George Washington was unanimously chosen as president. He was a general that inspired everyone and it was understood that he would become president.
This was just as the founding fathers had wanted it to be- there would be candidates running for the presidency. The one who received the most electoral votes would become the president and the one who received the second-to-most votes would become the vice president. In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives was to decide. This idea of a presidency in dispute going to the House of Representatives is still done to this day. Then the problem of political parties arose- by voting in this way, it was possible to have a president from one political party and the vice president from another. Because of this, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution stating that one can vote for both the president and the vice president, but they now run as a team.
George Washington was the first president therefore he was the first to do and decide upon many things. Washington was a formal president and he felt the weight of the presidency upon him.
The first thing that was done was to set up a justice department. In 1789, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 in which they set up a system of federal courts. Today there are ninety two federal courts in the country.
The president also set up his cabinet. Today, the president’s cabinet has fifteen members. The original cabinet started out with only three:
1. Secretary of State- Thomas Jefferson.
2. Secretary of Treasury- Alexander Hamilton.
3. Secretary of War- Henry Knox.
Almost immediately, the differences of opinion of the men of the cabinet surfaces. Alexander Hamilton wanted to set up the country on a strong economic base. He had many different programs to do so, and among them was to:
1. Pay back all the debts accrued during the Revolutionary War. He thought it would make the state a more respectable nation and other countries would do business with us.
2. Pay up the debt within the nation. He though to make the rich people happy would be good for the nation too. Many opposed this:
a. Jefferson felt that since only a small percentile was wealthy, this wasn’t fair and the government should cater to the poor majority.
b. Many of the southern states were also against this because they paid up their debts and would now be taxed for the North’s debt. Hamilton told the southern states that if they went along with his plant to assume the state’s debt then the nation’s capital would be built in the south.
Hamilton wanted a federal bank because he felt that it would make the nation strong and keep the wealthy involved. How? Because a bank is a business and the rich invest in banks. Jefferson didn’t want a federal bank because he felt that banks are agents of the rich and hurt the poor because poor people borrow money and then have to pay back with interest. Jefferson also said that it doesn’t mention opening a federal bank anywhere in the constitution. Hamilton said that it falls under the elastic clause because it says that you can tax the people and the money has to be kept somewhere.
Now was the start of political views:
1. Hamilton with his men and their views= Federalists. They believed that:
a. The federal government should be strong.
b. The federal government should service the wealthy.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very loosely.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be England.
2. Jefferson with his men and their views= Jeffersonian Republicans/Democratic Republican- Republicans. They believed:
a. In the rights of the state and the people.
b. The poor should be looked out for.
c. The constitution should be interpreted very narrowly.
d. If an ally has to be chosen, it should be the French.
George Washington was unhappy with the different political parties but after the first election with political parties the nation realized it was good because it allowed a change in political views without bloodshed.
As Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton imposed many taxes on the people. He also wanted to show the power of the federal government- that it’s strong and can and will make sure all their laws are carried out. In order to prove this, Hamilton placed and excise tax on whiskey. This angered the farmers in western Pennsylvania who made whiskey. They said that they won’t pay the tax and they made the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton sent a whole army out west and the entire rebellion was put down without one single death.
Foreign Affairs:
1. After Washington stepped into office, the French Revolution broke out. Washington said that the US will remain neutral. This idea of neutrality was very important to Washington. In his farewell address, Washington told America to steer clear of permanent alliances because they are a young and fledgling nation.
2. Northwest territory issues:
a. The Americans began settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Many settled in the northwest territory of:
i. Ohio
ii. Illinois
iii. Michigan
iv. Wisconsin
v. Indiana
They met up with Indians and there were major fights. The issues were resolved in 1794 with the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
b. The British still remained in the Northwest Territory. John Jay was sent to Britain to work out this issue among some others. The Jay Treaty was formed and the British left the Northwest Territory, but not all the other issues were resolved.
After two terms in office, Washington retired. Federalist John Adams became the next president, and Republican Thomas Jefferson was the vice president.
This election highlighted the problem of sectionalism. Almost the entire south voted for Jefferson and almost all of the north voted for Adams.
John Adams faced a foreign affairs crisis- the French began attacking and abusing the US ships. Adams sent high ranking diplomats to talk to the French about this problem. The French humiliated the US by meeting their diplomats with low level men. The French men said that if the US diplomats want to meet with the French diplomats, they need to pay. This came to be known in America as the XYZ Affair. Some Federalists felt that war should be waged against France. Adams said not to go to war and that he would work it out. Over the next couple of years, he did work it out.
