proff

Here individuals of all nations

are melted into a new race of men,

whose labours and posterity will one day

cause great changes in the world.

—Hector St. John Crevecoeur

Congress voting on the issue of independence.

111111=1=111111■11111111111111111111111

WHAT WERE the essential structures of national government

under the Constitution?

1111111■...

•k. HOW DID American political parties first begin?

WHAT WERE the first stirrings of an authentic American

national culture?

GEN ERNI, ( I 7( )1:GE Itk. ST. II NCI TON . 1421, \VII,

8 THE NEW NATION

1786-1800

WHAT WERE the tensions and conflicts between local and national

authorities in the decades after the

American Revolution?

HOW DID Americans differ in their views of the new Constitution, and

how were those differences reflected in

the struggle to achieve ratification?

182 CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

AMER CAN COMMUNITIES A Rural Massachusetts Community Rises

in Defense of Liberty SEVERAL HUNDRED FARMERS FROM THE TowN OF PELHAM AND SCORES

of other rural communities in western Massachusetts converged on the courthouse in Northampton, the county seat, before sun- rise on Tuesday, August 29, 1786. They arrived in military forma- tion, fifes playing and drums beating, armed with muskets, broadswords, and cudgels, the men's tricorner hats festooned with sprigs of evergreen, symbols of freedom frequently worn by Yankee soldiers during the war for independence, which had concluded only four years before. At least a third of the men and virtually all their officers were veterans. The country was in the midst of an economic depression that had hit farm communities particularly hard. Two-thirds of the men who marched on Northampton had been sued for debt, and many had spent time in debtor's prison. Dozens of rural towns petitioned the state government for relief, but not only did the merchant-dominated legislature reject their pleas, but also it raised the property tax in order to pay off the enormous debt the state had accumulated during the Revolution. The new tax was considerably more oppressive than any levied by the British and was considered even more odious, since the rev- enue would go to a small group of wealthy eastern Massachusetts creditors, to whom the debt was owed.

acted in common, without regard to rank or property. Big farmers and small farmers alike marched on the county court. They came from tight-knit communities, bound together by family and kin- ship. Whether well-to-do or poor, they considered themselves "hus- bandmen," and they directed their protest against "outsiders," the urban residents of Boston and other coastal towns. "I am a man that gets his living by hard labor," one rebel announced, "and I think that husbandry is as honest a calling as any in the world." The country would be a lot better off, he concluded, "if there were less white shirts and more black frocks."

The crisis in Massachusetts ended when a militia force raised by the "white shirts" in the eastern part of the state, and financed by the great merchants, marched west and crushed the Shaysites in January 1787. Daniel Shays fled the state and never returned. Fifteen of the leaders were tried and sentenced to death. Two were hanged before the remainder were pardoned, and some four thousand other farmers temporarily lost their right to vote, to sit on juries, or to hold office. Yet many of them consid- ered their rebellion a success. The next year Massachusetts voters rejected the old governor and elected a new legislature, which

passed a moratorium on debts and cut taxes to only The farmers decided to take matters into

their own hands. When outsiders threatened a man's property, they argued, the community had the right, indeed the duty, to rise up in defense. During the Revolution, armed men had marched on the courts, shutting down the operation of government, and now they were doing it again. The judges of the Northampton court had no choice but to shut down, and that success led to similar actions in many other Massachusetts counties.

This uprising quickly became known as Shays' Rebellion, named for Daniel Shays, a decorated Revolutionary officer and one of the leaders from the town of Pelham. Although rebellion was most widespread in the state of Massachusetts, similar disorders occurred in the country districts of New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Conservatives around the country were thrown into panic.

Washington and other conservative leaders saw Shays' Rebellion as a class conflict pitting poor against rich, debtor against creditor. Yet the residents of Pelham and other rural towns

10 percent of what they had been. The most important consequence of

Shays' Rebellion, however, was its effect on conservative nationalists unhappy with the distribution of power between the states and national governments under the Articles of

Confederation. The uprising "wrought prodi- gious changes in the minds of men respecting

the powers of government," noted Henry Knox. "Everybody says they must be strengthened and that

unless this shall be effected, there is no security for liberty and property" Popular participation had been a necessity during the Revolution. But now the time had come, he declared, "to clip the wings of a mad democracy."

The economic and political crisis of the 1780s would lead to the Constitutional Convention and a new charter for a national state. It would be enthusiastically supported by many, passionately opposed by many others. Its ratification would bring a new and stronger government to power, headed by the leaders of the Revolu- tion. Before the end of the century, that government would lay the groundwork for the longest-lived democratic republic in the world.

5-14 Daniel Gray, Massachusetts

Farmers Take Up Arms in Revolt Against Taxes, 1786

4% 0 4 064' 0 4 06-,,bcs 0 4 1777 1 1778

Year

V-

1780 1779

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 183

THE CRISIS OF THE 1780S

IT he depression of the mid-1780s and the political protests it generated were instrumental in the development of strong nationalist sentiment among elite circles. In the aftermath of Shays' Rebellion, these senti-

ments coalesced into a powerful political movement dedicated to strengthening

the national government.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

The economic crisis that produced Shays' Rebellion had its origins in the Revolution. The shortage of goods resulting from the British blockade, the demand for supplies by the army and the militias, and the flood of paper currency issued by the Con- federation Congress and the states combined to create the

•

3500

worst inflation in American history (see Figure 8.1). Most of this • 3000 paper money ended up in the hands of merchants who had o- o

• = paid only a fraction of its face value. B 43 2500

After the war ended, inflation gave way to depression. -0 Political revolution could not alter economic realities: the inde-

Q. 0

pendent United States continued to be a supplier of raw mate- • c,

rials and an importer of manufactured products, and Great 15 2 cu

Britain remained the country's most important trading partner. .0 1000 In 1784, British merchants began dumping goods in the Amer- ican market, offering easy terms of credit. But the production of exportable goods had been drastically reduced by the fight- ing, and thus the trade deficit with Britain for the period 1784-86 rose to approximately £5 million (see Figure 8.2) . The deficit acted like a magnet, drawing hard currency from American accounts, leaving the country with little silver or gold coin in circulation. Commercial banks insisted on the repayment of old loans and refused to issue new ones. By the end of 1784, the country had fallen into the grip of economic depression, and within two years, prices had fallen by 25 percent.

The depression struck while the nation was attempting to dig out from the huge mountain of debt incurred during the Revolution. Creditors were owed more than $75 million by national and state governments. Not allowed to raise taxes on its own, the Confederation Congress requisitioned the states for the funds nec- essary for debt repayment. The states in turn taxed their residents. At a time when there was almost no money in circulation, ordinary Americans feared being crushed by the burden of private debt and public taxes. The economic problem became

a political problem.

4000

2000

1500

500

0

WHAT WERE the tensions and

conflicts between local and

national authorities in the decades

after the American Revolution?

myhistylab Review Summary

Figure 8.1 Postwar Inflation, 1777-80: The Depreciation of Continental Currency The flood of Continental currency issued by

Congress, and the shortage of goods result-

ing from the British blockade, combined to

create the worst inflation Americans have

ever experienced. Things of no value were

said to be "not worth a Continental."

John McCusker, "How Much Is That in Real Money?"

Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N.S.

102 (1992): 297-359.

6-6 Shays' Rebellion: Letters of Generals William Shepard and Benjamin Lincoln to Governor James Bowdoin of Massachusetts (1787)

Figure 8.2 The Trade Deficit with Great

Britain

The American trade deficit with Great

Britain rose dramatically with the

conclusion of the Revolution.

Historical Statistics of the United States (Washington,

DC: Government Printing Office, 1976), 1176.

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n g

la n

d (

in p

o u

n d

s S

te r li

n g

) 3,000,090

2500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790

Year

X84 CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

IMAGE KEY for pages 180-181

a. The Articles of Confederation.

b. Congress voting on the issue of

independence.

c. Phyllis Wheatley, an acclaimed

African American poet. d. The first Stars and Stripes, 1777. e. The Bill of Rights—the first ten

amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

f. A 1794 painting of President George

Washington reviewing troops at Fort

Cumberland. g. John Adams in a framed painting by

John Trumbull.

h. A 1792 cartoon from Lady's Magazine shows allegorical figure of "Columbia"

receiving a petition for the "Rights of

Woman."

Annapolis Convention Conference of state delegates at Annapolis, Maryland, that issued a call in September 1786 for a convention to meet at Philadelphia to consider fundamental changes.

