Two men originally created the U. S.Federal Republic: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Alexander Hamilton,who was from New York, was also the representative of the Northern industrialand banking states. He had strong ties with the English and still believed inideals such as those of Thomas Hobbs, an English political philosopher, whobelieved that “human nature is evil therefore strong government is required” (INCLUDE CITATION OF TEACHERSNOTE). Hamilton created the Federalist party in support of his thoughtson power and how it should reside with the government at the expense of thestate sovereignty. Theother original creator of the Federal Republic is Thomas Jefferson, a Virginianative who represented the Southern Agricultural states. He had ties to Franceand believed in ideals taught by Jon Joc Russeau, a French philosopher.Jefferson started the Republican party to oppose the Federalists and supporthis ideas of how power should reside with the people and states.
Thefederalists created several federal districts under president John Quincy Adams.Adams appointed James Madison as Secretary of State and created the JudiciaryAct of 1791 which gave authority to congress and secretary of state to forcethe president to carry out appointments to the federal judicial branch. Beforehe was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Adams appointed federalist judgesthe “midnight judges” to ensure the federalist influence in the government outof fear of losing control of congress. Jefferson hated the judicial branch forbeing the maximum authority figure and because of the little checks andbalances on it. He especially detested the fact that the judges were appointedtheir positions for life. Jefferson ordered Madison to not deliver appointmentorders knowing that appointers will sue him.
These orders given by Jefferson startedthe “William Marbary vs. James Madison” case in 1803. WilliamMarbary suing James Madison forced Madison to deliver appointments to theSupreme Court. The Chief of Justice John Marshall, who was a radical federalist,presided over the case.
Jefferson knew that Marshall was known for ruling infavor of power to federal government over states’ rights. He wanted Marshall torule in favor of Marbary so he could ignore the ruling on purpose. Jeffersondid this because he knew the supreme court didn’t have the power to force himto act upon appointments despite the fact that Marbary had rights to hisappointments. However, the Judiciary Act of 1791 gave authority to the SupremeCourt to issue “Rights of Mandanas,” an order from the court that forcesgovernment officials to perform the duties of office. However, the president isnot authorized to do so by the constitution which means that the Judiciary Actof 1791 would be considered unconstitutional. TheSupreme Court struck down this congressional law and gave more power to thecourt. The “Midnight judges” were only one of the three main problems Jeffersonfaced during his presidency.
Jefferson also had to deal with Napoleon and hisFrench empire during the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The U.S. wanted to use theMississippi River for trade and wanted to double its land size. During thenegotiation with the U.
S., France was being forced into war by England inEurope and had no choice but to accept the terms for the purchase. After the LouisianaPurchase, the Federalists were upset at the outcome and feared the futureexpansion of the Republican party at the expense of the Federalists. Theleaders of the Federalists held a meeting in Essex, New Jersey and called themselves”Essex Junita.” Here the Federalist leaders agreed that if theNew England industrialists continued to lose power to the southern agriculturalsector, they must secede from the U.S. union.
War between England and Franceforced the two countries to blockade each other’s ports. This affected theNorthern states trade with the British and the Southern states trade with theFrench. England became very aggressive and seized Frenchand American ships and cargo. One of these ships, the U.S.S. Chesapeake, hadU.
S. sailors that were forced into English service. This made Jefferson respondwith an “Embargo Act” that banned trade on British goods, which infuriated thefederalists. On the day of the election of 1808, Jefferson steps down from presidencyand James Maddison becomes president.
During the campaign, the “Embargo” is thenumber one topic. So, the U.S. Congress passed “Macon’s Bill number two” to tryand motivate Great Britain and France to stop seizing U.S. ships. TheBill stated that the first nation to recognize the U.S.
principle of “NaturalShips Natural Goods”, the U.S. will form an alliance with that nation anddeclare war on its enemies. At this time, the U.S.
was expanding into the OhioValley which was Shawnee territory. The Shawnee chief, Teumseux “The Prophet,” wasin an alliance with the British and sent “War Hawks” to attack the U.S. However,the uprising was put down by Col. William Henry Harrison. Harrisondiscovered that the Shawnee war hawks were given weapons by the British inCanada which lead to the U.S. Congress to demand war on Britain.
