Chapter 7: Competing Visions of a Virtuous Republic, 1776-1800

1. What Kind of Republic?
   1. Competing Notions of Republicanism
      1. Some, like Thomas Paine, declared that republicanism was a moral code of behavior as well as a system of government.
         1. When citizens became selfish or corrupt, republicans succumbed to tyranny.
         2. The history of the Roman Republic and of England reinforced this view.
      2. Others emphasized the importance of individual self-interest as the basis of a republic's strength.
         1. Economist Adam Smith's emphasis on self-interest was cited.
   2. Creating Republican Governments: The State Constitutions
      1. There was also disagreement on who "the people" were.
         1. Pennsylvania eliminated property requirements and gave the vote to all white males.
         2. Maryland kept property qualifications for voting and even higher property requirements to serve in office.
      2. Disagreement also existed on how much power elected officials should have.
         1. Pennsylvania gave ALL power to them by having a unicameral legislature and no governor.
         2. Maryland kept a governor and a two-house legislature, one higher than the other.
      3. The other states fell between these two extremes of democracy (Pennsylvania and the more conservative Maryland).
         1. New Jersey gave the vote between 1776 and 1807 to women with property.
      4. A new set of constitutions beginning in the 1780s expanded the powers of state governments and restricted voting and officeholding to property holders.
         1. On the other hand, checks and balances and bills of rights restricted the powers of state governments.
   3. The Articles of Confederation
      1. Establishing a national government took six years.
         1. John Dickinson drafted a proposed constitution in 1775.
         2. Congress revised his draft in 1775 - 1776 by reducing the powers of the national government.
         3. The states took up the proposal in 1777 but could not come to agreement until 1781.
      2. Features of the Confederation government:
         1. It consisted of only a unicameral legislature, in which each state had one vote.
         2. It could not tax or regulate trade.
         3. Slaves were to be counted in full for tax purposes (i.e., as people rather than as property).
      3. Quarrels over control of the Northwest Territory delayed ratification of the new government until 1781.
         1. Maryland refused to ratify by arguing that the lands there should belong to the government.
         2. Virginia and the other states holding land claims finally renounced them in order to achieve ratification.
2. Challenges to the Confederation
   1. Depression and Financial Crisis
      1. A postwar depression affected the entire country.
         1. The economic downturn affected all classes.
         2. England barred American products and limited American ships in its Caribbean colonies.
         3. The value of paper money plunged.
      2. Robert Morris proposed a tariff on imported goods to pay off foreign loans taken by the government.
         1. The states, particularly Rhode Island, refused.
   2. The Northwest Ordinances
      1. To raise money, the government decided to sell land in the Northwest Territory.
         1. The Ordinance of 1784 mandated creation of five new states in the region.
         2. The Ordinance of 1785 set up the system for selling the land to private individuals.
         3. The Ordinance of 1787 prescribed the number of people required for statehood and banned slavery in the region.
   3. Diplomatic Problems
      1. Trouble flared with the British.
         1. In the Northwest Territory, they refused to vacate their forts, and they armed the region's Native Americans.
         2. Ambassador John Adams could not win trade concessions from them.
      2. Spain barred Americans from the Mississippi River.
         1. Negotiator John Jay was unable to win access.
      3. Barbary pirates seized American ships and crews.
   4. A Farmers' Revolt
      1. The farmers of western Massachusetts were deeply affected by the postwar economic depression.
         1. Farmers protested rents, land prices, heavy taxes, debts, high judicial fees, and the failure of central governments to provide protection from Indian attacks or frontier bandits.
         2. The state legislature refused to pass stay laws to give them temporary relief or
         3. to print more paper money.
