Chp 8 Identifications

President III: Thomas Jefferson

● After the French Revolution passed, Jefferson took office and believed what
Americans needed was to recognize they agreed on essentials and that they were all
federalists (federal union) and republicans (representative govt.).
● Jefferson quickly saw his popularity rise in his first term and loosened Federalists’ grip
on the federal stage. Jefferson was guided by not only political calculations, but also
by his philosophy of government, which became known as Jeffersonianism.
● Jefferson could read French, Latin, Greek, and several Native languages!
● He served as president of America’s greatest scientific association, the American
Philosophical Society. He designed his mansion, oversaw its construction, and
invented a device for duplicating letters as well as an improved revolving book-stand.
● Furthermore, he was the main author of the Declaration of Independence,
governor of Virginia, ambassador to France, Secretary of State under Washington,
and Vice President under John Adams.
● On the other hand, he was a controversial figure. He was portrayed as a radical for
his early support of the French Revolution. Federalists named Sally Hemings, a
house slave, as a slave mistress, pointing out the critical timing of his visits. It is
likely at least one of her four sons was his son. Because he condemned “race-
mixing” he was charged as a hypocrite.
● Jefferson believed blacks and whites could not permanently live side by side. He
believed high taxes, standing armies, and corruption could destroy American liberty,
and to prevent tyranny, he gave state govts. considerable amounts of power.
● Finally, he believed that the most virtuous people were edeucated farmers who could
act independently. Cities were the place of mobs and menaces to liberty as people
would become dependent on one another and “become corrupt as in Europe.”

Lowering expenditures
● Background Info: Hamilton’s economic program and Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts
increased national debt by $10m.
● Jefferson condemned Hamilton’s policy, stating even interests were taking money
from farmers and putting them in the hands of the rich.
● Jefferson and Secretary of State, Gallatin, slashed expenditures by urging Congress
to repeal many taxes, closing some embassies overseas, and reducing the army.
● They placed economy ahead of military, and concluded 16 years would make the
administration debt-free.
● While lowering expenditures, Jefferson was ready to use the navy to gain respect.
● In 1801, he ordered a naval squadron to fight the Tripolitan (or Barbary) pirates
in the Mediterranean. For centuries, these people had solved their economic
problems by piracy and extorted tribute in exchange for protection. Jefferson
calculated going to war would be cheaper, and although the US suffered, they came
away with a peace treaty in 1805. The war cost about half of what US had been
paying annually.

Judiciary Act of 1801

● Background Info: Washington and Adams had appointed only Federalists, and not a
single Republican sat on the federal judiciary level when Jefferson came to office.
Also making Jefferson bitter were the Alien and Sedition Acts.
● Before Jefferson became president, Federalists implemented the Judiciary Act of 1801
reducing the number of Supreme Court justices from 6 to 5, and adding 16 new
federal judges. This ended an early opportunity for Jefferson to appoint a justice.
Also, John Adams, in “midnight appointments”, filled the 16 new spots with
Federalists by last-minute.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
● John Adams appointed William Marbury as justice of the peace in the District of
Columbia, but failed to deliver his commission before the midnight deadline.
● Jefferson’s secretary of state, James Madison, refused to release the commission.
● Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ. Chief Justice John Marshall (who
was a Federalist) declared that although the Judiciary Act of 1789 granted the
Court to issue such a writ, this act was unconstitutional.
● This event is significant as it was the first time the Supreme Court had declared an
act of Congress to be void on the ground that it was unconstitutional.

John Pickering and Samuel Chase

● The Republicans took an offensive against the Federalist-dominated judiciary by
trying to impeach John Pickering, an insane alcoholic judge, and Samuel Chase, a
partisan Federalist justice known for jailing several Republican editors.
● These cases raised the question: Was impeachment, specially reserved for “high
crimes” a proper solution for judges insane or excessively partisan?
● Pickering was impeached, but the Senate narrowly voted down Chase’s
impeachment, in part because moderate Republicans doubted impeachment as a
solution.
● Jefferson’s skirmishes on the judicial branch ended as Jefferson achieved his main
goal of making the judiciary more responsive to popular will and law, rather than
partisan beliefs. No other federal judges were impeached for the next 50 years.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

