Chapter 7: The New Political Order, 1776-1800 Expanded Timeline
1776 Pennsylvania’s democratic
Although popular sovereignty was established in the Declaration of
Independence and everyone assumed that the national government of the new
United States would be republican, it was up to the states to decide how their
own governments would be organized. Radicals in Pennsylvania offered the most
democratic plan, creating a unicameral assembly that ruled without a council or
governor.
John Adams, Thoughts on Government
John Adams offered a more conservative system, which was still republican but
less democratic. He wanted to emulate the mixed system of the British by
establishing three separate branches of government, each with a single
function; these branches would use checks and balances to restrain each other
and maintain liberty. This system was instituted in Massachusetts and some
other states because it was similar to the government the people were used to
and limited the excesses of direct democracy.
Propertied women vote in New Jersey (until 1807)
The New Jersey constitution of 1776 granted the vote to all property holders.
When free black men and unmarried women began to exercise the vote, the
state closed the loophole in 1807 by abolishing property as the basis for suffrage
and limiting the vote to white men only.
1777 Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781)
The Articles of Confederation created a national government centered in
Congress. The Articles did not grant to the federal government the right to tax,
form a judiciary, control interstate commerce, or compel the states in any way.
However, they were effective in terms of diplomacy and in organizing the
acquisition, surveying, and sale of western lands.
1779 Judith Sargent Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes"
Judith Sargent Murray challenged contemporary assumptions about the
inferiority of women. She argued that women were intellectually equal to men
but that their training was less rigorous, resulting in apparent inequality.
Women’s equality made them fit to assume an equal position in society.
1780s Postwar commercial recession
Creditor-debtor conflicts in states
The loss of trade monopolies established by the British Navigation Acts left
Americans with few markets after the war. In addition, state governments were
caught in the middle between creditors and debtors over debts accumulated
during the war years. Debt compelled states to raise taxes and limit paper
money, putting the squeeze on debtors. As creditors pressured debtors for
payment, the debtors also appealed to state governments for economic relief
and legal protection.
1781 Bank of North America chartered by Congress
Robert Morris became superintendent of the finances of the Articles of
Confederation and, shocked at the national government’s financial weakness,
sought to undertake a program to improve its financial stability and authority.
His plan was to establish a national bank to issue notes to stabilize the
currency, and then create a national debt by spreading war debts among
states, controlling the foreign debt, and imposing national import duties.
Congress chartered the bank, but resisted Morris’ efforts to establish a national
debt. As a result, the Articles of Confederation lacked a financial foundation
upon which to establish authority.
1784-1785 Political and Land Ordinances outline policy for new states
In its search for funds, the Articles of Confederation government turned to
western lands. After considerable efforts, it gained control of western lands from
individual states, initiated a policy to acquire lands from the native Americans,
established the grid system for surveying and selling western lands to generate
revenue, and provided for the orderly organization of western territories and
their admission as equal states into the Union.
1785 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
Thomas Jefferson articulated his vision for a democratic republic of yeoman
farmers in a book he wrote on the economic, social, political, and institutional
organization of his home state of Virginia. Strong foreign markets for American
farm produce and an expansive western land policy which Jefferson helped
establish moved his vision closer to reality in the 1790s.
1786 Annapolis commercial convention
Shays’s Rebellion in Massachusetts
Organized resistance to pro-creditor policies arose in Massachusetts, where the
government did not pass pro-debtor legislation. Farmers and artisans, unable to
pay their debts, refused to let creditors foreclose and organized meetings and
an army to resist efforts by the state to enforce pro-creditor laws. Shays’s
rebellion, under the leadership of Daniel Shays, ultimately succumbed to cold
weather and political pressure. It did, however, convince some nationalist
observers that chaos could result from a weak central government. To amend
the Articles of Confederation, they convened a meeting to discuss tariff and
taxation issues at Annapolis, Maryland, and then called for a constitutional
convention in Philadelphia the following summer.
1787 Northwest Ordinance
Following on the Land Ordinance of 1784, the Northwest Ordinance provided for
the sale of lands, the establishment of territories, and admission of three to five
free states north of the Ohio River.
Philadelphia Constitutional convention
At this meeting to reform the Articles of Confederation, James Madison offered a
comprehensive restructuring of the government in a proposal known as the
Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan established the supremacy of the national
government over the states, and checked its power by creating three functional
branches of government that would check and balance each other. This
conservative revision was reshaped through a series of compromises on issues of
concern to various interest groups.
