"Every man and every body of men on earth, possess the right of self-government." Thomas Jefferson, 1790
STATE CONSTITUTIONS
The success of the Revolution gave Americans the opportunity to give legal form to their ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and to
remedy some of their grievances through state constitutions. As early as May 10, 1776, Congress had passed a resolution advising the colonies to form new governments "such
as shall best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents." Some of them had already done so, and within a year after the Declaration of Independence, all
but three had drawn up constitutions. The new constitutions showed the impact of democratic ideas. None made any drastic break with the past, since all were built on the
solid foundation of colonial experience and English practice. But each was also animated by the spirit of republicanism, an ideal that had long been praised by
Enlightenment philosophers.
Naturally, the first objective of the framers of the state constitutions was to secure those "unalienable rights" whose violation had caused the former
colonies to repudiate their connection with Britain. Thus, each constitution began with a declaration or bill of rights. Virginia's, which served as a model for all the
others, included a declaration of principles, such as popular sovereignty, rotation in office, freedom of elections and an enumeration of fundamental liberties: moderate
bail and humane punishment, speedy trial by jury, freedom of the press and of conscience, and the right of the majority to reform or alter the government.
Other states enlarged the list of liberties to guarantee freedom of speech, of assembly and of petition, and frequently included such provisions as the
right to bear arms, to a writ of habeas corpus, to inviolability of domicile and to equal protection under the law. Moreover, all the constitutions paid allegiance to the
three-branch structure of government -- executive, legislative and judiciary -- each checked and balanced by the others.
Pennsylvania's constitution was the most radical. In that state, Philadelphia artisans, Scots-Irish frontiersmen and German-speaking farmers had taken
control. The provincial congress adopted a constitution that permitted every male taxpayer and his sons to vote, required rotation in office (no one could serve as a
representative more than four years out of every seven) and set up a single-chamber legislature.
The state constitutions had some glaring limitations, particularly by more recent standards. Constitutions established to guarantee people their natural
rights did not secure for everyone the most fundamental natural right -- equality. The colonies south of Pennsylvania excluded their slave populations from their
inalienable rights as human beings. Women had no political rights. No state went so far as to permit universal male suffrage, and even in those states that permitted all
taxpayers to vote (Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia, in addition to Pennsylvania), office-holders were required to own a certain amount of property.
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
The struggle with England had done much to change colonial attitudes. Local assemblies had rejected the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, refusing to
surrender even the smallest part of their autonomy to any other body, even one they themselves had elected. But in the course of the Revolution, mutual aid had proved
effective, and the fear of relinquishing individual authority had lessened to a large degree.
John Dickinson produced the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" in 1776. The Continental Congress adopted them in November 1777, and they
went into effect in 1781, having been ratified by all the states. The governmental framework established by the Articles had many weaknesses. The national government
lacked the authority to set up tariffs when necessary, to regulate commerce and to levy taxes. It lacked sole control of international relations: a number of states had
begun their own negotiations with foreign countries. Nine states had organized their own armies, and several had their own navies. There was a curious hodgepodge of coins
and a bewildering variety of state and national paper bills, all fast depreciating in value.
Economic difficulties after the war prompted calls for change. The end of the war had a severe effect on merchants who supplied the armies of both sides
and who had lost the advantages deriving from participation in the British mercantile system. The states gave preference to American goods in their tariff policies, but
these tariffs were inconsistent, leading to the demand for a stronger central government to implement a uniform policy.
Farmers probably suffered the most from economic difficulties following the Revolution. The supply of farm produce exceeded demand, and unrest centered
chiefly among farmer-debtors who wanted strong remedies to avoid foreclosure on their property and imprisonment for debt. Courts were clogged with suits for debt. All
through the summer of 1786, popular conventions and informal gatherings in several states demanded reform in the state administrations.
In the autumn of 1786, mobs of farmers in Massachusetts under the leadership of a former army captain, Daniel Shays, began forcibly to prevent the
county courts from sitting and passing further judgments for debt, pending the next state election. In January 1787 a ragtag army of 1,200 farmers moved toward the
federal arsenal at Springfield. The rebels, armed chiefly with staves and pitchforks, were repulsed by a small state militia force; General Benjamin Lincoln then arrived
with reinforcements from Boston and routed the remaining Shaysites, whose leader escaped to Vermont. The government captured 14 rebels and sentenced them to death, but
ultimately pardoned some and let the others off with short prison terms. After the defeat of the rebellion, a newly elected legislature, whose majority sympathized with
the rebels, met some of their demands for debt relief.
THE PROBLEM OF EXPANSION
With the end of the Revolution, the United States again had to face the old unsolved Western question -- the problem of expansion, with its
complications of land, fur trade, Indians, settlement and local government. Lured by the richest land yet found in the country, pioneers poured over the Appalachian
Mountains and beyond. By 1775 the far-flung outposts scattered along the waterways had tens of thousands of settlers. Separated by mountain ranges and hundreds of
kilometers from the centers of political authority in the East, the inhabitants established their own governments. Settlers from all the tidewater states pressed on into
the fertile river valleys, hardwood forests and rolling prairies of the interior. By 1790 the population of the trans-Appalachian region numbered well over 120,000.
