Unit 3 Part 2

A New Republic

ORGANIZING NEW GOVERNMENTS

State Governments

• All used written constitutions

– Balanced a need for law and order with concerns about protecting individual rights

– All had the following

• List of rights and basic freedoms that belonged to all citizens

• Separation of powers – A legislative body whose members were elected

– An executive such as a elected governor

– A judicial body – a system of courts

State Governments

– All also had the following

• Voting rights – all white males who owned property was the standard (“property” usually meant land)

• Elected offices – while voters chose candidates for elected office, not all were eligible to hold office themselves – qualifications for holding an office were generally greater than for just voting

Articles of Confederation

• Written in 1776-1777 and submitted to the states for ratification

• All states needed to ratify the Articles before they went into effect

– New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland held out the longest

– Issue was western land claims of New York and Virginia

– Finally ratified in 1781

Articles of Confederation

• Contains a preamble, 13 articles, a conclusion and signatures

• Established a Congress in a single house

– Each state had 1 vote

– Members were appointed by state legislatures; also had term limits

• Powers

– Wage war

– Conclude peace

– Send ambassadors

– Borrow money

• State Limits

– No titles of nobility

– No standing armies but had to keep a militia

– Equal treatment across borders

Articles of Confederation

• Accomplishments

– Treaty of Paris of 1783

– Land Ordinance of 1785 • A system of surveying and

selling western land

• 36 square mile township

• 1 square mile section

• Four sections reserved for later sale

• Section 16 for education

Articles of Confederation

• Accomplishments

– Northwest Ordinance of 1787 • Add a state plan – 60,000

residents for statehood

• 5000 free male residents for territorial status

• Public university

• Slavery prohibited

Articles of Confederation

• Weaknesses

– Each state has 1 vote (regardless of pop size)

– 9/13 to pass a law

– 13/13 to pass an amendment: Unanimous… made constitution very rigid/inflexible

– No power to • to regulate commerce

• to enforce tax collection

• to enforce laws (no executive)

• to interpret laws (no national judiciary)

SOCIAL CHANGE AFTER THE REVOLUTION

Social Changes

• No aristocratic titles

• No primogeniture

• Separation of Church and State

– Only CT and MA continued to have tax supported churches – stopped by the 1830s

• Republican Motherhood

• Slavery

– Most northern states abolished it

THE US UNDER THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

Foreign Problems

• Great Britain refused to send an ambassador for 8 years

– Also continued to maintain forts on the western frontier

• Spain closed the Mississippi to U.S. trade

• France demanded repayment of loans

• Pirates attacked U.S. ships and demanded payments for safe passage in the Mediterranean

Domestic Problems

• Some states punitively taxed citizens to repay war debts

• Tariffs on goods crossing state lines

• Lack of money/worthless paper money

• Shays’ Rebellion (1786) MA state militia fired on protesting farmers on high taxes, debt imprisonment, and lack of strong currency

– Forced debtors courts to close

– W. farmers rebellion

Recognizing a Problem

• Mount Vernon Conference (1785)

– Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia

– Mostly economic issues

• Annapolis Convention (1786)

– New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia

• NH, MA, RI, and NC had delegates but they were late

– Mostly trade barriers

• Planned another convention to ‘revise’ the Articles in Philadelphia

DRAFTING A CONSTITUTION

The Delegates

• 55 men met in Philadelphia in 1787

– Most highly educated

– Wealthier than average American

– Many lawyers, many had helped write their state constitutions

– Many had participated in the Revolution but not all (and many revolutionaries were not present)

– George Washington was chosen as president of the convention

The Issues

• Representation

– Half of the debate was focused on this one issue

– One house or two house legislature, how legislators were chosen (all people, landowners, state legislatures)

• Slavery

– How are slaves counted for representation and taxation?

– What about the slave trade?

The Issues

• Trade

– Who will regulate trade? What kind of taxes can be placed on goods? Imports, exports or both? South was especially fearful of export taxes

• An Executive

– Role of a President, powers of the President

• Ratification

– Unanimous consent seemed unlikely so officially only 9 of 13 needed (but NY and VA were vital)

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

• Federalists

– Strongly supported the Constitution and a strong central government

– Necessary for law and order

– Highly organized with strong leaders

• Anti-Federalists

– Opposed the Constitution because of a lack of protection for individual rights

– Felt a strong government would destroy the work of the Revolution

– Appealed to the popular mistrust of government

The Federalist Papers

• 85 essays written mainly by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison (who wrote most of the Constitution), and John Jay

– Hamilton – 51 articles

– Madison – 26 articles

– Jay – 5 articles

– Plus 3 by collaboration of Hamilton and Madison

The Federalist Papers

Alexander Hamilton ↑

James Madison ↓

John Jay ↑

The Federalist Papers

• The essays broke down the various parts of the Constitution and provided justification for why each was important as written

• Notable Articles

– No. 10 – preventing rule by majority faction

– No. 51 – why checks and balances

– No. 70 – why a one man chief executive

– No. 78 – lays groundwork for judicial review

– No. 84 – no need for a Bill of Rights

Ratification

• Only 9 of the 13 states needed to ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect

– Because they had anticipated opposition

– Rhode Island did not help create it

• Some states wanted a bill of rights added

• Delaware was the first to approve the Constitution

– Then New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Ratification

• Goal was to build a strong national government

• New Hampshire became the 9th to ratify in June 1788

• But the two biggest states, NY and VA were not yet on board

Ratification

• Massachusetts papers depicted the rising of the federal pillars

• Had hope for VA & NY (which did after promise of Bill of Rights)

