REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY:
THE JEFFERSONIAN VISION
America: Past and Present
Chapter 8
Republican Identities in a
New Republic
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An age of rapid population growth
– 7.2 million in 1810; two million more than
1800
– 20% black slaves
– children under 16 the largest single group
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Strong regional identities
Early secession movements threaten
national unity
North America in 1800
Westward the Course of
Empire
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Intense migration to West after 1790
New States
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Kentucky--1792
Tennessee--1796
Ohio--1803
Western regional culture rootless,
optimistic
Native American Resistance
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Western settlers compete for Indian land
Indians resist
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Tecumseh leads Shawnees, defeated
Creeks defeated
Settlers reject Indian-White coexistence
Commercial Life in the Cities
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Economy based on agriculture and trade
American shipping prospers 1793-1805
Cities associated with international trade,
otherwise marginal role in national life
Industrialization and mechanization just
beginning to frighten skilled craftsmen
Jefferson as President
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Jefferson personifies Republicanism’s
contradictions
Despises ceremonies and formality
Dedicated to intellectual pursuits
A politician to the core
Success depends on cooperation with
Congress
Jeffersonian Reforms
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Priority to cutting federal debt, taxes
Federal expenses trimmed by cutting
military
Reduction of the army removes threat to
Republican government
Competent bureaucrats retained
regardless of party
Federalists retire from public life
Ambitious Federalists become Republicans
The Louisiana Purchase
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1801--France buys Louisiana from Spain
1803--Jefferson sends a mission to France
to buy New Orleans
Napoleon offers to sell all of Louisiana for
$15 million
Constitution vague on Congressional
authority to purchase
Purchase departs from Republican
principle of strict separation
The Louisiana Purchase (2)
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Louisiana inhabitants French & Spanish
Jefferson denies them self-rule
Louisiana governed from Washington
Another Jeffersonian departure from
Republicanism
The Lewis and Clark
Expedition
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Lewis and Clark Expedition commissioned
prior to purchase of Louisiana
Expedition left St. Louis May 1804 and
reached the Pacific Ocean November 1805
Report on Louisiana’s economic promise
confirms Jefferson's desire to purchase
The Louisiana Purchase and
the Route of Lewis and Clark
Conflict With the Barbary
States
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North African states demand tribute from
ships sailing in Mediterranean
Jefferson dispatches U.S. fleet to
“negotiate through the mouth of a
cannon”
U.S. cannot defeat the Barbary States
Action induces respect for U.S. rights
The Barbary States
Jefferson’s Critics
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Dispute over federal court system
Conflicts between Republicans
Sectional dispute over the slave trade
Attack on the Judges:
Judiciary Act
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Judiciary Act of 1801 creates new circuit
courts filled with loyal Federalists
1802--Jeffersonians repeal Judiciary Act of
1801 to abolish courts
Federalists charge violation of judges’
Constitutional right of tenure
Attack on the Judges:
Marbury v. Madison
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Marbury v. Madison (1803) rules Judiciary
Act of 1789 unconstitutional
Federalist Marbury denied his judgeship
Republicans claim victory
Chief Justice John Marshall ensures
Federalist influence through judicial review
Attack on the Judges:
Impeachments
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1803--Federalist John Pickering
impeached, removed for alcoholism,
insanity
Republicans begin fearing the destruction
of an independent judiciary
Jefferson exacerbates fears by seeking to
impeach Federalist Samuel Chase
Republican Senate refuses to convict
Politics of Desperation:
“Tertium Quids”
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"Tertium Quids" claim pure Republicanism
Attack Jefferson as sacrificing virtue for
pragmatism
Politics of Desperation:
The Yazoo Controversy
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Yazoo controversy
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fraudulent land case in Georgia
Jefferson attempts to settle by providing land
to innocent parties
Quids complain settlement condones fraud
Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
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Marshall court upholds Jefferson’s settlement
court may nullify unconstitutional state laws
Murder and Conspiracy: The
Curious Career of Aaron Burr
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Vice-President Aaron Burr breaks with
Jefferson
1804--Burr seeks Federalist support in
1804 New York governor’s race
Alexander Hamilton blocks Burr’s efforts
Burr kills Hamilton in a duel
The Burr Conspiracy
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Burr flees West after Hamilton duel
Schemes to invade Spanish territory
Burr arrested, tried for treason
John Marshall acquits on Constitutional
grounds of insufficient evidence
Precedent makes it difficult for presidents
to use charge of treason as a political tool
The Slave Trade
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Congress prohibits slave trade after 1808
Northern Republicans call for emancipation
of any black smuggled into the U.S.
Southern Republicans win passage of law
to hand such persons over to state
authorities
Embarrassments Overseas
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1803--England and France resume war
American ships subject to seizure
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by England through “Orders in Council"
by Napoleon through Berlin, Milan Decrees
Jefferson refuses war to preserve financial
reform
Embargo--Jefferson’s alternative to war
Embargo Divides the Nation
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1807--Congress prohibits U.S. ships from
leaving port
Purpose: to win English, French respect
for American rights
Embargo unpopular at home
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detailed government oversight of commerce
army suppresses smuggling
New England economy damaged
A New Administration Goes
to War
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1808--James Madison elected President
1809--Embargo repealed in favor of NonIntercourse Act
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U.S. will resume trade with England and
France on promise to cease seizure of U.S.
vessels
A New Administration Goes
to War (2)
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Madison reopens English trade on
unconfirmed promise of British minister
English reject agreement, seize U.S. ships
that opened trade with England
A New Administration Goes
to War (2)
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Macon’s Bill Number Two replaces the
Non-Intercourse Act
Trade with both England and France
reestablished
First nation to respect American rights
wins halt of U.S. trade with the other
Napoleon promises to observe U.S. rights
but reneges when trade reopened
Fumbling Toward Conflict
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Tecumseh’s Western campaign seen as
supported by British
Congressional War Hawks demand war on
England to preserve American honor
June 1, 1812, Madison sends Congress a
declaration of war
War aims vague
The Strange War of 1812:
Early Course
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Americans unprepared for war
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Congress refuses to raise wartime taxes
New England refuses to support war effort
United States Army small
state militias inadequate
1813--U.S. wins control of Great Lakes in
Battle of Put-In Bay
Strange War of 1812:
The War’s Conclusion
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1814--three-pronged English attack
– campaign from Canada to Hudson River Valley
stopped at Lake Champlain
– campaign in the Chesapeake results in
burning of Washington, siege of Baltimore
– campaign for New Orleans thwarted by
Andrew Jackson, January, 1815
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Treaty of Ghent signed December, 1814
The War of 1812
Hartford Convention: The
Demise of the Federalists
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Federalists convene December, 1814
Proposed Constitutional changes to lessen
power of South and West
Treaty of Ghent, victory of New Orleans
makes Convention appear disloyal
Federalist party never recovers
Treaty of Ghent Ends the
War
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Most problems left unaddressed
Senate unanimously ratifies Treaty of
Ghent
Americans claim success in a "second war
of independence"
Republican Legacy
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Founders begin to pass away in 1820s
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both
die July 4, 1826
James Madison dies in 1836
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despairs that Declaration’s principles not yet
extended to African Americans