Before the war, several colonies had laid extensive and often overlapping claims to land beyond the Appalachians. To those without such claims this rich
territorial prize seemed unfairly apportioned. Maryland, speaking for the latter group, introduced a resolution that the western lands be considered common property to be
parceled by the Congress into free and independent governments. This idea was not received enthusiastically.
Nonetheless, in 1780 New York led the way by ceding its claims to the United States. In 1784 Virginia, which held the grandest claims, relinquished all
land north of the Ohio River. Other states ceded their claims, and it became apparent that Congress would come into possession of all the lands north of the Ohio River
and west of the Allegheny Mountains. This common possession of millions of hectares was the most tangible evidence yet of nationality and unity, and gave a certain
substance to the idea of national sovereignty. At the same time, these vast territories were a problem that required solution.
The Articles of Confederation offered an answer. Under the Articles, a system of limited self-government (set forth in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787)
provided for the organization of the Northwest Territory, initially as a single district, ruled by a governor and judges appointed by the Congress. When this territory
had 5,000 free male inhabitants of voting age, it was to be entitled to a legislature of two chambers, itself electing the lower house. In addition, it could at that time
send a non-voting delegate to Congress.
No more than five nor fewer than three states were to be formed out of this territory, and whenever any one of them had 60,000 free inhabitants, it was
to be admitted to the Union "on an equal footing with the original states in all respects." The Ordinance guaranteed civil rights and liberties, encouraged education and
guaranteed that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory."
The new policy repudiated the time-honored concept that colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country and were politically subordinate and
socially inferior. That doctrine was replaced by the principle that colonies are but the extension of the nation and are entitled, not as a privilege but as a right, to
all the benefits of equality. These enlightened provisions of the Northwest Ordinance formed the basis for America's public land policy.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
George Washington wrote of the period between the Treaty of Paris and the writing of the Constitution that the states were united only by a "rope of
sand."Disputes between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the Potomac River led to a conference of representatives of five states at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786.
One of the delegates, Alexander Hamilton, convinced his colleagues that commerce was too much bound up with other political and economic questions, and that the situation
was too serious to be dealt with by so unrepresentative a body.
He advocated calling upon all the states to appoint representatives for a meeting to be held the following spring in Philadelphia. The Continental
Congress was at first indignant over this bold step, but its protests were cut short by the news that Virginia had elected George Washington a delegate. During the next
fall and winter, elections were held in all states but Rhode Island.
It was a gathering of notables that assembled at the Federal Convention in the Philadelphia State House in May 1787. The state legislatures sent leaders
with experience in colonial and state governments, in Congress, on the bench and in the army. George Washington, regarded as the country's outstanding citizen because of
his integrity and his military leadership during the Revolution, was chosen as presiding officer.
Prominent among the more active members were two Pennsylvanians: Gouverneur Morris, who clearly saw the need for national government, and James Wilson,
who labored indefatigably for the national idea. Also elected by Pennsylvania was Benjamin Franklin, nearing the end of an extraordinary career of public service and
scientific achievement. From Virginia came James Madison, a practical young statesman, a thorough student of politics and history and, according to a colleague, "from a
spirit of industry and application...the best-informed man on any point in debate." Madison today is recognized as the "Father of the Constitution."
Massachusetts sent Rufus King and Elbridge Gerry, young men of ability and experience. Roger Sherman, shoemaker turned judge, was one of the
representatives from Connecticut. From New York came Alexander Hamilton, who had proposed the meeting. Absent from the Convention were Thomas Jefferson, who was serving
in France as minister, and John Adams, serving in the same capacity in Great Britain. Youth predominated among the 55 delegates -- the average age was 42.
The Convention had been authorized merely to draft amendments to the Articles of Confederation but, as Madison later wrote, the delegates, "with a manly
confidence in their country," simply threw the Articles aside and went ahead with the building of a wholly new form of government.
They recognized that the paramount need was to reconcile two different powers -- the power of local control, which was already being exercised by the 13
semi-independent states, and the power of a central government. They adopted the principle that the functions and powers of the national government, being new, general
and inclusive, had to be carefully defined and stated, while all other functions and powers were to be understood as belonging to the states. But realizing that the
central government had to have real power, the delegates also generally accepted the fact that the government should be authorized -- among other things -- to coin money,
to regulate commerce, to declare war and to make peace.
DEBATE AND COMPROMISE
The 18th-century statesmen who met in Philadelphia were adherents of Montesquieu's concept of the balance of power in politics. This principle was
supported by colonial experience and strengthened by the writings of John Locke, with which most of the delegates were familiar. These influences led to the conviction
that three equal and coordinate branches of government should be established. Legislative, executive and judicial powers were to be so harmoniously balanced that no one
could ever gain control. The delegates agreed that the legislative branch, like the colonial legislatures and the British Parliament, should consist of two houses.
