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SPRING 2012 – BROOKLYN COLLEGE
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The White House in 1814
HISTORY 3401 - AMERICA TO
1877
BRENDAN O’MALLEY, INSTRUCTOR
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Jeffersonian Vision
Thomas Jefferson
by Rembrandt Peale (1800)
Looking East from Denny Hill
by Ralph Earl (1800)
Scene of a large family farm in
Leicester, Massachusetts.
From the collection of the
Worcester Art Museum.
As Jefferson and his followers assumed control of the national government in 1801,they believed
their vision of a nation of sturdy independent farmers, free from industrialization and big cities,
had triumphed. They celebrated localism, republican simplicity, and restrained government.
But they quickly found out that this vision could not be sustained. On some occasions, even
Jefferson contradicted it by exercising strong national authority and encouraging commercial
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Educational and Literary Nationalism
 Creating a Virtuous Citizenry: Republicans believed that for people to become citizens who
engaged in the political process, they needed to be well educated and informed.
 No National System of Public Schools: Ideally, leaders wanted to create a system of free
public schools for all free male children, but this was not yet possible. Jefferson wanted
government control of schools so that they would be secular (not religious).
 Private Schools: Education mostly remained in the hands of private institutions, and only those
who could pay tuition had access to it. In the South and Mid-Atlantic States, religious groups ran
most schools. In New England, secular private academies arose that served the children of the
elites (most were based on the Phillips’s family academy in Andover, Mass.). Some charitable
education institutions were available to the poor, but these were often inferior in quality to those
schools that catered to the wealthy. Some public schools existed, but these were highly localized.
 Education of Native Americans: Jefferson and his followers believed Indians to be “noble
savages” who could be brought into white society through education. Missionary schools
proliferated in many Native American areas, although there was considerable resistance to them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism:
Educational and Literary
Nationalism
Women’s Education: The concept
of “Republican motherhood” began
to catch on in the 1780s, which put
forth the idea that women had to be
educated in order to raise well
informed citizen sons. This idea led
to the creation of several female
academies, and also led
Massachusetts to require that its
growing public school system serve
both males and females. Several
states, but not all, followed this
example.
James Peale, The Artist and His Family
(1795)
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Educational and Literary
Nationalism
Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820): This elite Massachusetts writer was an early
advocate of women’s education, publishing an essay, “On the Equality of the
Sexes,” in 1790, which argues that women are perceived as inferior to men
because they haven’t been given the same access to education, but given that
chance, would be men’s intellectual equals:
“Are we [women] deficient in reason?We can only reason from what we know, and if an
opportunity of acquiring knowledge hath been denied us, the inferiority of our sex
cannot fairly be deduced from thence.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Educational and Literary Nationalism
Portrait of Mrs. John Stevens
(Judith Sargent Murray)
by John Singleton Copley
(1770-1772)
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Educational and Literary
Nationalism
Higher Education: The number
of institutions of higher learning
expanded from nine at the time
of the Revolution to twenty-two
in 1800. Yet none was truly
public, even those that were
founded by charter of a state
legislature. All relied on tuition
fees and private contributions.
Scarcely one in a thousand white
men went to college, and they
were almost exclusively from
wealthy families.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Medicine and Science
 First American Medical School: The first medical school was founded
at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1765. But most doctors still
trained by working with an established practitioner.
 Lack of Medical Knowledge: Learning anatomy was made difficult
because of a strong public antipathy to the dissection of cadavers. Public
authorities had almost no knowledge of how to stop the spread of epidemic
disease, like during the Yellow Fever Epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793, which
killed thousands. Doctors used useless or dangerous methods that often
harmed patients, like bleeding, as was done in the case of George Washington’s
death in 1799 from a seemingly minor throat infection.
 Decline of Midwifery: In the early nineteenth century, physicians began
to handle the delivery of infants, a job that had typically been handled by
midwives in earlier years. Poorer women often could not afford the higher fees
charged by physicians.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Cultural
Aspirations of the New Nation
 Rivaling Europe: Americans dreamed about
the United States equaling or surpassing the
cultural achievements of Europe. A Poem, on
the Rising Glory of America (1772) predicted
that America would become the “seat of
empire” and “final stage of civilization.”
