a state without a monarch and with a representative system of government

the legal act of relinquishing property rights to slaves

In 1782, the Virginia assembly passed an act allowing the legal freeing of slaves, and within a decade, planters had freed ten thousand slaves. It was repealed in 1792 out of fear that a large free black population would threaten the institution of slavery

A form of rule that combines elements of monarchic, aristocratic, oligarchic, and democratic government. Designed to prevent abuses of power by any one person or group through a system of checks and balances.

November 1777

The first national constitution provided for a limited central government that could declare war and peace, make treaties with foreign nations, adjudicate disputes between the states, borow and print money, and requitions funds from the states "for the common good or general welfare". In the Confederation government there was neither executive or judiciary; only legislative. Delegates were by population; voted by unit rule - each state had one vote.

Established a set of procedures to bring new states into the Union; prohibited slavery North of the Ohio River

an example of "too much democracy" - no respect for order, too much personal freedom; Nationalists used this incident as an argument for the formation of a "strong central government"

Shay and his followers, upset over taxes, marched on the Mass. supreme court preventing it from carrying out foreclosures and debt collection.

James Madison's scheme for a powerful national government:

• rejected state sovereignty for "supremacy of national authority" - which could overturn state laws
• national gov't established by the people as a whole would have direct authority over them
• 3-tier election system to reduce the popular power - voters would elect only the lower house, who would name the members of upper house, and both houses would choose executive and judiciary

Two flaws: nat'l gov't to veto state laws not acceptable + populous states would "crush the small ones" in self-interest issue voting

• plan preferred by small state delegates
• Confederation holds power to raise revenue, control commerce, and make binding requisitions on the states
• preserved states' control of their own laws and guaranteed their equality - one vote per state in the Confederation legislature

1786

the Virginia legislature invites all states to a convention to discuss tariff and taxation policies; only five states send delegates who call for another meeting in Philadelphia to review the Confederation

Congress under the Constitution has two separate bodies that share legislative powers: House and Senate / Congress under the Articles of Confederation had one legislature.

The U.S. House and Senate system is a compromise between the claims for equal representation among the states (each state is represented by two members of the Senate) and for equal representation among citizens (each member of the House of Representatives represents roughly the same number of people). Each house has powers not held by the other, and measures need the approval of both houses to become law. House rules favor majority rule, and the Senate rules give greater voice to minority objections. The House responds more quickly to public opinion, whereas the Senate prefers to take time to deliberate.

plan accepted reluctantly by the delegates of the Philadelphia Convention:

• upper chamber, Senate - 2 members each state
• lower chamber, House of Rep. - seats apportioned by population

Promised to appease Anti-Federalists who refused to ratify the Constitution without guarantees of individual liberties and limitations to federal power.

freedom of religion

• right to bear arms
• no quartering of soldiers in private homes
• protection unreasonable search & seizures
• criminal trial by jury - no trial for same crime twice - right not to witness against self
• right to speedy public trial
• civil case trial by jury
• no cruel or unusual punishment
• the rights of one cannot by used to deny the rights of another
• powers not given federal gov't, nor prohibited by the gov't to the states, belong to the States, or to the people

• power shared between states & nat'l gov't
• strong nat'l gov't w/centralized authority
• authority fed. gov't limited - all powers not listed in Constitution retained by states
• elitist - people of property, wealth, prestige
• development of industry over agriculture
• pro-Hamilton financial policies
• government has domestic responsibility to maintain decisive order
• pro-Britian
• opposed to participation overseas

• pro-Jefferson
• opposed Hamilton financial policy
• feared strong central gov't - wanted modest central gov't
• wanted more safeguards in Constitution - held out for Bill of Rights
• for the common man - farmers, frontiersmen
• opposed aristocracy
• wanted strong farming communities
• wanted limited commercial activities
• distrusted England - pro France

*visionary*

• eminent domain
• occupy continent

Sees potential of U.S. economic growth & development, massive debts of states, wants to establish full faith & credit of U.S.

