Introduction

• George Washington left pubic life in 1783 to manage his plantation, astonishing European observers but bolstering the authority of elected Patriot leaders.

• “’Tis a Conduct so novel… inconceivable to People [here],” reported John Trumbull an American painter from London.

The Political Crisis of 1790s

• Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson offered contrasting visions of the future.

• Would the U.S. remain an agricultural nation governed by local officials, as Jefferson hoped? Or would Hamilton’s vision of a strong national government and an economy based on manufacturing become a reality?

The Federalists Implement the Constitution

• The Constitution expanded the dimension of political life by allowing voters to choose national leaders as well as local and state officials.

• George Washington elected – political father• Judiciary Act of 1789• Bill of Rights – Madison submits 19

amendments, ten of which are approved

Hamilton’s Financial Program

• Secretary of the treasury under Washington• Wanted to enhance national authority and to

assist financiers and merchants• Public credit, national bank, and manufacturing • Program of national mercantilism –

government-assisted economic development

Public Credit: Redemption and Assumption

• As an underdeveloped nation, U.S. needed good credit to secure loans from Dutch and British financiers

• Proposed national government further enhance public credit by assuming the war debts of the states

Creating a National Bank

• Bank of the United States – would be jointly owned by private stockholders and the national government

• Would provide stability to economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills of credit

• Arguments ensue between strict constructionists and loose constructionists

Raising Revenue through Tariffs

• Revenue to pay annual interest on the national debt

• Excise taxes, including duty on whiskey distilled in the United States – $1 million/year

• Higher tariffs on foreign imports• Did not support high protective tariffs, advocated

for revenue tariffs• As American trade increased, customs revenue

rose steadily and paid down the national debt

Jefferson’s Agrarian Vision

• Hamilton’s financial measures had split Federalists into bitterly opposed factions

• North and South division (south Jefferson and Madison – Democratic Republicans, Republicans for short)

• Jefferson embraced optimism of Enlightenment, having seen the poverty of laborers in British factories, doubted wage-workers had the economic and political independence needed to sustain a republican polity

• Yeoman farm families• Drew from Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Turmoil in Europe

• French Revolution in 1789• First French Republic (1792-1804) goes to war against

a British-led coalition of monarchies• Wheat prices leaped from 5 to 8 shillings a bushel,

remain high for 20 years• Substantial profits in Chesapeake and Middle Atlantic

farms (bread basket)• George and South Carolina profits go up as cotton

industry blooms with invention of the cotton gin and mechanization of cloth production in Britain

The French Revolution

• Proclamation of Neutrality during Washington’s term

• Ideology – Jacobins “citizen” political clubs, distaste of church closures for rational religion based on “natural morality”

• Wealthy Americans fearful of revolution condemned execution of King Louis XVI and 3000 aristocrats

• Whiskey Rebellion

Important Terms

• Jay’s Treaty• XYZ Affair• “Revolution of 1800”

The Westward Movement and Jeffersonian Revolution

• Expanding Republic and Native American Resistance

• Conflict over Land Rights• U.S. Army doubles under Washington in case

of alliance between Western Confederacy and the British in Canada

• Assimilation is rejected

Migration and Changing Farm Economy

• Southern migrants – yeomen families flocked into Kentucky and Tennessee leaving Maryland and the planter-controlled society

• Widespread landlessness and opposition to slavery sparked migration to Ohio River into future states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois

• Carolinas to Gulf of Mexico

Jefferson’s Presidency

• Marbury v. Madison 1803• The Louisiana Purchase• Secessionist Schemes• Lewis and Clark Meet the Mandan and Sioux

War of 1812:Transformation of Politics

• The Embargo of 1807• Western War Hawks • Near disaster both militarily and politically• Federalists oppose the War

Chief Justice John Marshall

• Marshall’s Federalist Law• Asserting National Supremacy Court Cases• McCulloch v. Maryland – interprets

Constitution to give broad powers to the national government

• Gibbons v. Ogden- give national government jurisdiction over interstate commerce

Monroe

• Monroe Doctrine• “Era of Good Feelings”

Summary• 3 interrelated themes: public policy, westward expansion,

and party politics• Alexander Hamilton v. Thomas Jefferson• Westward movement that transformed the agricultural

economy and sparks new wars with the Indian peoples• Expansion shaped American diplomatic and military policy:

Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the treaties negotiated by John Quincy Adams

• First Party System• Federalists’ Sedition Act, the Republicans’ Embargo Act, and

War of 1812