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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
UNIT
2.
REVOLUTION,
INDEPENDENCE,
FORMATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1770
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1780
1781
1782
1783
1785
1786
Parliament passed the Sugar Act to collect American revenue (April)
Stamp Act received support of the House of Commons (March)
Stamp Act Congress met in New York City (October)
Sons of Liberty organized
Stamp Act was repealed the same day as the Declaratory Act becomes law
(March 18)
Townshend Revenue Acts stirred American anger (June-July)
Massachusetts assembly refused to rescind circular letter (February)
British troops “massacre” Boston civilians (March)
Parliament repealed all Townshend duties except the duty on tea (March)
Samuel Adams formed committee of correspondence (October-November)
Lord North’s government passed the Tea Act (May)
Bostonians hold the Tea Party (December)
Parliament punished Boston with the Coercive Acts (March-June)
First Continental Congress convenes (September)
Patriots took a stand at Lexington and Concord (April)
Second Continental Congress gathers (May)
Americans hold their own at Bunker Hill (June)
Congress voted for independence
Declaration of Independence was signed (July)
British defeated Washington off Long Island (August)
Americans scored a victory at Trenton (December)
Second Continental Congress authorized colonies to create republican
governments
Eight states drafted new constitutions; two others already enjoyed republican
government by virtue of former colonial charters
Congress accepted Articles of Confederation after long debate
Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga (October)
Articles of Confederation were drafted
French treaties recognized independence of the United States (February)
British took Charles Town (May), later renamed Charleston
Massachusetts ratified state constitution
Washington forced Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown (October)
Articles of Confederation were ratified States ratified Articles of Confederation
following settlements of Virginia’s western land claims
British army surrendered at Yorktown
States failed to ratify proposed impost tax
Peace treaty was signed (September)
British evacuated New York City (November)
Newburgh Conspiracy thwarted Treaty of Peace signed with Great Britain
Land Ordinance for Northwest Territory was passed by Congress
Jay-Gardoqui negotiations over Mississippi navigation angered southern states
Annapolis Convention suggested second meeting to revise the Articles of
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
1787
1791
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1814
1815
1816
1817
1819
1820
1823
1824
1825
1826
1828
1829
1830
1831
Confederation
Shays’s Rebellion frightened American leaders
Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia Northwest Ordinance was
passed by Congress; restructured territorial government
Federal Constitution was ratified by all states except North Carolina and Rhode
Island
Bill of Rights (first ten amendments of the Constitution) was ratified by states
Thomas Jefferson is elected president
Judiciary Act was repealed (March)
Chief Justice John Marshall ruled on Marbury versus Madison, setting precedent
for judicial review (February)
Louisiana Purchase was concluded with France (May)
Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest
Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel (July)
Jefferson was elected to a second term (November)
Justice Samuel Chase was acquitted by the Senate (March)
American warship Chesapeaker was fired on by the British Leopard (June)
Burr was tried for conspiracy (August-September)
Embargo Act was passed (December)
Slave trade was ended (January)
Madison is elected president (November)
Embargo is repealed; Non-Intercourse Act is passed (March)
Macon’s Bill Number Two reestablished trade with Britain and France (May)
Harrison defeated Indians at Tippecanoe (November)
War of 1812
War was declared against Great Britain (June)
Madison was elected to a second term, defeating De Witt Clinton of New York
Massachusetts ratified state constitution
War of 1812 ended
James Monroe was elected president
Inauguration of James Monroe
Supreme Court hands down far-reaching decisions in the Dartmouth College case
and in McCulloch versus Maryland
Adams-Onís Treaty ceded Spanish territory to the United States Financial panic
was followed by a depression lasting until 1823
Missouri Compromise resolved the nation’s first sectional crisis
Monroe was re-elected president unanimously
Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed
Lafayette revisits the United States Supreme Court decided Gibbons versus
Ogden
Inauguration of John Quincy Adams
House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president
Erie Canal was completed; Canal Era began
American Temperance Society was organized
Congress passed the “Tariff of Abominations”
Jackson was elected president over John Quincy Adams
Inauguration of Andrew Jackson
Jackson vetoed the Maysville Road bill
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
Charles G. Finney evangelised Rochester, New York
Jackson reorganized his cabinet First national nominating conventions meet
William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of the Liberator
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