=01111111111111111111111.11111= HOW DID Americans differ in

their views of the new Constitution,

and how were those differences

reflected in the struggle to achieve

ratification?

myhistcOylab Review Summary

STATE REMEDIES In the states, radicals called for regulation of the economy. Farmers and debtors pressed their state governments for legal tender laws, which required creditors to accept a state's paper currency at face value (rather than depreciated market

value) for all debts public and private. Despite the opposition of creditors, seven states enacted such laws. For the most part, these were modest programs that worked rather well, caused little depreciation, and did not result in the problems creditors feared.

It was the plan of the state of Rhode Island, however, that received most of the attention. A rural political party campaigning under the slogan "To Relieve the Distressed" captured the legislature in 1786 and enacted a radical currency law. The supply of paper money issued in relation to the population was much greater under this program than in any other state. The law declared the currency legal tender for all debts. If creditors refused to accept it, debtors were allowed to sat- isfy their obligations by depositing the currency with a county judge, who would then advertise the debt as paid.

Some states erected high tariff barriers to curb imports and protect domes- tic industries. But foreign shippers found it easy to avoid these duties simply by unloading their cargo in states without tariffs and distributing the goods by over- land transport. To be effective, commercial regulations had to be national. Local sentiment had to give way to the unity of a national community.

TOWARD A NEW NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

In 1786 the legislature of Virginia invited all the states to appoint delegates to a convention where they might consider political remedies for the economic crisis. The meeting, held in Annapolis, Maryland, in September was sparsely attended (only twelve delegates from five states), but the men shared their alarm over the rebellion that was simultaneously taking place in Massachusetts, and the possibility of others like it. Convinced of the absolute necessity of strength- ening the national government, the Annapolis Convention passed a resolution requesting that the Confederation Congress call on all the states to send dele- gates to a national convention that they might "render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the union." A few weeks later, with some reluctance, the Congress voted to endorse a convention, to be held in Philadelphia in May 1787, "for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation."

Conservatives had in mind more than simply a revision of the Articles, how- ever. They looked forward to a considerably strengthened national government. Believing that the consolidation of power in a strong central government would better serve their interests as merchants, bankers, and planters, the conservatives hid their motives behind the call for revision of the Articles.

THE NEW CONSTITUTION

11 n late May 1787, a few weeks after the suppression of Shays' Rebellion, fifty- five men from twelve states (the radical government of Rhode Island refus- ing to send a delegation) assembled at the Pennsylvania State House in

Philadelphia. A number of prominent men were missing. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were serving as ambassadors in Europe, and Patrick Henry of back- country Virginia declared that he "smelt a rat." But most of America's best-known leaders were present. There were no ordinary farmers or artisans and, of course,

QUICK REVIEW

Central Government Under

the Constitution

♦ More powerful than Congress under the Articles of Confederation.

♦ Establishment of strong single Person executive.

♦ Establishment of the Supreme Court.

♦ Expanded economic powers for Congress.

186

CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786- 1800

7-5 Alexander Hamilton, Opposing Visions for the New Nation

(1791)

the apportioning of taxes. Northern delegates, who wanted a central government with the power to regulate commerce, agreed to count five slaves as the equivalent of three free men—the so-called "three-fifths rule"—in exchange for southern support for a "commerce clause," providing the federal government with the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with Indian tribes. Furthermore, representatives from South Carolina and Geor- gia demanded protection for the slave trade, and after bitter debate the delegates also agreed to include a provision preventing any federal restriction on the impor- tation of slaves for twenty years.

The word "slave" appeared nowhere in the text. Instead the drafters em- ployed phrases such as "persons held to labor." But these provisions amounted to national guarantees for southern slavery. Although a minority of delegates were opposed to slavery and regretted having to give in on this issue, they agreed with Madison, who wrote that "great as the evil is, a dismemberment of the union would be worse."

There was still much to decide regarding the other branches of govern- ment. Madison's Council of Revision was scratched in favor of a strong federal judi- ciary with the implicit power to declare unconstitutional acts of Congress. There were demands for a powerful chief executive, and Alexander Hamilton made the antirepublican proposal that the executive should be appointed for life, rais- ing fears that the office might prove to be, in the words of Edmund Randolph of Virginia, "the fetus of monarchy." But there was considerable support for a pres- ident with veto power to check the legislature. To keep the president indepen- dent, the delegates decided he should be elected rather than appointed by the Congress, as was the procedure under the Articles of Confederation. But fearing that ordinary voters would never "be sufficiently informed" to select wisely, they insulated the process from popular choice by creating the electoral college. Vot- ers in the states would not actually vote for president. Rather, each state would select a slate of "electors" equal in number to the state's total representation in the House and Senate. Following the general election, the electors in each state would meet to cast their ballots and elect the president.

The delegates voted their approval on September 17, 1787, and transmit- ted the document to the Confederation Congress, agreeing that it would become operative after ratification by nine states. A number of congressmen were out- raged that the convention had exceeded its charge of simply modifying the Arti- cles, but Congress agreed to issue a call for a special ratifying convention in each of the states.

RATIFYING THE NEW CONSTITUTION

The supporters of the new Constitution immediately adopted the name Federalists to describe themselves. In this, as in much of the subsequent process of ratification, the Federalists (or nationalists) grabbed the initiative, and their opponents had to content themselves with the negative label Anti-Federalists (see Map 8.1). The crit- ics of the Constitution were by no means a unified group. But most believed it granted far too much power to the central government, weakening the autonomy of local com- munities and states.

The argument between Federalists and Anti-Federalists played out in dozens of essays published in the popular press in 1787 and early 1788. It is doubtful, however, whether any of them made much of a difference in the voting to select delegates for the state ratification conventions. The alignment of forces generally followed the lines laid down during the fights over economic issues in the years since the Revolution.

myhistorylab Exploring America: Ratifying the Constitution

0 6-17 The Constitution of the United States of America (1789)

Federalists Supporters of the Constitution who favored its ratification.

Anti-Federalists Opponents of the Constitution in the debate over its ratification.

6-8 James Madison, The "Distracting Question" in Philadelphia (1787)

Virginia Plan Proposal calling for a national legislature in which the states would be represented according to population.

New Jersey Plan Proposal of the New Jersey delegation for a strengthened national government in which all states would have an equal representation in a unicameral legislature.

Great Compromise Plan proposed at the 1787 Constitutional Convention for creating a national bicameral legislature in which all states would be equally represented in the Senate and proportionally represented in the House.

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 MI 185 no women, African Americans, or Indians. The Constitution was framed by white men who represented America's social and economic elite.

These men were patriots, however, and committed to republicanism: that government must rest on the consent of the governed, and that the authority of rulers must be condi- tional on popular support. But they were not democrats. They believed that the country already suffered from too much democracy. They feared that ordinary people, if given ready access to power, would enact policies against the interests of the privileged classes and, thus, the nation as a whole. The specter of Shays' Rebellion hung over the proceedings.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

On their first day of work, the delegates agreed to vote by states, as was the procedure of Congress. They chose Washington to chair the meeting. Although the sessions were closed to the public, James Madison, a young, conservative Virginian with a profound knowledge of history and political philosophy, took voluminous daily minutes that provide the best record of the proceedings. Madison and his fellow Virginians had drafted what became known as the Virginia Plan. Presented to the convention shortly after it convened, their plan set the agenda for the convention.

The Virginia Plan proposed scrapping the Articles of Confederation in favor of a "consolidated government" with the power to tax and to enforce its laws directly rather than through the states. The Virginia Plan would have reduced the states to little more than administrative institutions, something like counties. There would be a bicameral national legislature with all seats apportioned by popula- tion; members of the House of Representatives would be elected by popular vote, but members of the Senate chosen indirectly by state legislators, insulating them from democratic pressure. The Senate would lead, controlling foreign affairs and the appointment of officials. An appointed chief executive and a national judiciary would together form a Council of Revision having the power to veto both national and state legislation.

The main opposition to the Virginia Plan came from the delegates of the small states who feared being swallowed up by the large ones. After two weeks of debate, William Paterson of New Jersey introduced an alternative, a set of "purely federal" principles that became known as the New Jersey Plan. This plan also pro- posed increasing the powers of the central government but retained the single- house Congress of the Confederation government in which the states were equally represented. After much debate and a series of votes that split the convention down the middle, the delegates finally agreed to what has been called the Great

Compromise. Representation would be proportional to population in the House, with equal representation to each of the states in the Senate. The compromise allowed for the creation of a strong national government while still providing an

important role for the states. Part of this Great Compromise was a second fundamental agreement between

North and South. Southern delegates wanted protections for slavery. They wanted provision for the mandatory return of fugitive southern slaves from the free north- ern states. To boost their power in Congress, they wanted slaves counted for the purpose of determining a state's proportional representation but excluded from

George Washington presides over a ses- sion of the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia's State House (now known as Independence Hall) in an engraving of 1799.

