Anglicization: the act of making something or someone English in either character or form

• Many English colonists adopted English customs, resulting in British style and etiquette

American Colonists Ideals:

• Republicanism: Defined a just society as one in which all citizens willingly subordinated their private, selfish interests to the common good. Both the stability of society and the authority of gov. Thus depended on the virtue of the citizenry

• Republicanism opposed hierarchical and authoritarian institutions such as aristocracy and monarchy. It valued a representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue.

• Radical Whigs: British political commentators—The Whigs feared the threat of liberty posed by the arbitrary power of the monarch and his ministers relative to elected representatives in Parliament

• Whigs were against corruption

• The Whig’s Writings shaped American political thought and made colonists alert to the encroachments on their rights

Mercantilism and Colonial Grievances:

• Mercantilism justified England’s control over the colonies

• They believed that wealth was power and that a country’s economic wealth (military and political power) was measured by the amount of gold or silver in its treasury.

• To amass gold or silver a country needed to export more than it imported. Possessing colonies could both supply raw materials to England and provide a guaranteed market for exports.

• Colonists were expected to furnish products needed in the England such as tobacco, sugar, and ships’ masts not indulge in economic self-sufficiency or autocracy

• Parliament passed laws to regulate mercantile system

• Navigation Law:

  • European goods destined for America first had to be landed in Britain; other laws stipulated that American merchants must ship products exclusively to Britain

• British policy also inflicted a currency shortage

  • Parliament prohibited colonial legislatures from printing paper currency and bankruptcy laws

• British crown also had right to nullify legislation passed by colonial assemblies if they worked against mercantile system

The Stamp Tax Uproar:

• Sugar Act of 1764:

  • First law passed by Parliament for raising tax revenue in the colonies for the crown; increased duty on foreign sugar imported from West Indies

• Quartering Act of 1765:

  • The Measure required certain colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops

• Stamp Tax:

  • It raised revenues to support new military force; act mandated use of stamped paper, certifying payment of tax

• Sugar Act and Stamp Act provided for trying offenders in admiralty courts, where juries were not allowed; the burden of proof was on defendant

• No Taxation without representation—Patrick Henry

• Stamp Act Congress of 1765:

  • Brought together 27 delegates from 9 colonies in NYC which was a significant step toward intercolonial unity—bounded by their hatred for the Stamp Act

• Non-importation agreement against British goods:

  • Woolen garments of homespun became accessible instead of British textiles,

  • eating lamb was discouraged so that wool could mature

  • The agreements were steps toward unity

  • more colonial protests occurred

• Sons and Daughters of Liberty:

  • Enforced non-importation agreements against violators, Patriotic mobs ransacked houses of unpopular officials

  • England was hard hit by America’s revolting since the British were not exporting

  • Parliament repealed Stamp Act in 1766

• Declaratory Act:

  • Parliament had right to bind colonies in all cases whatsoever

• Townsend Acts:

  • New regulations w/import duty on lead, paper, paint, and tea

• Boston Massacre:

  • Crowd of townspeople began taunting redcoats

  • The troops opened fire and killed/wounded 11 citizens

  • First to die was Crispus Attucks

Committees of Correspondence

• Local committees est. across Massachusetts and later in each of the 13 colonies, to maintain colonial opposition to British policies through the exchange of letters and pamphlets

Boston Tea Party:

• The British East India Company was awarded a monopoly of the American tea colonies by the London Government.  American teas detested the tea tax. Thomas Hutchinson did not budge and ordered tea ships not to clear Boston harbor until they had unloaded their cargoes

• On December 16, 1773:

  • 100 Bostonians disguised as Natives boarded the ships, smashed the chests of tea, and dumped their contents into the Atlantic

Intolerable Acts:

• Series of measures passed in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party: closing Port of Boston, revoking a number of rights in Massachusetts colonial charter, and expanding the Quartering Act to allow for lodging of soldiers in private homes. In response, colonists convened the First continental Congress and called for a complete boycott of British goods

Quebec Act:

• Allowed French residents of Quebec to retain their traditional political and religious institutions, and extended boundaries of the province southward to the Ohio River. The act was mistakenly perceived by the colonists to be part of Parliament’s response to the Boston tea party

First continental Congress

• It was to meet in Philadelphia to consider ways of redressing colonial grievances. 12/13 colonies—w/Georgia missing—attended and sent 50 men (Samuel Adams, John Adams, George Washington, and Patrick Henry)

• The Congress Drew up several papers such as Declaration of Rights, as well as appeals to other British American colonies, to the king, and to the British people

• The Association: Called for a complete boycott of British goods: non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption,

• Delegates were NOT YET calling for independence. They wanted to repeal offensive legislation and wanted to return to circumstances before parliamentary taxation

In April 1775, a British commander in Boston sent troops to nearby Lexington and Concord. They were to seize stores of colonial gunpowder and to bag rebel ringleaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. At Lexington, “ minute men” fired shots that massacred 8 Americans and wounded more. The redcoats retreated at Concord.

Valley Forge

• Basic military supplies in the colonies were dangerously low

• Munition could not be found

• American soldiers shivered went without food for 3 days in the winter of 1777-1778

• Manufactured goods were in short supply

• American militiamen were numerous but highly unreliable/undisciplined

Camp Followers

• Women played significant part in Revolution

• Many maintained farms and businesses while their fathers/husbands fought

• Large numbers of women camp followers accompanied the American army, cooking and sewing for the troops in return for money and rations

America Secedes From the British Empire

• Second Continental Congress

• Met in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775 with the 13 colonies represented

• Still no well-defined sentiment for independence—merely a desire to continue fighting in the hope that the king and Parliament would consent to a redress of grievances

• Congress drafted new appeals to British people and king—appeals that were spurned

• Delegates adopted measures to raise money and to create an army and a navy

• Selected George Washington to head army

• Bunker Hill:

• In June 1775, Colonists seized Bunker Hill from which they menaced the enemy in Boston. The British blundered bloodily by launching a frontal attack with 3000 men; colonists’ gunpowder finally gave out and were forced to abandon the hill

• Olive Branch Petition: In July 1775, Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition, professing American loyalty to the crown and begging the king to prevent further hostilities. Following Bunker Hill, King George III did not want reconciliation. In august 1775, he formally proclaimed the colonies in a rebellion

Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense

• One of the most influential pamphlets ever written

• Author: Thomas Paine

• Anticipated Thomas Jefferson’ s declaration that the only lawful states were those that derives their just powers from the consent of the governed

• Paine branded the lack of pro-activity of the colonists as contrary to common sense

• Why should Britain control America?

