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Early Challenges of the Republic

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Early Challenges of the Republic

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Chapter 10

Launching the New

Ship of State
" 1789–1800
I shall only say that I hold with Montesquieu, that a government must be fitted to
a nation, as much as a coat to the individual; and, consequently, that what may be
good at Philadelphia may be bad at Paris, and ridiculous at Petersburg [Russia].
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 1799

A merica’s new ship of state did not spread

its sails to the most favorable breezes. Within
twelve troubled years, the American people had risen
up and thrown overboard both the British yoke and the
hoped to extend the powers of the government in order
to create institutions that could strengthen the new
country. The political fights of the Washington and
Adams years made for a contentious start to the early
Articles of Confederation. A decade of lawbreaking and Republic.
constitution smashing was not the best training for
government making. Americans had come to regard a
central authority, replacing that of George III, as a nec-
essary evil—something to be distrusted, watched, and
! Growing Pains
curbed. When the Constitution was launched in 1789, the
The finances of the infant government were like- Republic was continuing to grow at an amazing rate.
wise precarious. The revenue had declined to a trickle, Population was doubling about every twenty-five years,
whereas the public debt, with interest heavily in arrears, and the first official census of 1790 recorded almost 4
was mountainous. Worthless paper money, both state million people. Cities had blossomed proportionately:
and national, was as plentiful as metallic money was Philadelphia numbered 42,000, New York 33,000, Bos-
scarce. America’s precarious national security was also ton 18,000, Charleston 16,000, and Baltimore 13,000.
threatened by the wars that rocked Europe in the wake
of the French Revolution of 1789—an event that also
roiled domestic politics in the fledgling United States. The French statesman Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
In the face of all those difficulties, the Americans (1727–1781) had high expectations for a united
were brashly trying to erect a republic on an immense America:
scale, something that no other people had attempted
and that traditional political theory deemed impossi-
ble. The eyes of a skeptical world were on the upstart “ This people is the hope of the human
race. . . . The Americans should be an example
United States. of political, religious, commercial and indus-
Even after the battles over adoption of the Consti- trial liberty. . . . But to obtain these ends for us,
tution, conflict continued to rage about the nature of America . . . must not become . . . a mass of
government. Some, such as Thomas Jefferson and James divided powers, contending for territory and
Madison, supported a limited government. Others,
such as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton,
trade.
”
180
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The Bill of Rights • 181

America’s population was still about 90 percent

rural, despite the flourishing cities. All but 5 percent
of the people lived east of the Appalachian Mountains.
The trans-Appalachian overflow was concentrated
chiefly in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, all of which
were welcomed as states within fourteen years. (Ver-
mont preceded them, becoming the fourteenth state
in 1791.) Foreign visitors to America looked down their
noses at the roughness and crudity resulting from ax-

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch,
and-rifle pioneering life.
People of the western waters—in the stump-stud-
ded clearings of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio—were

1962 (62.256.7) Photograph © 1981 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

particularly restive and dubiously loyal. The mouth of
the Mississippi, their life-giving outlet, lay in the hands
of unfriendly Spaniards. Smooth-talking Spanish and
British agents, jingling gold, moved freely among the
settlers and held out seductive promises of indepen-
dence. Many observers wondered whether the emerg-
ing United States would ever grow to maturity.

! Washington for President

George Washington, the esteemed war hero, was unan-
imously drafted as president by the Electoral College in
1789—the only presidential nominee ever to be hon-
ored by unanimity. His presence was imposing: 6 feet
2 inches, 175 pounds, broad and sloping shoulders, Washington Honored This idealized portrait symbolizes
strongly pointed chin, and pockmarks (from small- the reverential awe in which Americans held “the Father of
pox) on nose and cheeks. Much preferring the quiet of His Country.”
Mount Vernon to the turmoil of politics, he was per-
haps the only president who did not in some way angle
for this exalted office. Balanced rather than brilliant, Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamil-
he commanded his followers by strength of character ton, and Secretary of War Henry Knox.
rather than by the arts of the politician.
Washington’s long journey from Mount Vernon to
New York City, the temporary capital, was a triumphal
procession. He was greeted by roaring cannon, pealing
! The Bill of Rights
bells, flower-carpeted roads, and singing and shouting The new nation faced some unfinished business. Many
citizens. With appropriate ceremony, he solemnly and antifederalists had sharply criticized the Constitution
somewhat nervously took the oath of office on April 30, drafted at Philadelphia for its failure to provide guar-
1789, on a crowded balcony overlooking Wall Street, antees of individual rights such as freedom of religion
which some have regarded as a bad omen. and trial by jury. Many states had ratified the federal
Washington soon put his stamp on the new gov- Constitution on the understanding that it would soon
ernment, especially by establishing the cabinet. The be amended to include such guarantees. Drawing up a
Constitution does not mention a cabinet (see Table bill of rights headed the list of imperatives facing the
10.1); it merely provides that the president “may new government.
require” written opinions of the heads of the execu- Amendments to the Constitution could be pro-
tive-branch departments (see Art. II, Sec. II, para. 1 posed in either of two ways—by a new constitutional
in the Appendix). But this system proved so cumber- convention requested by two-thirds of the states or by
some, and involved so much homework, that cabi- a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress. Fearing
net meetings gradually evolved in the Washington that a new convention might unravel the narrow feder-
administration. alist victory in the ratification struggle, James Madison
At first only three full-fledged department heads determined to draft the amendments himself. He then
served under the president: Secretary of State Thomas guided them through Congress, where his intellectual

TABLE 10.1 Evolution of the Cabinet

Position Date Established Comments
Secretary of state 1789
Secretary of treasury 1789
Secretary of war 1789 Loses cabinet status, 1947
Attorney general 1789 Not head of Justice Dept. until 1870
Secretary of navy 1798 Loses cabinet status, 1947
Postmaster general 1829 Loses cabinet status, 1970
Secretary of interior 1849
Secretary of agriculture 1889
Secretary of commerce and labor 1903 Office divided, 1913
Secretary of commerce 1913
Secretary of labor 1913
Secretary of defense 1947 Subordinate to this secretary, without cabinet rank, are secretaries
of army, navy, and air force
Secretary of health, education, and welfare 1953 Office divided, 1979
Secretary of housing and urban 1965
development
Secretary of transportation 1966
Secretary of energy 1977
Secretary of health and human services 1979
Secretary of education 1979
Secretary of veterans’ affairs 1989
Secretary of homeland security 2002

and political skills were quickly making him the lead- By preserving a strong central government while speci-
ing figure. fying protections for minority and individual liberties,
Adopted by the necessary number of states in 1791, Madison’s amendments partially swung the federal-
the first ten amendments to the Constitution, popu- ist pendulum back in an antifederalist direction. (See
larly known as the Bill of Rights, safeguard some of Amendments I–X.)
the most precious American principles. Among these The first Congress also nailed other newly sawed
are protections for freedom of religion, speech, and the government planks into place. It created effective fed-
press; the right to bear arms and to be tried by a jury; eral courts under the Judiciary Act of 1789. The act
and the right to assemble and petition the government organized the Supreme Court, with a chief justice and
for redress of grievances. The Bill of Rights also prohib- five associates, as well as federal district and circuit
its cruel and unusual punishments and arbitrary gov- courts, and established the office of attorney general.
ernment seizure of private property. New Yorker John Jay, Madison’s collaborator on The
To guard against the danger that enumerating Federalist papers and one of the young Republic’s most
such rights might lead to the conclusion that they were seasoned diplomats, became the first chief justice of
the only ones protected, Madison inserted the crucial the United States.
Ninth Amendment. It declares that specifying certain
rights “shall not be construed to deny or disparage oth-
ers retained by the people.” In a gesture of reassurance
to the states’ righters, he included the equally signifi-
! Hamilton Revives the Corpse
of Public Credit
cant Tenth Amendment, which reserves all rights not
explicitly delegated or prohibited by the federal Con- The key figure in the new government was still smooth-
stitution “to the States respectively, or to the people.” faced Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, a native of

The Granger Collection, New York

trickle down to the masses.
The youthful financier’s first objective was to bol-
ster the national credit. Without public confidence in
the government, Hamilton could not secure the funds
with which to float his risky schemes. He therefore
boldly urged Congress to “fund” the entire national
debt “at par” and to assume completely the debts
incurred by the states during the recent war. Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), by John Trumbull,
Funding at par meant that the federal govern- 1792 He was one of the youngest and most brilliant of
ment would pay off its debts at face value, plus accu- the Founding Fathers, who might have been president but
mulated interest—a then-enormous total of more than for his ultraconservatism, a scandalous adultery, and a
$54 million. So many people believed the infant Trea- duelist’s bullet. Hamilton favored a strong central
sury incapable of meeting those obligations that gov- government with a weak legislature to unify the infant
ernment bonds had depreciated to ten or fifteen cents nation and encourage industry. His chief rival, Thomas
on the dollar. Yet speculators held fistfuls of them, and Jefferson, who extolled states’ rights as a bulwark of liberty
and thought the United States should remain an
when Congress passed Hamilton’s measure in 1790,
agricultural society, regarded Hamilton as a monarchist
they grabbed for more. Some of them galloped into plotter and never forgave him for insisting that “the British
rural areas ahead of the news, buying for a song the Govt. was the best in the world: and that he doubted much
depreciated paper holdings of farmers, war veterans, whether any thing short of it would do in America.”
and widows.
Hamilton was willing, even eager, to have the new
government shoulder additional obligations. While
pushing the funding scheme, he urged Congress to
assume the debts of the states, totaling some $21.5 with small debts, like Virginia, were less charmed. The
million. stage was set for some old-fashioned horse trading. Vir-
The secretary made a convincing case for assump- ginia did not want the state debts assumed, but it did
tion. The state debts could be regarded as a proper want the forthcoming federal district*—now the Dis-
national obligation, for they had been incurred in trict of Columbia—to be located on the Potomac River.
the war for independence. But foremost in Hamil- It would thus gain in commerce and prestige. Hamilton
ton’s thinking was the belief that assumption would persuaded a reluctant Jefferson, who had recently come
chain the states more tightly to the “federal chariot.” home from France, to line up enough votes in Congress
Thus the secretary’s maneuver would shift the attach- for assumption. In return, Virginia would have the fed-
ment of wealthy creditors from the states to the federal eral district on the Potomac. The bargain was carried
government. The support of the rich for the national through in 1790.
administration was a crucial link in Hamilton’s politi-
cal strategy of strengthening the central government.
States burdened with heavy debts, like Massachu-
setts, were delighted by Hamilton’s proposal. States *Authorized by the Constitution, Art. I, Sec. VIII, para. 17.

