Agenda Vocab and Notes: The Founding Fathers and Their Young Nation- 5.1 The Federalist Era- Testing a New Government

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I. The Federalist Era-

Testing a New

Government

(1789-1801)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r161cLYzuDI

Essential Question: How did President Washington set the course of the new nation?

A. The Cabinet: Is that where you

store the “Unwritten Constitution”?

1. The what’s up…

a. President Washington was given a big job, and no help

- he appointed a group of advisors to inform him on a variety of topics

- even though it was not mentioned in the Constitution, this Cabinet was important to the running of the U.S. government

Define: Cabinet: ???

Define: Cabinet: a council that advises a president

b. In 1789 Congress created the first three executive departments

- State: dealt with diplomats and international affairs

b. In 1789 Congress created the first three executive departments

- War: ran the military, stepped in when State messed up

Class Discussion: Does the Department of War still exist?

b. In 1789 Congress created the first three executive departments

- Treasury: raised money and paid the bills

c. Within month Congress also established the Department of Justice

- Justice ensures that laws are enforced

Fun Fact: The head of each of these departments is known as a “Secretary”. The only exception is the head of the Justice Department, who is called the Attorney General.

2. Selecting the Cabinet

a. The President gets to select his own Cabinet members

- he can choose them based on skills, political preference, personal reasons, almost anything

b. As part of the Constitutions checks and balances, the appointments must be confirmed by the Senate

Define: Confirmed: ???

Define: Confirmed: to be approved by the Senate

Fun Fact: Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention that the President should have a “Cabinet”, yet one has existed since George Washington was elected. This is part of the “Unwritten Constitution”.

c. The Unwritten Constitution are common practices of the federal government that are not specifically written in the Constitution, but many have been around since the 1790s

i.e.

two-term limits for the President,

the President’s Cabinet,

judicial review,

the electoral college voting how they do,

political parties,

and Congressional committees

B. Cabinet Positions

1. The what’s up…

a. Since the Cabinet wasn’t written into the Constitution, there was little actual law about what they were responsible for or how they should function

> How many Cabinet positions were there in 1789?

Four

> How many Cabinet positions are there today?

Fifteen, with lotsa other agencies attached directly to the President

C. Alexander Hamilton’s

Economic Plan

1. The what’s up…

a. As new Treasury secretary, Hamilton faced enormous problems

- the U.S. owed a lot of coin to foreign governments (wars are not cheap)

- private banks and people also lent a lot of money to us

- former soldiers were owed back pay and other benefits

2. Hamilton also wanted to absorb all of the war related state debt, allowing the states a clean start

a. He wanted this debt to be paid off as quickly as possible

- Hamilton figured this would more closely tie the states to the federal government

- He tasked the Treasury with bringing in more revenue

Define: Revenue: ???

Define: Revenue: the income from taxes and tariffs

- about the only way to do this at the time was through tariffs on imported goods

b. Paying off the states debts caused a lot of arguing

- Northern States had greater debts that Southern ones

Big Question: Why do you think Northern States owed more that the South?

- The South would then basically have to pay more than they initially owed, the North less

c. Hamilton needed Southern representatives in Congress to agree to this, so he made some promises

- the big promise was to move the nation’s capital to the South by 1800

Fun Fact: Today our nation’s capital is in Washington, D.C., on the Maryland and Virginia border, which were both considered Southern States at the time.

3. The National Bank

a. Hamilton wanted to set up a central bank which would control credit and make loans to the government

Fun Fact: This National Bank was not for normal citizens to open passbook savings accounts and make deposits into. It was supposed to act as the middleman between the U.S. government and the people and groups it owed money to, or wanted to borrow money from. The closest we have to this today is the Federal Reserve, established in 1913.

- this is only the first of several attempts by the federal government to set up a central bank

D. Imposing New Taxes

1. The what’s up…

a. Unlike the Article of Confederation, the Constitution gave Congress the power to tax

- the federal government would no longer have to beg the states for the funding it needed

b. Hamilton proposed a new tariff on imported goods

c. In 1791, Congress passed the first excise tax

Define: Excise Tax: ???

Define: Excise Tax: a tax on the production and sale of a certain product

- the 1791 excise tax was mainly on whiskey

Essential Question: How did President Washington set the course of the new nation?