1832
1833
1834
1836
1837
1840
Jackson vetoed the bill rechartering the Bank of the United States
Jackson was re-elected, defeating Henry Clay (National Republican candidate)
Jackson removed federal deposits from the Bank of the United States
Abolitionists founded the American Anti-Slavery Society
Whig party came into existence
Martin Van Buren was elected president
Theodore Weld advocated abolition in Ohio and upstate New York
Financial panic occurred, followed by depression lasting until 1843
Massachusetts established a state board of education
Abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy was killed by a proslavery mob
Congress passed the Independent Sub treasury Bill
Harrison (Whig) defeated Van Buren (Democrat) for the presidency
American Anti-Slavery Society split over women’s rights and other issues
1. REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, 1763-1783
1.1. British Colonial Policies and the Revolutionary Responses of Its
American Colonies
The time period of 1763 to 1776 was a difficult time for Britain, in which the policies that
were designed to raise money and to maintain order in the colonies led directly to conflict
with the colonists. The British government imposed new taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles
and other imported goods in order to obtain funds to relieve the burden of the extreme
deficit the country was in after the Seven Years’ War. By the mid-1770s, relations between
the Americans and the British administration had become strained and bitter.
In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act, imposing an indirect tax on foreign imports of
sugar and molasses. The tax was strictly enforced and this made smuggling, which was
widespread in the colonies, much more dangerous and risky. Consequently, the colonists
carried out several effective protest measures against this tax. The prime focus was on
boycotting British goods.
The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, was a direct tax on documents and articles. This tax
affected practically everybody. There was a strong reaction against the tax in the colonies
and this provoked a crisis. The Stamp Act led Americans to ask themselves about the
relationship between their colonial legislatures, which were elected bodies, and the British
Parliament, in which Americans had no elected representation. Their slogan was “No
taxation without representation.”
On June 6, 1765, the Massachusetts House of Representatives resolved to propose an
inter-colonial meeting to protest against the Stamp Act, and on June 8 a circular letter was
sent to the assemblies of the other colonies to meet in October. Then, on October 19,
1765, in the Stamp Act Congress, representatives from nine colonies, which later took part
in the Revolution, spoke out against the new tax. New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina
and Virginia did not send delegates. Nevertheless, most colonists refused to use the
stamps, and so the British Parliament was forced to repeal the act in 1766.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
Tax Stamps
The Quartering Act of 1765 declared that it was compulsory for colonial assemblies to
shelter and supply British soldiers anywhere in the colonies. The Quartering Act was
enforced and taxes were imposed on tea and other goods. Customs officers were sent to
Boston to collect these tariffs but the Colonists refused to pay, so British soldiers were sent
to Boston. Many colonists objected to the act and to the presence of an army in the
colonies.
Britain proclaimed its true purpose of colonization in the subtle Declaratory Act of 1766,
which stated that colonial America was subordinate and existed to serve the mercantilist
policies of the parent country.
As a solution, in 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. These were taxes on
paper, paints, glass, and tea, goods imported into the colonies from Britain. After 1765, the
colonists refused to accept that the British Parliament was entitled to tax them for the
purpose of raising funds. The Townshend Duties were seen as a way of raising revenue in
America without the taxpayers' consent.
The British also established a board of customs commissioners, whose purpose was to
stop colonial smuggling and the corruption of local officials involved in this illegal trade.
Boston merchants were annoyed about the new controls and helped organize a boycott of
goods subjected to the Townshend Duties. In 1768, Philadelphia and New York joined the
boycott; the protest was spreading. Consequently, the British posted four regiments of
troops in Boston to control the colonists.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was not a massacre but actually a street fight between a mob and a squad of British soldiers that ended with the
deaths of five colonists. This picture was engraved, printed, and sold by Paul Revere but does not depict events as they actually
happened.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
Taxes were removed, except the one on tea, in order to relieve tensions. The colonists
suspected that the act was a concealed bribe to oblige them to acknowledge Parliament’s
right to tax them. In 1773, a group of colonists decided to revolt against this tax. Disguised
as Indians, they boarded British merchant ships and tossed tea into Boston harbour. This
incident became know as the Boston Tea Party.