183
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184 • CHAPTER 10 Launching the New Ship of State , 1789–1800

! Customs Duties and Excise Taxes Debt Owed

Foreigners
$11,710,000
The new ship of state thus set sail dangerously over-
loaded. The national debt had swelled to $75 million
owing to Hamilton’s insistence on honoring the out- Federal Domestic Debt
$42,414,000
standing federal and state obligations alike. Anyone less
determined to establish such a healthy public credit State Debt
could have sidestepped $13 million in back interest and $21,500,000
could have avoided the state debts entirely.
But Hamilton, “Father of the National Debt,”
was not greatly worried. His objectives were as much
political as economic. He believed that within limits, Miscellaneous Excise Customs
Revenue Revenue Duties
a national debt was a “national blessing”—a kind of (on Whiskey, (Tariffs)
Union adhesive. The more creditors to whom the gov- etc.)
ernment owed money, the more people there would be FIGURE 10.1 Hamilton’s Financial Structure
with a personal stake in the success of his ambitious Supported by Revenues
enterprise. His unique contribution was to make a
debt—ordinarily a liability—an asset for vitalizing the
financial system as well as the government itself (see W120 Bailey/Kennedy
whiskey. The new levy of seven cents a gallon was borne
Figure 10.1). 11th edition
Where was the money to come from to pay interest chiefly by the distillers who lived in the backcountry,
on this huge debt and run the government? Hamilton’s where the wretched roads forced the farmer to reduce
first answer was customs duties, derived from a tariff. (and liquefy) bulky bushels of grain to horseback pro-
Tariff revenues, in turn, depended on a vigorous for- portions. Whiskey flowed so freely on the frontier in
eign trade, another crucial link in Hamilton’s overall the form of distilled liquor that it was used for money.
economic strategy for the new Republic.
The first tariff law, imposing a low tariff of about
8 percent on the value of dutiable imports, was speed-
ily passed by the first Congress in 1789, even before
! Hamilton Battles Jefferson
for a Bank
Hamilton was sworn in. Revenue was by far the main
goal, but the measure was also designed to erect a low As the capstone for his financial system, Hamilton
protective wall around infant industries, which bawled proposed a bank of the United States. An enthusiastic
noisily for more shelter than they received. Hamilton admirer of most things English, he took as his model
had the vision to see that the Industrial Revolution the Bank of England. Specifically, he proposed a power-
would soon reach America, and he argued strongly in ful private institution, of which the government would
favor of more protection for the well-to-do manufac- be the major stockholder and in which the federal Trea-
turing groups—another vital element in his economic sury would deposit its surplus monies. The central gov-
program. But Congress was still dominated by the agri- ernment not only would have a convenient strongbox,
cultural and commercial interests, and it voted only but federal funds would stimulate business by remain-
two slight increases in the tariff during Washington’s ing in circulation. The bank would also print urgently
presidency. needed paper money and thus provide a sound and
Hamilton, with characteristic vigor, sought addi- stable national currency, badly needed since the days
tional internal revenue and in 1791 secured from Con- when the Continental dollar was “not worth a Conti-
gress an excise tax on a few domestic items, notably nental.” The proposed bank would indeed be useful.
But was it constitutional?
Jefferson, whose written opinion on this question
Washington requested, argued vehemently against the
One of the most eloquent tributes to Hamilton’s
bank. There was, he insisted, no specific authorization
apparent miracle working came from Daniel Webster
in the Constitution for such a financial octopus. He
(1782–1852) in the Senate (1831):
was convinced that all powers not specifically granted

“ He smote the rock of the national resources,

and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth.
to the central government were reserved to the states,
as provided in the about-to-be-ratified Bill of Rights (see
Amendment X). He therefore concluded that the states,
He touched the dead corpse of public credit, and
it sprung upon its feet.
” not Congress, had the power to charter banks. Believing
that the Constitution should be interpreted “literally”

The Whiskey Boys The cartoonist clearly favored the Pennsylvania rebels who
resisted Hamilton’s imposition of an excise tax on whiskey.

or “strictly,” Jefferson and his states’ rights disciples agreeable surprise of Hamilton, a milling crowd over-
zealously embraced the theory of “strict construction.” subscribed in less than two hours, pushing aside many
Hamilton, also at Washington’s request, prepared would-be purchasers.
a brilliantly reasoned reply to Jefferson’s arguments.
Hamilton in general believed that what the Constitu-
tion did not forbid it permitted; Jefferson, in contrast,
generally believed that what it did not permit it for-
! Mutinous Moonshiners
in Pennsylvania
bade. Hamilton boldly invoked the clause of the Con-
stitution that stipulates that Congress may pass any The Whiskey Rebellion, which flared up in south-
laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the powers western Pennsylvania in 1794, sharply challenged the
vested in the various government agencies (see Art. new national government. Hamilton’s high excise tax
I, Sec. VIII, para. 18). The government was explicitly bore harshly on these homespun pioneer folk. They
empowered to collect taxes and regulate trade. In car- regarded it not as a tax on a frivolous luxury but as a
rying out these basic functions, Hamilton argued, a burden on an economic necessity and a medium of
national bank would be not only “proper” but “neces- exchange. Even preachers of the gospel were paid in
sary.” By inference or implication—that is, by virtue “Old Monongahela rye.” Rye and corn crops distilled
of “implied powers”—Congress would be fully justi- into alcohol were more cheaply transported to eastern
fied in establishing the Bank of the United States. In markets than bales of grain. Defiant distillers finally
short, Hamilton contended for a “loose” or “broad” erected whiskey poles, similar to the liberty poles of
interpretation of the Constitution. He and his fed- anti–stamp tax days in 1765, and raised the cry “Liberty
eralist followers thus evolved the theory of “loose and No Excise.” Boldly tarring and feathering revenue
construction” by invoking the “elastic clause” of officers, they brought collections to a halt.
the Constitution—a precedent for enormous federal President Washington, once a revolutionary, was
powers. alarmed by what he called these “self-created societies.”
Hamilton’s financial views prevailed. His eloquent With the hearty encouragement of Hamilton, he sum-
and realistic arguments were accepted by Washing- moned the militias of several states. Anxious moments
ton, who reluctantly signed the bank measure into followed the call, for there was much doubt as to
law. This explosive issue had been debated with much whether men in other states would muster to crush a
heat in Congress, where the old North-South cleavage rebellion in a fellow state. Despite some opposition, an
still lurked ominously. The most enthusiastic support army of about thirteen thousand rallied to the colors,
for the bank naturally came from the commercial and and two widely separated columns marched briskly
financial centers of the North, whereas the strongest forth in a gorgeous, leaf-tinted Indian summer, until
opposition arose from the agricultural South. knee-deep mud slowed their progress.
The Bank of the United States, as created by When the troops reached the hills of western Penn-
Congress in 1791, was chartered for twenty years. sylvania, they found no insurrection. The “Whiskey
Located in Philadelphia, it was to have a capital of $10 Boys” were overawed, dispersed, or captured. Washing-
million, one-fifth of it owned by the federal govern- ton, with an eye to healing old sores, pardoned the two
ment. Stock was thrown open to public sale. To the small-fry convicted culprits.

