APUSH AMSCO Topic 3.10 Shaping a New RepublicAPUSH AMSCO Topic 3.10 Shaping a New Republic

APUSH · PERIOD3 · 1754TO1800

Shaping a New Republic

AMSCO Topic 3.10 Study Guide

Big idea. Washington and Adams had to make a government work, and every big decision (money, France, Britain, the frontier) split the country into Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. This topic is where the first party system is born.

Timeline to memorize

Year Event Why it matters

1789 Washington inaugurated. Judiciary Act of

1789

Creates Supreme Court (1 chief + 5 associates), 13

district courts, 3 circuit courts

1790-

91

Hamilton's financial program Debt, tariffs, national bank. Splits Hamilton and Jefferson

1793 Proclamation of Neutrality. Citizen Genêt.

Cotton gin

Stay out of the Europe-France-Britain war

1794 Whiskey Rebellion. Battle of Fallen

Timbers. Jay Treaty

Federal power proven. Frontier opened. Peace kept

1795 Pinckney's Treaty with Spain. Treaty of

Greenville

Mississippi River and New Orleans opened. Indians

cede Ohio

1796 Washington's Farewell Address. Public

Land Act. Adams elected

No permanent alliances, no parties, no sectionalism

1797-

98

XYZ Affair Anti-French anger helps the Federalists

1798 Alien and Sedition Acts Federalists attack opponents, 1st Amendment fight 1799 Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions States' rights, nullification idea

1800 Election of 1800 Federalists lose Congress and the presidency

Washington organizes the government

Cabinet: Jefferson (State), Hamilton (Treasury), Henry Knox (War), Edmund Randolph (Attorney General). The Constitution allows the president to appoint department heads with Senate approval. The cabinet is a precedent, not in the Constitution.

Courts: the Constitution names only the Supreme Court. Congress built the rest in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which lets the Court rule on state court decisions.

Precedents: Washington's choices defined what the Constitution meant in practice. His unanimous election in 1789 made people think parties were unnecessary.

Hamilton's financial program

Part What it did Who liked or hated it

1. National

debt

Pay at face value, and the federal

government assumes state war debts

Passed. Jefferson agreed in return for the capital on the

Potomac (later Washington, D.C.)

2. Tariffs Protect young industries and raise

revenue

Northern merchants liked it. Passed in lower form than

Hamilton wanted

3. National

bank

Holds government money, prints

banknotes, stable currency. Privately

owned, federally chartered

Jefferson: not in the Constitution (strict reading).

Hamilton: necessary and proper clause (loose

reading). Washington sided with Hamilton

Remember. Hamilton = loose interpretation, strong central government, business and cities. Jefferson = strict interpretation, states' rights, farmers. Connect this to McCulloch v. Maryland in 4.2. Foreign affairs

French Revolution: Americans split. Jefferson's side sympathized with France and wanted to honor the 1778 alliance. Washington thought the nation was too weak for war and issued the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793). Jefferson resigned from the cabinet over it.

"Citizen" Genêt: the French minister who appealed directly to the American people. Even Jefferson approved of asking France to recall him.

Jay Treaty (1794): Britain agreed to leave its western forts, but said nothing about impressment of seamen. It was unpopular and barely ratified, but it kept neutrality and peace. Pinckney's Treaty (1795): Spain feared a US-British closeness after Jay's Treaty. Spain opened the lower Mississippi and New Orleans, granted the right of deposit (store and transfer cargo without Spanish duties), and accepted the 31st parallel as Florida's northern border. Domestic crises under Washington

Crisis What happened Result

Northwest

Confederacy

Shawnee, Delaware, Iroquois and

others under Little Turtle (Miami)

beat settler militias. British

supplied them

Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794, Gen. Anthony Wayne)

then Treaty of Greenville (1795): tribes give up Ohio

claims

Whiskey

Rebellion

(1794)

Western Pennsylvania farmers

refused Hamilton's excise tax on

whiskey

Washington federalized 15,000 militia led by Hamilton.

Rebellion collapsed with little bloodshed. Government's

authority solidified. Westerners resented the force, and

Jefferson gained popularity

Western lands Jay Treaty plus Fallen Timbers

gave control of land

Public Land Act (1796). Vermont (1791), Kentucky

(1792), Tennessee (1796) join

Test trap. Compare the Whiskey Rebellion with Shays's Rebellion. Under the Articles the government was helpless. Under the Constitution it could respond. That contrast is a favorite.

The first political parties

The Constitution never mentions parties and the framers assumed there would be none. But debates over Hamilton's program and over France turned factions into national parties. The 1790s are sometimes called the Federalist era.

Federalists Democratic-Republicans

Leaders Adams, Hamilton Jefferson, Madison

Constitution Loose reading, strong central

government

Strict reading, weak central government

Foreign

policy

Pro-British Pro-French

Military Large peacetime army and navy Small peacetime army and navy

Economy Aid business, national bank, high

tariffs

Favor agriculture, oppose national bank and high tariffs

Support Northeast, business owners, large

landowners

South and West, small farmers, skilled workers,

plantation owners

Washington's Farewell Address (1796)

No involvement in European affairs.

No permanent alliances.

No political parties.

No sectionalism.

Later presidents mostly followed the first two warnings. He was already behind the times on parties. His retirement set the two-term tradition, which lasted until FDR won a third term in 1940. The 22nd Amendment (1951) made it law.

John Adams (1797 to 1801)