Lecture 3: Making it Work –
the Volatile 1790’s
The Early Republic (1789-1820)
 Problems:
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Internal:
 Uneducated masses
 Monarchy
 Legislature
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External:
 Spain, Great Britain,
France
The Early Republic (1789-1820)
 Tremendous growth:
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Population: 1790 - 3.9 mil; 1820 - 9.6 mil
Cotton export: 1794 - 2 mil; 1820 - 128 mil
Total US export: 1791 - $19 mil; 1807 - $108 mil
Geographic expansion
Washington’s Presidency
 Washington’s election
 Setting precedents
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Title
1st lady
Cabinet:
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State: Jefferson
Treasury: Hamilton
War: Knox
VP: Adams
Chief Justice: Jay
Rivalry in the Cabinet
 Jefferson vs. Hamilton
Jefferson vs. Hamilton
 Jefferson:
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French Rev.
Contradictions
“Republican”
States
Ties to France
Agrarian, expansive
nation
 Hamilton:
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Illegitimate, immigrant
Aide to GW
“Federalist”
National govt.
Ties to England
Urban, industrial nation
Conflict between order and liberty
Washington’s Presidency
 The 1st party system: Federalists and Republicans
 The volatile 1790s:
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Yellow fever
Financial panics
Taxpayer revolts
Violent protest
Sedition act
Fights in congress
The Duel
 Parties: Principled, yet compromise
 The Presidency
Washington’s Presidency
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Republican party first
Washington’s presence
House of Representatives
Federalist rule
Hamilton’s winning streak:
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Fund debt,; taxes; national bank
Shades of British system
Repay war debt (Madison system rejected)
Assumption of state debt (Madison rejected)
Whiskey tax
National bank
 How to fight back? Rally public opinion!
Washington’s Presidency
 The newspaper war
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Freneau, National Gazette
Fenno, Gazette of the United States
 The 1792 campaign
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Media
Letters
Pamphlets
 Madison’s reversal
 Hamilton’s attacks
 The 1792 election
Washington’s Presidency
 Foreign affairs:
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France or Britain?
“Independent
Internationalism”
Commercial alliances
Stay out of war
Westward expansion
1793 Proclamation of
Neutrality
Treaties with England
and Spain (Jay’s Treaty
and Pinckney’s Treaty)
Washington’s Presidency
 Election of 1796
 Farewell Address
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No entangling alliances
John Adams as President
 Conflict with France
 “X,Y,Z Affair”
 The Federalists unravel:
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Immigration
Alien & Sedition Acts
Standing army
Taxes
The Sedition law
 The Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions
Jefferson as President
 The Election of 1800
 The “Revolution of
1801”
 Marbury v. Madison
 Judicial review
 Louisiana Purchase
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Haitian slave rebellion
 Embargo Act
Mr. Madison’s War
 Causes of the War of
1812
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Impressment
Leopard/Chesapeake
Economic warfare
Indian attacks
Canada?
Mr. Madison’s War
 War of 1812
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Treaty of Ghent
 Results of the war:
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National pride
Westward expansion
Military growth
Transportation