185
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186 • CHAPTER 10 Launching the New Ship of State , 1789–1800

ton took his inaugural oath. There had been Whigs and
Attorney Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1748–1816) Tories, federalists and antifederalists, but these groups
mediated between the Whiskey Rebels and the town of were factions rather than parties. They had sprung into
Pittsburgh. He later wrote of the hated excise tax, existence over hotly contested special issues; they had

“ I saw the operation to be unequal in this

country. . . . It is true that the excise paid by the
faded away when their cause had triumphed or fizzled.
The Founders at Philadelphia had not envisioned
the existence of permanent political parties. Organized
country would be that only on spirits consumed
opposition to the government—especially a democratic
in it. But even in the case of exports, the excise government based on popular consent—seemed tainted
must be advanced in the first instance by the by disloyalty. Opposition to the government affronted
distiller and this would prevent effectually all the spirit of national unity that the glorious cause of the
the poorer part from carrying on the business. Revolution had inspired. The notion of a formal party
I . . . would have preferred a direct tax with a apparatus was thus a novelty in the 1790s, and when Jef-
view to reach unsettled lands which all around ferson and Madison first organized their opposition to
us have been purchased by speculating men.
” the Hamiltonian program, they confined their activities
to Congress and did not anticipate creating a long-lived
and popular party. But as their antagonism to Hamilton
stiffened, and as the amazingly boisterous and widely
The Whiskey Rebellion was minuscule—some three read newspapers of the day spread their political mes-
rebels were killed—but its consequences were mighty. sage, and Hamilton’s, among the people, primitive sem-
George Washington’s government, now substantially blances of political parties began to emerge.
strengthened, commanded a new respect. Yet the foes The two-party system has existed in the United
of the administration condemned its brutal display of States since that time (see Table 10.2). Ironically, in
force—for having used a sledgehammer to crush a gnat. light of early suspicions about the very legitimacy of
parties, their competition for power has actually proved
to be among the indispensable ingredients of a sound
! The Emergence of Political Parties democracy. The party out of power—“the loyal opposi-
tion”—traditionally plays the invaluable role of the bal-
Almost overnight, Hamilton’s fiscal feats had estab- ance wheel on the machinery of government, ensuring
lished the government’s sound credit rating. The that politics never drifts too far out of kilter with the
Treasury could now borrow needed funds in the Neth- wishes of the people.
erlands on favorable terms.
But Hamilton’s financial suc-
cesses—funding, assumption, the
excise tax, the bank, the suppres- TABLE 10.2 Evolution of Major Parties*
sion of the Whiskey Rebellion— Year Hamiltonians Jeffersonians
created some political liabilities. All
ca. 1792 Federalists Democratic-Republicans
these schemes encroached sharply
upon states’ rights. Many Ameri- ca. 1816 Death of Federalists
cans, dubious about the new Con-
stitution in the first place, might ca. 1820 Republicans
never have approved it if they had One party: Era of
foreseen how the states were going Good Feelings
to be overshadowed by the federal
colossus. Now, out of resentment
ca. 1825 National Republicans Democratic-Republicans
against Hamilton’s revenue-raising
(Jacksonian Democrats)
and centralizing policies, an orga-
nized opposition began to build.
What once was a personal feud 1834 Whigs Democrats
between Hamilton and Jefferson
developed into a full-blown and 1854 Republicans
frequently bitter political rivalry.
National political parties, in
the modern sense, were unknown To present To present
in America when George Washing- *See the Appendix (Presidential Elections) for third parties.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

The Execution of Queen Marie Antoinette, 1793 The bloody excesses of the
notorious guillotine disgusted many Americans and soured them on the promises of
the French Revolution.

! The Impact of the French Revolution reform, and “leveling” principles—were from the outset
dubious or outspokenly hostile to the “despicable mob-
When Washington’s first administration ended in early ocracy.” The more ardent Jeffersonians were overjoyed.
1793, Hamilton’s domestic policies had already stimu- The French Revolution entered a more ominous
lated the formation of two political camps—Jeffersonian phase in 1792, when France declared war on hostile
Democratic-Republicans and Hamiltonian Federalists. Austria. Powerful ideals and powerful armies alike
As Washington’s second term began, foreign-policy were on the march. Late in that year, the electrifying
issues brought the differences between them to a fever news reached America that French citizen armies had
pitch. hurled back the invading foreigners and that France
Only a few weeks after Washington’s inauguration had proclaimed itself a republic. Americans enthusiasti-
in 1789, the curtain had risen on the first act of the cally sang “The Marseillaise” and other rousing French
French Revolution. (See “Thinking Globally: Two Rev-
olutions,” pp. 188–189.) Twenty-six years were to pass
before the seething continent of Europe collapsed into British political observer William Cobbett (1763–1835)
a peace of exhaustion. Few non-American events have wrote of the frenzied reaction in America to the death of
left a deeper scar on American political and social life. Louis XVI,
In a sense the French Revolution was misnamed: it was
a historic, global revolution that sent tremors through
much of the Western world and beyond.
“ Never was the memory of a man so cruelly
insulted as that of this mild and humane mon-
In its early stages, the upheaval was surprisingly arch. He was guillotined in effigy, in the capital
peaceful, involving as it did a successful attempt to of the Union [Philadelphia], twenty or thirty
impose constitutional shackles on Louis XVI. The times every day, during one whole winter and
American people, loving liberty and deploring despo- part of the summer. Men, women and children
tism, cheered. They were flattered to think that the flocked to the tragical exhibition, and not a sin-
outburst in France was but the second chapter of their gle paragraph appeared in the papers to shame
own glorious Revolution, as to some extent it was. Only
a few ultraconservative Federalists—fearing change,
them from it.
”
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Thinking Globally Two Revolutions
O n July 14, 1789, a howling mob
stormed the Bastille—a dank Parisian
Even more notable was the intellec-
tual commonality between the
cal than the Americans; their Revolu-
tion abolished slavery (temporarily),
prison described by the Marquis de upheavals. The ideas that inspired the something the Americans failed to do
Lafayette as France’s “fortress of despo- American and French revolutionaries for almost one hundred years more.
tism”—killed half a dozen soldiers, and grew from the common heritage of And yet the American and French
paraded the severed heads of its com- radical eighteenth-century Enlighten- Revolutions unfolded in dramatically
manding officer and the mayor of Paris ment thinking about equality, freedom, different ways and left vastly different
throughout the city. The French Revo- and the sovereignty of the people. The legacies. The Americans largely dis-
lution was thus bloodily launched. French Declaration of the Rights of armed after winning their indepen-
Bastille Day is still celebrated as Man (1789) deliberately echoed dence; allowed some eighty thousand
France’s national birthday, just as Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Inde- hard-core Loyalists to depart without
Americans celebrate the Fourth of July. pendence (1776) when it said that suffering grievous retribution (see
The roots of the two Revolutions “men are born and remain free and “Makers of America: The Loyalists,”
were thickly intertwined. To defray the equal in rights,” among which were pp. 140–141); peacefully resumed their
cost of the war that had ousted France “liberty, property, security, and resis- habits of worship, toil, and governance;
from North America in 1763, Britain tance to oppression.” Many French and proceeded to draft the U.S. Consti-
had levied new taxes on its colonists, thinkers openly credited the American tution, under which they have lived,
provoking them to revolt in 1776. In Revolution as the inspiration for their with amendments, for more than two
turn, aiding the rebellious Americans own. As the American revolutionary centuries. The American revolutionar-
forced the French government to seek Thomas Paine remarked to George ies, in short, secured the fruits of their
new revenues, lighting the fuse that led Washington, “The principles of America Revolution fairly easily, while the
to the political explosion in Paris in opened the Bastille.” Indeed, in many French struggled through ghastly
1789. ways the French were even more radi- bloodshed to ultimate failure—an

Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

Storming the Bastille, 1789 This event signaled the outbreak of the French Revolution.

188
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
outcome that haunted European poli- luxury of being able to focus on limit- can revolutionaries was that they were
tics for at least a century thereafter. ing the power of the state, not enlarg- spared the necessity to murder. The
Revolutionaries in France had to ing it. Theirs was largely a colonial American Revolution grew not from
grapple with the constant threats of conflict, whereas France had to endure abstract ideas, but from the preceding
counterrevolution at home and armed a class conflict. Not until Reconstruc- two centuries of American experience.
intervention from abroad. As a result, tion following the Civil War would It was less a revolution in the usual
they soon descended into grisly vio- Americans confront a comparable task sense than a consolidation of already
lence, including the execution of some of mustering sufficient power to uproot well-established norms, values, and
forty thousand Frenchmen in the noto- and permanently extinguish an entire behaviors. Alexander Hamilton under-
rious Reign of Terror of 1793–1794, the social order. stood that crucial point when he wrote
guillotining of the king and queen, and It has been said that to mount a to the Marquis de Lafayette in 1789, “I
preemptive attacks on neighboring revolution is “to murder and create.” dread the reveries of your philosophic
countries. They stripped the Catholic What was exceptional about the Ameri- politicians.”
Church of its property and privileges,
briefly experimented with a new state
religion called the Cult of Reason, and
eventually conceded supreme power
to a brash young general, Napoleon
Bonaparte, who convulsed all of
Europe in the name of “liberty, equality,
and fraternity.” Napoleon was finally
defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in
1815, after which the Bourbon monar-
chy was restored to the throne.
Why did these two great eruptions,
sprung from a shared chain of events
and espousing almost identical politi-
cal philosophies, fare so differently?
Many scholars have found the answer
in the countries’ markedly different
pre-Revolutionary histories. France’s
Revolution confronted implacably
entrenched adversaries in the landed
nobility and the clergy. Those two
“estates,” as they were called, clung
tenaciously to their ancient privileges,
as did the princes and potentates who
ruled in all the countries on France’s
borders. To succeed, the French Revolu-
tion had to concentrate power in the
hands of a state powerful enough to
extinguish its internal enemies and to
forestall foreign intervention as well.
Those stark necessities help account for
the fact that down to the present day,
central governments are stronger in
almost all European societies than in
the United States. The Key to the Bastille, Mount Vernon, Virginia The
The Americans faced no such obsta- Marquis de Lafayette instructed Thomas Paine, his American
cles. They had no aristocracy worthy of Revolutionary War comrade, to deliver the key to the
the name, no church with the kind of liberated Bastille to George Washington. It hangs to this day
influence that the Catholic Church in the entry hall of Washington’s home at Mount Vernon,
commanded in France, and no menac- Virginia, a lasting symbol of the deep affinity between the
ing neighbors to fear. They had the French and American Revolutions. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

