Chapter 11



Chapter 11

I. Summary of John Adams

a. Alien and Sedition Acts

b. No war with France (considered greatest accomplishment)

c. Hamilton’s open criticism of Adams

d. High debt to pay for war that never happened

II. The Election of 1800

a. Federalists – John Adams – strong Central government

i. “Father of the American Navy” – for a naval build up

b. Republicans – Thomas Jefferson - State’s rights.

i. Accused of robbing a widow and children of savings, and having children out of wedlock with slave Sally Hennings, also accused of being an atheist.

c. The results – Adams (and Pickney) won the New England and the east coast, Jefferson (and Burr) won the South, West and New York. The 3/5 Compromise helped Jefferson win the election because it increased the representation in the House.

i. The TIE with Burr – a tie in the Electoral College forced a vote in the House of Representatives. The Federalists controlled the House and hated Jefferson, but Burr was even less popular. After several votes (and some coercion) Jefferson won the Electoral College vote.

ii. Adams would be the last Federalists party President and the Federalists will die away by the Presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-37)

iii. “The Revolution of 1800” – nickname for the election.

1. A Return to the spirit of the American Revolution

2. Decrease in the size of the government

3. Restore Civic Virtue

4. A Peaceful transfer of power*, and does not mean political death for losing party. (significance of election)

III. The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson – full of paradox and personal conflict

a. Inauguration Day – March 4, 1801 – “The will of the majority is in all cases, to prevail. The will to be rightful must be reasonable; the minority possesses their equal rights.”

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

c. “honest friendships with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

d. Unconventional behavior – did not want to seem like a monarch.

e. Kept a number of the Federalists in office to show moderation and willingness to treat the opposition fairly.

f. Those prosecuted under the Alien and Sedition Acts were pardoned and their fines repaid.

g. 1802 New Naturalization Law – reduced residency requirements back down to five years.

h. Repealed the Excise (Whiskey) tax - *left the government short $1 million annually.

i. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin – Harvard professor, US Representative for Pennsylvania, member of Finance Committee. “Watchdog of the Treasury” was able to balance the budget, saw the debt as a curse, not a blessing.

i. Hamilton’s Policies left in place

1. Funding at the par

2. Assumption of state debt

3. Bank of the US

4. Protective tariffs

IV. The Adams Legacy – Federalist Judges

a. The “Midnight Judges” – Adams appointed 16 judges during the final days of his Presidency. These judges would be strong Federalists, and have lifetime appointment. The Judiciary Act of 1801. They will have the power to interpret laws for many years.

b. Jefferson complained that this was in “open defiance of the people’s will” and the incoming Congress repealed the act and the 16 judges appointments.

i. The Supreme Court Chief Justice – John Marshall (Federalists – needed strong government)

1. Marbury v. Madison (1803)

At the end of his term, Federalist President John Adams appointed William Marbury as justice of the peace for the District of Columbia. The Secretary of State, John Marshall (yes - the same person who later became Chief Justice) failed to deliver the commission to Marbury and left that task to the new Secretary of State, James Madison. Upon his inauguration, Thomas Jefferson told Madison not to deliver the commissions. Marbury filed suit and asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus, or a court order which would require Madison to deliver the commission.

In his opinion, Chief Justice Marshall said that while Marbury was entitled to the commission, the Supreme Court did not have the power to issue the writ of mandamus. This was because the Judiciary Act of 1789, the act written by Congress which authorized the Supreme Court the to issue such writs, was unconstitutional. Thus, the Court gave up the power to issue writs, but affirmed their power of judicial review, saying that if a law written by the legislature conflicts with the Constitution, the law is "null and void."

2. Significance – set the precedent for “judicial review” – Supreme Court has final authority over interpretation of all laws. Made Jefferson angry – he thought it was a state’s rights issue.

3. Jefferson’s Reponse – Tried to remove Justice Chase

a. Prosecutor

United States

Defendant

Samuel Chase, U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice

Plaintiff's Claim

That Chase should be removed from his post for committing "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" within the meaning of Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution.