● Background Info: As long as Louisiana had belonged to Spain, there was little threat
to the US. But in 1800, a weakening Spain ceded it’s massive Louisiana Territory
(size of US then) and Florida to a fast emerging France and Napoleon.
● French control meant that if France struck a partnership with Canadian England,
America would be sandwiched. If Britain refused, they could use their navy to seize
Louisiana before the French arrived, trapping the US between British forces.
● In reality, Napoleon had a different goal. He dreamt of a new French empire around
the Gulf of Mexico. He wanted Louisiana as an important part of a Caribbean empire,
not to threaten the US.
● Jefferson described that whoever has control of NO has to be “our natural enemy”
because of it’s vital location to the western states. Napoleon, failed to re-conquer
Saint Domingo and concluded that his Caribbean empire was not worth the cost. He
also need money for war in Europe.
● Jefferson sent Monroe and Livingston to negotiate with France for the purchase of NO
and Florida. Napoleon’s minister, Talleyard, and American commissioners settled on
a price of $15m for the whole of Louisiana (Miss. R. to Rocky Mtns.). The purchase
was a bargain, costing only 13.5 cents an acre.
● Jefferson was a believer in strict interpretation. He drafted an amendment that would
allow territorial expansion. However, he soon began to worry that ratification of an
amendment might take too long, and Napoleon would change his mind.
● He quietly dropped the amendment and the Senate quickly ratified the treaty.
● The US doubled in size, gained control of the crucial NO, and remained in peace.
● The Louisiana Purchase also secured Republicans and Jefferson a smooth path for the
Election of 1804.

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1805)

● Jefferson was dazzled by Louisiana, which no one really knew anything about.
● Jefferson had planned an exploratory expedition even before the purchase, and sent
Meriwether Lewis to PA for training and education. Above all Jefferson wished to
find a water route across the continent, making the China trade more lucrative.
● Lewis and his second-in-command William Clark set out in May 1804 from St. Louis.
 ● On the way, L&C hired a French-Canadian fur trader, Charbonneau, who turned out
to be a mixed blessing.
● Charbonneau’s wife, Sacajwea, a Shoshone Native, showed L&C how to forage for
food. On one occasion, she clutched her baby in her arms and rescued most of the
expeditions’ scientific instruments after a boat capsized on the Missouri River.
● The group finally reached the Pacific Ocean in Nov 1805, and then returned to St.
Louis having collected a mass of information. The expedition’s drawings of the
geography led to more accurate maps and heightened interest in the West.

Aaron Burr
● Background Info: After losing narrowly in 1800 and being dumped by the Republican
Party in 1804, he sided with a despairing High Federalist faction in New England.
● Senator Timothy Pickering led the group of High Federalists and plotted to split the
Union by forming a pro-British Northern Confederacy which would include NE, NY,
Nova Scotia, and even PA. Most Federalists disdained the plot.
● Pickering and other High Federalists settled on Burr as their leader. Hamilton foiled
Burr again (first in Election of 1800) by publishing his negative opinions of Burr. Burr
lost the NY’s governor election, and challenged Hamilton to a duel, murdering him.
● Burr had a scheme so radical and bold that it actually gained momentum as his
political opponents doubted that even Burr could commit such treachery.
● (continued below)

Aaron Burr and James Wilkerson conspiracy

● Aaron Burr allied himself with Gen. James Wilkinson of the Louisiana Territory and
planned to separate western states south of the Ohio R. into an independent nation.
● They told Westerners that this plan had the covert support of the govt., to the British
as a way to attack Spanish-owned areas, and to the Spanish as a way to divide the
United States.
● By fall 1806, Burr and about 60 followers made their way down the Ohio and Miss. R.
to join up with Wilkinson. In Oct 1806, Jefferson denounced the conspiracy.
Wilkinson abandoned the conspiracy and proclaimed himself loyal to Jefferson.
● Burr failed to escape to West FL, was put on trial, but failed to be convicted for
“treasonable acts” (he had only shown intentions).
● Under indictment in 2 states for his murder of Jefferson, he fled to England, tried to
persuade Napoleon to make peace, and returned in 1812 to the US. He fathered 2
illegitimate children in his 70s, divorced for adultery in his 80s, and died in 1836.

John Randolph and the Yazoo land scandal

● Jefferson faced internal challenges from a group of Republicans led by Randolph and
known as Quids. Randolph was still frozen in the 1770s ideology which celebrated
the wisdom of farmers. Jefferson, once in power, compromised. In contrast,
Randolph denounced every change as a decline.
● Randolph turned on Jefferson, most notably in the Yazoo land scandal.
● Begun when the Georgia legislature sold a huge Yazoo tract in a scandal in 1795,
Jefferson decided to compensate those who purchased in good-faith without
knowledge of the scandal, making a compromise instead of the original legislature
cancelling the sale.