189
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
190 • CHAPTER 10 Launching the New Ship of State , 1789–1800

Revolutionary songs, and they renamed thoroughfares be populous enough and powerful enough to assert its
with democratic flair. King Street in New York, for maritime rights with strength and success. Otherwise
example, became Liberty Street, and in Boston, Royal it might invite catastrophe. The strategy of delay—of
Exchange Alley became Equality Lane. playing for time while the birthrate fought America’s
But centuries of pent-up poison could not be purged battles—was a cardinal policy of the Founding Fathers.
without baleful results. The guillotine was set up, the It was based on a shrewd assessment of American
king was beheaded in 1793, the church was attacked, strengths and weaknesses at this critical moment in the
and the head-rolling Reign of Terror was begun. young Republic’s history. Hamilton and Jefferson, often
Back in America, God-fearing Federalist aristocrats ner- poles apart on other issues, were in agreement here.
vously fingered their tender white necks and eyed the Accordingly, Washington boldly issued his Neu-
Jeffersonian masses apprehensively. Lukewarm Federal- trality Proclamation in 1793, shortly after the out-
ist approval of the early Revolution turned, almost over- break of war between Britain and France. This epochal
night, to heated talk of “blood-drinking cannibals.” document not only proclaimed the government’s offi-
Sober-minded Jeffersonians regretted the blood- cial neutrality in the widening conflict but also sternly
shed. But they felt, with Jefferson, that one could not warned American citizens to be impartial toward both
expect to be carried from “despotism to liberty in a armed camps. As America’s first formal declaration
feather bed” and that a few thousand aristocratic heads of aloofness from Old World quarrels, Washington’s
were a cheap price to pay for human freedom. Neutrality Proclamation proved to be a major prop of
Such approbation was shortsighted, for dire peril the spreading isolationist tradition. It also proved to
loomed ahead. The earlier battles of the French Revo- be enormously controversial. The pro-French Jefferso-
lution had not hurt America directly, but now Britain nians were enraged by the Neutrality Proclamation,
was sucked into the contagious conflict. The conflagra- especially by Washington’s method of announcing
tion speedily spread to the New World, where it viv- it unilaterally, without consulting Congress. The pro-
idly affected the expanding young American Republic. British Federalists were heartened.
Thus was repeated the familiar story of every major Debate soon intensified. An impetuous, thirty-
European war, beginning with 1688, that involved a year-old representative of the French Republic, Citizen
watery duel for control of the Atlantic Ocean. (See Table Edmond Genêt, had landed at Charleston, South Car-
6.2 on p. 103.) olina. With unrestrained zeal he undertook to fit out
privateers and otherwise take advantage of the existing
Franco-American alliance. The giddy-headed envoy—
! Washington’s
Proclamation
Neutrality all sail and no anchor—was soon swept away by his
enthusiastic reception by the Jeffersonian Republicans.
He foolishly came to believe that the Neutrality Procla-
Ominously, the Franco-American alliance of 1778 was mation did not reflect the true wishes of the American
still on the books. By its own terms, it was to last “for- people, and he consequently embarked upon unneutral
ever.” It bound the United States to help the French activity not authorized by the French alliance—includ-
defend their West Indies against future foes, and the ing the recruitment of armies to invade Spanish Florida
booming British fleets were certain to attack these stra- and Louisiana, as well as British Canada. Even Madison
tegic islands. and Jefferson were soon disillusioned by his conduct.
Many Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans favored After he threatened to appeal over the head of “Old
honoring the alliance. Aflame with the liberal ideals of Washington” to the sovereign voters, the president
the French Revolution, red-blooded Jeffersonians were demanded Genêt’s withdrawal, and the Frenchman
eager to enter the conflict against Britain, the recent was replaced by a less impulsive emissary.
foe, at the side of France, the recent friend. America Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation clearly illus-
owed France its freedom, they argued, and now was the trates the truism that self-interest is the basic cement
time to pay the debt of gratitude. of alliances. In 1778 both France and America stood
But President George Washington, levelheaded to gain; in 1793 only France. Technically, the Ameri-
as usual, was not swayed by the clamor of the crowd. cans did not flout their obligation because France never
Backed by Hamilton, he believed that war had to be officially called upon them to honor it. American neu-
avoided at all costs. Washington was coolly playing for trality in fact favored France. The French West Indies
enormous stakes. The nation in 1793 was militarily fee- urgently needed Yankee foodstuffs. If the Americans
ble, economically wobbly, and politically disunited. But had entered the war at France’s side, the British fleets
solid foundations were being laid, and American cradles would have blockaded the American coast and cut off
were continuing to rock a bumper crop of babies. Wash- those essential supplies. America was thus much more
ington wisely reasoned that if America could avoid the useful to France as a reliable neutral provider than as a
broils of Europe for a generation or so, it would then blockaded partner-in-arms.

0 50 100 Km. 80°W

La k ER
Supere W DA
ior 0 50 100 Mi.
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA LO NA
CA
N
R.
ce
Fort Fort

n
Ft. Michilimackinac

re
n Point au Fer Dutchman’s

aw
Point
a

.L
ig

St
La
ich

A Fort Oswegatchie VT.

AD
ke
M

N 1791
CA
L.

Hu ER
ron P rio
UP e Ont
a Fort Oswego
Lak
NEW YORK
Fort Niagara
NORTHWEST
TERRITORY Original 13 states
Territory ceded to the
United States, 1783
Fort Detroit
E rie
Treaty line
Wayne’s Victory ke
Fallen Timbers, La
1794 Indian battle

Harmar’s
British fort on American soil
Fort Miami
Defeat, 1790
40°N
of PENNSYLVANIA
Line
Treaty , 1795
St. Clair’s v il le
Defeat, Green
1791 MD.
R.
io
Oh

DEL.

MAP 10.1 American Posts Held by

VIRGINIA the British and British-American
Clashes After 1783 © Cengage Learning

! Embroilments with Britain signed in August 1795, the confederacy gave up

vast tracts of the Old Northwest, including most of
President Washington’s far-visioned policy of neutrality present-day Indiana and Ohio. In exchange the Indians
was sorely tried by the British. For ten long years, they received a lump-sum payment of $20,000, an annual
had been retaining the chain of northern frontier posts annuity of $9,000, the right to hunt the lands they had
on U.S. soil, all in defiance of the peace treaty of 1783 ceded, and, most important, what they hoped was rec-
(see Map 10.1). The London government was reluctant to ognition of their sovereign status. Although the treaty
abandon the lucrative fur trade in the Great Lakes region codified an unequal relationship, the Indians felt that
and also hoped to build up an Indian buffer state to con- it put some limits on the ability of the United States to
tain the ambitious Americans. British agents openly sold decide the fate of Indian peoples.
firearms and firewater to the Indians of the Miami Con- On the sea frontier, the British were eager to starve
federacy, an alliance of eight Indian nations who terror- out the French West Indies and naturally expected
ized Americans invading their lands. Little Turtle, war
chief of the Miamis, gave notice that the confederacy Thomas Paine (1737–1809), then in France and
regarded the Ohio River as the United States’ northwest- resenting George Washington’s anti-French policies,
ern, and their own southeastern, border. In 1790 and addressed the president in an open letter (1796) that
1791, Little Turtle’s braves defeated armies led by Gener- reveals his bitterness:
als Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair, killing hundreds
of soldiers and handing the United States what remains
one of its worst defeats in the history of the frontier. “ And as to you, sir, treacherous in private
friendship (for so you have been to me, and that
But in 1794, when a new army under General “Mad in the day of danger) and a hypocrite in public
Anthony” Wayne routed the Miamis at the Battle of life, the world will be puzzled to decide, whether
Fallen Timbers, the British refused to shelter Indians you are an apostate or an imposter; whether you
fleeing from the battle. Abandoned when it counted have abandoned good principles, or whether you
by their red-coated friends, the Indians soon offered
Wayne the peace pipe. In the Treaty of Greenville,
ever had any.
”
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
192 • CHAPTER 10 Launching the New Ship of State , 1789–1800

Signing the Treaty of

Greenville, 1795
Following General
Wayne’s victory at the

Chicago History Museum

Battle of Fallen Timbers
in 1794, the Miami
Indians surrendered
their claims to much of
the Old Northwest.

