Bank of the United States
Tags & Description
Bank of the United States
charter in 1791
Alexander Hamilton pushed for a way to centralize money and create stable currency
opposed by anti-federalist/democratic republics
deal: federalists could set up banks so long as US capital was along the potomac, placing a lot of political power in an area with a lot of demreps
Bill of Rights
the only way to convince antifederalists/demreps to support constitution -1791
10 original rights: #1: freedom of press, religion, assembly #2: write for either individual or militia to bear arms #3: soldiers can't stay in ur home #4: no searches w/o #5: no double jeapordy #6: right to fair/speedy trial #7: any trial worth more than $20 is derserving of jury #8: no cruel/unusual punishment, no excessively high bails #9: rights not in BoR are still rights #10: any power not explicitly given to national gov is for the states
Whiskey Rebellion
1791-94
rebellion against Hamilton's excise tax, one of four parts of his four pt plan
distilling wheat into whiskey was the cheapest way for farmers to store it, these taxes hit these farmers
george washington quelled it using militia force
demreps were now even more pissed at the feds bc not only were they hurting farmers, they were using strong federal force to trample said farmers down
Federalists
political party
notable members: Alexander Hamilton (figurehead), John Jay, John Adams
aristocrats who were wary of democracy
wanted manufacturing empire that looked like and was allies with Britain
strong federal government
loose interpretation of constitution (flexibility clause)
faded away after Adams presidency
more around new england region
Anti Federalists
political party turned into democratic-republicans/republicans
notable members: thomas jefferson (figurehead), patrick henry
supported French Rev, esp in early stages, wanted to honor alliance w france
wanted agrarian society with small military (looking inward)
strict interpretation of constitution
more around chesapeake region (basically where the farmers were)
weary of too much federal gov, wanted smaller, localized gov/econ
Judiciary Act of 1789
est. federal justice system
supreme court w/chief justice and five associates
federal district and circuit courts
office of attorney general
Farewell Address
washington trying to promote isolationism and warning against the dangers of political parties
should only interact w other countries on an impersonal, economic level
political alliances were dangerous and could lead to high strung emotions and shld only b made in extraordinary situations
1796 Washington's departure speech
him leaving after 2 terms set standard that wasn't broken until FDR then codified into law
written mostly by a hamilton
after presidency logical successor was hamilton but he was unpopular bc of affair, went to John Adams instead
XYZ Affair
1797-98
john adams sent envoys to france for diplomatic meeting with Talleyrand since France was also impressing bc they were pissed off of by jays treaty bc they thought it signaled angloamerican
intercepted by 3 agents (anonymous so x, y, z) who said they needed to pay an exorbinant fee to talk w him
"millions on defense
american public got pissed since they felt disrespected and so tallyrand was like "oops sorry" and let them meet up
there were calls for adams to go to war w france but he chose not to
while this was likely the smarter option considering america didn't really have any resources, it did cost him some popularity
Citizen Genet
1793-1794
french republic representative who was pissed off by the neutrality proclamation
landed in south carolina, where he was met with encouragement from demreps for his anger
recruited unauthorized armies to invade spanish florida, lousiana, and britsh canada - even madison and jefferson thought he was too extreme
washignton demanded his withdrawal after threatening to appeal over the head of "old washington," and got replaced with someone less extreme
Talleyrand
foreign minister for france during 1790s
after xyz affair, sent a roundabout policy by the means of promising america could meet up with france if they sent a different representative
convinced napoleon to try to conquer
signed secret treaty taking louisiana
Proclamation of Neutrality
1793
in response to FR, official statement that america was not going to get involved with it or any foreign conflict
actually were better able to help france through that position of neutrality because there was no way US had a strong enough military to be significant help militarily, but from a neutral position america could provide france with foodstuffs
Pinckney's treaty
1795
spanish treaty
spain believed jay's treaty had been an alliance btwn england and america and they wanted to step in to reassert their alliance w america and rivalry
gave right of deposit at New Orleans, great for trade
the only good thing about the jay's treaty and it was completely by accident
Alien and Sedition Acts
1798
capitilized on the anti-french hysteria after xyz affair
federalists passed through two laws through congress during john adam's presidency
sunset clause
alien: made it so immigrants cldn't be a us citizen until after 14 yrs of stay instead of 5
