FEDERALIST ERA PART 2

STRICT VS. LOOSE CONSTRUCTION The debate between “strict” and “loose” construction

of the Constitution started with Hamilton’s National Bank

The power to create a national bank was not in the Constitution however, Hamilton felt the implied powers of the elastic clause allowed him to

However, strict constructionists favored a narrow interpretation of the Constitution which meant that the gov’t could only do what the Const. specifically says it can People like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson used this

view to oppose the Bank Loose Constructionists used a freer reading to allowed

the government more room to act Hamilton used this to create the bank

CREATING THE GOVERNMENT The Constitution didn’t give many details on

how to the gov’t would actually work Structure of Government

Constitution only set up a Supreme Court so Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which set up the federal court system

Set up the first 5 executive departments: State, Treasury, War, Attorney General, & Postmaster General

Today 15 departments and 200 independent agencies In 1789, Congress started sending bills to

committees This started the committee system we know today where

committees review all bills before sending them to the floor of either house

LOBBYING

Customs in Congress have led to lobbying which people are paid to represent special interest groups

These people are called lobbyists and are used to influence legislation and help get people elected who support their group

There are regulations against lobbying but it is allowed by the 1st amendment

FOREIGN POLICY UNDER WASHINGTON From 1789 to 1815, Europe was in constant warfare as a result of the French Revolution that was taking place

There was a lot of pressure because of this and Washington and other presidents tried to protect the country

Washington supported the very unpopular Jay’s Treaty which was an agreement designed to resolve the conflicts with Great Britain and keep the US out of war

In 1793 Washington made a Proclamation of Neutrality that said the US would not take a side in the warfare (including with France, US’s ally)

Also in his farewell address in 1796 Washington set a tone for the US with by warning of the danger of entangling alliances and urged the country to continue with a policy of neutrality

SERVING TWO TERMS

After serving only 2 terms, Washington turned down the opportunity to serve a third as president

This tradition stayed until the 1940 and 1944 with FDR

People upset about this led to the passing of the 22 Amendment that limits the President to 2 terms

FOREIGN POLICY UNDER JOHN ADAMS John Adams was the first Vice President and second

President He was a Federalist

He followed Washington’s goal of trying to keep the US out of war

He avoided expanding an undeclared naval war with France This upset his own party because the Federalists

supported Britain and helped lead to his not winning a second term

By avoiding war and ending the alliance with France from the Revolution, Adams kept the country in peace

THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS Due to the public reaction to the French Revolution

(supported by Democratic-Republicans) the Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts These were designed to weaken the Republicans

The Alien Acts made it more difficult to become a citizen and easier to arrest and deport non citizens

The Sedition Acts made it easier to arrest someone for criticizing the government

These were incredibly unpopular and Jefferson and Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions saying the laws were dangerous to civil liberties and representative government