Chapter 6: A New Nation
Introduction
On July 4, 1788, Philadelphians celebrated the new national constitution with a "grand federal procession."
Workers and tradespeople demonstrated their support, such as blacksmiths symbolically turning swords into farm tools.
Potters carried a sign linking their work to God's power and citizen control.
Clergymen and rabbis marched together, representing the hope for a diverse and cohesive nation.
Americans celebrated patriotic holidays, such as George Washington's inauguration in April 1789.
Washington called for a day of thanksgiving in November 1789 to celebrate the government's establishment.
Shays’ Rebellion
The new nation was not as unified as hoped, and the Constitution was adopted to address internal conflicts.
In 1786 and 1787, western Massachusetts farmers faced debt due to a weak economy; economic problems were worsened by the Articles of Confederation because it failed to give the federal government the ability to raise revenue.
The Massachusetts government supported lenders over the farmers.
Farmers, including Revolutionary War veterans, led by Daniel Shays, blockaded courthouses to prevent foreclosures.
The protesters saw themselves as upholding the "Spirit of 1776."
Governor James Bowdoin viewed them as rebels and sent militiamen to disperse them.
Benjamin Lincoln led the state force, emphasizing the need to prevent anarchy.
In January 1787, Lincoln's militia arrested over one thousand Shaysites, which led to national debate surrounding Shays’ Rebellion.
Some, like Thomas Jefferson, supported occasional rebellion.
Nationalists like James Madison saw it as evidence for the need for a strong central government.
Madison warned against the abuses of liberty.
The Constitutional Convention
Shays' Rebellion prompted leaders to act, leading to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.
Delegates from twelve states (excluding Rhode Island) met to revise the Articles of Confederation.
The main issue was the federal government's inability to levy taxes, which burdened the states with Revolutionary War debt.
James Madison aimed to create a new national constitution, drawing on research of governments and republics.
The Virginia Plan proposed a strong federal government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
The legislature (Congress) would have two houses with representation based on population or tax base.
The national legislature would have veto power over state laws.
Delegates disagreed on representation in Congress: small states wanted to maintain equal representation.
Roger Sherman of Connecticut proposed that the state legislatures appoint members of Congress because he believed that ordinary voters were misinformed, but James Wilson of Pennsylvania argued for direct representation from the public.
The Great Compromise: a lower house (House of Representatives) based on population and an upper house (Senate) with equal representation for each state.
Slaves counted as three-fifths of a person for representation and tax purposes.
The form of the national executive branch was debated at length.
James Wilson proposed a single executive, which was contentious.
The president would be elected by an electoral college.
The Constitution combined elements from ancient republics and English tradition with democratic innovations, balancing national and state sovereignty.
The convention sent the proposed Constitution to Congress with a letter from George Washington.
Adoption required approval from state ratification conventions.
Ratifying the Constitution
Critics of the Constitution (Anti-Federalists) opposed it because it lacked a bill of rights.
George Mason's proposal for a national bill of rights had been rejected.
Anti-Federalists argued that the lack of rights risked personal liberty.
Federalists claimed a bill of rights was unnecessary and could limit future rights.
The Federalist Papers, by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, supported the Constitution.
Massachusetts ratified the Constitution with proposed amendments, followed by other states.
Virginia's ratification convention in June 1788 was pivotal.
Federalists (James Madison, Edmund Randolph, John Marshall) debated Anti-Federalists (Patrick Henry, George Mason).
Virginia ratified the Constitution by a vote of 89 to 79.
On July 2, 1788, Congress announced that a majority of states had ratified the Constitution.
North Carolina, New York, and Rhode Island had not yet ratified.
The New York convention ratified it by three votes, and Rhode Island ratified it a year after Washington's inauguration.
Rights and Compromises
Washington's election solidified the Constitution's authority.
By 1793, the term Anti-Federalist was essentially meaningless.
Ten amendments were added in 1791, constituting the Bill of Rights.
James Madison supported these amendments as a political compromise.
The Bill of Rights did not address women's rights or slavery.
Many states restricted voting to men with property.
Slavery was protected by the Constitution.
The compromise over the slave trade was significant.
The transatlantic slave trade was seen as more immoral than slavery itself.
Northerners opposed it on moral grounds but recognized the political advantage it gave to Southern states.
The Constitution counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation.
The Upper South favored banning the Atlantic trade to increase the value of their slaves.
New England and the Deep South made a "dirty compromise" in 1787: New England agreed to protect the foreign slave trade for twenty years, while South Carolina and Georgia supported a clause that made it easier for Congress to pass commercial legislation.