Prosecutors

"Trial managers" John Randolph, Caesar Rodney

Chief Defense Lawyers

Robert Goodloe Harper, Joseph Hopkinson, Luther Martin

Judges

The U.S. Senate, with Vice-President Aaron Burr presiding

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

1 March 1805

Decision

Chase was found not guilty and was allowed to remain in his post.

*Significance

Congress for the first and only time exercised its constitutional prerogative to try a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

V. Thomas Jefferson – Reluctant Warrior

a. Feelings about the military

i. Reduce the size to 2,500 men and 200 boats (thought a standing army represented a dictatorship – navies were less of a threat)

ii. Use diplomacy, not war “Peaceful coercion”

b. Forced into war?

i. US ships were being attacked by pirates of the Barbary States (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania) in the Mediterranean Sea. We had been buying “protection”.

ii. By the time Thomas Jefferson was appointed president (1801) the situation had changed: a treaty had been signed ending naval war between the US and France, and the American ship George Washington, transporting the yearly tribute to Algiers, had been ordered to sail on to Constantinople to deliver the money directly to the Ottoman sultan. (To add to the humiliation, Captain William Bainbridge was instructed to fly the Ottoman flag whilst in harbor at Algiers.) America had, by this time, paid over $2,000,000 in tribute and ransom to the Barbary States - but this was only one-fifth of what was expected.

iii. Angered by delayed and undersized payments the Barbary State regents demanded more. The escalating situation was finally brought to a head by the Pasha of Tripolitania, Yusuf Karamanli. On May 14, 1801, he ordered the flag staff (flying the 'Stars and Stripes') standing in front of the US consulate to be cut down. This symbolic act was taken as a declaration of war against America.

iv.

While Preble was bombarding Tripoli, the American Consul to Tunis, William Eaton, was hatching a plot. Eaton was not sympathetic to the demands of the Barbary States. In June 1799 he wrote to the US Secretary of State describing the character of the local Muslim population:

"Taught by revelation that war with the Christians will guarantee the salvation of their souls, and finding so great secular advantages in the observance of this religious duty [i.e. keeping captured cargoes] their inducements to desperate fighting are very powerful."

Eaton, with additional support from James Cathcart, proposed to President Jefferson that they should back Hamet Karamanli, the elder brother of the current Pasha and the rightful heir to the regency, in a military coup.

On the 25th of April they received limited supplies (they were particularly short of munitions) and funds (not enough to pay the mercenaries) at a rendezvous with the ships just down the coast from Derna. Two days later, April 27, they attacked.

Recorded as the first land engagement of American troops outside the American continent, the battle at Derna has a particular place in the memory of the United States Marine Corps. The trek across the desert is commemorated in the first verse of the Marines' Hymn: "to the shores of Tripoli".

a new treaty was being worked out with Yusuf Karamanli. Colonel Tobias Lear, Consul General to the Regency of Algiers, listened to the "overtures of peace" being made by the Pasha. The treaty, signed on June 4 1805, provided Yusuf Karamanli with $60,000 for the release of Captain Bainbridge and the crew of the Philadelphia, but Yusuf's reduced circumstances were reflected in the lack of any treaty payment or any agreement to pay further tributes. The treaty was signed by both parties in the main cabin of the Constitution.

VI. Louisiana Purchase

A. 1800 Bonaparte secretly receives the trans-Mississippi region from Spain

B. 1802 Spain took away our rights of deposit in New Orleans.

C. Jefferson feared having to fight a strong France, they might need to seek alliances.

D. 1803 Jefferson sends Monroe and Livingston to France to negotiate the purchase of Louisiana plus as much to the east as they can for $10 million max. If no agreement can be reached, go to Britain and seek an alliance.

E. April 30, 1803 France decides to sell America all of Louisiana plus land to the west for $15 million. 828,000 square miles at 3 cents an acre.

a. Reasons:

i. Failed to reconquer Haiti – New Orleans had been the supply line for Haiti

1. Toussaint L’Overture – “The Opener” lead a slave revolt in 1791. Yellow fever depleted the French military so Bonaparte gave up.

ii. To end the fighting with Britain he might need to give it up, so he would rather sell it to the US then give it to Britain.

b. Jefferson’s views:

i. Knew he did not have the authority to make such a purchase.

ii. What a blessing – to be a “Valley of Democracy” – a western agrarian society.

