Washington Heads a New Government. Washington takes charge Washington taking charge of the new...
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Transcript of Washington Heads a New Government. Washington takes charge Washington taking charge of the new...
Washington Heads a New Government
Washington takes charge
Washington taking charge of the new government was a huge experiment.
Our new is government based on the will of the people could really work
We are in a wilderness without a single footstep to guide us”.
James Madison
Here we go..
One of the first tasks Washington and Congress did was to create a judicial system
How many court systems should there be? The Judiciary Act of 1789 fixed these
problems.. Provided a Supreme Court with 5 justices and
one head chief justice. Allowed state court decisions to be appealed at
the Supreme Court level is the question of a Constitutional amendment came up
Shaping the Executive Branch..
GW also needed help creating an executive brance – it only consisted of who at the time?
Congress and GW created 3 executive departments:
1. Dept of State – TJ 2. Dept. of War – Knox the Ox And Dept. of Treasure - Hamilton
Cabinet
To head these departments – GW could have given the jobs to friends and relatives - however, he chose strong political leaders -
Alsao chose Edward Randoph as Attorney General
The chief lawyer of the federal government.
All of these people make up the ……..
Hamilton and Jefferson Debate…
A. Hamilton’s Economic Plan:
1. Proposed a plan to manage the new country’s mounting debt.
2. National Government was responsible for about 2/3 of the millions of dollars owed back.
a. Proposed to pay off the foreign debt and issue new bonds to cover the old ones.
b. Also proposed to that the fed. Govt assume the debt of the states. – Why?
3. . Because assuming state debt would give creditors an incentive to support the new federal government.
4. However, if the govt failed, would the creditors get their money back?
No.B.Plan for a National Bank:1. Proposed a National Bank that would b e
funded by both the federal government and wealthy private investors.
2. Hamilton wanted to tie in wealthy investors into the govt’s welfare.
4. The Bank of the United States would issue paper money and handle taxes, government funds.
5. Opponents of the National Bank claimed it would give an alliance between the wealthy and the federal govt?
a. Madison argued that the Const. made no provision for it – therefore you couldn’t do it.
b. This led to a huge debate between those who favored STRICT interpretation of the Const. (federal govt would have LLIMITED POWERS) and those who favored a loose interpretation (federal government would have GREATER fed. Powers.)
Creating D.C.
To win support for his debt plan from the southern states – which hated him – Hamilton offered a new suggestion:
What if the nations capital was moved from NYC to a new cityin the south?
This idea pleased southerners, particulallry….who?
This new southern site would give southerns the feeling that the govt was repsonsive to their inerests!
Who would design it?
Pierre L’Enfant, a French engineer drew up plans for the new capital.
L’Enfant was later fired by GW for being … Obstinate. He was replaced by someone else who
kept to the original They continued the plan on a grand scale
– designing avenues, boulevards, traffic circles, that mirrored European capitals!
One amendment saved Hamilton’s plan… “Congress could do whatever is necessary
and proper” to carry out specific enumerated powers, such as regulating commerce.
Hamilton convinced Washington and a majority in Congress to accept his views and the fed. Govt established its first Bank of the United States.
How did the Political Parties originate?
GW tried to remain above the arguments between Hamilton and Jefferson.
However, their hatred for each other created and fueled a growing division in politics!
Federalists and the Democratic Republicans:
This split in GW’s cabinet helped give rise to the country’s 2 party system
Those who shared Hamilton’s decision of a strong central government called themselves…
Federalists. Those who shared Jefferson’s belief that
states should have more power called themselves Democratic – Republicans.
Because of this – the 2- Party system began to develop.
The Whiskey Rebellion!!
During GW’s 2nd term, an incident occurred that reflected the problems between the states and the fed. Government.
Congress had passed a protective tariff – which is an import tax on anything coming in from Europe.
This tax was meant to encourage American Production.
Hamilton wanted more…
He pushed through an excise tax – a tax on a product’s manufacture, sale and distribution….of
Whiskey. Most whiskey producers were small backwoods
farmers – the major crop for it was CORN. Corn was too bulky to transport across the App.
Mountains – so they distilled it into whisky.. Which the sold and made a huge profit from.
Whiskey Rebellion
Since whiskey was the main source for cash for these frontier farmers, Hamilton knew the excise tax would make them angry – and it did.
In 1794, furious farmers in PA refused to pay the tax.
They beat up federal marshals and even threaten to secede from the Union.
Hamilton thought this was great!
