The Agrarian Republic

Chapter 9

New Orleans & Louisiana – New Spain

• Spanish control of New Orleans

• New Orleans – large French population & half black or mixed race

• International port

• U.S. concerned with maintaining right to use Mississippi River

Florida & the Caribbean

• East & West Florida – Spanish control of Gulf of Mexico

• Caribbean - sugar industry – molasses, rum

• Haiti Slave Rebellion – Toussaint L’Overture – stirred fear in U.S.

British North America

• Canada – mostly Loyalists with exception of Quebec

• After Revolution, British set up strong national legislature

Russian America

• Fur traders – extension of Russian takeover of Siberia

• Outposts along Alaskan coast

• Leads to overhunting and decline in fur in some areas

• Sometimes took fur by force from Aleut people but they also intermarried

Trans-Appalachia: Cinncinnati

• By 1800 – over 500,000 lived west of Appalachian Mts

• Cinncinnati was major trading center on Ohio River

• Shipping more on Mississippi

Atlantic Ports: Charleston to Boston

• Only 3 percent lived in cities but most cities were sea ports

• Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Boston, New York

The Economy of the Young Republic

• North was more self-sufficient

• South depended more on marketing crops overseas - Demand for tobacco & rice was static, needed something more

• French Revolution affect U.S.– More food grown to feed those in cities– U.S. shippers re-export European goods to

other areas in the world– U.S. enters the China trade– Stimulated growth of U.S. coastal cities

Shipping & the Economic Boom

• Ship building – major industry

• Americans entered the Northwest fur and China markets

• International trade brought insurance companies, banks, brokers

• By 1820 the U.S. was building a strong and diverse economy

Republican Agrarianism

• Jefferson fears Federalists and industry would produce the extremes of wealth and industrial squalor – like Europe

• His ideal was an agrarian republic– Needed balance of yeoman farmers – Needed land – more opportunity for life,

liberty and pursuit of happiness– Thomas Malthus – overpopulation fears

Jefferson’s Government

• Peaceful change of power from

one political party to another

• Elected on promise to reduce size of federal government – paid down federal debt

• Cut internal taxes (Whiskey tax), reduced size of army, navy and government staff

• Shifts costs to state & local government

• Barbary Pirates – Tripolitan War

An Independent Judiciary

• Midnight Judges

• Marbury v. Madison – – established judicial review– Made judicial branch as strong as legislative

& executive branches

The Louisiana Purchase

• Napoleon acquired LA from Spain – no longer needs it to feed Caribbean slaves

• Jefferson wants to buy New Orleans

• French offer entire LA Territory for $15 million – Doubled size of U.S. – Violated strict construction of Constitution– Maintained French culture in

New Orleans per the purchase treaty

Incorporating Louisiana

• Lewis & Clark – Sacajawea– Maps– Flora & Fauna– Indian relations

Texas & Mexican Independence

• Spain loses control – – Uprisings and conspiracies to revolt – Russians in Northern California– U.S. increasing trade on Mississippi– U.S. begins trade in California - illegal

• Mexican Revolution

• Texas belongs to Mexico

Problems with Neutral Rights

• British seized U.S. ships trading in French West Indies & carrying French goods to France

• Impressment – “once a British subject, always a British subject” – opened fire on our ships – Chesapeake Affair

• Boycott British goods – not effective

• French seizing ships trading with the British

The Embargo Act

• Stopped all trade – Extreme response to the problem – hurt U.S. more than Britain or France

• Deep depression & widespread smuggling

• Federalists gain some strength but Madison wins Election of 1808

Madison & The Failure of “Peaceable Coercion”

• Embargo Act repealed

• Non-Importation Act: no imports

• Non-Intercourse Act - trade will all but British & French

• Macon’s Bill #2: trade with whichever country promised first to respect our trading rights – French win

A Contradictory Indian Policy

• Jefferson hoped for conversion & assimilation or moving Indians west

of Mississippi

• Good intentions but destructive to Indians

• Tribes were divided – some friendly, some not

• William Henry Harrison – general on the frontier– Used coercion and bribes to obtain land

Indian Resistance

• Tecumseh, the Prophet (Tenskwatawa)• Built Indian confederacy – halt land sales to

whites – all land belonged to all Indians– no one man could sign away the rights of all

• Battle of Tippecanoe – William Henry Harrison– Proof British were arming Indians

on frontier– “Tippecanoe & Tyler too” –

• Made Harrison a hero

The War Hawks

• Want war with British– Stop impressment & assert our independence

• Most from the West & South

• Thought the U.S. could gain Canada and Florida

The Campaign Against Canada

• Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, Lake Champlain

• Oliver Perry – Lake Erie – only real success– Cut off British supplies to Indians

• Other campaigns failed due to New England opposition

War in the South

***Andrew Jackson***

• Invade Florida – Treaty of Ft. Jackson: Creeks lost over half their land

• Indian fighter– Battle of Red Sticks 1813– Battle of Horseshoe Bend: killed more Indians

than any other Indian-White battle

• Jackson & Battle of New Orleans– Month after treaty was signed

The Hartford Convention

• Federalists come to an end

• Secession threat – nothing came of it

• Wanted amendments to Constitution– 2/3rds majority to declare war– No embargo over 60 days– End 3/5th representation of slaves– 1 term limit for president– President must come from a different state

than his predecessor – Virginia dynasty

The Treaty of Ghent

• Before Battle of New Orleans – December 1814

• Ghent, Belgium

• No change in territory – didn’t settle anything but…

• IMPORTANT– Drove out British twice– National pride & unity– Stimulates American industry

Another Westward Surge

• Eastern farmland was overpopulated – U.S. population doubled between 1800 and 1820

• Land in West was cheap – – could buy as little as 80 acres & Congress reduced

the price

• Indian threat was neutralized after War of 1812• Transplanted people brought values west

– Old Northwest like New England– Old Southwest like South

The Second Great Awakening

• Camp meetings

• Strengthened east-west relations

• Helped Westerners create new institutions

• New religions – Methodist– Baptist– Spurs utopian movement

Election of 1816 & Era of Good Feelings

• Only one political party – Federalists disappear

• James Monroe – reached out to other factions– Henry Clay: American system – South upset

• Tariffs – 1816 first substantial protective tariff• Second Bank of U.S.• Money for canals, roads, railroads

– Congress would not pass the last but supported the first two

Diplomacy of J.Q. Adams

• Monroe Doctrine – No new colonies in Americas– Leave us alone and we will leave you alone

• Used Jackson’s raid into Florida to pressure Spain to sell– Adams-Onis Treaty

• Two British treaties– Demilitarized Canadian border– Joint occupation of Oregon Territory

Panic of 1819

• Land boom financed by speculative buying and easy credit

• Second Bank of U.S. foreclosed on loans

• Hurt urban workers already suffering from decline in trade and manufacturing failures. Want higher tariffs

• Showed how commercial the U.S. was – not agrarian as Jefferson wished

Missouri Compromise

• Admitting MO as a slave state would upset balance of slave and free states

• Henry Clay – Great Compromiser

• Maine is free state, Missouri is slave state

• 36 degree 30’ line at bottom of Missouri to edge of Louisiana Territory– Above the line no slavery – MO is the

exception– Below slavery is allowed