the United States to defend them under the Franco- further cause for alarm when, at the presentation cer-
American alliance. Hard-boiled commanders of the emony, he routinely kissed the queen’s hand.
Royal Navy, ignoring America’s rights as a neutral, Unhappily, Jay entered the negotiations with weak
struck savagely. They seized about three hundred cards, which were further sabotaged by Hamilton. The
American merchant ships in the West Indies, impressed latter, fearful of war with Britain, secretly supplied the
scores of seamen into service on British vessels, and British with the details of America’s bargaining strat-
threw hundreds of others into foul dungeons. egy. Not surprisingly, Jay won few concessions. The
These actions, especially impressment, incensed British did promise to evacuate the chain of posts on
patriotic Americans. A mighty outcry arose, chiefly U.S. soil—a pledge that inspired little confidence, since
from Jeffersonians, that America should once again it had been made before in Paris (to the same John
fight George III in defense of its liberties. At the very Jay!) in 1783. In addition, Britain consented to pay
least, it should cut off all supplies to its oppressor damages for the recent seizures of American ships. But
through a nationwide embargo. But the Federalists the British stopped short of pledging anything about
stoutly resisted all demands for drastic action. Hamil- future maritime seizures and impressments or about
ton’s high hopes for economic development depended supplying arms to Indians. And they forced Jay to give
on trade with Britain. War with the world’s mightiest ground by binding the United States to pay the debts
commercial empire would pierce the heart of the Ham- still owed to British merchants on pre-Revolutionary
iltonian financial system. accounts.
Jay’s unpopular pact, more than any other issue,
vitalized the newborn Democratic-Republican party
! Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s
Farewell
of Thomas Jefferson. When the Jeffersonians learned
of Jay’s concessions, their rage was fearful to behold.
The treaty seemed like an abject surrender to Britain,
President Washington, in a last desperate gamble to as well as a betrayal of the Jeffersonian South. Southern
avert war, decided to send Chief Justice John Jay to Lon- planters would have to pay the major share of the pre-
don in 1794. The Jeffersonians were acutely unhappy Revolutionary debts, while rich Federalist shippers were
over the choice, partly because they feared that so collecting damages for recent British seizures. Jefferso-
notorious a Federalist and Anglophile would sell out his nian mobs hanged, burned, and guillotined in effigy
country. Arriving in London, Jay gave the Jeffersonians that “damn’d archtraitor, Sir John Jay.” Even George

Washington’s huge popularity was compromised by

the controversy over the treaty.
Jay’s Treaty had other unforeseen consequen-
ces. Fearing that the treaty foreshadowed an Anglo-
American alliance, Spain moved hastily to strike a deal
with the United States. Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795
with Spain granted the Americans virtually everything
they demanded, including free navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, the right of deposit (warehouse rights) at New
Orleans, and the large disputed territory of western

Harvard Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Portrait Collection, Bequest of Ward Nicholas Boylston to
Florida. (See Map 9.3 on p. 167.)
Exhausted after the diplomatic and partisan battles
of his second term, President Washington decided to
retire. His choice contributed powerfully to establishing

Harvard College, 1828, H74. Photo: Imaging Department . President and Fellows of Harvard College
a two-term tradition for American presidents.* In his
Farewell Address to the nation in 1796 (never deliv-
ered orally but printed in the newspapers), Washington
strongly advised the avoidance of “permanent alliances”
like the still-vexatious Franco-American Treaty of 1778.
Contrary to general misunderstanding, Washington did
not oppose all alliances, but favored only “temporary
alliances” for “extraordinary emergencies.” This was
admirable advice for a weak and divided nation in 1796.
But what is sound counsel for a young stripling may not
apply later to a mature and muscular giant.
Washington’s contributions as president were enor-
mous, even though the sparkling Hamilton at times
seemed to outshine him. The central government, its
fiscal feet now under it, was solidly established. The
West was expanding. The merchant marine was plow-
ing the seas. Above all, Washington had kept the nation
out of both overseas entanglements and foreign wars.
The experimental stage had passed, and the presiden-
tial chair could now be turned over to a less impressive
figure. But republics are notoriously ungrateful. When
Washington left office in 1797, he was showered with
John Adams, by John Singleton Copley, 1783 When
the brickbats of partisan abuse, quite in contrast with he entered Harvard College in 1751, Adams intended to
the bouquets that had greeted his arrival. prepare for the ministry, but four absorbing years of study
excited him about other intellectual and career possibilities:
“I was a mighty metaphysician, at least I thought myself
! John Adams Becomes President such.” Adams also tried his hand at being a mighty scientist,
doctor, and orator. Upon graduation he became a
Who should succeed the exalted “Father of His Coun- schoolmaster but soon decided to take up the law.
try”? Alexander Hamilton was the best-known mem-
ber of the Federalist party, now that Washington had
bowed out. But his financial policies, some of which
had fattened the speculators, had made him so unpop- a rugged chip off old Plymouth Rock. The Democratic-
ular that he could not hope to be elected president. The Republicans naturally rallied behind their master orga-
Federalists were forced to turn to Washington’s vice nizer and leader, Thomas Jefferson.
president, the experienced but ungracious John Adams, Political passions ran feverishly high in the presi-
dential campaign of 1796. The lofty presence of
Washington had hitherto imposed some restraints;
now the lid was off. Cultured Federalists like Fisher
*Not broken until 1940 by Franklin D. Roosevelt and made a part of
the Constitution in 1951 by the Twenty-second Amendment. (See the Ames referred to the Jeffersonians as “fire-eating
Appendix.) salamanders, poison-sucking toads.” Federalists and

The crusty New Englander suffered from other

Although Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and John handicaps. He had stepped into Washington’s shoes,
Adams hardly saw eye to eye, Jefferson displayed which no successor could hope to fill. In addition,
grudging respect for Adams in a piece of private Adams was hated by Hamilton, who had resigned from
correspondence in 1787: the Treasury in 1795 and who now headed the war fac-

“ He is vain, irritable, and a bad calculator of

the force and probable effect of the motives
tion of the Federalist party, known as the “High Feder-
alists.” The famed financier even secretly plotted with
certain members of the cabinet against the president,
which govern men. This is all the ill which can
who had a conspiracy rather than a cabinet on his
possibly be said of him. He is as disinterested as

”
hands. Adams regarded Hamilton as “the most ruth-
the Being who made him. less, impatient, artful, indefatigable and unprincipled
intriguer in the United States, if not in the world.”
Most ominous of all, Adams inherited a violent quarrel
Democratic-Republicans even drank their ale in sepa- with France—a quarrel whose gunpowder lacked only
rate taverns. The issues of the campaign, as it turned a spark.
out, focused heavily on personalities. But the Jefferso-
nians again assailed the too-forceful crushing of the
Whiskey Rebellion and, above all, the negotiation of
Jay’s hated treaty.
! Unofficial Fighting with France
John Adams, with most of his support in New Eng- The French were infuriated by Jay’s Treaty. They con-
land, squeezed through by the narrow margin of 71 demned it as the initial step toward an alliance with
votes to 68 in the Electoral College. Jefferson, as runner- Britain, their perpetual foe. They further assailed the
up, became vice president.* One of the ablest statesmen pact as a flagrant violation of the Franco-American
of his day, Adams at sixty-two was a stuffy figure. Sharp- Treaty of 1778. French warships, in retaliation, began
featured, bald, relatively short (five feet seven inches), to seize defenseless American merchant vessels, alto-
and thickset (“His Rotundity”), he impressed observers gether about three hundred by mid-1797. Adding insult
as a man of stern principles who did his duty with stub- to outrage, the Paris regime haughtily refused to receive
born devotion. Although learned and upright, he was America’s newly appointed envoy and even threatened
a tactless and prickly intellectual aristocrat, with no him with arrest.
appeal to the masses and with no desire to cultivate any. President Adams kept his head, temporarily, even
Many citizens regarded him with “respectful irritation.” though the nation was mightily aroused. True to Wash-
ington’s policy of steering clear of war at all costs, he
tried again to reach an agreement with the French
*The possibility of such an inharmonious two-party combination in
the future was removed by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitu- and appointed a diplomatic commission of three men,
tion in 1804. (See the Appendix.) including John Marshall, the future chief justice.

The XYZ Affair When

President Adams’s envoys to
Paris were asked to pay a huge
bribe as the price of doing
diplomatic business, humiliated
Americans rose up in wrath
against France. Here an
innocent young America is
being plundered by Frenchmen
as John Bull looks on in
amusement from across the
The Lilly Library, Indiana University

English Channel.

Preparation for War to

Defend Commerce: The
Building of the Frigate
Philadelphia In 1803 this
frigate ran onto the rocks near
Tripoli harbor, and about three
hundred officers and men were
The Free Library of Philadelphia

imprisoned by the Tripolitans

(see Map 11.2 on p. 211). The
ship was refloated for service
against the Americans, but
Stephen Decatur led a party of
men that set it afire.

