Download US under Washington and Adams

Chapter 10
Launching the New
Ship of State,
1789–1800
Domestic Concerns of the New
Constitutional Republic
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What was the Role of the President?
We need a “A Bill of Rights”
We need to a Judiciary
We need to pay some bills
– (This last is one factor that leads to creating an
enduring features of American Rebublic: the two
political party system)
p181
Washington as 1st President
• Unanimously selected by the Electoral
College in 1789:
– The only presidential nominee ever to be
honored by unanimity
– He was the only one who did not in some way
angle for this exalted office
– He commanded by strength of character rather
than the arts of the politician.
Washington as
st
1
President
– Washington put his stamp on the new
government by establishing the cabinet
– The Constitution did not mention a cabinet; only
that “the president may require written
opinions”
– Cabinet becomes key administrative feature
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Secretary of State—Thomas Jefferson
Secretary of the Treasury—Alexander Hamilton
Secretary of War—Henry Knox
Attorney General John Jay
A Bill of Rights: The First Big Issue
• Drawing up a bill of rights headed the list of
imperatives facing the new government.
• Constitution failed to provide “Bill of Rights”
• Delegates assumed state constitutions
secured this fundamental rights
• Some state (Mass) ONLY ratified the
Constitution on the understanding they
would soon be included
A Bill of Rights: The First Big Issue
• The Bill of Rights, adopted by the necessary states in
1791, safeguard some of the most precious American
principles.
• Among these: protections for freedom of religion,
speech, and the press
• Right to bear arms
• Right to be tried by a jury
• Right to assemble and petition the government for a
redress of grievances
• The Bill of Rights also prohibited:
– Cruel and unusual punishment
– Arbitrary government seizure of private property
A Bill of Rights: The First Big Issue
• Madison inserted the Ninth Amendment:
– It declares that specifying certain rights “shall
not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people”
• Reassurance to the states’ righters
• He also included the Tenth Amendment:
– Which reserves all rights not explicitly delegated
or prohibited by the federal Constitution “to the
States respectively, or to the people.”
Next Issue:
Filling out Judicial Branch
• Constitution only explicitly called for a
Supreme Court
• Empowers Congress to create lesser courts
• The Judiciary Act of 1789:
– Organized the Supreme Court with a chief justice
and five associates, federal district and circuit
courts, established the office of attorney
general.
– John Jay became the first chief justice.
– “Riding the circuit”
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Hamilton’s Financial plan
• Hamilton as Federalist of all Federalists
• As Treasury Secretary needs to fix the economy:
• Develops 3 part plan:
1. Funding national debit at par
2. Assume all of the state debits
3. Develop a federal tariff and tax system to pay off #1
and #2
Why pay off the debt???
• Funding at par meant that the federal government
would pay off its debts at face value, plus
accumulated interest—a total sum of $54 million
– He believed that by paying of the debt in full NOW it would
would give the national government legitimacy and stability
• State debts would add another $21 million. Why???
– He believed that assumption would chain the states more
tightly to the “federal chariot”
– It would shift the attachment of wealthy creditors from the
states to the federal government
Hamilton’s Financial plan
• States burdened with heavy debts, like
Massachusetts were delighted by Hamilton’s
proposal
• States with small debts, like Virginia, were less
charmed
• While Virginia did not want the state debts
assumed, they did want the forthcoming federal
district—now District of Columbia, located on
the Potomac River.
• THAT’S WHY WASHINGTON DC IS WHERE IT IS….
A FORMER SWAMP BECOMES THE NATION’S CAPITOL
BECAUSE IT’S WHERE SWAMP CREATURES STILL LIVE
How to pay the debt???
Duties and Excise Taxes
• Money was to come from customs duties:
Tariff revenues on a vigorous foreign trade
– The first tariff law imposed 8% on the value of
dutiable imports, passed in 1789
• Revenue was the main goal
• Was also designed to erect a low protective wall
around infant industries
• Hamilton wanted to see the Industrial Revolution
come to America, thus urged more protection for the
well-to-do manufacturing groups
Duties and Excise Taxes
• Hamilton sought additional internal revenue:
– In 1791 secured an excise tax on a few domestic
items, notably whiskey
• New levy of 7 cents a gallon borne by the distillers
who lived in the backcountry
• Whiskey flowed so freely on the frontier in the form
of distilled liquor that it was used for money.