         4. The legislature also raised taxes.
      2. Western farmers closed local debtors' courts and freed imprisoned debtors.
         1. The state government broke their movement (Shays' Rebellion) by using military force.
   5. The Revolt of the "Better Sort"
      1. Critics of the Articles of Confederation government believed that the United States faced a grave crisis.
         1. They cited the weak government, the quality of Congress's members, diplomatic problems, and Shays' Rebellion.
         2. The critics were often members of the elite.
      2. Leading Virginians convened a meeting at Annapolis to discuss trade problems and other conflicts among the states.
         1. Their real purpose: to lay the groundwork for creation of a stronger national government.
         2. The delegates convinced Congress to call a convention in Philadelphia in 1787 to discuss trade between the states and governmental reform.
3. Creating a New Government
   1. Revise or Replace?
      1. The delegates at Philadelphia first had to choose between revision and rejection of the Articles of Confederation.
      2. The Virginia Plan called for rejecting the Articles and for creating a stronger government.
         1. It provided for three branches of government, each checking and balancing the other.
      3. The delegates differed over representation in Congress.
         1. Large states favored the Virginia Plan: 1) two houses; 2) the number of members based on a state's population.
         2. Small states favored the New Jersey Plan: 1) unicameral; 2) each state has the same number of members.
         3. The Great Compromise provided for: 1) a two-house legislature; 2) membership in the lower based on a state's population; 3) membership in the upper equal for each state.
         4. How to elect members of Congress was also settled by compromise: 1) upper house to be elected by state legislatures; 2) the lower by each state's eligible voters.
         5. The Three-Fifths Compromise settled the conflict over how to count slaves and allowed the slave trade to last twenty more years.
   2. Drafting an Acceptable Document
      1. The concept of checks and balances guided the assignment of powers to the president and Congress.
      2. The Electoral College compromise solved the controversy over participation by ordinary voters in electing the president.
4. Resolving the Conflict of Vision
   1. The Ratification Controversy
      1. To win ratification, supporters' tactics included:
         1. Calling themselves Federalists.
         2. Ratifying conventions in each state.
         3. Approval by only nine states necessary for adoption.
      2. Local conditions often dictated positions for and against the Constitution.
         1. Voters in states with strong economies tended to be against.
         2. Voters in small, weak states tended to be in favor.
         3. Urban residents tended to be in favor; backcountry and rural inhabitants were more likely to oppose.
      3. Antifederalists argued the country was not in crisis; Federalists were elitists; the Constitution would lead to tyranny and had no bill of rights.
   2. The Federalist Victory
      1. Local conditions proved important in securing approval of the Constitution.
         1. Small states quickly ratified it (except for Rhode Island).
         2. Washington's influence was decisive for Virginia's approval.
         3. Federalist agreement to add a bill of rights to the Constitution helped secure ratification in many states.
   3. President George Washington
      1. Washington established two important precedents:
         1. Use of a simple title to address the president.
         2. Cabinet meetings.
5. Competing Visions Re-emerge
   1. Unity's Achievements
      1. Congress created a federal judicial system.
         1. The Judiciary Act of 1789 created federal courts and spelled out the powers of the Supreme Court.
      2. To finance the government, Congress approved import duties.
      3. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution.
   2. Hamilton's and Jefferson's Differences Emerge
      1. Hamilton and Jefferson had vastly conflicting ideas about the future course of American society.
         1. Hamilton envisioned an economy rooted in manufacturing and commerce.
         2. Jefferson wished to preserve America as an agricultural society.
      2. They and their followers split into the first political parties: the Federalists and the Republicans.
   3. Hamilton's Economic Plan
      1. Hamilton proposed that the government redeem its notes by paying the current holders full face value.
         1. Jefferson's followers opposed the plan as rewarding unscrupulous speculators, but Congress approved it.
      2. Hamilton proposed that the government assume responsibility for the states' debts.
         1. Selection of the site of the national capital resulted from the controversy over this proposal.
      3. Hamilton next secured creation of a national bank.
         1. "Strict construction" versus "broad construction" of the Constitution emerged as another difference between Jefferson and Hamilton.
