Section III Outline
Nationalism
The End of the American Revolution
1781 -- Last Land Battle at Yorktown
1783 -- Peace of Paris: John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin
United States Receives:
1. All British lands West of the Mississippi River
2. All land south to the 31st parallel (not recognized officially by Spain)
3. All land to the north to about the current Canadian border
Britain: Keeps Gibralter (which Spanish had sought)
Spain: Gains Minorca Island, East and West Florida
War’s outcomes:
1. Tory Abandomnment of U.S.A. and property
2. Economic Dislocation
3. Social Upheaval
4. “Republican” Ideology (That tricky word Republican)
5. Constitutional Experimentation
The FORMING OF A NEW NATION
CONSTITUTIONS and the American Conception
1. English conception of “Constitution” -- not one document!
Magna Carta 1215
Glorious Revolution of 1688 (James II flees England)
English Bill of Rights, 1689
2. Colonial Charters
3. Mayflower Compact of 1620
4. Social Contract
May 10, 1776 -- The Second Continental Congress call for new STATE constitutions (Historiography: Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic 1776-1787 (1969)
Characteristics of State Constitutions of 1770s (compare with 1780s)
1. Weak Executive Office (Governor)
2. Strong Legislature
3. Expanded Electorate
4. Separation of Powers
5. EXPANSION OF RIGHTS
Expansion of Rights
Virginia Bill of Rights (1776) followed by:
1776: Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina
1777: Vermont 1780: Massachusetts
1784: New Hampshire
Three Concepts and Sources of Rights:
1. Traditional Rights of Englishmen
2. English Bill of Rights
3. The Revolutionary Experience
Older English Traditional Rights:
Use of militia (vs. standing army)
Speedy trial
Trial by Jury
Humane punishment of crimes
THE ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS
Freedom of speech
Free assembly* (Also under Revolutionary Experience)
Right to bear arms
Habeas Corpus
(to not be imprisoned unless brought before a court or judge with charge)
No imprisonment without a warrant
Domicile / Home privacy
Equality of the law to all social classes
No Ex Post Facto laws
No redefinition of treason
No martial law during peacetime
To not have to testify against oneself
REVOLUTIONARY EXPERIENCE
Freedom of the press: 1733 Peter Zenger New-York Weekly Journal against
Gov. William Cosby: Slander, Libel, Alexander Hamilton
Free elections (And Direct representation)
No general warrants (Writs of Assistance)
Trial by Jury (No Military jurisdiction of civilian crimes)
The right of the majority to reform the government (Social Contract Theory)
Some Freedom of Conscience (Religion) explored
Jefferson in Virginia:
1786 -- The Act for Establishing Religious Freedom
The Pennsylvania experiment
Most radical constitutional experimentation
1. Unicameral legislature, no governor nor upper house
2. Most Egalitarian rights
(*Even considers redistribution of land / wealth)
Articles of Conferderation & The Constitution
The Articles of Confederation
Weaknesses: The Articles were designed to give a very loose confederation of states -- almost like a United Nations of states rather than a central government. It lacked a number of abilities:
1. No power to tax
2. No power to regulate trade
3. No power to create an army
4. Limited ability to ratify diplomatic measures
Failures:
1. Inability to stop piracy on the Barbary Coast
2. Failed Treaty with Spain over the Florida Border Dispute
3. Inability of Confederation Congress to uphold terms of the Peace of Paris of 1783 (such as the guarantee that British creditors could still collect on America debts owed before the war)
ONE SUCCESS: Western Land distribution
At first, the Articles were nearly not ratified by Maryland in 1779 -- all other 12 colonies / states had done so -- because land speculators in Maryland were concerned about claims to Western lands (some colonies had all the rights, others had none) -- wanted all Western claims to be centralized to the federal government.
1781 -- Virginia, largest holder of Western land claims, gives up land claims to coax Maryland into joining the Confederation.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
Parceled out the Western lands that:
1. Favored large speculators -- had to buy sections, or 1 square mile (640 acres) at $1 an acre
2. Congress framed a plan that allowed new territories to becomes states with full and equal rights as the original states -- each territory would need 60,000 settlers to become a state.
Because of the failures of the Articles, and the “make it or break it” need for a new central government, the 1780s has been termed “The Critical Period.”
The 1780s saw revisions of the state constitutions of the 1770s, including increasing power of governors and a tendency to look for stronger government to help solve financial crisis.
