Download Settling the Nation`s Debts

George Washington’s Presidency
•
April 30, 1789 Washington (Virginia)
is inaugurated (sworn in) as President.
John Adams (Mass.) becomes the VicePresident.
George Washington’s Presidency
•
Washington establishes many
governmental precedents.
PRECEDENT: an example that would
become a standard practice.
I.
Establishment of the
Court System

1.
Federal Judiciary Act of 1789:
passed by Congress.
Created an independent federal court
system with the Supreme Court and
lower level courts.
2.
The U.S. Supreme Court is to have a
Chief Justice and five associate justices.
Currently we have 9 total justices.
3.
Washington appoints John Jay as Chief
Justice.
II. Establishment of the
Presidential Cabinet
A.
B.
The Constitution allows Congress to
create departments to help the
President – the Cabinet.
The first Presidential Cabinet had
four departments:
The First Presidential Cabinet
1.
Secretary of War (Henry Knox)
oversee the nation’s defenses.
The First Presidential Cabinet
2.
Secretary of State (Thomas
Jefferson) oversee the relations
between the U.S. and other countries.
The First Presidential Cabinet
3.
Secretary of the Treasury
(Alexander Hamilton) to manage the
government’s money.
The First Presidential Cabinet
4.
Attorney General (Edmond Randolph)
to advise the government on legal
matters.
Settling the Nation’s Debts
Hamilton’s Plan to Pay Debt
• Federal government should take on all the debt from the war
• Find ways to bring revenue to government
• Establish national bank to control credit and make loans to
government
New taxes
• Tariff of 1789 taxed imported goods
• Excise tax, 1791, taxed the production or sale of liquor, sugar,
snuff, and carriages
• Hamilton compromised with Jefferson and James Madison, who
led the opposition to his economic plan.
• The capital would be moved to the South by 1800. In return,
the southerners would allow Hamilton’s debt bill to pass.
• Washington chose the area; Pierre L’Enfant planned the city.
Debating a National Bank
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Most controversial part of Hamilton’s plan was the national
bank
Two views of the Constitution:
– Strict construction: the government should do only
what the Constitution specifically states it can do
– Loose construction: the government can take
reasonable actions that are not outlined in the
Constitution—as long as those actions are not specifically
prohibited.
Hamilton pointed to the “necessary and proper” clause of the
Constitution when he proposed a national bank.
That was a prime example of loose construction.
Debating a National Bank
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Jefferson was only lukewarm to the Constitution in its final
form.
He favored a smaller national government.
A strict constructionist, he felt that Hamilton’s
interpretation of the “necessary and proper” clause was
going beyond the powers that the Constitution specifically
allowed.
Jefferson opposed a national bank.
Congress passed the bill, and Washington signed it to
charter the first Bank of the United States in February
1791.
First Political Parties Form
• The excise tax led to a violent clash between supporters and
opponents of strong government.
• Settlers in the western frontier felt their interests were ignored
by the government.
• In 1794 farmers on the western Pennsylvania frontier objected
to the excise tax on whiskey. Their livelihoods depended on
turning surplus grain into rye whiskey.
• Uprising known as the Whiskey Rebellion
• Farmers attacked tax collectors and burned barns of people
who gave away the locations of their whiskey stills.
• A crowd of more than 2,000 angry farmers threatened
Pittsburgh.
• There was talk of setting up an independent nation.
First Political Parties Form
• After the farmers ignored Washington’s orders to stop the
rebellion, Washington and Hamilton led a force of some 13,000
or more men into Pennsylvania.
• The farmers scattered in all directions instead of resisting the
militia.
• They were caught and arrested; two were convicted of treason,
but Washington eventually pardoned them.
• Federalists established local associations, gave political offices
and other favors to their supporters.
• Jeffersonian Republicans influenced elections in various states
by working together.
• A two-party system was on its way.
• Jeffersonian Republicans became Democratic Republicans.
Remaining Neutral
• In 1789 the French monarchy was overthrown. Austria,
Prussia, Great Britain, and Spain declared war on the new
French government.
• Democratic-Republicans feared that if the French Revolution
failed, republican governments everywhere would fail.
• Federalists had respect for French monarchy.
• France and Britain tried to draw the United States into their war
and force it to take sides.
• Washington wanted to remain neutral. He issued the
Neutrality Proclamation in April 1793.
• Edmund Genet, the new French ambassador to the United
States, enlisted an American crew to fight on a French ship
against the British.
• Washington demanded that Genet be replaced.
Remaining Neutral
• In early 1794 the British began seizing American merchant
ships.
– British claimed the ships carried French goods or were
sailing to a French port.
– American sailors were thrown into British prisons.
• The British were stirring up trouble among the Native
Americans in the Northwest Territory.
• John Jay negotiated Jay’s Treaty with the British.
– British would pay for damages to American ships.
– British would leave their forts in the Northwest Territory.
– The United States would pay debts owed to Britain.
• Thomas Pinckney negotiated Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain
and settled many border disputes between the United States
and Spain.
Conflicts in the Northwest
Territory
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In 1790s violence broke out
when Native American
nations resisted white
settlement.
Little Turtle led Miamis,
Shawnees, and Delawares
against St. Clair’s army and
won.
American army returned in
force and built forts and
brought in supplies.
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Battle of Fallen Timbers
in 1794: American forces
won over the Miamis
Treaty of Greenville: the
Miamis gave up large
territories in Ohio and parts
of Indiana, Illinois, and
Michigan
– The treaty also
recognized the Miamis’
claim to the land they still
had.
