Jeffersonian America

The Barbary Pirates

• 1st American war against terrorist• Four Barbary States of North Africa - Morocco,

Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli • Survived on blackmail and tribute• 1799 the United States agreed to pay $18,000 a

year in return for a promise that Tripoli-based corsairs would not molest American ships. Similar agreements were made at the time with the rulers of Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis.

The Barbary Pirates

• By 1805, the small but effective U.S. Navy had beaten the Barbary states

• In 1815, the U.S. had to repeat their action and totally defeated the pirates.

Jefferson and the West

• Passed laws to enable small farmers to buy land in the West

• He dreamed of a land of yeoman farmers

• Reduced land requirements from 320 acres to 160 acres

• Later cut to 80 acres at $1.25 an acre.

The Louisiana Purchase

• 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte dictator of France reacquires Louisiana from Spain.

• He orders Spain to restrict the Americans use of the port at New Orleans.

• Jefferson sends James Monroe and Robert Livingston to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans

Louisiana Purchase

• Napoleon offers to sell all of Louisiana for $15 million

• Forced Jefferson to consider his strict constructionist view of the Constitution

• Sends two expeditions West – Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike

• Spain gets nervous about these moves

Lewis and Clark• In February 1803 at the urging of President Thomas

Jefferson, Congress approved spending $2,500 (Final cost was $38,727) for a small U.S. Army expedition.

• Their assignment was to ascend the Missouri River to its source, cross the continental divide, and follow the Columbia River to its mouth at the Pacific Ocean.

• Jefferson chose 28-year-old Meriwether Lewis as leader for the group he called the Corps of Discovery.

• Lewis selected a former army comrade, 32-year-old William Clark to be his co-leader.

• The expedition began May 14, 1804, as the group left Camp Wood River (Illinois). The expedition returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806.  

Zebulon Pike

• Explorer who is famous for discovering Pike's Peak in Colorado.

• He led two expeditions to explore the U.S. The first, in 1805, had as its goal the discovery of the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

• The second expedition, which took place the very next year, explored the Southwest.

The Burr Conspiracy and Trial

• Attempt to remove the western states and territory from the Union

• Conquer Texas and Mexico

• Supporters included prominent Western politicians

• Trial – Richmond ; Burr found innocent of treason.

Tecumseh• The Prophet – brother of Tecumseh• By 1805 the Prophet and Tecumseh were

preaching a message of Indian resistance and renaissance.

• “pan-Indianism” where tribes put aside their tribal differences to present a unified front against the Americans.

Tecumseh

• In 1808 the brothers established Prophetstown• Disgruntled Indians from all over the Old

Northwest began to move to Prophetstown. • The Prophet was a mystic who claimed powers

to cure diseases, to confuse enemies, and to prevent death on the battlefield.

• Tecumseh was more legalistic and pragmatic, but no less persuasive.

• He concentrated on preserving Indian land and culture.

Tecumseh

• By 1811 nearly 1,000 (one thousand) warriors and their families lived at Prophetstown.

• Tecumseh and the South• The Red Sticks• William Henry Harrison and Tippecanoe

Tecumseh• American correctly blamed the British in Canada

for meddling in US Indian affairs. The Indian War in the Old Northwest, with other issues between the US and Great Britain, became the catalysts for the War of 1812.

• Congress declared war on Britain on 28 June 1812.

The Embargo Act

• Napoleonic Wars in Europe threatened U.S. commerce

• Great Britain and France did not respect America’s neutrality.

• France seized American ships that had stopped in Britain

• 8,000 American sailors were impressed into British naval service

• Chesapeake Incident

The Embargo Act

• Jefferson devises the Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited American ships from leaving the U.S.

• Exports fell from $108 million to $22 million.

The Embargo

• Jefferson believed that Americans would cooperate with the embargo out of a sense of patriotism.

• Instead, smuggling flourished, particularly through Canada.

• To enforce the embargo, Jefferson took steps that infringed on his most cherished principles: individual liberties and opposition to a strong central government.