The War of1812 began as the English came to occupy the Ohio Valley. They eventuallyinvaded Washington D.C. and burned it to the ground. Col. Andrew Jackson fromSouth Carolina started the Southern Theater of operations. While he wasbuilding an army to defend the Southern coast, he encountered the Indianproblem of the southern frontier. TheIndians attacked Ft.
Mims in Alabama and massacred many people. Jacksonfortified his defenses of New Orleans and began the battle of New Orleans inJanuary 1814 where he defeated the British. The English settled the war withthe U.S. and everything is back to “status quo antebellum,” or the state ofexistence before the war.
Federalistsand New England merchants are suffering due to the war. So, the Essex Junitaissues a threat to Maddison that he must end the war or New England willsecede. The threat arrives to the White House just as the war was alreadyending and makes the federalists look like traitors. This pretty much ended theFederalists party. From 1815 to 1830, the U.S.
is a one-party system called theDemocratic Republicans. Dueto the devastation of the war of 1812, Europe had become vary reliant ofAmerican agricultural goods like wheat and cotton. This increased the value ofsouthern agricultural goods and the value of the property that goods like wheatand cotton were being farmed on. The North had little industrial competitionnow that English complications in Europe has gone down and was seeing a greatincrease in revenue.
This began the industrial revolution, which made goodsthat were at one point considered luxury into available every day commodities. InNew England, merchants built water-powered textile mills changing howmanufacturing was done. The south had people called Artisans who created easyto use mechanisms to make tasks on a farm less difficult.
Duringthe War of 1812, the Bank of the United States had suspended payments in “hardmoney” or “specie,” which means gold and silver coins. When the war ended, thebank continued to give only paper banknotes (money) to redeem notes issued bystate banks with paper only. The new banks also adopted these practices,issuing paper money more than the amount of specie in their safes. This sketchyeconomic plot was short lived as people were comfortable to conduct businesswith paper money and refrain from asking that banks give them the gold andsilver that was supposed to back it. If large numbers of people or banks thathad loaned money to other banks began to demand gold and silver, the bankingsystem would fall because there was no longer enough hard money to support theamount of paper money the banks had put into circulation. The inflation of theeconomy had reached its climax, sending the U.S.
into its first depressioncalled The Panic of 1819. This depression didn’t faze the entrepreneursand inventors of that time though. The cotton gin, created by Eli Whitney, isjust one example of things manufactured that helped with economic growth and recoverythat also changed American life for the better.
The transportation revolution movedthe U.S. civilization forward, making it faster to ship goods across country.This lead to a new economic power struggle between North and South.
This gavebirth to the three economic classes in the U.S.: the elite who either inheritedtheir money or were new upcoming entrepreneurs that have gained economicstatues, the middle class- who values things like work and education as well astheir status, and wage workers who formed their own class of poor people livingin heavily populated and industrialized areas. From1820 to 1861, a sectional strike emerged from both the industrial North and theagricultural South in an attempt to preserve a balance of power between them toprevent one section form drafting laws in their favor. This started theMissouri crisis of 1820.
The question at the time was if Missouri would be apro-agricultural state or a pro-industrial state. Representative John Tallmadgeintroduced a bill that would outlaw slavery in Missouri. If this happens, thepro-industry sector will be able to out route the South in the Senate. Another question at that time was: can Congressoutlaw private property? Slavery at this point becomes a constitutional issue.Senator Henry Clay from Kentucky, known as the “Great Compromiser,” convincedthe U.
S. to allow Maine to enter as an industrial free state and Missouri willenter as an agricultural slave state. This later led to the 36-degree 30-minutecompromise line in Missouri.
North of the line will be free industrial states.Any state South of the line will be a slave state. Atthe election of 1828, president Andrew Jackson, who was loved by the lowerclass and hated by the upper class, won by the first ever presidentiallandslide. He made the “Tariff of Abominations,” which was taxation on importedgoods during the 1800’s. It provided revenue as a main source of government. Artificialprice controls were used to protect domestic markets and trade goods.