On these points there was unanimity within the assembly. But sharp differences arose as to the method of achieving them. Representatives of the small
states -- New Jersey, for instance -- objected to changes that would reduce their influence in the national government by basing representation upon population rather
than upon statehood, as was the case under the Articles of Confederation.
On the other hand, representatives of large states, like Virginia, argued for proportionate representation. This debate threatened to go on endlessly
until Roger Sherman came forward with arguments for representation in proportion to the population of the states in one house of Congress, the House of Representatives,
and equal representation in the other, the Senate.
The alignment of large against small states then dissolved. But almost every succeeding question raised new problems, to be resolved only by new
compromises. Northerners wanted slaves counted when determining each state's tax share, but not in determining the number of seats a state would have in the House of
Representatives. According to a compromise reached with little dissent, the House of Representatives would be apportioned according to the number of free inhabitants plus
three-fifths of the slaves.
Certain members, such as Sherman and Elbridge Gerry, still smarting from the Shays Rebellion, feared that the mass of people lacked sufficient wisdom to
govern themselves and thus wished no branch of the federal government to be elected directly by the people. Others thought the national government should be given as
broad a popular base as possible. Some delegates wished to exclude the growing West from the opportunity of statehood; others championed the equality principle
established in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
There was no serious difference on such national economic questions as paper money, laws concerning contract obligations or the role of women, who were
excluded from politics. But there was a need for balancing sectional economic interests; for settling arguments as to the powers, term and selection of the chief
executive; and for solving problems involving the tenure of judges and the kind of courts to be established.
Laboring through a hot Philadelphia summer, the Convention finally achieved a draft incorporating in a brief document the organization of the most
complex government yet devised -- a government supreme within a clearly defined and limited sphere. In conferring powers, the Convention gave the federal government full
power to levy taxes, borrow money, establish uniform duties and excise taxes, coin money, fix weights and measures, grant patents and copyrights, set up post offices, and
build post roads. The national government also had the power to raise and maintain an army and navy, and to regulate interstate commerce. It was given the management of
Indian affairs, foreign policy and war. It could pass laws for naturalizing foreigners and controlling public lands, and it could admit new states on a basis of absolute
equality with the old. The power to pass all necessary and proper laws for executing these clearly defined powers rendered the federal government able to meet the needs
of later generations and of a greatly expanded body politic.
The principle of separation of powers had already been given a fair trial in most state constitutions and had proved sound. Accordingly, the Convention
set up a governmental system with separate legislative, executive and judiciary branches -- each checked by the others. Thus congressional enactments were not to become
law until approved by the president. And the president was to submit the most important of his appointments and all his treaties to the Senate for confirmation. The
president, in turn, could be impeached and removed by Congress. The judiciary was to hear all cases arising under federal laws and the Constitution; in effect, the courts
were empowered to interpret both the fundamental and the statute law. But members of the judiciary, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, could also be
impeached by Congress.
To protect the Constitution from hasty alteration, Article V stipulated that amendments to the Constitution be proposed either by two-thirds of both
houses of Congress or by two-thirds of the states, meeting in convention. The proposals were to be ratified by one of two methods: either by the legislatures of
three-fourths of the states, or by convention in three-fourths of the states, with the Congress proposing the method to be used.
Finally, the Convention faced the most important problem of all: how should the powers given to the new government be enforced? Under the Articles of
Confederation, the national government had possessed -- on paper -- significant powers, which, in practice, had come to naught, for the states paid no attention to them.
What was to save the new government from the same fate?
At the outset, most delegates furnished a single answer -- the use of force. But it was quickly seen that the application of force upon the states would
destroy the Union. The decision was that the government should not act upon the states but upon the people within the states, and should legislate for and upon all the
individual residents of the country. As the keystone of the Constitution, the Convention adopted two brief but highly significant statements:
Congress shall have power...to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the...powers vested by this Constitution in
the Government of the United States....(Article I, Section 7)
This Constitution and the laws of the United States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding. (Article VI)
Thus the laws of the United States became enforceable in its own national courts, through its own judges and marshals, as well as in the state courts
through the state judges and state law officers.
Debate continues to this day about the motives of those who wrote the Constitution. In 1913 Charles Beard, in An Economic Interpretation of the
Constitution, argued that the Founding Fathers stood to gain economic advantages from the stability imposed by a powerful and authoritative national government because
they held large amounts of depreciated government securities. However, James Madison, principal drafter of the constitution, held no bonds, while some opponents of the
Constitution held large amounts of bonds and securities. Economic interests influenced the course of the debate, but so did state, sectional and ideological interests.
Equally important was the idealism of the framers. Products of the Enlightenment, the Founding Fathers designed a government that, they believed, would promote individual
liberty and public virtue. The ideals embodied in the U.S. Constitution are an essential element of the American national identity.
