1790s Washington & Adams administrations[edit | edit source]
PERIOD / TIMELINE
Major Events, Concepts & Themes
Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1789 Washington inaugurated
1790 Capital moved from Philadelphia to New York
1791 Bill of Rights enacted
1791 First Bank of the United States
1793 Washington's 2nd term
1793 "Citizen Genet" episiode
1794 Whiskey Rebellion
1795 Jay's Treaty
1796 Pinckney's Treaty
1798: Alien & Sedition Acts
1798-99 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
1800: Washington, D.C. opened
BIG IDEAS
Washington administration challenges & precedents
assertion of federal powers
Hamilton-Jefferson split
rise of political parties
Adams presidency
avoidance of war with France over the XYZ Affair & naval clashes w/ French ships
National Debt
Congress passed taxes to help pay Revolutionary War debts
1790 "Tariff of 1790" designed to reduce federal debt by taxing
1791 "Whiskey Act" imposed excise tax on sale of alcohol
Residence Act of 1790 set location of Washington, DC in the South in exchange for national assumption of state debts from the War (principally northern states)
Whiskey Rebellion 1794
Whiskey Act extremely unpopular
Washington asserted Federal power to enforce the tax
Hamilton "Report on Manufactures"
promoted activist Federal governance re. economy
European wars & domestic U.S. politics
pro-British or pro-French sentiments in U.S.
pro-British = conservative, warning against radical change (not pro-monarchy), or simply anti-French Revolution, warning against its extremes
Adams,
pro-French = liberal, celebrating downfall of French monarchy and rise of democracy, ignoring its extremes; or simply anti-British,
Jefferson, Thomas Payne
political partisanship
Washington Farewell Address
warned against political parties
warned against "foreign entanglements"
Adams presidency
avoided war with France
marked by severe political partisanship
Alien & Sedition Acts
"Midnight appointments"
Alien & Sedition Acts 1798
restricted naturalization (citizenship)
criminalized "false statements"
allowed imprisonment & deportation of "dangerous" non-citizens
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
state legislatures declared Alien & Sedition Acts unconstitutional
states rights & "strict construction" of Constitution
click EXPAND for excerpt from Washington expressing his reluctance to become president
in 1788, Washington wrote:
I should unfeignedly rejoice, in case the Electors, by giving their votes to another person would save me from the dreaded dilemma of being forced to accept or refuse... If that may not be–I am, in the next place, earnestly desirous of searching out the truth, and knowing whether there does not exist a probability that the government would be just as happily and effectually carried into execution without my aid."
establish and protect the powers of the executive branch
ensure popular support for new government
tours of 1789, 1790, 1791 were designed to promote national unity, display presidency, and promote his policies
consolidate U.S. territory, especially regarding Northwest Territories and Southern borders with Spain
election of 1789
prior to the 12th amendment (1803), the President and Vice President were selected by 1st and 2nd place in the Electoral College, with each Elector casting two votes
Washington received a unanimous 69 votes (one from each Elector)
John Adams won 2nd place with 34 votes, with rest split between ten other candidates
Bill of Rights adopted 1791 (BOR)
agreement between Federalists and Anti-Federalist in adopting the Constitution in 1789
BOR limits federal power
application of BOR to state laws comes in late 19th/ early 20th centuries
= “incorporation” of the Bill of Rights
Constitution was for the federal government only
14th amendment starts the process of “incorporating” the Constitution, esp. BOR into state law
Hamilton-Jefferson split
thought to be largely over enactment of the First National Bank
Jefferson vehemently opposed a national bank, fearing its impact on sectional divisions
Washington reluctantly signed the bill following Hamilton's advice
promise from Spain to help stop Indian attacks on US settlers
Washington declines to run for a 3rd term[edit | edit source]
= important example of a leader stepping down from power and supporting a peaceful transfer of power
sets precedent for two-term limit for presidents
precedent was honored until FDR, although Teddy Roosevelt ran for a third term in 1912 (and lost)
Washington's "Farewell Address"
a "valedictory address" (via written statement) to the American people in order to articulate his most important advice:
follow the Constitution (rule of law) in order to ensure "that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual"
especially in order to resolve differences
avoid "combinations and associations" (factions or alliances) that would subvert the Constitution and the national laws
avoid the "baneful effects of the spirit of party" (political parties)
warned against "a small but artful and enterprising minority" faction to seize power and subvert the Union
warned against "geographical discriminations" (sectional blocks)
avoid "foreign entanglements" (getting mixed up in the affairs of other countries, especially in Europe)
click EXPAND for excerpt from Washington's Farewell Address:
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts
Northwest Territories and Northwest Ordinance of 1787[edit | edit source]
in 1878 the Continental Congress organized land ceded by England north of the Ohio River to the Great Lakes into a "territory"
was first post-colonial "incorporated territory" = formally organized and governed by Federal government
American settlers moving into the Territory sparked conflicts with Native tribes, known as the Northwest Indian War
Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, commander of the American Army and Revolutionary War hero, defeated Native resistance at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794
Treaty of Greenville (1795) with the Western Confederacy, Native American Tribes led by the Delaware (tribe), formally opened the Territory to settlement
Federalists
Democratic-Republicans
Leaders
Adams, Hamilton
Jefferson, Madison
Policies
pro-national bank, pro-Fed gov powers, interpret constitution loosely, pro industry & commerce, pro-British
anti-national bank, states’ rights, interpret constitution strictly, pro farming, pro-French
Notes
party diminishes after War of 1812 War which it opposed and due to Monroe's adoption of some Federalist policies (bank, tariff: see Era of Good Feelings)
becomes Democratic party; Jefferson considered its founder
group of New England Federalists who advocated secession by New England (and against the 1780 Massachusetts constitution)
were sympathetic to England and opposed trade restrictions which severely impaired the New England economy
most organizers were from Essex County, MA
John Adams and John Hancock called them the "Essex Junto" as an insult
principal leader Rep. Thomas Pickering vehemently opposed Jefferson's anti-British trade acts
the Junto wanted Hamilton to join, but he refused to join their movement and plots
in 1804 they approached Aaron Burr who was sympathetic
supported the """Hartford Convention which met in 1814-15 in opposition to the War of 1812
during the war, the group was called the "Blue Lights" because they used blue lights to warn British warships of American vessels that were trying to run the British blockade or as a signal to the British to smuggle goods with them
events and personalities regarding the Essex Junto led to the Burr-Hamilton duel of 1804, in which Burr killed Hamilton
12th Amendment to the Constitution, 1804[edit | edit source]
in response to the contested election of 1800
(Jefferson and Burr tied in electoral college vote, so the House of Representatives decided the election)
also in response to partisanship during Adams administration:
President Adams was Federalist
Vice President Jefferson was Democratic-Republican
also in response to Vice Presidency of Aaron Burr under Jefferson
Burr and Jefferson were both Democratic-Republicans
but Jefferson and Burr did not get along, and Jefferson did not consult Burr on Administration decisions
made sense to combine President and Vice President candidates as a single ticket
so the Electoral College votes are for combined "ticket" of President and Vice President candidates