by forcibly
preventing courts from holding sessions
– Daniel Shays led a march on Springfield
preventing state supreme court from
meeting
– state sent troops, and the “rebels” were
routed
• To Philadelphia and the Constitution
– in 1786, delegates from five states met in
Annapolis to discuss common problems
– Alexander Hamilton, who advocated a
strong central government, proposed
calling another convention for following
year to consider constitutional reform
– meeting approved Hamilton’s suggestion,
and all states except Rhode Island sent
delegates to convention in Philadelphia
• The Great Convention
– remarkably talented group of delegates
assembled in Philadelphia to revise Articles
of Confederation
– framers agreed on basic principles
– should be a federal system with
independent state governments and a
national government
– government should be republican in
nature, drawing its authority from the
people
– no group within society should dominate
– framers were suspicious of power and
• The Compromises that Produced the
Constitution
– after voting to establish a national
government,
delegates
faced
two
problems:
what
powers
should
government be granted and who would
control it?
– first question generated relatively little
disagreement
– delegates granted central government right
to levy taxes, to regulate interstate and
foreign commerce, and to raise and
maintain an army and navy
– larger states argued for representation
based on population; smaller states
wanted equal representation for each state
– Great Compromise created a lower house
based on population and an upper house
in which each state had two
representatives
– issue of slavery occasioned another
struggle and another compromise
– three-fifths of slaves were counted for
purposes of taxation and representation,
and Congress was prohibited from
outlawing slave trade until 1808
– creation of a powerful president was most
radical departure from past practice
– only faith in Washington and assumption
that he would be first president enabled
delegates to go so far
– delegates also established a third branch
of government; the judiciary
– founders worried that powerful new
government might be misused, so they
created a system of “checks and balances”
to limit authority of any one branch
• Ratifying the Constitution
– framers provided their handiwork be
ratified by special state conventions
– this gave people a voice and bypassed
state legislatures
– new Constitution would take effect when
nine states ratified it
– Federalists (supporters of the Constitution)
and Antifederalists (their opponents) vied
for support in state conventions
– Federalists were better organized than
their opponents
– the Federalist Papers brilliantly explained
and defended proposed new system
– most states ratified Constitution readily
once its backers agreed to add
amendments guaranteeing civil liberties of
people against encroachments by national
government
• Washington as President
– first electoral college made George
Washington its unanimous choice
– Washington was a strong, firm, dignified,
conscientious, but cautious, president
– he was acutely aware that his actions
would establish precedent, so he
meticulously honored the separation of
powers
– Washington picked his advisors based on
competence and made a practice of calling
his department heads together for general
advice
• Congress Under Way
– first Congress created various departments
and federal judiciary
– it also passed first ten amendments to
Constitution known as the Bill of Rights
• Hamilton and Financial Reform
– one of its first acts, Congress imposed a
tariff on foreign imports
– Congress
delegated
to
Alexander
Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury
– he proved to be farsighted economic
planner
– He suggested that debt be funded at par
and that United States assume remaining
state debts
– Congress went along because it had no
choice
– Southern states stood to lose, since they
– Madison and Jefferson agreed to support
Hamilton’s plan in exchange for latter’s
support for plan to locate permanent
national capital on banks of Potomac
River
– Hamilton also proposed a national bank
– Congress passed a bill creating the bank,
but Washington hesitated to sign it
– Jefferson argued that Constitution did not
specifically authorize Congress to charter
corporations or engage in banking
– Hamilton countered that bank fell within
“implied powers” of Congress
– Washington accepted Hamilton’s
reasoning, and the bank became an
immediate success
– Hamilton hoped to change an agricultural
nation into one with a complex, selfsufficient economy
– toward that end, his Report on
Manufactures issued a bold call for
economic planning
– a majority in Congress would not go so far,
although many of the specific tariffs
Hamilton recommended did become law
• The Ohio Country: A Dark and Bloody
Ground
– western issues continued to plague new
country
– British continued to occupy their forts, and
western Indians resisted settlers
encroaching on their hunting grounds
– Westerners believed that federal
government was ignoring their interests
– Compounding their discontent was
imposition of a federal excise tax on
whiskey
– Resistance to tax was especially intense in
• Revolution in France
– French Revolution and subsequent
European wars affected America
– Alliance of 1778 obligated United States to
defend French possessions in Americas
– Washington issued a proclamation of
