Chapter 6, Section 3
 To identify some of the significant changes brought about
during the early years of Jefferson’s presidency
 To provide examples of the Federalists’ declining power
 To summarize the importance of the Louisiana Purchase and
the Lewis and Clark expedition
Thomas Jefferson Virginia Dem.-Rep. 73 52.9%
Aaron Burr New York Dem.-Rep. 73 52.9%
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
John Adams Massachusetts Federalist 65 47.1%
 Jefferson defeats Adams, 73 to 65 electoral votes
 Aaron Burr delivers New York, Federalist stronghold, to Jefferson
 South and West are Jeffersonian, growing in power and population
 Jefferson and Burr tie. Federalists attempt to give Pres. to Burr, delaying
action in the House of Reps for months, taking 35 ballots in all.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Power had successfully
changed hands in the new republic.
 Virtues practiced are Frugality, Simplicity, Equality – avoid
monarchical appearances
 Political Moderation and Restraint -employed to ease Federalist
fears
 Reduced the size of govt. and pursued “free trade”
 Increases Southern influence on govt., esp. Virginia’s
 Did not employ excessive patronage,
many Federalist appointees retain positions
 Judiciary Act of 1801 = Adams tries to pack the court with
Federalist judges
 Midnight judges= the Federalist appointees, including John Marshall
as Chief Justice
KEY FACT: Appointments were signed but not delivered.
DEBATE: Are the appointments of Adams now binding on
Jefferson?
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Establishes the principal of
JUDICIAL REVIEW = the ability of the Court to declare an act of Congress or
the President unconstitutional.
“ The critical importance of Marbury is the assumption of several powers by the
Supreme Court. One was the authority to declare acts of Congress, and by
implication acts of the president, unconstitutional if they exceeded the powers
granted by the Constitution. But even more important, the Court became the
arbiter of the Constitution, the final authority on what the document meant. As
such, the Supreme Court became in fact as well as in theory an equal partner in
government, and it has played that role ever since.”
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/9.htm
Was the incident of the “midnight
justices”and Marbury vs. Madison




a Failure or Success?
WHY?
For Jefferson?
WHY?
For the Federalists?
WHY?
For the Supreme Court?
WHY?

Hamilton attacks Adams, splitting Federalist Party

Adams/Federalists lose election of 1804

Hamilton seeks to prevent Burr from becoming Gov. of New York in
1804

7/11/1804 Hamilton fights Aaron Burr in a duel, and is killed.

Burr kills Federalist leadership, and his own career

Federalists fade
1800-1810: Population in the Ohio Valley grows. Daniel Boone clears
the Wilderness Road.
1800: Spain cedes trans-Mississippi/LA to France
1802: US loses right to deposit in New Orleans
1803: Jefferson sends envoys to Napoleon
4/30/1803: Frances sells LA for $15 million
Why did Napoleon sell?
What was the constitutional issue at hand for Jefferson?
Who got more than they bargained for?
From Marshall Sprague, So Vast and Beautiful a Land: Louisiana and the Purchase. Boston, Little, Brown
and Co., 1974. P. 312.
(Courtesy Special Collections Division, University of Washington Libraries.)
 Vast tracts open for farming for growing population
 Western expansion favors Jefferson & Republicans, gains loyalty of
Western US
 Federalists decline further, esp. after Burr’s plot of secession fails
 Establishes practice of “acquisition by purchase”
 Establishes power of the President to make treaties
 Seeking a Northwest Passage and boundaries of new LA territory
 1804-1806: 2 and ½ year journey, 50 men in Corps of Discovery
 Navigated the Missouri, crossed the Rockies, went down the Columbia River to
the Pacific and back
 Received help from many Native Americans during their journey, esp.
Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman who served as interpreter and guide
 First Americans to cross the North American continent.
 Opened the West to settlement