The Early Republic: From Washington to Jackson

Washington’s Presidency

★ Shaped by concerns re: foreign policy, economic policy, + the balance of power between states + federal government

★ Cabinet system - heads of departments met with + advised the president (originally Secretaries of State, Treasury, + War, plus AG)

○ Deliberate effort to include conflicting opinions; recognized importance of varied perspectives

○ Encouraged open discussion + debate

★ Signed a bill to establish the Bank of the United States

○ Debate over national bank centered on “necessary and proper clause” + highlighted two emerging factions:

→ Federalists (like Alexander Hamilton)

→ Democratic-Republicans (like Thomas Jefferson)

Washington’s Presidency

★ Proclamation of Neutrality set a precedent for isolationism in US foreign policy - refraining from involvement in international affairs

○ Response to French Revolution + tensions between England + France

○ US intended to remain “friendly and impartial toward belligerent powers”

★ Whiskey Rebellion - violent uprising among farmers in response to new tax on whiskey

○ Washington sent troops to quell the rebellion; affirmed that the federal government could handle political unrest

Important Legislation

★ Naturalization Act, 1790

○ Naturalization - the legal process of obtaining citizenship

○ The first legislation to codify immigration in the US; it limited citizenship after immigration to “free white persons” of “good character”

★ Fugitive Slave Act, 1793

○ Constitution included Fugitive Slave Clause - “no person held to service or labor” would be released from bondage in the event they escaped to a free state

○ 1793 act empowered enslavers to seize those who self emancipated, ordered state + federal authorities to help capture + return runaways, + fined those who helped runaways

Washington’s Farewell Address

★ Washington knew his actions as president would set a precedent

★ He decided not to seek re-election for a third term, setting the two-term precedent

○ Constitution did not stipulate a limit to presidential terms; Twenty-Second Amendment was ratified in 1951 to set term limits Primary Source Analysis: Washington’s Farewell Address

Washington’s Farewell Address

★ Washington knew his actions as president would set a precedent

★ He decided not to seek re-election for a third term, setting the two-term precedent

○ Constitution did not set a limit to presidential terms; Twenty-Second Amendment was ratified in 1951 to set

term limits

★ Wrote to "friends and fellow-citizens" in his Farewell Address

Washington on Political Parties

“Let me now… warn you, in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects

of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our

nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. In those

[governments] of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest

rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate

dominion of one faction over another, sharpened by the

spirit of revenge natural to party dissension… is itself a

frightful despotism… The disorders and miseries which

result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security

and repose in the absolute power of an Individual....”

The First Party System

★ A two-party rivalry emerged during Washington’s second term + functioned as the axis of US politics until after the War of 1812

★ Political networks were formed among like-minded, wealthy, white men to rally support for legislation + candidates

★ Followers of these parties were organized in loose alliances

★ Party members were informed by partisan newspapers

Federlaists:

Leaders-Hamilton, Washington, Adams

Vision-Economy based on commerce

Govt. Power-Strong federal government

Supporters-Wealthy; Northeast

Foreign affairs-More sympathetic toward Great Britain

Democratic-Republicans:

Leaders-Jefferson, Madison

Vision-Economy based on agriculture

Govt. Power-Stronger state governments

Supporters-Farmers; South

Foreign affairs-More sympathetic toward France

John Adams’ Presidency

★ Adams (a Federalist) served as president for one term; he was argumentative + elitist

★ VP Thomas Jefferson was the second place candidate (at the time, runner up became VP)

★ His presidency was defined by growing belligerence between Federalists + Democratic-Republicans

The Spitting Lyon

Matthew Lyon was born in Ireland and came to America as an indentured

servant in 1764. After he was released from his servitude, he headed to

Vermont. He fought in the Revolutionary War, but his service is

questionable–he is rumored to have been dishonorably

discharged, and “cashiered” (demoted) in the military.

He helped to found the state of Vermont, and was ultimately elected to

the House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican.

He also ran an anti-Federalist newspaper,

The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Political Truths.

The Spitting Lyon

In Congress, he got into an argument with Roger Griswold, a Federalist.

