unit 7: the federalist era lesson 1: establishing the new government
TRANSCRIPT
Unit 7: The Federalist Era
Lesson 1: Establishing the New Government
Soon after the Constitution was ratified, elections were held for members of the new gov’t Then, members of the
electoral college voted for 2 people
The person with the most electoral votes
became President
The person with the second-most votes
became Vice President
Electors Select Washington
The electors overwhelmingly favored George Washington as President Why was he such a favorite? As a military hero, & as
president of the Constitutional Convention, he earned the respect, trust,
& admiration of Americans & foreigners alike
good point!
Who became the Vice President?John Adams, a
lawyer & patriot leader from Massachusetts
Other National Elections
At the same time as the electoral college elected the president,
members of Congress were also elected
Ok, so what were we talking about?
When the electoral college elected the president, members of Congress were also being elected
Members of the House were elected by the people, as they are today
Members of the Senate were chosen by the state legislatures This practice continued until
1913, when the Constitution was amended
to have senators elected by the people as well
What else happened in 1913???
Don’t whine. I put Derek Jeter in this Powerpoint, didn’t I?
Problems these new gov’t officials faced:
The U.S. was a weak country Its army was small It had no navy Frontier settlements were
being attacked by Native Americans
Pirates constantly threatened American trade
The U.S. owed money, with no way to raise it
Washington had his job cut out for him
And he wasn’t even thrilled to accept the job as our first President
Why not? He had no models to
follow He had to establish the
President’s role in the U.S. gov’t & organize the executive department
Almost everything he did in his 1st term established
a model that later presidents followed
The biggest problem Washington faced:
The national debt: the total amount a gov’t
owes on money it has borrowed To pay for the
Revolutionary War, the gov’t had borrowed millions of dollars from other countries & individual citizens
Many states were also in debt from the war
Alexander Hamilton comes up with a plan for the economy
Hamilton was a lawyer & a New York delegate to the Continental Congress
He was a Federalist because he wanted a strong federal gov’t He disagreed openly with
many members of Congress, including Thomas Jefferson, who favored strong state gov’ts
Hamilton’s Plan
He became secretary of the treasury in Washington’s Cabinet
His plan to fix the national debt called for the federal gov’t to
pay the debts owed by both the nation & the states
Many Southerners, especially James Madison, didn’t like his plan because…many Southern farmers
had sold their gov’t bonds to Northern merchants at low prices because they needed cash
Under Hamilton’s plan, federal money would go to the new owners of the bonds
So the money that used to belong to the South would go to the Northerners that now had the bonds
Another reason why many Southerners opposed Hamilton’s plan was…
they didn’t want the power of the state gov’ts
to be weakened by being dependent on the federal gov’t
Compromise
Jefferson & his Southern followers agreed to let the federal gov’t pay state debts if…
the gov’t promised to put the new national capital in the South
The new capital would be built along the Potomac River, between MD & VA
This separate territory, the District of Columbia, was created so that
no one state could claim the capital cityWhile waiting for the
new Capitol to be built, Congress made Philadelphia the capital
Another part of Hamilton’s financial plan was to have a national bank
He proposed that the bank have the following 4 duties:
1. handle the federal gov’t’s money
2. help collect tax money 3. issue paper money 4. give out loans to help the
growth of business Speaking of “Banks”
Can you think of anyone else with the last name Banks?
Why some people opposed having a national bank:
Some said that, because the Constitution didn’t give the gov’t the power to establish a national bank,
the gov’t couldn’t set one up
Also, many Southerners argued that the bank would create a wealthy upper class, because it would be helping wealthy Northern merchants
and hurting some Southern farmers
Despite these oppositions,
Bankers, investors, & Congress liked Hamilton’s plan
and in 1791, Congress passed a bill creating the Bank of the United States
Remember the first part of Hamilton’s plan?
To fix the national debt by having the federal gov’t pay the debts owed by both the nation & the states With Hamilton’s plan now
accepted, the gov’t needed a plan
to raise money to pay these war debts
The national gov’t also needed money for improvements such as bridges & highways
Name the bridge
How did the gov’t raise this money?
Hamilton wanted to have an excise tax:
a tax placed on goods made, sold, & used within the country
He also wanted to have import tariffs:
taxes on certain manufactured goods brought into the country
A Bonus from the Import Tariff
In addition to raising money, it would make foreign goods more expensive to buy This would encourage the
growth of American industries because…
more people would want to buy the cheaper American-made goods, creating more business for the American manufacturers
So the excise tax & the import tariff were passed in 1791 & 1792
The new taxes led to the Whiskey Rebellion
The new excise tax, which included a tax on whiskey that was made in the US,
angered farmers in the West
How?
Because of bad roads, it was hard for farmers who grew crops like corn & rye to ship them to marketSo instead, they came
up with the plan to turn their crops into whiskey,
which they could sell locally
The new excise tax on whiskey, though, made it harder for Americans to afford it, & thus the farmers couldn’t sell as much of it The farmers thought that
this new tax was
as unfair as the British taxes had been
What did the farmers do about it?
In 1794, farmers in western PA who refused to pay the tax started to fight with the local gov’t agentsSeveral people were
killed
Why is the Whiskey Rebellion important?
It was a test of the new federal gov’t’s power, & it passed!
Washington, angry at the farmers who thought they could disobey the gov’t,
sent in the militia, & the revolt was over
Washington’s next concern had to do with the formation of political parties
They began to develop by the end of his second term His major fear was that
the differences between the parties
would tear the country apart