Jeffersonianism & the Era of
Good Feelings 1801-1824
•TJ’s view reflected in expenditures, judiciary, & LA
purchase
•Republican party divided during his 2nd term
•Why did J. Madison abandon TJ’s “peaceble coercion” and
go to war with Britain 1812
•How did War of 1812 shape domestic politics
•To what extend did Jeff’s legacy persist (& discarded) into
the Era of Good Feelings
The Age of Jefferson: man & his
philosophy
• The man: talents, career,
controversies
• His views:
– feared race war, high taxes,
standing armies, corruption
–Advocated black colonization,
strong state power,
–Saw educated farmers as more
virtuous than city dwellers
The Age of Jefferson: TJ & the Judiciary
• Disagreed w/ Federalist over
– Alien & Sedition Acts & enforcement
– Fed.-sponsored Judiciary Act of 1801
• From 6 to 5 justices; created 16 new federal
judgeships
• Marbury vs. Madison: judicial review
– Marbury petitioned Supreme Court to issue a
writ to compel Madison to deliver commision;
J. Marshall ruled that Judiciary Act was
unconstitutional
The Age of Jefferson: TJ & the Louisiana
Purchase 1803
• Spain owned Louisiana Ter. + E. & W FL,
but handed LA Ter. to France
• Reasons for purchase ($15M)
– Fr. & Br. Cooperate to expand in N.A.
– Br. Seize LA Ter. to sandwich USA
– New Orleans as important port
• Believed in strict (“constructed” to its letter)
interpretation of the Constitution: worried
about constitutionality of this purchase
The Louisiana Purchase
The Age of Jefferson: 1804 Election
• Federalist no longer a threat; his VP
Aaron Burr was
–Burr tried to manipulate tie in electoral
college to be president
–Intrigues with Federalists, so he got
dumped as VP the during TJ’s 2nd term
–12th Amendment in 1804: separate
ballots for pres. & vice pres.
The Age of Jefferson: The Lewis & Clark
Expedition May 1804
• Sent his personal secretary Lt. Meriwether
to find water route to the Pacific
• St. Louis; William Clark w/ 50 others
– Toussaint Cahrbonneau & wife Sacajawea +
infant
• Result: scientific info, 300+ miles of mt.
separated MO fr. The Columbia river; led to
more accurate maps , interest in the West
The Gathering Storm: at home
• Aaron Burr conspired with extreme Federalists
to form a pro British Northern Confederacy
(Nova Scotia, NE, NY, PA)
• A. Hamilton published “despicable opinion” of
Burr
• Burr & Hamilton dueled and killed H
• While indicted for murder, he conspired with
Spanish (LA Ter.) to separate western states
into independent confederacy
• Tried for treason, but Marshall said acts not
intention are guilty
The Gathering Storm: at home
• TJ challenged by Republicans called
Quids
– Led by john Randolp
– Quids: “country” ideology fr. 1770; TJ
changed but they didn’t
– Over Yazoo cheap land deal: land companies
bribed legislature, but investors bought in
good faith
Storm: American trade & impressment
• 1803 Peace of Amiens collapsed
• Fr. & Br at war; US prospered in trade by
supplying France
• Br. War policy includes strangulation of Fr.
Trade
– Made “broken voyage” illegal (see Br. Rule of
1756)
• France retaliated by Continental System
– Ships obeying Br. laws subject to seize
• Strong Br. Navy impressed Americans:
Chesapeake Affair enraged Americans
Storm: The Embargo Act of 1807
• Controversial embargo: prohibited
vessels fr. Leaving US ports for foreign
ports
• TJ’s goal’s: “peaceable coercion” on Fr. &
Br.
– Br. Found new markets in S. America
– Blown off course loophole by US ships
– US (esp. NE): out of work, bankruptcy,
debtors; called him “Mad Tom”
• Manufacture at home; producing products
Storm: James Madison & failure of
Peaceable Coercion
• J. Madison became pres.
– Liberty rests on virtue, which is tied to growth
& agricultural prosperity, which depends on
trade (clearer than TJ)
• The Embargo Act: revived the Federalist
– JM agued embargo w/ West Indies will
destroy Britain
– Wrong! West Indies & Canada traded!
– 1809 Congress replaced this embargo w/
Non-Intercourse Act, but then replaced that
with Macon’s Bill # 2 (involves bribery w/ Fr.
& Br)
Storm: Tecumseh & the Prophet
• Governor of Indiana Ter. got lands from
half starved Indians
– Led to outraged by many tribes
– Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, recruited other
tribes
– His brother Lalawethica (Prophet) attacked
Harrison’s encampment: Battle of
Tippecanoe
• Harrison became hero; Prophet was critized;
Tecumseh became legit leader who then sided
w/ Br. as last resort.
