Constitution Making in the States:

In 1776, the 2nd Continental Congress called the colonies to draft new constitutions.  Massachusetts called a special convention to draft its constitution and then submitted the final draft to the people.

As written documents, the state constitutions were intended to represent a fundamental law, superior to the short-lived impulses of ordinary legislation.

In the Revolutionary era, the capitals of New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were all moved westward.

Economics:

Economic democracy preceded political democracy.

After gaining its independence, the United States had limited trade with Britain, so it had to start making more products "in-house."

The post-war economy was not very good, and many Americans were poorer after the war.

Creating a Confederation:

Shortly before declaring independence in 1776, the 2nd Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft a written constitution for the new nation.  The finished product was the Articles of Confederation.  It was adopted by Congress in 1777 and it convinced France that America had a genuine government.  The Articles of Confederation wasn't ratified by all 13 colonies until 1781.

The Articles of Confederation:

The 13 colonies were joined together for joint action in dealing with common problems such as foreign affairs.

Congress had 2 major handicaps: 1) It had no power to regulate commerce, and this loophole left the states free to establish conflictingly laws regarding tariffs and navigation.  2) Congress couldn't enforce its tax collection program.  The states were NOT required to pay the government taxes, they were merely asked.

The Articles of Confederation had many faults, but it was a stepping stone towards the Constitution.

Land Laws:

Land Ordinance of 1785: stated that the acreage of the Old Northwest should be sold and the proceeds should be used to help pay off the national debt.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787: a uniform national land policy; created the Northwest Territories and gave the land to the government, the land could then be purchased by individuals; when a territory had 60,000 people, it might be admitted by Congress as a state, with all the privileges of the 13 other states.

Britain declined to make any commercial treaty with the colonies or to repeal its Navigation Laws (required the use of British ships to trade with Britain). Lord Sheffield argued in his pamphlet that Britain could win back America's trade without repealing the navigation laws.

The British remained in the Americas where they maintained their fur trade with the Indians.  The American states did not honor the treaty of peace in regard to debts and Loyalists.  The British primarily stayed because they wanted to keep the Indians on their side in case the Americans decided to attack Canada.

Spain was openly unfriendly to the Americans.  It closed off the Mississippi river to commerce in 1784.

Anarchy:

Shay's Rebellion: occurred in western Massachusetts in 1786; impoverished back-country farmers, who were losing their farms through mortgage foreclosures and tax delinquencies, attempted to enforce their demands of cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension of property takeovers; led by Captain Daniel Shays.  The uprising was crushed but it led to changes in laws.

Convention:

In 1786, Virginia called for a convention at Annapolis, Maryland to deal with the issue of interstate commerce. Alexander Hamilton saved the convention from collapsing (delegates from only 5 states showed up).  He called Congress to meet in Philadelphia the next year to fix entire fabric of the Articles of Confederation.

Alexander Hamilton was an advocate of a powerful central government.

On May 25, 1787, 55 representatives from every state except for Rhode Island were sent to Philadelphia to discuss how the government should operate.  (Constitutional Convention)  George Washington was elected as the leader.

The delegates hoped to save the revolutionary idealism and make it into a strong political structure.

Compromises:

Some of the delegates decided they would scrap the old Articles of Confederation, contradicting instructions from Congress to revise it.

The "large-state plan" was proposed by Virginia and was the first suggested framework of the Constitution.  It said that a state's representation in Congress should be based upon the state's population.

New Jersey presented the "small-state plan."  It centered on equal representation in Congress without regards to a state's size or population.

A "Great Compromise" was eventually agreed upon.  It called for representation by population in the House of Representatives, and equal representation in the Senate.  Each state would have 2 senators.  The new Constitution also called for a President.  Because of arguments over if the slaves would count towards the general population of the state, the "three-fifths compromise" was created.  The new Constitution also called for the end of the slave trade by the end of 1807. All new state constitutions except Georgia's forbade overseas slave trade.

The Constitution was meant to be a broad document. It grew out of common law, in which it is unnecessary to be specific about every possible detail.

Rhode Island was not present at the Constitutional Convention.

