Day 4: SAT2 American History

Gunshots, Rockets Red Blare, and other random explosions!

Western Expansion 1

• Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set forth rules and the process for expansion

• New States: Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796)

• Spain and Great Britain were against this, as they a) had land here, and b) wanted more land

• Native Americans didn’t like it either, and fought until 1794. They got massacred at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which led to the Treaty of Greenville, which gave all of the Ohio territory to settlers (no Indians allowed)

United States Map 1796

Map Links for Study

• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/maps/maps.cfm has a very large collection of U.S. Historical Maps

• http://lib.utexas.edu/maps/histus.html is good for maps, particularly of Texas, and for its links

• http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/maps/ specializes in the period before 1812.

Sample Money Costs, Chester Infirmary

Slaves as percentage of population, by state, 1790

1796 Election, Divided Government

• This was the first question of confidence in the Constitution

• Candidates: John Adams (Federalist, dominated New England), Thomas Jefferson (Republican, South)

• Adams won by three electoral college votes, but under the rules of the time—Jefferson (as 2nd highest vote getter) was named the Vice-President!

Federalism, Take 2• French saw Jay’s Treaty as a pro-

Britain, anti-France position• Began to seize/attack more than

300 American ships, threatened to hang all Americans found on British navel vessels

• XYZ Affair

Adams sent a peace delegation to Paris

French foreign minister, Charles de Talleyrand, refused to meet with them unless he got bribed ($250,000 for himself, $12,000,000 loan to France)

Adams called the three agents who went to Paris to try to meet with de Talleyrand X,Y,Z

Response: America tripled its Army, and had a “Quasi-War” with France—no war was ever declared, but armed ships protected American sips

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

• Background: Federalists won big in 1798 mid-term elections on anti-French beliefs

• Key point: These four acts basically made the government much stronger, and gave the government a large amount of power to attack civil liberties

• Alien Enemies Act (allowed deportation of foreigners who were thought to be a threat)

• Alien Friends Acts (allowed President to deport any foreign citizen for any reason)

• Naturalization Act (changed residency requirement from 5 to 14 years)

• Sedition Act (forbade any individual or group to speak, write, or publish ANYTHING of a false, scandalous and malicious nature that hurt Congress and/or the President

Sedition Act Analysis

• This was a direct attack on the First Amendment

• In late 1800, almost all major Republican newspapers charged under this act

• Where does the line of control pass the line of censorship?

• Was this just a way to hurt the enemies of the Federalist party?

Opposition to the Acts

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798) (written by Jefferson (VA) and Madison (KY)

• They argued that state legislatures could claim that acts of Congress were unconstitutional (states over federal rights)

• Federal government is just a compact of states, and should not overriding them

• States must have final say• 1799: Kentucky passed a resolution saying they

had the rights to nullify federal laws

What if a law breaks the Constitution?

• The states argued that they had the right to not follow it.

• The Supreme Court addressed this in Marbury v. Madison, 1803, saying that they had the right to declare a law unconstitutional and invalid (this has stood up ever since)

• The easy part: Republicans won easily, due to anger over the Alien and Sedition Acts

• Those acts destroyed the Federalist party

• Jefferson considered this the “Revolution of 1800”

• The hard part: Who is President, Jefferson or Burr?

• Jefferson wanted Burr to be Vice-President, so all of the ballots had BOTH of them, so they were tied!

• After 7 days and 36 ballots in the House, Jefferson won.

• 12th amendment (1804) fixed this issue so that candidates must run for either President or Vice-President, and this also ended the problem in 1796 of opposite parties in power

1800 Election

Jefferson’s Platform

• Limited central government

• More States rights and Personal Freedom

• Wanted more farmers and fewer cities

• Cut a lot of Federal spending/bureaucracy

• Almost all taxes cut (country used land sales and customs to fund the country)

• Much lower military spending

If you know your enemy is taking charge, what do you do?