Adams was upset with the Republican Party because they were making fun of him. He felt that this was extremely wrong and would weaken the government. He felt that you must respect your president.
Adams decided to blame the immigrants within the Republican Party- he felt that maybe they were the ones doing it. Adams worked to push the Alien and Sedition Act through Congress. These acts made it more difficult for an immigrant to become a citizen and handed out harsh punishment to people that criticized the government.
These acts did get passed and the Republicans said that this is the first amendment abuse. Madison and Jefferson in their states passed the Kentucky- Virginia Resolution, which nullified the Alien and Sedition Acts. Then the issue rose of whether a state can nullify a federal law. Some felt they could and some felt otherwise. This issue remained a hot volatile until the Civil War.
In the election of the 1800s, Jefferson the Republican ran against Adams. This was a heavily disputed election, and came out to be very close. Jefferson won Adams by eight electoral votes. Jefferson’s vice president Aaron Burr got the same number of electoral votes as Jefferson, and now there was a tie. The issue went to the House of Representatives. Hamilton convinced the House of Representatives to vote for Jefferson, and Jefferson became president.
After this election, the twelfth amendment was added to the constitution. It said that the president and vice president would be voted for as a team.
Jefferson believed in less power to the federal government and more power to the people and state. Jefferson reduced the size of the army and reduced the power of the federal bank.
Jefferson was a much less formal president then Washington and Adams. He didn’t host formal balls and bow when talking to people.
The founding fathers were excited that there was a transition of ideas without bloodshed.
The next few presidents were Republicans. The Federalists lost their power in this area, but remained strong in the Judiciary branch. When Adams realized he lost the presidency, he still had a few months (November to March) and he worked to push through the Judiciary Act of 1801. This act increased the number of judges in the Supreme Court. Adams appointed John Marshall as the Chief Justice. The Federalist ruling was handed down for the next thirty years. Major debates arose over the judges that were appointed. Being that this law was passed in the eleventh hour, these judges were nicknamed the Midnight Appointees. Marbury never received the paper that he was appointed and Jefferson didn’t want to give him his paper of appointment. Marbury said that according to the Judiciary Act of 1789, Jefferson had to give it to him. This event went to the Supreme Court and became known as Marbury vs. Madison. John Marshall didn’t want to anger the president but wanted to strengthen the federal power, so he used judicial review. He looked into the law and the constitution and said that the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional, therefore Marbury’s arguments are void and he doesn’t receive the job.
The Louisiana Territory was owned by France and was used as their breadbasket to feed their colonies in the Caribbean, particularly Haiti. Haiti was a lucrative French colony that grew sugar. In 1803, Toussaint Le Overture led a rebellion in Haiti and France lost its colony. France didn’t need the Louisiana Territory anymore so they offered it to America for fifteen million dollars. The American diplomats purchased it, and when they approached Jefferson about buying it, he said he doesn’t know if according to the constitution he could buy land, but since it was such a bargain, he signed the treaty. Jefferson signed because he wanted to spread American liberty. He now increased the power of the Federal government by doubling the size of the nation.
Jefferson sent Louis and Clarke to explore the new land. They returned with all the vegetation, soil samples, different wildlife and spoke glorious news of the chunk of land.
In 1804, Jefferson won the election; the nation was happy. Quite soon after he began his second term, Jefferson was met up with a big problem. The British were attacking American ships and impressing the sailors- taking them into their army and navy. Jefferson decided to place an embargo on the British, but this stifled American businesses so it was a major flop. Two years after it was placed, the embargo was lifted.
In 1808, James Madison became president, but the anger against the British didn’t vanish.
A group of young congressmen called the War Hawks (among them Henry Clay) advocated war against the British because:
1. They impressed our soldiers.
2. As the Americans were moving into Indian territory, they met up with Indians and there was a thought that the British were supplying them with weapons.
3. Border issue in Canada.
Madison took the nation into war in the War of 1812. The Americans didn’t win a single battle and the White House was burnt down. During this war, the Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. Not everyone was in favor of war. The New England merchants felt war would wreck their business with England.