• Went a long way toward convincing the American colonists that their true cause was independence rather than reconciliation with Britain

• Pained called not simply for independence, but for creation of a new kind of political society, a republic, where power flowed from people themselves

Declaration of Independence

• On June 7, 1776, Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson—The Declaration of Independence was formally approved by the Congress on July 4, 1776.  He invoked the natural rights of humankind

• **Declaration of the Rights of Man—**Jefferson’ s Declaration of Independence impacted other nations as well—Future French Declaration of the Rights of Man—declaration officially born 13 years later

• Loyalists: Loyalists

• Patriots: American rebels

Battle of Long Island:

• British concentrated on NY as a base of operations

• British fleet appeared off NY in July 1776

• General Washington dangerously outnumbered met the British there

• Out-generaled and out-maneuvered, they were routed at the Battle of Long Island

• Washington escaped to Manhattan and crossed the Hudson river to NJ and reached Delaware

Battle of Trenton: George Washington crossed Delaware River.

• At Trenton, on December 26, 1776, he surprised and captured a 1000 Hessians

  • He inflicted defeat on British detachment at Princeton

Battle of Saratoga

• British General John Burgoyne would push down Lake Champlain route from Canada and meet up with General Howe’s troops in NY. He would advance up Hudson River to meet Burgoyne near Albany

• General Benedict Arnold had assembled every floatable vessel. His flotilla was destroyed but General Burgoyne was forced to retreat due to the weather

• GEneral Burgoyne began his invasion with 7000 troops

• Got bogged down north of Albany while American militiamen swarmed about him

• British army was trapped

  • Burgoyne was forced to surrender entire command at Saratoga to American general Horatio Gates

• Revived American cause; It made possible urgently needed foreign aid from France –ensured American independence

French Alliance:

• French wanted revenge against Britain and so they also sympathized with America

• American revolutionaries needed help

• Americans wanted free trade and freedom of the seas

• Benjamin Franklin was a diplomat

• The Treaty was an official recognition of America's independence lent powerful military heft to the Patriot cause

Battle of Yorktown

• British general Cornwallis had fallen back to Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown to await seaborne supplies and reinforcements, but British naval superiority slipped away

• Admiral de Grasse advised Americans that he was free to join with them in an assault on Cornwallis at Yorktown

• General Washington marched to Chesapeake from New York

• With Rochambeau’s French Army, Washington beset the British by land, while de Grass blockaded them by sea after beating off the British fleet

• Cornwallis surrendered which led to a Peace Treaty

Treaty of Paris of 1783:

• British formally recognized independence of the US

• Granted generous boundaries—stretched to Mississippi to Great Lakes and to Spanish Florida  (Spain had recently captured Florida from Britain)

• Yankees were to retain a share of Newfoundland, Canadians were displeased

• Americans had concessions

• Loyalists were not to be further persecuted

• Congress was to recommend to the state legislatures that confiscated Loyalist property be restored

• As for debts owed to British creditors, states vowed to put no lawful obstacles in the way of their collection

The Confederation and Constitution

• The continental congress in 1776 called upon the colonies to draft new constitutions

• They were asking colonies to summon themselves into being as new states

• The sovereignty of these states according to republicanism, would rest on the authority of the people

• States were sovereign:

  • They Coined money, raised armies and navies, and erected tariff barriers

Articles of Confederation

• Shortly before declaring independence in 1776, Congress appointed a committee to draft a written constitution for the new nation, which became the Articles of Confederation

• Unanimous approval of the Articles of Confederation by 13 states was required

• 13 states were linked together for joint action in dealing with common problems

• Problems of Confederation/congress

• Each state had a single vote so people in a tiny state with a little population had the same population as a big state with a larger population

• Bills dealing with subjects of importance required support of 9 states and any amendment of the Articles themselves required unanimous ratification—almost impossible

• Congress was weak since they had no power to regulate commerce (left the states free to est. different and conflicting sales regarding tariffs and legislation)

• They established a tax quote for each of the states to contribute their share on a voluntary basis, which was ineffective

• Articles of Confederation was one step toward Constitution

Landmarks in Land Laws

• Although the Congress of Confederation was limited, it succeeded in passing supremely farsighted pieces of legislation.

• Land Laws were related to an immense part of public domain recently acquired from the states and known as the Old Northwest. This area of land lay northwest of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Great Lakes

• First of these laws was the Land Ordinance of 1785: Provided that acreage of the Old Northwest should be sold and that the proceeds should be used to help pay off the national debt

• The land was divided into townships (6sq miles split into 36 sections of 1 sq/ mile each)

• The 16th section of each township was set aside to be sold for benefit of public schools

• Northwest Ordinance: Law came to grips with problem of how a nation should deal with its colonies: Temporary tutelage, then permanent equality

• When a territory had 60,000 people, it might be admitted by Congress as a state, with all the privileges of the 13 charter members; ordinance also forbade slavery in the Old Northwest

Shay’s Rebellion:

• In 1786, Impoverished backcountry farmers, many of them Revolutionary war veterans, were losing their farms through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies. Led by Capt. Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolution, these debtors demanded that the state issue paper money, lighten taxes, and suspended property takeovers. Hundreds of angry agitators, again seizing their muskets, attempted to enforce their demands

• Massachusetts authorities—-supported partly by contributions—-raised a small army.

• Several skirmishes occurred

  • At Springfield 3 Shaysites were killed and one wounded—and the movement collapsed. Daniel Shays, who believed that he was fighting anew against tyranny, was condemned to death but was later pardoned.

• Massachusett’’s legislature soon passed debtor-relief laws the Shays had championed.

