Transcript Slide 1
UNIT 2 NOTES:
Washington and the first
Presidency
•New Constitution
and Government
take effect on April
30, 1789.
•Washington
begins his
presidency in New
York City and
alternates between
there and
Philadelphia.
•Capital city at this
time was New York
City.
Establishing a government
Washington and his followers (federalists) believed that the balance of
power had tipped towards anarchy after the revolution
Federalist wanted the Constitution to counter democratic excesses
Washington came into office determined to make the national government
powerful enough to command respect abroad and to impose order at home
They succeeded but also aroused a determined opposition that feared the
federalists consolidation of power came at the expense of states and
citizens
The Democratic-Republicans (Jeffersonians) were led by Thomas Jefferson
They were tied to revolutionary ideals of limited government with independent
farmer citizens
The fight between these two parties echoed the revolutionary contest
between liberty and power
THE NEW CAPITAL
CITY
In the first year of Presidency the capital was in New York
City
In 1790, the capital was moved to Philadelphia
It would remain there for a decade while the new capital city was being built
The Residence Act of 1790 established the District of
Columbia as the new capital city
The federal government moved to the new capital in 1800
Cabinet advises the President and heads up
an agency of the government
Department of State – Foreign Affairs
• Thomas Jefferson ---- Secretary of State
Department of Treasury---Financial affairs
•Alexander Hamilton—Secretary of the Treasury
Department of War-------------------Military affairs
•Henry Knox----Secretary of War
Attorney General----------------------Legal affairs
•Edmund Randolph---Department of Justice
HOW MANY CABINET POSITIONS ARE THERE TODAY????
15
•President Washington appoints 6
justices to the Supreme Court
•3 from North and 3 from South
•Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress
created lower courts to assist the
Supreme Court.
John Jay first
Chief Justice
of the
Supreme
Court
Alexander Hamilton
Washington filled his cabinet with familiar faces
Secretary of Treasury
Alexander Hamilton of New York, his trusted aid during the revolution selected
to head the Treasury
This office dealt with improving the nation’s economy
His main issue became to pay off the nation’s huge war debt
Hamilton believed, in contrast to Jefferson, that government
could be used to accomplish great things
ALEXANDER
HAMILTON
HAMILTON’S
PROGRAM
One of the biggest issues facing the new nation was
the huge debt it owed to other nations and its own
citizens following the Revolutionary War
As Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton had
the responsibility of finding a policy that could help
the nation pay off its debts and become economically
stable
He used this as a chance to push for the kind of
government he wanted
The National Debt
In 1789 Congress asked Hamilton to report on the public debt
He reported that debt fell into 3 categories
Money owed to foreigners, primarily owed to France from the
revolution
Money in national debt owed to citizens who had supplied resources
during revolution
Money in state debt to private citizens in revolutionary loans
Hamilton’s Plan
Two measures would be used to raise money to pay off debt
In 1789 Congress created a tariff, tax on imported goods
In 1791 Congress placed a tax on distilled liquors (called the whiskey tax)
To fund the national debt Hamilton called for a federal tax on wines, coffee, tea,
and other spirits
Spirits would fall mostly on whiskey produced in abundance on the frontier
Most of this money went to pay for the expense of government and
creditors
He also wants to form a national bank
Why would creditors go along with this plan?
To satisfy their worries Hamilton outlined a specific budget with a payment plan
Foreign Debt
$11,710,000
Federal Domestic Debt
$42,414,000
State Debt
$21,500,000
Congress & Sec. of
Treasury Alexander
Hamilton solve debt
problems:
•Pay off $80 million
debt
•Excise tax: Taxes
placed on
manufactured products
•Tariff: a tax on
imports
•Establish good credit
with foreign nations
Misc.
Revenue
Excise
Tax
on Whiskey
Custom
Duties
(Tariffs)
•Create a national
bank with a national
currency
•Raise money for govt
backed by gold silver
ASSUMING STATE
DEBT’S
Hamilton calls for national government to assume state
debt’s
Southern states did not want to help pay back loans owed by
northern states
Why would the national government want to add to its
debt?
To strengthen it
Most debt was owed to European banks and American
merchants
He knew that these lenders would not want any government that
owed them money to collapse
Hamiltonian economics –
the national debt
His plan was that a permanent debt would attract the
wealthiest financiers in the country as they would
now be dependent on the federal government
The National Debt was at the center and Hamilton’s
solution to creating a powerful national state
Hamilton’s bank
As part of his plan, Hamilton asked Congress to
charter a bank of the United States
The government would store its funds in the bank and
would supervise its operations
But the bank would be controlled by directors representing
private stockholders
It would print and back national currency and would
regulate other banks
It was a carbon copy of the bank of England
HAMILTON
JEFFERSON
•Safe place to deposit and transfer money
•Against the Constitution
•Provide loans to government and state
banks
•State banks would collapse
•A national currency---$$$$$
•An investment by people to buy stock into
US bank
•Only wealthy could invest in bank and
would control bank than control the
government
•Hurt the common man
•Constitution did not forbid a national
bank….Loose construction of
Constitution
•Strict construction…If it is not
mentioned in the Constitution than there
can’t be a national bank.