Griswold tried repeatedly to get Lyon’s attention, and Lyon purposely

ignored him. Annoyed that he would not leave him alone, Lyon turned and

spat on Griswold. Griswold called Lyon a scoundrel, which was a terrible

insult at the time. The House debated expelling Lyon. Griswold asked Lyon

if he would be using his wooden sword– fighting words given the rumors

surrounding Lyon’s military service.

A couple of weeks later, in Congress, Griswold took his cane and attacked Lyon.

Lyon did not have a weapon, so he grabbed a pair of tongs from the House of

Reps’ fireplace and began to fight Griswold. The House considered charges

against them, but ultimately dropped them when Griswold and Lyon agreed to

behave. The episode revealed heightening political tensions

Alien and Sedition Acts

★ Alien Acts - passed by Federalist-controlled Congress in 1798; raised

residency requirements from 5 to 14 years, gave the president the

authority to deport “aliens,” + permitted the arrest, imprisonment, + deportation of “aliens” during wartime

★ Sedition Act - made it a crime for Americans to “print, utter or

publish any false, scandalous, or malicious writing with the intent to defame the government”

○ Prohibited criticism of Adams + both houses of Congress (each

controlled by Federalists), but said nothing about the office of the

VP (Dem-Rep. Jefferson)

○ Included a provision - it would expire the first day of the next

presidential term (just in case the Federalists lost)

★ More than 24 individuals were prosecuted under the law - Matthew Lyon was the first

★ In a public letter written while seeking reelection to Congress, he described John Adams: “Unbounded thirst for ridiculous

pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice.”

★ Punishment: Four months in prison and a $1,000 fine

The Election of 1800

★ Adams v. Jefferson – extremely nasty + partisan election

★ Adams received 65 electoral votes; Jefferson + Burr received 73 → Burr refused role of VP, so House of Reps held 36 rounds of votes

○ Jefferson as president + Burr as VP

○ Who cast the final tie-breaking ballot in the 36th round of votes?

The Twelfth Amendment

★ Ratified in 1804; it provided for separate Electoral College votes for President + Vice President

○ Corrected the weaknesses in the earlier electoral system that were responsible for the issues during the election of 1800

Marbury v. Madison, 1803

★ Before Adams left office, he appointed several federal judges → Jefferson’s administration tried to undo these appointments

○ Jefferson + Sec. of State Madison decided to eliminate the positions

→ William Marbury sued (didn’t get his job back, but the Court ruled that the Constitution was the law of the land, + it was the court’s job to interpret a law’s constitutionality)

★ Judicial Review - power of the Supreme Court to decide whether a law, executive order, or other act of government is constitutional

○ This power was not expressly given in the Constitution but became important legal principle

Republican Motherhood

★ Republican Motherhood - a term used by historians to describe new expectations + responsibilities for white women in the Federal period

★ White women were responsible for early education of the boys who would someday become voters

○ New schools to educate girls; expectation to attend religious services + model modest/ appropriate behavior

○ Republican mothers not to engage in political/ economic spheres, but be content managing their households + supporting their husbands

★ Republican motherhood was a high standard that very few women could live up to → expectations were taught because it was a convenient myth used to discourage women who wanted the right to vote

★ Married women (femes-covert) were subordinate to their husbands + had no rights/ identity of their own→ coverture

Jeffersonian Democracy

★ Jefferson’s political vision for the US:

○ An agrarian nation → small farms, with farmers who owned + worked their land

○ States joined together by a small, republican national government

★ Yeoman farmers as ideal Americans:

○ “Our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America.”

★ Jefferson’s vision centered on 3 goals:

○ Shrink the national government

○ Guarantee free + open trade for US agricultural products

○ Encourage westward expansion to accommodate growing population of white farmers

★ Voting rights for white men began to expand

○ Universal white male suffrage (the right of all male citizens to vote) introduced in some states → democratic participation in politics increased for white men

○ Not all groups experienced an expansion of rights/ access to political participation

Louisiana Purchase

★ Why might Americans have wanted the LA Purchase? What advantages would it give them?

★ What challenges might the LA Purchase cause for a young nation like the US?