The Atlantic slave trade resumed until 1808 when it was outlawed due to several factors:
Britain was also outlawing the slave trade in 1807.
The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) terrified white Americans.
The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.
The ban lacked effective enforcement measures and funding.
Illegally imported Africans were often sold at auction, preserving the logic of property ownership in human beings.
The new federal government protected slavery while expanding democratic rights for white men.
Hamilton’s Financial System
President George Washington's cabinet included Alexander Hamilton as secretary of the treasury and Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state, representing conflicting views on federal power.
Alexander Hamilton believed self-interest drove human actions and that government should protect private property and harness human passions for the public good.
Hamilton did not support equal distribution of property; instead, he tied wealthy Americans' economic interests to the federal government's financial health.
He believed the federal government should be a "Repository of the Rights of the wealthy."
Hamilton proposed federal "assumption" of state debts totaling approximately 25 million and the creation of a Bank of the United States.
The goal was to link federal power and economic vitality.
State creditors would receive new federal notes, which would act as an engine of business.
Taxpayers objected to paying full face value on old notes, which had fallen in market value.
Southerners objected to paying for the debts of New Englanders because they had already paid their state debts.
President Washington and Congress accepted Hamilton’s argument, and by 1794, 98 percent of the country's domestic debt had been converted into new federal bonds.
The Bank of the United States would act as a depository for federal funds and print paper banknotes backed by specie (gold or silver).
It would control inflation and give the wealthy a vested interest in the government's finances.
The government controlled 20 percent of the bank's stock, with private investors owning the remaining 80 percent.
In 1791, Congress approved a twenty-year charter for the Bank of the United States.
The bank's stocks and federal bonds created over 70 million in new financial instruments, which spurred securities markets and the spread of state-charted banks.
Federalists supported this, but opponents saw it as reinforcing class boundaries.
The Whiskey Rebellion and Jay’s Treaty
Hamilton proposed a federal excise tax on goods, including whiskey, to pay for the new bonds.
The whiskey tax burdened western farmers, dividing the republic geographically, economically, and culturally.
In 1791, tax collector Robert Johnson was assaulted by sixteen men in western Pennsylvania.
Rebel farmers adopted protest methods from the Revolution and Shays’ Rebellion.
In 1794, armed farmers attacked federal marshals and tax collectors.
An armed force of about seven thousand, led by attorney David Bradford, robbed the U.S. mail.
President Washington sent a committee to negotiate and gathered an army of thirteen thousand militiamen in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Washington led troops in the field.
The farmers scattered as the federal army moved westward.
Hamilton oversaw the arrest and trial of rebels, but most were released or pardoned.
The Whiskey Rebellion demonstrated the federal government's ability to quell unrest but also showed that some citizens viewed it as an enemy.
Hamilton wanted a friendly relationship with Great Britain to promote foreign trade.
America's relationship with Britain had been tense due to naval warfare between the British and French.
Impressment of American sailors was common.
President Washington declared neutrality in 1793.
John Jay negotiated a treaty with Britain, which was opposed by Jefferson and Madison because the French had overthrown their monarchy, and Republicans thought the United States should be glad to have the friendship of a new revolutionary state.
In 1794, Jay signed Jay's Treaty, requiring Britain to abandon military positions in the Northwest Territory and compensate American merchants.
The United States agreed to treat Britain as its most prized trade partner.
Jay failed to secure an end to impressment.
Federalists saw the treaty as preserving American prosperity and neutrality.
Republicans viewed it as Federalist treachery.
Debate over the treaty transformed the Federalists and Republicans into distinct political parties.
The French Revolution and the Limits of Liberty
Federalists feared radical democratic thought and sought social stability.
The French Revolution initially had widespread support in America.
Towns hosted celebrations on July 14, and people wore revolutionary symbols.
In 1793, French ambassador Edmond-Charles Genêt arrived, encouraging Americans to act against Spain.
When Washington refused, Genêt threatened to appeal directly to the people.
Washington demanded that France recall Genêt, and the radical coalition of revolutionaries seized power in France, initiating the Reign of Terror, causing Americans to have second thoughts about the French Revolution.
Federalists feared the revolution, while Republicans remained hopeful.
Thomas Jefferson said he would rather see "half the earth desolated" than see the French Revolution fail.
Federalists sought closer ties with Britain.
In 1796, John Adams was peacefully elected president but governed a divided nation.