 Noah Webster (1758-1843): This nationalist
lawyer, politician, educator, and author of
spelling books and dictionaries put forth that
there should be a standard American English,
and that every schoolboy should be inculcated
with nationalist values, knowing the history of
his country’s achievements.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism:
Cultural Aspirations of the
New Nation
Toward an American Literature:
Several writers began to advocate
for a distinctively American
literature, separate from European
traditions. Charles Brockden Brown
of Philadelphia was on such writer,
but his obsession with horror and
deviance kept him from finding a
wide audience. Much more
successful was Washington Irving of
New York, who weaved popular
tales of American rustics like
Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle.
Portrait of Washington Irving
by John Wesley Jarvis (1809)
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Religion and Revivalism
 Enlightenment Values:With the rise of Enlighten ideas about
human reason and individual liberty, traditional church attendance
declined greatly in the 1790s, with only a small portion of Americans
regularly attending services. Traditional ministers bemoaned this
decline, and publicly warned about decaying public morals and the rise
of “religious rationalism.”
 Deism: This religious doctrine originated among Enlightenment
thinkers in France, and attracted educated Americans like Jefferson and
Franklin, and by 1800 was reaching a wider audience. Deists
acknowledged God’s existence, but believed that He was a
“watchmaker” who retreated from human affairs once he set the
mechanism of the universe into motion.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Religion and Revivalism
 Unitarianism and Universalism: The first Unitarian
congregation in America was founded in Boston in 1784. Unitarians
believe that Jesus was a great prophet, but not a part of God Himself.
They did not believe in the Holy Trinity. The first Universalist church in
America was founded in Boston in 1793. Like the Unitarians, they do
not necessarily believe that Jesus was divine, but that he was the
spiritual leader of all humankind. Universalists also have a less critical
position toward non-Christians compared to other Christian
denominations. Both rejected the Calvinist doctrine of predestination,
and Universalism in particular rejected the idea of eternal damnation.
This was part of the move toward “religious rationalism.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Religion and Revivalism
 The Second Great Awakening: This movement of religious
revivalism broke out in 1801. Conservative theologians were looking for
a way to fight declining religious piety. Presbyterians sent missionaries
out to the western fringes of white settlement, while Methodists sent
itinerant preachers throughout the nation, and became the fastestgrowing denomination. Baptists did the same, and were particularly
successful in the South. By 1800, the combined energies of these groups
fueled the first great revival since the First Great Awakening sixty years
before.
 Cane Ridge: At this location in northeast Kentucky, roughly 25,000
people gathered in the summer of 1801 for the first “camp meeting,” an
open-air revival that lasted several days, with people setting up tents.
Such meetings became common practice over the coming decades.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Religion and Revivalism
 Message of the Second Great Awakening: It called for readmitting
God and Christ into people’s daily lives, greater religious piety, and the
rejection of religious rationalism and skepticism.Yet it did not restore
the Calvinist beliefs of the past; people no longer believed in
predestination, but that their own individual faith and personal conduct
could affect their future salvation.
 New Role for Women: Female converts to these new enthusiastic
forms of religion greatly outnumbered males. One theory is that as
women entered the increasingly industrialized workplace, they felt
isolated and were more ready to accept a new form of connection and
community. It also gave them new roles in charitable and missionary
work, ministering to the poor and orphans.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Rise of Cultural Nationalism: Religion and Revivalism
 Revivalism among Native Americans: Presbyterian and Baptist
missionaries succeeded in converting many tribe members in the South.
 Handsome Lake (1735-1815): The most important revivalist among
Indians was a Seneca who embraced Christianity after battling
alcoholism. He advocated a return to traditional Indian ways, rejecting
European individualism and calling for the old communal way of Indian
life. He encouraged Indians to reject whiskey, gambling, and other
harmful practices derived from white society. At the same time, he
encouraged Indian men to take up sedentary agriculture and stop
hunting, while encouraging women—who traditionally did agricultural
tasks—to settle into more domestic roles.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Stirrings of Industrialism:
Technology in America
 No Industrial Revolution Yet: In
the first two decades of the nineteenth
century, industrialization comparable to
what was going on in Great Britain was
still far off in the United States.
Spinning loom on display at the Slater Mill Museum
 Importations: Great Britain passed laws preventing industrial technologies from
being imported, and took measures to prevent those with the knowledge of how to
build key machines from leaving. Nonetheless, some did trickle in. Samuel Slater
(1768-1835) left England for New York in 1789, having memorized plans of cotton
spinning machinery. He designed a cotton mill on the British design for Rhode Island
merchant Moses Brown (1738-1836) in 1790 (Brown was a co-founder of Brown
University).