• If you’re John Adams, you try to appoint tons of Federalists to judgeships in the final few hours of your term (Midnight appointments)

• Judges, as you remember, are appointed for life• Problem: One was delivered late—William Marbury as Ju

stice of the Peace in the District of Columbia• He asked the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to f

orce James Madison (Sec of State) to appoint him• In February 1803, the court said no, and said that the co

urt didn’t have the power to do so (so the law was unconstitutional)

Louisiana Purchase

• In 1800, France regained the territory due to their war with Spain

• Jefferson was afraid that France would try to start an empire in America

• He sent people to France to try to buy the territory• They found out that Napoleon had no interest in America

anymore, due to a massive slave revolt in Haiti• Napoleon sold it in April 1803 for $15,000,000 to fund th

e war in Europe• This purchase doubled the size of the United States (the

$15,000,000 in yuan: 2.50 yuan

Legal Issues of the Purchase

• Jefferson was afraid that buying it was unconstitutional, and in fact, drafted an amendment allowing it

• Fellow Republicans convinced him it was unnecessary, and just give the purchase treaty to the Senate, and they quickly passed it

• Irony: While Jefferson wanted to limit Federal power, this purchase expanded it.

The United States, 1803

More Exploration of the West

• Jefferson sent teams of Explorers to map out what they bought from France

• A famous team was Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark (Lewis and Clark)

• They left St. Louis in 1804 with 45 soldiers• They travelled 5,000km in 2 years to the

Pacific Ocean and back, due to the help of Sacajawea (Indian guide)

Lewis and Clark Map

Burr-Hamilton Duel, 1804

• Vice-President Aaron Burr and former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton

• The men had radically different visions of the US• They had personal tensions for many years• Burr found out that he would on the ballot for Vice President

in 2004, so he ran for the governor of New York instead• Hamilton campaigned heavily against Burr, which caused

Burr to lose the election• This wasn’t the first duel for either one—Hamilton had ten

duels (but no shots)• July 11, 1804—both men went to Weehawken, New Jersey

(duels were recently made illegal in New York) to fight this out

Duel Part 2

• Hamilton also was the reason that Burr was Vice-President and not President

• A letter about the campaign made Burr so angry that he offered a dual, Hamilton accepted

• July 11, 1804 was set as the date

The Art of the Duel

• They choose sides and whose second (assistant) should start the duel.

• Two shots were fired.• Usually, if both people shot into the ground, they

showed courage, and the duel was over.• Hamilton shot first, into a tree above Burr. The

“throwing away his fire” violated the do not waste fire pre-duel pledge. Burr, however, thought the bullet was an attempt to kill him.

• Burr then hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen, and he died the next day.

More Art of the Duel

• Hamilton was against the idea of dueling, in spite of his previous shotless duels.

• The eyewitnesses claim that Hamilton was trying to provoke Burr, including aiming his pistol.

• Did Hamilton have manic depression? Was he delusional? Who knows?

• Burr wasn’t a good shooter, but he clearly wanted to kill Hamilton far more than Hamilton wanted to kill Burr.

• Burr did regret it later, but not for many years.• Burr was charged with murder, but acquitted (found not guilt

y)• He went west for a while after his Vice-President position end

ed in 1805, and ultimately died in 1836 in Staten Island, New York.

• Never apologized for the shooting or to Hamilton’s family.

France and England: worse than brother and sister!

• The U.S. tried to stay neutral in yet another war between the two

• Both sides started seizing or blocking trade• Chesapeake-Leopard affair, 1807, when the

British ship (HMS Leopard) opened fire on the USS Chesapeake, after they were refused the right to board

• Jefferson made a “penny-wise, pound-foolish” decision by getting the Embargo Act of 1807 passed, which basically cut off all trade anywhere (no ships could leave the US)

• He wanted to damage the French and British economies, but the one he really damaged was the U.S. one.

USS Chesapeake

Madison and Declining Foreign Relations

• Secretary of State for Jefferson, James Madison, won the election of 1808

• Madison replaced the Embargo Act with the Non-Intercourse Act (only blocked off trade with England and France)

• Since the two biggest traders in the world were England and France, this didn’t help much

• Macon’s Bill No. 2, 1810, was another attempt to open trade. This worked off of playing both sides against each other. At first, we will trade with everyone. If you repeal restrictions on neutral shipments, we will embargo the other one!

• Napoleon did this, in order to hurt Britain.• However, these peaceful attempts aren’t working, so the

War Hawks are starting to get angry.