• establishes 5% tariff
• tells foreign creditors to submit state bills to U.S. Treasury for payment in full at face value
• Central Banking - central source of currency
• makes U.S. Bank loans available
• places Nat'l Capital in South

Program of national merchantilism - policies encourage states to become economically dependent upon one another:

1. funded debt
2. central bank
3. tariffs

• wrote over 1/3 of the Federalist Papers
• "Father of the Constitution"
• author of the Bill of Rights
• co-authored the KY & VA resolutions (1798)
• as Pres. Jefferson's Sec. of State - supervised the Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• 4th President of U.S. - led nation into War of 1812

Four bills, passed by the Federalists during an undeclared naval war with France signed into law by Pres. John Adams, to protect the U.S. from enemy aliens & prevent seditious attacks from weakening the gov't. The Democratic-Republicans denounced them as being both unconstitutional and designed to stifle criticism of the administration, and as infringing on the right of the states. They became a major political issue in the elections of 1798 and 1800.

• extended the # of years of residency for citizenship from 5 to 14
• authorized the president to deport any resident alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States."
• authorized the president to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries were at war with the United States of America
• made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials

Passed in response to the Alien & Sedition Acts:

• states declare the Federal gov't is a voluntary compact; if Congress passes laws states do not like, states are not necessarily obligated to obey those laws
• challenge Congressional authority
• pose question, "Is the Union indivisible: can states sucede?"
• shows citizens have greater allegiance to states than the Union

Congressional delegate have to resolve - how to allow for slavery if all men are created equal?

• 700,000 slaves in VA & S.C.
• cannot count slaves as population - not citizens, cannot vote
• delegates cannot leave 1787 convention w/out an agreement on slavery issue
• agree to count slaves as "all other persons"

The Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) was the final battle of the struggle between the Western Confederacy Indian tribes and the U.S. for control of the Northwest Territory (an area bounded on the south by the Ohio River, on the west by the Mississippi River, and on the northeast by the Great Lakes). It was a decisive victory for Pres. Washington's new general "Mad Anthony" Wayne and his new army, and ended major hostilities in the region until Tecumseh's War and the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Gen. Wayne established a line of forts along the Maumee River behind which settlers claimed what was to become the state of Ohio.

• (1819) created the cotton gin to easily separate cotton fibers from seeds
• his invention allowed short staple cotton to become a widely grown profitable crop anywhere with 200 frost free days and abundant rainfall
•  his invention reversed the trend of manumission in the South - slavery became an issue again

• a waterway from Albany, New York (on the Hudson River) to Buffalo, New York (at Lake Erie) completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.
• the first transportation system between the two that did not require portage, was faster than land routes, and cut transport costs by about 95%.
  
• enabled population surge from East westward and helped New York City become the chief U.S. port.

(1801) James Madison as Sec. of State for newly elected Pres. Jefferson, refuses to deliver the judicial "midnight appointment" commision by former Pres. Adams to William Marbury. The Supreme Court decision (1803) upholds the denial - Judge Marshall's decision asserts the Supreme Court's power to review congressional legislation and decide the meaning of the constitution. This voids a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and directly challenges the Virginia & Kentucky resolutions of 1798 that state legislatures had authority of interpret the constitution.

doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review, and possible invalidation, by the judiciary courts - who
must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with the higher authority of the constitution

Supreme Court chief justice John Marshall first claimed the right of judicial review in the 1803 decision of Marbury v. Madison.

Federalist appointed chief justice of Supreme Court uses 1803 Marbury v Madison case to:

• declare Judiciary act of 1789 as unconstitutional
• scold Republicans - likens them to tyrants
• establish process of judicial review - Supreme Court has indepedent authority to interpret the Constitution to keep the law - therefore the Supreme Court can reverse decisions of President and Congress

A bank chartered by Congress in 1791 for 20 years - created to handle the financial needs and requirements of the central government

• issued notes
• made commercial loans
• by 1805 had branches in eight major cities
• opposed by the Jeffersonian Republicans

Democratic-Republican members of the 12th Congress of the United States who advocated waging war against the British in the War of 1812 to demand British respect for American sovereignty in the West and neutral rights on the Atlantic.

• protest seizure of American merchant ships and impressment of American sailors by Britain
• aquire territory in British Canada and Spanish Florida

a policy of peaceful coercion to protect American interests and avoid war - by President Jefferson and Sec. of State James Madison

• a disaster for American economy
• prohibited American ships from leaving home ports until Britain and France repealed their restrictions on U.S. trade
• NE merchants feared it would ruin them - cost too much to follow with lost trade, and ships in port risk hulls rotting

In 1803, Napolean's invasion attempt of the West Indies is failing. President Jefferson sends Robert Livingston to France to try and buy New Orleans - and is offered the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million. Jefferson approved the purchase without consulting Congress - reversing his Nat'l gov't powers should be restricted only to those expressly delegated by the Constitution; and opting for a loose interpretation of the Constitution's treaty-making powers.

