Westward Movement andJeffersonian Democracy

How did the new US gain large territories on the continent?What was the significance of the Treaty of Grenville?

Trace the patterns of migration and change in the early US. What did each of these patterns result in for the new nation?

What caused the rapid expansion of slavery in the South?How did the “Revolution of 1800” change the idea of foreign policy

and views on the Constitution?

“A country in flux”

• Treaty of Paris 1783 gave up Britain’s claim to Appalachian region (free to move west…sort of)

• Conflict over how to best claim new land and govern it– North: Federalists– South/West: Democratic-Republicans

Resistance to expansion

• Ideas on “care by their American neighbors”:– Destroy remaining tribes– Assimilation of natives into

Euro-American society, including division of tribal lands

– Drive to push into territory with passage of Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Resistance

• New territory actually Native tribal lands– Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784)—US threatens

former British native allies (Iroquois Nation) with military action if they did not give up lands in Northeast (NY, PA)

• Northwest Indian Wars 1785-1795 – Alliance between natives in the area under

Little Turtle called the Western Confederacy– Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) leads to

major defeat of natives in the area

Treaty of Greenville

• Treaty of Greenville (OH) (1795)—Indian ownership of land acknowledged, but forced to cede most of Ohio and other areas of Great Lakes region, give up alliance with Britain

• Treaty expands territory, Britain reduces trade with natives and after Jay’s Treaty (1795), start to remove military units

• Sparks major migration westward, inciting conflict with natives over land, hunting, rights

1. Anthony Wayne

2. Little Turtle3. William

Wells4. William

Henry Harrison

5. William Clark

6. Meriwether Lewis

7. Blue Jacket8. Leather Lips9. Tarhe

Assimilation fails

• Most natives reject assimilation as an attempt to destroy traditional culture and their way of life

• Some leaders attempted a middle road, with traditional culture mixed with Christianity, others outright reject all “white culture”

• Resistance slows advance of Americans westward into their territory, but does not stop it

Movement out of the South, 1790-1820

• White tenant farmers, struggling yeomen flock to KY, TN

• Lacking cash, claim right to occupy the backcountry

• Landlessness and opposition to slavery in new states led to migration into OH, IN, IL

• Slave-owning planters move into interior of GA, SC, “Old South” to create vast plantations

• Economic importance of cotton in European industrial society and new technologies leads to entrenched system of slavery

Group 1 Group 2

Impact of invention

• Eli Whitney’s “Cotton Gin” (short for engine) changed the course of history, but not intentionally…

• Video

• Cyrus McCormick’s “Reaper” revolutionizes farming and food production

• Video

Movement out of New England

• NH, VT, ME become major areas of settlement, NY as new center of migration

• Settlers move in large family or religious groups, but lack land

• Some become tenant farmers of rich families (Robert Morris, Wadsworths)

• Others sign rent-to-own contracts, buying land as they worked it– Hindered by interest rates,

lack of market for crops leads to debt

• Debts cause farmers to export wheat east, agricultural crops change as result– Switch to potatoes, use of

agriculture with lack of workers

– “Improvers” increase productivity of workers, fields

Revolution of 1800 and “Virginia Dynasty”

• Remember that sectionalism dominated early politics, especially between the Northern Federalists and Southern D-Republicans

• The question: How will the new transfer of power work with a federalist system, but a states’ rights advocate (Jefferson)?

• Intent to reverse many Federalist policies and actively support westward expansion

Domestic & Foreign Policy

• Challenge to the Federalist Judiciary Act of 1801: “Midnight Appointments” and Marbury v. Madison (1801)

• Reject Alien and Sedition Act, amend Naturalization Act to allow immigrants to become citizens after 5 years

• Kept First Bank, most Federalists still keep gov’t positions

• Settlement with Barbary States of North Africa (“pirates”) over protection of trade ships– However, reduces size of US

Navy

• Support for Haitian revolutionaries against France (Toussaint L’Overture) and attempted imperialism of Napoleon Bonaparte in Western Hemisphere

Pinckney’s Treaty, 1795(aka Treaty of San Lorenzo)

• U.S. border extended to Mississippi River, but southern stretch remained in Spanish territory.

• Spain and U.S. claimed portions of the present-day Alabama and Mississippi

• Spain wanted to break with England, ally with the U.S. and France

• To do this, Thomas Pinckney (US) and Manuel de Godoy (Spain) agreed to set the U.S. southern boundary at 31° N and allow free navigation of the Mississippi River through Spanish territory.

• Also gave U.S. privilege of tax-free right of deposit (temporary storage of goods) at New Orleans, a major port city.

Effects of Pinckney’s Treaty

• Enabled, encouraged American settlers to continue westward expansion

• Made frontier areas more attractive and lucrative (potential for expansion, access to transportation)– Popular with the American public, especially in the West and

South.

• The success of Pinckney, a Federalist, gave party new influence outside of Northeast

• Treaty marked a reverse in Spanish policies, placed U.S. in a stronger diplomatic position in Europe, especially after problems from Jay’s Treaty