“broken voyage”
● Background Info: In 1803, France and Britain resumed war.
● America carried sugar and coffee from French and Spanish colonies to Europe. This
trade supplied Napoleon and drove down the price of sugar and coffee. Britain
concluded American prosperity was the cause of Britain’s economic difficulties.
 ● British Rule of 1756 prohibited reopening of trade in war-times. The American
response was to use the “broken voyage” by shipping sugar to America first, passing
it through customs, and carrying it to Europe as American goods.
● Britain tolerated the broken voyage for almost a decade, but in 1805, they declared
total war on France, and declared the broken voyage illegal.

British Orders in Council, Napoleon's Continental System, and impressment

● Britain followed up in May 1806 with the Orders in Council which established a
blockade of French-controlled ports in Europe. Napoleon responded with his
Continental System, which declared seizure of ships obeying British regulations.
● In effect, the Americans could no longer trade with Europe as it became a target of
France or Britain if it entered Europe.
● British seizure of American ships was far more humiliating to Americans as a strong
Royal Navy stood just off the American coast and searched virtually all American
vessels. Furthermore, the British added impressment, seizing British civilians and
forcing them into service.
● Impressment increased as war with France intensified. Discipline on the Royal Navy
was often brutal and sailors on American ships made up 5x more than on British
ships.
● Impressed sailors made escapes and recaptures, and some suicide rather than spend
time in the Royal Navy.
● Doubts about British arrogance disappeared in June 1807 when a British warship
(HMS Leopard) attacked a US naval vessel (HMS Chesapeake), forcing it to surrender,
and seizing 4 supposed deserters. The British had never asserted their right to seize
deserters off US navy ships. This Chesapeake-Leopard Affair enraged Americans.
Jefferson made some preparations for war, while also trying to seek peace.

Embargo Act of 1807

● The Embargo Act prohibited vessels from leaving American ports for foreign ports.
● By restricting French and British trade with the US, Jefferson wanted to pressure both
nations into respecting American neutrality.
● However, the British found new markets in South American Spain and Spain itself.
● Also, there were several loopholes in the act. For example, several captains reported
they were blown off course and had to land on European coasts. Napoleon treated
the embargo as a joke and seized any American ships, informing US that they were
only helping in enforcing the embargo.
● In the US, 30,000 seamen lost jobs, farmers could not export their produce, and
hundreds of merchants went bankrupt.
● On the other hand, Americans, unable to export, began to make their own products.
For example, the number of cotton mills rose from 15 to over 100.

James Madison and the failure of embargoes

● The Federalists had a modest revival, but still lost in both houses and the presidential
election. James Madison became the fourth president in 1808. He was only 5ft 4in
but was as intelligent as Jefferson, and also like Jefferson, believed on the virtue of
the people, which he saw as being critically tied to agriculture. He went a step
further and recognized that agricultural prosperity rested on American trade.
● Madison’s plans for embargo on the West Indies failed as well, as Britain increased
trade with Canada. In Mar 1809, Congress replaced the Embargo Act with the face-
saving Non-Intercourse Act, which opened trade to all but Britain and France,
where trade could be restored only if they respected American neutrality.
● Even this failed, and later, Macon’s Bill No.2 also failed to provide the desired
effect.
 ● Madison came under fire from aggressive Republicans who demanded more
aggressive policies. These people mainly can from the South and West, where pride
was large, and where recession had struck.
● In the election of 1810, several young malcontents called “war hawks” were
elected to Congress. This group was led by Henry Clay, who became Speaker of the
House.
(The group also contained Calhoun, RM Johnson, and King, who would all become
VPs)

Tecumseh and the Prophet

● Background Info: In 1809, the Federal govt. divided Indiana, creating a separate
Illinois Territory.
● William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, realized the need for land to
attract settlers and reach statehood. Harrison rounded up several Natives, and in the
Treaty of Fort Wayne in Sept 1809, the Natives ceded millions of acres of land.
● This treaty outraged numerous tribes that hadn’t been there.
● Lalawhethica had a frightening dream where he saw Natives who drank or beat their
wives tormented for eternity. He gave up drinking, preached, and quickly became
known as The Prophet. Demoralized Shawnees listened to his message.
● Meanwhile, Tecumseh, his brother and Shawnee chief, sought to unite tribes against
American settlers. When Tecumseh was away recruiting Southern Natives, and
Harrison on the verge of attack, the Prophet decided to raid Harrison’s encampment.
● Outnumbered 2:1, they lost the Battle of Tippecanoe. It made Harrison a national
hero, discredited the Prophet, and persuaded Tecumseh that he needed to make an
alliance with the distrusted British to have any chance.