      4. Hamilton suggested customs duties and government subsidies to stimulate the development of manufacturing.
   4. Foreign Affairs and Deepening Divisions
      1. The French Revolution presented America with a difficult foreign affairs problem.
         1. At first, most Americans supported the Revolution, but sentiment swung against it because of the Reign of Terror and when France went to war against the rest of Europe.
         2. France expected America's support against England under the terms of the treaty between France and the United States.
      2. France attempted to build support in the United States for its cause.
         1. Completely disregarding President Washington, Ge^net attempted to recruit Americans to fight for France.
         2. Washington proclaimed American neutrality in the war between France and
         3. England.
   5. More Domestic Disturbances
      1. Hamilton's Federalists argued that the republic was in danger from Jefferson's Republicans.
      2. In the wake of the French Revolution and British interference in the west and on the seas, organizations rose up to make demands on the government.
         1. The Democratic-Republican societies, pro-French political groups, most worried President Washington.
         2. Washington blamed them for the ill-fated Whiskey Rebellion.
   6. The Jay Treaty (1794)
      1. Britain agreed to evacuate the western forts and granted small trade favors to America in the West Indies.
      2. The US agreed to see that all prewar debts to British merchants were finally paid.
      3. Jay, however, abandoned America's demand for freedom of the seas and conceded the British navy's right to remove French property from any neutral ship.
      4. The overwhelming backlash against the treaty weakened the prestige and authority of the Washington administration.
      5. In the Northwest Territory, Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
         1. The Indians ceded title to lands in Ohio in the Treaty of Greenville.
   7. Washington's Farewell
      1. Washington chose retirement over a third term.
         1. In his Farewell Address, he warned against the growth of political parties and against involvement in foreign affairs.
6. Conflict in the Adams Administration
   1. The Split Election of 1796
      1. The Republicans ran Jefferson for president, Aaron Burr for vice president.
         1. Both shared a belief in democracy and in republicanism.
      2. The Federalists were divided between the two candidates for president.
         1. Hamilton favored Thomas Pinckney.
         2. Most backed John Adams.
      3. Hamilton's scheme to elect Pinckney led to the election of a president and vice president from two different parties.
         1. Angry Federalists voted for Jefferson rather than Pinckney in the Electoral College.
         2. Adams won the presidency, Jefferson the vice-presidency.
      4. Adams angered the Republicans.
         1. He appointed Hamilton men to the cabinet and refused to appoint James Madison to a diplomatic post.
   2. XYZ: The Power of Patriotism
      1. Adams faced conflict with France.
         1. The French cut off relations with the United States because of the Federalists' pro-British stance.
         2. They began to seize American ships.
         3. The XYZ Affair turned American public opinion against France.
      2. A "quasi-war" between France and the United States began.
         1. Congress created a navy and authorized a standing army.
         2. Hostilities did not occur on land but did take place at sea.
      3. Federalists and Republicans differed sharply with regard to France.
         1. Federalists favored full-scale war because of all that revolutionary France represented.
   3. The War at Home
      1. Congress enacted legislation to weaken the Republicans by countering the influence of immigrants:
         1. Naturalization Act-extended residency requirement for citizenship from five to fourteen years.
         2. Alien Act-allowed the president to deport foreigners identified as posing a danger to the United States.
         3. Sedition Act-outlawed criticism of the government or its officials.
      2. The government prosecuted fifteen Republican newspaper editors under the Sedition Act.
      3. The Republicans responded to the Alien and Sedition Acts by turning to the states.
         1. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions asserted that the states could declare a federal law void.
      4. The Quasi-War was financed by customs duties and land taxes.
         1. In Pennsylvania, "Fries's Rebellion," a movement to free jailed tax resisters, was broken by federal troops.
   4. Settlement with France
      1. Sentiment for a peaceful settlement of the Quasi-War grew.
         1. On his own, George Logan succeeded in making contact with the French government.
         2. Adams decided to pursue Logan's opening, and the United States and France agreed to end hostilities.
      2. Adams's decision for peace caused a widening of the gap between him and Hamilton.