F. The Expedition of Lewis and Clark – 1804 – 2 ½ year journey to Pacific Coast

a. Meriweather Lewis – personal secretary to Jefferson

b. William Clark – army officer, plus 33 men

c. Corps of Discovery – Started at Missouri River (1804-05), to North Dakota, through the Rocky Mountains to Columbia River and to Pacific Coast.

G. Zebulon Pike – Explorer who went west in 1850-06. Through modern day Santa Fe and Taos.

VII. Aaron Burr – Traitor?

c. Vice President during Jefferson’s first term, dropped during second term, replaced with George Clinton (Anti-Federalist who openly denounced the Constitution. Also VP under James Madison, first VP to die in office 1812 of heart attack).

d. Plot to have New England and New York secede from the union – Hamilton exposed the plot.

e. Burr challenges Hamilton to a duel – July 11, 1804 Burr fatally wounds Hamilton (died July 12)

f. In the summer of 1806, Gen. James Wilkinson dispatched Lt. Zebulon Pike to conduct an exploratory expedition of the Southwest. Wilkinson did so without consulting the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Here the intrigue begins. Wilkinson, governor of the Territory of Louisiana and commanding officer of the United States Army, was at the same time on the payroll of the Spanish government. By the time of the Pike expedition, Wilkinson had, in collusion, with Aaron Burr, concocted a scheme to establish an empire in the Southwest made up of trans-Appalachian states and conquered Mexico.

g. 1806 - Assembled boats, supplies, and men at Blennerhassett’s Island. Burr and sixty men set out to join Wilkinson near Natchez. Burr’s and Dayton’s coded letters were then underway to Wilkinson alerting him to be ready to move on Mexico. Wilkins revealed scheme to President Jefferson.

h. 1807 - Surrendered to authorities in Natchez, jumped bail, and fled to Spanish Florida. Intercepted, arrested, and taken to Richmond.

i. Tried for treason – found not guilty, fled to France and tried to get Bonaparte to join with Britain to invade America.

VIII. America – Stuck between a rock and a hard place

a. 1803 – Napoleon re-starts war with Britain

b. 1806 – Britain issues “Orders in Council” – Close Europe ports to ships unless the ships stopped in Britain. 1808-1811 arrested 6000 citizens.

c. Napoleon’s Response – ordered the seizure of any merchant ship that entered British ports.

d. The outcome – America couldn’t trade with Britain or France.

e. The Chesapeake Incident - H.M.S. Leopard stops the U.S. Chesapeake, demands to search for four British deserters, Chesapeake refuses; British open fire. 3 U.S. sailors killed, 18 wounded. 3 U.S. citizens were impressed into British navy. A fourth was hung as a British deserter. Results: President Jefferson calls for embargo against Britain. U.S. angry with U.K.

(The Leopard fooled the Chesapeake into stopping by claiming they had mail they wanted delivered to Europe. The Chesapeake had left in such a hurry they had buried their gunpowder and lighting fuses under other supplies. When the fighting started, they only managed to return one shot, when a sailor lit the powder by picking up a live coal from the cooking fire with his bare hands.)

f. The Embargo Act of 107 - Law passed by Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. This law stopped all trade between America and any other country. The goal was to get Britain and France, who were fighting each other at the time, to stop restricting American trade. The Act backfired, and the American people suffered. The Act was ended in 1809.

i. Effects:

1. economic depression, supplies piled up, unemployment up, illegal smuggling along Canadian border, Federalist Party Revival

IX. The 1808 Election

a. James Madison (Demo-Republican)

b. Charles Pinckney (Federalist)

c. George Clinton (Demo-Republican)

d. End to the Embargo Non-Intercourse Act – March 1, 1809. Re-opened trade with everyone except Britain and France (1809-1812)

i. Reasons for failure:

1. Good crops in Britain – didn’t need US

2. New trade with Latin America

3. Bonaparte stole what he wanted from US ships

4. underestimated Britain’s stubbornness

5. overestimated reliance on US goods

e. James Madison’s dilemma – Embargo due to expire in 1810, what to do? March 4, 1809

i. Macon’s Bill No 2 – If either nation would repeal their restrictions (Orders in Council) the US would open trade.

ii. Napoleon’s response – If Britain would lift their trade restrictions, France would end theirs (it was a lie). Trying to get the US to trade with France.

iii. Madison’s action – accepted the offer and gave Britain three months to act. Britain refused to let the US trade with anyone except them. Embargo is back!

