Presidential Administration
Thomas Jefferson and the
Jeffersonian - Republicans
Controversial Presidency
Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
(1801-1809)
• Jefferson's program of reducing the power of the National
Government made him extremely unpopular!
• Supreme Court gained the vital new power of judicial review
to make sure they did not violate the Constitution.
• Expansion of the West was accomplished with the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803.
• Trade with France and Britain outlawed by Embargo of 1807
for their actions towards US citizens!
• 1815 – Sold his personal Library to the Library of
Congress to replace the collection burned by the British
in 1814!
Domestic Policy
Goal was
toacross
create the
what he
•Cut the size of the•Federal
Govt.
calledof"GOOD
board, reducing the staffs
each Executive
Office and the size ofGOVERNMENT"
the Army.
•He was enormously
withtoAmerican
• popular
He refused
give
people because he made the Government an
to the Congress
invisible force in theirspeeches
lives.
fearing
it looked
toomost
much
•His vice President, Aaron
Burr
was his
KING.
vocal opponent until like
Burrashot
and killed
Alexander Hamilton• in
a duel inthe
1804!
Resolved
issue of what
•Dem-Republicans quickly repealed the
call him
the simple
Judiciary Act of 1801 to
(passed
bywith
Adams
to
term "Mr.
place the “midnight judges”
in President"
office)
Changes in Judicial Policy
Supreme Court did not have
a clearly defined role
according to
Constitution.
Congress had defined roles
of district court judges,
federal court judges,
etc.,.. but not the role of
the Supreme Court.
Judicial Review – The act of
determining if laws of
the USA are in line with
the Constitution!
John Marshall
Marbury vs. Madison (1803)
• Jefferson
to block
James
Marbury
from
•Chief
Justice Johntried
Marshall
ruled that
Act of 1789
was unconstitutional
becoming
one of
Judges".
because
Judicial Branch
hadAdams'
no power "Midnight
to order Executive
Branch to do
– He ordered the Secretary of State, James Madison not to
this! deliver the appointment to Marbury.
• Marbury sued Madison to force him to make the
appointment.
•IMPACT:
This case established the role of Supreme Court in terms of
Constitutionality!
• Case went to Supreme Court.
• Marshall actually refused to hear the case, but
did rule on the following:
– Justices were told that because of Judiciary Act of
1789, Supreme Court should order Madison to install
Marbury as a judge!
– Marshall delivered a ruling on the Judiciary Act but
not the actual case itself!
Expansion of the West
• Jefferson wanted to speed up
the process where people
could purchase land in the
WEST. (CONTRAST?)
Land Act of 1800
– Americans were able to get
Land in the West and get it on
credit quickly!
– The key was to get the French
and the Spanish out of the
way!
Louisiana Purchase of 1803
• American Ambassador to Paris (Livingston) was already negotiating
with the Government of Napoleon.
• Jefferson had sent James Madison to Paris to purchase the city of New
Orleans
– Stipulation: Don’t pay more than $10 million for New Orleans and acquire
all land east of New Orleans to Florida.
– French offered up New Orleans and all land in their possession to the West
for $15 million.
– Without waiting for Madison, Livingston signed three agreements that
made the agreement!
• Supposed to give the USA a viable port to trade along the Mississippi
River.
• French offer to sell city and a vast majority of Indian land in the
process.
• The completion of the sale would double the size of the United States
overnight!
End Results of Louisiana Purchase
This was
the largest
acquisition of828,000
territory by thesquare
United States
at oneterritory
time prior to or
••IMPACT:
United
States
received
mile
since !
from France.(3¢/acre!)
•The Two Jeffersons?
• Price tag of $15 million dollars with $11.25 million
•Jefferson was concerned that by pursuing this purchase, he was violating the Constitution
going
tothethe
French!
because directly
it does not give
President
power to expand the country!
• Present
day
states
ofa Constitutional
Arkansas,
Missouri, Iowa,
•Jefferson
quietly
proposed
Amendment!
Minnesota
(west worried
of the
River),
•Friends in Congress
thatMississippi
Napoleon would withdraw
theNorth
offer!
Dakota,
South
Oklahoma,
nearly
•However, the
PresidentDakota,
does have theNebraska,
power to ratify treaties,
so the Louisiana
Purchase
as a treatyand
with France
in April ofof
1803
allwasofratified
Kansas,
portions
Montana, Wyoming are
carved from this area!
