Presidency of George Washington

What two camps emerged surrounding debates about the Constitution?

• The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists

Did the Federalists support the Constitution? Who is apart of the Federalists? How did they gather support for the Constitution?

• Yes

• John Jay, Hamilton, Madison

• They wrote pamphlets, gave speeches, and wrote editorials. They are known for the publication of the Federalist Papers.

Did the Anti-Federalists support the Constitution? Who were Anti-Federalists? What did they want added to the Constitution?

• NO

• Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry

• They wanted a Bill of Rights to guarantee things like freedom of speech and religion.

What were the Federalist Papers?

• A collection of 85 papers which were anonymously written that stressed that the Constitution was the security and liberty people had fought for.

What event turned a lot of people towards the Federalist side?

• Shay’s Rebellion

Why did states not trust the Constitution? Why did farmers not trust the Constitution?

• Larges states felt like the were strong on their own and didn’t need a strong federal government.

• Farmers were worried their personal liberties weren’t protected with the Constitution.

What compromise was made to win over large states to ratify the Constitution? What publication won over other large states?

• A bill of rights was to be included in the Constitution.

• The Federalist Papers.

Who was decided to be the first president? How many votes did he get in the Electoral College?

• George Washington

• All 13 - unanimously elected by the electoral college.

What traditions did Washington set up for later presidents? What were some criticisms against him?

• He was dignified when meeting with foreign state leaders, and he established procedures for dealing with the public.

• Some people thought he lived too lavishly, such as when he bought a very expensive stagecoach.

What was the Judiciary Act of 1789? What did it do?

• It was the action that filled in the outline of the Court system in the Constitution.

• It established a hierarchical national judiciary system - one federal district court per state, and appeals courts and circuit courts were also made. The Supreme Court has the final say on decisions for all courts.

What was the Tariff Act of 1789? What did it do in regards to relations between the North and the South? How was the issue solved?

• It was a tax on imported goods.

• The north wanted high tariffs to support their industry, and the south wanted low tariffs since they still imported many goods, so sectionalism began to build between the two.

• A 5% tariff was placed on most goods, and a 50% tariff on manufactured goods was placed.

What was Hamilton’s Plan in regards to solving the national debt?

1. Pay the War debt by selling treasury bonds

2. Assume the Debt to each of the states

3. Charter a national bank

4. The government will promote domestic industry

What would a national bank serve as for the federal government? What would it do for currency?

• It acts like a central store for cash - it is where taxes go, making loans for small businesses, etc.

• It would stabilize currency.

What did Hamilton want to do to Whiskey? Why?

• He wanted to put a tax on it.

• It is a big commodity for rural areas that produce and sell it.

What would assuming debt to the states do for the US’ Reputation? Why?

• It improves their reputation.

• Ambassadors for debt only have to deal with the central government.

How would promoting domestic industry help America?

• Protective tariffs protect domestic industry from things like steel and shoe making

• It brings revenue and makes American goods competitive on the international marketplace

• It also makes America a more modern country.

Who supported Hamilton’s ideas? Who opposed them? Why?

• Most members of congress supported the ideas since they held bonds to the government and wanted their money.

• Some were worried it would create a system of permanent debt. Most Southern States had already paid most of their debts, so this wouldn’t help them.

What compromise was made to get Virginia to support debt assumption?

• Moving the capital from New York City to between Maryland and Viriginia

What did Hamilton and Jefferson clash over in regards to the national bank? What solution did Madison propose to the two? How did they interpret the Constitution, respectively?

• They clashed over if the national bank was even constitutional to begin with.

• Madison proposed that bonds would be paid back at full value to original holder and partial value to speculators.

• Hamilton read the Constitution through the spirit of the word, while Jefferson read it to the letter of the word.

What failed out of the implementation of Hamilton’s ideas?

• The First National Bank would only last for 25 years.

• The Whisky tax would cause the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion.

• Most of his plan to promote manufacturing would die, and sectionalism would grow between the north and the south.

What began to emerge out of Hamilton and Jefferson’s debates?

• Party Politics

What was the Whiskey Rebellion? What did it lead to?

• In 1794, farmers refused to pay the tax on whiskey and began to riot. Washington would have to lead troops to put down the rebellion, which lead to party politics.

What two political parties emerged in congress?

• Federalists and Democrat Republicans (or, Little R Republicans).

Who were the Federalists? Who were they composed of? What were their beliefs?

• People who supported Hamilton’s ideas in regards to the bank.

• A lot were investors and merchants, usually concentrated in the Northern metropolitan areas.

• They wanted to imitate the industrial interests of countries like Great Britain to make the US a modern country.

Who were the Republicans? Who were they composed of? What were their beliefs?

• Agrarians who saw industry as a corrupting enterprise.

• They were headed by Thomas Jefferson and many of them were farmers.

• They held beliefs in agrarianism, did not like industry, and wanted to keep the US in rested development. They believed industrialization leads to exploitations of liberty?

What was ironic about the Republicans worrying that industrialization would lead to liberty?

• Many Republicans were slaveholders

• what side would Washington pick for his second term? What was the effect of this?

• He chose the Federalist party.

• It put him at odds with Jefferson.

What did Washington caution that country about in his farewell address?

• Political parties lead to division among America.

Who ran in the 1796 election? What party did each belong to? Who would win? What did people see that win as?

• John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

• Adams - Federalist, Jefferson - Republicans

• Adams would win.

• People saw it as a continuation of Washington’s presidency since Adams was his VP.

What three things mark Adams’ Presidency?

1. The construction of Washington, D.C.

2. The XYZ affair

3. The alien and sedition Acts

What led to the XYZ affair? What/Who was XYZ? What was the outcome? What did people think about the outcome of XYZ’s actions?

• In 1794, John Jay made a no-war treaty in which it gave Britain favorable trade status, angering France. France would then begin to seize US shipping. To solve this, three ambassadors would be sent to France.

• XYZ were the pseudonyms of the ambassadors who were sent to France.

• XYZ were told by the prime minister that if they did not bribe him, France would continue to seize shipments.

• It made it look like the US could be bullied by other countries, even after Adams negotiated peace.

What were the Alien and Sedition Acts? What did they do? What was the pushback to these laws?

• In 1798, laws were passed by a federalist congress that were clear violations of free speech.

• They made it illegal to criticize the government and president, and you could be put into jail if you did. If you were not a citizen and were deemed dangerous or foreign, you could be deported by the government. (ex. Thomas Cooper).

• These acts made Adams very unpopular. Virginia and Kentucky would pass resolutions challenging their legality and Kentucky proposed the idea that states could nullify federal law.

Who was Thomas Cooper?

• A British Immigrant, he critized the Adams administration and was put into a jail and had to pay a fine.