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VII. Mutinous Moonshiners in
Pennsylvania
• The Whiskey Rebellion:
– Flared up in southwestern Pennsylvania
– Big challenge for the new national government
– Defiant distillers cried “Liberty and No Excise”
– Washington summoned the militias
– When the troops reached western Pennsylvania,
they found an insurrection
– The Rebellion was put down
How does an anti-federalist respond????
Figure 10-1 p184
The Emergence of Political Parties
• All Hamilton’s schemes encroached sharply
upon states’ rights:
• This raised a fundamental question: did the
people or the states create the republic?
• National political parties emerge
• Political factions occurred before; but disbursed when
the issue was resolved.
• This question was different and had so many sub
issues that it created permanent political parties
Table 10-2 p186
Washington’s Trouble 2nd Term
• Now there were the two major parties:
• Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans
• Hamiltonian Federalists
– With Washington’s second term, foreign-policy
issues brought the differences between the
parties to a fever pitch
– President Washington decided to retire after
serving 2 terms (established 2-term tradition for
presidents, "silent law")
Washington’s Farewell Address
• His Farewell Address was never delivered orally, but it was
printed in newspapers.
• Washington warned against political parties and promoted
neutrality, 2 things that would be broken in the future.
• Washington strongly advised against "permanent alliances"
like the Franco-American Treaty of 1778 (that was still in
effect). He favored "temporary alliances" in the case of
emergencies - this would keep the weak nation together
(and out of war!)
• Washington set a precedent for keeping a strong national
government, promoting patriotism, and keeping morality in
the government.
The Emergence of Political Parties
• The two-party system has existed in the
United States since that time
– Their competition for power proved to be the
indispensable ingredients of a sound democracy
– The party out of power plays the invaluable role
of the balance wheel, ensuring that politics
never drifts too far.
p188
The Impact of the French
Revolution
• Few non-American events have left a deeper
scar on American political and social life:
• Early stages—surprisingly peaceful
• Attempted to impose constitutional restrictions on
Louis XVI
• News later reached America that France had
proclaimed itself a republic
• Early on Americans were enthusiastic … France had
copied them!!!!
p189
p187
IX. The Impact of the French
Revolution (cont.)
• The guillotine was set up, the king was beheaded in
1793
• The church was attacked
• The head-rolling Reign of Terror had begun
• The earlier battles had not hurt America directly, but
not until Britain was caught into the revolution did
the revolution spread to the New World.
• Every major European war, beginning in
1688, involved a watery duel for control of
the Atlantic Ocean (See Table 6.2, p. 103).
X. Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation
• French-American alliance of 1778:
– Bound the United States to help the French
defend their West Indies
– Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans favoring
honoring the alliance
– America owed France its freedom, and now was
the time to pay the debt of gratitude
– Washington was not swayed by the clamor of
the crowd.
X. Washington’s Neutrality
Proclamation (cont.)
• Washington:
• Believed that war had to be avoided at all costs
• The strategy of playing for time while the birthrate
fought America’s battles was a cardinal policy of the
Foundling Fathers
• Hamilton and Jefferson were in agreement.
– In 1793 Washington issued his Neutrality
Proclamation shortly before war broke out
between England and France.
X. Washington’s Neutrality
Proclamation (cont.)
• Neutrality Proclamation:
• Proclaimed the government’s official neutrality in the
widening conflict
• Sternly warned American citizens to be impartial
toward both armed camps
– America’s first formal declaration proved to be a
major prop of spreading isolationist tradition
• It proved to be enormously controversial
• The pro-French Jeffersonians were enraged and the
British Federalists were heartened.
X. Washington’s Neutrality
Proclamation (cont.)
• Debate intensified:
– Citizen Edmond Genet, representative of the
French Republic, landed at Charleston, S. Car.
• Was swept away by his enthusiastic reception by the
Jeffersonian Republicans
• He came to believe that the Neutrality Proclamation
did not reflect the American people’s wishes
• Thus embarking on non-neutral activity not
authorized by the French alliance
• Washington demanded Genet’s withdrawal.
