AMSCO 3.10 - 3.13

First Session of Congress: Convened in March 1789 in New York City, with George Washington elected as the unanimous choice for president.
Executive Cabinet: Washington organized executive departments by appointing Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State), Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury), Henry Knox (Secretary of War), and Edmund Randolph (Attorney General).
Judiciary Act of 1789: Established the Supreme Court with one chief justice and five associate justices, 13 district courts, and three circuit courts of appeals.

Core Proposals:
- Pay off the national debt at face value and assume state war debts.
- Enact tariffs on imported goods to protect domestic industries and generate federal revenue.
- Charter the Bank of the United States to deposit government funds, print banknotes, and stabilize currency.
Opposing Views and Compromises:
- Anti-Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson opposed the plan, arguing it enriched northern merchants at the expense of indebted farmers.
- Jefferson agreed to debt assumption in exchange for placing the permanent national capital in the South along the Potomac River (Washington, D.C.).
- Hamilton argued the Constitution's "necessary and proper" clause granted implied powers to create a national bank, while Jefferson advocated strict constitutional interpretation.

French Revolution and Neutrality:
- Washington issued the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) to avoid involvement in European wars, leading to Thomas Jefferson's resignation from the cabinet.
- French minister "Citizen" Edmond Genêt bypassed diplomatic protocols to rally American support, resulting in requests for his removal.
Treaties:
- Jay Treaty (1794): Secured British evacuation of western frontier posts but omitted provisions regarding British impressment of American seamen.
- Pinckney Treaty (1795): Spain opened the lower Mississippi River and New Orleans to trade, granted the right of deposit without duties, and recognized Florida's northern boundary at the 31st parallel.
XYZ Affair: French agents requested bribes to initiate negotiations over ship seizures, prompting war fever; President John Adams avoided open conflict by sending new envoys to Paris.

Native American Resistance:
- The Northwest Confederacy under Miami Chief Little Turtle fought western settler encroachment until defeated by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794).
- Treaty of Greenville (1795): Native American chiefs surrendered claims to the Ohio Territory.
Whiskey Rebellion (1794): Farmers in western Pennsylvania violently resisted an excise tax on whiskey; Washington deployed 15,000 federalized state militia under Alexander Hamilton to suppress the rebellion and assert federal power.
Public Land Act (1796): Established systematic procedures for dividing and selling western public lands at moderate prices, supporting the addition of states like Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796).
Washington's Farewell Address (1796): Established a two-term presidential precedent and warned against foreign entanglements, permanent alliances, political parties, and sectionalism.

Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans:
- Federalists: Led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams; favored loose constitutional interpretation, strong central government, pro-British foreign policy, peacetime military expansion, and commercial interests.
- Democratic-Republicans: Led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; favored strict constitutional interpretation, weak central government, pro-French foreign policy, small peacetime military, and agricultural interests.
Alien and Sedition Acts (1798): Federalist-backed laws raised residency for citizenship from 5 to 14 years (Naturalization Act), authorized deportation or detention of foreign nationals (Alien Acts), and criminalized public criticism of the president or Congress (Sedition Act).
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (1799): Jefferson and Madison drafted state resolutions arguing that states formed a compact with the federal government and possessed the authority to nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

Social Structure: States eliminated aristocratic traditions such as titles of nobility and primogeniture, disestablished state-supported churches (except Congregationalist tax support in New England into the 1830s), and confiscated Loyalist estates.
Cultural Identity: Expanded through growth in regional newspapers, novels by Charles Brockden Brown, Charles Willson Peale's art gallery, Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's design for Washington, D.C., and Gilbert Stuart's leadership portraits.
Westward Movement and Slavery:
- Indian Intercourse Act (1790): Placed all land transactions and trade with Native Americans under federal control, though settlers frequently ignored the law.
- Expansion of Slavery: Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin (1793) and Samuel Slater's introduction of factory designs transformed cotton agriculture into a global industry, increasing demand for enslaved labor and driving an interregional slave trade from the Chesapeake to the Deep South.