Beginnings of War of 1812

● By Spring 1812, Madison became convinced that war with Britain was inevitable.
● Meanwhile, an economic depression hit England, partly because American coercion
was finally beginning to work.
● Britain repealed the Orders of Council on June 23, but Congress, unaware of the
repeal, had already passed declaration of war.
● In his war message, Madison included: impressment, British ships in American
waters, British violation of neutral rights, and British incitement of Natives.
● An important underlying cause was the economic recession, and belief Britain was
hurting America economically. Also important was the fact that Madison, who
believed Britain’s motive was to strangle American trade once and for all, was in
power rather than Jefferson.
● Sidenote: Federalists mainly were in the Northeast and opposed the war.
Congressional opposition to war revealed a sectional split as well as a party split, but
in general, the vote for war did not follow sectional lines, but rather party lines.

War of 1812: Opposing Sides

● The United States lacked a navy strong enough to challenge Britain at sea, and would
be unable to prevent a British naval blockade.
● Canada became the principal target. With US’ larger population and resources, few
Americans expected a long struggle, but to the Americans’ surprise, most Canadians,
even those who had immigrated from the US, fought for Britain.
● Many of the Britain’s best troops were busy fighting Napoleon, but many of American
militias were filled with “Sunday soldiers.”
● British Canada had an invaluable ally in the Natives, who struck fear in Americans.
● Opposition to the war was strong in New England, and there was little national
interest in many other areas.

War of 1812: American Offensive

 ● From summer 1812 to spring 1814, US launched unsuccessful attacks on Canada.
● In July 1812, General William Hill led an American army from Detroit into Canada, and
ended up surrendering Detroit.
● In the fall of 1812, a force of American regulars was crushed by the British near at
the Battle of Queenstown. NY soldiers watched from the NY side of the border,
claiming they had volunteered only to protect their homes, not to invade Canada.
Another offensive fell apart as NY soldiers refused to invade Canada.
● In 1813, General William Harrison tried to retake Detroit. Harrison concluded that
this attempt would be wasted as long as Britain controlled Lake Erie. Cpt. Oliver
Perry constructed a little fleet of vessels and in Sept. destroyed the British at Put-in-
Bay.
● The British retreated from Detroit, having lost control of Lake Erie. However,
Harrison overtook them and defeated a British/Native force in the Battle of the
Thames. Tecumseh supposedly died in battle.
● These victories cheered Americans, but true offensives into Canada continued to fail.

War of
1812: British Offensive
● Background Info: Napoleon surrendered after his disastrous Russian invasion.
● The British took the offensive in the summer of 1814, fresh with troops from Europe.
● Gen. Prevost led 10,000 British veterans in an offensive designed to split a war-
opposed New England, but failed as Cpt. Macdonough and the American navy
defeated Prevost’s navy on Dec 11. Prevost called off the campaign.
● Ironically, the British achieved more success in their decoy plan to the Chesapeake.
● The Battle of Bladensburg, very near Washington, has been dubbed
“Bladensburg races” because the American militia quickly fled almost without
firing a shot. Madison escaped into the Virginia hills, while his wife paused only to
get silver and a few other valuables before joining her husband. The British entered,
ate food set for the Madisons, and burned the mansion as well as other public
buildings.

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

● In Aug 1814, a peace delegation was sent out to England. The British were in a
stronger position, but after hearing of Prevost’s retreat, the British dropped their
territorial concessions.
● The final treaty, signed on Christmas Eve, gave away no land. The two nations
decided to restore status quo ante bellum, or the state before the war.
● Impressment wasn’t discussed, but with Napoleon gone, it was no longer relevant.
● Ironically, the most dramatic American victory came after the peace treaty, but
before news arrived in America in the Battle of New Orleans. Gen. Pakenham
attacked attacked Gen. Andrew Jackson’s American army. The British were far too
confident, and Jackson’s troops inflicted more than 2000 casualties, to their 13.

The Hartford Convention and the end of the Federalists

● With the peace treaty already signed, the Battle of New Orleans had little impact, but
it had an effect on domestic politics.
● The Federalist continued their revival in the Election of 1812, losing marginally, but
with control of almost all of New England. Some began to talk about secession for
New England, but most rejected, believing benefit from war exhaustion would follow.
● In late 1814, the Hartford Convention of Federalists met, and proposed to amend
the Constitution by abolishing the three-fifths clause, which gave the South an
advantage over New England. They also called for a 2/3 vote for war and state
admission, as well as limiting presidency to 1 term with no successive presidents
from the same state.
● The timing was disastrous as the news of the Treaty of Ghent and victory at New
Orleans followed. In the Election of 1816, James Monroe (President V) became
 president. In the Election of 1820 that followed, he only lost 1 single electoral vote.
As a national politics force, the Federalists were finished.