Louisiana Purchase & the Lewis & Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
•
•
Began in St. Louis - 1804 to 1806
Explored the northern portion of the territory over
the Rockies to Oregon and the Pacific Ocean
• 45 men with a native guide named Sacajewa
IMPACT:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Increased geographic and scientific knowledge
Strengthened US claims to Oregon territory
Improved relations with native-American tribes
Developed maps and land routes for fur trappers and
settlers.
Foreign Policy of Jefferson
• Jay Treaty expired in 1805.
• US no longer had to trade with Great Britain by law!
• France and Great Britain were already fighting a
war with each other.
• In the process, they (France & Britain) dragged the
United States into it by commandeering US ships
trading in Britain and France through policy of
Impressment – (British ships kidnapped or impressed
American sailors on the sea and forced them to serve in the
Royal Navy.)
• 1807- USS Chesapeake attacked by a British ship.
– Boarded and searched for survivors!
Impressment of Sailors
Embargo of 1807
• Jefferson was so angry with the British that he got
Congress to pass economic sanctions against European
countries.
• All export/import with Great Britain and France was to
cease immediately!
• Britain and France were largely unaffected by the
Embargo but many American businesses went under
because they could no longer trade in European markets!
• Jefferson immediately goes from being Mr. Popularity to
Enemy Number 1 in the eyes of the American Public!
(Shippers hated him the most!)
Aaron Burr as Vice President
• Aaron Burr was placed on the Democratic-Republican
presidential ticket in the 1800 election with Jefferson.
(Adams finished third!)
– At the time, state legislatures chose the members of the U.S.
Electoral College, and New York was crucial to Jefferson. (12)
– Though Jefferson did win New York and the election, so did Burr;
they tied with 73 electoral votes each.
• The party intended that Jefferson should be President and
Burr Vice President, but owing to a defect (later remedied)
in the U.S. Constitution, the responsibility for the final
choice was thrown upon the House of Representatives.
– Alexander Hamilton prevented Burr’s election by uniting the
Federalist Party in opposition to Burr!
Burr Conspiracy(1804)
• Purchase of Louisiana had worried Federalists.
– Many looked at VP as being part of the problem!
• Rumor circulated that Burr had conspired to
become elected Governor of NY and then have the
northern states break away from US!
• A. Hamilton exposed plot and questioned Burr’s
character and honor at a public dinner!
• Novelist Gore Vidal suspected Burr may have had
an incestuous relationship with his own daughter!
(not ever proven!)
• Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel!
• Hamilton’s son had been killed in a duel in 1802,
but he reluctantly agreed!
• When they met, Hamilton refused to fire, Burr
raised his pistol and shot Hamilton one time.
• The bullet entered his abdomen and pierced his
spine
• Hamilton killed in Weehawken, NJ 1804 by Burr.
•
http://www.michaelbay.com/commercials.htm
• Burr later learned that Hamilton intended to hold his fire during
the duel.
• He
Hiswas
response:
"Contemptible,
true."
recaptured
and triedifon
charges of treason in
•Richmond,
Burr was VA
laterincharged
1807. with murder in New York and New
Jersey, but was never tried in either jurisdiction.
•The
was presided
over by where
Chief his
Justice
Johnlived
Marshall.
• Hetrial
escaped
to South Carolina,
daughter
with her
family, but soon returned to Washington, D.C. to complete his
•Burr
was
acquitted
of the
charges though because there were
term
of service
as Vice
President.
not
two
credible
witnesses
who
couldimpeachment
testify against
• He
presided
over
the Samuel
Chase
trialhim.
with the
"impartiality of an angel and the rigor of a devil.“
•Required by the Constitution!
• After his term as VP expired, he fled to Philadelphia where he
put together
somewhat
unclear
plan to create
a new western
•Once
his trial awas
over, he
lived abroad
in European
nations.
nation west of the Appalachian Mts.
• He enlisted
•Eventually
hethe
returned
aid of some
to New
European
York and
investors
worked
andasa a
corrupt
lawyer
American
General
(James Wilkinson) to carry out the plot.
until
his death
in 1836.
• Wilkinson betrayed him and told Jefferson who did nothing (he
•When
the Texas
occurred that year, he is quoted as
was dealing
withrevolution
other issues)
saying,
"What
wasissued
treason
in me for
thirty
is patriotism
• Jefferson
finally
a warrant
his years
arrest.ago,
He turned
himself in in the Orleans territory and then jumped bail.
now."