Hamilton thought this was the perfect opportunity to show off the new govt force and put down the rebellion.
Headed up by GW and Hamilton himself, they led 15,000 troops to western PA and scattered the rebels without a shot.
The Whiskey Rebellion was a milestone in the example of what federal power could do.
Meantime, back in Europe…
Most Americans initially supported the French Revolution
Like the American, it was inspired by the ideal of Republican Rule.
The French set out to cerate a gov't based on the will of the people.
Reactions.. – What do we do?
The reaction back in the U.S. was divided. Because of their alliance, the French
expected full support from us. The reaction tended to split along party
lines.: The Federalists such as Hamilton wanted
to back the British The Democratic –Republicans, like
Jefferson, backed the French cause.
What should we do??
GW decided to declare neutrality towards the cause.
Both sides agreed – getting involved right now was not the best policy.
Earlier in April, the French had sent a French diplomat by the name of Eddie Genet to convince us to get involved in the war…
Sneak…Liar..
Instead of following the diplomatic procedure, he began to recruit Americans on his own against GB.
What would this violate? Made France look bad and Genet feared
to go back to France. Made Jefferson look so bad since he
supported the French that he ended up quitting his position!
Spain is still around…and scared
Since the U.S. wanted to secure land claims west, they needed to get an agreement with Spain, who still owned much of the LA territory.
However, these potential negotiations stalled bc of the war in Europe.
Spain, unlike Britain, had signed a treaty with France after the American Revolution.
Spain now were scared of the British and Britain-American alliance – so they quickly moved to negotiate with the U.S. on a land deal.
Suddenly, Spain agreed to meet with the U.S. minister to GB, Thomas Pinckney..
What do we get??
Pinckney’s Treaty gave us a lot of land! Spain gave up ALL claims to land east of
the Mississippi (except Florida) Allowed us to use New Orleans Port. Pioneers began to move west now in great
numbers… They assumed that after the Treaty of
Paris, that western land was theirs for the taking!
Who do they run into out there?
The British were still hanging around in the Northwest Territory. – an area that is now Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, etc.
Also met fierce resistance from…. Its “original inhabitants”!
Fights break out…
Having been excluded from any negotiations, of the Treaty of Paris, the Native Americans in the NW Territory continued their tribal land claims and often attacked any settlers that they came into contact with.
Jay’s Treaty…
While all of this was going on, John Jay, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was in London trying to negotiate a treaty with Britain.
One issue was obviously removal of them from U.S. land, however, they could still trade with the French on the U.S. Canadian border.
GW is getting tired..
After all of the bickering and fighting within the Cabinet, Washington decides not to run for a 3rd term
Goes back to Mount Vernon, retires with Martha and the kids….
In the Presidential Election of 1797, the Federalists nominated John Adams for President and Thomas Pinckney for VP.
The Democratic Republicans nominated Thomas Jefferson for President and Aaron Burr for VP.
In the electoral vote, Adams receives 71 votes while Jefferson receives 68.
Big Mistake The Constitution originally stated that the 2nd
runner up will become VP. However, why is that a bad thing in this case? Why did the Constitution set up the election
process this way? The election had become underscored by.. Sectionalism – where the interests of your
region is more important than the election as a whole.
The northern delegates voted for Adams while the southerners voted for Jefferson.
Adams ticks off the Congress..
Right after taking office, President Adams faced his 1st crisis – a war with France.
The French Government regarded the Jay Treaty with Britain a direct insult to them and refused to receive the American ambassador.
Even worse, they began seizing American ships on their way to trade with other European countries.
The Affair…
Adams sends a 3 man team of Charles Pinckney, Chief Justice John Marshall, and El Gerry to Paris to ease tensions.
By this time, the ‘Reign of Terror” had stopped and the French Gov’t was at a new high point
They had a young general named Napoleon Bonaparte who was taking over Europe at the moment –
Couldn’t be bothered with these little Americans…-
The 3 man team had planned to meet with the French Gov’t called the Directory.
The Directory of course, sent 3 low-level officials, whom Adams, later on called X, Y, Z.
The officials demanded $250,000 as bribe payment to see Talleyrand, the French Foreign Minister.
Anti-French…
Once everyone found this out back at home most Americans became “anti-French”.
No on played French music, and the Americans went on to create a strong navy and authorized our ships to seize French vessels.
12,000 men marched to the White House to volunteer for war.
For the next 2 years, an “undeclared” war raged between France and the United States.