Compromises:

• Some delegates decided they wanted to completely scrap the old Articles of Confederation, despite explicit instructions from Congress to revise

• Virginia Plan: Representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress should be based on population—an arrangement that would naturally give the larger states an advantage

• New Jersey Plan: Provided for equal representation in a unicameral Congress by states, regardless of size and population, as under the existing Articles of Confederation. Weaker states feared that the under the Virginia scheme, the strong states would band together and lord it over the rest

• Great compromise: Larger states were conceded representation by population in the House of Representative  and the smaller states were appeased by equal representation in the Senate. Each state, no matter how poor or small, would have two senators. The big states obviously yielded more. The delegates agreed that every tax bill or revenue measure must originate in the House, where population counted more heavily.

• Common law: Made it unnecessary to be specific about every conceivable detail. It provided flexible guide to broad rules of procedure, rather than a fixed set of detailed laws

• Civil law: Constitutions took the form of elaborate legal codes and were often strikingly lengthy.

Under New Constitution

• Executive in the presidency (still restrained) was inspired by Shays’s Rebellion

• The president was to have broad authority to make appointments to domestic offices—including judgeships—as well as veto power over legislation

• President as commander in chief, was granted the power to wage war, but Congress retained the crucial right to declare war

• Constitution was a bundle of compromises

• President was elected by Electoral College

• Large states had the advantage in popular voting, as state’s share of electors was based on the total of its senators and representatives in Congress, the small states would gain a larger voice if no candidate got a majority of electoral votes and the election was thrown to the House of Representatives, where each state would have for this purpose only, just a single vote (this only happened twice in 1800 and 1824)

3/5ths Compromise: Should voteless slave of southern states count as a person in apportioning direct taxes and in according representation in the House of Representatives?

• South wanted influence and said yes; North said slaves weren’t citizens and said no

• compromise : slave might count as 3/5ths as a person

• Americans could import slaves until the end of 1807, at which time Congress would have the authority to turn off the importations; all the new state constitutions except Georgia’s forbade overseas slave trade

President was appointed through electoral college

senators was chosen indirectly by state legislatures (later changed with 17th amendment)

House of Representatives was elected by eligible voters residing in congressional districts that candidate will represent

Federalists vs. Anti-federalists

• When 9 states had registered their approval through specially elected conventions, the Constitution would become the supreme law of the land in those states ratifying

• Anti-federalists opposed the strong federal government

• Included: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee

• States’rights devotees, backcountry dwellers, poor farmers—poorest classes; joined by those who desired paper money and debtors, who feared that strong central gov. Would force them to pay off their debts at full value

• Believed that sovereignty of the people resided in a single branch of gov—the legislature

• Federalists desired a stronger federal government

• George Washington and Benjamin Franklin

• Wealthier, more educated, better organized; controlled the press

• Every branch—executive, judiciary, and legislature—effectively represented the people

• The Federalist:

• Alexander Hamilton favored a much strong central government; him, John Jay, and James Madison wrote a series of articles for the NY papers

• Madison’s Federalist refuted the idea that it was impossible to extend a republican form of gov. Over a large territory

The Pursuit of Equality

• Society of Cincinnati: Organization founded to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the American Revolutionary War officers. The Society helped to pressure the gov. To uphold promises it made to officers in the Revolution

• Social Democracy was stimulated by growth of trade organizations for artisans and laborers & End of Primogeniture

• Disestablished: (18th century) to separate an official state church from its connection with the government; following the Revolution, all states disestablished the Anglican Church

• Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: measure enacted by the Virginia legislature prohibiting state support for religious institutions and recognizing freedom of worship; served as a model for the religion clause of the first amendment to the Constitution

Legal sanctions w/Domestic Trade in slaves

• Emancipation laws passed throughout North—no states south of Pennsylvania abolished slavery, and in both North and South, the law discriminated harshly against freed black  and enslaved blacks alike

• Emancipated African Americans could be barred from purchasing property, holding certain jobs, and educating their laws. Laws against interracial marriage also sprang up

• Abolition did not go further because Founding Fathers feared fracture of young nation

Women

Woman in Colonial America

• Woman usually lost control of her property when she married

• Married woman had no separate legal identity apart from her husband

• Adult woman could not vote, hold a political office, or serve on jury

• Adult woman had no legal rights over her children; divorce was very difficult to obtain

Remember the Ladies

• Abigail Adams and her husband John exchanged over 1200 letters, which reveals insights into thoughts of one of the most prominent and articulate couples in the colonial America

• On March 31, 1776, Abigail wrote a letter to John, who was then serving as the Massachusetts representative to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Aware that the delegates were on the brink of composing a Declaration of Independence, Abigail imposed to her husband to “remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than Your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands”

• John Adams refused to apply the logic of liberty to the status of women

• Abigail’s request underscored the fact that colonial women were treat as second-class citizens. Her letter demonstrated that some colonial women were aware of the discrepancy between the republican ideal of equality and the reality of how women were treated

• Civic virtue: notion that democracy depended on the unselfish commitment of each citizen to the public good; and this responsibility befell upon mothers, who morally educated their young

• Republican motherhood—elevated women to a newly prestigious role as special keepers of the nation’s conscience; Educational opportunities for women expanded, in the expectation that educated wives and mothers could better cultivate the virtues demanded by the republic in their husbands, daughters, and sons; Republican women now bore crucial responsibility for the survival of the nation

Launching New Ship of State

Washington for President

• George Washington was unanimously drafted as president by the Electoral College in 1789

• Washington established the cabinet

  • Constitution does not mention a cabinet, it merely provides that the president “May require” written  opinions of the heads of the executive branch departments

• At first, only 3 dept. Heads served under president:

• Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson

• Secretary of the treasury: Alexander Hamilton

• Secretary of War: Henry Knox

Bill of Rights

• First ten amendments to Constitution, adopted in 1791

• Safeguard American principles:

• Protections for freedom of religion, speech, and press

• Right to bear arms

• Tried by a jury

• To assemble and petition the gov. For redress of grievances

• Prohibits cruel and unusual punishments and arbitrary gov. Seizure of private property

• 9th amendment: Declares that specifying certain rights  “shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”

• 10th amendment: reserves all rights not explicitly or prohibited by the federal government to the “states respectively, or to the people”

• Preserved strong central gov. While specifying protections for minority and individual liberties, Madison’s amendments partially swung the federalist pendulum back in an antifederalist direction

• Judiciary Act of 178: organized Supreme Court—with chief justice and 5 associates, as well as federal district and circuit courts, and est. the office of attorney general; John Jay became first chief justice of the US