RATIFICATION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS
On September 17, 1787, after 16 weeks of deliberation, the finished Constitution was signed by 39 of the 42 delegates present. Franklin, pointing to the
half-sun painted in brilliant gold on the back of Washington's chair, said:
I have often in the course of the session...looked at that [chair] behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting;
but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting, sun.
The Convention was over; the members "adjourned to the City Tavern, dined together, and took a cordial leave of each other." Yet a crucial part of the
struggle for a more perfect union was yet to be faced. The consent of popularly elected state conventions was still required before the document could become effective.
The Convention had decided that the Constitution would take effect upon ratification by conventions in nine of the 13 states. By June 1788 the required
nine states ratified the Constitution, but the large states of Virginia and New York had not. Most people felt that without the support of these two states, the
Constitution would never be honored. To many, the document seemed full of dangers: would not the strong central government that it established tyrannize them, oppress
them with heavy taxes and drag them into wars?
Differing views on these questions brought into existence two parties, the Federalists, who favored a strong central government, and the
Antifederalists, who preferred a loose association of separate states. Impassioned arguments on both sides were voiced by the press, the legislatures and the state
conventions.
In Virginia, the Antifederalists attacked the proposed new government by challenging the opening phrase of the Constitution: "We the People of the
United States." Without using the individual state names in the Constitution, the delegates argued, the states would not retain their separate rights or powers. Virginia
Antifederalists were led by Patrick Henry, who became the chief spokesman for back-country farmers who feared the powers of the new central government. Wavering delegates
were persuaded by a proposal that the Virginia convention recommend a bill of rights, and Antifederalists joined with the Federalists to ratify the Constitution on June
25.
In New York, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison pushed for the ratification of the Constitution in a series of essays known as The
Federalist Papers. The essays, published in New York newspapers, provided a now-classic argument for a central federal government, with separate executive, legislative
and judicial branches that checked and balanced one another. With The Federalist Papers influencing the New York delegates, the Constitution was ratified on July 26.
Antipathy toward a strong central government was only one concern among those opposed to the Constitution; of equal concern to many was the fear that
the Constitution did not protect individual rights and freedoms sufficiently. Virginian George Mason, author of Virginia's 1776 Declaration of Rights, was one of three
delegates to the Constitutional Convention who refused to sign the final document because it did not enumerate individual rights. Together with Patrick Henry, he
campaigned vigorously against ratification of the Constitution by Virginia. Indeed, five states, including Massachusetts, ratified the Constitution on the condition that
such amendments be added immediately.
When the first Congress convened in New York City in September 1789, the calls for amendments protecting individual rights were virtually unanimous.
Congress quickly adopted 12 such amendments; by December 1791, enough states had ratified 10 amendments to make them part of the Constitution. Collectively, they are
known as the Bill of Rights. Among their provisions: freedom of speech, press, religion, and the right to assemble peacefully, protest and demand changes (First
Amendment); protection against unreasonable searches, seizures of property and arrest (Fourth Amendment); due process of law in all criminal cases (Fifth Amendment);
right to a fair and speedy trial (Sixth Amendment); protection against cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment); and provision that the people retain additional
rights not listed in the Constitution (Ninth Amendment).
Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, only 16 more amendments have been added to the Constitution. Although a number of the subsequent amendments
revised the federal government's structure and operations, most followed the precedent established by the Bill of Rights and expanded individual rights and freedoms.
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON
One of the last acts of the Congress of the Confederation was to arrange for the first presidential election, setting March 4, 1789, as the date that
the new government would come into being. One name was on everyone's lips for the new chief of state -- George Washington -- and he was unanimously chosen president on
April 30, 1789. In words spoken by every president since, Washington pledged to execute the duties of the presidency faithfully and, to the best of his ability, to
"preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
When Washington took office, the new Constitution enjoyed neither tradition nor the full backing of organized public opinion. Moreover, the new
government had to create its own machinery. No taxes were forthcoming. Until a judiciary could be established, laws could not be enforced. The Army was small. The Navy
had ceased to exist.
Congress quickly created the departments of State and Treasury, with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton as their respective secretaries.
Simultaneously, the Congress established the federal judiciary, establishing not only a Supreme Court, with one chief justice and five associate justices, but also three
circuit courts and 13 district courts. Both a secretary of war and an attorney general were also appointed. And since Washington generally preferred to make decisions
only after consulting those men whose judgment he valued, the American presidential Cabinet came into existence, consisting of the heads of all the departments that
Congress might create.
Meanwhile, the country was growing steadily and immigration from Europe was increasing. Americans were moving westward: New Englanders and
Pennsylvanians into Ohio; Virginians and Carolinians into Kentucky and Tennessee. Good farms were to be had for small sums; labor was in strong demand. The rich valley
stretches of upper New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia soon became great wheat-growing areas.
