Chapter 11: Establishment of New Political Systems (1787–1800)

Important Keywords

• Virginia Plan: During debate over the Constitution, the plan proposing a bicameral legislature with representatives determined by proportional representation.
• New Jersey Plan: During debate over the Constitution, the plan proposing one legislative body for the country, with each state having one vote.
• Great Compromise: Connecticut plan stated that one house of Congress would be based on population while in the other house all states would have equal representation.
• Electoral College: Procedure for electing the president and vice-president of the United States as outlined in the Constitution; electors from each state, and not the popular vote, ultimately elect the president.
• Three-Fifths Compromise: As the Constitution was being created, the plan stated that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a free person when determining a state’s population for tax purposes and electing members of the House of Representatives.
• Federalists: Party in the first years of the republic that favored a larger national government; was supported by commercial interests. Federalists were opposed by Jeffersonians, who wanted a smaller national government.
• Alien and Sedition Acts: Proposed by President John Adams, gave the president power to expel “dangerous” aliens and outlawed “scandalous” publications against the government.

Key Timeline

• 1787: Constitutional Convention ratifies U.S. Constitution
• 1788: U.S. Constitution ratified by states
• 1789: Washington sworn in as first president
• 1790: Hamilton issues plans proposing to protect infant U.S. industries
• 1791: Establishment of First National Bank Ratification of the Bill of Rights
• 1793: Democratic-Republican clubs begin to meet
• 1794: Whiskey Rebellion begins
• 1795: Jay’s Treaty with England/Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain
• 1796: John Adams elected president, Thomas Jefferson, vice-president (each from a different political party)
• 1798: XYZ Affair Sedition Act of John Adams issued Kentucky and Virginia Resolves
• 1800: Convention of 1800 Thomas Jefferson elected president

The Constitutional Convention

• After Shays' Rebellion, nationalists convinced Congress to authorize a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.
• On May 25, 1787, delegates from all 13 states met in Philadelphia.
  • George Washington, who became convention president, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison were delegates.
  • John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both ambassadors in Europe, missed the convention.
  • The new government needed more powers to tax, regulate trade and interstate commerce, and create a military.
• Large and small states disagreed on representation in a future national legislature.
  • Small states wanted to keep the Articles of Confederation's one-vote Congress.
  • Large states wanted representation determined by population.
  • Slavery caused north-south divisions.

Contention and Compromise

• James Madison's Virginia Plan dominated the Constitutional Convention debate.
  • Madison's framework called for a federal government with legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
  • He proposed a proportional-representation bicameral Congress.
  • He led the Convention and is known as the "Father of the Constitution."
• The Virginia Plan worried smaller state delegates that larger states would rule the nation.
  • They supported the New Jersey Plan, which proposed a unicameral, one-vote Congress.
• The advocates of the two competing plans argued until Connecticut delegates proposed the Great Compromise.
  • The Connecticut proposal called for proportional representation in the lower house and two upper house seats for each state.
• The delegates at the Constitutional Convention were not believers in pure democracy.
  • They believed an unchecked majority could be as tyrannical as a king.
  • To avoid this, they decided that an Electoral College, whose members were chosen by the states, would elect the president.
  • The people directly elected House members, but state legislatures elected senators.

Slavery

• Constitutional Convention debated slavery.
• In the 1780s, many Americans thought slavery would end for economic reasons.
  • Southerners, who relied on slaves, defended slavery.
• For southern support of the Constitution, delegates compromised on slavery.
• After 20 years, the federal government could regulate or outlaw the slave trade in 1808.
• Northern delegates opposed southerners' congressional representation of slaves.
• The delegates settled on the Three-Fifths Compromise, which allocated House seats based on a state's slave population.

The Ratification Battle

• The finished Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787.
• The delegates decided that the new Constitution would take effect if nine state ratifying conventions approved it.
  • The Constitution strengthened the national government, so its supporters were called Federalists.
  • The Federalists believed the new federal government would meet national needs and protect American liberties.
• Anti-Federalists were unwilling to trust a stronger central government.
  • They remembered the British's tyranny and believed that a strong national government would weaken the states, the best protectors of people's rights.
  • They pointed out that the proposed Constitution had no bill of rights.
• Federalists were willing to accept Constitutional amendments protecting American citizens to win in Virginia and New York.
• New York became the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution on July 26, 1788.
• Congress ratified the Constitution on September 13.
• Rhode Island ratified the Constitution last on May 29, 1790.
• The first US president, George Washington was inevitable. The Electoral College unanimously elected him.
  • As president, Washington set important precedents.
  • He respected his office and emphasized his role as a government policy administrator.

The Bill of Rights

• The Bill of Rights reconciled anti-Federalists to the Constitution.
  • It has become a symbol of American freedoms like religion, speech, and assembly.
  • It protected the right to bear arms and prohibited soldiers from living in homes.
  • It also protected defendants with jury trials and a ban on "cruel and unusual punishments."
• The Bill of Rights last two amendments supported the Revolutionary War idea that rights belong to the people and federalism in the new government system.
  • The Ninth Amendment states that listing rights in the Constitution does not "disparage" others held by the people.
  • The Tenth Amendment gives states and people all powers not granted to the federal government or forbidden to them by the Constitution.
• Madison and the other Founding Fathers valued the Bill of Rights Amendments' power balance.

