Presidency of George Washington

Lecture

• In the debate surrounding the Constitution, two camps emerged: the Federalist and Anti-Federalists.

  • The Federalists favored the new Constituion.

    • Federalist was named as such to deflect charges taht they wanted too mcuh central gov

    • People like Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison were Federalists, and wrote pamphlets, gave speeches, wrote newspaper editorials to build support for the Constitution, giving out examples on why it didn’t work

      • They talked about things like Shay’s Rebelling occuring from the financial crisis

    • They are known for the publication of the Federalist papers, a collection of 85 papers anonymoustly written that stressed that the Constituion was the security and liberty people had fought for.

      • They act as an insight into the founders minds and thoughts

  • Anti-Federalist are more loosely organized - they oppose the new constituion

    • Included people like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry.

    • They were worried about the Constitution bringing too strong of a central government - would it bring back tyranny?

    • Because of this, they wanted a bill of rights since the constitution didn’t have guarenteed things like free speech, assembly, freedom of religion, etc.

      • THe fed. gov. might become too powerful and exert upon people’s personal liberties.

• Shay’s Rebellion would get a lot of people on the Federalists side since the Feds argue that’s what happens when you have too loose of a fed. gov.

  • People like creditors and merchants thought strong central gov. meant everyone gets paid more, meaning more business, making the coutnry more prospourous.

• The Constitution would have a tougher time getting support in larger states since they were strong on their own and didn’t need a strong fed. gov. to help their economic prosperity. Farmers were also worried their personal libterties weren’t being protected with the Constitution. Large states were skeptical they even needed to be in a strong fed. gov. system.

• A compromise would be made putting, winning over states like Massachusetts, by putting a bill of rights in the Constitution. New York and Viriginia would join after the publication of the Federalist Papers, and the Constituion would be ratified in 1788.

  • It is important to note the nature of what the Bill Of Rights entails - Freedom of speech for example does not mean you can make public disturbances, but rather that you are allowed to criticize the government without being thrown in jail.

• After ratification, George Washington was selected to be the president - he was unanimously elected by the Electroal College.

• A debate was started on what to call him - your highness? excellency? Ultimately, he is called Mr. President.

• Washington would go on to set up traditions for later presidents down the line, including:

  • Being dignified when meeting with foreign state leaders.

  • Establishes procedures for dealing with the public.

• Washington kept a lot of his privilege in check, though some disagreed. For example, after he bought a fancy stagecoach, people called him George Rex.

• The Judiciary Act of 1789

  • Since the Constituion only outlined a Supreme Court, this is what actually filled it in.

  • Established a hierarchical national judiciary system - 13 federal district courts, one for each state at the time. Appeals courts and circuit courts were also made.

  • The Supreme Court has the final say on decisions for all courts.

• The Tarif Act of 1789.

  • Tax on imported goods - helps domestic manufacturers, but widens sectionalism between the North and the South.

    • The north wanted high tariffs to supports its starting industrial factories

    • The South is still importing a lot of its good, so the tariffs hurt them, so they want low tariffs

  • A low tension begins to build between the two.

  • A compromise would be made, though - 5% tariffs on most goods (goes to the South’s favor) and a 50% tariff on manufactured goods (goes to the North’s favor).

Lecture 2

• Hamilton - why is he so important to the US?

  • Hamilton is from the West Indies - arrogant, but very intelligent.

  • By 1790, Hamilton was appointed to be the secretary of the treasury.

  • At that time, national debt was going up - about $52 million at that time.

    • Interest is going unpaid, debt was growing, people weren’t getting paid off

  • Hamilton has a plan in a series of four key ideas

    • 1. Pay the War debt by selling treasury bonds

    • 2. Assume the Debt to each of the states

      • This improves the US’s reputation since now people only have to deal with one thing - the fed. gov.

      • Where money flows, the power flows - the bigger debt responsibility, the more power the gov. has over a given state.

      • It buys them goodwill between the states

      • He also wants to put a tax on whiskey

        • Whiskey is a big commodity for rural areas that produce and sell

    • 3. He wants to charter a national bank, modeled after the Bank of England

      • It would be owned by both the government, the federal government itself, but also private investors.

      • It would serve as a central store for cash for the federal government - it’s where the taxes go, you could make loans to small businesses, etc.

      • It would also stabilize the currency

    • 4. The government should promote domestic industry

      • 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.