President Adams and the XYZ
Affair
Presidential election of 1796
• Washington retired after two terms.
• Thomas Jefferson was the Democratic-Republican
candidate.
• John Adams was the Federalist candidate.
• Though Adams became president, he did not have the
full support of the presidential electors.
• Because of sectionalism, the southern Federalists
preferred his running mate, Thomas Pinckney of South
Carolina.
• Thomas Jefferson came in second with 68 votes to
Adams’s 71 votes.
• Jefferson became vice president.
President Adams and the XYZ
Affair
XYZ Affair
 France had attacked
American merchant ships.
 French agents (referred to
as X, Y, and Z) demanded
bribes of the American
diplomats who went to
France to negotiate an end
to the ship seizure.
As a result, Congress:
 Cut off trade with France
 Canceled wartime treaties
it had made with France
 Authorized building
warships
 Allowed the U.S. navy to
capture French vessels at
sea
The XYZ Affair brought a general resentment of foreigners,
which led to passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
President Adams and the XYZ
Affair
• Alien Acts: three laws that allowed the president to order
foreigners considered to be a threat to national security to be
jailed or deported.
– Targeted French and Irish refugees, most of whom
supported the French
– Increased the period of residency required for citizenship
from 5 years to 14
– Required foreigners to register with the government
– Allowed the president to jail or expel any foreigner thought
to be “dangerous to the peace and safety” of the country
• The Sedition Act outlawed any opposition to government
policies by actions or by “false, scandalous, or malicious
writing.”
– Targeted the Democratic-Republicans, who historically
supported the French
President Adams and the XYZ
Affair
• Nine Democratic-Republican newspaper editors and a
member of Congress were convicted under the Sedition
Act.
• Jefferson and Madison drafted the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions, where they argued that the
Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.
• They hoped states would nullify the laws.
• Only Virginia and Kentucky passed the resolutions.
• In the end, there was a deeper and more bitter political
divide in Congress and the country.
The Election of 1800
• This contest marked the first time that power passed
from one American political party to another.
• Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson against
Federalist John Adams
• The campaign was vicious.
• Supporters of each side made their arguments in letters
and newspaper editorials, which often made wild
accusations and spread scandalous stories.
The Election of 1800
Federalists claimed that
• Jefferson was dangerously pro-French.
• Jefferson wanted to destroy organized religion because
of his interest in science and philosophy.
Democratic-Republicans claimed that
• Adams wanted to crown himself king.
• The Federalists would try to limit Americans’ rights (using
the Alien and Sedition Acts as proof of their claims).
The Election of 1800
Problems
• The election ended in a tie between Jefferson and Burr.
• Political parties did not specify who was the party’s preferred
candidate for president.
• The House of Representatives was deadlocked for 35 votes.
• Hamilton urged Federalists to vote for Jefferson. On the 36th
vote, Jefferson was chosen president.
• These problems with the voting system led to the passage of
the Twelfth Amendment (1804), which said that electors
must cast separate ballots for president and vice president.
• Burr held a grudge against Hamilton for supporting Jefferson
and for preventing him from winning the governor’s race in
New York in later years. In 1804, Burr killed Hamilton in a duel.
Jefferson Makes Changes
Succeeded in
reducing
government
 Only
customs duties
and the sale of lands
produced revenue for
the government.
 Reduced
the size of the
executive department
staff
Succeeded in reducing
size of military
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Reduced the size of the
army and navy
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However, built up navy to
help merchant ships when
attacked by pirates
The Louisiana Purchase
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General Napoleon
Bonaparte wanted to build
a French empire.
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Bonaparte to regain
France’s former lands called
the Louisiana Territory
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Those lands had gone to
Spain in the Treaty of Paris
in 1763.
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In 1800 Spain returned
Louisiana to France.
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Spanish officials closed the
lower Mississippi and New
Orleans to American
shipping.
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Spain turned over control of
the area to France.
The Louisiana Purchase
• Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery, usually called the Lewis
and Clark expedition, to explore the land of the Louisiana
Purchase.
• Led by Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and William
Clark, an experienced frontiersman
• Their ultimate goal was to reach the Pacific Ocean.
• They mapped the country and surveyed its natural history,
including plants, animals, and landforms.
• Were helped by their guide, a Shoshone woman, Sacagawea
• Zebulon M. Pike led an 1805 expedition that traveled 2,000
miles to explore the upper Mississippi Valley.
• In 1806 he explored the Southwest and gathered information
about the economy and defenses of Spanish New Mexico and
Texas.
The Role of the Supreme Court
Changes
Federalist legislators in Congress passed the
Judiciary Act of 1801, which created new
positions in the judicial branch.
 Departing President John Adams hurried to fill them
with Federalists.
 Adams’s signed documents had to be delivered to
each man to make the appointments official.
 Not all were delivered before Jefferson took office
the next day.
 James Madison, the new secretary of state, refused
to deliver the remaining commissions.
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The Role of the Supreme Court
Changes
• William Marbury, one of the men who did not receive his
commission, brought suit in the Supreme Court.
• He claimed that the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Court the
power to force Madison to deliver the commission.
• The Court ruled that the Constitution gave the Supreme Court
the power to hear only certain kinds of cases.
• The Constitution did not give the Court the power to force
Madison to deliver Marbury’s commission.
• It ruled the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.
• Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s power of
judicial review, to declare that a law violates the
Constitution.