Chapter 8
Completing the Revolution
1780-1815
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Administration of George
Washington
 Translated blueprint of Constitution into
a working state
 Presided over ratification of Bill of
Rights
 Judiciary Act of 1789 establ8ished
national court system
 Initial executive department of War,
State, and Treasury
Hamiltonian Financial Plan
 Report on Public Credit, 1790
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Federal Government would assume state debts
Combine them with federal government’s foreign and
domestic debt into a consolidated national debt
Government would pay debt by issuing securities
Called for creation of a permanent national debt
 Creation of a Bank of the United States
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To control all of the nation’s monetary and financial matters
 Federal excise taxes to fund national debt
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Generate revenue
Legitimize government’s power to impose and collect an
internal tax
Struggle between Hamiltonians
and Jeffersonians
 Dispute over what sort of government the United
States would have
 Hamiltonians favored speculators, financiers, and
economic interests
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Called for strong central government
 Jeffersonians favored farmers and an agrarian
orientation
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Called for decentralized authority and limited federal power
Agreed to accept Hamilton’s financial plan if permanent U.S.
Capital located in the South
 Vocal disagreement over creation of a federal bank
 Hamilton backed by Washington and a majority of congress
Early Foreign Relations
 Neutrality declared in Anglo-French War
in 1793
 Federalists
privately supported Britain
 Jeffersonians privately supported France
 Arrival of Citizen Genét in 1793
complicated U.S. position
 Sought
to win U.S. support for France, with
or without Washington’s consent
Internal Sources of Trouble
 Deteriorating relations with Northwestern Indians
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Frontiersmen uneasy about neighboring Indians
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Refused to pay federal excise tax on whiskey
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Federal government crushed Indian resistance at Battle of Fallen
Timbers in 1794
Government, with aid of several state militias, crushed Whiskey
Rebellion in 1794
Jay Treaty with England, 1795
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Settled outstanding questions from Revolution, mostly in favor of
Britain
North supported treaty, South opposed it
– Threatened ominous division of country along sectional lines
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Pinckney Treaty with Spain, 1796
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Victory for U.S. demands, especially regarding access to Mississippi
– Helped to assuage Southern anger over Jay Treaty
Washington’s Farewell
Address and His Legacy
 Laid out principles for American policy
 Warned against alliances with other countries
 Denounced internal political divisions
 Accomplishments of administration significant
 Managed foreign affairs
 Laid basis for federal government
 Bitter struggle over who would succeed
Washington in 1796
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Intrigue and partisanship reigned
John Adams elected president, Thomas Jefferson
vice president
Adams Presidency
 Foreign affair difficulties with France
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Jay’s Treaty had angered French, resulting in trade difficulties
XYZ Affair made the situation worse
 Adams asked Congress to begin war preparations
 France instituted new economic sanctions
 Foreign Affairs problems led to crisis at home
 Alien and Sedition Acts designed to stifle domestic
opposition from Republicans
 Republicans responded with Virginia and Kentucky
Resolves denouncing the acts as unconditional
 Drift toward toward war with France worried Adams
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Made peace with France in 1800, at great political cost
 Lost the presidency to Jefferson in 1800
The Jeffersonian Republican in Power
 Jefferson’s inaugural address laid out his governmental
goals
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Respect for power of states
Defense of Bill of Rights
Small federal state
Frugality in spending so as not to incur national debt
 Efforts to purge Federalists from the courts
 Repealed Judiciary Act of 1801 in order to remove Federalist
“midnight justices”
 Impeachment drives against John Pickering and Samuel Chase
 Jefferson’s struggle with John Marshall at the Supreme
Court
 Marbury v. Madison
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Introduced practice of judicial review
Jefferson Administration
Foreign Affairs
 Louisiana Purchase
 Opportunity presented because of French
setbacks in the Caribbean
 Would protect American access to Mississippi and
enlarge country
 Raised constitutional questions for Jefferson
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Resolved them by reasoning that ends justified the
means
Jefferson believed the Purchase provided the
nation with the chance to renew itself
The United States and the
Napoleonic Wars
 At first, the United States profited by selling to
both belligerents
 After war reached stalemate in 1805, both sides
began interfering with American trade
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France: Berlin and Milan Decrees
England: Orders in Council
 British also began impressing Americans into
service in the British navy
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Confrontation between Chesapeake and Leopard,
1807
 Jefferson decision for economic coercion
The United States and the
Napoleonic Wars (cont.)
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Embargo Act, 18088
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Suspended U.S. trade with all foreign countries
Had disastrous consequences for U.S. economy
 Madison administration inherited bad situation
 Replaced Embargo with Non-Intercourse Act, 1809
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Reopened trade with all nations save Britain and France
– Proved largely ineffective
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Next tried Macon’s Bill No. 2, 1810
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Reopened trade with everyone but would reinstate against
one belligerent if the other ceased interfering in American
trade
Madison drawn into French trap to escalate tensions with
Britain
War with Britain, 1812-1815
 Role of western “War Hawks” in Congress
 Madison war message, April
 First war waged under the new Constitution
 Detailed list of British crimes against America
 Federalists wholeheartedly opposed to war
 U.S. initiated disastrous invasions of Canada
 Tecumsch’s Indian confederation allied itself
with Britain, as did the Creek “Red Stick”
faction
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Defeated at battle of Thames and Battle of
Horseshoe Bend
War with Britain, 1812-1815
(cont.)
 War in Europe ended in 1814
 Allowed Britain to defeat full attention to war in
America
 Stalemate reached rather quickly
 Federalist opposition to war created serious
domestic crisis
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Hartford Convention, 1814
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Some Federalists calling for secession
Proposed constitutional am3ndments that would protect
northeastern political power
 Treaty of Ghent, 1815
 Restored status quo ante
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War of 1812