Early Republic

George Washington:1st Pres, 1789-1797

•Unanimously elected; John Adams got the next highest number of votes, becomes VP

•Refused “His Majesty”, eventually decided on Mr. President as a title

•Sets up Cabinet, sets precedent even though not in Constitution

•Serves two terms, steps down after two, chooses not to run again, sets two-term precedent

•Two main figures during presidency: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton: Secretary of Treasury

• Believed in strong central government, loose interpretation of Constitution: If the Constitution doesn’t address it directly, the government can interpret how to do it

• Established national debt, assumed state debt, created National Bank and created Whiskey Tax

• Did not get along with Thomas Jefferson• Supporters known as Hamiltonians, eventually

become Federalists

Hamiltonian Economics• Report on Public Credit: Believed debt was good

for nation, proved we planned on sticking around so absorbed state debts and agreed to pay war debt at face value

• Established National Bank: Under implied powers, elasticity clause, interpreted Constitution to mean that a bank was needed to handle national funds, run by a group of appointed people

• Whiskey Tax: must be paid BEFORE whiskey made, hard on farmers, very controversial **Whiskey Rebellion

Thomas Jefferson

• Believed in strict interpretation of Constitution; if the Constitution didn’t specifically say it, feds could not do it.

• Ultimately wanted an agrarian nation of wealthy farmers

• Very against National Bank, Whiskey Tax etc. Felt government was overstretching its bounds

• Supporters become known as Jeffersonians or Anti-Federalists, soon known as Democratic-Republicans

George Washington’s Farewell Address

• Warns against two things– No political factions

• Already a split occuring between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians

– No entangling alliances• Concerned about issues starting up between

England and France again, did not believe we should get involved in other countries’ business; needed to concentrate on domestic issues

John Adams: 2nd President 1797-1801

• First “one-term” president, Federalist but not emphasized because of Washington’s Farewell Address

• Very unpopular

• Foreign Policy: Jay Treaty, XYZ affair, Quasi-War, unpopular with French

• Domestic Policy: Alien and Sedition Acts, continued to build large standing army

“Revolution” of 1800

• First peaceful transition of power from one belief system to another in history

• Switch from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans in election, very heated election

• Causes final split in friendship between Adams and Jefferson

• Ends in midnight appointments by Adams

Supreme Court battles

• Afraid that Jefferson would change policy when in office, Adams created and appointed lots of federal judges at the last minute, before he left office, so they would enforce the policies he put into place

• John Marshall appointed Chief Justice and helped Adams send out appointments. Some sent, literally, the night before Adams left office and didn’t arrive before Jefferson in charge

• Jefferson revokes appointments, suits begin

Marshall Court – Known for setting precedents within Supreme Court that are

used even today…

• Marbury v Madison (1803)– battle over midnight appts, establishes precedent of judicial review

• Fletcher v Peck (1810) –

• McCulloch v Maryland (1819) –

• Dartmouth v Woodward (1819)

• Gibbons v Ogden (1824) –

• Worcester v Georgia (1832) -