The members of the Constitutional Convention agreed economically (they demanded sound money and the protection of private property), and they agreed politically (they favored a stronger government with 3 branches and with checks and balances system).

Federalists and Anti-federalists:

Anti-federalists opposed the stronger federal government because they feared it would take away the power of the common man. They were led by Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee.  The anti-federalists mostly consisted of the poorest class.

Federalists were led by George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  Most of the Federalists lived in the settled areas along the seaboard.  Overall, they were wealthier, more educated, and better organized than the anti-federalists.  They also controlled the press.

The Debate in the States:

Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire were the first 9 states to sign the Constitution.  Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island were the only states to not sign it.  (4 Laggard States)

The Four Laggard States:

Virginia and New York eventually ratified the Constitution before it was put into effect.  Rhode Island and North Carolina were the last states to ratify it, and they did so only after the new government had been in operation for a few months.

These 4 states did not want to ratify the Constitution, but they could not safely exist as the only states "outside of the fold."

The architects of the Constitution believed that every branch (executive, judiciary, and legislative) effectively represented the people.

The Pursuit of Equality:

The Continental Army officers formed an exclusive hereditary order called the Society of the Cincinnati.

Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom: created in 1786 by Thomas Jefferson and his co-reformers; stated that religion should not be imposed on anybody and that each person decided his/her own faith.

The Philadelphia Quakers founded the first anti-slavery society in 1775.

The 1st Continental Congress called for the complete abolition of the slave trade in 1774.  Several northern states went further and either completely abolished slavery or provided the gradual emancipation of slaves.  No states south of Pennsylvania abolished slavery.

Civic Virtue: the idea that democracy depended on the unselfish commitment of each citizen to the public good.

Republican Motherhood: the idea that the mother was selflessly devoted to her family; this was described as the model of a proper republican mother.

Washington for President:

George Washington was unanimously elected as President by the Electoral College in 1789.  He took the oath of office on April 30, 1789.  He established the cabinet.

Washington's cabinet consisted of: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Secretary of War Henry Knox.

Bill of Rights:

James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights and helped get them passed by Congress in 1791.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the the federal court system, including the Supreme Court. It also created the office of attorney general.

John Jay became the first Chief Justice.

Hamilton:

Alexander Hamilton set out to fix the financial system of America. One of his first objectives was to strengthen national credit. In this vein, he pushed for funding at par, which meant that the federal government would pay off its debts at face value plus interest. He also pushed for the assumption, in which the federal government would pay states' debts.

States with large debts, like Massachusetts, accepted Hamilton's proposal, but states with small debts, like Virginia, did not want the government to assume state debts.  Hamilton's plan was passed by Congress in 1790 in a deal that placed the District of Columbia on the Potomac River (next to Virginia).

Customs, Duties, and Excise Taxes:

Hamilton believed that a national debt was good for the country: the more creditors to whom the government owed money, the more people there would be with a personal stake in the success of the government.

Hamilton supported the first tariff law (1789), which imposed taxes on certain imports. This brought in much-needed revenue for the government and protected small American industries.

In 1791, Congress passed an excise tax on a few domestic items, including whiskey.

Hamilton Battles Jefferson for a Bank:

Alexander Hamilton proposed a Bank of the United States that could print paper money and provide a stable national currency.  The national bank would also be a place where the Treasury could deposit monies.

Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed the Bank stating it was unconstitutional.  He felt that the states had the right to manage their own money.  Most of the opposition came from the south and most of the support came from the north.

Hamilton prevailed and the 1st Bank of the United States was created in 1791.  Its charter lasted for 20 years and was located in Philadelphia.

Various conflicts and battles broke out between Native Americans and expanding settlers. The American army lost the Battle of the Wabash in 1791.

The Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794 was lead by distillers who strongly opposed the 1791 excise tax on whiskey.  The rebellion was ended when President Washington sent in federal troops.  Although the troops faced no opposition, a strong message was sent by the government stating that it would enforce the law.

The Emergence of Political Parties:

Political parties had not existed in America when George Washington took office.

The personal feud between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton developed into a political rivalry.

In the 1790s, Jefferson and Madison organized their opposition to the Hamiltonian program but confined it to Congress.  In due time, this organized opposition grew and the two-party system emerged.