The French government authorized attacks on American shipping in response to Jay's Treaty, leading to the XYZ Affair, which infuriated Americans.
People feared a French invasion and the presence of covert agents.
Jedidiah Morse announced that the French Revolution was led by the Illuminati.
The French Quasi-War was fought on the Atlantic.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed in 1798 to prevent subversion and attacked critics of the president and the Federalist Party.
The Alien Act allowed the deportation of foreign nationals.
The Sedition Act allowed prosecution of those who wrote "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government.
Advocates believed free speech meant a lack of prior censorship, not a guarantee against punishment.
Republicans were indicted and prosecuted under the Sedition Act.
The Alien and Sedition Acts caused a backlash, articulating a new vision for liberty.
Tunis Wortman demanded "absolute independence" of the press.
George Hay called for all publications to be exempt from legal punishment.
Madison and Jefferson opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts on constitutional grounds.
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions argued that the national government's authority was limited, and that states could declare federal laws unconstitutional.
American feelings toward France changed dramatically, and debates over the French Revolution helped Americans articulate what it meant to be American.
Religious Freedom
Debates over the French Revolution were heated because Americans were unsure about their religious future.
Illuminati scare of 1798 was just one manifestation of this fear.
States began disestablishing state-supported churches.
In 1776, all thirteen states had established churches or required officeholders to profess a certain faith.
By 1833, Massachusetts stopped supporting an official religious denomination.
South Carolina dropped denominational restrictions in 1778 but still expected officeholders to be Christians.
South Carolina removed the establishment clause and religious restrictions on officeholders in 1790.
The federal Constitution did not prevent states from having established churches.
Federal religious freedom clause in the Bill of Rights limited the federal but not state governments.
In 1833, a state supreme court decision ended Massachusetts’s support for the Congregational Church.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison favored disestablishment because they saw the relationship between church and state as a tool of oppression.
The federal government supported Native American missionaries and congressional chaplains.
Debate raged over whether the postal service should operate on Sundays and whether non-Christians could act as witnesses in federal courts.
The Election of 1800
The Sedition and Alien Acts expired in 1800 and 1801 but helped many Americans decide what they didn't want from their national government.
By 1800, President Adams had lost the confidence of many Americans; even members of his own party didn't support him.
Adams found himself widely reviled.
In the 1800 election, the Republicans defeated Adams in a bitter and complicated presidential race.
A Federalist newspaper article predicted that a Republican victory would fill America with “murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest.”
A Republican newspaper, on the other hand, flung sexual slurs against President Adams, saying he had “neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”
The contest came down to a tie between two Republicans, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and Aaron Burr of New York, who each had seventy-three electoral votes.
Burr was supposed to be a candidate for vice president, not president, but under the Constitution’s original rules, a tie-breaking vote had to take place in the House of Representatives.
Republicans believed they had saved the United States from grave danger, calling the election a “bloodless revolution.”
Thomas Jefferson offered an olive branch to the Federalists in his first inaugural address, pledging to follow the will of the American majority, whom he believed were Republicans, but to respect the rights of the Federalist minority.
The Twelfth Amendment changed how political parties worked.
The tension between federal power and the liberties of states and individuals would exist long into the 19th century.
Jefferson's administration attempted to decrease federal influence, but Chief Justice John Marshall worked to increase the authority of the Supreme Court.
These competing agendas clashed most famously in the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison, which Marshall used to establish a major precedent.
The Marbury case seemed insignificant at first.
The night before leaving office in early 1801, Adams had appointed federalists into vacant positions at the last minute.
The Jefferson administration refused to deliver federal commissions and sued the government, resulting in the Marbury v. Madison court case.
Marshall used Marbury’s case to make a clever ruling, giving the court the power of Judicial review.
Jefferson was particularly frustrated by the decision, arguing that the power of judicial review “would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.”
Conclusion
The Constitution ensured that there would be a strong federal government capable of taxing, waging war, and making law, but it could never resolve the young nation’s many conflicting constituencies.
The Whiskey Rebellion proved that the nation could stifle internal dissent but exposed a new threat to liberty.
Hamilton’s banking system provided the nation with credit but also constrained frontier farmers.
The Constitution's guarantee of religious liberty conflicted with many popular prerogatives.
Dissension only deepened, and as the 1790s progressed, Americans became bitterly divided over political parties and foreign wars.
For every parade, thanksgiving proclamation, or grand procession honoring the unity of the nation, there was also some political controversy reminding American citizens of how fragile their union was.