Adams’s envoys, reaching Paris in 1797, hoped to army of ten thousand men was authorized (but not
meet with Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, the crafty fully raised).
French foreign minister. They were secretly approached Bloodshed was confined to the sea, and principally
by three go-betweens, later referred to as X, Y, and Z to the West Indies. In two and a half years of unde-
in the published dispatches. The French spokesmen, clared hostilities (1798–1800), American privateers
among other concessions, demanded an unneutral loan and men-of-war of the new navy captured over eighty
of 32 million florins, plus what amounted to a bribe armed vessels flying the French colors, though sev-
of $250,000, for the privilege of merely talking with eral hundred Yankee merchant ships were lost to the
Talleyrand. enemy. Only a slight push, it seemed, might plunge
These terms were intolerable. The American trio both nations into a full-dress war.
knew that bribes were standard diplomatic devices in
Europe, but they gagged at paying a quarter of a mil-
lion dollars for mere talk, without any assurances of a
settlement. Negotiations quickly broke down, and John
! Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party
Marshall, on reaching New York in 1798, was hailed as Embattled France, its hands full in Europe, wanted
a conquering hero for his steadfastness. no war. An outwitted Talleyrand realized that to fight
The XYZ Affair sent a wave of war hysteria sweep- the United States would merely add one more foe to
ing through the United States, catching up even Presi- his enemy roster. The British, who were lending the
dent Adams. The slogan of the hour became “Millions Americans cannon and other war supplies, were actu-
for defense, but not one cent for tribute.” The Federal- ally driven closer to their wayward cousins than they
ists were delighted at this unexpected turn of affairs, were to be again for many years. Talleyrand therefore
whereas all except the most rabid Jeffersonians hung let it be known, through roundabout channels, that if
their heads in shame over the misbehavior of their the Americans would send a new minister, he would be
French friends. received with proper respect.
War preparations in the United States were pushed This French furor brought to Adams a degree of
along at a feverish pace, despite considerable Jefferso- personal acclaim that he had never known before—and
nian opposition in Congress. The Navy Department was never to know again. He doubtless perceived that
was created; the three-ship navy was expanded; the a full-fledged war, crowned by the conquest of the Flo-
United States Marine Corps was reestablished (origi- ridas and Louisiana, would bring new plaudits to the
nally created in 1775, the Marine Corps had been dis- Federalist party—and perhaps a second term to him-
banded at the end of the Revolutionary War). A new self. But the heady wine of popularity did not sway his

The firmness of President John Adams (1735–1826) was

revealed in his message to Congress (June 1798):
! The Federalist Witch Hunt
Exulting Federalists had meanwhile capitalized on the

“ I will never send another minister to France

without assurances that he will be received,
anti-French frenzy to drive through Congress in 1798 a
sheaf of laws designed to muffle or minimize their Jef-
fersonian foes.
respected, and honored as the representative of
The first of these oppressive laws was aimed at
a great, free, powerful, and independent

”
supposedly pro-Jeffersonian “aliens.” Most European
nation. immigrants, lacking wealth, were scorned by the aris-
tocratic Federalist party. But they were welcomed as
voters by the less prosperous and more democratic
Jeffersonians. The Federalist Congress, hoping to dis-
final judgment. He, like other Founding Fathers, real- courage the “dregs” of Europe, erected a dishearten-
ized full well that war must be avoided while the coun- ing barrier. They raised the residence requirements for
try was relatively weak. aliens who desired to become citizens from a tolerable
Adams unexpectedly exploded a bombshell when, five years to an intolerable fourteen. This drastic new
early in 1799, he submitted to the Senate the name of law violated the traditional American policy of open-
a new minister to France. Hamilton and his war-hawk door hospitality and speedy assimilation.
faction were enraged. But public opinion—Jeffersonian Two additional Alien Laws struck heavily at
and reasonable Federalist alike—was favorable to one undesirable immigrants. The president was empowered
last try for peace. to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace and to
America’s envoys (now three) found the politi- deport or imprison them in time of hostilities. Though
cal skies brightening when they reached Paris early in defensible as a war measure—and an officially declared
1800. The ambitious “Little Corporal,” the Corsican war with France seemed imminent—this was an arbi-
Napoleon Bonaparte, had recently seized dictatorial trary grant of executive power contrary to American
power. He was eager to free his hands of the American tradition and to the spirit of the Constitution, even
squabble so that he might continue to redraw the map though the stringent Alien Laws were never enforced.
of Europe and perhaps create a New World empire in The “lockjaw” Sedition Act, the last measure
Louisiana. The afflictions and ambitions of the Old of the Federalist clampdown, was a direct slap at two
World were again working to America’s advantage. priceless freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution by
After a great deal of haggling, a memorable treaty the Bill of Rights—freedom of speech and freedom of
known as the Convention of 1800 was signed in Paris. the press (First Amendment). This law provided that
France agreed to annul the twenty-two-year-old mar- anyone who impeded the policies of the government
riage of (in)convenience, but as a kind of alimony the or falsely defamed its officials, including the presi-
United States agreed to pay the damage claims of Amer- dent, would be liable to a heavy fine and imprison-
ican shippers. So ended the nation’s only peacetime ment. Severe though the measure was, the Federalists
military alliance for a century and a half. Its troubled believed that it was justified. The verbal violence of the
history does much to explain the traditional antipathy day was unrestrained, and foul-penned editors, some of
of the American people to foreign entanglements. them exiled aliens, vilified Adams’s anti-French policy
John Adams, flinty to the end, deserves immense in vicious terms.
credit for his belated push for peace, even though he Many outspoken Jeffersonian editors were indicted
was moved in part by jealousy of Hamilton. Adams under the Sedition Act, and ten were brought to trial.
not only avoided the hazards of war, but also unwit- All of them were convicted, often by packed juries
tingly smoothed the path for the peaceful purchase of swayed by prejudiced Federalist judges. Some of the vic-
Louisiana three years later. He should indeed rank high tims were harmless partisans, who should have been
among the forgotten purchasers of this vast domain. If spared the notoriety of martyrdom. Among them was
America had drifted into a full-blown war with France Congressman Matthew Lyon (the “Spitting Lion”),
in 1800, Napoleon would not have sold Louisiana to who had earlier gained fame by spitting in the face of
Jefferson on any terms in 1803. a Federalist. He was sentenced to four months in jail
President Adams, the bubble of his popularity for writing of President Adams’s “unbounded thirst for
pricked by peace, was aware of his signal contribution ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish ava-
to the nation. He later suggested as the epitaph for his rice.” Another culprit was lucky to get off with a fine of
tombstone (not used), “Here lies John Adams, who took $100 after he had expressed the wish that the wad of a
upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in cannon fired in honor of Adams had landed in the seat
the year 1800.” of the president’s breeches.

Congressional Pugilists
Granger Collection

Satirical representation of
Matthew Lyon’s fight in
Congress with the Federalist
representative Roger Griswold.

The Sedition Act seemed to be in direct conflict widespread popular support. Anti-French hysteria
with the Constitution. But the Supreme Court, domi- played directly into the hands of witch-hunting con-
nated by Federalists, was of no mind to declare this servatives. In the congressional elections of 1798–1799,
Federalist law unconstitutional. (The Federalists inten- the Federalists, riding a wave of popularity, scored the
tionally wrote the law to expire in 1801, so that it could most sweeping victory of their entire history.
not be used against them if they lost the next election.)
This attempt by the Federalists to crush free speech and
silence the opposition party, high-handed as it was,
undoubtedly made many converts for the Jeffersonians.
! The Virginia (Madison) and
Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions
Yet the Alien and Sedition Acts, despite pained out-
cries from the Jeffersonians they muzzled, commanded Resentful Jeffersonians naturally refused to take the
Alien and Sedition Acts lying down. Jefferson himself
feared that if the Federalists managed to choke free
speech and free press, they would then wipe out other
In 1800 James Callender (1758–1803) published a precious constitutional guarantees. His own fledgling
pamphlet that assailed the president in strong political party might even be stamped out of existence.
language. For blasts like the following tirade, If this had happened, the country might have slid into
Callender was prosecuted under the Sedition Act, a dangerous one-party dictatorship.
fined $250, and sentenced to prison for nine months: Fearing prosecution for sedition, Jefferson secretly

“
penned a series of resolutions, which the Kentucky leg-
The reign of Mr. Adams has, hitherto, been islature approved in 1798 and 1799. His friend and fel-
one continued tempest of malignant passions. low Virginian James Madison drafted a similar but less
As president, he has never opened his lips, or extreme statement, which was adopted by the legisla-
lifted his pen, without threatening and scold- ture of Virginia in 1798.
ing. The grand object of his administration has Both Jefferson and Madison stressed the compact
been to exasperate the rage of contending par- theory—a theory popular among English political phi-
ties, to calumniate and destroy every man who losophers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
differs from his opinions. . . . Every person As applied to America by the Jeffersonians, this concept
holding an office must either quit it, or think meant that the thirteen sovereign states, in creating
and vote exactly with Mr. Adams.
” the federal government, had entered into a “compact,”
or contract, regarding its jurisdiction. The national

government was consequently the agent or creation to the Federalist party and to unseat it in the upcoming
of the states. Since water can rise no higher than its presidential election of 1800. The only real nullifica-
source, the individual states were the final judges of tion that Jefferson had in view was the nullification of
whether their agent had broken the “compact” by over- Federalist abuses.
stepping the authority originally granted. Invoking
this logic, Jefferson’s Kentucky resolutions concluded
that the federal regime had exceeded its constitutional
powers and that with regard to the Alien and Sedition
! Federalists Versus
Democratic-Republicans
Acts, “nullification”—a refusal to accept them—was
the “rightful remedy.” As the presidential contest of 1800 approached, the
No other state legislatures, despite Jefferson’s hopes, differences between Federalists and Democratic-
fell into line. Some of them flatly refused to endorse the Republicans were sharply etched (see Table 10.3).
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. Others, chiefly in As might be expected, most federalists of the pre-
Federalist states, added ringing condemnations. Many Constitution period (1787–1789) became Federalists
Federalists argued that the people, not the states, had in the 1790s. Largely welded by Hamilton into an
made the original compact, and that it was up to the effective group by 1793, they openly advocated rule
Supreme Court—not the states—to nullify unconsti- by the “best people.” “Those who own the country,”
tutional legislation passed by Congress. This practice, remarked Federalist John Jay, “ought to govern it.”
though not specifically authorized by the Constitution, With their intellectual arrogance and Tory tastes,
was finally adopted by the Supreme Court in 1803 (see Hamiltonians distrusted full-blown democracy as the
pp. 208–210). fountain of all mischiefs and feared the “swayability”
The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions were of the untutored common folk.
a brilliant formulation of the extreme states’ rights Hamiltonian Federalists also advocated a strong
view regarding the Union—indeed more sweeping in central government with the power to crush demo-
their implications than their authors had intended. cratic excesses like Shays’s Rebellion, protect the lives
They were later used by southerners to support nullifi- and estates of the wealthy, subordinate the sovereignty-
cation—and ultimately secession. Yet neither Jefferson loving states, and promote foreign trade. They believed
nor Madison, as Founding Fathers of the Union, had that government should support private enterprise
any intention of breaking it up; they were groping for but not interfere with it. This attitude came naturally
ways to preserve it. Their resolutions were basically to the merchants, manufacturers, and shippers along
campaign documents designed to crystallize opposition the Atlantic seaboard, who made up the majority of

