Social Studies Chapter 5
The Era of Thomas Jefferson
Section One
Jefferson Takes Office
A Bitter Campaign
• The federalists raised the prospect of civil war if
Jefferson were elected.
• Republicans accused John Adams of wanting to
create a monarchy.
• Jefferson defeated Adams by receiving 73
electoral votes.
• Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s running mate, also
received 73 votes.
• House of Representatives- On the 36th vote,
Jefferson won the election.
• 12th Amendment- Electors would vote separately
for President and Vice President.
Jefferson’s Inauguration
• Jefferson was the first president to be
inaugurated in Washington, D.C., the
country’s new capital.
• He believed the government should have
simple customs.
• He walked to his inauguration instead of
riding in a fancy carriage. He also ended the
custom of people bowing to the President.
Instead, they shook his hand.
Inaugural Address
• Jefferson used his inaugural address to
bring a divided country together.
• He told the American people:
• “Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with
one heart and one mind….Every
difference of opinion is not a difference
of principle….We are all Republicans;
we are all Federalists.”
Jefferson Charts a New
Course
• Jefferson’s first goal as President was
to limit the federal government’s power
of states and citizens.
• He believed in laissez faire, which
means that the government should not
interfere in the economy.
New Republican Policies
• He reduced the number of people in the
government. He fired all tax collectors and cut
the number of U.S. diplomats.
• He shrunk the military, and cut the army’s
budget in half, reducing the army’s size.
• He eliminated all federal taxes inside the
country; Now, most tax revenue came from
the tariff on imported goods.
• Jefferson also released and refunded victims
of the Sedition Act.
Federalist Policies Remain
• He believed that the Unites States had
to keep repaying its national debt.
• He also did not fire most of the
Federalists officeholders.
• He said they could keep their jobs if
they did them well and were loyal
citizens.
The Supreme Court and
Judicial Review
• Adams had appointed several judges in
the last hours before he left office.
• The Republicans argued that these
appointments were aimed at
maintaining Federalist power.
• When Jefferson took office, he ordered
James Madison to cease work on the
appointments.
Marbury Versus Madison
• Marbury then sued Madison citing the
Judiciary Act of 1789.
• Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the
Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. He
stated that the court’s power came from the
Constitution, not from Congress.
• The Judicial Review was established- the
authority of the Supreme Court to strike down
unconstitutional laws.
Section Two
The Louisiana Purchase and
Lewis and Clark
The Nation Looks West
• Most western settlers were farmers.
• Because there were few roads in the
West, they relied on the Mississippi
River to ship their crops to the port at
New Orleans.
• From there, the goods were loaded on
ships and carried to markets in the East.
Pinckney Treaty
• Spain controlled the Mississippi and
New Orleans. They had several times
threatened to close the port to American
ships.
• The U.S. negotiated a treaty with the
Spanish- guaranteed the Americans’
right to ship their goods down the
Mississippi to New Orleans.
Crisis
• Jefferson discovered that Spain had secretly
negotiated the transfer of New Orleans and
the rest of its Louisiana territory to France.
• Jefferson feared that the French ruler,
Napoleon Bonaparte, now intended to make
France the first power in America as well as in
Europe.
• The westward expansion of the United States
could be blocked.
A Surprise Offer
• Jefferson sent his friend James Monroe to
France to make a deal. Monroe had the help
of Robert Livingston, the American minister in
Paris.
• Jefferson instructed the two men to buy New
Orleans and West Florida.
• France offered to sell the entire Louisiana
territory for $15 million- They agreed.
Jefferson’s Dilemma
• Jefferson was delighted with the deal, but he
had a serious problem.
• The Constitution nowhere states that the
President has the power to buy land from a
foreign country.
• The Constitution allowed the President to
make treaties. The Senate approved the
treaty, and Congress quickly voted to pay for
the land.
Lewis and Clark Explore the
West
• Jefferson convinced Congress to spend $2,500
on a western expedition, or a long and carefully
organized journey.
• He chose Lewis to lead as the captain, and Lewis
chose Clark as his co-leader.
• They were to report back on the geography,
plants, animals, and other natural features of the
region.
• Jefferson also wanted them to make contact with
Native Americans west of the Mississippi.
• He wanted them to find out if a waterway existed
between the Mississippi River and the Pacific
Ocean.
Into the Unknown
• 1804- They left St. Louis and headed up the
Missouri River with their three boats that carried
tons of supplies and about 40 men.
• In mid-July, they reached the mouth of the Platte
River. In early July, they met Native Americans
for the first time.
• Three weeks later they reached the eastern edge
of the Great Plains.
• October 1804- reached the territory of the
Mandan people. They camped there for the
winter.
• Sacagawea would travel with them and serve as
a translator.
Crossing the Rockies
• April 1805- They set out again, and began to
climb the Rockies.
• By August, they reached the Continental
Divide of the Rocky Mountains- The place on
a continent that separates river systems
flowing in opposite directions.
• The Shoshones agreed to sell the expedition
horses that were needed to cross the
mountains.
At the Pacific
• Lewis and Clark reached the Columbia river
on the west side of the Rockies.
• The built canoes, and finally, through a dense
early November fog, they saw the Pacific
Ocean. They spent the winter of 1805-1806
there.