X. Tecumseh and the Prophet – Shawnee brothers who wanted to end White domination, being backed by Britain.

a. War Hawks – members of new 12th congress from S and W who hated Britain and Indians and felt threatened in the West. Goal – “White Flood” out west

b. Fall 1811 Indiana territory Governor William Henry Harrison (President 1841- for 32 days) pushed into IN near Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers.

Following the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in summer 1795, relative peace prevailed between the white settlers and the natives of the Old Northwest. The Washington and Adams administrations at least paid lip service to the terms of the treaty, but Thomas Jefferson (the great agrarian philosopher) sought additional lands for American farmers through a series of purchases from the tribes. Not all the frontiersmen bothered with the niceties of treaties and simply occupied Indian lands illegally.

Not without reason, resentment among the tribes ran high. In 1808, Tecumseh, a Shawnee chieftain, and his brother Tenskwatawa (known to the Americans as The Prophet) launched a reform movement among their people. They attempted to end the sale of additional lands to the whites and to resist alcohol and other troublesome temptations of the competing culture.

A new native settlement was built at the confluence of the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers (north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana) and became known as Prophet’s Town. The village became the focal point of Tecumseh’s effort to rally the tribes east of the Mississippi River in the hope of halting the spread of white settlements.

William Henry Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory and superintendent of the Northwest Indians. Fearing the growing strength of Tecumseh’s confederacy, Harrison decided to strike quickly.

He marched an army of 1,100 men along the Wabash toward Prophet’s Town. Tecumseh was temporarily out of the area on a recruiting venture among the Creeks in the south, but his brother prepared the men for battle with fiery oratory — including promises that they could not be harmed by the white men’s bullets.

Shortly before dawn on November 7, 1811, Harrison’s soldiers were attacked. After a two-hour battle, the natives were forced to flee and their village — the gathering spot of the confederacy — was destroyed. Some military historians regard the Battle of Tippecanoe as a draw, but note that it held important ramifications:

XI. The safety of the white settlements in the Indiana Territory became markedly improved.

XII. The Prophet was discredited as a leader because of his inability to ensure the promised invincibility from the opponents' bullets and also because he had violated Tecumseh's earlier counsel to hold off any armed confrontation until his return.

XIII. The confederation of the eastern tribes disintegrated.

XIV. The bitterly disappointed Tecumseh, who did not return to Indiana for another three months, remained an implacable foe of the American settlers. He would later become allied with the British and participate in the War of 1812.

XV. William Henry Harrison emerged with a reputation as the hero of Tippecanoe, an image that he would use to his political advantage in later years.

XI. Mr. Madison’s War – June 1, 1812 President asks Congress to declare war against Britain.

a. Causes of War of 1812

|Napolean excludes British goods from |1806 |Europe |American ships caught in middle as British respond with | |

|"fortress Europe" | | |blockade. British seize 1000 U.S. ships, French ca. 500. | |

|British impress American sailors |1803-1812 |High seas |British captains took over 10,000 American citizens to man | |

| | | |ships. | |

|Chesapeake -Leopard fight |June 1807 |3 miles off Norfolk, |Chesapeake fired on by Leopard after refusing to be boarded. 3 | |

| | |Virginia |Americans killed, 18 wounded. | |

|Embargo Act |December 1807 |Washington, D.C. |Jefferson's attempt at "peaceful coercion" resulted in economic| |

| | | |disaster for merchants. | |

|War Hawks elected to Congress |1810 |U.S. |Calhoun, Clay, others bothered by insults to U.S. and Indian | |

| | | |presence | |

|Battle of Tippecanoe |1811 |Ohio River Valley |Tecumseh's brother (the Prophet) led attack on Harrison's army | |

| | | |of 1000. | |

|Congress declares "Mr. Madison's War" | | | | |

b.

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