- 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
- 1797-8: Alien & Sedition Acts
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- 1790 "Tariff of 1790" designed to reduce federal debt by taxing
- 1791 "Whiskey Act" imposed excise tax on sale of alcohol
- Whiskey Act extremely unpopular
Hamilton "Report on Manufactures"[edit | edit source]
French Revolution & domestic U.S. politics[edit | edit source]
Washington Farewell Address[edit | edit source]
- warned against political parties
- warned against "foreign entanglements"
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BIG IDEAS
- Washington administration challenges
- Hamilton-Jefferson split
- rise of political parties
DETAILS
- Washington presidency
- the reluctant 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." (First President’s Election Was the Last Thing He Wanted (washingtonpapers.org)
Upon election in 1791, Washington wrote that he had give up "all expectations of private happiness in this world." (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/george-washington-the-reluctant-president-49492/ George Washington: The Reluctant President (Smithsonian Magazine)]
- primary goals:
- establish precedents for the office of the President, esp. regarding
- manner, authority, establishing constitutional arrangements
- 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
- 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 centures
- = “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
- Hamilton's 1791 "Report on Manufactures"
- argued for federal support of domestic industry, including
- protective tariffs
- promote skilled labor immigration
- federal investment in transportation infrastructure
- laid basis for basic political/ ideological split
- political parties arise:
- Federalists:
- Adams, Hamilton
- pro-national bank, pro-Fed gov powers, interpret constitution loosely, pro industry & commerce, pro-British
- party starts to die out after 1812 War (opposed)
- Democratic-Republicans
- Jefferson, Madison
- anti-national bank, states’ rights, interpret constitution strictly, pro farming, pro-French
- Constitutional interpretation:
- enumerated powers
- implied powers
- strict construction (word for word) << Jefferson/Madison interpretation
- enumerated powers: powers specifically listed in Constitution
- “necessary and proper” = implied powers required to enforce enumerated powers
- broad or loose construction (interpreted) << Hamilton, Adams interpretation
- interpreted “necessary and proper” loosely, expansively
- French Revolution & domestic U.S. politics
- Americans were largely sympathetic with French Revolution
- especially as anti-British
- 1793 "Citizen Genet" affair
- French government sent Edmond-Charles Genêt to the U.S. to
- build support for its cause
- promote anti-British sentiments & encourage American attacks on British merchant ships
- by issuing "letters of marque and reprisal," which legalized attacks on British ships on behalf of France
- Washington infuriated by the interference
- issued the Proclamation of Neutrality on April 22, 1793 stating the America was neutral in the French / British conflict
- Jay Treaty
- Secretary of State John Jay negotiated a treaty with England that:
- ensured US neutrality
- opened US ports to British and British ports in Caribbean to Americans
- British evacuated all remaining Western forts (was part of terms of Treaty of Paris, 1783, ending Revolutionary War)
- southerners were outraged by the Treaty
- the Senate approved the treaty and the House appropriated funding for its enactment, but only after bitter debate
- the Jay Treaty episode further solidified the partisan/ ideological divide between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians
- Washington declined to run for a 3rd term
- = important example of a leader stepping down from power and supporting a peaceful transfer of power
- sets precedent for two-term limit for presidents
- Washington declines to run for a 3rd term
- = important example of a leader stepping down from power and supporting a peaceful transfer of power
- sets precedent for two-term limit for presidents
- 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 (for full text see Washington's Farewell Address (wikisource)
- John Adams presidency
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- Alien & Sedition Acts, 1797-8:
- Adams and congressional allies attempted to outlaw dissent
Other:
- Republican Motherhood
- idea that a woman's role was to nurture virtuous male citizens
- Northwest Territories
- Indian Wars
- States added to Union after original 13:
- Vermont (territory ceded by New York) 1791
- Kentucky (“western”), 1792
- Tennessee (“western”), 1796
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