Era of Good Feelings (1817-1825)

● Background Info: The War of 1812 effectively eliminated the Federalists, and so the
Republicans began to embrace some doctrines long associated with the Federalists.
It also convinced the Republicans that the nation was strong and was capable of
fighting a war while maintaining liberty of its people.
● In Dec 1815, Madison called for internal federal improvements, tariff protection for
industries, and a new national bank (charter had expired in 1811).
● Henry Clay proposed similar measures called the American System which would
make America economically self-sufficient and free from Europe.
● In 1816, the Second Bank of the United States was chartered. But internal
improvements seemed a more tricky problem which Madison believed a
constitutional amendment was first needed, and therefore vetoed an internal-
improvement bill before leaving office in 1817.
● As Republicans adopted positions that they had previously rejected, a Boston
newspaper (Federalist) put out the phrase “Era of Good Feelings” and has since
stuck as a description of President Monroe’s terms from 1817-1825.
● Monroe was not as brilliant as Jefferson or Madison, but desired to heal political splits.
Monroe’s effort to avoid political controversies reflects “Era of Good Feelings.”
● But under a paper-thin good feelings lay persistent disagreement about the role of
the federal govt., and slavery began to rouse sectional animosities.

John Marshall in 1819

● In 1819, John Marshall was still chief justice, and issued two stunning opinions.
● In the first case, Dartmouth v. Woodward, Marshall concluded that because the
college’s original charter was a contract, and the Constitution forbade states to
interfere with contracts, NH’s effort to turn Dartmouth into a state university was
unconstitutional. In effect, Marshall said that once a state chartered a college, it
surrendered its power to alter the charter.
● A few weeks later, in McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall ruled that although the
National Bank was chartered by Congress, a state could not tax an agency of the
federal govt.
● Although Madison and Monroe had supported the National Bank, it’s tightening of
loan policies in 1818 triggered the Panic of 1819, a severe depression.
● At a time when the bank was under critical eye, Marshall’s ruling stirred controversy
by placing the bank beyond the power of any state govt.
● Marshall argued that the Constitution was a creation for all people, but Republicans,
as shown in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, saw his decisions as a
weakening to state govts’ power to impose the will of their people.

Missouri Compromise (1820-1821)

● Background Info: Missouri had attracted many Southerners who faced declining
tobacco profits and expected to employ slaves in the new territory to grown cotton
and hemp. By the end of 1819, 3 slaves states - LA, MS, AL - had been formed.
There were 11 free states, and 11 slave states.
● Early in 1819, as Missouri attempted to become a state, an amendment that
prohibited further introduction of slaves was produced. After heated discussions, the
House approved, but the senate rejected it. Sectional divisions were beginning to
become clear-cut as there was a reduced need for party loyalty and slavery became
the main reason of division in 1819.
● The admission of Missouri would give the South the edge, as well as set the road for
the extension of slavery further northwest in the purchased territory.
 ● A series of congressional agreements in 1820 and 1821 became collectively known
as the Missouri Compromise.
● Because Maine was seeking admission as a free state, Congress decided to admit
Maine as a free state, and Missouri as a slave state. This seemed like a Southern
victory, but the compromise also prohibited slavery in territory north of the 36’30”.
● In 1821, in response to Missourians’ exclusion of free blacks, Clay engineered a new
agreement which prohibited discrimination of blacks from other states but left open
the issue of whether free blacks were citizens or not.

John Quincy Adams

● Background Info: American foreign policy in the Era of Good Feelings did not produce
much conflict. Moreover, Monroe was fortunate to have a great diplomat in John
Quincy Adams as his secretary of state.
● US and Britain signed the Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 which effectively
demilitarized the Great Lakes. British-American Convention of 1818 restored to
the Americans the same finishing rights off Newfoundland as before the war, and
fixed Canada-US borders. Oregon was declared “free and open” to both powers.
● In 1818, Andrew Jackson invaded East FL on the account that the place was a base
for Native raids as well as a place for slave escapes. In 1819, Spain agreed to the
Adams-Onis (Transcontinental) Treaty, ceding East and West Florida and
agreeing to a southern border of the United States in the West.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

● The Monroe Doctrine announced that unless American interests were involved, US
would abstain from European wars. It also announced that the American continents
were not subjects for future European colonization, and any attempt would be
considered an “unfriendly act.”
● By announcing the doctrine, the US excluded the possibility of supporting a
revolutionary movement in Europe, and also kept options open in annexing territory
in the Americas.

© 2010 SeungJoon Sung

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any wrong information that may be present.