history
American Portraits: Alexander Hamilton
“The vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty. . . . a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people, than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.”
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1, 1787
John Trumbull, Alexander Hamilton, 1792.
Oil on canvas.
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HIST 180 Survey of American History
Benjamin Cawthra, Ph.D.
California State University, Fullerton
John Trumbull, Alexander Hamilton, 1792.
Oil on canvas.
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The Constitution and the Age of Federalism
Timeline: The Constitution and the Age of Federalism
Making a Free Society Work
Order vs. Freedom: The New Constitution
The Great Contradiction
5. African American Ideas of Freedom
6. Securing Slavery
7. The Bill of Rights
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- Timeline: The Constitution and
the Age of Federalism
Federal Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia
The Federalist Papers begun by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay
1788 Eleven states ratify Constitution (RI and NC excepted)
First session of Congress meets
Washington begins first term as president
1791 Bill of Rights adopted
1793 Washington begins second term.
1794 Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania
Washington’s Farewell Address
John Adams begins term as president
1798 Quasi-war with France on high seas
1799 Death of Washington
2. Making a Free Society Work
John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, 1819.
Oil on canvas. U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
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Charles Willson Peale, James Madison, 1792.
Oil on canvas. Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK
“Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty as well as the abuses of power.”
James Madison, The Federalist, 1788
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“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.”
Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1787.
Charles Willson Peale, Thomas Jefferson, 1791.
Oil on canvas.
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3. Order vs. Freedom: The New Constitution
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Federalists: Strong central government, pro-Constitution
Anti-federalists: individual liberty, anti-Constitution
“What is liberty? The power of governing yourselves. If you adopt this Constitution, have you this power? No.”
James Lincoln, South Carolina Anti-federalist
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (the Vaughan Portrait), 1795. Oil on canvas.
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4. The Great Contradiction
“[Slavery] nurtured a spirit of liberty among the free inhabitants.”
David Ramsay, History of the American Revolution, (1789)
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5. African American Ideas of Freedom
Unknown, Lemuel Haynes, date unknown. Engraving.
“Even an African had as equally good a right to his liberty.”
Lemuel Haynes
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6. Securing Slavery
Edward Savage, The Washington Family, 1789-96.
Oil on canvas.
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7. The Bill of Rights
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (The Lansdowne Portrait), 1796. Oil on canvas.
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Bill of Rights (1792)
First ten Amendments to the Constitution:
Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press
Right to keep and bear arms
No quartering of soldiers without consent
Protection against unwarranted searches and seizures
Protection against double jeopardy or self-incrimination; right to due process of law
Right to trial by jury; other rights of defendants
Jury trials guaranteed in federal civil cases
No excessive bails or cruel and unusual punishment
Acknowledges existence of rights not enumerated in Constitution
Powers not granted federal government reserved to states or people
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