Unit 3 Federalist & Jeffersonian Periods

  • The Birth of Political Parties - Federalists v Republicans (1792-1808)

    • The Birth of Political Parties

      • An unexpected development

      • The occurence of these parties is something that historians debate

        • occures under their noses

    • Washings Fairwell adress

      • Washington is the first presdient

      • serves 2 4-year terms but decides to step-down

      • Gives Fairwell adress when he steps down

        • begins to see these political factions to pop up

        • beleives that these parties will weaken the public administration and agitate the community with jealousies

    • Parties Begin to Emerge

      • Washington is a federalist and understands that others don’t share his view

      • Hamiltion is given credit as being one of the primary leaders of the Federalist faction

      • John Adams is also a Federalist

      • Democractic-Republicans (Jeffersonians)

        • led by Thomas Jefferson

        • Jefferson is not in the US during the writing of the Constitution

        • James Madison pushed for the ratification of the constitution and writes some of the federalist papers

          • changes his mind and starts to lead the Jeffersonians with Jefferson

    • Federalists

      • General characteristics

        • merchant classes

        • lawyers

        • rich and well-born

        • able → smart, wealthy

        • “Those who own the country ought to govern it”

    • Jeffersonians

      • General characterisitcs

        • smaller farmers

        • laborers and wage owners

        • southern states and frontier

        • Agrarians(Farmers), who made up most of the population, deserved the most say in the government

    • Both parties consist of white males

      • women and black americans are not talked about or allowed to participate in these parties

    • On The Issues

    • Federalisits

      • emphasized strong national government(Implied powers)

        • neccesary and proper clause

      • Loose Interpretation of the Constitution

        • need to read between the lines

      • Fully assume debts

        • take all the debts that the old congress had at 100% of its value

        • will bring econommic stablity to the country

        • people who bought the IOUs are now bringing in the money

      • Pro National Bank

        • place to hold funds for the government

        • place to coin money/print money

          • ensures they don’t have to rely on state banks

      • Pro British

        • important to still keep close ties economically and politcally with Britian

    • Democratic-Republicans

      • Main aim was to protect states’ rights, national government only had specific powers listed in Constitution

        • didn’t want to grant the constitution more power

      • Strict Interpretation

        • no reading between the lines

      • Critics of Hamiltion’s debt plan

        • wealthy are holding the debt so the wealthy are benefiting from the repayment plan while the poor don’t recieve anything

      • Feared National Bank

        • it isn’t in the government

        • government trying to assume power it doesn’t have

      • Pro French

        • supportive of the French Revolution

    • Election of 1796

      • Political parties are already apparent

      • Evidence of a Constitutional ‘flaw’

        • the original frame of the government stated that the president should be chosen using an electoral college instead of by popular vote

        • the person who gets the largest number and the majority votes become president while the second becomes vice president

      • Washington retiring and stepping down

      • John Adams beleives that he should be the new presidents since he was Washingtons vice president

      • Washingtons idea is to surround himself with the best people, not people that share the same ideas

    • Further Controversy

      • Jefferson v Adams

      • Adams is 1st and is Federalsit

      • Jefferson is 2nd and is a Jeffersonian

      • Diplomatic controversy because of the french revolution

      • British doesn’t want it to happen and tries to bring the french monarchy back

      • Washington remains nutreal

      • We are trying to trade with the British and the French

        • British seizes ships to stop ships from aiding the French

        • Franch seizes ships going to Britian

          • this hurts merchants and ticks people off

      • Adams sends diplomats - XYZ affair

        • diplomats negotiate with the French

        • diplomats can only meet with the french if they pay them money

          • bribe

        • Adams continues to stay neutral

      • Sedition Act

        • Adams upset that Americans are criticizing their government

        • makes it illegal to speak out or write against the president or the national government

        • law against free speech

        • Jefferson leads the charge

      • The Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions

        • written inonimously (Jefferson and Madison)

        • congress passed laws that violate the constitution

        • told the public that they warned them that the federalsits were going to abuse power

        • Kentucky(Jefferson) → congress passed an unconstitutional law

          • when a state beleives that a law that has been passed is illegal, they can nulify the law.