Although many items were still homemade, the Industrial Revolution was dawning in America. Massachusetts and Rhode Island were laying the foundation of
important textile industries; Connecticut was beginning to turn out tinware and clocks; New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were producing paper, glass and iron.
Shipping had grown to such an extent that on the seas the United States was second only to Britain. Even before 1790, American ships were traveling to China to sell furs
and bring back tea, spices and silk.
At this critical juncture in the country's growth, Washington's wise leadership was crucial. He organized a national government, developed policies for
settlement of territories previously held by Britain and Spain, stabilized the northwestern frontier and oversaw the admission of three new states: Vermont (1791),
Kentucky (1792) and Tennessee (1796). Finally, in his Farewell Address, Washington warned the nation to "steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the
foreign world." This advice influenced American attitudes toward the rest of the world for generations to come.
HAMILTON VS. JEFFERSON
The conflict that took shape in the 1790s between the Federalists and the Antifederalists exercised a profound impact on American history. The
Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, who had married into the wealthy Schuyler family, represented the urban mercantile interests of the seaports; the Antifederalists,
led by Thomas Jefferson, spoke for the rural and southern interests. The debate between the two concerned the power of the central government versus that of the states,
with the Federalists favoring the former and the Antifederalists advocating states' rights.
Hamilton sought a strong central government acting in the interests of commerce and industry. He brought to public life a love of efficiency, order and
organization. In response to the call of the House of Representatives for a plan for the "adequate support of public credit," he laid down and supported principles not
only of the public economy, but of effective government.
Hamilton pointed out that America must have credit for industrial development, commercial activity and the operations of government. It must also have
the complete faith and support of the people. There were many who wished to repudiate the national debt or pay only part of it. Hamilton, however insisted upon full
payment and also upon a plan by which the federal government took over the unpaid debts of the states incurred during the Revolution.
Hamilton also devised a Bank of the United States, with the right to establish branches in different parts of the country. He sponsored a national mint,
and argued in favor of tariffs, using a version of an "infant industry" argument: that temporary protection of new firms can help foster the development of competitive
national industries. These measures -- placing the credit of the federal government on a firm foundation and giving it all the revenues it needed -- encouraged commerce
and industry, and created a solid phalanx of businessmen who stood firmly behind the national government.
Jefferson advocated a decentralized agrarian republic. He recognized the value of a strong central government in foreign relations, but he did not want
it strong in other respects. Hamilton's great aim was more efficient organization, whereas Jefferson once said "I am not a friend to a very energetic government."
Hamilton feared anarchy and thought in terms of order; Jefferson feared tyranny and thought in terms of freedom.
The United States needed both influences. It was the country's good fortune that it had both men and could, in time, fuse and reconcile their
philosophies. One clash between them, which occurred shortly after Jefferson took office as secretary of state, led to a new and profoundly important interpretation of
the Constitution. When Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank, Jefferson objected. Speaking for those who believed in states' rights, Jefferson argued
that the Constitution expressly enumerates all the powers belonging to the federal government and reserves all other powers to the states. Nowhere was it empowered to set
up a bank.
Hamilton contended that because of the mass of necessary detail, a vast body of powers had to be implied by general clauses, and one of these authorized
Congress to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" for carrying out other powers specifically granted. The Constitution authorized the national government to
levy and collect taxes, pay debts and borrow money. A national bank would materially help in performing these functions efficiently. Congress, therefore, was entitled,
under its implied powers, to create such a bank. Washington and the Congress accepted Hamilton's view -- and an important precedent for an expansive interpretation of the
federal government's authority.
CITIZEN GENET AND FOREIGN POLICY
Although one of the first tasks of the new government was to strengthen the domestic economy and make the nation financially secure, the United States
could not ignore foreign affairs. The cornerstones of Washington's foreign policy were to preserve peace, to give the country time to recover from its wounds and to
permit the slow work of national integration to continue. Events in Europe threatened these goals. Many Americans were watching the French Revolution with keen interest
and sympathy, and in April 1793, news came that made this conflict an issue in American politics. France had declared war on Great Britain and Spain, and a new French
envoy, Edmond Charles Genet -- known as Citizen Genet -- was coming to the United States.
After the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793, Britain, Spain and Holland had become involved in war with France. According to the
Franco-American Treaty of Alliance of 1778, the United States and France were perpetual allies, and America was obliged to help France defend the West Indies. However,
the United States, militarily and economically a very weak country, was in no position to become involved in another war with major European powers. On April 22, 1793,
Washington effectively abrogated the terms of the 1778 treaty that made American independence possible by proclaiming the United States to be "friendly and impartial
toward the belligerent powers." When Genet arrived, he was cheered by many citizens, but treated with cool formality by the government. Angered, he violated a promise not
to outfit a captured British ship as a privateer. Genet then threatened to take his cause directly to the American people, over the head of the government. Shortly
afterward, the United States requested his recall by the French government.