Storm: Congress votes for war
• Pres. Madison decided on war w/ Br.
– Unaware that Br. Is repealing the Orders in
Council due to economic caused by US
embargo
• His rationale: impresment, Br. Ships in US
waters, violations of neutral rights, Br.
Incitements of Indians,
• Main cause for war: economic recessoin in
the South & West; John Calhoun &
followers blamed British policy; J Madison
believed Br. Intentionally strangle US trade
The War of 1812: On to Canada
• Losses: Failed to take Canada
–Tecumseh cut Hull’s supply line when
he tried to attack Canada
–BR crushed Americans at Battle of
Queeston, near Niagra Falls
–Militi refused to advance into Canada
• Turnign points
–Harrison led to victory at Battle of the
Thames, Tecumseh died there
The War of 1812: The Br Offensive
• Br General G. Prevost attacked
Plattsburgh vs. US Capt. Thomas
Macdonough
–US won
• Br success in Bladensburg, MD
–US militia fled; Br. Took Washington DC
–Dolly Madison took portrait of GW
The War of 1812: Treaty of Ghent
• At Ghent, Belgium, peace
negotiations began in August 1814
–Status quo ante bellum
–US & BR gained no lands
• 2 weeks after Ghent, Br attacked New
Orleans and lost against “Old Hickory”
Andrew Jackson
–He inflicted 2000 casualties, lost only 13
The War of 1812: Hartford
Convention
• Federalist was eroded by Battle of
New Orleans
• They met in Hartford, CT, to propose:
–to amend Constitution to abolish 3/5
clause
–To require 2/3 vote of Congress to
declare war & admit new states into
Union
–Single term pres., no 2 successive pres.
The Awakening of American
Nationalism: Madison’s Nationalism
3 results of war:
– 1) Eliminated Federalists 2) Convinced
Republicans that US was strong 3)
Republicans began to embrace doctrines
long associated with Federalists
– Madison called for: 1) internal
improvements 2) tariffs 3) new national
bank
– Henry Clay’s American System: to be
self sufficient economically from Europe
nd
The Awakening of American
Nationalism: Madison’s Nationalism
(continued)
– Though Madison urged for internal
improvements, he felt a constitutional
amendment would be necessary, so he
vetoed the bill before leaving office
– “Era of Good Feelings” coined during
Monroe’s administration: no war and
avoidance of political controversy
– It was paper thin; issues of federal roles
and slavery constitutionality arose
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
– Dartmouth College v. Woodward : NH
wanted to transform the private
Dartmouth College into a state
university; Marshall ruled that the
contract for the private college was with
George III and that the constitution
forbade the federal gov. to interfere with
contracts
– This ruling made it so any contract made by
the states could therefore not be altered or
regulated afterwards, b/c the gov. could not
interfere
The Awakening of American
Nationalism: McCulloch v.
Maryland
– McCulloch v. Maryland : The state of
Maryland wanted to tax the National Bank b/c
they argued that most of the stock holders
were private citizens, whom they had the right
to tax.
– Marshall: ruled that the Bank was legal (due to
his loose interpretation); was a federal
bureaucracy, over which the federal gov. had
supreme domain, and the states could not
interfere with its powers
◄James
Madison
Henry ►
Clay
▲John
Marshall
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
continued
– Marshall argued that the constitution was
a creation of the ppl & not of state govs.,
and therefore was more fundamental
– It dismayed Republicans, whose theory
of a state confederation and the powers
of the Constitution were outlined in the
VA-KY resolution
– Republicans saw Marshall’s decisions as
the stripping of the states’ powers
–
–
–
–
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
The MO Compromise
MO attracted southerners w/ slaves
The House of Reps. approved a bill that would
prohibit any more expansion of slavery and
free slaves’ offspring after 25; rejected by the
Senate
MO as a slave state would give more states to
the south, upsetting the balance in Congress
With Federalists gone, the Republicans had
no need for unity, so they began to split over
this
The Awakening of American
Nationalism: The MO Compromise
(continued)
– MO compromise line at 36°30’
– Mo could be a slave state b/c Maine would
become a free state in the north
– It collapsed; 2nd by Henry Clay was formed : it
prohibited MO from discriminating against
other states’ citizens (e.i. free blacks)
– Reinforced Northwest Ordinance: said federal
gov. could regulate the where slavery was
allowed
Note: Missouri (slave) and Maine (free)
Maintenance of state balance in Congress
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
Foreign Policy Under Monroe
–
–
–
–
–
Policy had more consensus; Napoleonic wars were
over, eliminating strife between the Federalists
(British support) and Republicans (French support)
John Quincy Adams: Secretary of State w/ Monroe
He effectively negotiated with G.B.
Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 demilitarized the Great
Lakes & the British American Convention restored
American fishing rights to the Newfoundland coast
and defined the American / Canadian border
He got Oregon to be “free and open” to both British
and American citizens
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
Foreign Policy Under Monroe
(continued)
– 1812, U.S. adds West Florida to LA and Miss.
Territory
– Spain still claimed right to East and West FL
– Andrew Jackson uses military in the south to
seize FL from Spain
– Spain cedes all FL and defines US border in
Adams-Onís (Transcontinental) treaty
MO Comp. / Deals w/ G.B. / Adams-Onís
◄James
Monroe
Andrew ►
Jackson
▲John Quincy
Adams
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
Monroe Doctrine, 1823
– Adams believed in Manifest Destiny (though
the term had not yet been coined)
– Holy Alliance: defend “Christian” and
monarchist principles and squash rebellion:
Spain and Russia, GB would not join
– GB Prime Minister Canning suggested an
Anglo-American “union” to prevent European
interference in S. America w/o annexing any of
Spain’s old empire
– Adams wanted to be able to take those lands
The Awakening of American Nationalism:
Monroe Doctrine, 1823, continued
– 1) unless American interests are involved, U.S.
policy is to abstain from European wars
– 2) the “American continents” are not subject to
future colonization by any European power
– 3) any attempts by European powers to
colonize the Americas would be taken as an
“unfriendly act” to the U.S.
– Not really taken seriously; fear of the British
navy prevented interference, not the doctrine
(Chapter 8) Map 8.1 Louisiana Purchase
and Exploration of the West
Americans had a hard time comprehending
the magnitude of the Louisiana Purchase, which
doubled the size of their nation overnight. British,
French, and Spanish explorers had never glimpsed
more than a tiny fraction of the territory.Despite his
keen interest in the West, President Thomas
Jefferson had never been more than fifty miles west
of his home in central Virginia. Like many
Americans, his vision of the West was based on
hunches and questionable evidence. The available
maps gave conflicting pictures of the West. Some
omitted the "Stony" (Rocky) Mountains, while others
disagreed about their location (see Technology and
Culture feature on mapping in Chapter 8). The
Lewis and Clark expedition eventually produced
substantially accurate maps of the Purchase,
stimulating popular fascination with the West.
Picking Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
to explore the Purchase, Jefferson ordered them to
follow the Missouri River to its source and then the
Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Yet the map
clearly shows other rivers that could have been
followed west and southwest. It stood to reason that
Jefferson would have sponsored an expedition to
explore the Purchase. He had two enticing
directions before him: the largely unknown
northwest, and the southwest, where territory
claimed by the Spanish provided a possible
challenge.
1.
Why did Jefferson insist Lewis and Clark
take a northerly route? Why not follow the
Arkansas River to the Colorado River and
head for the Gulf of Mexico? To rephrase this
question, why was it more important for
Jefferson that the United States gain access
to the Pacific than to the Gulf of Mexico?
(Chapter 8)
Map 8.1 Louisiana
Purchase and
Exploration of
the West
(Chapter 8) Tecumseh
Tecumseh grew to manhood amid warfare between
Indians and whites in the Ohio Valley during the late
eighteenth century. His father was killed by whites in 1774.
Raised by an older sister, he fought against the United
States at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and he
refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, by which
Indians ceded to whites much of Ohio.
Tecumseh was initially reluctant to accept his
brother, Lalewéthica, the Shawnee prophet later known as
Tenskwatawa, as a leader, but after Lalewéthica accurately
predicted an eclipse of the sun in 1806, Tecumseh joined
with his brother. He gradually transformed his brother's
religious movement into a political one by seeking to unite
the tribes against the incursions of white settlers. He and his
brother moved their village, now known as Prophetstown, to
the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers, where in
1811 the Prophet was defeated by United States forces.
The occasion for this attack was Tecumseh's
outrage, communicated in person to Governor William Henry
Harrison of the Indiana Territory, at the Treaty of Fort Wayne
in 1809, by which several tribes ceded some three million
acres along the Wabash to the United States for two-andone-half cents an acre—far less than white settlers would
have to pay for the land.
Harrison conceded that Tecumseh was extremely
intelligent. But Tecumseh failed to unite the tribes and in
1812 went over to the British. Why did so able a leader fail?
It was his view that the land belonged collectively to all the
tribes, but individual tribes kept ceding land to the United
States in return for annuities and gifts.
1.
Was Tecumseh a victim of the
white man, or of the tribes
themselves, each of which
claimed their land as their own
property?
(Chapter 8)
Tecumseh
Map 8.1: The Louisiana
Purchase and the Exploration of
the West
38
Map 8.2: Major Battles
of the War of 1812
Map 8.2:
Major
Battles
of the
War of
1812
(cont’d)
40
Map 8.3: The Missouri
Compromise, 1820–1821
41