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Stirrings of Industrialism
Technology in America: The Cotton Gin
• Eli Whitney (1765-1825): received a patent for a machine called the cotton gin in
1794. While not a new idea, Whitney’s design almost overnight made growing
short-staple cotton profitable.
• Long-Staple Cotton: This could only be grown in a very specific maritime
climate, such as on the Sea Islands along the shore of South Carolina and Georgia. It
was profitable since the seeds could be cleaned from it easily.
• Short-Staple Cotton: This was heartier than long-staple cotton and could be
grown inland, but had not been profitable since it took an extraordinary amount of
labor to remove the seeds. With the cotton gin, could clean as much cotton in a few
hours as a large group of workers could do by hand in a whole day (about 55
pounds).
• Broader Impact: Within a decade, the national production of cotton increased
eightfold. Slavery, which seemed to be dying out with the decline of tobacco, was
given new life. This increase also encouraged the development of textile mills in
New England.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Stirrings of Industrialism
Technology in America: Interchangeable Parts
• Whitney’s Other Contribution: Whitney also helped to introduce the
idea of interchangeable parts in the United States. He designed machine
tools that could produce identical parts for machines and firearms, making
it much easier to replace parts. (Previously, such items had been produced
one at a time, and had unique parts). The U.S. Army contracted Whitney to
produce 1,000 muskets, the parts for which were required to be
interchangeable.
• Significance of Interchangeability: Having interchangeable parts was
important in a country in which people had to travel great distances over
poor roads to get specialized services needed to repair certain items.
Having interchangeable parts available made it possible for a farmer, for
example, to fix a machine on his own. The millwork remained fairly crude,
so not all parts were truly interchangeable.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Stirrings of Industrialism
Technology in America:
Transportation Innovations
• Transportation Limits and Market Development: Since transportation was so
difficult in the early republic, there was no truly national market. Goods and services
tended to be produced and offered locally. No domestic market was big enough to
justify large-scale production.
• The Steamboat: England had been the leader in steam power, but the U.S. began to
make advances in the early 1800s. Inventor Robert Fulton (1765-1815) and promoter
Robert Livingston (1746-1813) created a viable steamboat service between New York
City in Albany in 1807, using an English-built steam engine. Experiments had been
going on since the 1780s and 1790s, but none were reliable for regular service.
• The “Turnpike Era”: In the 1790s, a slew of turnpikes were built with hard-packed,
crushed-stone surfaces, including a 60-mile road between Philadelphia and Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. These toll roads were difficult to construct, and horse-drawn vehicles
had difficulty traversing them when they had an incline of more than five degrees.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Country and City
 Overwhelmingly Rural: In 1800, only 3 percent of Americans
lived in towns of more than 8,000.
 Cities Still Small: Philadelphia at 70,000 and New York at 60,000
were the nation’s biggest, but they could not compare to London
(almost a million) and Paris (roughly 550,000). Nonetheless, they
were becoming major hubs of commerce.
 Urban Affluence: Cities produced substantial affluence, which
drove people to display their refinement and taste in their homes and
their dress. Affluent urban dwellers also sought distractions like
theater-going, horse-racing, music, dance, and other public
entertainments.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Jefferson the President
“A Revolution?”: After Jefferson was
elected in 1800, he privately bragged that a
revolution had occurred. But ultimately,
there were more continuities between
Jefferson’s administration and the
Federalists ones before him than he would
care to admit. The overheated words of the
campaign trail cooled considerably when
Jefferson took office. And Jefferson himself
would on occasion wield federal power in a
way that was more aggressive than the
Federalists.
Thomas Jefferson in 1800 as painted by
Rembrandt Peale
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Federal City and the People’s President
 The Design of Pierre L’Enfant: With wide thoroughfares and stately
buildings, Pierre L’Enfant (1754-1825) planned out a capital with
echoes of Paris. Born in France, L’Enfant served as a military engineer
during the American Revolution, serving directly under Washington for
the latter part of the conflict. His imperial design seemed ill-suited for
the Republican simplicity advocated by the new president.