Boston Tea Party
Library of Congress Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009.
After that incident, Parliament punished the revolt passing the Coercive Acts of 1774,
which became known among the colonists as the Intolerable Acts. On September 5, 1774,
a meeting of colonial leaders, the First Continental Congress met at Philadelphia and
urged the Americans to disobey the “Intolerable Acts” and boycott British trade. All the
Colonies except Georgia were represented in that Congress.
1.2. The War for Independence
The 13 Colonies in 1775
This map shows the 13 British colonies in North America as they existed on the eve of the American Revolution (17751783). After winning independence from Britain, the colonies made up the first 13 states of the newly formed United
States of America.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
In April 1775, there were battles in Concord and Lexington and the war of American
Independence started. For some months before that clash at Lexington and Concord,
colonists had begun to organize militia and collect weapons and gather ammunition, arms
and powder. They had been training to fight the British if that became necessary. When
the British arrived in Lexington colonial militia awaited them. A clash ensued. American
opinion was split. Some wanted to declare independence immediately; others wished for a
reconciliation but most Americans remained undecided.
Minutemen Fight the British
American minutemen, who were far outnumbered by British troops, employed a successful strategy that included persistent sniping from
hidden areas in the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775. The strategy forced British troops to retreat from the countryside to
strongholds in Boston, Massachusetts.
In May 1775, a second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia and the Colonists
continued to resist. They assumed the functions of a national government opening
diplomatic relations with foreign powers. In June 1775, the Continental Congress founded
a Continental Army and appointed George Washington as Commander. Washington's first
task, when he arrived in Boston to take charge of militia assembled there, was to create an
army.
In December 1775, the British Parliament passed the Prohibitory Acts, which declared
Britain’s intention to force American colonists into submission. These acts blockaded
American trade, placing an embargo on American goods and authorizing seizure of
American ships. As a result, colonialists pushed forward a decision for independence.
However, they had to wait until July 2, 1776, for Congress to vote for independence.
Thomas Jefferson wrote a formal declaration, and it accepted on July 4, 1776.
During the first two years of the Revolutionary War, most of the fighting between American
colonists and the British took place in the North. At first, the British generally had their way
because of their far superior sea power. In 1778, a French-American alliance was signed
and this marked the turning point of the war.
The year 1781 was significant for the American Revolution. The British troops surrendered
at Yorktown, Virginia and the British government asked for peace. Yorktown was a signal
victory.
Between 1778 and 1781, British military operations focused on the South because the
British assumed that a large percentage of Southerners were loyalists who could help
them subdue the American colonists.
Peace talks between British and American diplomats got underway in Paris in May 1782
and continued into the fall. In September, the American negotiators (John Jay, John
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
Adams, and Benjamin Franklin) discovered that the French foreign minister had sent his
secretary on a secret trip to London. Now convinced of French duplicity, Jay, Adams, and
Franklin let the British know that they were willing to negotiate unilaterally, that is to say,
without French interference. After two months of difficult negotiations, the British and
American diplomats signed the Preliminary Articles of Peace on November 30, 1782.
Until the definitive peace treaty was signed in 1783, the United States was still at war.
British and French fleets continued to fight on the high seas and in the Caribbean, but no
land actions took place on the North American continent.
The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, recognized the independence of the United States
and fixed for the nation all the territory North of Florida, South of Canada and East of the
Mississippi River.
American Revolution Uniforms
During the American Revolution (1775-1783), the colonists wore different uniforms depending on the state they were from and their
military rank. This drawing depicts the following uniforms, from left to right, Light Infantry, First City Troops Philadelphia, George
Washington’s Body Guard, Pennsylvania Line Infantry Private, Continental Artillery Private, Massachusetts Line Infantry Lieutenant,
New York Line Infantry Private, Artillery Captain, South Carolina Line Infantry Lieutenant, Washington’s Uniform, and Movlan’s
Draggons.