• They began their return journey in March
1806. It took half a year to return to St. Louis.
Pike’s Expedition
• From 1805-1807, the party led by Pike
explored the southern part of the Louisiana
territory.
• Pike’s return route took him into Spanish New
Mexico.
• In 1807, Spanish troops arrested them as
spies, and feared that they were gathering
information so that the American could take
over the region.
• After several months, they were released and
escorted back to the U.S.
Section Three
A Time of Conflict
Defeating the Barbary States
• Trade with Europe was critical to the U.S.
economy.
• Pirates began attacking American ships in the
Mediterranean Sea. They were from four
small countries in North Africa.
• European governments stopped raids by
paying the Barbary States tribute-a forced
payment from one country to another.
• They agreed to leave European ships alone.
Philadelphia
• The U.S. paid a tribute for a time, but
Jefferson stopped this practice and sent
warships to the Mediterranean Sea to protect
American merchant ships.
• The warship Philadelphia’s 300-man crew
was imprisoned.
• To keep the pirates from using the ship, 60
American sailors led by Stephen Decatur
burned the Philadelphia.
• The next year, a small force captured one of
Tripoli’s provincial capitals.
American Neutrality Is
Challenged
• Because the U.S. was neutral, they continued
trading with both Britain and France.
• British warships started seizing American
ships trading with France. France did the
same.
• Between 1803 and 1807, France seized 500
American ships, and Britain seized over
1,000. Britain turned to impressments.
Jefferson Responds With an
Embargo
• Embargo- a government order that forbids
foreign trade.
• 1807-Congress passes the Embargo Act.
• The big loser proved to be the U.S. Prices of
American crops declined, and many
Americans lost their jobs.
• Thousands of Americas turned to smugglingthe act of illegally importing or exporting
goods-in order to evade the embargo.
• Congress finally repealed the Embargo Act in
1809, then passed a law reopening trade with
every country except Britain and France.
Tecumseh and the Prophet
• Americans began settling in western territory.
This had an impact on Native Americans.
• Diseases, that they were never exposed to
before, killed thousands.
• Settlers took over a large part of the Native
American hunting grounds.
• Farmers cleared the forests for planting.
• The Native American population fell and the
power of their traditional leaders declined.
New Leaders Take Charge
• The Shawnee people were hard hit by
these developments.
• Two Shawnee brothers-Tenskwatawa,
who was also known as the prophet,
and Tecumseh-began urging Native
American resistance. They called on
Native Americans to preserve traditional
ways.
Harrison’s Victory
• William Henry Harrison, governor of the
Indiana Territory, decided to take action.
• In the Battle of Tippecanoe, Harrison
defeated the Native Americans.
• This marked the high point of Native
American opposition to settlement.
Section Four
The War of 1812
The Move Toward War
• Americans were angry at Britain for arming
Native Americans in the Northwest, and they
resented the continued impressments of
American sailors.
• Many felt a new sense of American nationalismpride in one’s country.
• Two strong nationalists were Clay and Calhoun
(leaders in the House of Representatives). They
were called war hawks-eager for war with Britain.
• Many New Englanders opposed war. They
believed it would harm American trade.
• Relations worsened, and Congress declared war.
Early Days of the War
• The United States was not prepared for
war. The navy had only 16 warships,
and the army had fewer than 7,000
men.
• The British set up a blockade-closed
ports from supplies coming in or out of
the country.
• The USS Constitution defeated the
British warship Guerriere in a fierce
battle.
Invasion of Canada
• General William Hull invaded Canada from
Detroit. He retreated, afraid that he did not
have enough soldiers.
• British commander, General Isaac Brock,
surrounded Hull’s army, and forced it to
surrender. They captured more than 2,000
American soldiers.
• The American commander, Oliver Hazard
Perry, switched to another ship and continued
the fight until it was won.
• As the British returned back to Canada,
Harrison followed them back, defeating them
in the Battle of Thames.
Conflict in the South
• Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks at
the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
• The treaty that ended the fighting forced
the Creeks to give up millions of acres
of land.
Final Battles
• The British finally defeated Napoleon
and the French.
• This was not good for the United States
because this allowed Britain to send
many more troops across the Atlantic to
fight against them.
The British Attack Washington
and Baltimore
• Dolly Madison gathered up the president’s
important papers and fled the White House.
• The British set fire to several government
buildings, including the White House.
• British warships bombarded Fort McHenry in
Baltimore. The flag was still up, indicating that
the Americans had beaten off the attack.
• This event inspired the writing of “The StarSpangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key.
The War Ends
• On Christmas Eve, the two sides signed the
Treaty of Ghent in Belgium, which ended the
war.
• News of the treaty took several weeks to
reach the United States.
• In this time, one more battle was fought.
• American forces under General Andrew
Jackson won a stunning victory over the
British at the Battle of New Orleans.
Protests and Peace
• A group of Federalist met in Hartford,
Connecticut.
• Some delegates suggested that the New
England states secede, or withdraw, from the
United States.
• While they debated, news of the peace treaty
arrived. The convention quickly ended.
• Once and for all, the United States secured
its independence from Britain.