 The Reality of D.C.: For most of the nineteenth century, the city
remained barely more than a straggling village located adjacent a humid
swamp. Its population increased steadily from 3,200 in 1800, but it
never came close to rivaling New York or Philadelphia. Congressmen did
not view it as a home, but as a place to visit while Congress was in
session.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian
Era
L’Enfant/Ellicott Map of
Washington, 1792
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
“A View of the Capitol of Washington,” by William Birch, ca. 1800
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Jefferson the President
 Humble Manner: Despite being a wealthy planter, Jefferson
walked back and forth to his inauguration and often did not both to
dress up, much to the disapproval of the British ambassador.
 Many Accomplishments: Aside from being a politician and
diplomat, he was also an architect, educator, inventor, farmer, and
philosopher-scientist, and author.
 Political Style: Jefferson was exceedingly shrewd politician, using
his appointment powers in his first term to fill the federal
government with Republicans. He soundly beat his Federalist
opponent , Charles C. Pinckney, in 1804.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Dollars and Ships
 “Needless Extravagance”: The Republicans thought that the
Federalists had spent needlessly in the 1790s, almost tripling the
national debt. The public debt had grown, as Hamilton hoped, and
and a set of internal taxes had been created, such as the “Whiskey
Tax.” Jefferson wished to reverse these trends.
 Limiting the Federal Government: By 1802, Jefferson was able
to eliminate all internal taxes, leaving the sale of Western lands and
customs duties as the only source of federal revenue. Treasury
Secretary Albert Gallatin (1761-1849) was able to slash federal
spending, and cut he national debt in half (from $83 to $45 million).
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Dollars and Ships
 Reducing the Military: Jefferson reduced the tiny standing army of 4,000 to
2,500, and reduced the navy from 25 ships to 7. But he was not a pacifist; he helped
to found the U.S. military academy at West Point in 1802 and started to build up the
navy again when troubled started overseas.
 Barbary Coast War: This conflict, from
1801 to 1805, led Jefferson to construct
more ships. Jefferson refused to pay the
tribute that had been paid to the Barbary
States (Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, and
Algiers) in the 1780s and 1790s to prevent
piracy directed at American ships. He
built up American naval forces and
ultimately beat the Barbary states, ending
tribute payments, but having to pay a
significant ransom to get American
Burning of the U.S.S. Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor, 1804.
prisoners released.
Americans burned their own ship after it was captured.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Conflict with the Courts
 Federalist Control of the Courts: Republicans controlled the executive and legislative
branches, but the judiciary remained largely under control of Federalist
judges who had been appointed by the outgoing Adams in 1801.
 Marbury vs. Madison: William Marbury, one of Adam’s “midnight appointments,” had been
made a justice of the peace in Washington, D.C. His commission had been signed and sealed,
but when Jefferson took office, his Secretary of State, James Madison, refuse to deliver the
commission. In this 1803 Supreme Court decision, it was decide that Marbury had a right to
his commission, a relatively small matter.
 Greater Importance: The decision determined that the Supreme Court had no authority to
order the Secretary of State to deliver the paperwork because the Judiciary Act of 1789, in
which Congress gave the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over such matters, was
unconstitutional. A part of the Act awarded the Court powers not specifically prescribed in the
Constitution, and according to the decision, the legislative branch did not have the right to
expand the judiciary’s powers beyond what is laid out in the Constitution. This decision
established the Supreme Court's right of judicial review over legislation. By seemingly
undermining its powers, it greatly expanded them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Conflict with the Courts
 John Marshall (1755-1835): Marshall was appointed
Chief Justice by Adams in 1801, and was on the bench for
Marbury decision and all of the significant decision for the
next several decades (he remained Chief Justice until his
death in 1835). This Federalist lawyer from Virginia had
served as Adams’s Secretary of State. Through a series of
Republican presidents, Marshall battled to give the
national government strength and coherence. He thus
established the judiciary as a co-equal branch of
government with the legislative and executive.
John Marshall
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Doubling the National Domain
 Jefferson and Napoleon: In 1801, the year that
Jefferson became president, Napoleon became
France’s leader with the title of consul. The
following year, he gave himself the title of
emperor. He and Jefferson had little in common
in style or personality, but they ended up helping
each other out considerably in international
politics. Jefferson was a dedicated Francophile.
 Napoleon’s North American Dream: Napoleon wanted to regain the land
west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rockies. In a secret agreement with
Spain, the Treaty of Ildefonso of 1800, Napoleon regained the Louisiana
Territory, which encompassed this area, and which Napoleon hoped to become
the heart of the French Empire in North America.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Doubling the National Domain
 Jefferson’s Response: Jefferson was at first unaware of these designs, and pursued
pro-French policies. But as he discovered Napoleon’s plans, he changed his direction.