    • Election of 1800

      • Adams v Jefferson

      • Controversioal

        • political parties have emerged

      • A turing point

        • both run and choose vice presidents

        • tie between Jefferson and Burr

      • When their is a tie, it goes to the house of representatives - each state gets a vote

      • it takes 36 votes to decide a president

      • Hamiltion has influence in congress and convinces members to vote for Jefferson

      • It brought in a different philosophy government

        • Never Federalist President again

        • Democratic-Republicans in the house of the senate

        • total change of parties without a shot fired

    • How did Jefferson change the “image” of the presidency?

      • walked to his inogeration

      • Americanize the presidency

      • gave up delivering adresses

      • Jefferson did not treat the British highly

      • removed internal taxes

      • retired national debt

      • wanted to close american embassies

    • Did Jefferson beleive buying the Louisina was Constitution?

      • beleived president should only do things stated in the Constitution

      • worried about buying it since it wasn’t in the constitution but he bought it

    • Problems Jefferson Faced in 2nd Term

      • faced british attacks on american ships

      • closed american ports to foreign trade

      • crippled american economy

    • Describe Jeffersons view’s of presidency

      • withdrew at the end of his 2nd term

      • prisoner in chains

    • Election of 1800

      • Revolution

        • ended all domestic taxes

        • reduced the size of the government

        • repealted the Sedition act

        • president for the people

      • Not a Revolution

        • bought Louisiana

        • sent navy to North Africa

        • Embargo Act - closed American ports

  • Jeffersons last act → replacing the embargo

    • the Non-Intercourse Act(1809): wants to resume trade with the rest of the world

      • still wants restictions on trade with Britian and France

      • to try to force britan and france into changing their policies regarding american shipping

    • attempt to change british and france behavior fails and issues with american ships is still a problem

    • Jefferson leaves presidency while issues with ships is still ongoing

  • Presidental election of 1808 → Madison(Jeffersonian) v Charles C Pinckney(Federalist)

    • Jefferson endorses Madison

      • Jefferson is still a popular figure

    • Madison wins. 70% of electoral votes

    • Madison delivers ultimatum to both Britian and France

      • first country to repeal its restrictions on trade and back off of attacking on american ships, they will start trading with them again

    • last ditch effort to resolve effort peacfully and neither country changes it position

    • Tensions rise between america and britian

  • Resistance in the west: Tecumseh’s Native Confederacy

    • The Warrior & the Prophet

    • Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa

    • Tecumseh is a highly decorated warrior

    • Tenskwatawa is a “loud mouth”

      • develops problem with alchol and is cast from society

    • 1805 - Tenskwatawa goes into alchol induced stupper and says he saw a vision that told him to cut out all of the white man ways and to form a cohelition with his brother to stop americans from coming into their terriotory

      • dubbed the prophet and re-enters native society

    • establish a town in Indiana called prophets town which is the center of the native confederacy

    • Tecumseh will eventually travel southwards to drum up more acceptance for the confederation

      • tells Tenskwatawa to avoid conflict with american soldiers because they are not prepared

    • William Henry Harriosn becomes territorial governor of Indiana territory

    • develops skills fighting native americans on the frontier

      • task is to swindle native americans out of their land by having them sign treaties

      • treaty of fort wane → florida and miami signed treaty and lost their native land

    • Harrison known it will be difficult to get Tecumseh & Tenskwatawa

    • Gets authorization to kill this native confederacy

    • The Battle of Tippecanoe(1811) → Tenskwatawa gets into fight with Harrisons army and is overwhelmed

      • marches into prophets town and burns it to the ground

      • confederacy can never dum up support again

    • causes native americans to have a large dislike for americans

      • natives will side with the british if it comes to that

  • Henry Clay & John C. Calhoun → Congressional “Warhawks”

    • British is taking sailors from american ships and forcing them to fight for them in the Napolionic wars

    • warhawks are primarily young, energetic politicians mostly from the south and the west

      • insisting that britian has gone against american honor too many times

    • Henry Clay says that both britian and france are guilty, but british are more guilty

    • Clay and Calhoun start packing warhawks onto committes to start to see britian the way that they see them and to wage a way against britian to end this conflict

    • want to start a war but don’t want to spend a large amount of money for the way