If you can or want, watch these films:
 The last of the Mohicans, 1992, Daniel Day Lewis, Madeleine Stowe (about the Seven Year’s War).
 The Patriot, 2000, Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger (about the American Revolution).
2. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
2.1. The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, July 4,
1776.
The Declaration of Independence is a state document and is considered to the basis of
American political beliefs. On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of
Independence, which stated that the “United States Colonies ought to be Free and
Independent States.”
The intellects behind the Declaration of Independence were Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson prepared a first draft of it, and the
committee accepted it, with some alterations suggested by John Adams and Benjamin
Franklin.
At the insistence of the Continental Congress there was a need to prepare a document to
substitute the Confederate legislation that favoured local state governments at the
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
expense of the central government. The document was to provide a foundation on which
laws could be formed.
A document that was really influential in appealing for independence was Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense, a political pamphlet that appeared early on January 10, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence had a religious and moral tone, stating that they
represented the people of the colonies with the support of the Supreme Judge of the
World: God.
The United States broke from Britain commercially and politically. Their independence
allowed them the right to trade with whomever they wanted. However, the United States
did continue to trade with Britain despite the break, and relations between the two
countries flourished.
The whole text sounds very promising and positive but it was for white Americans. No
consideration was made for the Blacks or the Native Indians. A passage indicting the slave
trade was removed due to the pressure of Southern delegates at the Continental
Congress.
Finally, the Declaration of Independence is one of the key documents of American history.
It not only justified the independence of American colonies but also put together a number
of reasons justifying independence for other countries in other historic moments. It also
showed philosophical ideas like Natural Rights in such a way that it has become a source
of inspiration for future generations.
2.2. The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787
Since 1781, the Articles of Confederation, a constitution that set up a very weak central
government that could not make laws or raise taxes, governed the thirteen colonies. The
Articles of Confederation had been introduced by the explicit statement that the authority
of that document was derived from sovereign states. The Articles of Confederation had not
measured up to the exigencies of the union.
In May 1787, a convention took place in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of
Confederation. Fifty-five delegates from twelve states met there to draft a new
Constitution. Among the intellects behind it, there were George Washington, Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
The Committee of Five in the Philadelphia Convention reported the first draft of the
Constitution of the United States of America on August 6, 1787. The Committee revised
and rewrote the document and gave it its final form on August 8. On September 17, 1787,
the final draft of the new Constitution was read to the 42 delegates still at the convention.
Of the 42 men present, 39 affixed their signatures to the document and notified the
Confederation Congress that their work was finished. The Congress, in turn, submitted the
document to the states for ratification, where more argument, debate, and compromise
would take place. The state of Delaware was the first to ratify the Constitution. On June
21, 1788, just nine months after the state ratification process had begun, New Hampshire
became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, and the Constitution went into effect.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
The Preamble makes clear that establishes a federal system, in which the People in their
sovereign capacity delegated certain powers to the national government and other powers
to the states.
Later, in 1791, The Bill of Rights was approved. It constituted the first ten amendments of
the Constitution.
In the two centuries since the ratification of the Constitution, many changes have been
made to the Constitution. However, the basic premises remain at the heart of the
document.
Constitutional Convention
3. THE FEDERALIST ERA, 1787-1800
3.1. The Emergence of Political Parties
During the pre-Revolutionary and revolutionary period there were two groups of people,
Loyalists, defenders of the British interests, and Patriots, defenders of American interests.
During the Confederation, the Federalists emerged, who were in favour of a strong
national government, and were conservative, and the Anti federalists or State righters who
defended the rights of the state.
After 1790, the problems which arose were fiscal, economic, and foreign affairs, and were
going to be definitive for the establishment of two political parties: the Federalist Party
whose leader was Alexander Hamilton, and the Democratic Republican Party, also called
the Jeffersonian Republican Party. The Federalists would eventually disappear and the
Democratic Republican Party would split into what we call today the Democratic Party and
the Republican Party.