Particularly disturbing to him was France’s control of New Orleans. Worse still, was in
1802 when the Spanish intendant of the city (the French had yet to take formal control)
disallowed the practice of American boats unloading cargo to be loaded on to sea-going
vessels, even though this right had been guaranteed by the Pinckney Treaty of 1795.
 Napoleon’s Offer: Jefferson instructed the American diplomat in Paris, Robert
Livingston, to purchase New Orleans, but Livingston went ahead and proposed the
purchase of all of the Louisiana Territory. Jefferson intimated military force might be
used if it didn’t go through. Napoleon quickly made an offer because his plans for a
North American empire had gone awry: his force in the Caribbean had been wiped out
by yellow fever, and reinforcements had been stuck in a frozen Dutch harbor in the
winter of 1802-1803. Furthermore, he was gearing up for more war in Europe. He did
not have the resources for a North American empire.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Doubling the National Domain
 The Louisiana Purchase: After haggling over the price, Livingston
and James Monroe, who Jefferson had sent to Paris to help with the
negotiations, agreed to pay 80 millions francs ($15 million), signing the
contract on April 30, 1803. The French retained some commercial rights
in the territory.
 Jefferson’s Dilemma: Jefferson was both pleased and embarrassed by
the treaty. Jefferson’s problem was that the Constitution said nothing
about purchasing new territory, but his advisers believed that the treatysigning powers covered the purchase.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Doubling the National Domain
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Doubling the National Domain
 Lewis and Clark: In 1803, Jefferson
helped to plan an expedition that would cross
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
the continent, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He named Meriwether
Lewis (1774-1809), a veteran Indian fighter with extensive wilderness
experience as the leader, and William Clark (1770-1838), who had similar
experience, as his colleague. They started their journey by traveling up the
Missouri River from St. Louis in the spring of 1804. They crossed the Rockies and
traveled the Snake and Columbia Rivers to reach the Pacific coast, all with the help
of Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman who served as an interpreter. They returned to St.
Louis in 1806 to great fanfare.
 Lt. Zebulon Pike (1779-1813): Pike led an 1805 expedition that set out to
explore the upper Mississippi, which then went southward into the mountainous
region that is now Colorado. Pike’s impressions falsely led people to believe that
much of the interior was not arable, calling it the “Great American Desert.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Burr Conspiracy
 Jefferson’s 1804 Reelection: The president’s sound beating of the Federalist
candidate seemed to affirm that most of the nation approved of the new
purchase of territory.
 The Essex Junto: The New England Federalists raged against the purchase,
realizing that it would decrease their region’s power. The New Englanders
wanted to secede from the Union to create a “Northern Confederacy,” but
realized that it would need New York and New Jersey to succeed. New York
Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, refused to join the secession
movement.
 Hamilton and Burr: The New Englanders than turned to Hamilton’s
greatest New York rival, Aaron Burr, who accepted the secession scheme. Burr
also became the Federalist candidate for New York governor in 1804. When
Burr lost the election, he blamed Hamilton’s campaigning against him, and
challenged him to a duel. In July 1804, they met in a field in Weehawken and
Burr mortally wounded Hamilton.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Burr Conspiracy
 The Conspiracy: Burr fled to the West to escape a murder indictment when
Hamilton died of his wounds back in Manhattan the next day. Out west,
Louisiana Territory Governor James Wilkinson and Burr began to scheme about
an expedition to capture Mexico from the Spanish. But rumors also circulate
that Burr and Wilkinson wanted to break the Southwest away from the union
and create an empire ruled by Burr.
 Jefferson’s Response: Jefferson chose to believe the rumors, and his
suspicions were strengthened when Burr and his men led an armed party in
boats headed down the Ohio River, and people believed he would soon attack
New Orleans. Jefferson ordered him arrested, and he was brought to trial in
Richmond, Virginia. Unfortunately for Jefferson, Chief Justice Marshall limited
the evidence the government could use, thus forcing Burr’s acquittal.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Expansion and War
 Conflict on the Seas: The French fleet was virtually destroyed by the British
at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, so Napoleon tried another approach to hurt
his enemy: block all European ports to British trade under what he dubbed the
“Continental System.” Britain responded with a blockade of all French shipping.