FINANCIAL CRISIS of the 1780s:
Congress unable to pay soldiers promised amount, huge state and federal debts. ROBERT MORRIS, known as the financier of the Revolution, Superintendent of Finance of the Confederation Congress, wanted to get revenue by:
1. 5% import duty
2. National Bank,
3. Have the states pay debts to federal government in specie (hard currency such as gold and silver) rather than paper money
Financial Crisis creates call in Feb. 1787 to “Revise Articles:”
Also overshadowed by Shay’s Rebellion -- 1786
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
12 of 13 colonies show up. (Rhode Island passes)
NOT ATTENDING / NOTABLY ABSENT: John & Sam Adams, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay
Major players:
PA -- Gouvenor Morris (active Federalist) , Robert Morris (Financier, see above) , James Wilson (Great legal mind, waffled on Dec. of Independence but valuable here), Benjamin Franklin (figurehead for legitimacy)
NY -- Alexander Hamilton (Biggest Federalist, finance)
Delaware -- John Dickenson (once again Devil’s Advocate)
VA -- George Washington, President (for legitimacy), James Madison (MOST IMPORTANT NAME IN CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION), Edmund Randolf (Gov. of Virginia, articulated Madison’s ideas)
Adopt SECRECY RULE.
The VIRGINIA PLAN (Large state, Nationalist)
The NEW JERSEY PLAN (small state, antifederalist)
Roger Sherman (CT) -- offers the Connecticut Compromise in the Senate -- Representation Proportional in the House, but equal in the Senate
Other concerns:
1. Question of representation -- not just proportional / equal but amount that slaves should count for voting strength (Slaves -- 3/5ths rule)
2. Defeat of the National Legislative Veto
Federalist / Antifederalist debate rages in states during ratification 1787-1788
IMPORTANT: FEDERALSTS: What they SAY and what they DO
FEDERALIST PAPERS v. The Constitution
Antis: How can you split sovereignty?
Feds: Sovereignty lies in the people, not in the split legislature
Antis : But people will seek their own interests, leading to chaos!
Feds: Pursuing their own interests will instead lead to a common good, aka Adam Smith’s invisible hand.
Antis: no promise of individual or states rights, re: Virginia Bill of Rights
Feds: We’ll do it first thing after ratification
Arguments carried out in The Federalist Papers John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton.
The Federalist #10 -- important because it articulates how FACTIONALISM, or parties / interests, will HELP not HURT the country.
The Federalist Era
The start of Washington’s Presidency pulled America together under the new, stronger Constitution. But within Washington’s administration were the seeds of the rise of political parties, based out of two of his cabinet members:
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (Federalist)
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (Republican)
1789 -- Washington Assumes the Presidency
The First Congress meets; it solidifies the Supreme Court, helps flesh out the Executive Branch (the Cabinet, modeled after a War Cabinet), 1st tariff bill passed, and the Bill of Rights (1st Ten Amendments to Constitution) passed as promised, but emphasize INDIVIDUAL rights rather than STATES rights.
THE HAMILTONIAN PROGRAM: (Financial plan to make the US Solvent)
1. Assume all state debts from the Revolutionary War and consolidate it into a Funded National Debt
2. Bring this together in a National Bank, created by use of the “Elastic clause”
3. Stimulate internal US industry through a series of strategic tariffs
Hamilton no sooner starts than the treasury is rocked by scandal:
The William Duer Affair (Duer embezzles tons of money from the government -- Hamilton not involved but embarrassed by scandal as Duer is #2 man in treasury)
PRIVATE vs. PUBLIC LIFE and the change in parties: The Hamilton Affair
Party Factionalism:
1789 -- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION breaks out
The French Revolution serves as a catalyst to separate political factions.
The French soon declare war on Britain (1793) ; people try to decide where their sympathies lay. Washington holds to a course of strict neutrality.
Federalists: Anglophiles (pro-British)
Urban, believes in power of self-interest
NE merchants
Republicans: Francophiles (pro-French)
Rural, Idealistic
Southern landholders, recent immigrants
Because of recent War with Britain most people more naturally inclined towards France, who had been their ally. Hamiltonians more pro-British for practical, economic reasons (Hamilton’s program depended upon tariffs on British imports). Certain events help move people to being more pro-British -- excesses of the French Revolution, and:
Citizen Genet -- Genet is a diplomatic envoy from France. Instead of presenting his credentials right away to Congress, he lands in Charleston and begins raising privateering armies to fight for France against Britain. When the US showed its neutrality policy, Genet continued to try and raise military folks from the US.
Treaties of the Washington Administration:
1793- 4 British presence in the Northwest (non-abandonment of outposts in US territory) and seizure of US ships causes tension between Britain and US.
1794 -- John Jay concludes Jay’s Treaty with Britain -- diffuses tensions between GB and US, but enrages most everyone -- seen as “sellout” of US
1795 -- Thomas Pickney finishes Treaty of San Lorenzo with Spain; Spain acknowledges the 31st parallel as boundary between Florida and Georgia, promises to keep Indians from attacking US from Florida.
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Military Actions of Washington’s Administration
1791 -- Indian fighting breaks out in the Northwest Territories. General Arthur St. Clair and 2000 soldier go to suppress them; on Nov 4, on the Maumec River, 900 Americans, including St. Clair (at the time, territorial governor of the Northwest), killed. Gives Federalists excuse to revamp War Department.
1794 -- General Anthony Wayne leads forces to success in the Battle of Cross Timbers (near Toledo, Ohio), leading to temporary “Indian Pacification”and helping to encourage British to sign Jay’s Treaty (above) and get out of NW territory.
1794 -- Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania -- farmers protesting federal tax on cereal grains (corn) used to make whiskey -- Washington urged and calls out 15,000 militia to quell rebellion; Washington leads troops personally to PA, which causes Rebellion to collapse. Two leaders of Rebellion arrested, charged with treason, but Washington pardons them, maintaining the peace and helping keep governmental loyalty.
1796 -- Washington leaves office -- in WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS, he sets the precedent that no President should serve more than 2 consecutive terms (tradition, not in Constitution at this time) and outlines 2 policies:
1. Party Faction (says Washington) will be ruinous to the US
2. The US should remain neutral -- diplomatic Isolationism
End of the Federalist Era
Election of 1796 -- because the rules on the electoral college do not specify that the President and Vice President must run on the same ticket, The election of 1796 proves to have a strange outcome: John Adams receives the most votes from the electoral college, becomes President; but since his challenger, Thomas Jefferson, gets the second-most, Jefferson becomes Vice-President. First and only time opposition candidates share the White House. (This and the election of 1800 show the need to iron out the rules for national elections and the electoral college system.)
QUASI-WAR WITH FRANCE (1798-1800)
Citizen Genet’s actions in 1793 and 1794 had begun to isolate many Americans from France -- as the French Revolution “devoured its own children,” Americans became more uneasy with the French government,
THE XYZ AFFAIR: In 1787, Adams sends an envoy to France to negotiate a treaty to diffuse tensions. The French demand a certain amount of money before starting negotiations. Americans refuse, and in the report, describe how three of the French ministers (Mssrs. X, Y, and Z -- deleting their names) had asked for what the American diplomats thought of as bribery, When Adams publishes the report, America is outraged.
POLITICIZATION CRISIS OF 1798-1799
By now, Republicans and Federalists so heavily split there are specialized vehicles for party -- particularly newspapers, but also Banks, funerals, and even dances are split along party lines. Most divided country had been.
1798 -- Federalists abuse power and pass ALIEN & SEDITION ACTS
1799 -- John Fries Uprising (PA again, also over taxes -- this on land, houses, and slaves)
1798, 1799 -- In response to Alien & Sedition Acts, the Virginia Resolves (1798, authored by Madison) and Kentucky Resolves (1799, Jefferson) are drawn up by these two states offering the concept of state veto: Power of states to annul federal laws they dislike.
1800 -- Napoleon Bonaparte has overthrown the Directory, meets with Americans in Convention of Mortefontaine and ends Quasi-War.
Election of 1800
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson run against each other again
Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s VP, gets same number of votes as Jefferson. As electoral college does not yet specify if it votes for president or vice-president, election thrown to congress. Hamilton recognizes Jefferson; Burr temporarily stymied in his ambitions. Proves that political parties can work together peacefully, ends some of the hypertension of 1799. The 12th amendment to the Constitution helps clean up the electoral college process to avoid this problem from happening again.
Patterns of Nationalism:
1700 -- Englishman
1760s -- closer ties felt towards one’s colony / state
1790 (and election of Washington) comes together as Americans
Political Crisis of 1790s, culminating in 1799 -- identify with party faction (Republican or Federalist)
1800 -- Begins to re-come together
1808 -- With Jefferson gone, lost moral focus
War of 1812, 1815: The New Nationalism
1800 -- The REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION
Move of capitol from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C.
Republican Program:
1. Remove all internal taxes (revenue now from Western Land sales only)