Warm Up
1. What financial problems did America face
in 1789?
2. How did Jefferson and Hamilton interpret
the Constitution differently?
3. What was the purpose of Washington’s
cabinet?
Ch. 9: Sec. 2: Challenges to
the New Government
p. 282-286
General Anthony Wayne
Chief Little Turtle of the
Miami tribe of Ohio
Securing the Northwest Territory
• Washington: considered military action as
trouble brewed in the Trans-Appalachian
West: (map on p. 283) (Land between
Appalachian Mtns. & Mississippi River)
• Competing claims for these lands caused the
trouble
• Spain: Claimed lands west of the Mississippi
River & port of New Orleans at mouth of Miss.
River
• This port was important for trade for American
settlers in the West & they took Spanish
threats to close the port very seriously
• Spanish also stirred up trouble between white
settlers & Creeks, Choctaws, & other Native
American groups in the SE
• Native Americans in NW Territory (Ohio River to
south & Canada to north): had strongest resistance
to white settlement
• These Native Americans wanted to form their own
independent Native American nation
• British: violated the Treaty of Paris because they
still held forts north of Ohio River; also supported
Native Americans to have access to fur
• Native Americans & white settlers clashed over NW
Territory
Battle of Fallen Timbers
• Washington: Sent troops to the Ohio Valley
• Read ONE AMERICAN’S STORY on p. 282.
• This 1st federal army took a beating from warriors led
by Little Turtle in 1790
• In 1791: Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s army was defeated
• The next army sent West was led by General “Mad
Anthony” Wayne
• Little Turtle: advised to negotiate, but other chiefs
ignored him & he was replaced by a weaker leader
• Native Americans: met at British-held fort Miami
expecting the British to help them
• Aug. 20, 1794: 2,000 Native Americans clashed
with Wayne’s troops; area was covered with
trees that had been struck down by a storm
• Battle of Fallen Timbers: Native Americans
were defeated
• Fort Miami: Natives retreated there, but British
did not help them since they did not want war
with the U.S.
• This crushed Native’s hopes of keeping their
land in the NW Territory
• Treaty of Greenville: 1795: signed by 12 tribes
agreeing to surrender much of present-day
Ohio & Indiana to the US govt.
The Whiskey Rebellion
• Soon after the Battle of Fallen Timbers: Another
army was put in the field by Washington due to
a conflict over govt.’s tax on whiskey
• Farmers: resisted the tax saying it was on 2
important products: grain & whiskey
• With little cash to buy goods, farmers often
traded whiskey for salt, sugar, & other goods
• Summer 1794: Whiskey Rebellion: a group of
farmers in western Pennsylvania against the tax
• They beat up a tax collector, coated him w/ tar
& feathers & stole his horse
• Also an armed attack in Pittsburgh was
threatened
• Oct. 1794: Gen. Henry Lee & Hamilton: Led
an army of 13,000 soldiers into W. PA to put
down the uprising
• Rebels fled (left) as they heard news of the
army coming
• Federal troops rounded up 20 barefoot, ragged
prisoners
• Washington had proved his point by showing
the govt. had power to enforce its laws
General Henry Lee
Alexander Hamilton
The French Revolution
• 1789: French people rebelled against their
govt. due to a financial crisis
• French revolutionaries: were inspired by the
American Revolution & demanded liberty &
equality
• This became the French Revolution
• By 1792: the revolution had become very
violent & Americans were no longer in full
support
• 1000’s of French citizens were killed
• 1793: King Louis XVI of France was
executed
King Louis XVI of France
• Other European monarchs (kings & queens)
believed the French Revolution threatened their own
thrones
• France soon declared war on Britain, Holland, &
Spain
• Britain led the fight against France
• War between France & Britain: put US in an awkward
position since France had been an ally of the US in
their revolution against Britain
• It was difficult for the US to choose sides, so in 1793,
Washington declared the US would remain neutral,
saying the US would be “friendly and impartial” to
both sides.
• Congress: passed a law forbidding the US to help
either side
Remaining Neutral
• In 1792: Britain made it
hard for the US to remain
neutral; they seized
cargoes of American
ships carrying goods
from French West Indies
• Chief Justice John Jay:
went to England in 1794
for talks hoping to
persuade the British to
give up their forts on NW
frontier
• During this time, news
came of US victory at
Battle of Fallen Timbers,
so British agreed to leave
the Ohio Valley by 1796
Chief Justice John Jay
• Jay’s Treaty: British agreed to pay damages
for US vessels they had seized, but Jay did
not open the profitable British West Indies
trade to Americans & this treaty was
unpopular
• 1795: Pinckney’s Treaty: (Thomas Pinckney)
with Spain gave Americans the right to travel
freely on the Miss. River.
• Also gave Americans the right to store goods
at port of New Orleans without paying
customs duties (taxes) & Spain accepted the
31st parallel as the northern boundary of FL
& southern boundary of the US
Thomas Pinckney