Hamilton Revives Public Credit

• Wanted to correct the economic vexations that rippled the Articles of Confederation

• The Plan was to shape the fiscal policies of the administrations to favor the wealthier groups

  • That way the wealthy would lend gov. Money and political support

  • The federal regime would thrive, the propertied classes would be wealthy, and prosperity would trickle down to the masses

• First objective was to bolster national credit

• Urged Congress to fund entire national debt at par: Funding at par meant that the federal gov. Would pay off its debts at face value, plus accumulated interest— $54 million

• Government bonds also depreciated to 10-15 cents on the $

• He urged Congress to assume debts of the states: $21.5 million

• Secretary made a case for assumption: state debts could be regarded as a proper national obligation, for they had been incurred in the war for independence

  • This would unify states to believe in federal gov. and shift attachment of wealthy creditors from the estates to the fed. gov

• States with heavy debts were happy but states with small debts were not

Customs Duties and Excise Taxes:

• First tariff law: imposed a low tariff of about 8% on the value of dutiable imports; Revenue was the main goal but the measure was designed to erect a low protective wall around infant industries

• Excise tax: tax on few domestic items, notably whiskey

Hamilton Battles Jefferson for a Bank:

• Hamilton proposed a private institution, of which the gov. Would be the major stockholder and in which the fed. Treasury would deposit its surplus

• Central gov. Would not only have a convenient strongbox, but federal funds would stimulate business by remaining in circulation

• Bank would also print paper money and provide stable national currency

• Jefferson argued vehemently against the bank; he insisted that there was no specific authorization in the Constitution for such a financial giant; he was convinced that all powers not specifically granted to the central government were reserved to the states

• Jefferson and his states’ rights embraced strict interpretation of the Constitution

• Hamilton believed that what the Constitution did not forbid it permitted; Jefferson believed that what it did not permit it forbade

• Elastic clause

• Invoked clause of Constitution that stipulates that Congress may pass any laws necessary and proper to carry out powers vested in the various government agencies

• Gov was explicitly empowered to collect taxes and regulate trade

• National bank would be necessary; Hamilton argued for broad interpretation of Constitution (so did federalist followers)

• The Bank of the United States: Created in 1791 and chartered for 21 years in Philadelphia; it had a capital of $10 million, ⅕ owned by fed. government

Whiskey Rebellion:

• Sharply challenged new national gov. In 1794

• Hamilton’s high excise tax bore harshly on the pioneers

• Rye and Corn distilled into alcohol became more cheaply transported to eastern markets than bales of grain; defiant distillers erected whiskey poles

• President Washington was alarmed, he summoned militias of several states

• Whiskey boys were overpowered

Emergence of Political Powers:

• National political parties, in modern sense, were unknown in America when George Washington took his inaugural oath; There had been Whigs, Tories, federalists, and antifederalists, but these groups were factions rather than parties

• Hamilton’s financial successes–funding, assumption, excise tax, bank, suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion—created political liabilities

• Schemes encroached upon states’ rights

• States were overshadowed by federal power

• Organized opposition began to build out of resentment against Hamilton’s revenue-raising and centralizing policies

Impact of French Revolution

• When Washington’s first administration ended in early 1793, Hamilton’s domestic policies had already stimulated the formation of two political camps—Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans vs. Hamiltonian Federalists

• Foreign Policy issues were brought about Washington’s second term in office

• French Revolution

• Imposed constitutional limitations on Louis XVI, which Americans supported

• In 1792, France declared war on Austria; France declared itself a republic

• Reign of Terror: Guillotine french masses; king beheaded in 1793, church was attacked

Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation

• Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans favored honoring alliance w/France. They wanted to enter conflict against Britain at the side of France

• George Washington and Hamilton believed that war had to be avoided at all costs; nation in 1793  was still Militarily, economically, and politically disunited

• Neutrality Proclamation: proclaimed gov.’s official neutrality in the widening conflict and warned American citizens to be impartial toward both armed camps (France and Britain)

• Isolationist tradition

Conflicts with Britain

• London gov. Was reluctant to abandon fur trade in Great Lakes region and wanted to build up Native buffer state to contain Americans

• British agents sold firearms to natives of Miami confederacy—an alliance of 8 nations who fought against Americans invading their lands

• Little Turtle, war chief of the Miamis, gave notice that the Confederacy the Ohio River as the US’s northwestern and their own southeastern border

• In 1790 and 1791, Little Turtle’s armies defeated armies led by Generals Harper and Arthur St. Clair. It was one of the worse US defeats in history of frontier

• Battle of Fallen Timbers: In 1794, General Anthony Wayne routed Miamies at this battle; British refused to shelter Natives fleeing from the battle. The Natives offered Wayne peace

• Treaty of Greenvilie: August 1795, a confederacy gave up parts of Old Northwest, including most of Indiana and Ohio; in exchange the natives received a payment of $20,000 an annual annuity of $9,000, the right to hand the lands they had ceded, and the recognition of their sovereign status

• British wanted to starve out French Indies. They expected US to defend France in Franco-US alliance. The British ignored America’s neutrality

• Seized 3000 American merchant ships in West Indies, impressed seamen into service on British vessels, three hundreds of others into dungeons

Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell

• Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London in 1794

• Jay entered negotiations (Jay’s Treaty)

• British promised to evacuate chain of posts on US soil

• Britain consented to pay damages for the recent seizures of American ships

• British did not pledge anything about future maritimes seizures and impressments or about supplying arms to Natives; forced Jay to bind US to pay debts still owed to British merchants on pre-Revolutionary acts

• Consequences:

  • Jeffersonian’s were mad

  • Fearing that the treaty foreshadowed an Anglo-American Alliance, Spain moved hastily to strike a deal with the US; Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795 with Spain granted the Americans virtually everything they demanded, including free navigation of the Mississippi, the right of deposit (warehouse rights) at New Orleans, and the large disputed territory of western Florida

• Washington’s Farewell Address: Strongly advised avoidance of permanently alliances like the Franco-American treaty of 1778. Washington did not oppose all alliances, but favored only temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

