Chapter Eight

The New Nation, 1786–1800

Chapter Focus Questions

1. What tensions and conflicts existed between local and national authorities in the decades after the American Revolution?

2. What struggles were experienced in the drafting of the Constitution and to achieving its ratification?

3. How was the first national government established under the Constitution?

4. How did American political parties begin?5. What were the first stirrings of an authentic

American national culture?

American Communities:

A Rural Massachusetts Community Rises in Defense

Shays’ Rebellion1. Several hundred farmers from Pelham and scores of other

rural communities of western Massachusetts converged on courthouse in Northampton

2. This occurred at a time of great economic depression which hit farmers hardest

3. The state raised property tax to pay off state debt- tax was considerably more oppressive than those levied by British

4. Two thirds of those who marched had been sued for debt or spent time in debtor’s prison- the people were looking for state relief

5. The people rose up in defense of their property and state and federal governments were forced to reevaluate the distribution of power

A mocking pamphlet of 1787 pictured Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck, two leaders of Shays’ Rebellion. The artist gives them uniforms, a flag, and artillery, but the rebels were actually an unorganized group of farmers armed only with clubs and simple muskets. When the rebellion was crushed, Shattuck was wounded and jailed, and Shays, along with many others, left Massachusetts. He fled to a remote region of Vermont and then settled in New York. SOURCE:National Portrait Gallery,Smithsonian Institution/Art Resource,NY.

8.1:

The Crisis Of The 1780s

A. Economic Crisis

1. Economic problems like wartime inflation plagued the nation.

2. After the war the key problem was depression. 3. Britain dumped its surplus goods in American

markets, creating a trade imbalance that drew hard currency out of the United States.

4. Repayment of debt became both a political and economic problem.

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 resulting 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.” SOURCE:John McCusker,“How Much Is That in Real Money?” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , N.S.102 (1992):297 –359.

FIGURE 8.2 The Trade Deficit with Great Britain The American trade deficit with Great Britain rose dramatically with the conclusion of the Revolution. SOURCE:Historical Statistics of the United States (Washington,DC: Government Printing Office,1976),1176.

B. State Remedies 1. States erected high tariffs to curb imports and protect infant

industries but these were easily evaded by shippers.2. The most controversial economic remedies were designed

to relieve debt burden.3. Farmers called for laws to require creditors to accept goods

and commodities and had laws passed requiring them to accept nearly worthless state paper currency.

4. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion broke out in western Massachusetts when farmers closed down courts to prevent debt executions.

5. A militia from eastern Massachusetts crushed the rebellion.6. Conservatives concluded it was time “to clip the wings of a

mad democracy.”

C. Movement Toward a New National Government

1. Nationalists, generally drawn from the economic elite, argued for a stronger central government to deal with the economic crisis of the 1780s.

2. Invited by the Virginia legislature, representatives from five states met in Annapolis, calling for a convention to propose changes in the Articles of Confederation. Congress endorsed a convention for revising the Articles of Confederation.

8.2:

The New Constitution

A. The Constitutional Convention

1. Fifty-five delegates from twelve states assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787.

2. Conflicts arose between large and small states, and free and slave states.

3. The Great Compromise provided a middle ground for agreement by:

a. a bicameral legislature that had one house based on population and one representing all states equally; and

b. a compromise on free-state and slave-state interests by agreeing to count five slaves as three freemen.

4. To insulate the election of the president from the popular vote, a electoral college was created to select a president.

George Washington presides over a session of the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia’s State House (now known as Independence Hall) in an engraving of 1799. SOURCE:Free Library of Philadelphia.

B. Ratifying the Constitution

1. Supporters of the Constitution called themselves Federalists.

2. Anti-Federalist opponents feared the Constitution gave too much power to the central government and that a republic could not work well in a large nation.

3. James Madison, Alexander, Hamilton, and John Jay published the influential The Federalist that helped secure passage.

C. Ratifying the New ConstitutionMAP 8.1 The Ratification of the

Constitution, 1787–90 The distribution of the vote for the ratification of the Constitution demonstrated its wide support 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.)

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. SOURCE:Collection of The New

York Historical Society.

D. The Bill of Rights

1. Several states including Virginia, agreed to ratification only if a bill of rights would be added.

2. The first ten amendments, better known as the Bill of Rights to the Constitution served to restrain the growth of governmental power over citizens.

8.3:

The First Administration

A. The Washington Presidency

1. George Washington preferred that his title be a simple “Mr. President” and dressed in plain republican broadcloth.

2. Congress established the Departments of States, Treasury, War, and Justice, the heads of which coalesced into the Cabinet.

B. An Active Federal Judiciary

1. The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the federal court system.

2. States maintained their individual bodies of law. 3. Federal courts became the appeals bodies,

establishing the federal system of judicial review of state legislation.

