Essential Question:

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• Essential Question
• What early precedents in American government were
  established in Washingtons first 2 terms as
  president?

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The Young Republic, 1788-1800

• George Washington Americas 1st Political
  Parties

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Building the Machinery of Govt

• The Constitution created a general framework of
  govt but it was up to the 1st president the
  1st Congress to fill in the details
• The govt in 1789 had no federal court system,
  navy, or tax collection system
• The Senate spent 3 weeks debating how the
  president should be addressed

One committee proposed "His Highness the
President of the United States and Protector of
the Rights of the Same"
The government consisted of nothing more than a
large debt, 75 post offices, an army of 700
soldiers
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Building the Machinery of Govt

• With James Madisons leadership, the House of
  Representatives
• raised revenue by passing a protective tariff a
  tax on liquor
• gave structure to the executive branch by
  creating the State, Treasury, Justice, War
  Depts
• organized a federal court system via the
  Judiciary Act of 1789

Consisted of a Supreme Court with six justices, a
district court in each state, and three appeals
courts
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The Importance of James Madison
Father of the Constitution leader of Congress
who helped create the 1st federal taxes, depts
courts will serve as the 4th president
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Washington as President

• The unanimous choice for the leader of the infant
  republic was George Washington
• He established many precedents to make
  the presidency
• Created the 1st cabinet
• Delivering an inaugural address
• The title Mr. President

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Washington as President

• Washingtons 1st term as president was defined by
  domestic policy
• He helped define a strong active presidency
• Appointed strong, able leaders to cabinet posts
• Focused on the U.S. economy
• Traveled to every state to show the people
  their national govt

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Washingtons Cabinet
Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury
Henry Knox, Secretary of War
George Washington, President
Washington acted as president as he did as a
military general he surrounded himself with
capable subordinates, listened to their advice,
then made the final decision
Hamilton Jefferson proved to be his most
capable cabinet members but were also the most
divisive because they had vastly different views
on the role of govt for the new nation
Edmund Randolph, Attorney General
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State
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Alexander Hamilton

• Hamilton believed a strong central govt was best
  for America
• He wanted the U.S. to grow as an industrial power
  with less dependency on Europe
• He wanted the U.S. economy to mirror the English
  economy
• He feared democracy would lead to anarchy power
  should be in hands of wealthy citizens

As Sec of Treasury, Hamilton shaped the economy
of the new nation
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Thomas Jefferson

• Jefferson believed that a limited govt would
  preserve liberty
• He saw the U.S. as an agrarian nation with active
  foreign trade to buy manufactured goods
• He trusted the common people over the elitist
  aristocracy
• He favored close ties with France, especially
  when the French Revolution began

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Hamiltons Economic Plan for America
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Hamilton's Economic Plan
54 million in national debt
25 million in state debts

• By 1789, one of Americas biggest challenges was
  its huge debt
• Hamiltons Report on Public Credit (1790)
  proposed
• Funding the national debt
• Assumption" of state debts
• Creating a national bank
• Govt aid to manufacturing

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Funding and Assumption
And an excise tax on distilled liquors (whiskey)

• Funding Congress to redeem U.S. certificates of
  debt at face value to prove to foreign investors
  that the U.S. would repay its debts
• Assumption Federal government would purchase
  states' debts to gain a better interest rate
  create a national problem rather than
  individual state problems

Was initially defeated but salvaged when northern
VA was proposed as cite for new U.S. capital
In 1790, Washington signed into law Hamiltons
proposals on funding assumption
Foreign investment poured into the U.S.
Was unsuccessfully opposed because most
certificates were currently held by speculators
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The Bank Controversy

• Hamilton proposed the creation of a National Bank
  that would be privately owned, but federally
  chartered to regulate finance
• Madison Jefferson opposed the Bank of the U.S.
  (BUS) because
• It appeared to favor the rich
• Its creation was not mentioned in the Constitution

This type of interpretation of the Constitution
is called strict construction
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The Bank Controversy

• Hamilton defended creating a BUS under Article 1,
  section 8
• The Necessary Proper Clause gave Congress
  implied powers to interpret the Constitution
• This Elastic Clause allowed Hamilton to make a
  successful loose construction argument
• Congress chartered the Bank of the United States
  in 1791

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Promoting Manufacturing

• Report on Manufacturing sought to boost
  manufacturing reduce U.S. dependency on Europe
• Opposition to Hamiltons plan
• Madison feared strengthening the federal govt
  would destroy state sovereignty
• Jefferson feared that the rise of cities would
  destroy agriculture agrarian civic virtue
• This plan was soundly defeated

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Foreign Affairs
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The Battle over Foreign Affairs
France was engulfed in the French Revolution The
U.S. supported the revolution, but feared its
radical bloody nature