• Central gov. was established

• merchant marines were developing overseas

• Washington had kept nation out of both overseas entanglements and foreign wars

John Adams becomes President

• Issues of campaign: Federalist vs. Democratic-Republicans

• John Adams vs. Thomas jefferson

  • There was a narrow margin of 71 votes to 68 in Electoral College

• John Adams became President

• Jefferson became VP

• Adams was hated by Hamilton, who had resigned from the Treasury

Unofficial Fighting with France

• French were infuriated by Jay’s treaty

• Treaty was violation of Franco-American treaty; France didn’t want america to ally themselves with Britain

XYZ Affair:

• Adam wanted to steer America clear of war at all costs, so he appointed diplomatic commission of 3 men including John Marshall, future chief justice

• Adam’s envoys, reaching Paris in 1797, hoped to meet with Charle Maurice de Talleyrand, the French foreign minister

• Secretly approached by 3 go-betweens, who were the XYZ published dispatches

• Demanded loan of $250,000 for privilege of talking to Talleyrand

• Adam’s envoys came back home quickly and negotiations quickly broke down

• Due to the Tensions with French, the Navy department was created;

• The US marine Corps was also reestablished

• France did not want a war because it was busy in Europe

• British were actually lending Americans munitions

• America’s envoys were to meet with Napoleon Bonaparte

• Treaty known as Convention of 1800: France agreed to annul 21 year old Franco-US Alliance and US agreed to pay damage claims of American shippers

• Adams smoothed path for peaceful purchase of Louisiana 3 years later

Federalist Witch Hunt

• Drove laws through Congress that were designed to minimize Jeffersonians

• Aimed at pro-Jeffersonian “aliens” who consisted of Most European immigrants, lacking wealth

• They were scorned by aristocratic federalist party and welcomed into Jeffersonian parties

• Federalist Congress raised residence requirements for aliens who were naturalized from 5 years to 14

• Alien Laws: struck heavily at immigrants; president was empowered to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace and to deport or imprison them in time of hostilities

• Alien laws were never enforced

• Sedition ACt: Law provided that anyone who impeded the policies of the government or falsely defamed its officials, including the president, would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment. Jeffersonian editors were indicted under SEdition Act

• Sedition Act: direct conflict with Constitution, but Federalist Supreme court did not declare this law unconstitutional

Virginia (Madison) and Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions:

• Virginia Kentucky resolutions concluded that the federal regime had exceeded its constitutional powers and that with regard to the Alien and sedition Acts, nullification—a refusal to accept them—was the rightful remedy

• The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. The Resolutions argued that the states had the right and the duty to declare unconstitutional any acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution.

• Formulation of extreme states’rights view regarding the Union

Election of 1800: Thomas Jefferson wins

• Differences between FEderalists and Democratic republicans were deeply ingrained

• Revolution of 1800: In the United States Presidential election of 1800 Vice-President Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams. The election was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party in the First Party System

Jeffersonian Restraint:

• Jackson excised the excise tax, but left the Hamiltonian framework essentially intact; did not tamper with Federalist programs for funding the national debt at par and assuming the Revolutionary War debts of the states; no attack on the bank of the US nor did they repeal the mildly protective Federalist tariff

The Dead Clutch of the Judiciary

• Judiciary Act of 1801: Law that the Federalist Congress passed to increase the number of federal courts and judicial positions; President John Adams rushed to fill these positions with Federalists before his term ended

• Midnight Judges: President Adams quickly filled as many of the newly created circuit judgeships as possible and the new judges were known as the Midnight Judges because Adams was said to be signing their appointments at midnight prior to President Thomas Jefferson's inauguration.

• Marbury v. Madison: Supreme Court decision declaring part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional, thereby establishing an important precedent in favor of judicial review

• Chief Justice John Marshall was appointed by John Adams—Federalist after seeing lack of central gov. In revolutionary war in valley forge; Marshall said that part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 on which Marbury tried to base his appeal was unconstitutional. Thea ct had attempted to assign to the Supreme Court powers that the Constitution had not foreseen

Tripolitan war:

• US wanted to set an example for the world, forswearing military force and winning friends through peaceful coercion

• However, there were harsh realities

  • Pirates of the North African Barbary States (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli) had long made national industry of blackmailing and plundering merchant ships that venture into the Mediterranean Sea

• War across Atlantic was not part of Jeffersonian vision—neither was paying tribute to pirate states

• Jefferson was a non-interventionist, pacifist, critic of a big-shape navy

• Dispatched infant navy to shores of Tripoli

• AFter 4 years of fighting, Jefferson succeeded in extorting a treaty of peace from Tripoli in 1805; secured at bargain price of $60,000—sum representing ransom payments for captured Americans

• Jefferson advocated usage of small gunboats, which the navy used with some success in Tripolitan war

  • He pledged advocated for a large number of small gunboats

Louisiana Purchase:

• A secret pact was signed in 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte induced the king of Spain to cede to France the immense Trans-Mississippi region of Louisiana, which included the New Orleans area

• In 1803, Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to join forces with the regular minister, Robert R. Livingston

• He sent two envoys who were instructed to buy New Orleans and as much to its east as they could get for a maximum of $10 million. If these proposals should fail and the situation became critical, negotiations were to be opened with Britain for an alliance

• Napoleon decided to sell all of Louisiana and abandon dream of New world empire

• Napoleon failed in his efforts to reconquer sugar-rich island of Santo Domingo (Haiti), for which Louisiana was to serve a source of foodstuffs

• Haitian Revolution: Rebellious enslaved Africans, inspired by the French Revolution’s promises of equality, and led by Touissant L’Ouverture had struck for freedom in 1791

• The Island had mosquitoes carrying yellow fever, which struck the french troops

• Napoleon was going to end 21 month in deadly conflict with Britain

  • British controlled the seas, he feared that he might be forced to give the Louisiana

• He Decided to sell Louisiana to Americans

  • Napoleon hoped that the US would one day be a military and naval power that would defeat Britain

• France ceded Louisiana and New Orleans to US for $15 million 1803

• Louisiana Purchase is an example of of strong federal government which Jeffersonian principles were against

  • Jefferson also perceived that the vast domain could develop the size of the US and ensure American democracy

