PRACTICING
DEMOCRACY
By: Gissel Amaya, Erika Sanchez, Maribel Carrillo,
Jose Bermudez
QUESTION:
ANALYZE THE FIRST FEDERAL
ELECTIONS AND THE ADOPTION
OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
• New Hampshire and Virginia voted to approve the constitution,
it became the law of the land.
• The old congress, local, and state officials in the 13 states
needed to conduct elections.
• After the new congress was elected, it created and enacted the
bill of rights, 10 amendments that many thought should’ve
been part of the original document.
• Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury laid the
foundation for the nations economic system.
• John Adams and Thomas Jefferson eventually became rivals
who’s arguments represented different directions for the
country.
CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON: SETTING TO WORK
• The senate and presidential electors were to occur in the early
1789.
• No one had conducted elections like these before, it took time
to work out the process.
• On April 14, Charles Thomson, the secretary of congress,
arrived at mount Vernon to officially inform George
Washington of what he already knew.
• George Washington was elected as the president of the United
States and John Adams as vice president by a smaller amount
of votes.
CONTINUATION…
• washington steered a middle course, insisting on formal state
dinners and fairly relationships with those who came to call on
him.
• Washington was called “mr. president” instead of “your
highness.”
• He never lived in the white house, although he helped design
it.
• African slaves did most of the work building it.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
• On may 4, 1789 James madison told the house that he would soon fulfill his
promise and propose amendments to the constitution.
• Washington said “Some of them, in my opinion, are importantly necessary,
others, though of themselves not very essential, are necessary to quiet the
fears of some respectable characters as well-meaning men.”
• Madison promised to add a bill of rights to the constitution guaranteeing
citizens rights under a federal government.
• Without a promise for those added rights, key states would not have
ratified the constitution.
• Antifederalists sought more far-reaching changes.
• Theodorick Bland proposed a second convention to consider “the defects
of this constitution.
CONTINUATION…
• Madison proposed for new clauses to be included
throughout the body of the constitution and decided to
propose amendments to be added at the end of the
documents.
• The house initially passed 17 amendments to the states for
ratification.
The 10th amendment was the most important to those who
worried about federal intervention in the institution of
slavery in which said,
“The powers not delegated to the united states, are
reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRTFk9Dc8Tg
2ND QUESTION:
ANALYZE THE ENDURING
ARGUMENT BEGUN BY HAMILTON’S
ECONOMIC VISION FOR THE
UNITED STATES AND ALTERNATIVE
VISION OF JEFFERSON AND
MADISON.
CREATING AN ECONOMY: ALEXANDER
HAMILTON AND THE US ECONOMIC
SYSTEM
• President Washington went though many harsh problems, most
of them were economic problems.
• The federal government under the Articles of Confederation to
collect taxes meant that the federal debts were not being paid
and that the financial status of the united states was in serious
trouble.
• Also, tension grew in Britian because Britain had to not move
the troop from western forts as mention in the Treaty of Paris.
BACKGOUND
• In the united states, people bought and sold with a great amount of
paper notes and coin all over the world, as in the Spanish gold and
silver. This solve the financial crisis and regulting the currency
was essential for national prosperity.
• In 1789, congress adopted a five percent of taxes on all imports
into the united states, this gave a solid financial for a new
government.
• This created a system of federal courts, with executive branch:
secretaries of state, war, and the treasury, and an attorney general.
-this is also called “the first presidential cabinet”
POSITION
• Washington appoint Thomas Jefferson as his secretary of state
• General Henry Knox as secretary of war
• Edmund Randolph as attorney general
• The powerful position, it had all of the nation’s financial problems. This
job was given to New Yorker Alexander Hamilton
DEBT AND TAXES
• As Hamilton look at the debt
that the nation was from the
revolution- $54 million in
federal debt and $25 million
from state debts- this led him
to take action
• The government could not
finance activities as creation of
a army.
• Private business couldn‘t
restart commerce which have
been frozen due to the
revolution.
• Hamilton saw a solution. He
needed to assume all the
revolutionary war debt and
promise to pay it all off.
• While establishing a tax
policy that would show
observers that government
would meet its obligations.
CONT….
• Hamilton’s plan to create a national government that was too
big, it would raise too much in taxes, keep a standing army and
shift from farmers to urban and commercial interest.
• In the spring, 1790, the house, led by Madsion, rejected the
proposals each of four times
THE FIRST BANK OF THE US
• In December 1790, Hamilton submitted a
report to congress that called for creating
a bank of the united states.
• He wanted to use Britain’s economic
model to build a nation that would
become as powerful as Britain.
• Jefferson feared that banks would keep
the poor in poverty and enrich those were
already wealthy off of gains based on
speculation rather then hard work.
• Once the bill was passed Washington had
o decide whether to sign it.
• For Madsion who had been working as
Washington’s spokesperson at the time
said that the bank was as unconstitional
extension of federal power, and argued
for Washington to veto.
• Hamilton secretary of the treasury,
however said that the bank was essential
and the constitution gave congress the
authority to go everything “necessary
and proper” for the not to function.
• Washington signed the bill in February
1791 and the united states now ha a bank
and deeper political division than
preciously imagined.
HAMILTON VS. JEFFERSON
• Hamilton’d critics, led by Thomas Jefferson and James madsion,
feared an activist government and thought his plans were an antidemocratic government and thought his plans were an antidemocratic effort to strengthen the power of financial elite and
political allies.
• Where Hamilton wanted the federal government to foster
manufacturing and commerce
• Jefferson and his supporters wanted passive federal government
that stayed out of people.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KnPB37YB7I
SETTING THE PLACE: THE
WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION
• The Key of Liberty, is argue that “ friends to liberty and free
government”
• Washington was especially worried the the neww nation would
lose the land west of the 13 colonies. Although Britain had
claim to land east of the Mississippi river and the indian lived
in the huge territory had not agreed.
• When Washington took office, the tribes were considerably
stronger than the US army.