Chapter 6

The New RepublicAn Age of Political Passion, 1789–1800

Why was the period after the adoption of the Constitution so politically contentious?

CHAPTER SIX: THE NEW REPUBLIC: AN AGE OF POLITICAL PASSION, 1789-1800

I. Launching the New Government

II. Hamilton’s Ambitious Program

III. Partisanship without Parties

IV. Conflicts at Home and Abroad

V. Cultural Politics in a Passionate Age

VI. The Stormy Presidency of John Adams

CHAPTER SIX: THE NEW REPUBLIC: AN AGE OF POLITICAL PASSION, 1789-1800

A. Choosing the First President

B. The First Federal Elections: Completing the Constitution

C. Filling Out the Branches of Government

Launching the New Government

electoral college - A group of electors appointed by each state who had the responsibility of picking the president.

Choosing the First President

Why did Madison shift his views on the need for a Bill of Rights?

Why were some ardent Anti-Federalists not satisfied with the Bill of Rights?

The First Federal Elections: Completing the Constitution

Bill of Rights - The first ten of the original twelve amendments to the Constitution, which included protections for basic individual liberties and protections for the states.

The First Federal Elections: Completing the Constitution

A. Hamilton’s Vision for the New Republic

B. The Assumption of State Debts

C. Madison’s Opposition

D. The Bank, the Mint, and the Report on Manufactures

E. Jefferson and Hamilton: Contrasting Visions of the Republic

Hamilton’s Ambitious Program

What were the main features of Hamilton’s economic plan? How did each of these components contribute to the growth of the American economy?

What were the main features of Hamilton’s economic program?

How does Hamilton’s own life story help explain his particular vision for America’s future?

Hamilton’s Vision for the New Republic

assumption of state debts - Hamilton’s scheme for the federal government to take over any outstanding state debts.

The Assumption of State Debts

Why did Jefferson and Madison wish to relocate the nation’s capital away from New York City?

Why did Virginians, including Madison and Jefferson, oppose Hamilton’s economic program?

Why did Madison and Jefferson gain by moving the location of the new capital to what is now Washington, D.C.?

Madison’s Opposition

How did Hamilton and Jefferson differ in their interpretations of the phrase “necessary and proper?”

The Bank, the Mint, and the Report on Manufactures

Bank of the United States - A bank chartered by the federal government. The Bank served as a depository for government funds, helped bolster confidence in government securities, made loans, and provided the nation with a stable national currency.

The Bank, the Mint, and the Report on Manufactures

What was Hamilton’s theory of constitutional interpretation, and how did it differ from Jefferson’s theory?

What were the most important points of disagreement between Hamilton and Jefferson?

Jefferson and Hamilton: Contrasting Visions of the Republic

A. A New Type of Politician

B. The Growth of the Partisan Press

C. The Democratic-Republican Societies

Partisanship without Parties

What role did the partisan press play in the politics of the 1790s?

The Growth of the Partisan Press

Why did the Federalists oppose the Democratic-Republican societies?

The Democratic-Republican Societies

Democratic-Republican Societies - A new type of political organization informally allied with the Republicans whose function was to help collect, channel, and influence public opinion.

The Democratic-Republican Societies

A. The French Revolution in America

B. Adams versus Clinton: A Contest for Vice President

C. Diplomatic Controversies and Triumphs

D. Violence along the Frontier

Conflicts at Home and Abroad

How did the French Revolution affect domestic American politics?

Why did Federalists become such ardent critics of the French Revolution?

The French Revolution in America

How did French ideas influence American political culture?

Why did Republicans oppose Jay’s Treaty?

Diplomatic Controversies and Triumphs

Jay’s Treaty - Diplomatic treaty negotiated by Federalist John Jay in 1794. According to the terms of the treaty, Britain agreed to compensate America for cargoes seized in 1793–1794 and promised to vacate forts in the Northwest Territory. However, America failed to win acceptance of the right of neutral nations to trade with belligerents without harassment.

Diplomatic Controversies and Triumphs

How did American and Indian view of the Treaty of Greenville differ?

Why did the Whiskey Rebellion present such a problem for Republicans?

Violence along the Frontier

Whiskey Rebellion - The armed uprising of western farmers protesting the Whiskey excise in 1794 was the most serious test of the new federal government’s authority since ratification of the Constitution.

Violence along the Frontier

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Why did Federalist policy not work in Kentucky?

A. Political Fashions and Fashionable Politics

B. Literature, Education, and Gender

C. Federalists, Republicans, and the Politics of Race

Cultural Politics in a Passionate Age

How did fashion become politicized in the 1790s?

Political Fashions and Fashionable Politics

How did the novel reflect and influence ideas about women’s roles in the new republic?

How is virtue represented in Maria Crownshield’s allegory of female education?

Literature, Education, and Gender

What were the differences between the views of Republicans and Federalists toward the revolution in Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti)? What political factors might account for these differences?

Why did Republicans oppose normalizing relations with St. Domingue?

Federalists, Republicans, and the Politics of Race

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What symbols does the artists use to represent the achievements of the arts and science in the new American nation?

A. Washington’s Farewell Address

B. The XYZ Affair and Quasi-War with France

C. The Alien and Sedition Acts

D. The Disputed Election of 1800

E. Gabriel’s Rebellion

The Stormy Presidency of John Adams

What advice did Washington offer the new nation in his Farewell Address?

What visual elements does the artist use to represent the future of America in this painting of George Washington?

Washington’s Farewell Address

What impact did the XYZ Affair have on American politics?

The XYZ Affair and Quasi-War with France

XYZ Affair - The furor created when Americans learned that three French officials, identified in diplomatic correspondence as “X,” “Y,” and “Z,” demanded a bribe from America’s diplomats as the price of beginning negotiations.

The XYZ Affair and Quasi-War with France

Why did the Federalists believe that it was necessary to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts?

The Alien and Sedition Acts

Alien and Sedition Acts - Four laws designed to protect America from the danger of foreign and domestic subversion. The first three, the Alien laws, dealt with immigration and naturalization. The Sedition Act criminalized criticism of the federal government.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

states’ rights - The theory that the Constitution was a compact among the states and that the individual states retained the right to judge when the federal government’s actions were unconstitutional.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

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What constitutional ideas were used to challenge the Sedition Act?

What was the constitutional basis for the Republicans’ challenge to the constitutionality of the Sedition Act? Explain.

What symbols does the cartoonist who created the anti-Jefferson political cartoon, “Providential Detection,” use to signal his opposition to Jeffersonian political views?

Why did the Federalist political cartoon show Jefferson about to burn the Constitution?

The Disputed Election of 1800

Which events of the 1790s helped inspire Gabriel’s Rebellion?

Gabriel’s Rebellion

Gabriel’s Rebellion - A slave insurrection in Richmond, Virginia, that drew together free blacks and slaves in a plot to seize the Richmond arsenal and foment a slave rebellion.

Gabriel’s Rebellion

What were the chief political differences dividing Federalists from Republicans in 1800?

Conclusion