HIST 1301 - Test 3

Articles of Confederation: More akin to a “League of Friendship” than a truly effective government

Power of the Articles:

1. To direct national foreign policy

2. To direct the conduct of national wars

3. To borrow and print a national currency

Problems with the Articles:

1. Could not regulate trade

2. Could not stop domestic insurrections

Shays’ Rebellion:

• Led by Daniel Shay

• A massive taxpayer revolt in western Massachusetts

• Because Shays’ Rebellion many feared more rebellions

Constitutional Convention:

• Met in Philadelphia

• Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate in attendance

• George Washington served as the president of the convention

• Rhode Island refused to attend

Virginia Plan (Madison / Randolph):

1. Bicameral legislature

2. Representation based on population

3. An executive branch (president)

New Jersey Plan:

1. Unicameral legislature

2. Equal number of representatives

3. A judicial branch (supreme court, the most powerful)

Three-fifths Compromise (3/5): Every 5 slaves would count as 3 voters.

• The word “slave” appeared 0 times in the Constitution. “Person” and “persons” were euphemisms.

Federalists:

• In favor of Constitution.

• Washington and Franklin.

Anti-Federalists:

• Against the Constitution.

The Federalist Papers:

• James Madison. Alexander Hamilton. John Jay.

• Publius: Fake sign name.

Washington’s first cabinet:

• Vice President. John Adams.

• Secretary of War. Henry Knox.

• Attorney General. Edmund Randolph.

• Secretary of State. Thomas Jefferson.

• Secretary of Treasury. Alexander Hamilton.

Federalists (party):

• Hamilton’s party.

• Loose interpreters of the Constitution.

• Favored a centralized federal government.

Jeffersonian Republican (party):

• Jefferson’s party.

• Strict interpreters of the Constitution.

• Favored a de-centralized smaller federal government.

Hamilton’s Credit Plan:

1. Create a National Debt

2. Do that by assuming all revolutionary war debts

3. Create a National Bank to handle it all (debts, credits, revenue)

   Hamilton believed in future American industrialization.

Loose constructionists: Believed congress has “implied powers” not specifically spelled out in the Constitution

Strict Constructionists: Believed 10th Amendment reserves.

• (any powers that are not specifically given are reserved to those respective states, or to the people at large)

Whiskey Rebellion: A federal tax on liquor exploded into open rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. The first real test of the U.S. Constitution.

Washington’s Farewell Address:

1. Preserve the Nations Good Credit.

2. Avoid permanent alliance U.S. interest take precedence over all others.

3. Above all focus on unity.

Election of 1796:

• The Nation’s very first contested election.

• Hamilton rigged the election, but failed.

• Adams won. Jefferson became VP.

Jacobins: A violent authoritarian and intolerant group that took over the French Revolution; implemented the infamous “reign of terror”.

Quasi-War: The undeclared Naval War between the US and France (1798-1800).

XYZ Affair: Jacobin attempted to exhort money. Federalists exploded a bump in anti-French feelings.

Alien & Sedition Acts:

• Naturalization Act / Alien Enemies Act / Sedition Act

• Designed to silence and weaken Jefferson Republican Party.

• Tightened restrictions on foreign-born Americans.

• Raised the residency requirements for citizenship.

• Authorized the President to deport aliens and permitted their arrest, imprisonment, and deportation during wartime.

Election of 1800:

• Hamilton’s second attempt to rig the elections. Succeeded.

• Thomas Jefferson won. Aaron Burr VP.

Marbury v. Madison:

• Marbury sued the Jefferson administration for his appointment letter.

• Case established a legal precedent called Judicial Review.

• Judicial Review: Presumed power of the Supreme Court to claim final word on whether any law is constitutional. The birth of judicial activism.

• Judicial Activism: Creating law from the bench.

Louisiana Purchase to France:

• Jefferson’s most enduring legacy as President.

• Jefferson was on the horns of a Constitutional dilemma because he was a strict Constructionist.

Impressment: The kidnapping of American Sailors and forcing them to work on British Royal Navy Ships.

Chesapeake Incident (1807): Raised the cry for a declaration of war against New Britain.

• HMS Leopard: British ship in the Chesapeake Incident.

• USS Chesapeake: American ship. “Bad luck ship”

Embargo Act of 1807:

• The Act kept all American merchant-ships in port.

• Devastated the American Economy.

War Hawks: Young Jeffersonian Republicans who came from Western frontier and Southern States, wanted war. Wanted to incorporate Canada into the US.

Burning of Washington DC: British task forces landed on coast of Maryland, marched, attacked and burned DC.

Battle of Fort McHenry: US fortress that defended Baltimore, MD, where Key penned The Star-Spangled Banner (US hymn).

• Francis Scott Key: Maryland militia officer.

Hartford Convention:

• Connecticut.

• New England Federalist, angered by the decision to go to war, threatened to separate from the union (form their own country).

• Served to discredit and doomed the Federalists to irrelevancy.

Treaty of Ghent:

• Peace treaty that ended the war of 1812.

• Strategically inconclusive. Did nothing more than end hostilities between Britain and the US.

• “Status quo ante beilum”: They way things were before the war.

Battle of New Orleands: The one truly decisive military victory for American forces in the war of 1812.

• Technically, the war was already over.