      • raising taxes, etc

    • vote for war is taken in congress - votes in favor of war

      • not a single federalist votes to go to war

  • War of 1812

    • appresment

    • americans want to expand westward but they need to seize native american land

    • native americans are allied with britian

    • americans also want to colonize canada but it is under british rule

    • America decides to invade Canada

      • army strength is not where it needs to be and americans struggle against british in the war

    • Seize of detroit → americans held fort and Tecumseh and british allies take the fort without firing a single shot

      • surroung and sneak up on americans and force general to give up fort

    • Federalists stand by their point that the war will be rough because they are still recovering

    • British invade Washington D.C. and the British run rampant throughout the city

      • burn official buildings including the capital and the White House

      • Madison and Dolly Maidson escape

        • Madisons wife saved american artifacts including washingtons portrait before the building is burned

    • British burn as many buidling as possible and then leaves

    • Federalists start to call the war, “Mr.Madisons War”

    • British move to Baltimore and meet american defense

    • Fort McHenry battle in Baltimore

    • Lawyer is a prisoner aboard a prison ship as the battle is going on and writes a poem

      • Frances Scott Key creates the Star Spangeled Banner

    • leads to peace negotiations between both countries

    • The treaty of Ghent(1815)

      • war is unpopular in britian as they have been fighting in a large amount of wars and want it over

      • US sends 5 peace commisions to negotiate peace treaty

        • John Quincy Adams is among them and is the song of John Adams

        • trained to be diplomat since birth

        • 20 years of diplomatic experience by this time

      • Land Boarders

        • britian wants to keep the boarders as is

        • Americans want to got to how they were before the war is fought

      • Americans win with diplomacy and land borders go back to how they were before the war

      • Trearty is signed in 1814 by the British but it then has to travel to America

    • Battle of New Orleans(1815)

      • treaty has been signed but people in america do not yet know this

      • Brings Adrew Jackson into the picture

      • Jackson is in charge of troops and beats the british for controll of the mississippi river

      • victory coensides with arrival of treaty

      • Jackson becomes national hero

      • advocate for the common man

    • Winners of this war are the Jeffersonians

    • Losers are the Native Americans and Federalsits

    • Americans now want to expand westward which is bad news for native american tribes east of the mississippi river

    • Federalists talked about ceccesion and breaking away from the US

      • come up with a few amendments to make the constitution more federalist friendly

    • this gets out and the federalists loose prestigue and power and are no longer as prominent in society

  • The Era of Good Feelings

    • Madison steps down

    • James Monroe runs for the federalist party and wins in the election of 1816

    • Over the next 12 years, the Jeffersonians is the only political party

    • peace & prosperity

    • makes peace with old federalists

    • patriotic sentiment is at an all time high

    • americans move to florida but don’t like being under their rule and rebell

    • Jackson decides to go down to florida to try and bully spain into giving up Florida

    • John Quince Adams wants this as well but wants it to be peacful

    • Adams-Onís Treaty(1819) → grants america controll of Florida

      • US recognizes spanish soverignty over Texas

    • Monro Doctrine(1823) → western hemisphere is the americans area of influence and other countries need to but out and americans won’t mess around in europes sphere of influence

      • one of the most important doctrines in american history

  • Era of not so good feelings

    • first financial crisis in america

    • panic of 1819

    • growth in trade comes to sudden halt and people loose jobs, houses are forclosed, etc

    • dramaic decline in cotton prices

    • popular protest lasts untill 1823

    • hightened hostility from Jefersonians towards banks and the people who are in charge of them

  • Arguing about slavery

    • Missouri Compromise(1820)

      • missouri becomes a place that wants to move for statehood

      • is a slave state

      • balanced number of slave states and non-slave states would be overturned if missouri came in

      • Henry Clay creates compromise

        • Missouri can come in as a slave state and will also except Main as a no-slave state

  • Last Remnants of Federalist Power: The Marshall Court(1801-1835)

    • brings the judicial branch to a co-equal branch of the government

  • Henry Clay’s ‘American System’

    • Transportation → wants to promote trade between states and to do so, he wants to imporve roads, cannals, and bridges

    • Tariffs → revune collection, promote manufacturing within the US, protective tariff on imports, forces people to buy locally rather than getting imported goods

    • National Bank → 2nd bank of the US, strong national currency will assist in trade and should be used as a depositor for tariffs

    • highly debated among congress and american people