Transcript JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY Chapter 6 The American Nation

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY
Chapter 6
The American Nation, 12e, Mark C. Carnes John A. Garraty
ELECTION OF 1800
• Election 1800: Republicans won in February
1801 electoral vote 73 to 65
– Both Jefferson and Aaron Burr had 73 votes
– House of Representatives was deadlocked for over 35
votes
– Hamilton exerted influence in favor of Jefferson (who
may have promised to preserve Hamilton’s financial
system and continue Washington-Adams foreign
policy)
– February 17, 1801, Jefferson became president and
Burr vice president
• 12th Amendment drafted (ratified 1804) providing
for separate balloting for President and Vice
President
THE FEDERALIST CONTRIBUTION
• March 4, 1801 Jefferson took oath of office
at new national capital, Washington, DC
• Federalists had been moderate until fear of
Republican strength led them to attempt
revolution in 1798
• Failed and led to landslide for Republicans
at Congressional level in 1800
• U.S. passed test and transferred power and
changed policy peacefully
THOMAS JEFFERSON:
POLITICAL THEORIST
• Jefferson thought human beings basically
selfish
• Suspected blacks were inferior to whites
• Felt human race had unlimited potential
• Believed in democracy
• Wanted society to remain one of small
independent farmers because believed ALL
government was a necessary evil at best
• Disliked Hamilton’s desire to commercialize
and centralize government and his proBritish orientation
JEFFERSON AS PRESIDENT
• New administration
marked by style and
moderation
• Positions included:
– Against “entangling
alliances”
– For economy in
government
• Promised to
– Pay off national debt
– Preserve government’s
credit
– Stimulate both agriculture
and commerce
– Cool partisan passions
Jefferson, Thomas. Charcoal drawing (bust). 59-PP-3 National
Archives
JEFFERSON AS PRESIDENT
• Repealed whiskey and other excise taxes
• Cut military and naval expenditures to
balance budget
• Naturalization returned to five years
• Sedition and Alien Acts expired in 1801 and
1802 respectively
• Played down ceremony and formality
• Held stag dinners to get to know
congressmen personally
• Easily won re-election in 1804
JEFFERSON’S ATTACK ON THE
JUDICIARY
• Jefferson had prejudices against
– Kings
– British system of government
– Entrenched judicial power
• Judiciary Act of 1801
– Created 6 new circuit courts, presided over by
16 new federal judges
– Federalists, in their last days, shamelessly
appointed partisan politicians
– Jefferson had act repealed
– So angry he held up a number of appointments
for Justices of the Peace for DC
JEFFERSON’S ATTACK ON THE
JUDICIARY
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
– Resulted from William Marbury’s petition for a
writ of mandamus to obtain his commission
– Chief Justice John Marshall ruled:
• Marbury by right should have his commission
• But court could not require secretary of state James
Madison to give it to him since request was based
on unconstitutional clause of Judiciary Act of 1789
• As a result Court did not have the right to issue writ
of mandamus
– Gave court power to invalidate federal laws
that conflicted with the Constitution
JEFFERSON’S ATTACK ON THE
JUDICIARY
• Jefferson decided to press
for impeachment of some of
more partisan federal
judges
– Senate easily removed
District Judge John Pickering
– Went after associate
supreme court justice Samuel
Chase who had been high
handed in handling Sedition
Act cases—acquitted
THE BARBARY PIRATES
• Lull in European War between France and England—
Treaty of Amiens, 1802
• Barbary Pirates: North African Arab states of Morocco,
Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli who seized ships and crews
whom they held for ransom
• Europeans, and Americans, paid them annual
protection (cheaper than increased shipper insurance)
• Pasha of Tripoli raised rates, Jefferson balked, pasha
declared war May 1801 and Jefferson dispatched
squadron
• Pirates underwhelmed and USS Philadelphia burned
after ran aground
• Payment of tribute continued to 1815
• Pasha did agree to new treaty more favorable to U.S.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
• Treaty of San Ildefonso:
– Spain gave Louisiana, including all important
New Orleans, to France
– Napoleon hoped to use Louisiana as
breadbasket for West Indian sugar plantations
• Jefferson, worried what Napoleon would
do, asked Robert Livingston
– to seek assurances of U.S. rights in New
Orleans
– potentially buy West Florida if France also had
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
• Napoleon’s plans undermined by rebellion
in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
– Had been granted personal freedom n 1793
– Rebellion continued and had defeated French
by 1801
– Napoleon sent 20,000 more men
• Jefferson now sought to buy New Orleans
• October 1802 Spanish (had not yet turned
over New Orleans) revoked American right
of deposit
• James Monroe sent to France with offer of
$10 million for New Orleans
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
• When the French force sent to Haiti was
wiped out by yellow fever, Napoleon
reconsidered his plans especially as he
was now intending to invade England
• April 10 told Foreign Minister Tallyrand to
sell all of Louisiana
• In early May the Americans agreed to buy
entire area for $15 million
• In U.S. there was concern over
constitutionality but treaty passed
THE FEDERALISTS DISCREDITED
• West and South solidly for Jefferson and North
leaning toward him
• Some in New England, feeling threatened,
formed Essex Junto in 1804 with intentions of
creating separate northern confederacy
• Supported Aaron Burr for Governor of New York
• Burr defeated but took offense at comments
made by Alexander Hamilton during the
campaign
• Result was duel on July 11, 1804, in which
Hamilton was killed
LEWIS AND CLARK
• Jefferson used $2,500 from Congress to
send Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
to explore the Louisiana Purchase
– Scientific and practical interests
– Establish relations with Indians
• The Journey
– Start St. Louis spring 1804
– Stay North Dakota (build Fort Mandan) for
winter
– April 1805 headed for Pacific
– Spring 1806 made return trip reaching St.