War Hawks!

• Leaders: John C. Calhoun (SC) and Henry Clay (KY)• They wanted war, since the economic issues had hurt

their region the most• Also, if we get into this war and win, we can get more

western land and Canada!• They were afraid that Britain would use Native

Americans in the North to fight the US—this in fact happened with Tecumseh, “the prophet” (his brother) and Ohio/Indiana

• Battle of Tippecanoe (William Henry Harrison) crushed the Indians (although he lost a lot of people too)

• Even after this, the remains of the Indians allied with Britain in the War of 1812

War of 1812• Remember that we aren’t concerned about the

battles of the war; just causes and effects• June 1812, Madison sent a message to

Congress about the British issues• Problem: The US had cut military spending so

much that they weren’t prepared• Reality; England really didn’t care, as it had

bigger wars• Ended with Treaty of Ghent, December 1814• Andrew Jackson, two weeks AFTER the treaty,

killed 2,000 troops• In reality, the war ended with exactly the same,

but the War of 1812 was good for national morale…

And the world’s worst national anthem…

• Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming; Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

In case you want to see…

Jackson at New Orleans

The Hartford Convention (1814)

• Just before the end of the war, Federalists met in Hartford to see if they can regain power for New England/economy

• Drafted 7 amendments, including eliminating the 3/5 clause, and maximum time limits for trade embargos

• The goal: give this to Madison in the middle of a deadlocked war when people hated war

• Reality: They got there just after the Treaty of Ghent and the New Orleans victory

• The people who went to Hartford were viewed as traitors

• The final straw of the death of the Federalist Party

Moderation of Republicanism

• First bank closed in 1811, after the charter ended (and the Republicans didn’t like the concept)

• After the Hartford collapse of the Federalist party, they could do some things which weren’t exactly on their platform

• Second bank chartered in 1816

• Moderate tariffs in order to protect industries

• Federal funding for internal improvements, national system of roads and canals

• Part of Henry Clay (Congress Leader)’s American System

Era of Good Feelings

• The US effectively has an one-party system post-1816

• James Monroe won easily in 1816 and 1820

• Monroe kept Madison’s nationalistic program going (but he did raise tariffs, and he preferred to act indirectly)

Transportation in America

• Before 1815, it was very difficult. There was only a limited network of colonial roads.

• 1817-1825: Completion of Erie Canal, Albany to Buffalo, NY as part of a system linking Northeast to West

• National Road, which by 1818 went from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling (later West) Virgina, also many toll roads

Canal and National Road

Economics and More Land

• A Quick economic expansion due to the tariff of 1816 and post-war prosperity

• This led to high inflation• After 1818, people

wanted fewer American goods (Europe had recovered from Napoleonic Wars), and the Panic of 1819 (to 1822) caused land values to collapse 50-75% and many people had huge debts

• Transcontinental Treaty of 1819

Spain gave up all claims to Florida, added southern border of the US to the Pacific Oceans

Therefore, America had their first legitimate claim to the west coast.

Tallmadge Amendment (1819)

• The US in 1819—11 free states, 11 slave states

• Missouri threatened to kill this balance

• Tallmadge came up with a compromise—no new slaves allowed, children of slaves born after state admission free at 25

• House approved this; the Senate did not

Missouri Compromise (1821)

• Maine applied as a free state, allowing Missouri to apply as a slave state

• Other than Missouri, slavery banned north of the southern boundary of Missouri

• Henry Clay worked out a deal where there would be no discrimination against any citizens of other states (inc. free blacks)

• This solved the problem temporarily, but not permanently.

Missouri Compromise Map

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

• Written by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams (son of the 2nd president)

• Essentially, the U.S. dominates the Western Hemisphere

• Unless our interests are involved, the U.S. is out of European Wars

• No more colonization besides what is here in North and South America

• United States viewed any European colonization as “an unfriendly act”

Coming next class:

• Election of 1824..no party—every man for himself!

• Court cases to 1865

• Age of Jackson (and what an age it was!)

• Culture to 1865 (Religion, Social Reform, Literature, American Literature)

• Trivia to 1789 (stuff you need to know for the test, but most of it is obscure)

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