The Genet incident strained American relations with France at a time when relations with Great Britain were far from satisfactory. British troops still
occupied forts in the West, property carried off by British soldiers during the Revolution had not been restored or paid for, and the British navy was seizing American
ships bound for French ports. To settle these matters, Washington sent John Jay, first chief justice of the Supreme Court, to London as a special envoy, where he
negotiated a treaty securing withdrawal of British soldiers from western forts and London's promise to pay damages for Britain's seizure of ships and cargoes in 1793 and
1794. Reflecting the weakness of the U.S. position, the treaty placed severe limitations on American trade with the West Indies and said nothing about either the seizure
of American ships in the future, or "impressment" -- the forcing of American sailors into British naval service. Jay also accepted the British view that naval stores and
war materiel were contraband which could not be conveyed to enemy ports by neutral ships.
Jay's Treaty touched off a stormy disagreement over foreign policy between the Antifederalists, now called Republicans, and the Federalists. The
Federalists favored a pro-British policy because the commercial interests they represented profited from trade with Britain. By contrast, the Republicans favored France,
in large measure for ideological reasons, and regarded the Jay Treaty as too favorable to Britain. After long debate, however, the Senate ratified the treaty.
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON
Washington retired in 1797, firmly declining to serve for more than eight years as the nation's head. His vice president, John Adams of Massachusetts,
was elected the new president. Even before he entered the presidency, Adams had quarreled with Alexander Hamilton -- and thus was handicapped by a divided party.
These domestic difficulties were compounded by international complications: France, angered by Jay's recent treaty with Britain, used the British
argument that food supplies, naval stores and war materiel bound for enemy ports were subject to seizure by the French navy. By 1797 France had seized 300 American ships
and had broken off diplomatic relations with the United States. When Adams sent three other commissioners to Paris to negotiate, agents of Foreign Minister Charles
Maurice de Talleyrand (whom Adams labeled X, Y and Z in his report to Congress) informed the Americans that negotiations could only begin if the United States loaned
France $12 million and bribed officials of the French government. American hostility to France rose to an excited pitch. The so-called XYZ Affair led to the enlistment of
troops and the strengthening of the fledgling U.S. Navy.
In 1799, after a series of sea battles with the French, war seemed inevitable. In this crisis, Adams thrust aside the guidance of Hamilton, who wanted
war, and sent three new commissioners to France. Napoleon, who had just come to power, received them cordially, and the danger of conflict subsided with the negotiation
of the Convention of 1800, which formally released the United States from its 1778 defense alliance with France. However, reflecting American weakness, France refused to
pay $20 million in compensation for American ships taken by the French navy.
Hostility to France led Congress to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts, which had severe repercussions for American civil liberties. The Naturalization
Act, which changed the requirement for citizenship from five to 14 years, was targeted at Irish and French immigrants suspected of supporting the Republicans. The Alien
Act, operative for two years only, gave the president the power to expel or imprison aliens in time of war. The Sedition Act proscribed writing, speaking or publishing
anything of "a false, scandalous and malicious" nature against the president or Congress. The few convictions won under the Sedition Act only created martyrs to the cause
of civil liberties and aroused support for the Republicans.
The acts met with resistance. Jefferson and Madison sponsored the passage of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions by the legislatures of the two states
in November and December 1798. According to the resolutions, states could "interpose" their views on federal actions and "nullify" them. The doctrine of nullification
would be used later for the Southern states' defense of their interests vis-a-vis the North on the question of the tariff, and, more ominously, slavery.
By 1800 the American people were ready for a change. Under Washington and Adams, the Federalists had established a strong government, but sometimes
failing to honor the principle that the American government must be responsive to the will of the people, they had followed policies that alienated large groups. For
example, in 1798 they had enacted a tax on houses, land and slaves, affecting every property owner in the country.
Jefferson had steadily gathered behind him a great mass of small farmers, shopkeepers and other workers, and they asserted themselves in the election of
1800. Jefferson enjoyed extraordinary favor because of his appeal to American idealism. In his inaugural address, the first such speech in the new capital of Washington,
D.C., he promised "a wise and frugal government" to preserve order among the inhabitants but would "leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry,
and improvement."
Jefferson's mere presence in The White House encouraged democratic procedures. He taught his subordinates to regard themselves merely as trustees of the
people. He encouraged agriculture and westward expansion. Believing America to be a haven for the oppressed, he urged a liberal naturalization law. By the end of his
second term, his far-sighted secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, had reduced the national debt to less than $560 million. As a wave of Jeffersonian fervor swept
the nation, state after state abolished property qualifications for the ballot and passed more humane laws for debtors and criminals.
LOUISIANA AND BRITAIN
One of Jefferson's acts doubled the area of the country. At the end of the Seven Years' War, France had ceded to Spain the territory west of the
Mississippi River, with the port of New Orleans near its mouth -- a port indispensable for the shipment of American products from the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
Shortly after Jefferson became president, Napoleon forced a weak Spanish government to cede the great tract called Louisiana back to France. The move filled Americans
with apprehension and indignation. Napoleon's plans for a huge colonial empire just west of the United States threatened the trading rights and the safety of all American
interior settlements. Jefferson asserted that if France took possession of Louisiana, "from that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."