The one battle America did win was won after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. It was known as the Battle of New Orleans. The general of the battle was Andrew Jackson. They fought because news had not yet reached that the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent didn’t resolve any of the issues we went to war over, but America was very happy- we had fought a powerful nation and fought successfully. In 1816, all the issues were resolved. The War of 1812 was the start of the wonderful relationship we have with England. This war is also known as the War of Independence because now England recognized the US as a nation.
During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution in England spread across Europe and to America. One of the ideas that helped spur on the revolution was Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts. This caused a change in how things were made- instead of making everything complete, things were made with standardized parts. Molds were formed so that many parts could be made at once, allowing for mass production.
In the mid 1800s, things really took off and manufacturing was no longer done in the home. England didn’t allow people in the manufacturing sector to leave the country so as not to give out ideas. Samuel Slater memorized the plans for the textile factory he worked in and went to work as a farmer. He left England as a farmer and went to America, and set up the first textile mill in New England. Slowly, towns turned into factory centers, for example the town of Lowell, Massachusetts hosted a textile mill, shaping the North into a manufacturing center.
The South was changed by Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which separated the seeds from the cotton puff. Before this, one worker could clean one pound of cotton per day. Now, one worker could clean fifty pounds of cotton per day. All of the sudden, cotton became such a lucrative crop; they could make so much money from it. Cotton became king in the South. The cotton gin revolutionized the way of agriculture in the South and huge plantations developed to produce cotton. To keep these plantations running, slaves were needed so slavery became entrenched in the South.
Henry Clay, a powerful congressman felt that the country had to be unified. He had a plan called the American System, which was divided into three parts:
1. Put a protective tariff on foreign goods- by taxing imports, people will be more likely to do business within the country. The South didn’t like this idea because they didn’t do so much manufacturing, so they didn’t benefit. In 1816, the tariff was passed even though there was opposition.
2. Build infrastructure to connect different parts of the country. At this point, the National Road was built. It went from Maryland to Illinois. Canals were also built, such as the Eerie canal.
3. Set up a Federal bank- Hamilton’s bank had run out. By controlling the banking system, he felt it would help control the monetary system across the nation and will help with business. This was also passed.
The American System was the start of our feelings of nationalism.
The Supreme Court was a federalist stronghold and passed down rulings that reflected their ideals. They ruled in favor of the National government. Cases:
1. McCulloch vs. Maryland- the court ruled that a state can’t pass a law that will go against a federal law. There was a federal bank in Maryland and the state of Maryland taxed the Federal bank almost enough to put it out of business. This was declared illegal.
2. Gibbons vs. Ogden- only the Federal government can regulate trade and the federal government is supreme over the states. Mr. Ogden worked for a shipping company that had the rights to ship between New York and New Jersey. He though he had exclusive rights over the waters. Gibbon was given the right by the federal government to ship on these waters.
3. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward- the court declared that the state of New Hampshire can’t revise a contract that was given to the college trustees long ago because a contract is a legal binding document and the constitution doesn’t allow the state to interfere with contracts. This gave businesses a confidence to open because it showed that contracts are valued.
John Quincy Adams was the Secretary of State. He established foreign policies on his beliefs on nationalism. He put the nation’s interests above the state’s interests in all dealings.
1. In 1819, he signed the Adams- Onis Treaty between the US and Spain. Spain gave Florida to the US. This increased our country’s size and we received it without a fight.
2. In 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was issued by President Monroe. It told all the nations of the world not to get involved with the western hemisphere- it doesn’t belong to you, so leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. This included Latin America too. America didn’t let the European nations take colonies in Latin America because they didn’t want European powers in the south. They did this because they had the will to do it and were backed by England’s help.
The American pioneers were excited to move to the Louisiana Purchase. They could move west and settle the land. They had a very good, nationalistic feeling. Many immigrants and Americans moved out west. As they moved west, different territories became ready for statehood. In order to form a state, sixty thousand people had to be living in that territory. This led to problems in our nation.
At this point, there were twenty two states. Eleven believed in slavery and eleven didn’t. Missouri wanted to enter as a slave state. The Free states said no and there was an uproar in Congress. For about a year, Missouri was denied statehood. Henry Clay said it would work out because Maine, a free state, applied for statehood. Henry Clay said to divide the Louisiana Purchase at 36° 30’; north of this would be free and south of this would be slave. This came to be known as the Compromise of 1820 or the Missouri Compromise.