3.2. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams
The first President of the United States was George Washington, a Federalist who
favoured a strong central government. He vindicated the independence of Presidential
office. He had two main interests: military arts and western expansion.
From 1759 to the outburst of the American Revolution, Washington managed his
plantation around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and troubled by British regulations.
Thus, he put up resistance to the restrictions.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
In May 1775, when the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia,
Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the
Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of
his troops to embark upon the War of Independence. Finally in 1781, he forced the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
When he realized of the weak points of the Articles of Confederation, he became a leader
in the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was
ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President. Washington
understood that a president needed a cabinet and established three government
departments; the Treasury, War and State.
As President, one of Washington’s main concerns was foreign policy. In foreign affairs, he
warned against long-term alliances. In the war between France and England, he wanted
the United States to be neutral.
The main problem for the new government was trying to stabilize the economy. For this
reason, the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton introduced a number of different
taxes.
Another important measure of Hamilton’s was the Bank. He modelled a national bank on
the bank of England, though the major stockholder would be the federal government.
In 1793, came the end of Washington’s first term as president and he himself wanted to
retire, but it seemed that the continued stability depended on him and he was persuade to
continue. Later on, however, Washington became exhausted so he took the decision to
retire.
Washington and His Cabinet
United States President George Washington, far left, sits with members of his Cabinet who were appointed in 1789 and 1790. The
members are, left to right: Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas
Jefferson, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
In 1797, John Adams, another Federalist president, succeeded George Washington.
Hamilton had thought of the presidency for himself but he was not accepted because he
was very unpopular, and he separated from Federalists. Adams was more remarkable as
a political philosopher than as a politician.
Adams inherited a difficult political situation because there were still many internal and
international problems. When he became President, the war between the French and the
British was causing trouble for the United States on the high seas. During his presidential
period, the Alien and Sedition Acts were approved in 1798, aimed at controlling the
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
immigrant flow into the United States. President Adams did not call for a declaration of
war, but hostilities began at sea. At first, American shipping was almost defenceless
against French privateers, but by 1800 armed merchantmen and U.S. warships were
clearing the sea-lanes.
4. THE REPUBLICAN ERA, 1801-1828
4.1. Jefferson, Madison and Monroe
The beginning of the 19th century coincides with the beginning of the Republican era under
the leadership of Thomas Jefferson. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, was elected president.
He exercised his presidential power vigorously. Jefferson inaugurated Washington D.C. as
the new capital of the nation. Under the Confederacy and the Federalists the capital had
been New York and then Philadelphia.
The beginning of Jefferson’s presidency was marked by a conciliatory tone. Jefferson
inaugurated the habit of sending his messages to Congress in writing. Another aspect of
Jefferson was his antimilitarism. He tried to economize and reduce the armed forces, the
navy and the army. Jefferson’s main support came from the western and southern
agrarian population.
A main characteristic of Jefferson’s presidency was inconsistency, since his policy
contradicted his theories.
Jefferson was eloquent, but he was no public speaker. He, at 33, drafted the Declaration
of Independence. He wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.
When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France was over. He cut the
budget, reduced the national debt, eliminated the tax on whisky and slashed Army and
Navy expenditures. During his second term, he tried not to involve the United States in the
Napoleonic wars.
He also sent a naval squadron to fight the pirates, who were harassing American
commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, in 1803, he bought Louisiana from France.
Jefferson was re-elected in 1804. During Jefferson's second term, international affairs
became very important.
Jefferson’s successor as President, James Madison (1809-1817), one of the authors of the
Constitution, led the new nation through the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Thus, in 1812,
President James Madison went to war with Britain because the British warships besieged
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
American ships. The country was divided: the South and the West were in favour of the
war but the states from New Jersey northward were against it. Besides, the country was
not prepared for this war and the federal government had great difficulties financing it.
The War of 1812 was an economic conflict based on the concept of freedom of the seas.
Great Britain wanted to control a large area of the North Atlantic Ocean, to prevent the
United States from trading freely with Europe. After a series of diplomatic approaches, the
whole situation was about to collapse the American economy, which mainly was based on
foreign trade. Without free trade overseas, the United States could not exist as a free and
independent state. Therefore, the United States declared war on Great Britain.