Napoleon, knowing that another war with Great Britain was impending, resolved to fill his treasury and put Louisiana beyond the reach of the British by selling it to the
United States. This put Jefferson in a constitutional quandary: the Constitution gave no office the power to purchase territory. At first Jefferson wanted to amend the
Constitution, but his advisers told him that delay might lead Napoleon to change his mind -- and that the power to purchase territory was inherent in the power to make
treaties. Jefferson relented, saying that "the good sense of our country will correct the evil of loose construction when it shall produce ill effects."
For $15 million, the United States obtained the "Louisiana Purchase" in 1803. It contained more than 2,600,000 square kilometers as well as the port of
New Orleans. The nation had gained a sweep of rich plains, mountains, forests and river systems that within 80 years would become the nation's heartland -- and one of the
world's great granaries.
As Jefferson began his second term in 1805, he declared American neutrality during the struggle between Great Britain and France. Although both sides
sought to restrict neutral shipping to the other, British control of the seas made its interdiction and seizure much more serious than any actions by Napoleonic France.
By 1807 the British had built their navy to more than 700 warships manned by nearly 150,000 sailors and marines. The massive force controlled the sea
lanes: blockading French ports, protecting British commerce and maintaining the crucial links to Britain's colonies. Yet the men of the British fleet lived under such
harsh conditions that it was impossible to obtain crews by free enlistment. Many sailors deserted and found refuge on U.S. vessels. In these circumstances, British
officers regarded it as their right to search American ships and take off British subjects, to the great humiliation of the Americans. Moreover, British officers
frequently impressed American seamen into their service.
When Jefferson issued a proclamation ordering British warships to leave U.S. territorial waters, the British reacted by impressing more sailors.
Jefferson decided to rely on economic pressure to force the British to back down. In December 1807 Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding all foreign commerce.
Ironically, the Republicans, the champions of limited government, had passed a law that vastly increased the powers of the national government. In a single year American
exports fell to one-fifth of their former volume. Shipping interests were almost ruined by the measure, and discontent rose in New England and New York. Agricultural
interests found that they too were suffering heavily, for prices dropped drastically when the Southern and Western farmers could not export their surplus grain, cotton,
meat and tobacco.
The hope that the embargo would starve Great Britain into a change of policy failed. As the grumbling at home increased, Jefferson turned to a milder
measure, which conciliated domestic shipping interests. In early 1809 he signed the Non-Intercourse Act permitting commerce with all countries except Britain or France
and their dependencies.
James Madison succeeded Jefferson as president in 1809. Relations with Great Britain grew worse, and the two countries moved rapidly toward war. The
president laid before Congress a detailed report, showing several thousand instances in which the British had impressed American citizens. In addition, northwestern
settlers had suffered from attacks by Indians whom they believed had been incited by British agents in Canada. This led many Americans to favor conquest of Canada.
Success in such an endeavor would eliminate British influence among the Indians and open up new lands for colonization. The desire to conquer Canada, coupled with deep
resentment over impressment of sailors, generated war fervor, and in 1812 the United States declared war on Britain.
WAR OF 1812
As the country prepared for yet another war with Britain, the United States suffered from internal divisions. While the South and West favored war, New
York and New England opposed it because it interfered with their commerce. The declaration of war had been made with military preparations still far from complete. There
were fewer than 7,000 regular soldiers, distributed in widely scattered posts along the coast, near the Canadian border and in the remote interior. These soldiers were to
be supported by the undisciplined militia of the states.
Hostilities between the two countries began with an invasion of Canada, which, if properly timed and executed, would have brought united action against
Montreal. But the entire campaign miscarried and ended with the British occupation of Detroit. The U.S. Navy, however, scored successes and restored confidence. In
addition, American privateers, swarming the Atlantic, captured 500 British vessels during the fall and winter months of 1812 and 1813.
The campaign of 1813 centered on Lake Erie. General William Henry Harrison -- who would later become president -- led an army of militia, volunteers and
regulars from Kentucky with the object of reconquering Detroit. On September 12, while he was still in upper Ohio, news reached him that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry had
annihilated the British fleet on Lake Erie. Harrison occupied Detroit and pushed into Canada, defeating the fleeing British and their Indian allies on the Thames River.
The entire region now came under American control.
Another decisive turn in the war occurred a year later when Commodore Thomas Macdonough won a point-blank gun duel with a British flotilla on Lake
Champlain in upper New York. Deprived of naval support, a British invasion force of 10,000 men retreated to Canada. At about the same time, the British fleet was
harassing the Eastern seaboard with orders to "destroy and lay waste." On the night of August 24, 1814, an expeditionary force burst into Washington, D.C., home of the
federal government, and left it in flames. President James Madison fled to Virginia.
