The 1790sThe CRITICAL PERIOD

Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson

The Political Crisis of the 1790s

• Washington’s Presidential Precedents

• Hamilton’s Financial Program

• Foreign Policy Issues - Crises

• The Rise of Political Parties

• Constitutional Crises, 1798–1800

Washington’s Presidency (1789-1797): Defining the Executive Office

• Unanimous Electoral College vote

• Inaugurated March, 1789 in New York

• Organized new departments (His “cabinet”:– Thomas Jefferson - State– Alexander Hamilton - Treasury– Henry Knox - War– Edmund Randolph - Attorney

General

• Judiciary Act of 1789 - established the Supreme Court, 13 district courts and 3 Appellate courts

Implementing the Constitution

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Alexander Hamilton• Born on Caribbean island of

Nevis, adopted state - New York

• Revolutionary War - Gen. Washington’s aide-de-camp

• Brilliant and (perhaps) a little arrogant

• First Secretary of the Treasury• Ardent Nationalist

Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan• Three parts:

– 1790 Report on Public Credit - Pay off debt

– 1791 Report on Manufactures - Protect industry and impose high tariffs

– 1790 Report on a National Bank

• Congress adopted all three with some modifications– Debt - Fed gov’t assumed state debts.

– Tariffs - Too low so AH pressed for internal excise tax on whiskey

– Bank - privately owned, US gov’t major shareholder, common US currency could be printed

Alexander Hamilton…• Hamilton’s interpretation of the

Constitution regarding the bank was “broad” (meanings could be interpreted more freely)

• His financial expertise and vision were highly successful but also very divisive politically

• Attempted to connect wealthy citizens to government

Hamilton’s Financial Structure:Supported by Revenues (Incomes)

Figure 7.2 Hamilton’s Fiscal Structure, 1792 (p. 211)

Hamilton’s Financial Plan

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The Whiskey Rebellion - July 1794• Hamilton’s plan

included an excise tax on domestic whiskey

• Western Pennsylvania farmers - excise tax too burdensome

• Washington raised militia of 13,000 to put down the rebellion.

• Rebels dispersed when Washington reached the Appalachians.

• Washington asserted national authority over regional issues

American Posts Held by the British After 1783

Spanish & British Influence After 1783

Jay’s Treaty - 1794 (w/ Britain)• US protested British

practice of impressment (capturing and forcing sailors into the BR navy)

• Actual treaty did nothing about this

• BR agreed to evacuate western forts

• Very unpopular - but maintained American neutrality

Pinckney’s Treaty - 1795 (w/ Spain)

• Treaty with Spain • Opened port of New

Orleans to American shipping - duty free

• Spain accepted US claim to Florida’s N boundary (present day Mississippi, Alabama and parts of several other states)

Native Americans in the Ohio Valley• British instigating and

providing weapons to tribes

• 1794 - General “Mad” Anthony Wayne: Battle of Fallen Timbers– Shawnee, Wyandot tribes

defeated

– Chief Little Turtle defeated

• 1795 - Treaty of Greenville: – Natives surrendered claims

to the Ohio Valley

– Opened Old Northwest to settlement

US Expansion:New States admitted in the 1790s

• Vermont - 1791

• Kentucky - 1792

• Tennessee - 1796

French Revolution - Citizen Genet• 1789-1794• G.Washington issues

Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)– To keep the young country

out of war

• Federalists oppose USsupport of FR Revolution

• Jeffersonian Republicans support FR Revolution

• Citizen Genet controversy - French Minister to US appealed to US people directly to support FR Rev

Regarding the French Revolution…

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Election of 1796

• John Adams (Federalist ‘party’) - president (most electoral votes)

• Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican ‘party’) - vice-president (second most electoral votes)

John Adams - 2nd President

• Massachusetts

• Revolutionary generation

• Founding Father

• 1796-1800

• Federalist - favored a strong central government and promotion of national interests.

Election of John Adams

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The XYZ Affair - 1798

• US = Pro-British policy• French seized American merchant vessels• Talleyrand (FR ambassador) solicited a loan and

bribe in order for FR to stop• FR agents “X, Y, and Z” under authority from

Talleyrand• 1798 Congress cut off trade w/ France• Beginning of an ‘undeclared naval war’ with

France (aka the Quasi-War)

The XYZ Affair•“Millions for defense, not one cent for Tribute!”

Quasi-War with France (1798-1800)• Undeclared naval war for control of the Caribbean• US forces seized 93 French ‘privateers’ [pirates] in the

Caribbean --- US lost just one ship.• French - nuisance at sea but no longer a serious threat by 1799.

Alien and Sedition Acts

• Federalist proposals to protect national security in war with France

• Adams deferred to Federalist leaders who wanted these laws.

• 4 laws total - Sedition Act most controversial• Republicans claimed these were to silence the

opposition in the press

Summary of Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Alien Enemies Act President may, in case of war, deport aliens of an enemy country or impose severe restraints on them.

Alien Friends Act President may deport any alien he views as “dangerous to the peace and safety of the U.S.” No trial or evidence required. No defense.

Naturalization Act To be eligible for citizenship, an alien must prove 14 years of residence within the United States (previously 5 years).

Summary of Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Sedition Act 1) Illegal to conspire to oppose any measure or to impede the operation of any law of the United States.

2) Illegal for any person to write print or publish “any false, scandalous and malicious writing . . . . against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress . . . or the President . . . with intent to defame or to bring them into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them the hatred of the good people of the United States.

Justification for Alien & Sedition Acts

“The United States . . . were threatened with actual invasion . . . and had then, within the bosom of the country, thousands of aliens, who, we doubt not, were ready to cooperate in any external attack.”

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: 1798-99

• Response to the Alien and Sedition Acts

• Articulated the doctrine of “State’s Rights”

• Madison (anonymously) wrote the Virginia Resolution

• Jefferson (anonymously) wrote the Kentucky Resolution

• Introduced the idea of interposition and “nullification” - states could nullify federal laws deemed objectionable

• First muted thoughts of secession by a state…

Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans (1798)

Issue Federalists Democratic-Republicans

Economy? Manufacturing Agrarian (farming)

National Bank? Bank (helps manufacturing)

No Bank (too much federal power)

Interpret Constitution?

Broadly (is it expressly forbidden?)

Strictly (is it expressly permitted?)

Balance of Power?

National Authority States’ Rights

Foreign Policy? Pro-British Pro-French

Election of 1800 - The Revolution of 1800

• Jefferson wins– Vice President Aaron Burr

• “We are all Federalists, we are all Republicans.”

• Adams concedes - Peacefully• Tense and highly charged election• Revolutionary - peaceful transfer of power

from one party to another - without bloodshed and war

• Led to 12th amendment

Quasi-War with France

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