In 1824, John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, became president. He was not as successful or popular as his father because of Andrew Jackson. Jackson ran against Adams in the election of 1824, and Adams just barely squeaked into the presidency. It wasn’t a smooth win because neither candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. The decision went to the House of Representatives, and Clay convinced the House to vote for Adams. Clay got appointed as Secretary of State.
Jackson’s followers felt that the election was stolen from him. They formed their own party known as the Democratic Republican party. For the next four years, they attacked Adam’s policies.
During his years in office, Adams lowered the voting restrictions. In the election of 1828, three times as many people came to vote.
During the election of 1828, Jackson campaigned. He was nicknamed Old Hickory. Jackson won by a landslide. He invited everyone to his inaugural ball so he received the name King Mob.
Jackson changed the system of government to the spoils system- “to the victor belongs the spoils”. He removed many of the government officials and replaced them with his own friends. He had his own personal group of advisors called the Kitchen Cabinet- the joke was that they came through the kitchen door, which is the back door.
Three major events of Jackson:
1. Indian removal- in the southeast of America (Carolinas, Georgia…) there were about five Indian tribes that had Americanized. They set up schools, a system of government with a two house legislature, and one tribe had a written language made up by Sequoia. These five tribes were called the Five Civilized Tribes. They just weren’t good enough for the Americans- they wanted their land and didn’t want to live with them. Jackson agreed and said that they should move elsewhere.
In 1830, Jackson together with Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to push the Indians past the Mississippi river. For the next few years, the federal government made different treaties with different tribes, taking away their land and pushing them toward the Mississippi river.
The Cherokee tribe said they wouldn’t move. They had a missionary friend who fought for them and took their case to the Supreme Court. In the case of Worchester vs. Georgia, John Marshall ruled in favor of the Indians. He said that the Indian Removal Act is unconstitutional. Jackson didn’t listen to Marshall’s ruling and in 1838, he shooed the Cherokee out. The Indians went on an eight thousand mile trek from Georgia to Mississippi. It was filled with danger and came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
2. Tariff and State rights- in 1816, Henry Clay with the American System passed a tariff. Over the years, the tariff was raised. The south was continuously aggravated by it because they had little industry of their own and weren’t benefiting from the tax. At that time, John Calhoun, a southerner, was vice president. At first he agreed with the tariff but over time, he saw that it was hurting the southern states so he spoke out against it.
In 1838, the Tariff of Abomination was passed. Calhoun said that it’s a despicable tariff and the states don’t have to pay it based on the principle of nullification. He said that if the state forbids the state from nullifying the law, they can even secede.
This led to major debates in Congress. Daniel Webster represented the north and he spoke for many days in Congress against nullification. Webster said that we are a nation of people, and not of separate states. Robert Hane of South Carolina represented the south and he defended nullification.
In 1832, the tariff was raised again and South Carolina decided to nullify it. They were backed by John Calhoun. Andrew Jackson said that he’s going to pass the Force law, forcing them to pay the tariff and follow the law. Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, made a compromise- he worked with Congress and over the next ten years, the tariff was lowered. This didn’t resolve the issue of state rights- South Carolina nullified the Force law.
3. National Banks- Jackson hated the national bank because he felt that it was an agent for the wealthy. He wanted to destroy the Bank of the United States (BUS), so he removed all the federal money and put it in small pet banks. So as not to crumble, the BUS asked many of their investors to pay up their loans. This caused many businesses to go bankrupt.
1n 1836, the BUS closed and Jackson won his battle against the banks.
Jackson’s actions angered his own party members and others, so they formed the Whigs. They nicknamed Jackson King Andrew.
Jackson served two terms, and in 1836, Martin Van Buren won the presidency, Van Buren was a powerful politician. He was the brain behind the new campaign style. Jackson backed Van Buren and he won. Van Buren inherited an economic mess; banks and businesses were collapsing. The pet banks became known as wild cat banks- they invested foolishly. The country entered into a state of depression known as the Panic of 1837. Van Buren was now nicknamed Van Ruin.
In the election of 1840, Van Buren lost to a Whig by the name of William Henry Harrison. Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain without a coat, and shortly after, he came down with pneumonia, which resulted in his death three months into his presidency.
Harrison’s vice president, John Tyler became president. When the Whigs chose Tyler as vice president, they didn’t choose him for his policies but rather because they thought he would give a southern vote.
The Age of Jackson tremendously changed politics. People now became more involve.