• Admitted that buying Louisiana was unconstitutional

• Corps of Discovery: An Enormous extent of new area was fully unveiled by explorations under Jefferson’s direction. IN the spring of 1804, Jefferson sent Meriweather Lewis and William Clark to explore northern part of Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery ascended Missouri River from St. Louis and spent winter with Mandan natives; aided by Shoshone woman Sacajawea, the adventurers struggles across the northern prairies and through Rockies, finally descending Columbia River to the Pacific coast

Aaron Burr:

• Jefferson’s first-term vice president was dropped from the cabinet in Jefferson’s second term, Burr joined with a group of Federalist extremists to plot the secession of New England New New York. Alexander Hamilton exposed and foiled the conspiracy. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel and killed Hamilton. Burr thus destroyed his one last remaining hope of effective leadership. Burr also schemed with General James Wilkinson—governor of Louisiana territory—to separate the western part of the US from the East and expand their new confederacy with invasions of Spanish-controlled Mexico and Florida

• Burr was arrested and tried for treason. Burr was acquitted and fled to Europe where he urged Napoleon to make peace with Britain and launch a joint invasion of America. Burr’s insurrectionary brashness demonstrated that it was one thing for the US to purchase large expanses of western territory, but quite another for it to govern them effectively.

Precarious Neutrality

• Jefferson was reelected in 1804

• Orders in Council

• British laws which led to the War of 1812. Orders-in-council passed in 1807 permitted the impressment of sailors and forbade neutral ships from visiting ports from which Britain was excluded unless they first went to Britain and traded for British goods.

• Closed the European ports under French control to foreign shipping, including American, unless the vessels first stopped at a British port. Napoleon ordered seizure of all merchant ships , including American, that entered British ports. There was no way to trade with either nation with facing the other’s guns.

• Impressment: forcible enlistment of sailors—form of conscription that the British

• Chesapeake Affair:

• A royal ship overhauled a Us ship, the Chesapeake, about 10 miles off the coast of Virginia. The British captain demanded the surrender of 4 alleged deserters. London had never claimed the right to seize sailors from a foreign warship and the American commander refused the request. The British warship fire three broadsides at close range, killing 3 Americans and wounding 18. Four deserters were dragged away and the Chesapeake was dragged back to port. Britain was wrong and Americans were infuriated.

Embargo Act:

• US’s navy was weak because of Jefferson’s anti-navalism and the army was even weaker

• Warring nations in Europe depended heavily upon the US for raw materials and foodstuffs

• In his search for an alternative to war, Jefferson seized upon this essential fact and reasoned that if America voluntarily cut off its exports, the offending powers would have to agree to respects its rights

• Congress passed the Embargo Act  which forbade the export of all gods from the US, whether in American or foreign ships

• Embargo would vindicate the rights of neutral nations and point to a new way of conducting foreign affairs

• American economy however faltered; illicit trade flourished in 1808 along Canadian border

• Non-intercourse Act: Noticing the American’s anger with the staggered economy and its effects on their standards of living, Congress repealed the embargo on March 1, 1809. A substitute was provided by the non-intercourse act. The measure formally reopened with all nations of the world, except Britain and France.

Madison’s Gamble:

• Jefferson left presidency after 2 terms

• James Madison took presidential oath on March 4, 1809

• The Non-Intercourse ACt of 1809 was set to expire in 1810. Congress dismantled the embargo completely with a bargaining measure known as Macon’s Bill No. 2. While reopening American trade with all the world, Macon’s Bill dangled what Congress hoped was an attractive lure. If either Britain or France repealed its commercial restrictions, America would restore its embargo against the non-repealing nation.

• Macon’s Bill No. 2

Tecumseh and the Prophet

• War Hawks

• Young hot-headed many from the South and West

• Federalists were opponents

• The newcomers wanted new war with Britain

• War hawks were weary of Britain because of fathers being in American Revolution and detested manhandling of American sailors and the British Orders in Council that damned the flow of American trade, especially western farm product headed for Europe. Western war hawks also wanted to wipe out Natives since they “threatened” pioneer settlers who were streaming into the trans-Allegheny wilderness.

• Two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, began to weld together a confederacy of all the tribes east of the Mississippi inspiring a movement of Native unity and cultural renewal. Tecumseh urged his supporters never to cede land to whites unless all Natives agreed.

• Battle of tippecanoe

• In fall of 1811, William Henry Harrison—governor of Indiana Territory—gathered an army and advanced on Tecumseh’s headquarters at junction of Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers in Indiana. Tecumseh was absent, recruiting supporters in the South, but the prophet attacked Harrison’s army with a small force of Shawnees. The Shawnees were routed and their settlement burned. The Battle made Harrison a national hero, discredit the Prophet, and drove Tecumseh into an alliance with the British. When America’s war with the British came, Tecumseh fought for them until his death in 1813 at the Battle of the Thames. With him perished the dream of a Native confederacy.

Second War for Independence and Upsurge of Nationalism (1812-1824)

• War of 1812: Fought between Britain and the US largely over the issues of trade and impressment. Though the war ended in a relative draw, it demonstrated America’s willingness to defend its interests military, earning the young nation newfound respect from European powers.

• America would have been more successful in capturing Montreal, the center of population and transportation, but they wasted their strength in the three-pronged invasion of 1812. The trio of invading forces that set out from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake Champlain were all beaten back shortly after they crossed the Canadian border.

• American navy did much better than the army; navy had better crafted ships, had better gunners, and were manned by non-press gang crews who wanted to avenge the indignities. The American ships--- Old Ironsides--- had thicker sides, heavier firepower, and larger crews.

• Control of the Great lakes was vital

  • Naval Officer Oliver Hazard Perry managed to build a fleet of ships on the shores of Lake Erie; he captured  British fleet in an engagement on the lake; forced to withdraw from Detroi and Fort Malden, the retreating British were overtaken by General Harrison’s army and beaten at the battle of the Thames in October 1813

• Americans by late 1814, were far from invading Canada and barely defending their own soil against invading British. The US was faced with Britain alone since france ousted Napoleon in 1814.

• The British prepared in 1814 for a blow into NY, Britain was forced to bring supplies over Lake Champlain waterway. An American fleet, commanded by Thomas Macdonough challenged the British. The battle was fought on 9/11/1814. Macdonough emerged victorious.