Map 10-1 p191
XI. Embroilments with Britain
• President Washington’s policy of neutrality
was sorely tried by the British:
• For ten years they maintained a chain of northern
frontier posts on U.S. soil in defiance of the peace
treaty of 1783 (see Map 10.1)
• London was reluctant to abandon her lucrative fur
trade
• London also hoped to build an Indian buffer state
• They openly sold firearms and firewater to the Indians
of the Miami Confederacy
XI. Embroilments with Britain
• Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1794:
– General “Mad Anthony” Wayne routed the
Miamis
– British refused to shelter the Indians fleeing the
battle; the Indians offered Wayne the peace pipe
– In the Treaty of Greenville, August 1795, they
gave up vast tracts of the Old Northwest
– They hoped for recognition of their sovereign
status. . (They were wrong!)
– The Indians felt it put some limits on the ability
of the United States to decide the fate of Indian
peoples. (They were wrong again!)
XI. Embroilments with the British
• The British seized 300 American merchant
ships, impressed scores of seamen into
British service and threw hundreds into foul
dungeons.
• Impressment incensed patriotic Americans
• War with the world’s mightiest commercial
empire would pierce the heart of the
Hamiltonian financial system.
Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell
• Jay’s Treaty:
– Washington decided to send Chief Justice John
Jay to London in 1794
• In London, Jay routinely kissed the queen’s hand,
must to the dismay of the Jeffersonians
• Jay entered the negotiations with weakness, which
was further sabotaged by Hamilton
• Jay won few concessions
Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell
• British concessions:
– They promised to evacuate the chain of posts on
U.S. soil
– Consented to pay damages for the seizure of
American ships
– But the British stopped short of pledging:
• Anything about future maritime seizures and
impressments
• Or about supplying arms to the Indians.
Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell
• Jay’s unpopular pact:
• Energized the newborn Democratic-Republican party
• It was seen as a betrayal of the Jeffersonian South
• Even Washington’s huge popularity was compromised
by the controversy over the treaty.
– Other consequences:
• Fearing an Anglo-American alliance, Spain moved to
strike a deal with the United States in the Pinckney’s
Treaty of 1795.
Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell
• Pinckney’s Treaty:
• Granted the Americans virtually everything they
wanted from Spain:
– Including free navigation of the Mississippi
– The right of deposit (warehouse rights) at New Orleans
– The large disputed territory of western Florida
• It was this foreign policy wrangling which
drove Washington to retirement
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XIII. John Adams Becomes President
• John Adams, with the support of New
England, won with the narrow margin of 71
to 68 votes in the Electoral College:
– Jefferson, as runner up, became vice-president
– Adams was a man of stern principles, who did his duty with
stubborn devotion
– He was a tactless and prickly intellectual aristocrat
– Had no appeal to the masses
– He was regarded with “respectful irritation.”
John Adams Becomes President
• He had other handicaps:
– He had stepped into Washington’s shoes, which
no successor could hope to fill
– He was hated by Hamilton
– Most ominous of all, Adams inherited a violent
quarrel with France—a quarrel whose
gunpowder lacked only a spark.
Unofficial Fighting with France
• The French were infuriated by Jay’s Treaty:
• Condemned it as the initial step toward an alliance
with Britain, their perpetual foe
• Assailed it as a flagrant violation of the FrancoAmerican Treaty of 1778
• French warships, in retaliation, began to seize
defenseless American merchant vessels, three
hundred by mid-1797
• The Paris regime refused to receive America’s newly
appointed envoy and even threatened to arrest him.
Unofficial Fighting with France
• Adams tried to reach an agreement with the
French:
• Appointed a diplomatic commission of three men,
including John Marshall, the future chief justice
• Adam’s envoy reached Paris in 1797 where they
hoped to meet with Charles Maurice de Talleyrand,
the crafty French foreign minister
• They were secretly approached by three gobetweens, later referred to as X, Y, and Z
• They demanded a loan of 32 million florins.
Unofficial Fighting with France
• Plus a bribe of $250,000 for the privilege of merely
talking with Talleyrand
• Terms were intolerable and negotiations quickly broke
down
• John Marshall, on reaching New York in 1798, was
hailed as a conquering hero for his steadfastness.
• The XYZ Affair sent a wave of hysteria
sweeping through the United States.