Othernations retaliated by imposing tariffs of their own products. NewEngland manufacturers convinced Congress to pass Woolens Bill number one, whichimposed tariffs on British imports to the U.S. The South opposed this becausethey feared Britain would tariff southern U.
S. cotton. Vice President John C.Calhoun defeated the bill. This led to Woolens Bill number two, which promisedthat the south could impose tariffs on everything. Jackson then threatens to invadeSouth Carolina.
Henry Clay convinced South Carolina to withdraw articles ofsecession and he also convinced northern representatives to end the bid fortariffs. This started off the negative turmoil for the south and north forpurely economic reasons. Thesecond great awakening in New England was a religious effort to correctimmorality of the U.S. This gave birth to the Abolitionist movement. Thismovement included religiously radical people who were led by William LloydGarrison, the author of “The Liberator”.
They called for the destruction of thesouth, or at least whatever it takes to end slavery. Inthe 1830’s, slavery is now both an economic issue and a moral issue from thenorthern perspective. Nat Turner, an escaped slave from a plantation in NorthHampton County, Virginia, was helped by the Abolitionists to form a small army andreturned to Virginia. He started a slave rebellion that resulted in 66 deaths. Thanksto the Abolitionist, more slaves would now move North and gain their freedombecause free states would not return them as slaves, breaking constitutionallaw and outraging the south. StephenA.
Douglas from Illinois proposes to turn Kansas and Nebraska into states. Thisis known as the “Bleeding Kansas,” or Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1855. Abolitionistand Pro-slavers rush into Kansas to vote. This resulted in a small civil war.John Brown, the poster child of the Abolitionist movement, kills severalpro-slavers and fleas back up north to conduct raids in the south. In 1857, Brown lead a raid on a U.S. armyarsenal called “Harpers Ferry.
” He was then arrested for treason and executed.By this time the southern states are convinced that the north is planning onattacking soon. Another case that threw more wood in the fire between north andsouth was “Dred Scott vs. Sanford” in 1857. Dred Scott was a slave owned by anarmy general who he traveled with to Wisconsin. Hisowner died in Wisconsin leaving the brother of the army generals wife to be theonly executor of the state. The wife’s brothers name was Sanford and he was anabolitionist who wanted to free Scott.
He argued that Scott should have been freewhen moving to Wisconsin. The case went to the Supreme Court where the Chief ofJustice was Roger Taney who was pro-states’ rights. Dred Scott could not sue inthe U.
S. court system because he was still property and not a citizen. If hecould not sue, then the court cannot free him. This brought up the point thatcongress cannot outlaw private property. The Missouri compromise was there forvoid because it was not considered constitutional. This was a huge victory forthe South and states’ rights.
The South rallied around this. In1858, senatorial races in Illinois was nationally focused on because theRepublican party nominated Abraham Lincoln for senator. The Republican partywas created in 1855 and 1856 because of Kansas and the northern Abolitionist.The election was between Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat.
Democratswere a national party that represented both people form the North and South. Bothcandidates made one another appear to be against Dred Scott and againstslavery. From the Southern perspective, both candidates oppose Dred Scott. Whenthe presidential election of 1860 occurred, it proved to be a repeat of theIllinois senatorial elections after the southern delegates refused to vote forDouglas. SouthCarolina became the first state to secede from the Union in 1860. In February1861, eleven more states followed South Carolina. The south elected JeffersonDavis as president of the Confederate states.
He he immediately demandednegotiation of independence from Lincoln. Lincoln refused, and the south seizedfederal institutions in Ft. Sumter, South Carolina which became the site of thefirst hostilities and eventually became the civil war in 1861 to 1865. Was the civil war inevitable? I would have tosay yes it was. There was too much fueling the difference between the north andsouth.
Whether it be economical differences, trade differences or even moralitydifferences, there was just too many opposite opinions between the two side fora war not to happen. Did that bloodshed make any sense? I don’t think so. Ifeel that at some point it could have been negotiated.
But with radicalism andan entire race in shackles, I can see how the war got out of hand.