Westward Expansion

★ Expanding the nation’s borders westward became a priority for Jefferson

○ European empires still competed to gain power + wealth in N. America; Spain, Britain, + France had settlements west of the border, but this area was primarily home to thousands of native groups

★ Supporters believed expansion could unite the country, lead to economic growth, please white settlers, + prove American power to the world

★ Others worried that expansion would divide the nation, be too expensive, make governing too difficult, or lead to an international war

★ Additionally: what would expansion mean for slavery?

Jefferson’s Motivations

★ “Manufactures” from “Notes on the State of Virginia,” 1783

○ Was this document written before or after the Louisiana Purchase?

○ What line or phrase from this excerpt can you connect to Jeffersonian Democracy?

★ Letter from Jefferson to Robert Livingston, 1802

○ Why is possession of New Orleans an important matter to the US?

○ Which two pieces of land is Jefferson hoping to acquire from France?

○ Based on these sources, what do you think motivated Jefferson to acquire the Louisiana Territory for the US?

The Louisiana Purchase

★ New Orleans - critical port city for US farmers along Mississippi River

○ 1801 Spain transferred power over the region to France → many Americans feared that France would limit US access to New Orleans

★ Jefferson sent diplomats to France + ended up with the entire Louisiana Territory for $15 million

★ The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the US → white settlers pushed west of the Mississippi River

The Lewis + Clark Expedition

★ Jefferson sent a team to learn about the Louisiana Territory

○ Meriwether Lewis + William Clark: The Corps of Discovery

★ Economic goals → was there a water route across the continent to enable travel + trade? Natural resources?

★ Native groups believed that US settlers would focus on trade, not permanent settlement, but after Lewis + Clark’s 1806 report to Jefferson, white Americans moved westward in greater numbers

Land and Assimilation Policies

★ US techniques to take native lands included coercion + leading indigenous people into bad deals/ debt

★ Assimilation - policies intended to pressure native peoples to adopt customs/ cultures of white Americans

○ Convert to Christianity; become farmers

★ Some US leaders supported assimilation because they believed that indigenous people were inferior; others felt assimilation would push indigenous people to give up their land + enable the US to expand

★ As demand for land from white settlers grew, US leaders wanted a quicker way to take native lands

★ Indigenous peoples responded/ resisted in a variety of ways

James Madison

★ “Father of the Constitution”

★ Elected president after Jefferson served two terms (he was Jefferson’s Sec. of State); Democratic-Republican

★ Montpelier - Madison’s plantation (he didn’t free any of the people he enslaved during his lifetime or in his will)

War of 1812

★ War of 1812 - a conflict between the US, Britain, + native nations that took place mainly on US + native land + at sea (also in Canada)

★ Causes of the war:

○ Conflict with Europeans on the Atlantic → British impressment of American sailors; ongoing conflict between Britain + France impacting US economy

○ Mounting tensions between white settlers + Indigenous people in the west

★ American settlers blamed the British for heightened tensions with Indigenous peoples in the Northwest Territory

★ Many Indigenous peoples felt the way to stop further American encroachment was by working with the British

★ War Hawks in Congress had territorial ambitions in the Northwest + Florida, which led them to agitate for war with Britain

○ Resented damage to American economy

○ Enraged by British encouragement of indigenous hostilities in the Northwest + wanted to use war to get Florida from Spain

○ Nationalist fervor + anti-British sentiment whipped up by War Hawks contributed to the war

★ Madison called for war in June 1812 + Congress voted to go to war (“Mr. Madison’s War”)

○ Dem.-Republicans from the south + west ( War Hawks) voted for war

○ Federalists from the Northeast tended to vote against war

Significance of the War of 1812

★ Treaty of Ghent ended the war status quo ante bellum → kept in place borders that existed before the war; neither side felt like the loser

★ The war effectively destroyed Indigenous ability to resist white settlers expanding west of the Mississippi

★ Solidified white Americans’ belief that Indigenous peoples were destined for extinction, while expansion was destined for success → belief that the US’ future lay in the West

★ Shawnee leader Tecumseh had tried to negotiate with American govt. to stop expansion → formed a confederacy of Indigenous tribes

○ His death during battle marked the end of the Pan-Indian confederation he’d established

Significance of the War of 1812

★ “Second War of Independence” generated a spirit of nationalism + fostered more national unity for white Americans