I I Federalist majority (for) I I Anti-Federalist majority (against) I I Evenly divided

, I- NEW YORK

July1788

PENNSYLVANIA Dec 1787

VIRGINIA lune 1788

1,2kc

BRITISH

C A N

Disputed between the kinked States and

A D A Great Britain

Sr. Lawrence River

VERMONT (disputed between

New Hampshire and New York)

NEW HAMPSHIRE June 1788

MASSACHUSETTS Feb 1788

RHODE ISLAND May 1790

CONNECTICUT Jan 1788

NEW JERSEY Dec 1787

DELAWARE Dec 1787

MAINE (to Mass)

MARYLAND Apr 1788

NORTH CAROLINA I Nov 1789

SOUTH CAROLINA

GEORGIA May 1788

Jan 1788

SPANISH G ot . o f mex i co FLORIDA

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

7-1 James Madison Defends the Constitution (1788)

to 7-2 William Maclay, For the Independent Gazetteer" (1790)

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 111 187

An agrarian-localist versus commercial-cosmopolitan alignment characterized most of the states. The most critical convention took place in Massachusetts in early 1788. Five states—Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut—had already voted to ratify, but the states with the strongest Anti- Federalist movements had yet to convene. If the Constitution lost in Massachusetts, its fate would be in great danger.

At the Massachusetts convention, the opponents of ratification—which included supporters of Shays' Rebellion— enjoyed a small majority. But several important Anti-Federalist leaders, including Governor John Hancock and Revolution- ary leader Samuel Adams, were swayed by the enthusiastic support for the Constitution among Boston's townspeople, whose livelihoods were tied to the commercial economy. On February 16, the convention voted narrowly in favor of ratification. To no one's surprise, Rhode Island rejected the Constitution in March, but Maryland and South Carolina approved it in April and May. On June 21, 1788, New Hamp- shire became the ninth state to ratify. The Constitution was now the law of the land.

New York, Virginia, and North Carolina were left with the decision of whether to join the new Union. Anti-Federalist support was strong in these states. North Carolina voted to reject. (It would reconsider and join the next year, followed by a still reluctant Rhode Island in 1790.) In New York the

delegates were moved to vote their support by a threat from New York City to secede from the state and join the Union sep- arately if the state convention failed to ratify. The Virginia convention was almost evenly divided, but promises to amend the Constitution to protect the people from the potential abuses of the federal government persuaded enough dele-

gates to produce a victory for the Constitution. The promise of such a "Bill of Rights" was important in the ratification vote of five of the states.

/

MAP EXPLORATION To explore an interactive version of this map, go to http://www.prenhall.com/faraghertIcimap8.1

MAP 8.1

The Ratification of the Constitution, 1787-90 The distribution of the

vote for the ratification of the Constitution demonstrated its wide sup-

port in sections of the country linked to the commercial economy and

its disapproval in more remote and backcountry sections. (Note that

Maine remained a part of Massachusetts until admitted as a separate

state in 1820.)

WHY DID some regions support the Constitution and others did not?

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

The Constitutional Convention had considered a bill of rights patterned on the dec- larations of rights included in several state constitutions but then rejected it as super- fluous. Anti-Federalist delegates in numerous state ratification conventions, however, had proposed a grab bag of over 200 potential amendments protecting the rights of the people against the power of the central government. In June 1789, James Madi- son, elected to the first Congress as a representative from Virginia, set about trans- forming these proposed amendments into a coherent series of proposals. Congress approved twelve and sent them to the states, and ten survived the ratification process

to become the Bill of Rights in 1791. The First Amendment prohibited Congress from establishing an official religion

and provided for the freedom of assembly. It also ensured freedom of speech, a free press, and the right of petition. The other amendments guaranteed the right to bear arms, to limit the government's power to quarter troops in private homes, and to restrain the government from unreasonable searches or seizures; they guaranteed the traditional legal rights under the common law, including the prohibition of double

Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the Constitution.

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" 5.11 Uttkitatbr AGE," War* .1pf.t.

CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

A cartoon published in July 1788, when

New York became the eleventh state

to ratify the Constitution. After initially

voting to reject, North Carolina soon

reconsidered, but radical and still reluctant Rhode Island did not join the

Union until 1790.

The Federal Edifice "On the Erection of the Eleventh

Pillar," caricature from the "Massachusetts Centinal,"

August 2, 1788. Neg. #33959. Collection of The New

York Historical Society.

QUICK REVIEW

Amendments to the Constitution

♦ First eight amendments con- cerned with individual rights.

• Guarantees of religious freedom, freedom of expression, protection against arbitrary legal proceedings.

♦ Powers not granted to the nation- al government retained by the people and the states.

WHAT WERE the essential

structures of national government

under the Constitution?

myhistylab Review Summary

4 6-4 Henry Knox, Letter to George Washington (1786)

jeopardy, the right not to be compelled to testify against oneself, and due process of law before life, liberty, or property could be taken away. Finally, the unenumerated rights of the people were protected, and the powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved to the states.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution have been a restraining influ- ence on the growth of government power over American citizens. Their provi- sions have become an admired aspect of the American political tradition throughout the world. The Constitution was authored by the Federalists, but the Bill of Rights is the most important legal legacy of the Anti-Federalists.

THE FIRST FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION

R atification of the Constitution was followed in the fall of 1788 by the first federal elections for Congress and the presidency, and in the spring of 1789 the new federal government assumed power. The first years under

the new federal Constitution were especially important for the future because they shaped the structure of the American nation-state in ways that would be enor-

mously significant for later generations.

THE WASHINGTON PRESIDENCY

Although he dressed in plain American broadcloth at his inauguration and claimed to be content with a plain republican title, Washington was anything but a man of the people. By nature reserved and solemn, he chose to ride about town in a grand carriage drawn by six horses and attended by uniformed liverymen. In the tradi-

tion of British royalty, he delivered his addresses personally to Congress and received from both houses an official reply. On the other hand, Washington worked hard to adhere to the letter of the Constitution, refusing, for example, to use the veto power

except where he thought Congress had acted unconstitutionally and personally seeking the "advice and consent" of the Senate.

Congress quickly moved to establish departments to run the affairs of state, and Washington soon appointed Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state, Alexan- der Hamilton as secretary of the treasury, Henry Knox as secretary of war (con- tinuing in the position he held under the Confederation government) , and

CHAPTER 8 El 189 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 Two coins from the first decade of the federal republic illustrate political con- troversies of the period. The Washington cent was proposed by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1792, in the hope of enhancing popular respect for the new government by having the presi- dent's bust impressed on coins in the manner of European kings. But after long debate, Congress defeated the plan, the opponents claiming it smacked of monarchy. The Liberty coin, issued by the Mint of the United States in 1795, when under the authority of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, features Liberty wearing a liberty cap and bearing a marked resemblance to the French Revolutionary icon Marianne.

Edmund Randolph as attorney general. The president consulted each of these men regularly and during his first term met with them as a group to discuss mat- ters of policy. By the end of Washington's presidency the secretaries had coa- lesced in what came to be known as the cabinet, an institution that has survived to the present despite the absence of constitutional authority. Washington under- stood the importance of national unity, and in his style of leadership, his consul- tations, and his appointments he sought to achieve a balance of conflicting political perspectives and sectional interests. His intentions would be sorely tested during the eight years of his administration.

THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

The most important piece of legislation to emerge from the first session of Con- gress was the Judiciary Act of 1789, implementing the judicial clause of the Con- stitution, which empowered Congress to set the number of justices on the Supreme Court and create a system of federal courts. The act established a High Court of six justices (increased to nine in 1869) and established circuit and district federal courts. Strong nationalists argued for a powerful federal legal system that would provide a uniform code of civil and criminal justice throughout the country. But the localists in Congress, intent on preserving local community autonomy, suc- cessfully fought to retain the various bodies of law that had developed in the states. The act gave federal courts limited original jurisdiction, restricting them mostly to appeals from state courts. But it established the principle of federal judicial review of state legislation, despite the silence of the Constitution on this point.