The Impact of the French Revolution:

When Washington's first administration had ended in 1793, a formation of two political groups had emerged: Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans and Hamilton Federalists.

Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans: supported states' rights and a smaller government

Hamilton Federalists: supported a powerful federal government

The French Revolution started in 1789 and eventually involved many European countries. It began peacefully but entered a violent phase when France declared war on Austria in 1792.  Things started to get worse when King Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793, the church was attacked, and the head-rolling Reign of Terror was begun.

Washington's Neutrality Proclamation:

Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans wanted to support the French in their war against the British. The Federalists were opposed.

Washington issued the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793 stating the country's neutrality from the Britain-France war.  He was backed by Hamilton.

Britain:

For years, the British had retained the frontier posts on U.S. soil, all in defiance of the peace treaty of 1783.  The London government did not want to abandon the valuable fur trade in the Great Lakes region, and British agents openly sold firearms to the Miami Confederacy, an alliance of 8 Indian nations who terrorized Americans.

The Jeffersonians felt that American should again fight Britain in defense of America's liberties.  The Federalists opposed this action because Hamilton's hopes for economic development depended on trade with Britain.

Jay's Treaty and Washington's Farewell:

In a last attempt to avoid war, President Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London in 1794 to negotiate.  Opposed by Democratic-Republicans, Jay hammered out a treaty, Jay's Treaty, in which the British promised to evacuate the chain of posts on U.S. soil and pay for damages for the seizures of American ships.  Britain did not agree to anything about future maritime seizures or about supplying arms to Indians.  The treaty also called for the U.S. to continue to pay the debts owed to British merchants on pre-Revolutionary War accounts.

Jay's Treaty caused Spain, which feared an Anglo-American alliance, to strike a deal with the U.S.  In Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 with Spain, Spain granted the Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River and the large disputed territory north of Florida.

In his Farewell Address to the nation, Washington urged against permanent alliances.  He left office in 1797.

John Adams Becomes President:

John Adams (Washington's Vice President) beat Thomas Jefferson to become to the 2nd President in 1797.

Hamilton became the leader of the Federalist Party, known as the "High Federalists."

Unofficial Fighting with France:

France was upset with Jay's Treaty and it started capturing American merchant ships.  President John Adams sent John Marshall to France to negotiate in 1797.  Hoping the meet Talleyrand, the French foreign minister, Adams's envoy was secretly approached by 3 go-betweens, later referred to as X, Y, and Z (Mme de Villette, Jean Conrad Hottinguer, and Lucien Hauteral).  The French spokesmen demanded a bribe of $250,000 just to talk to Talleyrand.  Angered by the intolerable terms, Marshall and the envoy returned to the U.S.

Infuriated with the XYZ Affair, America began preparations for war:  the Navy Department was created; the three-ship navy was expanded; the United States Marine Corps was re-established.

Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party:

Because France did not want another enemy, it said that if the Americans sent another negotiator minister, then he would be received with proper respect.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the dictator of France.

Eager to free his hands of a potential enemy, Napoleon Bonaparte signed the Convention of 1800 with American representative John Jay.  It annulled the alliance between France and America that had existed since the Revolutionary War. The convention also called for France to return captured American ships and for the U.S. to pay the damage claims of American shippers (damages were caused by France).

To decrease the number of pro-Jeffersonians, the Federalist Congress passed a series of oppressive laws aimed at "aliens", or foreigners who came to America and supported Jefferson.

These Alien Laws raised the residence requirements for aliens who desired to become citizens from 5 years to 14 years.  They also stated that the President could deport or jail foreigners in times of peace or hostilities.

The Sedition Act stated that anyone who impeded the policies of the government or falsely defamed its officials would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment.

The Virginia (Madison) and Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions:

Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions that stated that the states had the right to refuse laws created by the government. Virtually no other state followed the two states' resolutions.

Federalists versus Democratic-Republicans:

Hamilton Federalists supported a strong central government; they believed that the government should support private enterprise, not interfere with it; and they supported the British.

Jeffersonian anti-Federalists demanded a weak central government and supported states' rights.