 America’s Predicament: The United States had developed a large merchant
marine that did a substantial volume of trade between the West Indies and Great
Britain, and was essential to the American economy. But American ships were
caught between the British blockade and Napoleon’s decree: if they directly to
the Continent, they faced the British blockade, and if they stopped in Britain,
they faced Napoleon’s decree.
 Impressment: The British were seen as the worse offenders since they had the
powerful navy and stopped American ships frequently on the high seas. What
was worse is they would often “impress” American sailors, with the British
claiming that many were deserters from the British Navy (which was accurate).
The working conditions in the British Navy were terrible.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Expansion and War
 Chesapeake-Leopard Incident: The British were even more aggressive in the
summer of 1807, when off of Norfolk, Virginia, the British warship Leopard hailed
the American naval frigate Chesapeake. The American ship’s captain refused the British
request to search the ship for deserters, so the Leopard opened fire, forcing the
Chesapeake to surrender, and a search party dragged four Americans sailors off. News
of the incident caused a furor in the U.S., and Jefferson called all American warships
back to port to prevent further incidents. He asked his minister to Britain, James
Monroe, to demand that the British stop impressment, but it fell on deaf ears.
 Jefferson’s Embargo: In late 1807, Jefferson convinced Congress to pass an
embargo act, which forbid any U.S. ship from leaving for any port in the world. The
law was evaded widely, but it suppressed enough trade to cause a deep economic
depression in the U.S. Merchants and shipowners in the Northeast—mostly die-hard
Federalists—were the hardest hit. Jefferson called this hard-line policy that
attempted to avoid war “peaceful coercion.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Expansion and War
 Election of 1808: James Madison won the race that occurred
in the middle of the depression, but the Federalist candidate,
Charles Pinckney, did much better than he had done in 1804.
 Jefferson’s Embargo: In late 1807, Jefferson convinced
Congress to pass an embargo act, which forbade any U.S. ship
from leaving for any port in the world. The law was evaded widely, but it suppressed
enough trade to cause a deep economic depression in the U.S. Merchants and shipowners in the Northeast—mostly die-hard Federalists—were the hardest hit.
 Non-Intercourse Acts: Just as Jefferson was getting ready to leave office in 1809,
Congress passed this act that reopened trade with all nations except Britain and
France for one year. Macon’s Bill No. 2, which was passed a year later, reopened
trade with France and England, but gave the president the authority to halt
commerce with either if neutral shipping rights were violated. Napoleon announced
that France would no longer interfere with American shipping, and Madison
announced that a new embargo would go in effect against Britain alone in 1811 if
Britain continued its blockade. But this measure would not prevent war.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The “Indian Problem” and the British
 Conflict with Settlers: White settlers continued to dislodge Indians
ruthlessly, so the Indians once again looked to Britain for help, while the British
wanted to maintain good relations with the Indians to preserve the lucrative fur
trade that flowed through their Canadian possessions.
 William Henry Harrison (1873-1841): This Virginia-born
Indian fighter had settled in the Northwest Territory, and
represented it as a Congressional delegate in 1799. He pushed
for a land law that made it easier for whites to obtain land from
the public domain, and then was appointed governor of the
Indiana Territory by Jefferson in 1801. Harrison was instructed
to implement Jefferson’s policy: Indians either could stay if
they chose to assimilate into white society, or they needed to
migrate West of the Mississippi. In either case, they had to give up claims to
tribal lands in the Northwest.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The “Indian Problem” and the British
 Jefferson’s Assimilation Problem: Jefferson considered his
assimilation offer a benign alternative to ongoing conflict between
Indians and settlers. But to the tribes, it did not seem benign,
particularly the way that the Harrison carried it out, using threats,
bribes, trickery, etc. In the Southwest, white Americans were
seizing lands in Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. At the same
time, after the Chesapeake incident, the British started to renew ties
with the Indians to prepare for a coming war.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The “Indian Problem” and the
British
 The Prophet: Two remarkable Indian leaders
emerged at this time who further complicated
Madison’s “Indian Problem”: Tenskwatawa, known as
“The Prophet,” and his brother, Tecumseh, meaning
“Shooting Star.” Like Handsome Lake, Tenskwatawa
underwent a spiritual reawakening, and began
preaching about the evils of white society. His
headquarters, called Prophetstown, was at the
meeting of Tippecanoe Creek and the Wabash River
in what is now Indiana.