Louis by September
OTHER EXPLORERS
• Thomas Freeman went up Red River but
had to retreat in face of Spanish
• Lieutenant Zebulon pike explored upper
Mississippi Valley and Colorado region
between 1805 and 1807
• By 1808 St. Louis fur traders were invading
Rockies
• By 1812 75,000 people were in southern
section of purchase—admitted as
Louisiana
JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY
• Jefferson’s moderation calmed fears that
rule by Republicans would result in a
French style revolution
• Managed to achieve prosperity without
expense or infringement on personal
liberties
– Order without discipline
– Security without a large military establishment
– Prosperity without regulatory legislation
– Freedom without license
THE BURR CONSPIRACY
• Jefferson treated Aaron Burr vindictively and Burr
began to contemplate treason
• Offered British separation of Western part of U.S.
for £110,000 and support of British fleet off mouth
of Mississippi
– British ignored but Burr proceeded
– Joined forces with Jefferson’s appointed governor of
Louisiana Territory, James Wilkinson (secretly in pay of
Spanish)
– 1806 Burr and Wilkinson headed to New Orleans with
small force
– Wilkinson betrayed Burr to Jefferson
– In partisan trial pitting Jefferson vs. Marshall, Marshall
favored Burr who was acquitted
NAPOLEON AND THE BRITISH
• When Napoleon resumed warfare in Europe, it
stimulated American economy
– Shipbuilding boomed
– Foreign trade doubled between 1803 and 1805
• Balance in Europe by 1807
– British controlled the seas
– Napoleon controlled the continent
• Commercial Warfare
– Berlin Decree—November 1806, Napoleon: prohibited
trade with Great Britain
– Orders In Council—Britain: blockaded continental ports and
barred them from foreign vessels unless they stopped first
in England and paid customs duties
– Milan Decree—December 1807, Napoleon: an vessel that
submitted to British search was thereby British property and
subject to seizure
NAPOLEON AND THE BRITISH
• Broken voyages—attempts
to circumvent British
maritime regulations by
taking goods to U.S. before
they went to final destination
– 1803-1806 re-export went
from $13 million to $60 million
– Britain in Essex & William
cases cracked down on reexport trade at same time both
Britain and France were
putting limits on direct trade by
neutrals
THE IMPRESSMENT CONTROVERSY
• British Law: any able bodied subject could
be drafted by the Royal Navy in an
emergency
– In addition to press gangs in British ports and
the stopping of British merchant vessels, might
stop NEUTRAL ship and impress British
subjects
– British were high-handed and denied
naturalization rights for Americans claiming
once British, always British
THE IMPRESSMENT CONTROVERSY
• At least 10,000 British sailors were working in
U.S. merchant marine due to better conditions
–
–
–
–
Some naturalized U.S. citizens
Some worked under false papers
Some admitted were British citizens
Some were deserters from British Navy
• U.S. government conceded British right to
impress own citizens but not Americans
– As many as 3 out of every 4 of the at least 5,000
sailors removed from U.S. ships between 1803 and
1812 were Americans
– British did return those who could prove citizenship
(some 3,800)
THE EMBARGO ACT
• Between 1803 and 1807
– British seized more than 500 U.S. ships
– Napoleon seized more than 200
• June 22, 1807: USS Chesapeake (46-gun
frigate) stopped by HMS Leopard
– When refused to hand over 4 “deserters,”
Chesapeake was fired on and three sailors
killed
– Deserters returned and ship limped home
– Attack was violation of international law
• Jefferson ordered British ships out of U.S.
waters and passed Embargo Act
THE EMBARGO ACT
• Prohibited all exports
• Jefferson hoped bad effects on U.S. economy
would be offset by
– Keeping U.S. merchant marine off seas thus ending
potential injury to themselves and to U.S. honor
– Pressuring Britain & France, through the withholding of
U.S. goods, to moderate policies
• Loses for maritime industry huge:
– Massachusetts owned ships were earning over $15
million
– Foreign commerce was most expansive force in U.S.
economy
THE EMBARGO ACT
• Exports fell
– 1807: $108 million
– 1808: $22 million
• Imports fell
– 1807: $138 million
– 1808: less than $57 million
• Other effects
– Prices of farm and manufactured goods
reacted violently
– Seamen thrown out of work
– Merchants had businesses disrupted
THE EMBARGO ACT
• Attempts to circumvent
– Smuggle goods into Canada
– Ship out to sea before embargo in place and not return
until over
– Claim “distress” in between U.S. ports and “have to
land” in foreign ports
– Law allowed merchants with property abroad to fetch
it—some 800 did
– Juries failed to convict those charged with violating act
• Congress finally replaced with Non-Intercourse
Act which forbade trade only with Britain and
France though President could restart trade with
either if country stopped violating American rights
WEBSITES
• Thomas Jefferson
http://www.pbs.org/jefferson
• Thomas Jefferson Resources Online
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson
• The Jefferson Home
http://www.monticello.org