. Unofficial Fighting with France
• War preparations:
• Pushed along at a feverish pace, despite considerable
Jeffersonian opposition in Congress
• The Navy Department was created; the three-ship
navy was expanded
• The United States Marine Corps was reestablished
• A new army of 10,000 men was authorized (but not
fully raised)
Unofficial Fighting with France
• War itself:
• War was confined to the sea, mainly West Indies
• 2 1/5 years of undeclared hostilities (1798-1800)
• American privateers and men-of-war captured over
80 armed French vessels
• Several hundred Yankee merchant ships were lost to
the enemy
– Only a slight push, it seemed, might plunge both
nations into a full-dress war.
Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party
• Embattled France wanted no war:
• Talleyrand realized there was no use in fighting the
United States
• The British were driven closer to their wayward
cousins
• Talleyrand let it be known that if the Americans would
send a new minister, he would be received with
proper respect
• This brought to Adams a degree of personal acclaim
that he had never known before—and would never
know again.
Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party
– Adam exploded a bombshell when in 1799 he
submitted to the Senate the name of a new
minister to France
– American envoys found things better when they
reached Paris early in 1800
– The Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte had recently
seized dictatorial power
– The Convention of 1800 treaty was signed in
Paris.
XV. Adams Puts Patriotism Above
Party (cont.)
• The Convention of 1800:
• France agreed to annul the 22-year-old marriage of
(in)convenience
• As a kind of alimony the United States agreed to pay
the damage claims of American shippers
• John Adams deserves immense credit for his belated
push for peace
– He smoothed the path for the peaceful purchase of
Louisiana three years later
– His suggestion for his tombstone: “Here lies John Adams,
who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with
France in the year 1800.”
XVI. The Federalist Witch Hunt
• Federalist actions to muffle the Jeffersonian
foes:
• First, aimed at pro-Jeffersonian “aliens”
– Raised the residence requirement from 5 years to 14
– This law violated traditional American policy of open-door
hospitality and speedy assimilation
• Second, Alien Laws—
– President could deport dangerous foreigners in time of
peace and defensible as a war measure
– This was an arbitrary grant of executive power contrary to
American tradition/Constitution. Never enforced.
XVI. The Federalist Witch Hunt
(cont.)
• Third, Sedition Act—slap at two priceless freedoms
guaranteed in the Constitution by the Bill of Rights:
– Freedom of speech and freedom of the press (First
Amendment)
– This law provided that anyone who impeded the policies of
the government, or falsely defamed its officials, would be
liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment
– Federalists believe it was justified
• Many outspoken Jeffersonian editors were indicted
under the Sedition Act and ten were brought to trial.
• The Sedition Act seemed to be in direct conflict with
the Constitution.
p197
XVII. The Virginia (Madison) and
Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions
– Jefferson secretly penned a series of resolutions:
• Approved by the Kentucky legislature in 1798, 1799
• Madison drafted a similar but less extreme statement
adopted by the Virginia legislature in 1798
• Both stressed the compacts theory—
– A theory popular among English political philosophers
– This concept meant that the thirteen sovereign states, in
creating the federal government, had entered into a
“compact,” or contract, regarding its jurisdiction
– The nation was consequently the agent or creation of the
states.
XVII. The Virginia (Madison) and
Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions
– The individual states were the final judges of whether their
agent had broken the “compact” by overstepping the
authority originally granted
– Jefferson’s Kentucky resolutions concluded that the federal
regime had exceeded its constitutional powers and that
with regard to the Alien and Sedition Acts, “nullification”
—a refusal to accept them—was the “rightful remedy.”
• No other state legislatures fell into line:
– The Federalist states added ringing condemnations
– They argued that the people, not the states, had made the
original compact, therefore it was up to the Supreme Court—not the states—to nullify unconstitutional legislation
passed by Congress.
XVII. The Virginia (Madison) and
Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions
• The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions:
• Brilliant formulation of the extreme states’ rights view
regarding the union
• More sweeping in their implications than their
authors had intended
• Later used by southerners to support nullification—
ultimately secession
• Neither Jefferson nor Madison had any intention of
breaking the union; they wanted to preserve it.
XVIII. Federalists Versus DemocraticRepublicans
– As the presidential contest of 1800 approached:
• Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were sharply
etched (see Table 10.3)
• Conflicts over domestic politics and foreign policy
undermined the unity of the Revolutionary era
• Could the fragile and battered American ship of state
founder on the rocks of controversy?
• Why would the United States expect to enjoy a
happier fate?
Table 10-3 p198
p199