United States After American Revolution

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United States After American Revolution
Issues -Weak government (Articles of
Confederation) -Debt -Internal issues (Newburgh
Conspiracy and Shays Rebellion) -trade issues
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• Articles of Confederation Success
• -Land Ordinance of 1785

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Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• -Territories would become a state when it had
  60,000 inhabitants equal status w/ other states.
• -Forbade slavery in Old Northwest - north of the
  Ohio River.
• Southerners could cross state lines and reclaim
  fugitive slaves

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Shays Rebellion (1786)

• Issue
• High taxes
• Farm foreclosures
• Demand for cheap paper money
• Outcome
• Rebellion stopped by wealthy New Englanders
• fear of the mobocracy
• Call for a stronger central government by
  prominent citizens.

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• Annapolis Convention (1786)

• Purpose
• Settle issue of interstate commerce
• Only 5 states showed up
• Convention rescheduled to next year in
  Philadelphia to rewrite the Articles

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• The Constitutional Convention (1787)

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• 55 delegates from 12 states (R.I. Did not attend)
• Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Samuel
  Adams not present (why?)
• Franklin, Hamilton, Madison present
  Washingtonchairman of the convention
• Convention in complete secrecy
• Great arguments persisted throughout the
  sessions state representation, slavery,
  commerce

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Problem Solution
Representation (New Jersey v. Virginia Plan) Great Compromise
Slavery 3/5 Compromise, end of slave trade by 1808, Commerce Compromise
Creation of strong govt Elastic Clause (Art. 1) and Supremacy Clause (Art. 6)
Control of the mob Judges elected for life, no direct voting for senators and president
What about Bill of Rights?
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• Federalists v. Anti-federalists
• James Mason (father of Bill of Rights) refuses to
  sign unless Bill of Rights is provided
• A. Hamilton, J. Jay and j. Madison write 85
  essays (Federalist Papers) to convince New york
  to ratify the Constitution
• Only 1/4 of adult white males had voted for
  delegates to ratifying conventions

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The New Nation (1789-1797)

• Serious problems for the
• new republic
• Debt (foreign and
• domestic)
• Spain, England and France
• No experience running national government
• Worthless paper money (national and state)

WHO COMES TO THE RESCUE?
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• George Washington
• unanimously chosen by Electoral College
• Took oath of office on April 30, 1789 in NY
  (temporary capitol)
• Picked advisors to help him (ultimately led to
  creation of the Cabinet never mentioned in the
  Constitution!)
• Secretary of State -- Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of the Treasury -- Alexander Hamilton
• Secretary of War -- Henry Knox

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The politics during Washingtons Presidency dealt
primarily with the disagreements of T. Jefferson
and A. Hamilton!
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• First US Congress passed
• The Bill of Rights
• The Judiciary Act of 1789
• Solving the Debt
• Hamiltons economic policy Report on Public
  Credit (1790) and Report on Manufacturers (1791)
• Proposals
• Funding at Par
• Assumption of State Debts
• Tariffs (Revenue Act of 1789)
• Excise Taxes
• Creation of a National Bank (most controversial!)

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• Hamiltons programs caused serious controversy
  and ultimately were partially responsible for the
  following
• Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
• Creation of Washington D.C.
• Creation of political parties

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• What led to the formation of political parties?
• Different political, economic and social
  philosophy between Hamilton and Jefferson

Democratic-Republicans Federalists
Pro-French Pro-British
Strict construction Lose Construction
Favored agricultural nation Favored industrialized nation
Paying off national debt Never completely paying off the debtWHY?
Against excise taxes Excise taxes to promote industry
Admired the French revolution despite bloodshed Feared mobocracy and French Revolution
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• George Washingtons Presidency
• Domestic issues
• Provided for a solution of debt through
  Hamiltons financial proposals
• Showed power of the federal govt by crushing the
  Whiskey Rebellion.
• Sided with Federalists on most domestic and
  foreign issues
• His Farewell Address warned against political
  parties and against entangling alliances
• Expelled Citizen Genet from US for obstructing
  executive authority

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• Foreign
• Jays Treaty (1794) w/Englandcomplete failure
• Pinckneys Treaty (1795) w/Spain gave US access
  to Mississippi River and disputed land north of
  Florida
• Passed the Neutrality Proclamation (1793)
• Violated the Franco-American Treaty of 1778
  resulting in unofficial fighting
• secured land in the Ohio country by defating
  Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794)
  and the signing of the Treaty of Greenville
  (1795)

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• John Adams becomes President (1796)

-defeats Jefferson 71 to 68 electoral
votes -attempted to negotiate a peace treaty with
France resulting in the XYZ Affair -alienated his
party by continuing to work on a treaty with
France despite XYZ (successful with Treaty of
1800) -Federalists feared Jeffersons supporters
and passed the Alien and Sedition Acts
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In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts,
Jefferson and Madison wrote the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions arguing compact theory and
nullification (only passed in Virginia and
Kentucky)
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• Federalist Achievements
• Provided respect for the authority of the federal
  govt
• Established a financial strategy that would help
  to pay of the debt
• Solved the disagreements with France (at least
  for a brief period of time)
• Provided strong leadership in the early stages of
  the nation
• Failed to solve disagreements with England
• Despite being unpopular they were needed!

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