Washington appointed and the Senate confirmed the six Supreme Court jus- tices, including John Jay, who became Chief Justice. During the Court's first decade it heard relatively few cases yet managed to raise considerable political controversy. In Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) the Court ruled in favor of two South Carolina resi- dents suing the State of Georgia for the recovery of confiscated property, thus sup- porting the Constitution's grant of federal jurisdiction over disputes "between a state and citizens of another state." Many localists believed the ruling threatened the integrity of the states, and in response, they proposed an Eleventh Amend- ment to the Constitution, protecting states against suits by citizens of another state. It was ratified in 1798. The Supreme Court nevertheless established itself as the final authority on questions of law when it invalidated a Virginia statute in Ware v.

Hylton (1796) and upheld the constitutionality of an act of Congress in Hylton v.

United States (1796).

Judiciary Act of 1789 Act of Congress that implemented the judiciary clause of the Constitution by establishing the Supreme Court and a system of lower federal courts.

Judicial review A power implied in the Constitution that gives federal courts the right to review and determine the constitutionality of acts passed by Congress and state legislatures.

190

CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1804) by John Trumbull. Although Hamilton's fiscal

program was controversial, it restored

the financial health of the United

States.

HAMILTON'S FISCAL PROGRAM

Fiscal and economic affairs were important in the new gov- ernment. Lacking revenue and facing the massive national debt run up during the Revolution, the government took power in a condition of virtual bankruptcy.

Treasury Secretary Hamilton took on the task of reor- ganizing the nation's finances. In 1790 he submitted a "Report on the Public Credit," recommending the federal

"redemption" at full value of the national debt owed to for- eign and domestic creditors, as well as the "assumption" of the obligations accumulated by the states during the previous fif- teen years. Congress readily agreed to settle the $11 million owed to foreign creditors but balked at the redemption of the domestic debt of $42 million and the assumption of the state debts of another $25 million. Hamilton proposed issu- ing new interest-bearing government bonds that would be exchanged for the full face value of all the notes, warrants, and securities the government had distributed during the Revolution.

Thousands of veterans had been rewarded for their ser- vice with warrants for land or money, but as they waited for Congress to mark out the territory or provide the funding, many had been forced by necessity to sell to speculators at

deep discounts. Hamilton's proposal, his colleague James Madison objected, would result in windfall profits for speculators and create a permanent federal debt. Hamilton did not dispute these claims but instead argued that they were good things. The creation of a federal debt by the issue of securities would give the government the ability to finance national projects or provide for national defense in the event of war, and the possession of those securities in the hands of a wealthy class of citizens would offer a guarantee for the government's stability. There was even greater congressional opposition to Hamilton's proposal for the assumption of state debts. Some states (mostly in the South) had already arranged to pay off their debts, whereas others (mostly in the North) had not, so the plan seemed to reward the insolvent and punish the thrifty. Congress remained dead- locked on these issues for six months, until congressmen from Pennsylvania and Virginia arranged a compromise that facilitated the eventual passage of Hamil- ton's credit program.

Hamilton now proposed a second component of his fiscal program, the establishment of a Bank of the United States. The bank, a public corporation funded by private capital, would serve as the depository of government funds and the fiscal agent of the Treasury. Congress narrowly approved it, but Madison's opposition raised doubts in the president's mind about the constitutionality of the measure, and Washington solicited the opinion of his cabinet. Here for the first time were articulated the classic interpretations of constitutional authority. Jefferson took a "strict constructionist" position, arguing that the powers of the federal government must be limited to those specifically enumerated in the Con- stitution. This position came closest to the basic agreement of the men who had drafted the document. Hamilton, on the other hand, reasoned that the Consti- tution "implied" the power to use whatever means were "necessary and proper" to carry out its enumerated powers, the "loose constructionist" position. Per- suaded by Hamilton's opinion, Washington signed the bill, and the bank went into operation in 1791.

Little Turtle, a war chief of the Miami tribe of the Ohio Valley, led a large

pan-Indian army to victory over the

Americans in 1790 and 1791. After his

forces were defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, he became a

friend of the United States. This litho- graph is a copy of an oil portrait, which no longer survives, by the artist Gilbert Stuart.

Little Turtle, or Mich-i-kin-i-qua, Miami War Chief,

Conqueror of Harmar and St. Clair. Lithograph made

from a portrait painted in 1797 by Gilbert Stuart. Indi-

ana Historical Society Library (negative no. C2584).

• 6-13 Thomas Jefferson, The Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury Battle about the Constitution (1791)

QUICK REVIEW

Hamilton's Reports

♦ Plan to address Revolutionary War debt.

*Proposal to charter a national bank.

• Recommendation for government to promote industry.

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8

191

The final component of Hamilton's fiscal program, out- lined in his famous "Report on Manufactures," was an ambi- tious plan, involving the use of government securities as investment capital for "infant industries" and high protective tariffs to encourage the development of an industrial econ- omy. Congressmen from farming areas, whose previous objec- tions to Hamilton's preference for the "monied interests" had not prevailed, were finally able to frustrate him on this last

proposal. Hamilton's views, they argued, would limit them to roles exactly like those they had played within the British empire and would amount to exchanging British for Boston and New York masters. Of equal importance, the plan failed to inspire the enthusiasm of American capitalists, who contin- ued to be more interested in investments in shipping or in land speculation than in industrial production.

Many of Hamilton's specific proposals for increased tar- iff protection, however, became part of the revision of duties that took place in 1792. Moreover, his fiscal program as a whole dramatically restored the financial health of the United States.

The Federalist political coalition, forged during the rat- ification of the Constitution, was sorely strained by these debates over fiscal policy. By the middle of 1792 Jefferson— representing southern agrarians—and Hamilton—speaking for northern capital- ists—were locked in a full-scale feud within the administration. Hamilton conducted himself more like a prime minister than a cabinet secretary, greatly offending Jefferson, who considered himself the president's heir apparent. But the dispute went deeper than a mere conflict of personalities. Hamilton stated the difference clearly when he wrote that "one side appears to believe that there is a serious plot to overturn the State governments, and substitute a monarchy to the present republican system," while "the other side firmly believes that there is a serious plot to overturn the general government and elevate the separate pow- ers of the States upon its ruins."

Distressed by these political disputes, Washington considered retiring at the end of his first term, but both factions encouraged him to remain in office to bridge their differences. The factions did contest the vice presidency. In Decem- ber 1792 Washington was reelected by unanimous vote in the electoral college, but incumbent Vice President John Adams was only narrowly returned to office. It was an indication of things to come.

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

The conflict between Hamilton and Jefferson grew even more bitter over the issue of American foreign policy. The commanding event of the Atlantic world during the 1790s was the French Revolution, which broke out in 1789. Most Americans enthusiastically welcomed the fall of the French monarchy. But with the inaugu- ration of the Reign of Terror in 1793, which claimed the lives of hundreds of aris- tocrats and politicians upon the guillotine, American conservatives began to voice their opposition. The execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 and the out- break of war between revolutionary France and monarchical Great Britain a few weeks later firmly divided American opinion.

Most at issue was whether the Franco-American alliance of 1778 required the United States to support France in its war with Britain. All of Washington's cab- inet agreed on the importance of American neutrality. With France and Britain

192 CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

Intercourse Act Passed in 1790, this law regulated trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and declared public treaties between the United States and Indian nations the only means of obtaining Indian lands.

prowling for each other's vessels on the high seas, the vast colonial trade of Europe was delivered up to neutral powers, the United States prominent among them. Jef- ferson believed it highly unlikely that the French would call upon the Americans to honor the 1778 treaty and that the administration should simply wait and see. But Hamilton argued that so great was the danger of American involvement in the war that Washington should immediately declare the treaty "temporarily and pro- visionally suspended."

These disagreements revealed two contrasting perspectives on the course the United States should chart in international waters. Hamilton and the nation- alists believed in the necessity of an accommodation with Great Britain, the most important trading partner of the United States and the world's greatest naval power. Jefferson, Madison, and their supporters, on the other hand, looked for more international independence, less connection with the British, and thus closer relations with Britain's traditional rival, France. They pinned their hopes for the future on American western expansion.

The debate in the United States grew hotter with the arrival in early 1793 of French ambassador Edmond Genet. Knowing he must act before "Citizen" Genet (as the ambassador was popularly known) compromised American sovereignty and involved the United States in a war with Britain, Washington issued a procla- mation of neutrality on April 22, 1793. In it he assured the world that the United States intended to pursue "a conduct friendly and impartial towards the belliger- ent powers," while continuing to do business with all sides.

Hamilton's supporters applauded the president, but Jefferson's friends were outraged. Throughout the country, activists sympathetic to France organized Democratic Societies, political clubs modeled after the Sons of Liberty. Society members corresponded with each other, campaigned on behalf of candidates, and lobbied with congressmen.

