REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY: THE JEFFERSONIAN VISION
America: Past and Present
Chapter 8
Republican Identities in a New Republic
- An age of rapid population growth
7.2 million in 1810; two million more than 1800
20% black slaves
children under 16 the largest single group
- Strong regional identities
- Early secession movements threaten national unity
North America in 1800
Westward the Course of Empire
- Intense migration to West after 1790
- New States
Kentucky--1792
Tennessee--1796
Ohio--1803
- Western regional culture rootless, optimistic
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Native American Resistance
- Western settlers compete for Indian land
- Indians resist
Tecumseh leads Shawnees, defeated
Creeks defeated
- Settlers reject Indian-White coexistence
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Commercial Life in the Cities
- Economy based on agriculture and trade
- American shipping prospers 1793-1805
- Cities associated with international trade, otherwise marginal role in national life
- Industrialization and mechanization just beginning to frighten skilled craftsmen
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Jefferson as President
- Jefferson personifies Republicanism’s contradictions
- Despises ceremonies and formality
- Dedicated to intellectual pursuits
- A politician to the core
- Success depends on cooperation with Congress
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Jeffersonian Reforms
- Priority to cutting federal debt, taxes
- Federal expenses trimmed by cutting military
- Reduction of the army removes threat to Republican government
- Competent bureaucrats retained regardless of party
- Federalists retire from public life
- Ambitious Federalists become Republicans
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The Louisiana Purchase
- 1801--France buys Louisiana from Spain
- 1803--Jefferson sends a mission to France to buy New Orleans
- Napoleon offers to sell all of Louisiana for $15 million
- Constitution vague on Congressional authority to purchase
- Purchase departs from Republican principle of strict separation
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The Louisiana Purchase (2)
- Louisiana inhabitants French & Spanish
- Jefferson denies them self-rule
- Louisiana governed from Washington
- Another Jeffersonian departure from Republicanism
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The Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Lewis and Clark Expedition commissioned prior to purchase of Louisiana
- Expedition left St. Louis May 1804 and reached the Pacific Ocean November 1805
- Report on Louisiana’s economic promise confirms Jefferson's desire to purchase
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The Louisiana Purchase and the Route of Lewis and Clark
Conflict With the Barbary States
- North African states demand tribute from ships sailing in Mediterranean
- Jefferson dispatches U.S. fleet to “negotiate through the mouth of a cannon”
- U.S. cannot defeat the Barbary States
- Action induces respect for U.S. rights
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The Barbary States
Jefferson’s Critics
- Dispute over federal court system
- Conflicts between Republicans
- Sectional dispute over the slave trade
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Attack on the Judges: Judiciary Act
- Judiciary Act of 1801 creates new circuit courts filled with loyal Federalists
- 1802--Jeffersonians repeal Judiciary Act of 1801 to abolish courts
- Federalists charge violation of judges’ Constitutional right of tenure
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Attack on the Judges:
Marbury v. Madison
- Marbury v. Madison (1803) rules Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional
- Federalist Marbury denied his judgeship
- Republicans claim victory
- Chief Justice John Marshall ensures Federalist influence through judicial review
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Attack on the Judges: Impeachments
- 1803--Federalist John Pickering impeached, removed for alcoholism, insanity
- Republicans begin fearing the destruction of an independent judiciary
- Jefferson exacerbates fears by seeking to impeach Federalist Samuel Chase
- Republican Senate refuses to convict
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Politics of Desperation:
“Tertium Quids”
- "Tertium Quids" claim pure Republicanism
- Attack Jefferson as sacrificing virtue for pragmatism
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Politics of Desperation:
The Yazoo Controversy
- Yazoo controversy
fraudulent land case in Georgia
Jefferson attempts to settle by providing land to innocent parties
Quids complain settlement condones fraud
- Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
Marshall court upholds Jefferson’s settlement
court may nullify unconstitutional state laws
Murder and Conspiracy: The Curious Career of Aaron Burr
- Vice-President Aaron Burr breaks with Jefferson
- 1804--Burr seeks Federalist support in 1804 New York governor’s race
- Alexander Hamilton blocks Burr’s efforts
- Burr kills Hamilton in a duel
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The Burr Conspiracy
- Burr flees West after Hamilton duel
- Schemes to invade Spanish territory
- Burr arrested, tried for treason
- John Marshall acquits on Constitutional grounds of insufficient evidence
- Precedent makes it difficult for presidents to use charge of treason as a political tool
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The Slave Trade
- Congress prohibits slave trade after 1808
- Northern Republicans call for emancipation of any black smuggled into the U.S.
- Southern Republicans win passage of law to hand such persons over to state authorities
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Embarrassments Overseas
- 1803--England and France resume war
- American ships subject to seizure
by England through “Orders in Council"
by Napoleon through Berlin, Milan Decrees
- Jefferson refuses war to preserve financial reform
- Embargo--Jefferson’s alternative to war
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Embargo Divides the Nation
- 1807--Congress prohibits U.S. ships from leaving port
- Purpose: to win English, French respect for American rights
- Embargo unpopular at home
detailed government oversight of commerce
army suppresses smuggling
New England economy damaged
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A New Administration Goes to War
- 1808--James Madison elected President
- 1809--Embargo repealed in favor of Non-Intercourse Act
U.S. will resume trade with England and France on promise to cease seizure of U.S. vessels
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A New Administration Goes to War (2)
- Madison reopens English trade on unconfirmed promise of British minister
- English reject agreement, seize U.S. ships that opened trade with England
A New Administration Goes to War (2)
- Macon’s Bill Number Two replaces the Non-Intercourse Act
- Trade with both England and France reestablished
- First nation to respect American rights wins halt of U.S. trade with the other
- Napoleon promises to observe U.S. rights but reneges when trade reopened
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Fumbling Toward Conflict
- Tecumseh’s Western campaign seen as supported by British
- Congressional War Hawks demand war on England to preserve American honor
- June 1, 1812, Madison sends Congress a declaration of war
- War aims vague
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The Strange War of 1812:
Early Course
- Americans unprepared for war
Congress refuses to raise wartime taxes
New England refuses to support war effort
United States Army small
state militias inadequate
- 1813--U.S. wins control of Great Lakes in Battle of Put-In Bay
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Strange War of 1812:
The War’s Conclusion
- 1814--three-pronged English attack
campaign from Canada to Hudson River Valley stopped at Lake Champlain
campaign in the Chesapeake results in burning of Washington, siege of Baltimore
campaign for New Orleans thwarted by Andrew Jackson, January, 1815
- Treaty of Ghent signed December, 1814
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The War of 1812
Hartford Convention: The Demise of the Federalists
- Federalists convene December, 1814
- Proposed Constitutional changes to lessen power of South and West
- Treaty of Ghent, victory of New Orleans makes Convention appear disloyal
- Federalist party never recovers
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Treaty of Ghent Ends the War
- Most problems left unaddressed
- Senate unanimously ratifies Treaty of Ghent
- Americans claim success in a "second war of independence"
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Republican Legacy
- Founders begin to pass away in 1820s
- Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die July 4, 1826
- James Madison dies in 1836
despairs that Declaration’s principles not yet extended to African Americans
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