neutrality
– France sent Edmond Genet to United
States to seek support
– Genet licensed American vessels as
privateers and commissioned Americans to
mount military expeditions against British
and Spanish possessions in North America
– Washington requested that France recall
Genet
– European war increased demand for
American products, but it also led both
France and Britain to attack American
shipping
– larger British fleet caused more damage
– American resentment flared, but
Washington attempted to negotiate a
settlement with British
• Federalists and Republicans: The Rise
of Political Parties
– Washington enjoyed universal admiration,
and his position as head of government
limited partisanship
– his principal advisors, Jefferson and
Hamilton, disagreed on fundamental
issues, and they became leaders around
whom political parties coalesced
– Jefferson’s opposition to Hamilton’s Bank
of the United States became the first
seriously divisive issue
– disagreement over French Revolution and
American policy toward France widened
split between parties
– Jefferson and the Republicans supported
France; Federalists backed the British
• 1794: Crisis and Resolution
– several events in 1794 brought partisan
conflict to a peak
– attempts to collect whiskey tax in
Pennsylvania resulted in violence
– in July, 7,000 rebels converged on
Pittsburgh and threatened to burn the town
– the sight of federal artillery and liberal
dispensation of whiskey turned them away
– Washington’s large army marched
westward, when he arrived, the rebels had
dispersed
• Jay’s Treaty
– Washington sent John Jay to negotiate
treaty with England
– American indebtedness to England and
fear of Franco-American alliance inclined
British to reach accommodation with
United States
– Jay obtained only one major concession;
British agreed to evacuate posts in west
– they rejected Jay’s attempts to gain
recognition of neutral rights on high seas
– Jay agreed that America would not impose
discriminatory duties on British goods
– America would pay pre-Revolutionary
debts
– terms of treaty raised opposition at home
• 1795: All’s Well That Ends Well
– Washington decided not to repudiate the
Jay Treaty, and Senate ratified it in 1795
– Jay’s Treaty became basis for
regularization of relations with Britain
– Spain, fearing an Anglo-American alliance,
offered United States free navigation of
Mississippi and right of deposit at New
Orleans
– this treaty, known as Pinckney’s Treaty,
also settled disputed boundary between
Spanish Florida and United States
– Treaty of Greenville, signed with Indians
after Battle of Fallen Timbers, opened west
to settlement
– Before decade ended, Kentucky and
Tennessee became states, and Mississippi
and Indiana territories were organized
• Washington’s Farewell
– settlement of western and European
problems did not end partisan conflict at
home
– at end of his second term, Washington
decided to retire and in his farewell
address, he warned against partisanship at
home and permanent alliances abroad
• The Election of 1796
– Washington’s retirement opened gates for
partisan conflict
– Jefferson represented Republicans
– the Federalists considered Hamilton too
controversial, so they nominated John
Adams for president and Thomas Pinckney
for vice-president
– Adams won, but partisan bickering split
Federalist vote for vice-president, so
Jefferson received second highest total
and therefore became vice-president
– Federalists quarrel among themselves, and
Adams was also unable to unite bickering
party
• The XYZ Affair
– in retaliation for Jay Treaty, the French
attacked American shipping
– Adams sent commission to France to
negotiate settlement
– mission collapsed when 3 French agents
(X, Y, and Z) demanded a bribe before
making deal; the commissioners refused
– Adams released the commissioners’ report,
which embarrassed the Republicans
– Congress, controlled by the Federalists,
abrogated the alliance with France and
began preparations for war
– although a declaration of war would have
been immensely popular, Adams contented
himself with a buildup of armed forces
• The Alien and Sedition Acts
– Federalists feared that Republicans would
side with France if war broke out
– refugees from both sides of European war
flocked to United States
– Federalists pushed a series of repressive
measures through Congress in 1798
– Naturalization Act increased residence
requirement for citizenship
– Alien Enemies Act empowered president to
arrest or expel aliens in time of declared
war
– Sedition Act made it a crime “to impede
operation of any law,” to instigate
insurrection, or to publish “false,
scandalous and malicious” criticism of
government officials
– Federalists attempted to silence leading
Republican newspapers
• The Kentucky and Virginia Resolves
– Jefferson did not object to state sedition
laws, but believed that Alien and Sedition
Acts violated First Amendment; he and
Madison drew up resolutions arguing that
laws were unconstitutional
– Jefferson further argued states could
declare a law of Congress unconstitutional
– neither Virginia nor Kentucky tried to
implement these resolves; Jefferson and
Madison were in fact launching Jefferson’s
campaign for president
– Taken aback by American reaction, France
offered negotiations, and Adams accepted
offer
– Adams resisted strong pressure from his
party for war
– Negotiators signed the Convention of
1800, which abrogated Franco-American
treaties of 1778