Chapter 6: The Constitution and The New Republic (1787- 1800)

The Annapolis Convention
1. Mt. Vernon Convention: 1785, George Washington held a conference at his home in Mt. Vernon, VA to discuss the country's inability to resolve problems under the Articles of Confederation
  1. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania sent delegates
  2. Agreed to meet later in Annapolis where all states could send representatives, in order to discuss issues further
2. Annapolis Convention: 1786, five states sent delegates, discussed ways to improve interstate commercial relations
  1. Madison and Hamilton pushed for another meeting in Philadelphia in order to revise the Articles
Drafting The Constitution at Philadelphia
1. Constitutional Convention: 1787, All states except Rhode Island sent delegates to Philadelphia in order to revise the Articles
  1. There were 55 white male delegates, mostly college- educated and young, most were wealthier than the average American, many were practicing lawyers
  2. Elected George Washington as presiding officer and decided to keep meetings a secret from the general public
  3. Framers of the Constitution: the people who created the specific articles of the Constitiution, wanted to strengthen the nation
    1. James Madison: strong nationalist, known as the father of the Constitution, one of the framers
    2. Alexander Hamilton: strong nationalist, one of the framers
    3. Gouverneur Morris:one of the framers of the Constitution
    4. John Dickinson: one of the framers of the Constitution
  4. Checks and Balances: when one branch of government can check or limit the powers of the other branches, Madison and other delegates really wanted this
  5. Virginia Plan: Madison's proposal for legislative representation that favored the larger states
  6. New Jersey Plan: legislative representation plan that favored the small states
  7. Connecticut Plan/ Great Compromise: resolved conflict between New Jersey and Virginia plans by creating a two house Congress, one with each type of representation
    1. House of Representatives: part of Congress with state representation according to population size
    2. Senate: part of Congress with equal representation for every state
  8. Three- fifths compromise: counted each slave as three fifths of a person when determining a state's level of taxation and Congressional representation
  9. Commercial Compromise: allowed Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including putting tariffs on imported goods and prohibiting taxes on exports
  10. Electoral college system: system that assigns each state a number of electors equal to its total number of representatives in Congress, was established because Pennsylvania delegates feared that unchecked democracy would lead to mob rule
  11. Slave Trade: Slaves could be imported for 20 more years (until 1808) and then Congress could vote to abolish it
Federalists and Anti- Federalists
1. Federalists: supporters of the Constitution and strong federal government
  1. Usually from the Atlantic Coast and large cities
2. Anti Federalists: opponents of the federalists, against the Constitution and strong central government
  1. Usually small farmers or settlers of the western frontier
3. The Federalist Papers: part of the federalist campaign for the Constitution, highly persuasive essays written for a New York newspaper by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
  1. provided reasoning for each provision of the Constitution
Adding the Bill of Rights
1. Bill of Rights: 1789, Federalists agreed to add this to win Anti- Federalist support for the Constitution, listed the people's rights
  1. Anti- Federalists felt that this was necessary in order to stop the American central government from acting like Britain's tyranical central government
  2. Federalists felt that existence of citizen elected officials ensured these rights
2. Amendments: additions to the constitution, first ten are the Bill of Rights
  1. First: free speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition
  2. Second: right to bear arms
  3. Third: no quartering soldiers at peacetime
  4. Fourth: no unreasonable searches or seizures
  5. Fifth: Due process, no self incrimination, no double jeopardy
  6. Sixth: right to speedy and public trial
  7. Seventh: trial by jury
  8. Eighth: no excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishments
  9. Ninth: any rights not specified in Constitution are also guarranteed
  10. Tenth: all powers not given to the federal government belong to the states or the people
Washington's Presidency
1. Legislative branch: branch of government that makes the laws
2. Congress: the legislative branch
3. Executive Departments: law enforcing unit under the president, the president appoints the chiefs of department and they are approved by the Senate
  1. All of the "secretaries"
4. Cabinet: the presidents advisers who are the heads of the executive departments
  1. Henry Knox: Washington's secretary of war
  2. Edmund Randolph: Washington's attorney general
5. Judiciary Act:1789, one of Congress' first laws, established a Supreme Court and other federal courts
  1. Federal Courts: system of district and circuit courts created by the Judiciary Act, the power to create federal courts was given to Congress
