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.

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