The Birth of the Party System

• Washington staffed his cabinet with brilliant men.
  • Thomas Jefferson served as secretary of state.
  • Alexander Hamilton as secretary of the treasury.
  • These two men had competing visions of America’s future.
• Hamilton wanted the US to be a commercial and manufacturing power.
  • He wanted to adopt British economic policies, including mercantilism to boost American trade.
  • He believed the federal government had unspecified powers and supported a "loose" Constitutional interpretation.
• Thomas Jefferson favored an agrarian America, predominantly made up of independent yeoman farmers.
  • He saw manufacturing as "a handmaid to agriculture" in America.
  • He supported free trade to lower farmers' manufacturing costs instead of Hamilton's protective tariffs.
  • Jefferson advocated a "strict" interpretation of the Constitution, which limited federal power to its text.
  • James Madison joined Jefferson in his opposition to Hamilton’s program.
• Hamilton and Jefferson's disagreements and supporters created a two-party system.
  • Hamilton’s followers called themselves Federalists.
  • Jefferson's followers were Republican or Democratic-Republicans.
  • Federalists supported an activist government that fostered business.
• Republicans focused on agriculture and defended laissez-faire economic principles.
  • Their appeal was especially strong in the rural areas of the south and west

Hamilton’s Economic Program

• Hamilton realized that the US's chaotic finances had to be addressed if it was to become a great commercial and manufacturing power.
  • His Report on Public Credit proposed a bold plan to stabilize the US economy.
• Hamilton proposed redeeming all Articles of Confederation government notes at face value.
  • He suggested the federal government assume state debts.
  • He advocated for a national bank to streamline federal financial transactions and boost American business investment.
• Hamilton wanted federal policies to promote business growth.
  • He proposed a high tariff on foreign goods to pay for his economic program.
• Jefferson and Madison disliked Hamilton's activist government and business bias.
  • They believed Hamilton was sacrificing America's agrarian majority to commercial interests.
  • Hamilton's public credit system with a national bank and tariffs survived their opposition.

Effects of the French Revolution

• The French Revolution began in summer 1789, just months after George Washington became president.
• The French Revolution from constitutional monarchy to Reign of Terror fascinated and horrified Americans.
• Jefferson and the Republicans supported the revolutionaries because they believed in democracy and Enlightenment ideals.
• Hamilton and the Federalists detested the Revolution's defiance of authority and violence.
• By 1793, revolutionary France was at war with most of Europe, including Great Britain.
• President Washington issued a Declaration of Neutrality.
  • He hoped the US could avoid joining the world war.
• In a time of poor roads and transportation, western farmers could distill their grain into alcohol to sell it.
  • Hamilton placed a tax on whiskey to help pay for his economic program.
  • Western farmers, who sympathized with Jefferson's agrarian outlook, were furious.
• Farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled in the spirit of the French Revolution.
  • Washington's militia easily put down the rebellion.

Washington’s Foreign Policy

• In 1794, the British began searching and seizing American ships trading with the French West Indies.
  • The British were also plotting with Native Americans in the Northwest Territory.
• Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to resolve these issues.
  • They insisted on removing French goods from American ships and rejected the freedom of the seas.
  • British troops left western American military posts.
  • General Anthony Wayne's Battle of Fallen Timbers victory over a Native American coalition made these posts untenable.
• In the US, Jay's Treaty was unpopular.
  • After much debate and political maneuvering by Alexander Hamilton, the Senate ratified the treaty.
• Thomas Pinckney negotiated with Spain to open the Mississippi River to American navigation.
  • Western and southern farmers needed a waterway to get their crops to New Orleans, so Pinckney's Treaty was popular.
• Washington set a precedent by declining a third presidential term. He gave his Farewell Address before leaving office.
  • Citizens received policy advice from him. Washington was alarmed by Federalist-Republican animosity and warned against political parties' divisiveness.
  • He advised the US to avoid "foreign entanglements" and alliances.

The Presidency of John Adams

• John Adams served two terms as Washington’s vice president. In the election of 1796, he ran as a Federalist.
  • His opponent was Thomas Jefferson, the Republican candidate.
• Adams received the most votes in the Electoral College, but under the rules of the time, Thomas Jefferson, who came in second, became the vice-president.
  • This made the president and vice-president's political parties awkward.
• Adams wasn't as famous as Washington, but he managed a major crisis well as president.
  • Adams led by letter for most of his presidency in Quincy, Massachusetts.
• In 1800, he became the first president to live in the Executive Mansion.

Crisis in France

• The French resented the US's failure to uphold the 1778 alliance with the overthrown royal government.
• In 1798, Adams sent three diplomats to France to attempt a negotiated settlement.
• The French foreign minister, Charles Talleyrand, was notoriously corrupt.
  • He sent three agents to the Americans demanding bribes before talking.
• American public opinion supported the Americans' indignant refusal.
  • The "XYZ Affair" was named after Talleyrand's emissaries' codes.
• Washington started building a small but effective navy.
• From 1798 to 1800, American ships won most warship battles. US and French naval wars were undeclared.
• By 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte had taken control of France, and diplomacy resumed.
• In the Convention of 1800, the French paid the Americans for the merchant ships they had seized, ending the alliance of 1778.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

• Federalists used the war with France to crush the Republican Party.
  • In 1798, they passed two laws to curb their opponents' intemperate journalism.
• The Alien Act allowed the president to imprison or deport "dangerous" aliens.
• The Sedition Act allowed the president to prosecute "malicious" administration critics.
  • This act resulted in the prosecution and imprisonment of journalists and others.
  • Republicans denounced the Alien and Sedition Acts.
• Kentucky and Virginia passed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves, stating that states were not required to obey unconstitutional laws.
• Jefferson wrote the Kentucky Resolves and Madison the Virginia Resolves.
  • These resolutions laid the groundwork for nullification and states' rights in American history.
• The Alien and Sedition Acts hurt John Adams' 1800 campaign.

Chapter 12: Jeffersonian Revolution (1800–1820)