• In the 1792 election, Washington was unanimously
  chosen again
• Foreign policy became the focus of Washingtons
  2nd term
• War between England France broke out in 1793
  which divided Americans over who to support
• England refused to obey the Treaty of Paris
  (1783) barred the U.S. from West Indian trade

U.S. neutrality seemed to be the best option
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The French Revolution Led to War Between England
France
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The Peril of Neutrality
Americans seemed to favor France due to French
assistance in the American Rev

• Hamilton Jefferson wanted neutrality but
  disagreed how
• Jefferson punish England (due to impressment) by
  cutting off trade reward France
• Hamilton England needed to be appeased, not
  coerced
• Washington signed Proclamation of Neutrality
  (1793) to keep America out of foreign wars

At least until the Genet Affair French diplomat
Edmond Genet challenged American neutrality
repeatedly in public
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Jay's Treaty with England
The treaty avoided war with England but did not
get the British to pay Southerners for lost
slaves or merchants for impressed ships

• John Jay demanded from England
• The removal of British soldiers from western
  forts in America
• payment for impressed ships
• acceptance of U.S. neutrality
• Jays Treaty (1794)
• British vacated western forts
• U.S. gained trade in West Indies
• But, England did not recognize neutrality or end
  impressment

The House challenged the Senates Constitutional
authority to ratify the treaty
Jay was hung in effigy throughout America
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Pinckneys Treaty with Spain

• Prior to 1795, Spain closed U.S. access to the
  Mississippi River encouraged Indian attacks
• But, Spain interpreted Jay's Treaty as
  Anglo-American alliance against Spain signed
  the Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckneys Treaty)
• Spain reopened the Mississippi
• Settled the disputed border between Florida U.S.

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Treaty of Greenville with Indians

• To end Indian attacks against white settlers in
  the West, the U.S. fought an Ohio Indian alliance
  led by the Shawnee at Battle of Fallen Timbers
  (1794)
• Led to the Treaty of Greenville
• Indians ceded lands in Ohio
• The U.S. promised fair dealings with Indian
  nations

Settlers rushed to Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Ohio, western New York
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Conquest of the West(Notice the British forts in
the West!)
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Americas First Political Parties
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Americas 1st Political Parties
Represented the Spirit of 1776 the fight
against tyranny
Also called Jeffersonian Republicans or simply,
Republicans

• Disagreements over Hamiltons financial plans
  Anglo-French Wars led to the 1st political
  parties
• Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson,
  favored states rights, strict construction,
  ties to France, liberty
• Federalists led by Hamilton, favored a strong
  national govt, loose construction, ties to
  England, public order

Represented the Spirit of 1787 the fight for
a stronger national govt
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Americas 1st Political Parties

• Political parties were seen as a conspiracy
  against liberty
• Federalists Dem-Republicans thought it was
  their duty to destroy the other party
• In the Washington Adams eras, the Federalists
  dominated politics, but Jeffersons election in
  1800 killed the Federalists

Commoners in the U.S. were highly literate
Newspapers transformed political culture in the
U.S. they were widely read, highly influential,
totally partisan
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Whiskey Rebellion
Hamilton interpreted the rebellion as a
Jefferson-inspired conspiracy
Jefferson saw it as an excuse by Federalists to
raise an army to intimidate Republicans

• The whiskey tax led yeomen in western
  Pennsylvania to start a Whiskey Rebellion in 1794
• When the governor of PA refused to act,
  Federalists saw the revolt as a threat to safety
• Washington himself led the U.S. army to suppress
  the rebellion
• Both parties used the event to attack each other

Rioted with the same fervor as those against the
Stamp Act
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Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
His mere presence (and the 15,000 soldiers he
brought with him) was enough to end the Whiskey
Rebellion
President Washington is one of two presidents
(Madison is the other) who participated in combat
while serving as president
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Washington's Farewell Address
Washington never acknowledged the faction in his
cabinet, he tended to side with the Federalist
perspective of govt

• Washington was not limited by the Constitution to
  2 terms, but in 1796 he announced his decision to
  retire
• Washingtons Farewell Address
• Warned against political parties
• Warned against entangling alliances with
  foreign nations (led to the precedent of
  non-intervention in foreign affairs)

Washingtons decision to retire established the
precedent of 2 terms in office for
presidents
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Discussion Question

• George Washington is universally agreed to be the
  most significant of Americas Founding Fathers
• But, who is the 2nd most important of these early
  political leaders
• James Madison?
• Alexander Hamilton?
• Thomas Jefferson?
• Someone else?
• Make an argument for each then rank order them
  with a clear justification for your 1 choice