•National debt good for country
•Against a national debt
•He also cited the “necessary and proper
clause” (article 1, sec. 8)
Compromise
Finally, Madison and Jefferson compromised with
Hamilton
In exchange for accepting proposals on debt, they won his
promise to locate the permanent capital on the Potomac river
Hamilton struck a deal: if they would support his economic
plan, he would gain northern support to move capital to a
southern state
The goal of Jefferson was to distance federal government
from commercial cities and put an end to the “republican
court” that had formed around Washington
Hamilton’s financial plan was passed in April 1791
•Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson played a valuable role
in the beginning of our nation.
•Both were visionaries and influenced the direction our country
would go economically, politically and socially.
•President Washington was stuck in the middle of these two men
as they argued over our country’s beginnings.
political
Federalist Beliefs
Leader
Appealed
to
Ideas of
Government
(former Anti-Federalists)
Democratic-Republicans
Alexander Hamilton
John Adams
Manufacturers, merchants,
wealthy and educated….
Favored seaboard cities
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
Farmers and Planters
common man
Favored the South and West
Strong government over states
Loose Construction of Constitution
•Implied powers
Wealthy and educated involved
Limit freedoms of speech & press
Preferred govt. similar to a king
State’s rights over National Govt.
Strict construction of Constitution
Domestic
Policy
Supported National Bank—BUS
Supported excise tax
National debt good for country
National govt. assume state debts
Tariffs should be high
Foreign
Policy
Opposed French Revolution
Wanted war with French
Favored the British
Expressed/Enumerated powers
Common man but educated
Bill of Rights is sacred
Lesser government the better
Against National Bank—BUS
Against excise tax
Against National debt
States pay their own debts
Tariffs should be low
Supported French Revolution
Opposed war with French
Favored the French
Foreign policy
What
The
to do with the world at war?
French Revolution places the U.S. in a
tough spot
French Rev
•Executions of King Louis the 16th
and Marie Antoinette in 1793.
•Begins “Reign of Terror” during
French Revolution where 40,000
opponents of the new govt. were
beheaded.
•France goes to war against European kings
•France requested US ships to block West Indies from the
British
•President Washington declared Neutrality and ordered
Americans to avoid this war
Citizen Genet
During their years of war from 1793-1815, Britain and France
would make American isolation and neutrality difficult
In April 1793 France sends Citizen Edmond Genet as a
minister to the U.S.
France orders Genet to enlist American aid to help the French cause
The British respond to Genet’s free trade declaration by
promising to seize any ship trading with French colonies in
the Caribbean
Genet leads Britain to overrun American sovereignty and
seize U.S. ships - Impressment
Impressment: an act of kidnapping a ship, its contents, men and forcing them into
your navy----this became British policy
JAY’S TREATY
Washington and Hamilton believed that long-term interests of
the U.S. would be best served if we avoided war with Britain
The result is called Jay’s Treaty
Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to negotiate an agreement
Britain agreed to leaves forts in occupied in the NW territory
On every other point however he agrees to British terms
The Jay Treaty makes no mention of impressments or violations of American
maritime rights
unable to convince the British to end their practice of stopping American ships at
sea
Jay’s Treaty passes through the senate and is ratified in June
1795
Pinckney’s Treaty
Pinckney’s
Treaty
In March 1796 Thomas Pinckney negotiates a
treaty with Spain
Set U.S.-Spain border
Gave us unrestricted travel on the Mississippi
Put an end to Spanish claims in the SW
Helped offset the unpopularity of Jay’s treaty
Domestic issues
Trouble
with Indians and Whiskey
•Farmer’s revolt in
western
Pennsylvania.
•Refused to pay
Hamilton’ s excise
tax
•Believed it was an
unfair tax.
•Were called the
“Whiskey Rebels”
•Issue at hand was
testing the power of the
new Constitution
Outcome:
•Demonstrated to the
people that this new
constitution was
powerful enough to put
down domestic
rebellions, “mobocracy”
•Showed the power of
the national government
President Washington reviews 13,000 troops of the
Western Army assembled at Fort Cumberland,
Maryland, to crush the Whiskey Rebellion.
The first transition in
government
ELECTION OF 1796
Washington
refuses to run for reelection in
1796
Thus sets a two-term limit precedent observed by every
President until FDR
Washington’s
vice president, John Adams ran
on the Federalists side
Thomas Jefferson opposed him
Adams
won a close victory and Jefferson
became his vice-president
WASHINGTON LEAVES
George
Washington left office in 1796
Washington had achieved what he set out to do
In
his farewell address he gave two warnings:
1) He called for a foreign policy of neutrality and
to stay out of alliances
2) He warns against internal political divisions
George Washington in
Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm5uPqucnHk&list=UUP6OYn7B1t
4DRhczjXxEP9g&index=21&feature=plpp_video
The Presidents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_AL1Xn6UYM
WHO ARE THE MIDNIGHT JUDGES?