TABLE 10.3 The Two Political Parties, 1793–1800

Federalist Features Democratic-Republican (Jeffersonian) Features
Rule by the “best people” Rule by the informed masses
Hostility to extension of democracy Friendliness toward extension of democracy
A powerful central government at the expense of states’ rights A weak central government so as to preserve states’ rights
Loose interpretation of Constitution Strict interpretation of Constitution
Government to foster business; concentration of wealth in No special favors for business; agriculture preferred
interests of capitalistic enterprise
A protective tariff No special favors for manufacturers
Pro-British (conservative Tory tradition) Pro-French (radical revolutionary tradition)
National debt a blessing, if properly funded National debt a bane; rigid economy
An expanding bureaucracy Reduction of federal officeholders
A powerful central bank Encouragement to state banks
Restrictions on free speech and press Relatively free speech and press
Concentration in seacoast area Concentration in South and Southwest; in agricultural areas and
backcountry
A strong navy to protect shippers A minimal navy for coastal defense

“dirt” farmers, the laborers, the artisans, and the small

shopkeepers.
Liberal-thinking Jefferson, with his aristocratic
head set on a farmer’s frame, was a bundle of inconsis-
tencies. By one set of tests, he should have been a Fed-
eralist, for he was a Virginia aristocrat and slaveowner
who lived in an imposing hilltop mansion at Monti-
cello. A so-called traitor to his own upper class, Jeffer-
son cherished uncommon sympathy for the common
people, especially the downtrodden, the oppressed,
and the persecuted. As he wrote in 1800, “I have sworn
upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every
form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
Jeffersonian Republicans demanded a weak central
regime. They believed that the best government was
the one that governed least. The bulk of the power, Jef-
ferson argued, should be retained by the states. There
the people, in intimate contact with local affairs,
could keep a more vigilant eye on their public ser-
vants. Otherwise a dictatorship might develop. Central
authority—a kind of necessary evil—was to be kept at
Art Gallery, Williams Center, Lafayette College

a minimum through a strict interpretation of the Con-

stitution. The national debt, which he saw as a curse
illegitimately bequeathed to later generations, was to
be paid off.
Jeffersonian Republicans, themselves primarily
agrarians, insisted that there should be no special priv-
ileges for special classes, particularly manufacturers.
Agriculture, to Jefferson, was the favored branch of the
economy and formed the foundation of his political
thought. “Those who labor in the earth are the chosen
Thomas Jefferson at Natural Bridge, by Caleb Boyle,
ca. 1801 A great statesman, Jefferson wrote his own people of God,” he said. Most of his followers naturally
epitaph: “Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of came from the agricultural South and Southwest.
the Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Above all, Jefferson advocated the rule of the peo-
Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the ple. But he did not propose thrusting the ballot into
University of Virginia.” the hands of every adult white male. He favored gov-
ernment for the people, but not by all the people—
only by those white men who were literate enough to
inform themselves and wear the mantle of American
Federalist support. Farther inland, few Hamiltonians citizenship worthily. Universal education would have
dwelled.
The hinterland was largely anti-Federalist territory.
Leading the anti-Federalists, who came eventually to be Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a republican America was
known as Democratic-Republicans or sometimes sim- peopled with virtuous farmers, not factory hands. As
ply Republicans, was Thomas Jefferson. His rivalry with early as 1784, he wrote,
Hamilton defined the archetypal conflict in American
political history. The two leaders appealed to different
constituencies and expressed different theories of soci-
“ While we have land to labor then, let us never
wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-
ety, politics, and diplomacy. bench, or twirling a distaff. . . . For the general
Lanky and relaxed in appearance, lacking personal operations of manufacture, let our workshops
aggressiveness, weak-voiced, and unable to deliver remain in Europe. . . . The mobs of great cities
a rabble-rousing speech, Jefferson became a master add just so much to the support of pure govern-
political organizer through his ability to lead peo- ment, as sores do to the strength of the human
ple rather than drive them. His strongest appeal was
to the middle class and to the underprivileged—the
body.
”
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
200 • CHAPTER 10 Launching the New Ship of State , 1789–1800

to precede universal suffrage. The ignorant, he argued, Hamilton looked outward and eastward. He sought
were incapable of self-government. But he had pro- to build a strong national state that would assert and
found faith in the reasonableness and teachableness of expand America’s commercial interests. “No Govern-
the masses and in their collective wisdom when taught. ment could give us tranquility and happiness at home,”
Landlessness among American citizens threatened he declared, “which did not possess sufficient stability
popular democracy as much as illiteracy, in Jefferson’s and strength to make us respectable abroad.” Foreign
eyes. He feared that propertyless dependents would be trade, especially with Britain, was a key cog in Ham-
political pawns in the hands of their landowning supe- ilton’s fiscal machinery, and friendship with Britain
riors. How could the emergence of a landless class of was thus indispensable. Jeffersonian Republicans,
voters be avoided? The answer, in part, was by slavery. unlike the Federalist “British boot-lickers,” were basi-
A system of black slave labor in the South ensured that cally pro-French. They earnestly believed that it was to
white yeoman farmers could remain independent land- America’s advantage to support the liberal ideals of the
owners. Without slavery, poor whites would have to French Revolution, rather than applaud the reaction of
provide the cheap labor so necessary for the cultivation the British Tories. Jefferson, in effect, faced inward and
of tobacco and rice, and their low wages would preclude westward. His priorities were to protect and strengthen
their ever owning property. Jefferson thus tortuously democracy at home, especially in the frontier regions
reconciled slaveholding—his own included—with his beyond the Appalachians, rather than flex America’s
more democratic impulses. muscles abroad.
Yet for his time, Jefferson’s confidence that white, So as the young Republic’s first full decade of
free men could become responsible and knowledgeable nationhood came to a close, the Founders’ hopes seemed
citizens was open-minded. He championed their free- already imperiled. Conflicts over domestic politics and
dom of speech, for without free speech, the misdeeds foreign policy undermined the unity of the Revolution-
of tyranny could not be exposed. Jefferson even dared ary era and called into question the very viability of the
to say that given the choice of “a government without American experiment in democracy. As the presiden-
newspapers” and “newspapers without a government,” tial election of 1800 approached, the danger loomed
he would opt for the latter. Yet no other American that the fragile and battered American ship of state, like
leader, except perhaps Abraham Lincoln, ever suffered many another before it and after it, would founder on
more foul abuse from editorial pens; Jefferson might the rocks of controversy. The shores of history are lit-
well have prayed for freedom from the Federalist press. tered with the wreckage of nascent nations torn asunder
Differences over foreign policy defined another before they could grow to a stable maturity. Why should
sharp distinction between Hamilton and Jefferson. the United States expect to enjoy a happier fate?

