Unit 5: Agrarian Republic

• Federalists


  Supported strong central government, public order
• Democratic-Republicans (D-R)


  Supported agriculture, liberty, states' rights
• Adams loses Federalist support


  Angered Federalists, including Alexander Hamilton, who wanted harsher policy toward France, including formal declaration of war
• Adams sent second diplomatic mission to France

  Cooled tensions between France and US but hurt Adams in election
• 1. R's support for France

  Became less of a rallying point for Federalists
• Unpopular Alien and Sedition Acts


  Seemed less justified
• Adams


  Known as "Father of the American Navy"
• Opponents of the new navy called sailors "John Adams's Jackasses"
• Hamilton and his supporters

  Rallied support against Adams and urged Federalists to support Charles Pinckney
• 1. R hurt by support of France during naval war and XYZ affair


  Used conflicts within Federalist Party to their advantage
• 1. R belief


  Better to risk too much liberty than suffer from too much government
• Election of 1800 campaign


  1. No campaign speech and no statements from the candidates

  2. Campaigns conducted through newspapers, pamphlets, and other sources
• 1. R slander of Adams


  Linked Adams with the hard-lined Federalists who had pushed for the Alien and Sedition Acts
• Federalists slander of Jefferson


  • Asserted Jefferson was a godless man who would lead the U.S. into chaos
  • Claimed he was an agent of the French Revolution
• President of Yale College: "the Bible would be cast into a bonfire, our holy worship changed into a dance of [French] Jacobin phrensy, our wives and daughters dishonored, and our sons converted into the disciples of Voltaire and the dragoons of Marat."
• Sally Hemings controversy
• Jefferson and Burr had 73 electoral votes, Adams 65, Pinckney 64
• If 2 candidates tied, House of Representatives had to choose a new President

  1. Each delegation from 16 states would get 1 vote

  2. Jeffersonians had won most of the seats in the congressional elections of 1800, these new members had not yet entered office so the vote for President would be taken by the old House, which the Federalists controlled

  3. Clear that no candidate would receive majority immediately

  4. Some Federalists tried to gain votes for Burr whom they viewed as less of a threat

  5. Jefferson received support from Alexander Hamilton

  6. House remained deadlocked for days, elected Jefferson as President and Burr VP
• Jefferson's promise to reduce the size of the federal government

  Fulfilled by cutting internal taxes, reducing the size of army, navy, and government staff
• Jefferson did not intend to destroy government created by Constitution or even undo all acts of Federalists
• Jefferson let Bank of the United States continue to run
• Judiciary Act of 1789

  • Created a national court system with three circuit courts and thirteen district courts, all headed by the Supreme Court
  • Supreme Court would settle differences between state and federal courts
• Judiciary Act of 1801


  Decreased the number of Supreme Court justices and increased the number of federal judges
• Midnight judges


  Last-minute appointments of judges by Adams
• Jefferson angered by midnight judges


  Believed he had the right to appoint judges from his own party
• John Marshall


  Appointed by Adams, Federalist leader and cousin of Jefferson, sworn in as Chief Justice (leading judge of Supreme Court)
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)


  1. Adams appointed William Marbury as justice of the peace for the District of Columbia

  2. Jefferson tried to deny the appointment

  3. Secretary of State James Madison, under orders from President Jefferson, never delivered the official papers giving Marbury his authority

  4. Marbury sued Madison, demanding the Supreme Court order Madison to let him take office

  5. According to the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Court had to power to do so
• Land Act of 1800


  Adopted before Jefferson became President, Americans were able to buy land in small parcels and on credit, federal land office appeared across the West, making transfer of land easier from the government to private citizens
• Louisiana Purchase


  Jefferson attempted to buy New Orleans, but accepted the French offer to buy the entire territory for $15 million, doubled the size of the United States, fulfilling Jefferson's desire for continued expansion
• The Louisiana Purchase was the largest peaceful acquisition of territory in United States history, more than doubled the size of the nation
• The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–06) was the first to survey and document the natural and human richness of the Louisiana Purchase area
• Lewis and Clark Expedition


  Jefferson chose Meriwether Lewis to lead expedition into Louisiana Purchase, Lewis chose William Clark as companion officer, began spring 1804, goals were to search for river routes to the western ocean, make contact with Indigenous Americans, gather information about the region's natural resources, hired a French-Canadian fur trapper and his wife Sacajawea as interpreters, reached Pacific Ocean in late 1805 and returned east by September 1806
• Patrick Gass, one of the soldiers on the expedition, published the first popular account, A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of the Corps of Discovery, in 1810
• Jefferson popular after: lower taxes, acquired new territory, Alien and Sedition Acts expired
• Federalists opposed Louisiana Purchase

  Only real support was in industrial centers in Northeast but there they were satisfied with Jefferson
• Jefferson wins a second term, 162 electoral votes vs. Charles Pinckney 14, even Massachusetts voted Jefferson, usually Federalist state
• Jay's Treaty


  Expired 1805
• French warships harassing American ships trading with Britain

  British ships interfered with American ships trading with French
• British kidnapped American sailors to serve in their navy (impressment)
• Embargo Act of 1807


  Outlawed almost all trade with foreign countries, ruined Jefferson's 2nd term, many Americans despised direct interference of national government in the economy