As the war continued, British and American negotiators each demanded concessions from the other. The British envoys decided to concede, however, when
they learned of Macdonough's victory on Lake Champlain. Urged by the Duke of Wellington to reach a settlement, and faced with the depletion of the British treasury due in
large part to the heavy costs of the Napoleonic Wars, the negotiators for Great Britain accepted the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814. It provided for the cessation of
hostilities, the restoration of conquests and a commission to settle boundary disputes. Unaware that a peace treaty had been signed, the two sides continued fighting in
New Orleans, Louisiana. Led by General Andrew Jackson, the Americans scored the greatest land victory of the war.
While the British and Americans were negotiating a settlement, Federalist delegates selected by the legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, in a meeting that symbolized opposition to "Mr. Madison's war." New England had managed to trade
with the enemy throughout the conflict, and some areas actually prospered from this commerce. Nevertheless, the Federalists claimed that the war was ruining the economy.
Some delegates to the convention advocated secession from the Union, but the majority agreed on a series of constitutional amendments to limit Republican influence,
including prohibiting embargoes lasting more than 60 days and forbidding successive presidents from the same state. By the time messengers from the Hartford Convention
reached Washington, D.C., however, they found the war had ended. The Hartford Convention stamped the Federalists with a stigma of disloyalty from which they never
recovered.
=================================================================
SIDEBAR: THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING
By the end of the 18th century, many educated Americans no longer professed traditional Christian beliefs. In reaction to the secularism of the age, a
religious revival spread westward in the first half of the 19th century.
This second great religious revival in American history consisted of several kinds of activity, distinguished by locale and expression of religious
commitment. In New England, the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism. In western New York, the spirit of revival encouraged the emergence of
new denominations. In the Appalachian region of Kentucky and Tennessee, the revival strengthened the Methodists and the Baptists, and spawned a new form of religious
expression -- the camp meeting.
In contrast to the Great Awakening of the 1730s, the revivals in the East were notable for the absence of hysteria and open emotion. Rather, unbelievers
were awed by the "respectful silence" of those bearing witness to their faith.
The evangelical enthusiasm in New England gave rise to interdenominational missionary societies, formed to evangelize the West. Members of these
societies not only acted as apostles for the faith, but as educators, civic leaders and exponents of Eastern, urban culture. Publication and education societies promoted
Christian education; most notable among them was the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Social activism inspired by the revival gave rise to abolition groups and
the Society for the Promotion of Temperance, as well as to efforts to reform prisons and care for the handicapped and mentally ill.
The revival in western New York was largely the work of Charles Gradison Finney, a lawyer from Adams, New York. The area from Lake Ontario to the
Adirondack Mountains had been the scene of so many religious revivals in the past that it was known as the "Burned-Over District." In 1821 Finney experienced something of
a religious epiphany and set out to preach the Gospel in western New York. His revivals were characterized by careful planning, showmanship and advertising. Finney
preached in the Burned-Over District throughout the 1820s and the early 1830s, before moving to Ohio in 1835 to take a chair in theology at Oberlin College. He
subsequently became president of Oberlin.
Two other important religious denominations in America -- the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists also got their start in the Burned-Over District.
In the Appalachian region, the revival took on characteristics similar to the Great Awakening of the previous century. But here, the center of the
revival was the camp meeting -- defined as a "religious service of several days' length, for a group that was obliged to take shelter on the spot because of the distance
from home." Pioneers in thinly populated areas looked to the camp meeting as a refuge from the lonely life on the frontier. The sheer exhilaration of participating in a
religious revival with hundreds and perhaps thousands of people inspired the dancing, shouting and singing associated with these events.
The first camp meeting took place in July 1800 at Gasper River Church in southwestern Kentucky. A much larger one was held at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in
August 1801, where between 10,000 and 25,000 people attended, and Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist ministers participated. It was this event that stamped the organized
revival as the major mode of church expansion for denominations such as the Methodists and Baptists.
The great revival quickly spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and southern Ohio, with the Methodists and the Baptists its prime beneficiaries. Each
denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier. The Methodists had a very efficient organization that depended on ministers -- known as circuit riders
-- who sought out people in remote frontier locations. The circuit riders came from among the common people, which helped them establish a rapport with the frontier
families they hoped to convert.
The Baptists had no formal church organization. Their farmer-preachers were people who received "the call" from God, studied the Bible and founded a
church, which then ordained them. Other candidates for the ministry emerged from these churches, and they helped the Baptist Church to establish a presence farther into
the wilderness. Using such methods, the Baptists became dominant throughout the border states and most of the South.
The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that
of the denominations dominant in the colonial period--the Anglicans, Presbyterians and Congregationalists. Among the latter, efforts to apply Christian teaching to the
resolution of social problems presaged the Social Gospel of the late 19th century. America was becoming a more diverse nation in the early to mid-19th century, and the
growing differences within American Protestantism reflected and contributed to this diversity.