• Most members of congress held bonds to the government, so they wanted to cash them out, so they loved the plan. Opponents were worried this would create a system of permanent debt, though, so they are scared they will turn out like England. Southern States had also paid past of their debts, so this wasn’t helping them.

  • Hamilton would cut a compromise with Virginia to support debt assumption if the capital was moved from New York City - now, a permanent spot needed to be built.

  • It was put between Maryland and Virginia.

• Despite the deals made with Virginia (and to an extent Maryland), the charter for the bank was tough.

  • Some of the founding fathers wondered if it was even constitutional. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, was very skeptical because of the way the Constitution was written.

  • Madison would propose a solution - pay back bonds at full value to original holders, partial value to speculators.

  • Hamilton would ultimately win out, with Congress having the power to create the bank which would convince George Washington.

  • There becomes a split between reading the Constitution to its letter compared to the spirit of the Constitution.

  • Washington would sign a bill creating the first national bank, lasting for about 25 years. Hamilton’s ideas would later cause the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Very little of his plan to promote manufacturing would survive, and sectionalism would continue to emerge.

  • Party Politics began to emerge through the Hamilton and Jefferson debates.

  • In the Whiskey Rebellion, farmers refused to pay the tax on the whiskey. Washington would have to lead troops to put down the rebellion, beginning party politics of Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians.

Lecture 3

• Growing divisions between Jefferson and Hamilton also showed divides that were growing the federal government.

  • By the end of Washington’s first term, he doesn’t techincally run in a political party.

  • Both houses of congress had divided into two different camps, first showing up in the 1794 congressional elections.

    • Two Political parties had emerged - the Federalist and the Democrat Republicans. (Historians called them Little R Republicans.)

    • Federalists were people who supported Hamilton’s plan in regards to the bank. They wanted to imitate the industrial interests of countries like Great Britain, making it into a modern country.

      • A lot of them were investors and merchants - usually people tied to money and manufacturing.

      • They were mostly concentrated in the North, but there were plenty of people in the South as well. Regardless, a lot of their power lies in large metropolitan areas like New York and Boston.

    • Republicans were people interested in supporting the French Revolution, beliefs held in agarianism, and saw industry as a corrupting enterprise.

      • Jefferson was worried the US becoming too industrialized leads to exploitations of liberty (although many Republicans were slaveholders).

      • They want to keep the US in a form of rested development - Jefferson sees small farmers as the most virtuous people.

  • Washington would ultimately have to pick a side, and because he went with the bank bill, he slowly slides towards federalism. This put him at odds with Jefferson since he was the leader of the other political party.

  • Washington would end his run as president after two terms, and in his farewell address, he cautions the nation about the nature of political parties.

    • He says those caught up in political parties will ultimately divide Americans more than unite us.

• John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would be the two in the running for the Presidential election of 1796.

  • Adams is Federalist, Jefferson is a Republican.

  • Adams would ultimately win, having to succeed the popularity that was Washington. Adams was Washington’s vice president, so it seemed like a continuation of the Washington presidency.

• Adams’ presidency is marked by the literal construction of Washington DC, but also marked by notable scandals.

  • The first is the XYZ affair.

    • In 1794, the US under John Jay makes a treaty with Britain to avoid war. It gave Britain favorable trade status, making France upset over the treaty. They begin seizing US shipping.

    • In order to have a diplomatic solution, Adams dispatches three ambassadors to France, known under the pseudonyms X, Y, and Z.

    • The French prime minister demanded a bribe in order to stop the seizing of US shipping. It makes the Adams administration look like they’re being bullied by France. Adams would eventually negotiate peace, but the stain stayed.

  • The second is the Alien and Sedition Acts.

    • In 1798, laws were passed by the federalist controlled congress that we now know as the Alien and Sedition acts.

    • They made it illegal to criticize the government, and especially the president. Mostly Republican newspaper editors were put into jail - clear violation of free speech.

    • However, many federal judges were helping to jail these editors.

    • They also stated that if someone that wasn’t a citizen was dangerous or apart of a foreign background, they could be deported by the government.

      • One example is Thomas Cooper. A British immigrant, he criticized the Adams administration and was put into jail and had to pay a huge fine.

    • These acts received pushback that made Adams a very unpopular president.

    • Republicans responded angrily to the acts - Virginia and Hen Tucky passed resolutions challenging their legality, and Kentucky proposed the idea that states could nullify federal law.