Presidency of James Madison
(1809-1817)
• Inherited a country on the verge of
explosion at any second.
• Country was torn apart by Embargo of
1807.
• Jefferson had been forced to use Navy
to keep New England area merchants
from trading with British!
• Similar to the Whiskey Rebellion except
that the United States has no real Navy
because Jefferson has reduced it to
almost nothing!
Attempts to Prevent War
• Embargo Act of 1807
– “cure is worse than the disease”
• Non-Intercourse Act - 1809
– Trade with all nations except Britain and
France
• Macon’s Bill No. 2 – 1810
– If either Britain or France formally agreed to
respect US neutral rights at sea then the
US would prohibit trade with that nation’s
foe.
• United States believed that they could stop
Great Britain from attacking American ships
by invading Canada in 1812!
• British easily push invading force back and
defeat the Americans quickly.
• 1813- Commodore Perry defeats British
ships on Lake Erie establishing the Northern
border of the United States.
• By 1814 the British are able to close
American ports and harbors and put a
strangle hold on American businesses.
War of 1812 (A disaster!)
• August of 1814-The British invade the city of
Washington, DC and burn the capital and White
House to the ground. This humiliates the American
people.
– This event is where we get the Star Spangled Banner
from as Francis Scott Key watched the British bomb Fort
McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.
• Hartford Convention- Connecticut thought about
seceding from the Union so that they would not
have to fight !
Battle of New Orleans
• December 23, 1814 to
January 8, 1815
• Most decisive
American victory in
Battle.
• Statistics:
– 4, 500 volunteer militia,
soldiers and free African
Americans held off and
defeated 11, 000 British
soldiers.
 2, 036 British casualties
21 Americans.
It made a hero out of Andrew Jackson and gave the  Most of the fighting was
over in about 21
British their most one sided defeat!
minutes!
Treaty of Ghent
• December 24, 1814- British and American
representatives met in Belgium and sign the
Treaty of Ghent which officially ends the war!
• No winner, no loser
Status Quo Ante Bellum
• Restores boundaries of US and Canada to
what they were before the war!
Presidency of James Monroe
• Second Bank of the United
States formed in 1816.
– Loaned money foolishly to anyone
who wanted it!
– Large portion of it was tied up in l
and sales.
• US had a slight economic
depression in 1819 and many
people lost their land as a
result!
1817-1825
– People who had not paid back
loans from the Land Act of 1800!
Missouri Compromise 1820
• Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established no
Slavery Northwest of the Ohio River, but because it
is not above that mark, this does not apply!
• Congress debated the issue of Slavery for months
as to whether Missouri should be admitted as a
FREE State or a SLAVE State!
• Congress decides to admit Missouri as a Slave
state and carve out the state of Maine from
Massachusetts and admit it as a Free State.
• This established the policy of admitting one free
state for every slave state up until 1861.
Congress admits MS as a
slave SLAVE state, and
MAINE as a free state.
Draw line across country.
All states north of line
are free, south of line are
Slave.
This establishes a precedent.
Admit 1 free for 1 slave state.
Missouri Compromise of 1820
ECONOMIC NATIONALISM
•
•
Federal support for
development and
growth of the
nation’s economy.
Takes many forms
–
–
–
–
–
Taxes
Roads
Tariffs
Banking
Political Proposals
1. Protective Tariff of 1816

Protect the “infant” industries from foreign competition.

Francis Cabot Lowell – 1813 – power loom leads to 1st textile mill.

Feared British goods being “dumped” onto the American market
following the war. 1st tariff n American history.
2. Infra-Structure
National Road
• Albert Gallatin (1807) – Sec. of Treasury under Jefferson
proposed federal funds be used
• Was to be constructed from the Potomac River to Ohio
• Ended in Wheeling, WVA. Completed in 1818
Steam Powered Shipping
• Robert Fulton
• Clermont – first commercial steamship - 1807
• Stimulated economic growth and development of the South and
West by providing readier access to markets
3. 2nd National Bank
– Original Charter expired in 1811
– Hamilton claimed it was necessary for order.
– State banks were unpredictable.
4. The American System
– A comprehensive program of federally financed
internal improvements and sale of government
lands.
– Henry Clay
• His plan consisted of three parts:
1.Protective tariffs
2.National Banks
3.Internal Improvements
Innovations in transport, c. 1840