1787-1788 Ratification conventions
The Federalist (John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton)
The nationalists, who called themselves Federalists, argued that a powerful
central government would strengthen the United States and restore public credit
and property rights. Their opponents, who called themselves anti-Federalists,
feared central power, the control of government by mercantile elites, and the
weakening of state governments.
The Federalists focused on allaying the fears of Anti-Federalists in a published
series of essays called The Federalist. Though James Madison supported Federal
supremacy and the direct power of the central government over individuals, he
argued that the system of checks and balances would restrain government
power and that the size and diversity of America would prevent any party from
gaining domination. In a series of very close debates at ratification conventions,
the Constitution passed and became law.
1789 George Washington inaugurated as first president
Washington established executive departments and appointed secretaries of
foreign affairs, finance, and war to run them. He also set protocol on the
relationship between the President and Congress and how the President would
present himself in public.
Judiciary Act establishes federal court system
Congress organized the judicial system by creating a national Supreme Court
with three circuit courts that heard cases on appeal from thirteen federal
district courts, one for each state.
Outbreak of French Revolution
The French Revolution, inspired in part by the American Revolution, overthrew
the monarchy in France, a development with which most Americans
sympathized.
1790 Alexander Hamilton’s program: redemption and assumption
Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, offered a three-part program to
restore public finances. The federal government would pay off, or redeem,
securities and bonds issued during the revolution, assume the debts of the
states, and establish a national bank with the power to tax and issue currency.
1791 Bill of Rights ratified
The first ten amendments to the Constitution were passed to mollify
anti-Federalist fears that the central government would encroach on the
liberties and rights of the people. The passage of the Bills of Rights increased
support for the Constitution and enhanced its legitimacy.
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Women remained a marginal group, as men ignored the ideas of women like
Judith Sargent Murray. A more radical critique, written by the British republican
Mary Wollstonecraft, argued for the legal and political equality of women.
Though she gained a widespread hearing, many Americans were shocked by
Wollstonecraft’s sexually free lifestyle. Most men disregarded her argument.
1793 First French Republic; Louis XVI executed
Democratic-Republican party founded
War between Britain and France; Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality
In France, the change from a constitutional monarchy to a republican Directory
that executed the king polarized American opinion. Federalists agreed with the
British that the French had gone too far toward anarchy. Meanwhile,
Republicans under Madison and Jefferson remained sympathetic, though
concerned about the radical direction of the Revolution. When Britain went to
war against France, Washington and the Federalists tried to remain neutral; this
became difficult when the British began seizing American ships.
1794 Whiskey Rebellion
As national politics became polarized, some people in Pennsylvania reacted to
the passing of a national tax on distilled spirits by forming an assembly and
arming themselves. President Washington raised an army and put down this
rebellion.
1795 Jay’s Treaty
To avert war with Britain, John Jay was sent to negotiate a treaty that
established American neutrality in exchange for allowing the British to seize
French goods on American ships and compensating the British for losses during
the Revolution. In return the British agreed to withdraw their troops from forts in
the Northwest, stop supporting the Indians, and redress American merchants’
losses incurred through illegal British seizure of their goods.
Two organized parties offered slates of candidates in the 1796 election. The
Federalist John Adams was elected president, but Thomas Jefferson, a
Republican, was elected vice-president, creating a divided administration.
1798 XYZ Affair (1797) prompts war against France
In response to America’s pro-British policy, the French began to attack American
shipping. When John Adams’s attempts to negotiate were rebuffed and three
agents of the French foreign Minister asked for a loan and a bribe from American
diplomats, an action Americans considered an insult to their honor, Americans
prepared for war and joined the British in attacking French shipping. Though
President Adams averted a full-scale war, the United States was involved in a
quasi-war against France for two years.
Alien, Sedition, and Naturalization Acts
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Adams sought to quell opposition by pushing through the Alien and Sedition
Acts, which increased residency requirements for citizenship, threatened
foreigners with potential deportation, and prohibited criticism of the
administration’s policies. The Republicans attacked these acts as encroachments
on individual liberties and asserted the rights of the states to nullify national
laws in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions.
1800 Jefferson elected in "Revolution of 1800"
Taking advantage of the opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts and Federalist
war policies, the Republicans carried the election of 1800. However, Aaron Burr
of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia tied in the electoral college vote
for president, throwing the election into Congress. After numerous votes and a
growing threat of civil war, Alexander Hamilton convinced several Federalists to
let Jefferson be elected. Constitutional procedures thus led the nation through a
political stalemate and permitted the peaceful transfer of power. Jefferson called
this "the Revolution of 1800" because the ascendancy of the Republicans
ensured a return to the initial principles of the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution.