Transcript THE AGE OF JEFFERSON 1789-1824

THE AGE OF JEFFERSON
1789-1824
THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON
THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON
 GW was elected
unanimously by
Congress. He
provided a muchneeded symbol of
national unity.
 Having retired to
private life after
the war, he was a
model of
republican virtue.
 His vice-president,
John Adams, was
widely respected as
one of the main
leaders in the drive
for independence.
 GW brought into
his cabinet some of
the nation’s most
prominent leaders.
THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE
WASHINGTON
TJ was his his Secretary of State.
AH was Secretary of the Treasury.
Gen. Henry Knox was Secretary of War.
GW also appointed a Supreme Court of
six members, including John Jay.
 But harmonious govt., proved shortlived.
 Political divisions first surfaced over the
financial plan developed by AH in 1790
and 1791.
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HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN
 Immediate Aims:
 To establish the
nation’s financial
stability.
 Bring to the
government’s support
the country’s most
powerful financial
interests.
 Encourage economic
development.
 Long-term goal was to
make the US a major
commercial and
military power.
 Model: Great Britain
 The goal of national
greatness, AH
believed, could never
be realized if the
government suffered
from the same
weaknesses as under
the Articles of
Confederation.
HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN
 Part One: Establish the new nation’s
credit worthiness – that is to create
conditions under which persons would loan
money to the govt., by purchasing its
bonds, confident that they would be repaid.
 Part Two: Creation of a new national
debt: the old debts would be replaced by
the new interest-bearing bonds to the
govt., creditors. This would give men of
economic substance a stake in promoting
the new nation’s stability.
HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN
 Part Three: Called for the creation
of a Bank of the United States:
The goal of the BUS was to serve as
the nation’s main financial agent. It
would hold public funds, issue bank
notes that would serve as currency,
and make loans to the govt., when
necessary, all the while returning a
tidy profit.
HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN
 Part Four: To raise revenue, AH
proposed a tax on the producers of
whiskey.
 Part Five: AH called for the
imposition of a tariff and govt.,
subsidies to encourage the
development of factories that could
mfg., products currently purchased
from aboard.
HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN
 AH also promoted an
unsuccessful effort
to build an industrial
city at present day
Paterson, NJ.
 He also proposed the
creation of an
national army to
deal with uprisings
like Shays’s
Rebellion.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 AH’s plan won strong support from
American financiers, manufacturers,
and merchants.
 But it alarmed those who believed the
new nation’s destiny lay in charting a
different path of development.
 AH’s plan hinged on close ties with
GB, America’s main trading partner.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
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To TJ and Madison, the
future lay in westward
expansion, not connections
with Europe.
They had little desire to
promote mfg., or urban
growth or to see economic
policy shaped in the
interests of bankers and
business leaders.
Their goal was a republic of
independent farmers
marketing grain, tobacco,
and other products freely to
the entire world.
Free trade would promote
American prosperity while
fostering greater social
equality.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
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TJ and Madison quickly
concluded that the greatest
threat to American freedom
lay in the alliance of a
powerful central govt., with
an emerging class of
commercial capitalists, such
as AH appeared to envision.
TJ: Hamilton’s system
“flowed from principles
adverse to liberty, and was
calculated to undermine and
demolish the republic.”
AH’s plans for a standing
army was criticized as a
threat to freedom.
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Critics feared that the
national bank and
assumption of state debts
would introduce into
American politics the same
corruption that had
undermined British liberty.

AH’s whiskey tax seemed to
single out whiskey producers.
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At first opposition arose
entirely from the South.
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VA., had pretty much paid off
its war debt; it did not see
why it should be taxed to
benefit states like MA., who
had failed to do so.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 AH insisted that all his
plans were authorized
by the Constitution’s
ambiguous clause
empowering Congress
to enact laws for the
“general welfare”.
 This clause is known
as the Necessary and
Proper Clause.
 AH took a broad
constructionist view
of the Const.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 Opponents of the plan
took a strict
constructionist view
– the federal govt.,
could only exercise
powers specifically
listed in the Const.
 TJ believed the new
national bank
unconstitutional since
the right of Congress
to create a bank was
not mentioned in the
Const.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 Opposition in Congress threatened the
enactment of AH’s plan.
 Behind-the-scenes negotiations followed.
 A compromise was reached during a dinner
between AH and TJ.
 Southerners would agree to the fiscal program
in exchange for the establishment of the
permanent national capitol on the Potomac
River between MD., and VA.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 Pierre-Charles
L’Enfant designed a
grandiose plan for
the “federal city”
modeled on the
great urban centers
of Europe.
 Benjamin Banneker,
the first African
American scientist,
performed the job of
surveying the area.
THE EMERGENCE OF OPPOSITION
 When it came to
constructing the
public buildings in
the nation’s new
capital, most of the
labor was done by
slaves.
 The debate over
AH’s financial plan
was the first step
in the development
of political parties.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 Political divisions began over AH’s fiscal plan, but they
deepened in response to events in Europe.
 1789: The French Revolution began. It was welcomed
by nearly all Americans.
 1793: It took a more radical turn with the execution
of King Louis XVI along with numerous aristocrats and
other foes of the new govt., and war broke out
between France and GB.
 Events in France became a source of bitter conflict in
America.
 The French Revolution was the second step in the
development of political parties.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 TJ and his followers
believed that despite its
excesses the Fr. Rev.,
marked an historic
victory for the idea of
popular self-govt., which
must be defended at all
costs.
 To GW, AH, and their
supporters, the FR. Rev.,
raised the specter of
anarchy. Americans, they
believed, had no choice
but to draw close to GB.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 The “permanent” alliance between
France and the US, which dated back
to 1778, complicated the situation.
 No one advocated that the US should
become involved in the European war.
 4/1793: GW issued a Proclamation
of Neutrality – the US would remain
neutral in the French and English war.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 But that spring, French
Rev., admirers
organized a
tumultuous welcome
for Edmond Genet, a
French envoy seeking
to arouse support for
his beleaguered govt.
 When he began
commissioning
American ships to
attack British vessels
under the Fr., flag, the
Washington admin.,
asked for his recall.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 Meanwhile, the British
seized hundreds of
American ships trading
with the French West
Indies.
 GB also resumed the
hated practice of
impressment –
kidnapping sailors,
including American
citizens of British
origin, to serve in their
navy.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 GW sent John Jay
to London to
negotiate a treaty
and end the
practice of
impressment.
 Jay’s Treaty
produced the
greatest public
controversy of
GW’s presidency.
THE IMPACT OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
 Jay’s Treaty contained no
British concession on
impressment or the
rights of American
shipping.
 GB did agree to abandon
outposts on the
American western
frontier, which it was
supposed to have done
in 1783.
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In return, the US
guaranteed favored
treatment to British
imported goods.
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In effect, the treaty
canceled the AmericanFrench alliance and
recognized British economic
and naval supremacy as
unavoidable facts of life.
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Critics of GW, charged that
it aligned the US with
monarchial GB in its conflict
with France.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLTIICAL
PARTIES
 By the mid-1790s,
two increasingly
coherent parties
had appeared in
Congress.
 They called
themselves
Federalists and
DemocraticRepublicans.
 Both parties laid
claim to the
language of liberty,
and each accused
its opponent of
engaging in a
conspiracy to
destroy liberty.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL
PARTIES
 THE FEDERALISTS:
 Supporters of GW
 Favored Hamilton’s
financial plan.
 Favored close ties with
Great Britain.
 Included prosperous
merchants, farmers,
lawyers, and established
political leaders
(especially outside the
South).
 Outlook generally elitist.
 Broad constructionists.
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THE DEMOCRATICREPUBLICANS:
Led by TJ and JM.
More sympathetic to
France.
Drew support from an
unusual alliance of wealthy
Southern planters and
ordinary farmers
throughout the country.
Support also came from
urban artists.
Preferred the “boisterous
sea of liberty.”
More accepting of broad
democratic participation as
essential to freedom.
Strict constructionists.
THE DEVLOPMENT OF POLITICAL
PARTIES
 The Federalist Party
reflected the 18th
century view of society
as a fixed hierarchy
and of public office
reserved for men of
economic substance.
 Freedom, to them,
rested on deference to
authority. It did not
mean the right to
stand up in opposition
to the government.
 Federalists feared that
the “spirit of liberty”
unleashed by the Rev.,
was degenerating into
anarchy and lacking
moral discipline.
 The Federalists may
have been the only
party in American
history to proclaim
democracy and
freedom dangerous in
the hands of ordinary
citizens.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL
PARTIES
 Each party
considered itself
the representative
of the nation and
the other an
illegitimate faction.
 The political debate
became more and
more heated.
 The Federalists
called the DR’s
French agents,
anarchists, and
traitors.
 DR’s called the Feds.,
monarchist intent on
transforming the
new govt., into a
corrupt, British-style
aristocracy.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLTIICAL
PARTIES
 Each charged the
other with
betraying the
principles of the
Rev., and American
freedom.
 GW, himself,
received mounting
abuse over Jay’s
Treaty.
 When he left office,
a DR newspaper
declared that his
name had become
synonymous with
“political iniquity(
wickedness and
sinfulness) and
“legalized
corruption.”
THE WHISKEY REBELLION
THE WHISKEY REBELLION
 1794: Backcountry
PA., farmers sought to
block collection of the
new tax on whiskey.
 Their actions
reinforced Federalists
convictions over mob
actions.
 The rebels invoked the
symbols and language
of 1776.
 GW dispatched 13,000
militiamen to quash
the rebellion.
THE WHISKEY REBELLION
 GW accompanied the
militiamen to the scene
of the rebellion.
 The rebels offered no
resistance.
 GW wrote: His vigorous
response was motivated
in part for “the
impression” the
restoration of public
order “will make on
others” – the others
being Europeans who did
not believe the American
experiment in self-govt.,
could survive.
THE WASHINGTON PRESIDENCY
 1792: GW won
unanimous reelection.
 1796: He retired
from public life, in
part to establish
the precedent that
the presidency is
not a life office.
THE WASHINGTON PRESIDENCY
 In his Farewell Address,
mostly written by AH and
published in newspapers
rather than delivered
orally, GW defended his
admin., against criticism,
warned against the party
spirit, and advised the
country to steer clear of
international politics by
avoiding “permanent
alliances with any portion
of the world.”
THE ELECTION OF 1796
THE ELECTION OF 1796
 GW’s departure
unleashed fierce
party competition
over the choice of
his successor.
 In the first
contested
presidential
election, two
tickets presented
themselves.
 John Adams and
Thomas Pinckney
(SC) representing
the Federalists.
 Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr
(NY) representing
the DemocraticRepublicans.
THE ELECTION OF 1796
 In a majority of the
16 states (VT, KY
and TN had been
added to the original
13) the legislature
still chose
presidential electors.
 But in 6 states
where the people
voted for electors
directly, intense
campaigning took
place.
 Results
 JA = 71 electoral
votes
 TP = 59 e.v. – due
to a split among
Fed.
 TJ = 68 e.v.
 Thus JA became
President and TJ
became VP.
THE ELECTION OF 1796
 Voting fell almost
entirely on
sectional lines:
 JA carried New
England, NY., and
NJ.
 TJ swept the south,
along with PA.
THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN ADAMS
THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN ADAMS
 1797: JA assumed leadership of a divided
country.
 Brilliant but austere (stern), and selfimportant, he was disliked even by those
who honored his long career of service to
the cause of independence.
 AH, the leader of the Federalist Party,
disliked him.
 JA’s presidency was beset by foreign and
domestic crises.
THE XYZ AFFAIR
THE XYZ AFFAIR
 The country was dragged into the
ongoing European war.
 As a neutral nation, the US claimed
the right to trade nonmilitary goods
with both GB and FR, but both
countries seized American ships
without impunity.
 1797: American diplomats were sent
to Paris to negotiate a treaty to
replace the old alliance of 1778.
THE XYZ AFFAIR
 French officials presented the
American diplomats with a demand
for bribes ($250,000) before
negotiations could proceed.
 When Adams made public the envoys
dispatches, the French officials were
designated XYZ.
 The “XYZ Affair” poisoned America’s
relations with its former ally.
“QUASI-WAR” WITH FRANCE
 1798: The US and FR
were engaged in a
“quasi-war” at sea, with
FR ships seizing
American vessels in the
Caribbean and a newly
enlarged American navy
harassing the French.
 In effect, the US had
become an ally of GB.
 Despite pressure from
AH, who wanted a war
against FR, JA in 1800
negotiated peace with
FR.
FRIES’S REBELLION
FRIES’S REBELLION
 JA was less cautious in
domestic affairs.
 Unrest continued in
many rural areas.
 1799: Farmers in SE
PA., obstructed the
assessment of a
property tax that
Congress had imposed
to held fund an
expanded army and
navy.
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A crowd, led by John Fries,
a local militia leader,
released arrested men from
prison.
No shots were fired, but JA
dispatched units of the
federal army to the area.
The army arrested Fries for
treason and terrorized his
supporters and whipped
Republican newspaper
editors.
JA pardoned Fries in 1800
but the area never voted for
the Federalist party again.
THE “REIGN OF WITCHES”
THE “REIGN OF WITCHES”
 The greatest crisis of the Adams
Administration arose over the Alien and
Sedition Acts of 1798.
 Confronted with mounting opposition, some
of it voiced by immigrant pamphleteers and
editors, Federalists moved to silence their
critics.
 A new Naturalization Act extended from
5 to 14 years the residency requirement for
immigrants seeking American citizenship.
“THE REIGN OF WITCHES”
 THE ALIEN ACT:
 1798
 Allowed the
deportation of persons
from abroad deemed
“dangerous” by federal
authorities.
 Allowed the detention
of any enemy aliens in
the time of war.
 THE SEDITION ACT:
 1798
 Authorized the
prosecution of virtually
any public assembly or
publication critical of
the government.
 This meant that
opposition editors
could be prosecuted
for almost any political
comment they printed.
 Main target was the
Republican Press.
THE “REIGN OF WITCHES”
 18 individuals, including several
Republican newspaper editors, were
charged under the Sedition act.
 10 were convicted for spreading
“false, scandalous, and malicious
information about the government.”
 But the Acts failed to silence the
Republican press.
THE “REIGN OF WITCHES”
 Some newspapers ceased publication,
but new ones, with names like Sun of
Liberty and Tree of Liberty, entered
the field.
 The Sedition Act thrust freedom of
expression to the center of
discussions of American liberty.
 Republicans did fight back.
THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA
RESOLUTIONS
 TJ and Madison
mobilized
opposition.
 They drafted
resolutions adopted
by the KY., and
VA., legislatures.
THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA
RESOLUTIONS
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Attacked the Sedition Act as
an unconstitutional violation
of the First Amendment.
Madison called on the federal
government to protect free
speech.
Jefferson’s original version of
the Kentucky Resolution
asserted that states could
nullify laws of Congress that
violated the Constitution.
The Kentucky legislature
deleted this passage.
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The resolutions were
directed against assaults on
freedom of expression by
the federal government, not
the states.
Jefferson took care to insist
that the states “fully
possessed” the authority to
punish “seditious” speech
even if the national
government did not.
Indeed, state-level
prosecution of newspapers
for seditious libel did not
end when the Sedition Act
expired in 1801.
THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA
RESOLUTIONS
 No other state endorsed the KY and VA
Resolutions.
 Many Americans, including Republicans,
were horrified by the idea of state action
that might endanger the Union.
 But the “crisis of freedom” of the late 1790s
strongly reinforced the idea that “freedom
of discussion” was an indispensable
attribute of American liberty and of
democratic government.
THE KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA
RESOLUTIONS
 Harrison Gray Otis, a
MA., Federalist noted
that free speech had
become the people’s
“darling privilege.”
 The broad revulsion
against the Acts
contributed to TJ’s
election as president in
1800.
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
 “Jefferson and Liberty” became the
watchword of the Republican campaign of
1800.
 By this time, Republicans had developed
effective techniques for mobilizing voters
such as holding mass meetings to promote
their cause.
 The Federalists found it difficult to match
their opponents mobilization but they still
dominated N.E., and enjoyed considerable
support in the Middle Atlantic states.
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
 THE RESULTS:
 TJ = 73 e.v.
 JA = 65 e.v.
 AB = 73 e.v.
 Before assuming office,
TJ was forced to weather
an unusual constitutional
crisis.
 Each party had arranged
to have an elector throw
away one of his 2 votes
for President so that its
presidential candidate
would come out one vote
ahead of the VP
candidate.
 But the designated
Republican failed to do
so.
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
 With no candidate
having a majority,
the election was
thrown into the HoR
where the Feds.,
enjoyed a slight
majority.
 For 35 ballots,
neither man received
a majority of votes.
 Finally, AH
intervened.
 AH disliked TJ but
believed him enough
of a statesman to
recognize that the
Federalists financial
system could not be
dismantled.
 Burr, he warned, was
obsessed with
power.
 AH’s support for TJ
tipped the balance.
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
 To avoid a
repetition of the
crisis, Congress
and the states
adopted the XII
Amendment,
requiring electors
to cast separate
votes for president
and vice-president.
“THE REVOLUTION OF 1800”
 The events of the 1790s
demonstrated that a majority of
American believed ordinary people
had a right to play an active role in
politics, express their opinions freely,
and contest the policies of their
government.
 To their credit, the Federalists never
considered resistance to the election
results.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 Lurking behind the
political battles of the
1790s lay the potential
divisive issue of
slavery.
 TJ received every one
of the South’s 41 e.v.
 He always referred to
is victory as the
“Revolution of 1800.”
 He saw his victory as a
vindication of
American freedom,
securing posterity the
fruits of independence.
 But TJ’s triumph would
not have been possible
without slavery.
 Had 3/5 of the slave
population not been
counted in
apportionment, JA
would have been
elected in 1800.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 The issue of slavery
would not disappear.
 The very first Congress,
under the new
Constitution, received
petitions calling for
emancipation.
 One bore the signature
of Benjamin Franklin who
in 1787 had agreed to
serve as president of the
PA., Abolition Society.
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A long debate followed, in
which speakers from GA.,
and SC., vigorously
defended slavery and
warned that behind
Northern criticism they
heard “the trumpets of civil
war.”
Madison found their defense
of slavery as an
embarrassment.
But he concluded that the
slavery question was so
divisive it must be kept out
of national politics.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS

Madison opposed Congress
even receiving a petition from
NC., slaves on the grounds that
they were not part of the
American people and had “no
claim” on the lawmakers
“attention.”
1793: To implement the Const.,
fugitive slave clause, Congress
enacted a law providing for
federal and state judges and
local officials to facilitate the
return of slaves.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 Events during the 1790s underscored how
powerfully slavery defined and distorted
American freedom.
 The same Jeffersonians who hailed the Fr.
Rev., as a step in the universal progress of
liberty reacted in horror against the slave
revolution which began in 1791 in Saint
Domingue, Haiti, the jewel of the Fr.,
overseas empire situated not far from the
southern coast of the US.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 Toussaint L’Ouverture an
educated slave on a
sugar plantation, forged
the rebellious slaves into
an army to defeat British
forces seeking to seize
the island and then an
expedition seeking to
restore French authority.
 The slave uprising led to
the establishment of
Haiti as an independent
nation in 1804.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 The Haitian revolution
affirmed the
universality of the
revolutionary era’s
creed of liberty.
 It inspired hopes for
freedom among
American slaves.
 But to most whites,
the rebellious slaves
were a danger to
American institutions.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 Their resort to violence
was widely taken to
illustrate black’s
unfitness for republican
freedom.
 The Adams Admin., had
encouraged Haitian
independence.
 But TJ sought to
quarantine and destroy
the hemisphere second
independent republic.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
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1800 also witnessed a real
attempt by slaves in VA., to
gain their freedom.
It was organized by a
Richmond blacksmith,
Gabriel and his brothers.
They planned to march on
the city.
They would kill some white
inhabitants and hold the
rest, including Gov. James
Monroe, hostage until their
demand for the abolition of
slavery was met.
SLAVERY AND POLITICS
 On the night when the
slaves were to gather,
a storm washed out
the roads to
Richmond.
 The plot was soon
discovered and the
leaders arrested.
 26 slaves, including
Gabriel, were hanged
and dozens more
shipped out of the
state.
 The VA., legislature
tightened controls over
the black population and
severely restricted the
possibility of masters
voluntarily freeing their
slaves.
 Any slave freed after
1806 was required to
leave VA., or be sold
back into slavery.
 The door to
emancipation, thrown
open by the AM. Rev.,
had been slammed shut.
THE PRESIDENCY OF THOMAS
JEFFERSON
THE PRESIDENCY OF THOMAS
JEFFERSON
 TJ was the first president
to begin his term in
Washington DC.
 DC still had unpaved
streets, impoverished
residents, and unfinished
public buildings.
 At one point, the roof of
the Capitol collapsed
narrowly missing the VP.



The capitol’s conditions
seemed to symbolize TJ’s
intention to reduce the
importance of the national
govt., in American life.
In his inaugural address, TJ
was very conciliatory to his
opponents.
“We are all Federalists, we
are all Repubicans.”
THE PRESIDENCY OF THOMAS
JEFFERSON
 TJ hope to
dismantled as
much of the
Federalist system
as possible.
 During his 8 years
in office he
reduced the
number of govt.,
employees and
slashed the army
and navy.
 He abolished all taxes
except the tariff and paid
off the national debt.
 He aimed to minimize
federal power and
eliminate govt., oversight
of the economy.
 His policies ensured that
America would not
become a centralized
state on a European
model, as AH had
envisioned.
JEFFERSON’S DOMESTIC POLICY
JEFFERSON AND THE COURTS
 Nonetheless, as AH
predicted, it proved
impossible to
uproot national
authority entirely.
 TJ distrusted the
unelected judiciary
and always
believed in the
primacy of local
self-govt.
 But during his
presidency, and for
many years thereafter,
Federalist John
Marshall headed the
Supreme Court.
 Marshall was a strong
nationalist. He was
JA’s Sec. of State.
 JA appointed him Chief
Justice shortly before
TJ assumed office.
JEFFERSON AND THE COURTS
 Marshall
established the
Court’s power to
review laws passed
by Congress and
the states.
 1803: Marbury v.
Madison was the
first landmark
decision of the
Marshall Court.
MARBURY v. MADISON
 BACKGROUND:
 On the eve of leaving office, JA had
appointed a number of justices of the
peace for DC.
 Madison, TJ’s Sec. of State, refused to
issue the commissions to these
“midnight justices.”
 4, including William Marbury, sued for
their offices.
MARBURY V. MADISON
 The Court declared unconstitutional the section
of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that allowed the
courts to order executive officials to deliver
judges’ commissions.
 It exceeded the power of Congress as outlined
in the Const., and was therefore void.
 Marbury, in other words, may have been
entitled to his commission, but the Court had
no power under the Const., to order Madison to
deliver it.
MARBURY v. MADISON
 On the immediate issue, the Jefferson
Admin., got its way.
 But the cost, as TJ saw it, was high.
 Significance: The Supreme Court had
assumed the right to determine
whether an act of Congress violates
the Const., - a power known as
judicial review.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
 The greatest irony of
TJ’s presidency
involved his greatest
accomplishment.
 This resulted not from
astute American
diplomacy, but
because the rebellious
slave in Saint
Domingue defeated
forces sent by
Napoleon Bonaparte to
reconquer the island.
 To take advantage of the
sudden opportunity to
purchase Louisiana, TJ
had to abandon his
conviction that the fed.,
govt., was limited to
powers specially
mentioned in the Const.
 Since the Const., said
nothing about buying
foreign territory, TJ had
to amend his strict
constructionist beliefs.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
 The vast Louisiana
territory had been
ceded by France to
Spain in 1762 as part
of the reshuffling of
colonial possessions at
the end of the French
and Indian War.
 France regained the
territory in 1800.
 Soon after taking
office, TJ learned of
the arrangement.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
 TJ had long been
concerned about
American access to the
Port of New Orleans,
which lay within the
territory at the mouth of
the Mississippi River.
 The right of trade
through NO, essential for
farmers, had been
acknowledged in
Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795
between the USA and
Spain.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
 TJ feared that a far
more powerful
France might try
and interfere with
American
commerce.
 He dispatched
envoys to France
offering to
purchase New
Orleans.
 Needing $5 million
for military
campaigns in
Europe, Bonaparte
offered to sell the
entire LA Territory.
 The cost, $15 million
(about $250 million
today) made the LA
Purchase one of
history’s greatest
real estate bargains.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
 In a stroke, TJ
doubled the size of
the USA.
 The LA Purchase
ended the French
presence in North
America.
LEWIS AND CLARK
LEWIS AND CLARK
 1804: TJ dispatched
an expedition led by
Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark to
explore the LA
Purchase.
 Their objectives were
to study the area’s
plants, animal life, and
geography, and to
discover how the
region could be
exploited eonomically.
 TJ hoped the explorers
would establish trading
relations with western
Indians and locate a
water route to the
Pacific Ocean = the old
Northwest Passage to
Asia.
 Spring 1804: The most
famous exploring party
in American history
left St. Louis.
LEWIS AND CLARK
 April 1805: After
spending the winter
in ND, they resumed
their journey.
 They were now
accompanied by 15
year old Shoshone
women Sacajawea,
the wife of a French
fur trader, who
served as
interpreter.
LEWIS AND CLARK
 1806: They returned,
bringing with them an
immense amount of
information about the
region as well as
numerous plant and
animal specimens.
 Reports about
geography, plant and
animal life, and Indian
cultures filled their
daily journals.
 Although they failed to
locate and land route
to the Asia, they
demonstrated the
possibility of overland
travel to the Pacific
coast.
 The success of the
journey helped
strengthen the idea
that American territory
was destined to reach
all the way to the
Pacific Ocean.
SLAVERY AND THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE
SLAVERY AND THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE
 The only part of LA
with a significant nonIndian population in
1803 was the region
around N.O.
 When the US took
control, the city had
8,000 inhabitants,
including nearly 3,000
slaves and 1,300 free
persons of color.
 Incorporating this
diverse population in the
US was by no means
easy.
 French and Spanish law
had given free blacks
nearly all the same rights
as white citizens.
 Slaves in LA, and FL and
TX under Spanish rule,
enjoyed legal protections
unknown in the US.
SLAVERY AND THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE
 Spain made it easy
for slaves to obtain
their freedom
through purchase or
voluntary
emancipation by
their owners.
 Slave women had
the right to go to
court for protection
against cruelty or
rape by their
owners.
SLAVERY AND THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE
 The treaty that transferred LA., to the US
promised that all free inhabitants would
enjoy “the rights, advantages, and
immunities of citizens.”
 Spanish and French civil codes, unlike
American law, recognized women as coowners of family property.
 Under American rule, LA., retained this
principle of “community property” within
marriage.
SLAVERY AND THE LOUISIANA
PURCHASE
 But free blacks suffered a steady decline in
status.
 LA., soon adopted one of the most
sweeping slave codes in the South,
forbidding blacks to “ever consider
themselves the equal of whites” and
limiting the practice of manumission and
access to the courts.
 LA slaves had enjoyed far more freedom
under the rule of tyrannical Spain than as
part of the liberty-loving US.
JEFFERSON’S FOREIGN POLICY
THE BARBARY STATES
THE BARBARY PIRATES
 The LA Purchase also
demonstrated that
despite its vaunted
isolation from the Old
World, the US
continued to be deeply
affected by events
throughout the Atlantic
world.
 European wars directly
influenced the
livelihood of American
farmers, merchants,
and artisans.
 TJ hope to avoid
foreign entanglements,
but he found it
impossible as
president to avoid
being drawn into the
continuing wars of
Europe.
 Even as he sought to
limit the power of the
national govt., foreign
relations compelled
him to expand it.
THE BARBARY PIRATES
 Only a few months after
taking office, TJ
employed the very navy
whose expansion by JA
he had strongly
criticized.
 The Barbary states on
the coast of Africa had
long preyed on shipping
in the Mediterranean and
Atlantic, receiving tribute
from several countries,
including the US, to
protect their vessels.
THE BARBARY PIRATES
 1801: TJ refused
demands for increased
payments and the
pasha of Tripoli
declared war on the
US.
 The naval conflict
lasted until 1084,
when an American
squadron won a
victory at Tripoli
Harbor
THE WAR OF 1812
THE WAR OF 1812
 Far more serious in its
impact on the US, than
the Barbary pirates,
was the war between
Britain and France in
1803.
 America would be
dragged into a war
with GB.
 Some historians have
labeled the War of
1812, America’s
Second War for
Independence.
CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812
IMPRESSMENT
IMPRESSMENT
 According to
international law, neutral
nations had a right to
trade nonmilitary goods
with countries at war.
 1806: Britain and France
had declared the other
under a blockade,
seeking to deny trade
with America to its rival.
 The Royal navy had
resumed the practice of
impressment.
 End of 1807: GB had
seized over 6,000
American sailors
claiming they were
British citizens and
deserters.
 This included men
from the US warship
Chesapeake which the
British frigate Leopold
bombarded and
boarded in American
waters off the coast of
Maryland.
THE EMBARGO OF 1807
THE EMBARGO OF 1807
 To TJ, the economic
health of the US
required freedom of
trade.
 American farmers
needed access to
markets in Europe and
the Caribbean.
 As colonial patriots
had done in the 1760s
and 1770s, he decided
to use trade as a
weapon.
 12/1807: He
persuaded Congress to
enact the Embargo Act
of 1807.
 This Act placed a ban
on all American
vessels sailing to
foreign ports.
 For a believer in
limited govt., this was
an amazing exercise of
federal power.
THE EMBARGO OF 1807
 TJ hoped the
embargo would
lead Europeans to
stop their
interference with
American shipping
and also reduce
the occasion for
impressments.
 1808: American
exports plummeted
by 80%
THE EMBARGO OF 1807
 Unfortunately,
neither GB nor FR,
locked in a death
struggle, took
notice.
 But the embargo
devastated the
economies of
American port
cities.
 3/1809: Just before
his term ended, TJ
signed the NonIntercourse Act
which barred trade not
only with GB and FR
but provided that if
either side rescinded
its edicts against
American shipping,
commerce with that
country would resume.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 TJ left office at the
lowest point of his
career.
 He had won a
sweeping re-election in
1804.
 1808: His handpicked
successor, James
Madison (JM), won an
easy victory.
 The problems with GB
and FR fell to JM to
solve.
 The embargo failed to
achieve its diplomatic
aims and was
increasingly violated
by American shippers
and resented by
persons whose
livelihood depended on
trade.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 1810: Madison
adopted a new policy.
 Congress enacted a
measure known as
Macon’s Bill No. 2.
 This allowed trade to
resume but provided
that if either GB or FR
ceased interfering with
American rights, the
president could
reimpose the embargo
on the other.
 With little to lose,
since GB controlled the
seas, French emperor
Bonaparte announced
that he had repealed
his decrees against
neutral shipping.
 But GB continued to
attack American
vessels and stepped
up impressments.
 Spring 1812: JM
reimposed the
embargo on GB.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 Meanwhile, a group of younger congressmen, mostly
from the West, were calling for war with GB.
 Known as war hawks, this new generation of political
leaders had come of age after American won
independence and were strong nationalists.
 Their leaders included Henry Clay of KY and John C.
Calhoun of SC.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 The war hawks
spoke passionately
of defending the
national honor
against GB insults.
 They also had
more practical
goals in mind,
notably the
annexation of
Canada.
 Many southern war
hawks pressed for the
conquest of FL., a haven
for fugitive slaves owned
by GB’s ally Spain.
 Members of Congress
also spoke of the
necessity of upholding
the principle of free trade
and liberating once and
for all from European
infringements on
American independence.
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
Mr. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 The growing crisis
between the US and
GB took place against
the background of
deteriorating Indian
relations in the West.
 TJ had long favored
the removal beyond
the Mississippi River of
Indian tribes who
refused to cooperate in
“civilizing” themselves.



The Louisiana Purchase
made this policy more
feasible.
TJ pursued efforts to
purchase Indian lands west
of the Appalachian Mts.
He encouraged traders to
lend money to Indians, in
the hope that accumulating
debt would force them to
sell some of their holdings,
thus freeing up more land
for “our increasing
numbers.”
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 1800: Nearly 400,000 American
settlers lived west of the Appalachian
Mts., far outnumbering the remaining
Indians.
 Their seemingly irreversible decline in
power led some Indians to rethink
their opposition to assimilation.
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 Among the Creek and Cherokees, a group of men
led by Major Ridge and Chief John Ross endorsed
the federal policy of promoting “civilization.”
 Their views infuriated nativists who wished to root
out European influences and resist white
encroachment on Indian lands.
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 A more militant
message was
expounded by two
Shawnee brothers,
Tenskwatawa and
Tecumseh.
 Tenskwatawa called for
complete separation
from whites, the
revival of traditional
Indian culture, and
resistance to federal
policies.
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 Tecumseh sought to
revive Neolin’s panIndian alliance of the
1760s.
 He asked: “Where are
the Pequot? Where are
the Narragansett, the
Mohican, the Pocanet,
and other powerful
tribes of our people?
They have vanished
before the avarice and
oppression of the
white man, as snow
before the summer
sun.”
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 Tecumseh
proclaimed that
Indians must
recognize that they
were a single people
and unite in claiming
“a common and
equal right in the
land.”
 He repudiated the
chiefs who had sold
land to the federal
govt.
 He said:
 “Sell a country!
Why not sell the
air, the great
sea, as well as
the earth? Did
not the Great
Spirit make
them all for the
use of his
children?”
MR. MADISON’S WAR AND NATIVE
AMERICANS
 1810: Tecumseh called
for attacks on American
frontier settlements.
 11/1811: American
forces, under William
Henry Harrison,
destroyed Indian forces
in the Battle of
Tippecanoe.
 Reports that GB was
encouraging Tecumseh’s
efforts contributed to the
coming of the War of
1812.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 June 1812: President Madison asked
Congress for a declaration of war.
 American nationality, the President
declared, was at stake – “would Americans
remain an independent people,” or become
“colonists and vassals” of Great Britain.
 The vote revealed a deeply divided country.
 Both Federalists and Republicans
representing the states from NJ northward
voted against the war.
 The South and West were strongly in favor.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 In retrospect, it seems
foolhardy for a
disunited and militarily
unprepared nation to
go to war with one of
the world’s two
superpowers.
 Fortunately for the US,
GB at the outset was
preoccupied with the
struggle in Europe.
 But GB easily repelled
two feeble American
invasions of Canada
and imposed a
blockade that all but
destroyed American
commerce.
 1814: Having defeated
Bonaparte, GB invaded
the US.
MR.MADISON’S WAR
 British forces
seized Washington,
DC, burned the
White House, while
the govt., fled for
safety.
 JM’s wife Dolly
Madison was saved
from the burning
White House by a
slave.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 The Americans did
enjoy a few military
successes.
 8/1812: The American
frigate Constitution
(Old Ironsides)
defeated the British
Guerriere.
 9/1813: Commodore
Oliver Perry defeated a
British naval force on
Lake Erie.
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 1814: A British assault
on Baltimore was
repulsed when Fort
McHenry at the
entrance to the harbor
withstood a British
bombardment.
 This was the occasion
when Francis Scott Key
composed “The Star
Spangled Banner.”
MR. MADISON’S WAR
 The war also produced significant victories
over western Indians who had sided with
the British.
 3/1814: An army of Americans and proassimilation Cherokee and Creeks under
the command of Andrew Jackson defeated
hostile Creeks known as Red Sticks at the
Battle of Horsehoe Bend killing more than
800.
 AJ dictated terms of surrender that
required the Creeks to cede more than half
their land to the federal govt.
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
 AJ then proceeded to New Orleans,
where he engineered the war’s
greatest victory, fighting off a British
invasion in Jan. 1815.
 It was the last battle of the war. In
fact the treaty ending the war had
already been signed before the battle.
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
 Although a
slaveholder, AJ
recruited the city’s
free men of color
into his forces,
appealing to them
as “sons of
freedom” and
promising them the
same pay and land
bounties as white
recruits.
TREATY OF GHENT
 Although the treaty
was signed in Dec.
1814, ships
carrying the news
of the agreement
did not reach
American until
after the Battle of
New Orleans had
been fought.
 The Treaty restored the
previous status quo.
 No territory exchanged
hands, nor did any
provisions relate to
impressment or neutral
shipping rights.
 Considering that the war
had not been a military
success for the USA, the
Treaty of Ghent was
about as good as could
be expected.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WAR
OF 1812
 A number of contemporaries called the War of 1812
the Second War for Independence.
 Despite widespread opposition to the war, it confirmed
the ability of a republican government to conduct a
war without surrendering its institutions.
 Andrew Jackson a national hero.
 The war broke the remaining power of Indians in the
Old Northwest and significantly reduced their holdings
in the South, opening rich new lands to American
settlers (slaveholders).
 Americans sense of separateness from the Old World
grew stronger. Increase nationalism.
 End of the Federalist Party.
THE HARTFORD CONVENTION
THE HARTFORD CONVENTION
 A group of N.E.,
Federalists, gathered
at Hartford, CT., to
give voice to their
party’s long-standing
grievances, especially
the domination of the
federal govt., by VA.,
presidents and their
own region’s declining
influence as new
western states entered
the Union.
 They called for amending
the Const., to eliminate
the 3/5 clause that
strengthened southern
political power, and to
require a 2/3 vote of
Congress for the
admission of new states,
declaration of war, and
laws restricting trade.
 The Hartford Convention
did not call for secession
or disunion.
THE HARTFORD CONVENTION
 The Convention
affirmed the right
of a state to
“interpose” its
authority of the
federal govt.,
violated the
Constitution.
 The Convention
had already
adjourned before
AJ’s victory in New
Orleans.
 In speeches and
sermons, political and
religious leaders alike
proclaimed that AJ’s
victory revealed, once
again, that a divine
hand oversaw
America’s destiny.
 The Federalists could
not free themselves
from the charge of
lacking patriotism.
 Within a few years,
their party no longer
existed.
THE END OF THE FEDERALIST
PARTY
 Its’ stance on the war
was only one cause of
the party’s decline.
 The urban commercial
and financial interests
it championed
represented a small
minority in an
expanding agricultural
nation.
 Yet the country stood
on the verge of a
profound economic
and social
transformation that
Republicans feared.
 The Feds., elitism and
distrust of popular
self-govt., placed the
Federalists more and
more at odds with the
new nation’s
democratic values.
 Yet in their final
moments, they raised
an issue – southern
dominance of the
national govt., - that
would long outlive the
party.
NATIONALISM AND ITS
DISCONTENTS
NATIONALISM AND ITS
DISCONTENTS
 The War of 1812
inspired an
outburst of
nationalistic pride
in the US.
 But the war
revealed how far
the US still was
from being a truly
integrated nation.
 With the BUS having
gone out of existence,
the country lacked a
uniform currency and
found it almost
impossible to raise funds
for the war effort.
 Given the primitive state
of transportation, it
proved very difficult to
move men and goods
around the country.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 With the coming of
peace, the mfg
enterprises that
sprang up while trade
with GB had been
suspended faced
intense competition
from low-cost
imported goods.
 Republicans, like
Henry Clay and John
C. Calhoun, believed
these “infant
industries” deserved
national protection.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 While maintaining their
Jeffersonian belief in
an agrarian republic,
they insisted that
agriculture must be
complemented by a
mfg., sector if the
country were to
become economically
independent of GB.
 1806: Congress had
approved using funds
to build a paved
National Road from
Cumberland, MD., to
the Ohio Valley.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 1808: Albert Gallatin,
TJ’s Sec., of the
Treasury, outlined a
plan for the fed., govt.,
to tie the nation
together by
constructing roads and
canals.
 The plan fell to
regional rivalries but
was revived after the
War of 1812.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 12/1815: In his
annual address to
Congress, JM put
forward a blue print
for govt., promoted
economic
development that
came to be known
as the American
System, a label
coined by Henry
Clay.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 Three Pillars:
 A new national bank.
 A tariff on imported
goods to protect
American industry.
(Protectionism)
 Federal financing of
improved roads and
canals. (Internal
improvements)
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 Governmentsponsored “internal
improvements” proved
to be the most
controversial part of
the American system.
 Congress enacted an
internal-improvement
program drafted by
Calhoun only to be
astonished when
Madison, on the eve of
his retirement from
office in March 1817,
vetoed the bill.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 Madison had become convinced that
allowing the government to exercise
powers not mentioned in the
Constitution would be dangerous to
personal liberty and Southern
interests.
 He believed that a constitutional
amendment was needed before the
government built roads and canals.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
 The other 2 aspects of the American System
became law.
 The Tariff of 1816 offered protection to goods
that could be produced in the USA, especially
cheap cotton textiles, while admitting tax-free
those that could not be manufactured at home
– many Southerners supported the tariff
believing that it would enable their region to
develop a mfg., base to revival N.E. but it
never happened = slavery.
 A new Bank of the United States was created,
in 1816, with a 20 year charter from Congress.
THE PRESIDENCY OF JAMES
MONROE
THE ELECTION OF 1816
 The candidates:
 James Monroe of
VA = Republicans.
 Rufus King of MA =
Federalist.
THE ELECTION OF 1816
 RESULTS:
 JMon., = 183 e.v.
 RK = 34 e.v
 JMon would be the
last president from
VA.
THE PRESIDENCY OF JAMES
MONROE
 Monroe’s 2 terms in office were years of
one-party rule, sometimes called the Era of
Good Feelings.
 Plenty of bad feelings, however surfaced
during his presidency along the lines of
competing interersts.
 They key issue during JMon’s administration
involved banks and money, an economic
panic, the courts, slavery, and foreign
affairs.
BANKS AND MONEY
 The Second BUS soon became the
focus of public resentment.
 It was a private, profit-making
corporation that served as the govt’s
financial agent, issuing paper money,
collecting taxes, and paying the
govt’s bills.
 It was also charged with ensuring
that paper money issued by local
banks had real value.
BANKS AND MONEY
 The number of local
banks had risen to over
200.
 They promoted economic
growth by helping to
finance mfg and
commerce and extending
loans to farmers for the
purchase of land, tools,
consumer goods, and , in
the south, slaves.
 They also printed paper
money.
 In the 19th century,
paper money consisted
of notes promising to pay
the bearer on demand a
specific amount of
“specie” = gold or silver.
 The value of the currency
issued by individual
banks depended on their
reputation for stability.
 Since banks often printed
more money than the
specie in the vaults, the
value of paper money
fluctuated wildly.
BANKS AND MONEY
 The BUS was supposed
to prevent the over
issuance of money.
 Because it held all the
funds of the fed.,
govt., it accumulated a
large amount of paper
money issued by local
banks, which had been
used to purchase land.
 The BUS could demand
payment in gold and
silver from a local
bank in exchange for
that bank’s paper
money.
 This prospect was
supposed to prevent
local banks from acting
improperly, for if it
could not provide the
specie when asked, it
would have to suspend
operations.
THE PANIC OF 1819
THE PANIC OF 1819
 Instead of effectively
regulating the
currency and loans
issued by local banks,
the BUS participated in
a speculative fever
that swept the country
after the War of 1812.
 The resumption of
trade with Europe
created a huge
overseas market for
American cotton and
grain.
 Coupled with the rapid
expansion of
settlement into the
West, this stimulated
demands for loans to
purchase land, which
banks were only happy
to meet by printing
more money.
 The land boom was
especially acute in the
South, where the
Cotton Kingdom was
expanding.
THE PANIC OF 1819
 Early 1819: The
European demand
for American goods
returned to normal
– the economic
bubble burst.
 The demand for
land plummeted
and speculators
lost millions as the
price of western
land fell.
 The BUS, followed
by local banks,
began calling in the
loans.
 Farmers and
businessmen who
could not pay the
loans declared
bankruptcy and
unemployment
rose in eastern
cities.
THE PANIC OF 1819
 The Panic of 1819
lasted little more than
a year, but it severely
disrupted the political
harmony of the
previous years.
 Those suffering from
the economic
downturn pressed the
state and national
govts for assistance.
 Many states, especially
in the West, responded
by suspending the
collection of debts.
 The Panic of 1819
deepened many
Americans distrust of
banks.
 The BUS was widely
blamed for the panic.
 Several states
retaliated against the
BUS by taxing its local
branches.
McCULLOCH v. MARYLAND (1819)
McCULLOCH v. MARYLAND (1819)
 These state taxes
produced another of
John Marshall’s
landmark Supreme
Court decisions in
McCulloch v. Maryland
(1819).
 Marshall declared the
BUS a legitimate
exercise of
Congressional
authority under the
Const’s clause that
allowed Congress to
pass “necessary and
proper” laws.
McCULLOCH v. MARYLAND (1819)
 Marshall, a broad
constructionist,
directly contradicted
the strict
constructionist view
that limited Congress
to powers specifically
granted in the Const.
 Marshall acknowledged
that the Const.,
nowhere mentions the
right of lawmakers to
issue corporate
charters.
 But, he wrote, where
the aim of legislation –
in this case to promote
the “general welfare”
was legitimate, “all
means which are … not
prohibited … are
constitutional.”
 MD., Marshall
concluded, could not
tax the BUS.
McCULLOCH v. MARYLAND (1819)
 “The power to tax,”
Marshall remarked,
“involves the
power to destroy,”
and the states
lacked the
authority to
destroy an agency
created by the
national govt.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
(The Compromise of 1820)
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
(COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 Even as political party divisions faded and John
Marshall aligned the Supreme Court with the
aggressive nationalism of Clay, Calhoun, and
others, the troublesome issue of slavery again
threatened to disrupt the nation’s unity.
 1819: Congress considered a request from
Missouri, an area carved out of the Louisiana
Purchase, to form a constitution in preparation
for admission to the Union as a state.
 Missouri’s slave population already exceeded
10,000.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)



James Tallmadge, a
Republican from NY, moved
that the introduction of
further slaves be prohibited
and that children already in
Missouri be freed at age 25.
His proposal sparked 2
years of controversy, during
which Republican unity
shattered along sectional
lines.
Tallmadge’s proposal passed
the House but died in the
Senate.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 1820: Sen. James Thomas of ILL, proposed
a compromise with three parts:
 Missouri would be authorized a constitution
without the Tallmadge restrictions.
 Maine, which prohibited slavery, would be
admitted to the Union to maintain the sectional
balance between free and slave states.
 Slavery would be prohibited in all remaining
territory of the Louisiana Purchase north of
latitude 36*30’ (Missouri’s southern boundary).
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 Congress adopted
Thomas’s plan as the
Missouri
Compromise.
 1821: Missouri
presented to Congress
its new constitution,
which not only
protected slavery but
prohibited free blacks
from entering the
state.
 Since some northern
states still considered
blacks citizens, this
seemed to violate the
federal Constitution’s
“comity” clause, which
requires states to
recognize the rights of
citizens of other
states.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 Henry Clay engineered
a second Missouri
Compromise.
 The Congress accepted
Missouri’s compromise
as written, but
instructed Missouri
that it could not
deprive the citizens of
any state of their
rights under the US
Const.
 Missouri ignored this
provision.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 The Missouri controversy raised for
the first time what would prove to be
a fatal issue – the westward
expansion of slavery.
 The sectional division it revealed
aroused widespread feelings of
dismay.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 TJ:
 “This momentous
question like a fire
bell in the night,
awakened and filled
me with terror. I
considered it at
once as the knell of
the union.”
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 “It disclosed a secret; it
revealed the basis for a
new generation of parties
… Here was a new party
really formed … terrible
in its progress the
emancipation of all their
slaves, threatening in its
immediate effect that
southern dominance
which has swayed the
Union for more than
twenty years.”
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (THE
COMPROMISE OF 1820)
 The “dissolution of the Union” over
the issue of slavery, JQA, mused,
disastrous as that be, would result in
civil war and the “extirpation of
slavery from this whole continent.”
 It would take 41 years for JQA’s
prediction to be fulfilled.
 For the moment, the slavery issue
faded again from the national debate.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
 In a way, it is remarkable that JQA, who
was serving as JMon’s Sec. of State, even
contemplated the breakup of the Union.
 His career was devoted to consolidating the
power of the national govt., at home and
abroad.
 Soon after the resolution of the Missouri
controversy, JQA seized upon an
opportunity to enhance America’s role in
the world.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
 1810-1822: Spain’s
Latin American
colonies rose in
rebellion and
established a series of
independent nations:
Mexico, Venezuela,
Ecuador, and Peru.
 The uprisings, which
appeared to Americans
to be implementing
the principles of 1776,
inspired a wave of
sympathy in the US.
 1822: The Monroe
Admin., became the
first govt., to extend
diplomatic recognition
to the new Latin
American republics.
 JQA feared that Spain
would try to regain its
colonies.
 1823: JQA drafted a
section of JMon’s
annual message to
Congress that became
known as the Monroe
Doctrine.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
 THREE PRINCIPLES
 The US would oppose
any further efforts at
colonization by
European powers in
the Americas.
 The US would abstain
from involvement in
the wars of Europe.
 Monroe warned
European powers not
to interfere with the
newly independent
states of Latin
America.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
 It is sometimes called
America’s diplomatic
declaration of
independence.
 For many decades, it
remained the
cornerstone of
American foreign
policy.
 It claimed for the US
the role of dominant
power in the Western
Hemisphere.
 For JQA, the commercial
implications were as
important as the political
ones.
 1823: Latin America was
a major market for GB
goods and British citizens
were heavily involved in
mining, banking, and
commercial enterprises
there.
 JQA hoped that the US
could eventually assume
GB’s economic role in
Latin America.
THE PRESIDENCY OF
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
THE ELECTION OF 1824
 The Monroe Doctrine reflected a rising
sense of American nationalism.
 But sectionalism seemed to rule domestic
politics.
 As the Election of 1824 approached, only
Andrew Jackson could claim national
support.
 AJ’s popularity rested not on any specific
public policy but on military victories during
the War of 1812.
THE ELECTION OF 1824
THE ELECTION OF 1824
 JQA’s support was concentrated in N.E., and,
more generally, in the North, where Republican
leaders insisted the time had come for the
South to relinquish the presidency.
 Crawford represented the South’s old
Republicans, who wanted the party to reaffirm
the principles of states’ rights and limited govt.
 Clay was the era’s most popular politician, but
his support lay primarily in the West.
THE ELECTION OF 1824
 RESULTS:
 AJ = 99 e.v. (38%)
and 153,544 p.v..
 JQA = 84 e.v.
(32%) and 108,780
p.v.
 HC = 37 e.v.(14%)
and 17, 136 p.v.
 WC = 41 e.v.(16%)
and 46,618 p.v.
THE ELECTION OF 1824
 None of the
candidates
received a majority
of the electoral
votes.
 As required by the
Const., Clay, who
finished fourth,
was eliminated,
and the choice
between the other
3 fell to the H of R.
 Sincerely believing
JQA to be the most
qualified candidate
and most likely to
support his American
System, Clay threw
his support behind
JQA, helping to elect
him.
 Clay soon became
JQA’s Sec. of State.
“THE CORRUPT BARGAIN”



The charge that he had
made a “corrupt bargain”
clung to Clay for the rest of
his career, making it all but
impossible for him to reach
the White House.
The Election of 1824 laid
the groundwork for a new
system of political parties –
supporters of AJ and WC
would soon unite in the new
Democratic Party.
The alliance of JQA and HC
laid the foundation for the
Whig Party of the 1830s.
THE NATIONALISM OF
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
THE NATIONALISM OF JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS
 JQA enjoyed one of most
distinguished prepresidential careers of
any American president.
 He was the son of JA.
 Served as ambassador to
Prussia, the Netherlands,
GB, and Russia.
 Was Senator for MA.
 Served as Sec. of State
for JMon.
THE NATIONALISM OF JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS
 After his term as
president, he won
election to the H of R.
 Although he was a
Federalist, he cast one
of N.E., few votes in
favor of TJ’s embargo,
arguing that his region
must rise above
sectional self-interests
to defend the national
good.
 Given the intense
political passions of
the time, he was
forced to resign his
seat as a result of his
vote, and soon
abandoned the
Federalist Party.
 He was not an
engaging figure.
 He described himself
as “a man of cold,
austere, and
foreboding manners.”
THE NATIONALISM OF JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS
 But he did have a clear
vision of national
greatness.
 He strongly supported
the American system of
govt., sponsored
economic development.
 He held a view of federal
power far more
expansive than most of
his contemporaries.
 He set forth a
comprehensive program
for an activist national
state.
THE NATIONALISM OF JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS
 His plans included the
establishment of a
national university,
and a naval academy.
 At a time when many
Americans felt that
govt. authority posed
the greatest threat to
freedom, JQA
astonished many
listeners with the bold
statement “liberty is
power.”
 His proposals alarmed
strict constructionists.
 JQA’s administration
spent more on internal
improvements than his
5 predecessors
combined, and it
enacted a steep
increase in tariff rates
in 1828.
 But the rest of his
ambitious ideas
received little
Congressional support.
THE NATIONALISM OF JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS
 Not until the 20th
century would the kind
of national economic
and educational
planning envisioned by
JQA be realized.
 The biggest
significance of JQA’s
presidency = it gave
AJ and his supporters
4 years to plan to take
the presidency away
from JQA.