Tenskwatawa
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The “Indian Problem” and the
British
 Tecumseh: This Shawnee chief understood
resistance against the Americans would be
futile unless all Indian tribes worked together
against them, and began organizing a military
confederacy to bring together all tribes of the
Mississippi Valley. He aimed to reclaim the
whole Northwest and push back the frontier
of white settlement to the Ohio River. He argued
Tecumseh
that the treaties that Harrison made with individual tribes were not valid
because the lands belonged to all of the tribes. He left Prophetstown in
1811 on his mission to unify the tribes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The “Indian Problem” and the British
 Harrison Strikes: When Tecumseh left Prophetstown in 1811,
Harrison moved in with 1,000 men and provoked a battle on November
7th. Harrison’s forces suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Tippecanoe,
but they managed to burn Prophetstown to the ground. Tecumseh
returned to find the Confederacy in disarray and the followers of the
two brothers greatly disillusioned. But British agents continued to
foment agitation, and Tecumseh’s warriors raided white settlements
during the War of 1812. Harrison began to see the influence of the
British in Canada as increasingly dangerous.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Florida and War Fever
 Florida: White frontiersman in the south increasingly looked toward the
acquisition of Florida. In 1810, American settlers seized West Florida (part
of Mississippi and Louisiana today) from the Spanish. Madison also wanted
Florida since Spain was Britain’s ally, and war looked imminent.
 “War Hawks”: War fever raged on both northern and southern borders in
1812. Congressmen who represented these interests were known as “War
Hawks.”
 Clay and Calhoun: The most articulate “War Hawks” were Henry Clay of
Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Both were men of great
intellect and ambition. Clay was elected Speaker of the House in 1811, and
he appointed Calhoun to the Foreign Affairs Committee. Both men pushed
for the conquest of Canada. Madison preferred peace, but he was losing
control of Congress, so he agreed to a declaration of war, which passed on
June 18, 1812.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The War of 1812
 Britain Ignores War: Britain was not eager to fight the United States as it had
its hands full with Napoleon. But in 1812, Napoleon launched a disastrous
campaign into Russia. By 1813, the French Empire was on its way to defeat, so
the British could at last turn their attention to the Americans.
 Battles with Tribes: In the summer of 1812, the Americans launched an
invasion of Canada through Detroit, which ended in failure and retreat. The
American Fort Dearborn (later Chicago) also fell to Indian attack. American
naval forces did enjoy several naval victories against the British on the Great
Lakes in 1813, largely due to young naval officer Oliver Hazard Perry, which
made a more successful invasion of Canada possible. In the south, General
Andrew Jackson won the Battle of Horseshoe Bend near the Florida border,
massacring Creek women and children in revenge for many Creek raids on
white settlements.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The War of 1812
 Battles with the British: After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the
British decided to invade the United States. The British sailed up the
Patuxent River from the Chesapeake Bay and landed on the outskirts of
Washington. They entered the capital on August 24, and set the
government into flight. They set fire to the Capitol Building, the White
House, and several other important buildings. They did this in retaliation
for the burning of public buildings in York, the Canadian capital.
 Fort McHenry and Baltimore: The British left Washington and
moved on Baltimore by ship, but Baltimore was defended by Fort
McHenry, which held its ground despite intense bombardment. During
the bombardment, Francis Scott Key composed “The Star-Spangled
Banner,” which would later become the national anthem.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The War of 1812
 Battle of New Orleans: The last
fight of the war, which happened
several weeks after a peace treaty was signed, was a victory led by
General Andrew Jackson. He defeated the British as they
approached New Orleans with a much smaller force. The British
suffered 700 dead, will the Americans, in their carefully prepared
fortifications, only had 8 killed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
Revolt of New England
 The Hartford Convention: The Federalist opposition to the war
was so intense in New England that delegates gathered in Hartford in
December 1814 to discuss the possibility of succession, just as they
had done after the Louisiana Purchase over a decade before.
Moderates against secession prevailed in the vote, but the convention
demonstrated the passion with which many opposed the war.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Jeffersonian Era
The Peace Settlement
 The Treaty of Ghent: Serious peace discussion began when
diplomats met at Ghent, Belgium, in August 1814. The Americans
gave up their demand for the cessation of Canada and a stop to the
practice of impressment. In return, they received some skimpy
territorial acquisitions. More importantly, the treaty led the way for
the normalization of commercial relations.
 Disastrous Results for Indians: Without the British as an ally, the
Indians were in a greatly weakened position to oppose American
expansion.