The Embargo

• When Madison becomes President in 1809, he replaced it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which reopened trade with all nations except Britain and France.

• Macon's Bill No. 2. - This policy reopened trade with France and Britain. It stated, however, that if either Britain or France agreed to respect America's neutral rights, the United States would immediately stop trade with the other nation.

Road to War

• Napoleon seized on this new policy in an effort to entangle the United States in his war with Britain. He announced a repeal of all French restrictions on American trade.

• President Madison snapped at the bait. In early 1811, he cut off trade with Britain and recalled the American minister.

Road to War

• For 19 months, the British went without American trade.

• Food shortages, mounting unemployment, and increasing inventories of unsold manufactured goods finally convinced Britain to end their restrictions on American trade

The War Hawks

• Republican Congressmen from the West who pushed for war with Britain

• Henry Clay from Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina pushed Madison toward war

• June, 1812 War is declared by slim margins.

The War of 1812

• August 16, 1812 British capture Ft. Mackinac Michigan. U.S. lost fort as British invade American territory.

• Invasion attempts of Canada– 1812 U.S.--Canadian border 3 attempts of

U.S. to invade Canada all fail.

• 1812 Constitution vs. Guerriere- - Atlantic Ocean -Victory by U.S. ship ("Old Ironsides"). Other privateers captured or burned British ships. 

The War of 1812

• April 1813 Battle of York (Toronto), U.S. troops took control of Great Lakes, burn York. This action later returned by British burning of Washington, D.C.

• September 1813 Battle of Lake Erie Put-in-Bay- British naval attack repulsed by Capt. Perry.

The War of 1812

• October 1813 Battle of Thames Ontario, Canada Tecumseh killed in U.S. victory. NW Indians weakened by battle.

• March 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend Mississippi Territory Andrew Jackson defeated Creek Indians.

The War of 1812• British plan 3-part invasion

of U.S.: Chesapeake Bay, Lake Champlain, & mouth of Mississippi River

• 1814- Washington, D.C.-British burned capital's buildings, but were turned back at Baltimore harbor. “Star Spangled Banner”

• September 1814 Battle of Plattsburgh - - Lake Champlain U.S. secured northern border with victory over larger British force.

Dissent and Treaty

• Hartford Convention - December 15,1814 Hartford, Connecticut- Group of Federalists discussed secession, propose 7 amendments to protect influence of Northeast states.

• December 24,1814 Treaty of Ghent - -Ghent, Belgium- British and American diplomats agreed on status quo ante bellum

The Battle of New Orleans

• Battle of New Orleans - January 1815 -New Orleans- Jackson's forces defeated British. 700 British killed, 1400 wounded. U.S. losses: 8 killed, 13 wounded

The Marshall Court

• 1801 John Marshall named and approved as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

• Marbury v Madison (1803) – established the policy of Judicial Review.

• 1805 The Burr Conspiracy – a plan to capture Texas from Spain or capture Louisiana. Marshall finds Burr innocent of treason

Marshall Court

• Dartmouth v Woodward (1819)– safeguards property rights of chartered corporations

• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) –Interprets Constitution to give broad powers to national government. States can not tax Federal Banks

• Gibbon v. Ogden (1824) – Gives national government jurisdiction over interstate commerce

Changes in Agriculture

• People attempting to own land

• Iron plows

• Crop Rotation

• Fertilizers

• Diversification of livestock and crops

• Western Problems – getting crops to market - Start of the canal boom.

The Era of Good Feelings

• Period of nationalism– National funds for road improvements– Growth of canals– 2nd Bank of the United States– The end of the Federalist party– Democrat Republicans divide into states’

rightist and nationalist– James Monroe is President

Rush-Bagot Treaty 1818

• Negotiated by John Quincy Adams

• Limit British and U.S. naval forces on the Great Lakes

• The boundary between the U.S. and Canada at the Louisiana Purchase would be 49th parallel

Adams – Onis Traety