Chapter Review
KEY TERMS PEOPLE TO KNOW
Bill of Rights (182) Fallen Timbers, Battle George Washington “Mad Anthony” Wayne
Judiciary Act of 1789 (182) of (191) Alexander Hamilton John Jay
funding at par (183) Greenville, Treaty of (191) Louis XVI John Adams
assumption (183) Jay’s Treaty (193) Edmond Genêt Charles Maurice de
tariff (184) Pinckney’s Treaty (193) Little Turtle Talleyrand
excise tax (184) Farewell Address (193)
Bank of the United XYZ Affair (195)
States (185) Convention of 1800 (196)
Whiskey Rebellion (185) Alien Laws (196)
Reign of Terror (190) Sedition Act (196)
Neutrality Virginia and Kentucky
Proclamation (190) resolutions (198)

CHRONOLOGY
1789 Constitution formally put into effect 1794 Whiskey Rebellion
Judiciary Act of 1789 Battle of Fallen Timbers
Washington elected president Jay’s Treaty with Britain
French Revolution begins
Declaration of the Rights of Man (France) 1795 Treaty of Greenville: Indians cede Ohio
Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain
1790 First official census
1796 Washington’s Farewell Address
1791 Bill of Rights adopted
Vermont becomes fourteenth state 1797 Adams becomes president
Bank of the United States created XYZ Affair
Excise tax passed
1798 Alien and Sedition Acts
1792 Washington reelected president
1798–1799 Virginia and Kentucky resolutions
1792–1793 Federalist and Democratic-Republican par-
ties formed 1798–1800 Undeclared war with France

1793 Louis XVI beheaded; radical phase of 1800 Convention of 1800: peace with France
French Revolution
France declares war on Britain and Spain
Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation
Citizen Genêt affair

TO LEARN MORE
Joanne Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the Thomas P. Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier
New Republic (2001) Epilogue to the American Revolution (1986)
Francois Furstenberg, In the Name of the Father: Robert W. Smith, Keeping the Republic: Ideology and Early
Washington’s Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation American Diplomacy (2004)
(2006) Alan Taylor, William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion
Frank Lambert, The Barbary Wars: American Independence on the Frontier of the Early American Republic (1995)
in the Atlantic World (2005) Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early
Michael Merrill and Sean Wilentz, eds., The Key of Liberty: Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)
The Life and Democratic Writings of William Manning, “A Robert E. Wright, Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the
Laborer,” 1747–1814 (1992) Creation of the American Republic (2002)
Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Tyranny of Printers”: Newspaper
Politics in the Early American Republic (2001) A complete, annotated bibliography for this
Jeffrey L. Pasley, Andrew W. Robertson, and David chapter—along with brief descriptions of the
Waldstreicher, eds., Beyond the Founders: New Approaches People to Know—may be found on the American
to the Political History of the Early American Republic Pageant website. The Key Terms are defined in a
(2004) Glossary at the end of the text.
Bernard Schwartz, The Great Rights of Mankind: A History
of the American Bill of Rights (1991)

Go to the CourseMate website at

[Link] for
additional study tools and review
materials—including audio and
video clips—for this chapter.

Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
AP* Review Questions for Chapter 10
1. All of the following are true statements about the Bill 5. The “loose construction” interpretation of the Consti-
of Rights EXCEPT that it tution refers to the notion that
(A) is the first ten amendments to the Constitution. (A) in carrying out its duties, the central government
(B) gives to the federal government all powers not can take any measure not specifically prohibited
specifically designated in the Constitution. by the Constitution.
(C) protects personal liberties such as freedom of (B) all powers not expressly given to the central gov-
speech, religion, and the right to bear arms. ernment belong to the states.
(D) was added at the insistence of, and as a compro- (C) the judiciary branch should be the final voice in
mise with, anti-Federalists. interpreting the law.
(E) prevents the government from arbitrarily seizing (D) Congress may pass only those laws and take only
private property. those actions deemed necessary to conduct the
business of the United States.
2. Why did Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamil-
(E) the central government can only act as defined by
ton want the federal government to assume state
the Constitution.
debts accumulated during the American Revolution?
(A) He hoped to end the practice of speculating. 6. The Whiskey Rebellion is most significant because
(B) He supported fiscal policies that aided the masses. (A) it marked the first tax rebellion against the new
(C) He wanted to prove the federal treasury was solid republic.
enough to handle the debt. (B) distillers were successful in their push to have the
(D) He hoped to shift wealthy creditors’ obligations government repeal its tax on whiskey.
and allegiances from the states to the federal (C) it included many former veterans of the American
government. Revolution.
(E) He wanted to put the new republic on more solid (D) it was the first protest to make its case without
financial ground. violence.
(E) it led to the strengthening and increased credibil-
3. Leaders chose a site along the Potomac River for the
ity of Washington’s government.
nation’s capitol city (ultimately, Washington, D.C.) in
1790 because 7. Which were the first two political parties in America?
(A) it was centrally located between northern and (A) Federalists and anti-Federalists
southern states. (B) National Republicans and Democratic Republicans
(B) it was close to the homes of several leaders, includ- (C) Democratic-Republicans and Federalists
ing President George Washington and Secretary of (D) Whigs and Tories
State Thomas Jefferson. (E) Democrats and Whigs
(C) it would ensure that Virginia would vote in favor
of Hamilton’s plan for federal assumption of state 8. What was the main reason that leaders in the newly
war debts. formed United States were suspicious of the formation
(D) its strategic location would ensure the collection of political parties?
of customs and duties needed to pay down the (A) They feared such divisiveness might trigger
national debt. another revolution.
(E) its river location made it easily accessible by vari- (B) They were not accustomed to the long-term exis-
ous transportation routes. tence of political parties.
(C) They considered sustained opposition to govern-
4. Which of the following was NOT part of Hamilton’s ment antithetical to unity and the functioning of
economic program for the new nation? a republic.
(A) Protecting well-to-do manufacturing interests (D) They believed parties to be seedbeds of corruption.
(B) Establishing a national bank (E) They worried that party politics would interfere
(C) Setting an excise tax with the functioning of government.
(D) Limiting the power of the central government
(E) Creating a sound monetary policy

201A
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
AP* Review Questions for Chapter 10 • 201B

9. George Washington’s 1793 Neutrality Proclamation in 13. The Alien and Sedition laws were intended to accom-
the conflict between France and England is significant plish all of the following EXCEPT
for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that it (A) silence critics of the Federalist government.
(A) launched America’s isolationist foreign policy (B) target immigrant voters.
tradition. (C) grant the president the right to deport foreigners.
(B) was based on an accurate assessment of America’s (D) boost the power and popularity of Jeffersonian
military and diplomatic strengths and weaknesses. Democratic-Republicans.
(C) marked a departure from the Franco-American (E) raise residency requirements for citizenship.
Alliance of 1778.
(D) united Federalists and Jeffersonians around a sin- 14. What was the most fundamental difference between
gle cause. the Federalist party and the Jeffersonian
Democratic-Republicans?
(E) actually served the French more than American
entry into the war might have. (A) Jeffersonians felt that only the talented elite
should lead; Federalists embraced the masses.
10. Which of these was NOT among the many responses (B) Federalists tended to be located along the Atlantic
to Jay’s Treaty with Britain in 1794? seaboard; Jeffersonians inhabited rural and back-
(A) Outrage by southerners, Jeffersonians, and the country regions.
French (C) Jeffersonians tended to be slaveowners; Federalists
(B) A surge in President Washington’s popularity were largely opposed to slavery.
(C) Increased interest by Spain in a treaty of its own (D) Federalists embraced commercial interests; Jeffer-
with America sonians saw farming as the hallmark of the
(D) Mob riots and demonstrations nation’s economy.
(E) Britain agreeing to pay damages for seizing Ameri- (E) Federalists advocated for a strong central govern-
can ships ment; Jeffersonians promoted states’ rights.
11. Americans were angered by the XYZ Affair with France 15. Why did Thomas Paine declare, “The principles of
because America opened the Bastille”?
(A) they likened it to a bribe rather than respectable (A) Both revolutions were built upon the ideals of lib-
diplomacy. erty and equality.
(B) the French refused to compensate American mer- (B) America and France went through period of
chants for goods seized in their ships. intense violence after their revolutions.
(C) the French diplomatic minister sent American (C) Both revolutions immediately produced strong,
ambassadors home. powerful leaders.
(D) French importers had blocked American com- (D) Americans’ refusal to adhere to their alliance with
merce from entering Europe. France sparked a long, deadly war.
(E) French officials arrested America’s diplomatic (E) Both nations were spurred to action because the
envoy John Marshall. mother country levied unfair taxes.
12. What move did John Adams make in 1800 that paved 16. Events in Europe drew the United States into world
the way for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803? affairs in all of the following ways EXCEPT that
(A) He launched a crucial military battle that led to (A) British naval practices in the West Indies led to the
victory against French leader Napoleon Bonaparte. extremely unpopular Jay’s Treaty.
(B) He accepted a second invitation to negotiate a (B) The prospect of an Anglo-American alliance fright-
treaty with the French. ened Spain, leading to Pinckney’s Treaty.
(C) He authorized the government purchase of foreign (C) Improved relations with Britain led to the XYZ
land bordering American states. Affair and the buildup of the navy.
(D) He joined forces with the British against France. (D) Napoleon’s quest for European domination led to
(E) He moved to purchase Florida from the Spanish. the end of the Franco-American alliance.
(E) British and French impressments led to an era of
complete isolation in the United States.

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Early Challenges of the Republic

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Early Challenges of the Republic

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Chapter 10

Launching the New

A merica’s new ship of state did not spread

America’s population was still about 90 percent

1962 (62.256.7) Photograph © 1981 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

! Washington for President

TABLE 10.1 Evolution of the Cabinet

The Granger Collection, New York

! Customs Duties and Excise Taxes Debt Owed

“ He smote the rock of the national resources,

“ I saw the operation to be unequal in this

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

0 50 100 Km. 80°W

A Fort Oswegatchie VT.

MAP 10.1 American Posts Held by

! Embroilments with Britain signed in August 1795, the confederacy gave up

Signing the Treaty of

Chicago History Museum

Washington’s huge popularity was compromised by

The crusty New Englander suffered from other

“ He is vain, irritable, and a bad calculator of

The XYZ Affair When

Preparation for War to

imprisoned by the Tripolitans

The firmness of President John Adams (1735–1826) was

“ I will never send another minister to France

TABLE 10.3 The Two Political Parties, 1793–1800

“dirt” farmers, the laborers, the artisans, and the small

a minimum through a strict interpretation of the Con-

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