In December 1814, Britain and the United States agreed on a compromise peace since
neither wanted to carry on with the war. The consequences of this treaty were that the
border lines were restored to their former position and that Canada made clear that it
would stay within the British rule for as long as it pleased.
James Monroe was the third Republican president (1816-24). He was elected in 1816. In
his annual address to the Congress he included the famous Monroe Doctrine which was
made up of two principles: non-colonization, which states that no part of America, not just
the United States, was open to colonization, and Non-Intervention in republican
governments that states that the United States will not tolerate any European interference
in the American Republics. The Monroe Doctrine became famous because many years
later it was invoked and used to justify American foreign policy.
As far as economic policy is concerned, one of the main problems was the tariff which was
considerably increased in 1816 and became a definitively protective tariff; it was intended
to protect American domestic industry against foreign industry.
5. THE DEMOCRATIC ERA, 1828-1840
In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president, becoming the seventh president of the
United States. Jackson was not very innovative politically, but as he became president he
gradually began to respond to the democratic trend of the nation. So, eventually, his
presidency symbolized the new democracy in the sense that this was a new democratic
period. He introduced the concept of meritocracy as opposed to previous aristocracy. It is
the beginning of a truly democratic attitude towards politics.
He frequently ignored the Supreme Court so in this sense, he was the first president to
increase the power of the executive.
The most important issues that appeared under Jackson’s presidency were the Tariff and
land policy that caused the Nullification Crisis (1828-1833), the most important precedent
of the Civil War.
In 1833 the Congress passed the Force Bill, which gave the President the power to use
the army and the navy against the rebels.
Other key issues were: the Bank, Indian Policy, the presidential election of 1832 and also
internal improvements. There were not very important international conflicts and so there
was a great emphasis on the expansion towards the west. The United States, after 1815,
definitively stopped looking at Europe and started looking forwards and westwards:
territorial expansionism, vitality, development of industries, and exploitation of natural
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
resources. This is also reflected in literature, it as then that the United States began its
search for cultural identity. A school of American landscape painting developed in order to
separate themselves from European artists and to identify themselves with their land.
Jackson was a popular hero, whereas the other presidents had belonged to the elite.
In his first Annual Message to Congress, Andrew Jackson recommended eliminating the
Electoral College. He also tried to democratise Federal office holding. He openly endorsed
the regular change of officeholders. Decrying officeholders who seemed to enjoy life
tenure, he believed Government duties could be so clear and simple that offices should
rotate among deserving applicants. He consulted his cabinet but he also had some
advisers called the “Kitchen cabinet”. During his first administration, he even reshuffled his
cabinet.
Jackson had a strong personality and revolutionised the presidential office. He sustained
the Hamiltonian conception of Presidency and not only revived the debate of the powers of
the President but also transformed the conception of the strong president into an
instrument of the people. He defended the people’s rights against whatever body might
threaten them. Therefore, he was a ruler with a strong authority, he subdued the Cabinet
and the executive branch, he expanded presidential powers of control in Congress, he set
his own interpretation of the Constitution and he made it impossible for sovereign states to
nullify federal legislation.
However, one of the worst signs of that authoritarianism was the Indian Removal Act of
1835. All the Indians, whether they were peaceful or not, whether they worked the land or
were nomadic, were made leave their lands West of the Mississippi. This way, Jackson
made land available to western settlers by forcing Indian tribes to move. He even ordered
the army to evict them.
As national politics polarized around Jackson and his opposition, two parties grew out of
the old Republican Party, the Democratic Republicans, or Democrats, who supported
Jackson; and the National Republicans, or Whigs, who opposed him.
The Bank Controversy in Cartoon
In 1832 United States President Andrew Jackson ignited controversy by vetoing a new charter for the Bank of the United States. This
political cartoon, “The Downfall of Mother Bank,” appeared the same year.
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2. Revolution, Independence, Formation and Consolidation of the Federal Republic
ESQUEMA
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