Citizen Genet miscalculated, however, alienating even his supporters, when he demanded that Washington call Congress into special session to debate neu- trality. Jefferson, previously a confidant of the ambassador, now denounced Genet as "hot-headed" and "indecent towards the President." But his words came too late to save his reputation with Washington, and at the end of 1793 Jefferson left the administration.

THE UNITED STATES AND THE INDIAN PEOPLES

One of the most pressing problems of the Washington presidency concerned the West. The American attempt to treat western Indian tribes as conquered peoples after the Revolution had resulted only in further violence and warfare. In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (see Chapter 7), the Confederation Congress aban- doned that course for a new approach. "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians," the ordinance read. "Their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." Yet the ordinance was premised on the survey and sale to American settlers of Indian land north of the Ohio River and the creation of new state governments. The ordinance pointed in wildly contradictory directions.

The new federal government continued to pursue this inconsistent policy.

In 1790 Congress passed the Intercourse Act, the basic law by which the United

States would "regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes." The act declared public treaties between the United States and the Indian nations the only legal means of obtaining Indian land. Treaty making, thus, became the pro- cedure for establishing and maintaining relations with Indian nations. To elimi- nate the abuses of unscrupulous traders, the act also created a federal licensing

QUICK REVIEW

The French Revolution and American Foreign Policy

♦ French Revolution divided American public opinion.

♦ Hamilton and the nationalists favored accommodation with Britain.

♦ Jefferson, Madison, and the democrats wanted greater inter- national independence and closer ties with France.

BRITISH

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IN Areas settled by 1770 III Areas settled by 1790

GEORGIA

Gulf of Mexico

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8

1 93

system, and subsequent legislation authorized the creation of subsidized trading houses, or "factories," where Indians could obtain manufactured goods at reasonable prices. These provisions indicated the best intentions of the Wash- ington administration.

On the other hand, one of the federal government's highest priorities was the acquisition of western Indian land to support a growing population of farmers (see Map 8.2). The federal government, in fact, was unable to control the flood of settlers coming down the Ohio River. In defense of their homelands, villages of Shawnees, Delawares, and other Indian peoples confederated with the Miamis under their war chief Little Turtle. In the fall of 1790 Little Turtle lured federal forces led by General Josiah Harmar into the confed- eracy's stronghold in Ohio and badly mauled them. In November 1791 the confederation inflicted an even more disastrous defeat on a large American force. More than 900 Americans were killed or wounded, making this the worst defeat of an army by Indians in North American his- tory (see Seeing History).

SPANISH FLORIDA AND BRITISH CANADA

The position of the United States in the West was made even more precarious by the hostility of Spain and Great Britain, which controlled the adjoining territories. Under the dynamic leadership of King Carlos III and his able ministers, Spain introduced liberal reforms to revitalize the rule-bound bureaucracy of its American empire. As a result the economy of New Spain grew rapidly in the 1780s. Moreover, Spain had reasserted itself in North America, acquiring the French claims to Louisiana before the end of the Seven Years' War, expanding into Califor- nia, seizing the Gulf Coast during the American Revolu- tion, and regaining Florida from Britain in the Treaty of

MAP EXPLORATION To explore an interactive version of this map, go to http://wmv.prenhall.cornifaraghertic./map8.2

MAP 8.2 Spread of Settlement: The Backcountry Expands, 1770-90 From 1770 to 1790, American settlement moved across the Appalachians for the first

time. The Ohio Valley became the focus of bitter warfare between Indians

and settlers.

WHY DID tensions between Indians and settlers increase during this period?

Paris in 1783. Spain claimed for itself much of the terri- tory that today makes up the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi and pursued a policy designed to block the continued expansion of the young republic (see Map 8.3).

Spain's anti-American policy in the West had several facets. Controlling both sides of the lower Mississippi, the Spanish closed the river to American shipping, making it impossible for western American farmers to market their crops through the port of New Orleans. They also sought to create a barrier to American settlement by promoting immigration to Louisiana and Florida. They succeeded in attracting several thousand Acadians, whom the British had deported from Nova Scotia during the Seven Years' War. Reassembling their dis- tinctive communities in the bayou country of Louisiana, these tough emigrants

became known as the Cajuns. But otherwise, the Spanish had little success with immigration and relied

mostly on creating a barrier of pro-Spanish Indian nations in the lower Missis- sippi Valley.

North of the Ohio River, the situation was much the same. Thousands of Loy-

alists had fled the United States in the aftermath of the Revolution and settled

NORTHWEST ow V-

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St. ENatchez Augustine

• PAN /so • • Pensacola

( New Orleans

7

Gulf of Mexico

VIRGINIA

NORTH CAROLINA

MAP 8.3 Spanish Claims to American Territory, 1783-95 Before 1795, the Spanish claimed the American territory of the Old Southwest and

barred Americans from access to the port of New Orleans, effective-

ly closing the Mississippi River. This dispute was settled by Pinck-

ney's Treaty in 1795.

WHAT WERE the terms of Pinckney's Treaty?

ATLANTIC OCEAN

--- Boundary claimed by Spain after 1783

— Boundary set by Pinckney's Treaty, 1795

Area disputed by U.S. and Spain

■ Spanish fort

• Spanish settlement

CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 1 94

7-7 Backcountry Turmoil Puts the New Government to the Test (1794)

Whiskey Rebellion Armed uprising in 1794 by farmers in western Pennsylvania who attempted to prevent the collection of the excise tax on whiskey.

Treaty of Greenville Treaty of 1795 in which Native Americans in the Old Northwest were forced to cede most of the present state of Ohio to the United States.

north of lakes Ontario and Erie. They were understandably

hostile to the new republic. In 1791 the British Parliament

passed the Canada Act, creating the province of Upper Canada

(later renamed Ontario) and granting the Loyalists limited

self-government. To protect this province, British troops

remained at a number of posts within American territory,

such as Detroit, where they supplied arms to the Indian

nations, in hopes of creating a buffer to American expansion.

THE CRISES OF 1794

These conditions laid the groundwork for the gravest crisis of

Washington's presidency in 1794. In the West, the inability of

the federal government to subdue the Indians, eliminate the

British from the northern fur trade, or arrange with the Span-

ish for unencumbered use of the Mississippi River stirred fron-

tiersmen to loud protest. Secret agents for Great Britain and

Spain sought to entice American settlers to quit the Union and

join themselves to Canada or Florida. In the Atlantic, Great

Britain declared a blockade of France and its colonies in the

West Indies, and by early 1794 the Royal Navy had confiscated

the cargoes of more than 250 American ships, threatening hun-

dreds of merchants with ruin.

To make matters worse a rebellion broke out among

farmers in western Pennsylvania in the summer of 1794. To

produce needed revenue, Congress had placed an excise tax on the distillation

of whiskey, which many farm families produced from their surpluses of corn.

Throughout rural America, farmers protested that the new tax ran counter to

the principles of the Revolution. "Internal taxes upon consumption," declared

the citizens of Mingo Creek, in western Pennsylvania, are "most dangerous to the

civil rights of freemen, and must in the end destroy the liberties of every coun-

try in which they are introduced." Protest turned to riot when the Mingo Creek

militia attempted to seize the tax collector, and several of their number were

killed in the confrontation.

The "Whiskey Rebellion" came at a time when Washington considered the

nation to be under siege. The combination of Indian attack, international intrigue,

and domestic insurrection, he believed, posed the greatest threat to the nation since

the Revolution. He called up a federal army of 13,000 men, approximately the

same size as the one he had commanded during the Revolution, and ordered the

occupation of western Pennsylvania. Authorities arrested twenty people, and a

judge convicted two of treason. The protests gradually died down and Washing-

ton pardoned the felons, sparing their lives. The president overreacted, for there

was no organized insurrection in western Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, his mobiliza-

tion of federal military power was a dramatic demonstration of his commitment

to the preservation of the Union, the protection of the western boundary, and

the supremacy of the national over the local community.

Washington's action was reinforced by an impressive American victory against

the western Indian confederacy. Following the disastrous defeat inflicted by Lit-

tle Turtle, the president directed General Anthony Wayne to lead a greatly strength-

ened American force to secure the Northwest. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers,

fought in northern Ohio on August 20, 1794, Wayne crushed the Indians. This

American victory set the stage for the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, in which the

representatives of twelve Indian nations ceded a huge territory encompassing

Ifx.. 44/ ram.

tw awa.

The Columbian Tragedy roadsides—large sheets printed on one side, suitable for posting—were an important

medium of popular communication in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

This one, lamenting the disastrous defeat of an American expeditionary force at the hands

of the Ohio Indian confederacy in 1791, in which more than 900 Americans were killed or

wounded was published in Boston and sold

throughout New England for the price of six cents.