sedition: no free speech basically (cldnt say shit about the current gov)
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
1798
virginia: james madison
kentucky: thomas jefferson
passed secret resolutions against the alien and sedition acts in these respective states
thought that if the federalists could take away these rights (sedition act violated 1st amend), they had potential to take other rights away too
John Marshall
not a midnight judge, but appointed chief justice around that time
thomas jefferson's cousin
envoys during xyz
extremely federalist and committed to having a federalist court
had a significant hand in giving the supreme court its power of judicial review - basically orchaestrated marbury vs madison
when marbury sued after learning his position was being benched marshall dismissed it on the basis of it not being his constitutionally assigned role to judge this case, thus opening up a court case on what exactly the role of the supreme court should be
Marbury v. Madison
court case btwn "midnight judge" william marbury and james madison
gave supreme court power of judicial review
determined who had final authority on determining the meaning of the constitution, of which demreps said was a power of a state and opposed judicial review
marbury demanded writ mandamus bc supreme court
cldnt rule in favor bc power showdown
part of marbury used was unconstitutional
gave judicial review
1803
gave the supreme court tremedous power and a tangible, substantial role to play in american politics
Chesapeake incident
1807
one of the biggest examples of british impressment at the time
british frigate overhauled the US frigate the Chesapeake because they thought there were four british desserters
british captain demanded surrender of these four supposed desserters, and american commander stood his group
british warship fired at the americans, leave 3 dead 18 wounded
riled up american public
"Midnight judges"
last thing john adams did before he left office was appoint 16 new federal judgeships/judidicial offices using judiciary act of 1801
backlash from demreps who thought federalists where trying to make their influence stay for longer than it shld and the republican congress swept some benches/positions under
Louisiana Purchase
thicc purchase of land by jefferson from napoleon for the land west of the missippi river, including new orleans for $15 mil (3 cents per acre)
jefferson had an existential crisis before buying bc there wasn't anything in the constitution about procuring land
basically napoleon was trying to take over the new world after taking over, so jefferson sent envoys to scout out area and try to pry it out of napoleon's hands
he told them to go try and buy it from france, and if that failed, form an alliance with britain
napoleon didnt want an alliance btwn those two and also kinda gave up on taking over new world bc Haitian Revolution so he handed it to jefferson for super cheap
lewis and clark's corps of discovery to help explore the area, producing scientific observations, maps, and knowledge of NAs in area
Shay's Rebellion
1786
backcountry farmers losing farms bc of foreclosures and an inability to pay taxes (in debt)
led by captain daniel shays, veteran of rev war
demands for the state
paper money
lighten taxes
suspend property
massachusetts raised small army backed by wealthy, where several Shaysites were killed and wounded
struck fear of "mobocracy" in many feds
Embargo of 1807
jefferson's attempt to hurt france and britain without using war
u.s. trying to get back at france and britain for impressment and attempt to get them to respect america
embargos on all american exports, figuring the two would suffer wo America's raw materials
didn't work bc jefferson overestimated how much these two countries relied on America's raw materials
france was expanding and had other colonies
so the colonies ended up suffering significantly while england and france didn't care
low on food, everyone was pissed
1808 illicit trade sprung up
revoked in 1809, enough time to hurt america but not britain/france
Non-Intercourse Act
trying to make to the embargo 1807 work by making it so only britain/france were hurt
spoiler alert it flopped too
1809
revoked in 1812 when america finally declared war on england
both this act and the og embargo of 1807 accidentally boosted american manufacturing since americans weren't getting manufactured goods from outside so they had to start manufacturing on their own
Impressment
british taking americans on ships and forcing them to become british sailors/enlist in british navy
believed that some british people had ran and joined the americans and were in search of them
since america didn't uphold its side of the treaty by not giving loyalists their land back, they felt no obligation to uphold theirs
america was like "pls stop" and so britain signed non-intercourse act but then they didn't stop
rly sad looking for america bc america couldnt do anything so they looked weak
one of the causes of war of 1812
Judicial Review
power given by marshall vs madison
gave congress right to look over a law and determine if it was constitutional or not
(tmrw add stuff about how it gave a power demreps tried to allocate to states and shit)