The American people now have nothing in the way of their expansion across the entire continent as well as unrestricted access to New Orleans.

unrestrained liberty is dangerous - some amount of Gov't structure is needed

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary." - James Madison

• political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution
• liberty and inalienable rights are a central values
• people have unalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters
• people are sovereign
• gov't exists to promote the common good
• rejects inherited political power
• expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties
• vilifies corruption

The proposed addition of Missouri to the Union is not covered under the NW Ordinance - adding it as a slave state would tip the balance and the discussion becomes a moral debate. Henry Clay's political agreements are adopted:

• MO enters as a slave state
• no slavery above latitude 36 degrees 30'
• ME admitted as a free state

This sets a precedent for future additions to the Union in pairs: one free + one slave. And sets a future problem, when there are no more slave states to add.

a decades-long series of religious revivals that made the U.S. a Christian society

The churches that prospered during the revivals were those that preached spiritual equality and governed themselves democratically. Protestant Christianity was carried to the slaves who adapted the teachings to their own needs.

Britain held tightly to secrets of working the industrial mills - prohibiting the export of textile machinery or emigration of mechanics. Samuel Slater memorized mill workings, emigrated to Pawtucket, RI and created the first cotton mill in 1790. This starts the American Industrial Revolution.

"Lowell Mill Girls" was the name used for female textile workers in Lowell Massachusetts, in the 19th century. It employed a workforce which was about 3/4 female; this characteristic (unique at the time) caused two social effects: a close examination of the women's moral behavior, and a form of labor agitation. 

Lowell girls actively participated in early labor reform through legislative petitions, forming labor organizations, contributing essays and articles to a pro-labor newspaper the Voice of Industry, and protesting through "turn-outs" or strikes.

political patronage is the use of state resources to reward individuals for their electoral support

party spoils - to reward supporters with appointments to political offices

has economic plan similar to Hamilton's...

The American System

• a federal government initiative to foster national growth though protective tariffs, internal improvements and the Bank of the United States

Clay believes as regions of the country grow and expand, the central government should encourage dependence of the regions on each other.

The South is left out of the networks. Capital improvement do not benefit there and cause imported good to cost more. Southern economy is stronger that other regions - but export economy is hurt by tariffs.

plays an important role in election of 1824

- election not decided by Electoral College - Clay as Speaker of House of Representatives organizes the deciding votes for Adams. Clay is appointed Sec. of State by Adams and Jacksonian supporters cry foul and create the Jacksonian Democratic party.

Henry Clay was viewed by Jackson as politically untrustworthy, an opportunistic, ambitious and self-aggrandizing man. He believed that Clay would compromise the essentials of American republican democracy to advance his own self-serving objectives.

The 1824 presidential election marked the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework. For the first time no candidate ran as a Federalist, while five significant candidates competed as Democratic-Republicans. The outcome of the very close election surprised political leaders. The winner in the all-important Electoral College was Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, with ninety-nine votes. He was followed by John Quincy Adams, who secured eighty-four votes.

Because nobody had received a majority of votes in the electoral college, the House of Representatives had to choose between the top two candidates. Rather than see the nation's top office go to a man he detested, Clay forged a coalition that secured the White House for John Quincy Adams. In return Adams named Clay as his secretary of state, a position that had been the stepping-stone to the presidency for the previous four executives.

Denounced immediately as a "corrupt bargain" by supporters of Jackson, the antagonistic presidential race of 1828 began practically before Adams even took office. To Jacksonians the Adams-Clay alliance symbolized a corrupt system where elite insiders pursued their own interests without heeding the will of the people.

By the late 1820's, the north was becoming increasingly industrialized, and the south was remaining predominately agricultural.

In 1828, Congress passed a high protective tariff that infuriated the southern states because they felt it only benefited the industrialized north. For example, a high tariff on imports increased the cost of British textiles. This tariff benefited American producers of cloth — mostly in the north. But it shrunk English demand for southern raw cotton and increased the final cost of finished goods to American buyers. The southerners looked to Vice President John C. Calhoun from South Carolina for leadership against what they labeled the "Tariff of Abominations."

Jackson espoused the "spoils system" in awarding government offices. In his view, far too many career politicians walked the streets of Washington. These people had lost touch with the public. Jackson believed in rotation in office. America was best served with clearing out the old officeholders and replacing them with appointees of the winning candidates. This "spoils system" would eventually lead to considerable corruption. To Jackson, rotating the officeholders was simply more democratic.

