Transcript Document 7239331

JEFFERSONIAN
ASCENDANCY: THEORY AND
PRACTICE OF GOVERNMENT
America: Past and Present
Chapter 8
Defining Identity in a New
Republic
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An age of rapid population growth
– 7.2 million in 1810; two million more than
1800
– 20% black slaves
– Children under 16 the largest single group
Strong regional identities
 Early secession movements threaten
national unity
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Westward the Course of
Empire
Intense migration to West after 1790
 New States
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Kentucky--1792
Tennessee--1796
Ohio--1803
Western regional culture rootless,
optimistic
Native American Resistance
Western settlers compete for Indian
land
 Indians resist
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Tecumseh leads Shawnees, defeated
Creeks defeated
Settlers reject Indian-White coexistence
Commercial Life in the Cities
Economy based on agriculture and trade
 American shipping prospers 1793-1805
 Cities associated with international trade,
otherwise marginal role in national life
 Industrialization and mechanization just
beginning to frighten skilled craftsmen

Republicans in Power
Jefferson personifies Republicanism’s
contradictions
 Despises ceremonies and formality
 Dedicated to intellectual pursuits
 A politician to the core
 Success depends on cooperation with
Congress
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Jeffersonian Reforms
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Priority to cutting federal debt, taxes
Federal expenses trimmed by cutting military
Reduction of the army removes threat to
Republican government
Competent bureaucrats retained regardless
of party
Federalists retire from public life
Ambitious Federalists become Republicans
The Louisiana Purchase
1801--France buys Louisiana from
Spain
 1803--Jefferson sends a mission to
France to buy New Orleans
 Napoleon offers to sell all of Louisiana
for $15 million
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The Lewis and Clark
Expedition
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Lewis and Clark Expedition commissioned
prior to purchase of Louisiana
Report on Louisiana’s economic promise
confirms Jefferson's desire to purchase
Constitution vague on Congressional
authority to purchase
Purchase departs from Republican principle
of strict separation
Louisiana Government Bill
Louisiana inhabitants French & Spanish
 Jefferson denies them self-rule
 Louisiana governed from Washington
 Another Jeffersonian departure from
Republicanism

Conflict With the Barbary
States
North African states demand tribute
from ships sailing in Mediterranean
 Jefferson dispatches U.S. fleet to
“negotiate through the mouth of a
cannon”
 U.S. cannot defeat the Barbary States
 Action induces respect for U.S. rights
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Jefferson’s Critics
Dispute over federal court system
 Conflicts between Republicans
 Sectional dispute over the slave trade
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Attack on the Judges:
Judiciary Act
Judiciary Act of 1801 creates new
circuit courts filled with loyal Federalists
 1802--Jeffersonians repeal Judiciary Act
of 1801 to abolish courts
 Federalists charge violation of judges’
Constitutional right of tenure

Attack on the Judges:
Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison (1803) rules
Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional
 Federalist Marbury denied his judgeship
 Republicans claim victory
 Chief Justice John Marshall ensures
Federalist influence through judicial
review
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Attack on the Judges:
Impeachments
1803--Federalist John Pickering
impeached, removed for alcoholism,
insanity
 Republicans begin fearing the
destruction of an independent judiciary
 Jefferson exacerbates fears by seeking
to impeach Federalist Samuel Chase
 Republican Senate refuses to convict
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Politics of Desperation:
“Tertium Quids”
"Tertium Quids" claim pure
Republicanism
 Attack Jefferson as sacrificing virtue for
pragmatism
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Politics of Desperation:
The Yazoo Controversy
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Yazoo controversy
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Fraudulent land case in Georgia
Jefferson attempts to settle by providing land to
innocent parties
Quids complain settlement condones fraud
Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
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Marshall court upholds Jefferson’s settlement
Court may nullify unconstitutional state laws
Murder and Conspiracy: The
Curious Career of Aaron Burr
Vice-President Aaron Burr breaks with
Jefferson
 1804--Burr seeks Federalist support in
1804 New York governor’s race
 Alexander Hamilton blocks Burr’s efforts
 Burr kills Hamilton in a duel
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The Burr Conspiracy
Burr flees West after Hamilton duel
 Schemes to invade Spanish territory
 Burr arrested, tried for treason
 John Marshall acquits on Constitutional
grounds of insufficient evidence
 Precedent makes it difficult for
presidents to use charge of treason as a
political tool
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The Slave Trade
Congress prohibits slave trade after
1808
 Northern Republicans call for
emancipation of any black smuggled
into the U.S.
 Southern Republicans win passage of
law to hand such persons over to state
authorities
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Embarrassments Overseas
1803--England and France resume war
 American ships subject to seizure
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by England through "orders in Council"
by Napoleon through Berlin, Milan Decrees
Jefferson refuses war to preserve
financial reform
 Embargo--Jefferson’s alternative to war
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Embargo Divides the Nation
1807--Congress prohibits U.S. ships
from leaving port
 Purpose: to win English, French
respect for American rights
 Embargo unpopular at home
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Detailed government oversight of
commerce
Army suppresses smuggling
New England economy damaged
A New Administration Goes to
War
1808--James Madison elected
President
 1809--Embargo repealed in favor of
Non-Intercourse Act
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U.S. will resume trade with England and
France on promise to cease seizure of
U.S. vessels
Madison’s Embarrassment
Madison reopens English trade on
unconfirmed promise of British minister
 English reject agreement, seize U.S.
ships that opened trade with England
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Macon’s Bill Number Two
Replaces Non-Intercourse Act
 Trade with both England and France
reestablished
 First nation to respect American rights
wins halt of U.S. trade with the other
 Napoleon promises to observe U.S.
rights but reneges when trade reopened
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Fumbling Toward Conflict
Tecumseh’s Western campaign seen as
supported by British
 Congressional War Hawks demand war
on England to preserve American honor
 June 1, 1812, Madison sends Congress
a declaration of war
 War aims vague
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The Strange War of 1812:
Early Course
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Americans unprepared for war
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Congress refuses to raise wartime taxes
New England refuses to support war effort
United States Army small
State militias inadequate
1813--U.S. wins control of Great Lakes
in Battle of Put-In Bay
Strange War of 1812:
The War’s Conclusion
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1814--three-pronged English attack
– Campaign from Canada to Hudson River
Valley stopped at Lake Champlain
– Campaign in the Chesapeake results in
burning of Washington, siege of Baltimore
– Campaign for New Orleans thwarted by
Andrew Jackson, January, 1815
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Treaty of Ghent signed December, 1814
Hartford Convention: The
Demise of the Federalists
Federalists convene December, 1814
 Proposed Constitutional changes to
lessen power of South and West
 Treaty of Ghent, victory of New Orleans
makes Convention appear disloyal
 Federalist party never recovers
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Treaty of Ghent Ends the War
American victory at Plattsburg prompts
English to end the war
 Most problems left unaddressed
 Senate unanimously ratifies Treaty of
Ghent
 Americans claim success in a "second
war of independence"
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Republican Legacy
Founders begin to pass away in 1820s
 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
both die July 4, 1826
 James Madison dies in 1836
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Despairs that Declaration’s principles not
yet extended to African-Americans