APUSH AMSCO Topic 4.2 Parties and the Era of JeffersonAPUSH AMSCO Topic 4.2 Parties and the Era of Jefferson

APUSH · PERIOD4 · 1800TO1848

The Rise of Political Parties and the Era of

Jefferson

AMSCO Topic 4.2 Study Guide

Big idea. Jefferson's election in 1800 was a peaceful revolution. As president he expanded the country with the Louisiana Purchase even though it violated his own strict reading of the Constitution, while Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall used the Supreme Court to build federal power. Learning objective: the causes and effects of policy debates in the early republic. The Election of 1800

Why Federalists lost support: the Alien and Sedition Acts, taxes to prepare for war with France, and a larger navy.

First clear choice between parties: Federalists (strong national government, tilt toward Britain) versus Democratic-Republicans (states' powers, tilt toward France). Both supported tariffs as revenue. Tie: each elector cast two votes. Democratic-Republicans voted for Jefferson and Aaron Burr, so they tied. The House chose, one vote per state. Hamilton urged Federalists to back Jefferson as less dangerous than Burr.

Democratic-Republicans also won the House and the Senate. The Federalists were swept from power. Revolution of 1800: power passed from one party to another without violence, a sign the system would endure. (The 12th Amendment, 1804, fixed the two-vote problem.)

Jefferson's presidency

Limited government: reduced the military, eliminated federal jobs, repealed excise taxes including the whiskey tax, and lowered the national debt.

He kept Hamilton's national bank and debt plan to win over Federalists, and kept neutrality. Appointed only Democratic-Republicans to the cabinet. First term was relatively free of discord. Won 1804 reelection with all but 14 of 176 electoral votes.

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

Step Details

Background France lost Louisiana to Spain, then Napoleon secretly forced Spain to return it in 1800. He lost interest by 1803 because he wanted to fight Britain and because a rebellion led by Toussaint Louverture in Santo Domingo cost France heavily

Trigger In 1802 Spanish officials still running New Orleans closed the port and revoked the right of deposit from Pinckney's Treaty. Western farmers and Jefferson were alarmed (foreign control of the river risked European entanglement)

Negotiation Jefferson authorized up to $10 million for New Orleans and nearby land. Napoleon offered all of Louisiana for $15 million. American ministers went beyond their instructions and accepted

Constitutional

problem

Jefferson, a strict constructionist, found no clause allowing the purchase of foreign land. He set aside idealism, used the treaty power, and the Senate ratified it. Federalists criticized it Consequences More than doubled US size, removed a European presence from the border, extended the frontier beyond the Mississippi, strengthened Jefferson's agrarian vision (independent farmers over Hamilton's industrial cities), boosted Jefferson's popularity, and made Federalists look weak and sectional (New England)

Lewis and Clark (1804 to 1806): funded by Congress before the purchase. Left St. Louis, crossed the Rockies, reached the Pacific, and returned. Benefits: scientific and geographic knowledge, US claims to the Oregon Territory, better relations with some American Indians, and better maps and routes for trappers and settlers.

Test trap. Irony alert: Jefferson, the strict constructionist, used a loose interpretation to buy Louisiana. This is a classic 'contradiction' point for SAQs and LEQs.

Jefferson versus the judges

Jefferson suspended the Alien and Sedition Acts and released those jailed under them. Adams's Federalist judges were appointed for life, so Jefferson supported impeachment. A federal district judge was removed. Justice Samuel Chase was impeached but the Senate acquitted him (no evidence of 'high crimes'). The campaign mostly failed but made judges more cautious. Aaron Burr

Dropped from Jefferson's ticket in 1804. Secretly allied with radical New England Federalists in a plan to win New York's governorship and lead a secession of northern states. Hamilton opposed him and Burr lost.

Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel and killed him in 1804, depriving Federalists of their last great leader.

In 1806 Burr schemed in the West (a plan to take Mexico from Spain). Jefferson ordered his arrest. At the treason trial, Chief Justice Marshall presided and Burr was acquitted because of Marshall's narrow definition of treason and no witnesses to an 'overt act'.

John Marshall's Court (chief justice for 34 years)

Marshall, a Federalist and Jefferson's cousin, was appointed by Adams. His decisions favored the central government and property rights over states' rights.

Case Year Ruling Effect

Marbury v.

Madison

1803 Marbury had a right to his commission under the

Judiciary Act of 1789, but that part of the Act gave the

Court more power than the Constitution allowed, so it

was unconstitutional

Judicial review: Court

decides if acts of Congress

or the president are

constitutional

Fletcher v.

Peck

1810 Georgia land fraud. A state cannot pass a law

invalidating a contract

First time the Court struck

down a state law

Martin v.

Hunter's Lease

1816 Court has jurisdiction over state courts in constitutional

cases

Federal court supremacy

Dartmouth

College v.

Woodward

1819 New Hampshire could not turn the private college into

a public one. A corporate charter is a contract

Protects contracts and

private property

McCulloch v.

Maryland

1819 Maryland could not tax the national bank: 'the power to

tax is the power to destroy.' Federal law is supreme.

The Constitution gives implied powers (loose

interpretation, necessary and proper clause)

Upheld the national bank

Cohens v.

Virginia

1821 Convicted for selling lottery tickets. The conviction

was upheld, but the Court can review state court

decisions involving federal powers

Federal review of state

courts

Gibbons v.

Ogden

1821 New York steamboat monopoly vs a federal charter.

Monopoly unconstitutional

Federal control of

interstate commerce