Shifts in Society + Culture

★ From 1800-1825 the US pop. doubled, then doubled again by 1850

○ High birth rate

○ Immigration (primarily from Germany + Britain) after ~1830

★ Enslaved population steadily increased of the pop. lived west

★ By 1830 almost ⅓ of the Alleghenies

★ Urban pop. of the North grew from 5% of the pop. in 1800 to 15% by 1850

★ New cities (Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, etc.) developed at key transportation points

Shifts in Society + Culture

★ The gap between the very wealthy + very poor increased

○ Economic opportunities were better than in Europe

★ For most white Americans, the standard of living increased

★ Americans increasingly developed a nationalistic culture of their own

○ Nationalism - identification with one's own nation + support for its interests, especially to the exclusion/ detriment of other nations.

★ Belief that the young nation was entering an era of unlimited prosperity; ideas of nationalism + patriotism would dominate much of the century

James Monroe

★ Served as governor of VA; Sec. of War under Madison

★ Final president of the “Virginia Dynasty”

★ The last “Founding Father” president

★ Enslaved ~250 people during his lifetime, freeing only one person - yet he wrote about abolition

○ Monroe wrote that he was “always been friendly to an emancipation, and transportation from the country”

The American Colonization Society

★ ACS emerged in 1817 as a national organization dedicated to the ”settlement” of free Black people in West Africa

★ Included many of the most powerful + influential white men in the US

★ Rooted in belief that Black people could not integrate into “white America” + motivated by fear of free Black people’s potential to threaten the system of slavery + upset the racial hierarchy

★ First Black people were brought to Sherbro Island by the ACS in 1820 → within six months, 49 of the 86 colonists had died + the remainder fled

★ Member of US Navy coerced an African leader to give him land → ACS founded colony of Liberia on that land (capital of Monrovia) with support of federal funding

○ Thousands of Black people were sent to Liberia

“Era of Good Feelings”

★ Monroe’s presidency is called the “Era of Good Feelings” in reference to less competition between political parties + the belief that Monroe should try to unify the country; spirit of nationalism

★ Federalist party had died out after War of 1812, leaving Dem.-Republicans as the one party in power

Good Feelings?

★ Tensions still existed - Democratic-Republican party began to split

★ Panic of 1819 - first economic depression in the US; economy weakened + poverty worsened

○ Economic crisis lasted until the early 1820s + impacted daily life, trust of US banks, + debate over economic policies

★ Renewed/ intensified debates over slavery + sharpened ideas about race

Monroe Doctrine

★ “The American continents… are henceforth not to be considered as

subjects for future colonization by any European powers”

○ European powers were obligated to respect the Western

Hemisphere as the United States' sphere of interest

★ Monroe’s “bold words of nationalistic purpose” were quickly forgotten → Americans were more concerned with domestic issues

★ Decades later the Monroe Doctrine would become the cornerstone of US foreign policy toward Latin America

Andrew Jackson

★ Born into a poor family in the Carolinas; lack of consistent, formal education; he studied law + moved to the frontier (TN)

★ Aggressive, difficult to get along with; found success as a lawyer

★ Hero of the War of 1812 (“Old Hickory”) + well known for violent military raids on Indian communities

★ He personally embraced the institution of slavery + became wealthy as a result of their labor at The Hermitage

Jacksonian Democracy + the “Common

Man”

★ Jackson defeated incumbent JQA in the election of 1828; he styled himself as a man of the people; champion of the white settler

★ The Common Man - self-reliant, working class, white men

○ White male suffrage

★ Came at exclusion others (women, people of color)

★ Jackson’s policies tended to benefit the rich, not common man

★ He undermined democratic principles during his presidency

Populism

★ On paper, populism is the belief that the “common man” knows better than the “elites” who are trying to rule him

★ Populism, in practice, does not lead to more power for the people: it leads to a cult of personality + mentality of “I alone can save you” → in order to “save” the people, the leader must exercise more power + control, which is anti-democratic

★ Populism, in practice, is not really for anything, only against things → when a leader is only against things, they must constantly manufacture crises to stay relevant

★ Populism in practice attacks the foundations of democracy

○ Criticism of “elites” = criticism of democratic institutions

Sources on Jackson

★ Jackson’s Inauguration

★ Jackson and the Spoils System

★ Jackson and the Bank Wars