• Rhode Island seemed least likely

Bill of Rights

• As promised, when the new Congress began in 1789 (having been elected in 1788), they began work on a bill of rights

– More than 100 were originally suggested

– James Madison wrote most of them (he had written most of the Constitution as well)

– Both House and Senate eventually approved 12 that were submitted to the states for ratification

• 10 were ratified in 1791

• 1 was ratified in 1992

Bill of Rights

1. Establishment of religion, free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government

2. Keep and bear arms

3. Quartering of soldiers

4. Search warrants

Bill of Rights

5. Indictments for crimes, double jeopardy, witness against self, not deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law, private property taken for public use

6. Speedy and public trial with a jury, to call a question witnesses and have an attorney

7. Jury trial in “common law” (civil) law cases

Bill of Rights

8. No excessive bail, no cruel and unusual punishment

9. Rights not listed are still protected

10.Powers not given to the US government, nor prohibited to it, are reserved for the states

WASHINGTON'S PRESIDENCY

Washington as President

• Unanimously chosen by Electoral College

– John Adams, Vice-president

• Won second most votes, but no states outright

• Created a ‘Cabinet’

– Hamilton (Sec. of Treasury)

– Thomas Jefferson (Sec. of State)

– Henry Knox (Sec. of War)

– Edmund Randolph (attorney general)

Financial Plan

• Debt

– US government pay off the National debt at face value and assume war debt of the states

• Tariffs and excise taxes

– Taxed imports, not enough so excise taxes

• National Bank

– Kept government money and printed notes

– Bank of the United States was created in 1791 (was located in Philadelphia)

Foreign Affairs

• The French Revolution

– Generally supported by Americans but…

– US-French alliance remained in effect – with the French monarchy

• Proclamation of Neutrality 1793

– Washington felt that the US was not strong enough to engage in a European war

– Jefferson resigned over Washington’s proclamation

Foreign Affairs

• The Jay Treaty 1794

– Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to Britain to convince them to stop searching and seizing American ships and impressing American seamen into the British Navy

– Treaty (1 year of negotiations) with Britain - the British would give up their forts on the US western frontier

– Narrowly ratified but unpopular – however it did keep the US at peace

Foreign Affairs

• The Pinckney Treaty 1795

– Treaty negotiated by the US minister to Spain opened the lower Mississippi River Valley to American trade (parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee)

– Right of deposit given to American ships in New Orleans – could transfer cargoes without paying a tax

– Spain’s northern boundary of Florida would be the 31st parallel (not further north)

Domestic Issues

• War in the Northwest Territory (1794)

– Treaty of Greenville (1795) – Indians surrendered claims to the Ohio Territory and promised to open it up to settlement

• Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

– Farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled against excise taxs

– Washington federalized 15,000 state troops in response

• Show of force ended the rebellion with little bloodshed

Washington Retires

• Declining to run for a third term, Washington announced his retirement in 1796

• Prepared an address to the nation with advice for the future

– Not to get involved in European affairs

– Not to make permanent alliances

– Not to form political parties (too late!)

– To avoid sectionalism

ADAMS’ PRESIDENCY

Foreign Issues

• XYZ Affair (1797)

– Issue: French seizure of American merchant ships

– French diplomats, known as X, Y, and Z ask for “tribute” ($$/bribe) in order to see French minister Talleyrand

• US envoys refused to pay a bribe

• “millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute” – slogan of angry Federalists

– Led to 2 years of naval hostilities (1798-1800), creation of the Department of Navy, navy & marine corps expanded

Domestic Issues

• Alien & Sedition Acts

– Created by Federalist dominated Congress to suppress the ability for Democratic-Republicans to gain power

– Alien Laws

• Intended to bar immigrants from becoming citizens (They typically supported Democratic- Republicans who welcomed them)

• Made residency for citizenship 14 years instead of 5 (Naturalization Act)

Domestic Issues

– Sedition Act

• Anyone who spoke out against gov’t policies or defamed officials could be fined or imprisoned – Used to silence Democratic-Republicans to retain favorable

public spotlight

• VA & KY Resolutions

– Democratic-Republicans have little ability to change the laws

• Jefferson’s secret response to Alien & Sedition laws – Approved by Kentucky legislature in order to nullify the

Alien and Sedition Acts

• James Madison produced similar in VA

Domestic Issues

• Dispute eventually ended because

– Federalist Party lost majority in Congress

– US Supreme Court (under John Marshall, a Federalist) began to assert its authority to overturn federal laws

• Judicial Review

ELECTION OF 1800

A Revolution of Sorts

• Election of 1800

– Became a mud-slinging battle between the Federalist and Jeffersonian-Republican (a.k.a. Democratic-Republican) parties

– Federalists weakening due to

• growing opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts

• war preparations (against France)– seen as an unnecessary waste

• Federal ‘regime’ had exceeded its authority

A Revolution of Sorts

• Election of 1800

– Jefferson wins 73 to 65 (actually Jefferson tied with his VP – Aaron Burr so the House was to break the tie

• **Note – the House was still controlled by Federalists – a few Federalists who feared Burr’s temper, withheld their

vote and the “right” candidate was elected

• Actual vote was very close – if Adams had gotten just 250 of Jefferson’s votes in NY, Adams would have been re-elected

– The reigns of power were turned over to Jefferson peacefully – the “Revolution of 1800”