  2. Supreme Court: only federal court mentioned in the Constitution, was created by the Judiciary act, originally had one chief and five associate justices
6. Hamilton Financial Plan
  1. National Debt: the US needs to pay off its debt to other countries and assume states' war debts
  2. Infant industries: America's new and developing industries
    1. Should be supported through tariffs and excise taxes
      1. Tariff:taxes on imported goods
      2. Excise Taxes: taxes on unnecessary luxury items
  3. Create a national bank for keeping government money and printing banknotes
7. French Revolution: Americans generally supported revolution, but concerned with reports of mob violence, US still had an alliance with the French monarchs though, Jefferson and his supporters wanted the US to join the war and fight British ships that were attacking American merchant vessels on the way to France.
  1. Proclamation of Neutrality: 1793, Washington, believing that the US was too young and weak to enter a war, proclaimed US neutrality regarding the Revolution.
    1. Jefferson then resigned from the cabinet
8. Citizen Edmond Genet: French minister who objected to the proclamation of neutrality, broke the rules of diplomacy and appealed directly to the American people for French support. Washington requested he be removed from French government.
9. The Jay Treaty: 1794, Washington sent Chief justice John Jay to Britain to stop them from seizing American ships, after a year of negotiation, Jay returned with a treaty stating that Britain would leave the western frontier, but didn't mention anything about the ship seizures, outraged French- supporting Americans
10. The Pinckney Treaty: 1795, in response to Jay Treaty, Spain consolidated its territory in North America, the US minister to Spain, Thomas Pinckney negotiated a treaty in which Spain opened the lower Mississippi River and New Orleans to American trade.
  1. Right of Deposit: granted to America so that they could transfer cargo in New Orleans without paying duties to Spain
11. Battle of Fallen Timbers: 1794, US army General Anthony Wayne defeated the Shawnee, Wyandot, and other Native Americans in northwestern Ohio, in the Treaty of Greenville, chiefs relinquished their rights to the Ohio valley
12. Whiskey Rebellion: 1794, a group of western Pennsylvanian farmers refused to pay the excise tax on whiskey because that was the cheapest way to transport their goods, they attacked the revenue collectors, Washington sent Alexander Hamilton with 15,000 militiamen, and they put down the revolt without bloodshed
13. Public Land Act:1796, Congress encouraged westward expansion by creating procedures for dividing and selling federal lands out west at reasonable prices
Political Parties
1. Federalist Era: nickname of the 1790s due to its largely Federalist policies and the split of political parties
  1. Federalists followed Hamilton and his financial plan
  2. Democratic- Republican party: led by Thomas Jefferson, worked to elect people who opposed Hamilton's plan
  3. Political parties: groups of politicians who were united by a common leader and cause
2. Washington's Farewell Address: 1796, with help from Hamilton, Washington published a farewell address in newspapers, said not to get involved in European affairs, avoid making permanent foreign alliances, not form political parties, and avoid sectionalism
  1. Many of these things were already happening though, and his warnings were behind the times
  2. Permanent alliances: many future presidents would act strictly according Washington's warning against these alliances with foreign countries
  3. Two- term tradition: a precedent that Washington created to limit a presidents time in power, all subsequent presidents followed this until FDR
John Adams' Presidency
1. John Adams: Washington's vice president who became the federalist candidate and won by three electoral votes
2. XYZ Affair: In an attempt to stop French warships from seizing American merchant ships, Adams sent negotiators to Paris, however French ministers (X, Y and Z) required bribes before entering into negotiations, US delegates refused, American public was outraged and some wanted to go to war, although Adams prevented it
3. Alien and Sedition Acts: in response to public anger at France and as a political scheme against the Democratic- Republicans, these acts were passed
  1. Naturalization Act: increased the number of years required for immigrants to qualify for citizenship from 5 - 14 years, because most immigrants voted Democratic- Republican
  2. Alien Acts: allowed the president to deport any aliens that seemed dangerous and detain enemy aliens at wartime
  3. Sedition Act: made it illegal for newspapers to criticize the president or Congress, punishable by fines or imprisonment
4. Kentucky and Virginia Resolves: 1799, Kentucky legislature adopted resolution introduced by James Madison and Virginia legislature, stating that the states had entered into a compact when forming the national government and if the federal government broke the compact, states could nullify federal laws
The Election of 1800
1. Revolution of 1800: shift from Federalist to Democratic- Republican control, marked by Jefferson's election

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Chapter 6: The Constitution and The New Republic (1787- 1800)

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