4. Localists supported the Eleventh Amendment that prevented states from being sued by non-citizens.

C. Hamilton’s Controversial Fiscal Program

1. In 1790, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton submitted a series of financial proposals to address America’s economic problems including:

a. a controversial credit program that passed when a compromise located the nation’s capital on the Potomac River

b. creating a Bank of the United States that opponents considered an unconstitutional expansion of power

c. a protective tariff to develop an industrial economy

2. The debate of Hamilton’s loose construction and Jefferson’s strict construction strained the Federalist coalition.

D. The Beginnings of Foreign Policy

1. Foreign affairs further strained Federalist coalition. 2. Americans initially welcomed the French Revolution,

but when the Revolution turned violent and war broke out with Britain, public opinion divided.

3. Though both sides advocated neutrality, Hamilton favored closer ties with Britain while Jefferson feared them.

4. The “Citizen Genet” incident led Washington to issue a neutrality proclamation that outraged Jefferson’s supporters.

E. The United States and the Indian Peoples

1. A pressing “foreign” problem concerned Indians who refused to accept United States sovereignty over them.

2. The Indian Intercourse Act made treaties the only legal way to obtain Indian lands.

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.

F. Spanish Florida and British Canada

1. Spanish and British hostility threatened the status of the United States in the West.

2. The Spanish closed the Mississippi River to American shipping, promoted immigration, and forged alliances with Indian tribes to resist American expansion.

3. Britain granted greater autonomy to its North American colonies, strengthened Indian allies, and constructed a defensive buffer against Americans.

G. Domestic and International Crisis

1. By 1794, the government faced a crisis over western policy.

2. Western farmers were refusing to pay the whiskey tax.

3. An army sent into western Pennsylvania ended the Whiskey Rebellion.

4. General Anthony Wayne defeated the Ohio Indians, leading to the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 and the cession of huge amounts of land by the Ohio Indians.

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 mobilization of federal military power dramatically demonstrated the federal commitment to the preservation of the Union and the protection of the western boundary. SOURCE: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.Dimensions:18-1/8 x 23-1/8.Courtesy of Winterthur Museum.

H. Jay's and Pinckney's Treaties

1. The Jay Treaty resolved several key disputes between the United States and Britain. Opponents held up the treaty in the House until Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain granted them sovereignty in the West.

2. The political battles over the Jay Treaty brought President Washington off his nonpartisan pedestal.

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, effectively closing the Mississippi River. This dispute was settled by Pinckney’s Treaty in 1795.

I. Washington’s Farewell Address

1. In his farewell address, Washington summed up American foreign policy goals as:

a. peace;

b. commercial relations;

c. friendship with all nations; and

d. no entangling alliances.

7.4:

Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans

A. The Rise of Political Parties

1. During the debate over Jay’s Treaty, shifting coalitions began to polarize into political factions.

2. Hamilton’s supporters claimed the title “Federalist.” 3. Thomas Jefferson’s supporters called themselves

“Republicans.” 4. These coalitions shaped the election of 1796, which John

Adams narrowly won.5. Jefferson, the opposition’s candidate, became vice

president.

B. The Adams Presidency

1. Relations with France deteriorated after Jay’s Treaty.

2. When France began seizing American shipping, the nation was on the brink of war. The X, Y, Z Affair made Adams’s popularity soar.

C. The Alien and Sedition Acts

1. The Federalists pushed through the Alien and Sedition Acts that:

a. severely limited freedoms of speech and of the press; andb. threatened the liberty of foreigners.

2. Republicans organized as an opposition party. 3. Federalists saw opposition to the administration as opposition

to the state and prosecuted leading Republican newspaper editors.

4. Jefferson and Madison drafted the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves that threatened to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

In this contemporary cartoon, Congressional Pugilists, Congress Hall in Philadelphia, February 15, 1798, Roger Griswold, a Connecticut Federalist, uses his cane to attack Matthew Lyon, a Vermont Democratic Republican, who retaliates with fire tongs. During the first years of the American republic, there was little understanding of the concept of a “loyal opposition,” and disagreement with the policy of the Federalist administrationwas misconstrued as disloyalty. SOURCE:Collection of The New York Historical Society.

D. The Revolution of 1800

1. Adams bid for re-election was weakened by:1. Hamilton’s dispute with Adams; and2. the Federalists becoming identified with oppressive

war-mongering.

2. In the election of 1800, the Federalists waged a defensive struggle calling for strong central government and good order.

3. By controlling the South and the West, Jefferson won the election.

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.

E. Democratic Political Culture

1. The rise of partisan politics greatly increased popular participation.

2. American politics became more competitive and democratic.

3. Popular celebrations became common and suffrage increased.