Major Events

1800 - 1850

Go West Young Man!

• Economic and strategic interests,

supported by popular beliefs, led to

westward expansion to the Pacific Ocean.

• Prior to the Civil War U. S. experienced

dramatic territorial expansion, immigration,

economic growth, and industrialization.

• The ideology of “Manifest Destiny” cause

people to go to new frontiers.

Washington’s Presidency

President

Washington

Vice President

John Adams

Secretary

of State

Thomas Jefferson

Secretary

of War

General Henry Knox

Secretary of

the Treasury

Alexander Hamilton

Washington’s Presidency

• One made government responsible for all Revolutionary War debts, and funded that debt at its full value.

• Second part, adopted over the strong objections of Madison and Jefferson, created a National Bank, to give the government some control of the money system. The Bank was a private stock corporation, but one-fifth of the members of its board of directors were to be appointed by the government.

The dispute over the constitutionality of the Bank was a fundamental

reason for the beginning of the first political party system.

The new government faced enormous debt. Alexander Hamilton

proposed a two part plan for a national economic system including a

national bank.

Washington’s Presidency

• The French Revolution became an important domestic issue when France declared war against England in 1793

• The French position argued that the 1778 treaty that obligated the U.S. to support France against her enemies.

• Hamilton argued that the treaty was with the French king, and did not apply. Jefferson believed the treaty was with the French people. Neither wanted war with England.

• The French ambassador, Genét, angered possible supporters by recruiting Americans as privateers.

•Washington received Genét coldly, and in the end proclaimed American neutrality.

Washington’s Presidency

Both the British and French were angered by the Proclamation of Neutrality and policy led to undeclared war with both. U.S. merchant ships were attacked by both.

U.S. Soldiers were forced into “impressments”.

John Jay, the first Supreme Court

Chief Justice, was sent to England to

negotiate what became Jay’s Treaty.

Many politicians did not like it

because it did not stop attacks on

merchant ships and restricted trade.

However, It did get the British to

leave western forts and stop

supplying Indians with weapons.

Washington’s PresidencyPart of Hamilton's plan to pay the Revolutionary War debt was to impose an excise tax on whiskey. In 1794 farmers in western Pennsylvania resisted tax collectors in the Whiskey Rebellion.

President Washington led a force of 15,000 men to put down the rebellion but when he got there, there were no rebels to be found! The contrast between this rebellion and Shay’s rebellion is often used to show the effect of the Constitution and a strong central government.

1st Political PartiesAfter George Washington’s presidency ended in the late

1790s, the first political parties emerged.

The Federalists

• John Adams and

Alexander Hamilton

• believed in a strong

national government

• industrial economy

• supported by bankers

and business interests in

the Northeast

Democratic

Republicans

• Thomas Jefferson and

James Madison

• believed in a weak

national government

• agricultural economy

• supported by farmers,

artisans, and frontier

settlers in the South.

John Adams’ Presidency

• XYZ Affair - John Adams sent three ministers, Pinckney, Gerry and John Marshall, to Paris to try to negotiate an end to the Quasi-War with France. The French minister communicated with them through three underlings and demanded an enormous "bribe" from the Americans. The Americans refused to pay the bribe, and referred to the agents as "X, Y, and Z" in their report, thus naming the episode.

John Adams’ Presidency

• Alien and Sedition Acts – After the XYZ Affair,

Anti-French feelings grew and many felt war with

France was inevitable. In preparation for war,

the Federalists passed the "Alien and Sedition

Acts," providing for the deportation of enemy

aliens and fining persons who criticized the

government. Democratic-Republicans believed

that the acts had the political purpose of

silencing their party and was against the 1st

amendment of Free Speech.

The Election of 1800

• Tie between Aaron Burr

and Jefferson.

• Hamilton used influence

to help Jefferson win in

electoral college tie

breaker

• first presidential election

in which power was

peacefully transferred

from one party to another.

Won by Thomas Jefferson

Burr kills Hamilton

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton dueled on July 11, 1804. Burr was still Vice President, although Jefferson had chosen a new running mate for that year's presidential election, when his quarrels with Hamilton reached a climax in April 1804.

Hamilton had played a decisive role in Burr's defeat in the

1804 race for governor of New York. In the duel that

resulted, Hamilton was killed, but the duel ended Burr's

political career.

Supreme Court under Chief Justice

John Marshall

• Marbury v. Madison established the power

of the federal courts to declare laws

unconstitutional (“judicial review”)

• McCulloch v. Maryland prohibited the

states from taxing agencies of the federal

government (“the power to tax is the

power to destroy”)

Jefferson’s Presidency

• In 1803 Jefferson purchased Louisiana Territory from France

• doubled the size of the United States.

• He authorized the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the new territories that lay west of the Mississippi River

• Sacajawea, an Indian woman, served as their guide and translator.Meriwether Lewis William Clark

James Madison’s Presidency

• James Madison elected President in 1808

• Secretary of State under Jefferson

• Democratic Republican

• Last “Founding Father” to become President.

• Declares War on Britain

War of 1812Causes of the War:

• Impressments (Britain took

American sailors off of American

ships and made them serve in the

British navy.)

• Freedom of the seas (The United

States was being forced by both

Britain and France to choose sides if

the United States wanted to trade

freely with either country)

• The Embargo of 1807 (Jefferson

decided to cut off all trade.This had a

ruinous effect on the American

economy.)