  • The results of his naval battle were:

    • British army was forced to retreat, Macdonough saved upper New York from conquest, New England from further disaffection, and the Union from possible dissolution. He also affected the negotiations of the Anglo-American peace treaty in Europe.

Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended

• Second British force landed in Chesapeake Bay area in 8/1814 advanced on Washington; the British entered the capital and set fire to most of the public buildings, including the Capitol and the White House. The AMericans at Baltimore held firm. The British fleet hammered Fort McHenry with their cannons but could not capture the city. Francis Scott Key, detained, wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Battle of New Orleans

• Third blow of of 1814, aimed at New Orleans menaced the entire Mississippi Valley. Andrew Jackson, was placed in command. His force included 7000 sailors, regulars, pirates, Frenchmen, and militiamen from Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The British blundered badly. They launched a frontal assault on the entrenched American riflemen and cannoneers. The attackers suffered devastating defeat.

Battle of New Orleans unleashed wave of nationalism and self-confidence

Royal Navy had finally retaliated by throwing a naval blockade along America’s coast and by landing raiding parties at will. American economic life, including fishing was crippled. Customs revenues were choked off, and by the end of the war, the Treasury was bankrupt and unable to meet its obligations.

Treaty of Ghent

• Tsar Alexander I of Russia, feeling pressured by Napoleon’s army and not wanting British ally to waste its energy on America, had proposed mediation. The motion was set when 5 American peacemakers arrived in Belgian city of Ghent in 1814. The group was headed by John Quincy Adams. The British envoys made demands for a neutralized Native buffer state in the Great Lakes region, control of the Great Lakes, and a substantial part of conquered Maine. The Americans rejected terms. New of British reverses in New York and Baltimore, and war-weariness in Britain, made london more willing to compromise. Preoccupied with redrafting Napoleon’s map of EUrope at the Congress of Vienna, The British resigned its demands.

• The Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas EVe, 1814, was essentiall an armistice. Both sides agreed to stop fighting and to restore conquered territory. No mentionw as made of those grievances for which America had fought: The native “menace¨, search and seizure, Orders in Council, impressment, and confiscations; War ended in a draw

Federalist Grievances:

• New England prospered during War of 1812 because of illict trade in Canada

• New England extremists became more vocal. A manifestation of Federalist discontent appeared with the Hartford Convention. When the capture of New Orleans seemed imminent, Massachusetts issued a call for a convention at Hartford, Connecticut. States included: Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, with New Hampshire and Vermont sending partial representation

• There, they discussed their grievances and to seek redress: They demanded financial assistance from Washington to compensate for lost trade and proposed constitutional amendments requiring ⅔ vote in Congress before an embargo could be imposed, new states admitted, or war declared. Most demands reflected Federalist fears that New England was falling subservient to agrarian South and West. Delegates sought to abolish ⅗ clause of Constitution, to limit presidents to a single term, and to prohibit the election of 2 successive presidents from the same state. Three envoys from Massachusetts carried these demands to Washington. The trio arrived when news from New Orleans and Ghent was circulating. New England’ s complains seemed treasonous. The Hartford resolutions were the death of the Federalist party.

• The Jeffersonian embargo and crippling of the war effort were 2 of the most damaging acts of nullifcation in America prior to the events leading to the Civil War

Second War for America  Independence

• Rush-Bagot Agreement:

  • between Britain and the Us severely limited naval armament on the lakes.

  • Better relations brought the last border fortifications down in the 1870s, with the result that the US and Canada came to share the world’ s longest unfortified boundary

• After Napoleon’ s defeat at Waterloo in June 1815, Europe retreated into peace of exhaustion

The American System

• Nationalism manifested itself in manufacturing

• A nationalist Congress responded by passing the path-breaking

• **Tariff of 1816–**the first tariff in American history instituted primarily for protection, not revenue. Its rates—roughly 20 to 25% on the value of dutiable imports—were not high enough to provide adequate safeguards, but the law was a beginning.

• Nationalism was also highlighted by Henry Clay’s plan for developing profitable profitable home market, so he Created American System

• Began with strong banking system, which would provide easy and abundant credit; also advocated a protective tariff, behind which eastern manufacturing would flourish. Revenues from the tariff would provides funds for third component of American system—a network of roads and canals, especially in Ohio Valley. Through these new infrastructure, transportation would flow foodstuffs and raw materials from the SOuth and West to the North and East. In exchange, a stream of manufactured goods would flow in the return direction, uniting the country together economically and politically.

• Congress voted in 1817 to distribute $1.5 million to the states for internal improvements, but President Madison vetoed this handout measure as unconstitutional. Individual states were forced to venture ahead with construction programs of their own, including Eire Canal, completed by NY in 1825. Jeffersonian Republicans did not like the idea of direct federal support of intrastate internal improvements. New ENgland in particular strongly opposed federally constructed roads and canals because the outlets would further drain away population and create competing states beyond the Mountains

The So-Called Era of Good Feelings

• Era of good feelings was a misnomer; considerable tranquility and prosperity did befall on early years of Monroe, but the period was a troubled one. The acute issues of the tariff, the banks, internal improvements, and sale of public lands were being hotly disputed. Sectionalism was beginning to take form and the conflict over slavery was beginning to become an issue as well

Panic of 1819 and Curse of Hard Times

• Panic of 1819:

• First national financial panic since President Washington took office

• Over Speculation in frontier lands accused panic of 1819

• Bank of United states became deeply involved in speculation

• Financial paralysis from the panic setback nationalism

• WEst was especially hit hard; the Bank of the US forced the speculative western banks to the wall and foreclosed mortgages on countless farms; Bank of US became evil

• Panic of 1819 also affected political and social world: poorer classes were severely debilitated and attention directed onto to the inhumanity of imprisoning debtors.

