George’s AP US Survival Blog

So far things have not been good in America after ousting both the Articles of Confederation and the British government.

Growing Pains

• The population of America was skyrocketing at a rate of almost doubling every 25 years. With that said, 90 percent of that population was rural. Only 5 percent lived east of the Appalachian Mts. Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Vermont were admitted as states.
• The people in the west were less trusting of the government and were also oppressed by the Spaniards that blocked the Mississippi River.

Washington for President

• Unanimously drafted as president by the Electoral College in 1789 although he DID NOT want the job, he wanted to be left alone at home.
• Washington started the cabinet which was an easier way to collaborate and receive opinions of the heads of the departments compared to snail mail.
• The first cabinet members were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and Secretary of War Henry Knox.

The Bill of Rights

• To keep things simple, the Bill of Rights was put there to appease the Anti-Federalists who were worried that a big government would try to suppress those rights if they were not specifically stated in the Constitution.
• Drafted by James Madison, Madison tried to make sure the Anti-Federalists got what they wanted. The Ninth Amendment gave the definition of a peripheral right which meant that there are other rights that people have that aren’t necessarily listed in the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment gave the states power to control things that were not explicitly controlled by the federal government. An example would be the education system.
• The Judiciary Act of 1789 created an organized court system since the Constitution did not have much structure for the judicial branch, it just said it was there. With that, the office of Attorney General was created and filled by Edmond Randolph. John Jay became the first Chief Justice. There were 5 associate justices with a total of 6 justices on the bench.

Hamilton Revives the Corpse of Public Credit

Hamilton was a financial wizard that ultimately led to a stable economic system. He was more of an industrialist. These were his plans:

• Funding at Par – federal gov’t would pay off debts at face value + interest using bonds and funded by tariffs.
• Assumption – Federal gov’t would “assume” all state debts. Virginia, without much debt, wasn’t happy but as part of the deal, the capital would be located at the mouth of the Potomac River so Hamilton was able to persuade Thomas Jefferson to rally enough votes for this to pass.
• Custom duties/Excise taxes – Taxes on the manufactured goods. Tariffs were also imposed as another way of making industrialization more appealing.
• Bank of the United States – This bank would be a private institution that held the money of the central government and also coin money to keep the currency stable. Jefferson disliked this by saying it was unconstitutional because it was not in the constitution. Hamilton came back by saying it was necessary and proper and the “elastic clause” would permit this action. Washington asked Jefferson and Hamilton to prepare reports on why each of their opinions should be upheld. Washington ended up accepting Hamilton’s proposal. The bank of US was chartered for 20 years in Philadelphia and had capital of $20 million with 1/5 of it’s stock owned by the gov’t.

Whiskey Rebellion

• Moonshiners protested the excise tax on whiskey by a violent revolt that was ultimately suppressed by a militia raised by George Washington. This showed that government had power to levy taxes and it was uncalled for if somebody tried to overthrow that power.

Political Parties

• Did not exist in Washington’s administration because he believed these were deadly for a unified government.
• Formed after Jeffersonians (democratic-republicans) could not see eye to eye with the Hamiltonians (Federalists). The party without the majority keeps the party in majority from going too overboard with their policies.

Impact of the French Revolution

• Washington proclaimed neutrality in the war.
• Jeffersonians Democratic Republicans did not like the idea of being neutral; they wanted to follow through with the Franco – American treaty and fight against the British, who were against the French.
• Washington and Hamilton agreed that it was too much of a gamble to start a war when the country is fragile.
• Overall the neutrality helped the French. If America entered the war, Britain would blockade the route to the West Indies, preventing supplies from going into the French West Indies.
• France tried to send Edmond Genet to persuade the Americans into joining the war but he went overboard and negotiations did not go incredibly well.

Embroilments with Britain

• British gave Native Americans firearms to try to prevent expansion of the Americans as a way of safeguarding Canada.
• However when the Native Americans were defeated, the British refused to shelter them.
• As a result we have the Treaty of Greenville that gave the Native Americans money and the right to hunt in the Old Northwest in exchange for the revocation of ownership rights to the land.
• British attacked American ships and damaged about 300. They did this as they thought Americans were helping France out by delivering supplies to them in the West Indies. The Jeffersonians were outraged and had even more of a reason to promote war against Britain.
• The Federalists disliked war as Hamilton’s Policies depended on trade with Britain.

Jay’s Treaty

• This forced the Americans to pay back their debt to England in order for England to get out of the forts in North America. This was unpopular as it was giving the British something for nothing almost.
• Pinckney’s Treaty resulted in Spain giving America the right of deposit at New Orleans. Spain did this in order to keep American friendly to Spain and away from over-friendship with the British.
• Washington’s Farewell address advised Americans to stay away from political parties and long term treaties, both fell on deaf ears soon.

John Adams Becomes President

• Federalist
• 71-68 electoral vote that led to JA being the Pres and TJ being VP.

Quasi Warfare with France

• French were mad about Jay’s Treaty and began to attack American ships.
• Adams sent three mediators (called X, Y, and Z) to France to work something out. The French asked to have $250,000 in order to see the Talleyrand (foreign minister)
• This was a slap in the face to the Americans and they all began to chant “war’.
• A Navy was created and the Marine Corps were reestablished. Army of 10000 men was authorized (not actually raised).
• Bloodshed was confined to the seas in the West Indies where privateers on the American side captured French ships but several hundred American ships were also taken.

Adams Puts Country over Party

• Though his party supported a war, Adams was willing to give one last try at peace.
• Napoleon was now in power and was eager to end the warfare as he was busy trying to conquer Europe.
• The Convention of 1800 was signed in Paris where France agreed to end the Franco-American Alliance but the Americans paid for damages to French Ships.

Federalist Witch Hunt

• Naturalization Act – Since immigrants were mainly Jeffersonian, this act made the naturalization period 14 years in order to hopefully oppress any anti-Federalists.
• Alien Acts – Gave the government the right to deport any “dangerous” alien even in peacetime. (these weren’t really enforced)
• Sedition Act – Made it illegal to speak out against the government. This was to try to suppress Anti-Federalist ideas. Tough unconstitutional, the biased Federalist judges did not have the nerve to strike down the promotion of their own party.

Virginia (Madison) and Kentucky (Jeffersonian) Resolutions

• Fearing that the Federalists would remove other constitutional rights, Jefferson and Madison drafted secret resolutions that would use a theory that if a state government catches the federal government doing something corrupt such as violating the constitution, the state had a right to nullify that law.
• Although this was not adopted by other states it was a great attempt. Eventually the Supreme Court would receive the power to declare laws unconstitutional and not the state.