• The Barbary pirates (These were privateers in the Mediterranean Sea off

the coast of North Africa who were also trying to impede American shipping.)

• The Napoleonic Wars (In this ongoing European struggle between Britain

and France, both countries wanted the United States to be on their side.)

"The President's House after the Conflagration

of August 24, 1814." In order to cover up the

smoke marks above the windows, the mansion

was later painted white, which led to its being

called the White House

War of 1812

American incursions into the Indian territories in northern Ohio and Indiana had forced the Indians in that area to form a confederacy under the brilliant leadership of Tenskwatawa, and his brother, Tecumseh.

The defeat of Tecumseh and his warriors at the Battle of

Tippecanoe by the American general William Henry

Harrison in November 1811 insured that the Indians would

have to ally themselves with the English to survive during

the War of 1812. The “War Hawks” in Congress wanted tyo

push “on the Canada”

War of 1812• War of 1812 - American

victory over the British

• Treaty of Ghent ends war in Dec. of 1814

• produced an American claim to the Oregon Territory

• increased migration of American settlers into Florida, which was later acquired by treaty from Spain in 1819.

The British had attempted to prevent American merchants from sending

supplies to France, and had further angered the Americans by "impressing"

seamen from American ships. These led to the War of 1812, in which the

Americans again fought off the British, ending the conflict between the two

countries. Actually, this battle (the Battle of New Orleans) took place after the

U.S.-British negotiators had signed the terms of peace in Ghent.

Battle of New Orleans – Andrew

Jackson wins against the British

War of 1812Francis Scott Key described the scene of the British bombardment of the Fort in his stirring poem, The Star Spangled Banner, published in Baltimore and widely distributed as a song sung to a popular drinking ballad tune, Anacreon in Heaven. The tune and its verses were not adopted as the national anthem until 1931.

James Monroe’s Presidency

• James Monroe become

President in 1816

• Democratic-Republican

• James Madison’s

Secretary of State &

Secretary of War

• Federalist Party dies out

• Starts the “Era of Good

Feeling”

The Monroe Doctrine (1823)• The American continents

should not be considered for future colonization by any European powers.

• Nations in the Western Hemisphere were inherently different from those of Europe, republics by nature rather than monarchies.

• The United States would regard as a threat to its own

peace and safety any attempt by European powers to

impose their system on any independent state in the

Western Hemisphere.

• The United States would not interfere in European

affairs

Go West Young Man!

• The belief that it was America’s “Manifest Destiny” to stretch from Atlantic to Pacific provided political support for territorial expansion.

• American settlers poured westward from the coastal states into the Midwest, Southwest, and Texas, seeking economic opportunity in the form of land to own and farm.

Go West Young Man!

• The growth of railroads and canals helped the growth of an industrial economy and supported the westward movement of settlers.

• Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin led to the spread of the slavery-based “cotton kingdom” in the Deep South.

Don’t Mess with Texas!

• American migration into

Texas led to an armed

revolt against Mexican

rule and a famous

battle at the Alamo.

• The Texans’ eventual

victory over Mexican

forces subsequently

brought Texas into the

Union.

On March 1, 1836, Texas declared itself

independent. Mexican President Santa

Anna arrived in San Antonio in March

1836 with an inexperienced and poorly

equipped army. He called for the

surrender of the Alamo, but its

defenders, none of whom was Texas-

born, refused and were martyred.

Don’t Mess with Texas!

• The American victory in the Mexican War during the 1840s led to the acquisition of an enormous territory that included the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and New Mexico.

Policy of Indian Removal

• Conflict between American settlers and

Indian (First American) nations in the

Southeast and the old Northwest resulted

in the relocation of many Indians (First

Americans) to reservations.

Go West Young Man!

• During this period of westward migration, the American Indians were repeatedly defeated in violent conflicts with settlers and soldiers and forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands.

• They were either forced to march far away from their homes (the “Trail of Tears,” when several tribes were relocated from Atlantic Coast states to Oklahoma) or confined to reservations.

Indian Removal Act of 1830All the major tribes in the South would be forced by Andrew Jackson and the American militia forces to give up extensive lands, preparing the way for the Jacksonian era Indian removals that culminated in the " Trail of Tears ."

The Cherokee fought back and took their case to the Supreme Court with

the help of a Christian Missionary. In Worcester vs. Georgia, John Marshall

ruled the federal government could not seize Cherokee land but Jackson

refused to abide by the decision saying, “John Marshall has made his

decision; not let him enforce it”.

The forcible removal of the American Indians (First Americans) from their lands would continue throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century as settlers continued to move west following the Civil War.

Women’s Rights

The first Women's Rights Convention was in 1848 at Seneca Falls, NY, where the American feminist movement was launched. presenting a "Declaration of Sentiments" which echoed the Declaration of Independence. At this meeting, 61 women and 34 men, most of them veterans of the antislavery movement, demanded the right for women to vote.

The women’s suffrage movement grew during the same time as the abolitionist movement.

A cartoon representing feminist

speaker denouncing men

Women’s RightsElizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (standing), who became involved in women’s suffrage before the Civil War, and continued with the movement after the war.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Susan B. Anthony and her long-time

partner Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman

Suffrage Association in Washington, D.C. in 1869, and

published a newspaper The Revolution, which called for both

enfranchisement for women, and equal pay for women, for

child care centers, and more equitable divorce laws.