The Nullification Crisis was a sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by South Carolina's 1832 Ordinance of Nullification. This ordinance declared by the power of the State that the federal Tariff of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of South Carolina.

The state argues the Union is a contract agreement; a nat'l law does not bind them, if they find it contrary to their interests.

Jackson view is provincial - enforcing the laws of the U.S. is for the greater good of the country - and readies an army to enforce the tariffs. The crisis is avoided as Congress passes a reduction in tariffs low enough to the satisfy the South, and the doctrine of nullification is rejected by the nation.

7th President of the United States

• Indian fighter - war hero
• the government should not stand in the way of individual progress
• provincial views
• prejudices of his age towards Indians [must give way to superiority of whites] & Blacks [slaves should be subject to whites and feel fortunate to have masters to protect them]
• patronage system (party spoils)
• vetoed renewal of the charter, destroying the National Bank
• supported state rights but denounced Nullification
• relocated most Indian tribes to the West by the Indian Removal Act

• was a War Hawk
• as Secretary of War under President Monroe he reorganized and modernized the War Department
• 1st Vice President of Andrew Jackson
• annoyed Jackson by spreading rumors in the O'Neal-Eaton affair, supporting South Carolina's Ordinance of Nullification, and by casting the deciding vote against Jackson's nomination of Martin Van Buren as Ambassador to England - Calhoun was replaced by Van Buren as Vice President
• defended slavery as a "positive good"
• called for a "concurrent majority" whereby the minority could sometimes block offensive proposals
• pointed the South toward secession

banks controlled by President Jackson's cronies

The rechartering of the Second Bank of the U.S. four years early was a political ploy by Henry Clay for a topic in the next election; President Jackson distrusted the national banking system (which he claimed to be unconstitutional) and Jackson votoed the charter renewal in 1833. The term pet banks implied the state banks selected by the U.S. Department of Treasury to receive government funds moved from the Second Bank of the U.S. were controlled by Jackson; most of the banks were chosen not because of monetary fitness but on the basis of the spoils system. Most Pet Banks eventually lost money and flooded the country with paper currency, causing increased inflation. Because this money became so unreliable, Jackson issued the Specie Circular; which brought most of the economy to a screeching halt with no funds for foreign trade imports/exports. This contributed to the Panic of 1837 - followed by a five-year depression, with the failure of banks and then-record-high unemployment levels.

• 6th President of the United States
• Not an orthodox Republican - is for the tariff to protect young industry & is pro National Bank
• his presidency was not a success - he lacked political adroitness, popularity or a network of supporters, and ran afoul of politicians eager to undercut him.
• Son of former President John Adams
• as Secretary of State, he helped formulate the Monroe Doctrine
• was a leading opponent of the Slave Power and argued that if a civil war ever broke out the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers, a correct prediction of Abraham Lincoln's use of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863

• a leader of the Whig Party
• one of the nation's most prominent conservatives, leading opposition to Democrat Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party
• a spokesman for modernization, banking and industry
• an acknowledged elitist
• served forty years in national politics: House of Representatives for 10, Senate for 19, and Secretary of State for three presidents
• His "Reply to Hayne" in 1830 was generally regarded as "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in Congress."
• one of the most successful lawyers of the era, appeared in several key Supreme Court cases that established important constitutional precedents that bolstered the authority of the federal government

used by Daniel Webster in a speech in the U.S. Senate debate with Hayne

Webster argued that if just one state had the power to nullify a federal law then the very idea of a Union would be nothing more than, in his words, "a rope of sand." The Supreme Court existed as the final arbiter on any and all questions of constitutionality, and the states did not possess the right to overrule its decision. In addition, Webster argued that no state had the power to nullify a federal law or to secede from the union.

Constituency:

• anti-Jackson groups
• Northern & Southern conservative supporters of the Bank of U.S.

Important issues:

• expanded National gov't
• increased commercial development
• continued westward expansion
• return of political power to the common man

After American officials negotiated a removal treaty with a minor Cherokee faction in 1835, they insisted that all Cheokees abide by it. In 1838, President Van buren ordered Gen Winfield Scott to enforce it; Scott's army forcible marched 14,000 Cherokees 1,200 miles to the Indian Territory. Due to starvation and exposure some 3,000 Indians died along the way.