The struggle against the Ohio Indian confeder-

acy was one of the most critical issues during

Washington's presidency. Across the top are the

names of the officers killed in bat-

tle, each accompanied by the icon

of a black coffin. On the left is a

woodcut of Major-General Richard

Butler, the highest-ranking officer

to die, and beneath it an Indian

warrior alongside a skull and cross-

bones. On the right is a crude rep-

resentation of the battleground.

As one contemporary critic put it,

all the images are "of the com-

monest description," yet the

broadside survives in a number

of copies, indicating that it prob-

ably sold quite well. The broad-

side did double duty—as both

memorial for the dead and

protest against the incompe-

tence of the army's leaders.

Most of the broadside is

devoted to a mournful ballad

that nevertheless concludes

that the nation will ultimately

prevail because "the Lord is

on our side." ■ "The Columbian Tragedy" (1791), courtesy Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

WHY WOULD Americans purchase this broadside and display it in their homes?

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196 MI CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 In this 1794 painting, President George

Washington reviews some 13,000 troops

at Fort Cumberland on the Potomac

before dispatching them to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington's mobi- lization of federal military power dramat-

ically demonstrated the federal commit-

ment to the preservation of the Union

and the protection of the western

boundary.

Francis Kemmelmeyer, "General George Washington

Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland the

18th of October 1794," after 1794. Oil on paper

backed with linen, 18 1/8 x 23 1/8 . Courtesy of

Winterthur Museum.

Jay's Treaty Treaty with Britain negotiated in 1794 in which the United States made major concessions to avert a war over the British seizure of American ships.

most of present-day Ohio, much of Indiana, and other enclaves in the Northwest, including the town of Detroit and the tiny village of Chicago.

SETTLING DISPUTES WITH BRITAIN AND SPAIN

The strengthened American position in the West encouraged the British finally to settle their dispute with the United States so that they might concentrate on defeat- ing republican France. Washington dispatched Chief Justice John Jay to London to arrange a settlement with the British, and in November 1794 Jay and his British counterpart signed an agreement providing for British withdrawal from American soil by 1796, for limited American trade with British colonies, and for "most- favored-nation" status (meaning that each nation would enjoy terms of trade equal to the best terms accorded any other nation). The treaty represented a solid gain for the young republic. With only a small army and no navy to speak of, the United States was in no position to wage war.

Jay's Treaty enshrined Hamilton's conception of American neutrality. Hamilton's opponents, on the other hand, were enraged at what they considered an accommodation with the British at the expense of the French. Moreover, Southerners were alienated by Jay's failure to negotiate compensation for mas- ters whose slaves had fled to the British during the Revolution. Throughout the country opponents of the treaty organized protests and demonstrations. Chief Justice Jay joked he found his way across country by the light of his burning effi- gies. Nevertheless, the Senate, dominated by supporters of Hamilton, ratified the agreement in June 1795. In the House, a coalition of Southerners, Westerners, and friends of France attempted to stall the treaty by threatening to withhold the necessary appropriations. They demanded they be allowed to examine the diplo- matic correspondence regarding the whole affair, but the president refused, establishing the precedent of "executive privilege" in matters of state.

The deadlock continued until late in the year, when word arrived that the Spanish had abandoned their claims to the territory south of the Ohio River.

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 11Mil-- 1 97

Spain had declared war on revolutionary France but quickly suffered a humili- ating defeat. Fearing the loss of its American empire, the Spanish found it expe- dient to come to an agreement with the Americans. In 1795 American envoy Thomas Pinckney negotiated a treaty setting the international boundary at the 31st parallel (the southern boundary of Mississippi and Alabama) and open- ing the Mississippi to American shipping. This treaty was compatible with the Jef- fersonian conception of empire, and congressmen from the South and West were delighted with its terms. Administration supporters, however, demanded that the House agree in the matter of Jay's Treaty before the Senate would approve Pinckney's.

With the ratification of these important treaties, the United States estab- lished its sovereignty over the land west of the Appalachians and opened to American commerce a vast market extending from Atlantic ports to the Missis- sippi Valley. From a political standpoint, however, the events of 1794 and 1795 brought Washington down from his pedestal. Vilified by the opposition press, sick of politics, and longing to return to private life, Washington rejected the idea of a third term.

WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS

During the last months of his term, Washington published a "Farewell Address" to the nation. In the best-remembered portion of the address, he urged that the United States seek commercial connections with all nations but "have with them as little political connection as possible." Why, he asked, "entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?" Looking forward, he expressed great concern about the growing acri- mony between political factions, which, he argued, "agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, . . . and opens the door to foreign influence and corruption."

FEDERALISTS AND DEMOCRATIC

REPUBLICANS

T he framers of the Constitution envisioned a one-party state in which par- tisan distinctions would be muted by patriotism and public virtue. "Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union," Madi-

son had written, is "its tendency to break and control the violence of faction." Not only did he fail to anticipate the rise of political parties or factions, but also he saw them as potentially harmful to the new nation. Yet it was Madison who took the first steps toward organizing the opposition to the policies of the Washington adminis-

tration, and it was Hamilton, Madison's coauthor of The Federalist Papers, who orga-

nized administration supporters into a disciplined political faction. Despite the intentions of the framers, in the twelve years between the ratification of the Con- stitution and the federal election of 1800, political parties became a fundamental part of the American system of government.

THE RISE OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Evident in the debates and votes of Congress from 1789 to 1795 was a series of shifting coalitions. These coalitions first began to polarize into opposing politi- cal factions during the debate over Jay's Treaty in 1795, when agrarians, West- erners, Southerners, and supporters of France came together in opposition. By the time of the election of 1796, the factions had taken names for themselves.

7-8 George Washington, Farewell Address (1746)

=1111==== HOW DID American political

parties first begin?

myhistc36Iab Review Summary

198 MI CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

OVERVIEW The First American Party System

Organized by figures in the Washington administration who were in favor of a strong federal government, friendship with the British, and opposition to the French Revolution; its power base was among merchants, property owners, and urban workers tied to the commercial economy. A minority party after 1800, it was regionally strong only in New England.

Arose as the opposition to the Federalists; its adherents were in favor of limiting federal power; they were sympathetic to the French Revolution and hostile to Great Britain; the party drew strength from southern planters and northern farmers and was the majority party after 1800.

Federalist Party

Democratic Republican Party

myhista?ylab Overview: The First American Party System

QUICK REVIEW

Party Politics

▪ Washington's farewell address denounced partisanship.

♦ Candidates in presidential election of 1796: John Adams (Federalist), Thomas Jefferson (Republican).

♦ Adams won despite Hamilton's interference.

XYZ Affair Diplomatic incident in 1798 in which Americans were outraged by the demand of the French for a bribe as a condition for negotiating with American diplomats.

Hamilton's supporters continued to claim the mantle of Federalism. But Jeffer-

son's supporters christened themselves Republicans, suggesting by implication that the Federalists were really monarchists at heart. (Historians use the term "Democratic Republicans" to distinguish them from the modern Republican Party, founded in 1854.)

The two political factions played a fitful role in the presidential election of 1796, which pitted Vice President John Adams against Thomas Jefferson. Partisan organization was strongest in the Middle States, where there was a real contest of political forces, weakest in New England and the South, where sectional loyalty prevailed and organized opposition was weaker. The absence of party discipline was demonstrated when the ballots of the presidential electors, cast in their respec- tive state capitals, were counted in the Senate. Adams was victorious, but in accor- dance with the Constitution the vice presidency went to the candidate with the second-highest total, and that was Jefferson. The new administration was born divided.

THE ADAMS PRESIDENCY

Adams was put in the difficult situation of facing a political opposition led by his own vice president. On the other hand, Adams benefited from rising tensions between the United States and France. Angered by Jay's Treaty, the French suspended diplo- matic relations with the United States at the end of 1796 and inaugurated a tough new policy toward American shipping. Hoping to resolve the crisis, Adams sent an American delegation to France. But in dispatches sent back to the United States, the envoys reported that three agents of the French foreign ministry had demanded a bribe before any negotiations could begin. Skeptical Republicans demanded the release of the dispatches, which Adams agreed to in 1798, substituting the letters X, Y, Z for the names of the French agents. The documents upheld Adams's case and proved a major liability for the Republicans, sparking powerful anti-French sentiment throughout the country. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for trib- ute!" was the slogan of the day. The XYZ Affair, as it became known, sent Adams's popularity soaring.

THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS

During the spring of 1798 Adams and the Federalists prepared the country for war with France. Congress authorized tripling the size of the army, and Washington came out of retirement to command the force. Fears of a French invasion declined

7-9

The Alien and Sedition Acts

(1798) • 7-10 Questions of Constitutionality and the Roots of Nullification (1798)

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 1 99

The presidential election of 1800 was the first to feature campaign advertising. "T.

Jefferson, President of the United States

of America; John Adams—no more,"

reads the streamer on this election ban- ner, illustrated with an American eagle and a portrait of Jefferson. This was mild rhetoric in a campaign character-

ized by wild charges. The Republicans

labeled Adams a warmonger and a

monarchist, while the Federalists

denounced Jefferson as an atheist, Jacobin, and sexual libertine.

after word arrived of a British naval victory over the French at Aboukir Bay in Egypt in August 1798, but what became known as the "Quasi-War" between France and the United States continued.

The Democratic Republicans contested the Federalist war measures and began for the first time to act as a genuine opposition party, complete with cau-

cuses, floor leaders, and partisan discipline. They contested the election of Speaker of the House of Representatives, which henceforth became a partisan office. The more effective the Republicans became as an opposition, the more treasonous they appeared in the eyes of the Federalists.

In the summer of 1798 the Federalist majority in Congress, with the acquies- cence of President Adams, passed four acts severely limiting both freedom of speech and the freedom of the press and threatening the liberty of foreigners in the United States. The Naturalization Act extended the period of residence required for citi- zenship from five to fourteen years. The Alien Act and the Alien Enemies Act autho- rized the president to order the imprisonment or deportation of suspected aliens during wartime. Finally, the Sedition Act provided heavy fines and imprisonment for anyone convicted of writing, publishing, or speaking anything of "a false, scan- dalous and malicious" nature against the government or any of its officers.

The Federalists intended these repressive laws as weapons to defeat the Democratic Republicans. They prosecuted dissent by indicting leading opposi- tion newspaper editors and writers, fining and imprisoning at least twenty-five of

them. The most vilified was Congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont, scorned by Federalists as "Ragged Matt the Democrat." In July 1798 Lyon was convicted of pub- lishing libelous statements about President Adams and thrown into prison. Later that year, he conducted a campaign from his jail cell and was reelected to Congress.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1800

In 1799 the French convinced President Adams that they were willing to settle their dispute with the United States when they released seized American ships and requested negotiations. Adams sensed a public mood running toward peace. But the Hamiltonian wing of the party, always scornful of public sentiment, con- tinued to beat the drums of war. When Federalists in Congress attempted to block

Quasi - War Undeclared naval war of 1797 to 1800 between the United States and France.

Alien Act Act passed by Congress in 1798 that authorized the president to imprison or deport suspected aliens during wartime.

Sedition Act An act passed by Congress in 1798 that provided fines for anyone convicted of writing, publishing, or speaking out against the government or its officers.

QUICK REVIEW

Presidential Election of 1800

*Federalists could not overcome party disunity.

• First election in which Federalists and Republicans acted as national parties.

• Ticket of Jefferson and Burr an attempt at sectional balance.

4

3

4 12 6 >16

DR 8 9 F7

21 ' 3

DR 5 F5

DR 8 8 F4

4

PACIFIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Gulf of Mexico

Nonvoting territories

200 CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

States' rights Favoring the rights of individual states over rights claimed by the national government.

the negotiations, Adams threatened to resign and turn the government over to Vice President Jefferson.

The presidential campaign of 1800 was the first to be contested by two dis- ciplined political parties. Caucuses of congressmen nominated respective slates: Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina for the Federalists, Jef- ferson and Aaron Burr of New York for the Republicans. Both tickets thus repre- sented attempts at sectional balance. The Democratic Republicans presented themselves as the party of traditional agrarian purity, of liberty and states' rights, of "government rigorously frugal and simple," in the words of Jefferson. The Fed- eralists, divided and embittered, waged a defensive struggle for strong central gov- ernment and public order and often resorted to negative campaigning. They denounced Jefferson as an atheist, a Jacobin, and the father of mulatto children.

Adams won in New England but elsewhere was overwhelmed (see Map 8.4). Jefferson called it "the Revolution of 1800." Party discipline was so effective, in fact, that it created a constitutional crisis. By casting all their ballots for Jefferson and Burr, Republican electors thoughtlessly produced a tie vote, thus forcing the elec- tion into the lame duck House of Representatives controlled by the Federalists. Eventually the Federalists arranged with their opponents to elect Jefferson without any of them having to vote in his favor. Afterward, Congress passed and the states ratified the Twelfth Amendment, creating separate ballots for president and vice president in time for the next presidential election.

Electoral Vote (%)

THOMAS JEFFERSON

(Jeffersonian Republican)

JOHN ADAMS

(Federalist)

73 (53)

65 (47)

MAP 8.4 The Election of 1800 In the presidential election of 1800, Democratic Republican victories in New York and the divided vote in Pennsylvania threw the election to Jefferson. The combination

of the South and these crucial Middle States would keep the Democratic Republicans in control of

the federal government for the next generation.

WHAT WERE the key issues in the election of 1800?

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 201

DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CULTURE

Accompanying the rise of partisan politics was a transformation in popular polit- ical participation. Consider the custom of celebrating Independence Day. At the beginning of the 1790s, in many communities, the day featured demonstrations of military prowess by veteran officers, followed by banquets for leaders. Relatively few Americans played a direct role. But during the political controversies of the decade, a tradition of popular celebration developed. People took to the streets, set off fireworks, erected liberty poles, and listened to readings of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, which more than any other document encap- sulated and symbolized republican ideology.

There was a corresponding increase in the suffrage. In 1789 state regu- lations limited the franchise to a small percentage of the adult population. Women, African Americans, and Indians could not vote, but neither could a third to a half of all free adult males, who were excluded by tax-paying or property-owning requirements. Moreover, even among the eligible, the turnout was generally low.

The situation changed with the increasing competition between Democra- tic Republicans and Federalists. Popular pressure resulted in the introduction of universal white manhood suffrage in four states by 1800 and the reduction of property requirements in others. Thus was inaugurated a movement that would sweep the nation over the next quarter century. As a consequence voter turnout increased in all the states. The growth of popular interest in politics was a trans- formation as important as the peaceful transition from Federalists to Democratic Republicans in national government.

Suffrage The right to vote in a political election.

"THE RISING GLORY OF AMERICA"

-•"'" n 1771, Philip Freneau and Hugh Henry Brackenridge addressed their grad- uating class at Princeton on "The Rising Glory of America." Thus far American contributions to learning and the arts had been slim, they admitted, but they

were boundlessly optimistic about the potential of their country.

THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS

At the beginning of the Revolution in 1775, there were thirty-seven weekly or semi- weekly newspapers in the thirteen colonies, only seven of which were Loyalist in sentiment. By 1789, the number of papers in the United States had grown to ninety- two, including eight dailies; three papers were being published west of the Appalachi- ans. Relative to population, there were more newspapers in the United States than in any other country in the world—a reflection of the remarkably high literacy rate of the American people. During the political controversy of the 1790s, the press became the principal medium of Federalist and Jeffersonian Republican opinion, and papers came to be identified by their politics.

The prosecutions under the Sedition Act, however, threatened to curb the further development of the media, and in their opposition to these measures Democratic Republicans played an important role in establishing the principle

of a free press. In An Essay on Liberty of the Press (1799), the Virginia lawyer George

Hay, later appointed to the federal bench by President Jefferson, wrote that "a man may say everything which his passions suggest." Were this not true, he argued, the First Amendment would have been "the grossest absurdity that was ever conceived by the human mind." In his first inaugural address, Jefferson echoed this early champion of the freedom of expression. "Error of opinion

WHAT WERE the first stirrings of

an authentic American national

culture?

myhistd4ylab Review Summary

QUICK REVIEW

The Press

• By 1789 the United States had ninety-two newspapers.

• The press played a key role in the Politics of the 1790s.

• Prosecutions under the Sedition Act threatened to curb further development of a free press.