Growing Pains of the West

• West expanding a lot

• Continutation of westward movement

• Land exhaustion

• Additional developments: acute economic distress during embargo years was a motivation

• Defeat of Natives by Generals Harrison and Jackson opened up land for colonizers

• The building of highways improved land routes to the Ohio Valley

• The West was still weak in population and influence; forced to ally itself with other sections

• The west demanded cheap acreage and partially achieved its goal in the Land Act of 1820, which authorized a buyer to purchase 80 acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash

• West also demanded cheap transportation and slowly got it, despite constitutional qualms and hostility of easterners

• West demanded cheap money, issued by its own banks, and fight Bank of US

Slavery and the Sectional Balance

• Sectional tensions, involving rivalry between slave South and free north over control of West, were underscored in 1819. Missouri wanted to be a slave stated—contained sufficient population to warrant statehood. But the House of Representatives stopped plans of Missourians by passing incendiary Tallmadge amendment—stipulated that no more slaves should be brought into Missouri and also provided for gradual emancipation born to enslaved parents already there—southeners were pissed and defeated in the SEnate

• North was becoming wealthier and had bigger population—an advantage reflected in an increasing northern majority in the House of Representatives

• In the Senate, each state had 2 votes, regardless of size—11 states free and 11 slave—southerners had equality.

• Peculiar institution: A euphemism for slavery and the economic ramifications of it in the american south. the term aimed to explain away the seeming contradiction of legalized slavery in a country whose declaration of independence states that "all men are created equal"

Missouri Compromise

• Henry Clay created Missouri Compromise

• Congress agreed to keep Missouri as slave state but also Maine as admitted as a separate state, which kept the North and South balanced

• Although Missouri was permitted to retain slaves, all future bondage was prohibited in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line 36૦3-’---the southern boundary of Missouri

• Both north and south were unhappy (how you know compromise works)

John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

• Nationalism of the post-Ghent years despite setbacks concerning slavery was further reflected and reinforced by the Supreme Court

• The high tribunal was dominated by Chief Justice John Marshall
  One group of his decisions bolstered power of the federal gov. At the expense of the states

• McCulloch v. Maryland:

• Suit involved an attempt by the State of Maryland to destroy a branch of the bank of the US by imposing a tax on its notes

• John Marshall declared bank constitutional by invoking the Hamiltonian doctrine of implied powers; strengthened federal authority and slapped at state infringemenets when he denied the right of Maryland to tax the bank.

• Marshall’s ruling gave the doctrine of loose construction its most famous formulation. The constitution derived from the consent of the people and thus permitted the government to act for their benefit.

• Cohens v. Virginia: Gave Marshall one of his greatest opportunities to defend federal power

• Cohen brothers, found guilty by Virginia courts of illegally selling lottery tickets, appealed to the highest tribunal; VIrginia “won”in the sense that the conviction of the Cohens was upheld. But Virginia and all the individual states lost because Marshall asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review the decisions of the state supreme courts in all questions involving powers of teh federal government.

• Gibbons v. Ogden:

• Suit grew out of an attempt by New York to grant to a private concern a monopoly of waterborn commerce between NY and Nj. Marshall reminded NY that the Constitution conferred on Congress alone the control of interstate commerce.

• Marshall’s decisions bolstered judicial barriers against democratic or demagogic attacks on property rights

• Fletcher v. Peck:

• Georgia legislature, swayed by bribery, granted 35 million acres in Yazoo River country (Mississippi) to private speculators. Next legislature canceled the transaction. But the Supreme Court decreed that the legislative grant was contract (even though fraudulently secured) and that the Constitution forbids state laws “impairing” contracts

• The Constitution protected property rights against popular pressures; which was also one of the earliest assertions of the right of the Supreme Court to invalidate state law conflicting with the federal Constitution

• Dartmouth College v. Woodward:

• The college had been granted a charter by King George III in 1769, but the democratic New Hampshire state legislature had seen fit to change it. Dartmouth appealed the case, employing as counsel—daniel webster. Marshall ruled that the original charter must stand. It was  a contract—and the Constitution protected contracts against state encroachments. The Dartmouth decision had the fortunate effect of safeguarding business enterprise from domination by the state governments. But it had the unfortunate effect of creating a precedent that enabled chartered corporations to escape the handcuffs of needed public control.

Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Flroida

• Anglo-American COnvention: Pact permitted Americans to share Newfoundland fisheries with Canadians. Also fixed vague limits or northern limits of Louisiana from present day Minnesota to the Rockies. The treaty provided for a 10 year occupation of Oregon country, without a surrender of the rights or claims of either AMerica or Britain

• Spanish FLorida was believed by americans to be destined to belong to them

• America already had West Florida

• REvolutions broke out in South America: Chile, Venezuela, Argentina

• America was happy for creation of new republics until Spain moved a majority of its forces to stop rebels in Florida

• Jackson was sent to enter SPanish territory “punish the hostile Seminole Natives” and recapture runaways, but he was to respect all posts under the Spanish flag. Jackson hanged 2 Native Chiefs, executed 2 british subjects for assisting the natives, and seized the 2 most important Spanish posts in the area—st. Marks and Pensacola where he deposed the Spanish governor

• President Monroe and his cabinet wanted to disavow/discipline Jackson, except John Quincy Adams who wanted huge concessions from Spain (East Florida)

• Florida Purchase Treaty/Adams-Onis treaty: Spain ceded Florida and Spanish claims to Oregon, in exchange for America’s abandonment of claims to Texas, soon to become part of independent Mexico.

Monroe Doctrine

• Born in late 1823 when Nationalistic Adams won Monroe over—Monroe in his regular annual message to COngress on December 2, 1923, incorporated a stern warning to the European poers: noncolonization and noninternvention

• He first directed these orders toward Russia in the Northwest and a warning against foreign intervention—concerned with regions to the south, where fears were felt for Spanish American republics. Monroe directed Europe to keep their monarchical systems out of Western hemisphere. US would not intervene in war that Greeks were fighting against Turks for independence

• The monarchs of EUrope were angry with the doctrine due to America’s pretentiousness and Puny military

• Monroe’s message did not have much significance; not until 1845 when President Polk revived it and it became important 19th century

• Even before Monroe’s message, the Tsar had decided to retreat

  • Formally did in the Russo American Treaty of 1824 which fixed southernmost limits at the line of 54૦40–present southern tip of Alaska

• President Monroe was concerned with the security of the US not of Latin America.

• US has never willingly allowed a foreign nation to secure a foothold near Caribbean. Yet in absence of British navy or other allies, Monroe Doctrine has never been greater than America’s power to eject trespasser

• While giving voice to a spirit patriotism, it deepened illusion of isolationism

• Americans falsely concluded that Republic insulated from European dangers simply because it wanted to be and because Monroe had warned the Old World Powers to stay away