202 CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

CHRONOLOGY

1786

1787

1787-88

1788

Annapolis Convention

Constitutional Convention

The Federalist Papers published

Constitution ratified

First federal elections

Citizen Genet affair

President Washington proclaims American neutrality in Europe

Supreme Court asserts itself as final authority in Chisholm v. Georgia

1794 Whiskey Rebellion

1789 President George Washington inaugurated in New York City

Judiciary Act

French Revolution begins

1790 Agreement on site on the Potomac River for the nation's capital

Indian Intercourse Act

Judith Sargent Murray publishes On the Equality of the Sexes

1791 Bill of Rights ratified

Bank of the United States chartered

Alexander Hamilton's "Report on Manufactures"

Ohio Indians defeat General Arthur St. Clair's army

1792 Washington reelected

1793 England and France at war; America reaps trade windfall

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Jay's Treaty with the British concluded

1795 Pinckney's Treaty negotiated with the Spanish

Treaty of Greenville

1796 President Washington's Farewell Address

John Adams elected president

1797-98 French seize American ships

1798 XYZ Affair

"Quasi-War" with France

Alien and Sedition Acts

1800 Convention of 1800

Thomas Jefferson elected president

Mason Locke Weems publishes Life of Washington

may be tolerated," he declared, "where reason is left free to combat it." During Jefferson's presidency the Alien and Sedition Acts, which had justified the sup- pression of political opinion, were repealed or allowed to expire.

BooKs, BooKs, BOOKS During the post-Revolutionary years there was an enormous outpouring of Amer- ican publications. In the cities the number of bookstores grew in response to the demand for reading matter. Perhaps even more significant was the appearance in the countryside of numerous book peddlers who supplied farm households with Bibles, gazettes, almanacs, sermons, and political pamphlets.

Some of the most interesting American books of the postwar years examined the developing American character. The French emigrant Michel-Guillaume Jean

de Crevecoeur, in Letters from an American Farmer (1782), proposed that the Amer-

ican, a product of many cultures, was a "new man" with ideas new to the world.

John Filson, the author of The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke (1784),

presented the narrative of one such new man, the Kentucky pioneer Daniel Boone. In doing so, he took an important step toward the creation of that most American

of literary genres, the western.

myhistdrylab Exploring America: The Partisan Press

CHAPTER 8 11111 203 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 But for Americans, the most important "new man" was

George Washington. In 1800, an itinerant bookseller, Mason Locke Weems, published a short biography of the first presi-

dent that became the new nation's first best seller. Weems's Life of Washington introduced a series of popular and completely fabricated anecdotes, including the story of young Washing- ton and the cherry tree. The biography was beloved by ordi- nary Americans of all political persuasions. Decades later, Abraham Lincoln recalled that he had read Weems "away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read," and had been profoundly impressed by "the struggles for the liberties of the country." Although Washington had in fact become a partisan leader of the Federalists during his second term, Weems presented him as a unifying figure for the politi- cal culture of the new nation, and that was the way he would be remembered.

WOMEN ON THE INTELLECTUAL SCENE

One of the most interesting literary trends of the 1790s was the growing demand for books appealing to women readers.

Susanna Haswell Rowson's Charlotte Temple (1791), a tale of seduction and abandonment, ran up tremendous sales and remained in print for more than a century. The young repub- lic thus marked the first dramatic appearance of women writ- ers and women readers. Although women's literacy rates continued lower than men's, they rose steadily as girls joined boys in common schools. This increase was one of the most important social legacies of the democratic struggles of the Rev- olutionary era.

Some writers argued that the new republican order ought to provide new roles for women as well as for men. The first avowed feminist in American history was Judith Sargent Murray. Her essay "On the Equality of the Sexes," written in 1779 and published in 1790, threw down a bold challenge to men. "Yes, ye lordly, ye haughty sex," she wrote, "our souls are by nature equal to yours," and predicted that American women would commence "a new era in female history." Federalists listened to such opinions with horror. "Women of masculine minds," one Boston

minister sneered, "have generally masculine manners." There seemed to be general agreement among all parties, however, that the

time had come for women to be better educated. Republican institutions of self- government were widely thought to depend on the wisdom and self-discipline of the American people. Civic virtue, so indispensable for the republic, needed to be taught at home. Thus were women provided the opportunity to be not simply "helpmates" but also people "learned and wise." But they were also expected to be content with a narrow role, not to wish for fuller participation in the American

experiment.

Judith Sargent Murray, a portrait by John Singleton Copley, completed in 1771.

Born into an elite merchant family,

she became a wife and mother but also a poet, essayist, playwright, novelist, and historian.

John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), "Portrait of

Mrs. John Stevens (Judith Sargent, later Mrs. John

Murray)," 1770-72. Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.

Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund,

2000.6. © Terra Foundation for American Art,

Chicago/Art Resource, New York.

• 6-12 Molly Wallace, Valedictory Oration (1792) CONCLUSION

_.) ) u . the last years of the eighteenth century, the United States adopt-

ed ring t anew constitution and established a new national government. It re- paid the debt run up during the Revolution and made peace with

adversaries abroad and Indian peoples at home. Americans began to learn how to channel their disagreements into political struggle. The new government,

204

CHAPTER 8 THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800

born in the economic and political crisis that surrounded Shays' Rebellion, had with-

stood a first decade of stress, but tensions would continue to divide the people. At

the beginning of the new century, it remained uncertain whether the new nation

would find a way to control and channel the energies of an expanding people.

REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the conflicting ideals of local and national authority in the debate

over the Constitution.

2. What were the major crises faced by the Washington and Adams

administrations?

3. Describe the roles of Madison and Hamilton in the formation of the first American political parties.

4. What did Jefferson mean when he talked of "the Revolution of 1800"?

5. Discuss the contributions of the Revolutionary generation to the construc-

tion of a national culture.

myinist6rylab Flashcard Review

KEY TERMS Alien Act (p. 199) Annapolis Convention (p. 184) Anti-Federalists (p. 186) Bill of Rights (p. 187) Federalists (p. 186) Great Compromise (p. 185) Intercourse Act (p. 192) Jay's Treaty (p. 196) Judicial review (p. 189) Judiciary Act of 1789 (p. 189)

New Jersey Plan (p. 185) Quasi-War (p. 199) Sedition Act (p. 199) States' rights (p. 200) Suffrage (p. 201) Treaty of Greenville (p. 194) Virginia Plan (p. 185) Whiskey Rebellion (p. 194) XYZ Affair (p. 198)

RECOMMENDED READING Akhil Reed Amar, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (1998). A legal

analysis arguing that the first ten amendments were meant to protect the

majority from the potential tyranny of the federal government.

Robert A. Dahl, How Democratic Is the American Constitution? (2003). An eminent

political scientist examines the antidemocratic character of the nation's defining political document.

Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (1993). A massive and in-

formative account of the politics of the 1790s, from the ratification of the

Constitution to the election of Jefferson.

Paul Finkelman, Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson

(2001). A persuasive historical argument that the Constitution legitimated

a "slaveholders' republic."

m histchlab yWhere it's a good time to connect to the past!

THE NEW NATION, 1786-1800 CHAPTER 8 205

Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (2001). A major reassessment of political culture in the new republic, stressing the importance of the culture of honor.

Reginald Horsman, The Frontier in the Formative Years, 1 783-18 15 (1970). A sensitive survey of developments in the West, emphasizing that the "western question" was one of the most important facing the young republic.

Calvin H. Johnson, Righteous Anger at the Wicked States: The Meaning of the Founders' Constitution (2005). An argument that the authors of the Consti- tution were responding to the turmoil of the "wicked states," particularly their economic and fiscal policies.

Jackson Turner Main, The Antifederalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1 781-1 788 (1961). A detailed examination of the localist tradition in early American

politics. Includes a discussion of the ratification of the Constitution from the point of view of its opponents.

Simon P. Newman, Parades and the Politics of the Street: Festive Culture in the Early American Republic (1997). The participation of ordinary Americans in the political culture of the new republic.

Leonard L. Richards, Shays' Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle (2002). A new interpretation that significantly broadens the meaning of the uprising of farmers in western Massachusetts.

James M. Smith, Freedom's Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties (1966). Remains the best overview of the Federalist threat to liberty, as well as the Jeffersonian Republican counterattack.

Bernard A. Weisberger, America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800 (2000). Shows that the election and the transfer of power were victories for popular self-government and that they set a major precedent for all other elections.

Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1 776-1 787 (1969). This general

survey provides the best overview of the Constitutional Convention.

For study resources for this chapter, go to www.myhistorylab.com and choose Out of Many, Teaching and Learning Classroom Edition. You will find a wealth of study and review material for this chapter, including pretests and posttests, customized study plan, key-term review

flash cards, interactive map and document activities, and documents for analysis.

"Burning of the White House" by Leslie Saalburg.

Since I started this letter we have been in a state

of continual alarm, and now I have time to write

only two or three lines to ask you to tell Papa that

we are alive, in good health, and I hope safe from danger .

—Rosalie E. Calvert August 30, 1814