Chapter 6

7. Checks and balances, three branches, separation of powers
a. Idea originally advocated by Baron de Montesquieu -- Spirit of the Laws
b. Three branches of gov't:
1. Executive: enforces the law,
can veto acts of congress
2. Legislative: makes the law,
two houses compete but must agree before any law can be passed.
3. Judiciary: interprets the
law, protected from the executive and legislative braches by appointment for
life.
c. By checks and balances, the Constitution allowed a federal government to be
created which could correct some of the weaknesses of the previous government
without losing all the principles for which the Revolution was fought.
1. Solution to the problem of concentrated authority, the
greatest obstacle to the creation of a national government.
2. Solution to tyranny of the people, an, “excess of
democracy,” of the, “mob.”
d. Makes possible the idea of a large republic, that had been opposed by the
population n because of the fear that government would be too far from the
people and cause tyranny.

8. federalism
a. Solution suggested by Madison and his contemporaries to the
question of state vs. federal sovereignty.
1. All power, at all levels of government flows
from the people.
2. Neither the federal government, nor state
governments are sovereign, all derive their authority from below.

9. Federalists vs. anti-federalists (this is the battle over ratification…NOT
related to political parties)
a. Delegates
1. Of the 55 delegates, only 39 signed the new constitution.
b. Opponents to ratification -- Anti-Federalists
1. Included Yates (NY), Mason (VA), Martin, Mercer (MD), and Gerry (MA).
2. States' rightists believed that the government is best which governs least .
tended to be small farmers, artisans, illiterates and from the poorer classes.
3. Also concerned that there was no bill of rights to protect individual
freedoms.
4. The first serious opposition came in Massachusetts from Samuel Adams and John
Hancock.
c. Supporters of the Constitution -- Federalists
1. These realists believed that if the natural rights philosophy
was taken straight, it would topple the government.
2. They tended to be from the cultured propertied groups along
the Atlantic Seaboard.
3. Federalist Papers -- Alexander Hamilton , major author,
contribution by John Jay, James Madison.
- Supporters of the Constitution were better organized to present their
arguments for ratification, stressing the inadequacy of the Articles of
Confederation and that the Constitution conformed to the best principles of
republican government.
- Most significant argument of papers offfered by James Madison, that a
republican form of government could extend over a vast amount of territory.
d. Early Ratification
1. Delaware, the first state to ratify the
constitution (7 December 1787).
2. Pennsylvania , 1st large state, ratified the
constitution 12 December 1787
3. New Jersey (18 December) and Georgia (2
January 1788) both unanimously ratify the constitution.
4. The fifth to ratify was Connecticut (9
January 1788).
5. Massachusetts , after noting the absence of a
bill of rights, and having been assured that the first Congress would add
them, voted ratified the constituion.
6. Maryland , also desiring a bill of rights,
was seventh (28 April) to ratify the constituion.
7. The eighth, South Carolina , ratified the
constituion (23 May)
8. The ninth state, which made the constitution
operational for those states, was New Hampshire (21 June 1788)
9. Constitution had been ratified (2 July).
e. Later States
1. Virginia 's Ratification
- Patrick Henry, worked hard to keep Virginia, the most populous state, from
ratifying the document; while Federalists Washington, Marshall and Madison
worked for ratification.
- Realizing that Virginia could not make it as an independent nation, following
New Hampshire’s ratification, the state assembly ratifies the constitution on
June 26.
- One month later, New York ratified the constitution.
- North Carolina did not ratify the constitution until 21 November 1789,
submitting first twelve amendments to be considered in Congress.
- Rhode Island did not convene an assembly to consider the constitution until
receiving threats from the other states in 1790 but ratifies it 29 May 1790.

10. Bill of Rights
a. A set of amendments guaranteed certain individual rights –
concern of anti-federalists - had been promised as a condition of r r
(ified cationists - that other states87ate governments are soverign, all derive
their authority from atification in some states.
b. Amendments to the new Constitution could be proposed by a 2/3
vote in both Houses of Congress or by constitutional conventions called by 2/3
of the states.
c. James Madison introduced 12 amendments to the constitution in
September, that were quickly passed and submitted to the states for
ratification.
d. Ratified, 15 December 1791.
1. Ratification was aided by the addition of NC, RI and VT as states, all of
which ratified these ten amendments, because MA, GA and Connecticut did not
ratify them.
e. First Amendment guaranteed religious freedom from the national government and
was modeled after the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
f. Tenth Amendment satisfied the states' rightists by specifying that all other
rights not delegated or prohibited belonged to the states and to the people.

11. Judiciary Act of 1789
a. The Supreme Court was organized to consist of a Chief Justice and five
associates
b. The act created 13 district courts and 3 circuit courts and established the
office of Attorney General, which became a cabinet level post.
c. John Jay - first Supreme Court chief justice.

12. First Cabinet
a. Constitution mentions executive departments indirectly but
does not describe how many or of what purpose.
b. First Congress creates three departments, state, treasury,
and war, and established the offices of the attorney general and postmaster
general.
1. Hamilton is appointed first Secretary of the
Treasury, Henry Knox is appointed Secretary of War, and Federalist Edmund
Randolph first attorney general.
2. Jefferson is appointed first Secretary of
State.
c. Cabinet is characterized by bickering between Hamilton and
Jefferson.

13. Hamilton’s Federalist plan (this use of “Federalist” is a reference to the
political party)
a. Economic Philosophy
1. Report on Public Credit (1790)
- Plan to shape fiscal policies of the administration to favor wealthier groups,
in return wealthy would lend the gov't monetary & moral support
2. Report on Manufactures (1791)
- Advocated promotion of a factory system in U.S. so the nation could exploit
its national resources and strengthen capitalism, the basis for the tariff
component financial plan.
b. Five major components of Hamilton's Plan
1. Funding at Par
- Purpose: Bolstering national credit
a. Believed gov't couldn't borrow money without investor confidence
- Urged Congress to pay off the entire national debt by "funding at par" and to
assume all debts incurred by the states during the Revolutionary war to pay at
face value and with accumulated interest
- Gov’t bonds had depreciated since the new Treasury was believed incapable of
paying its obligations.
a. Speculators still had large amounts of bonds.
b. Many wealthy investors rushed to buy as many bonds as possible in rural areas
at rock-bottom prices before news of Hamilton's plan reached countryside.
c. Many original bondholders (common people) sold unknowingly as they were often
poor and desperate for immediate cash.

2. Assumption of State Debts
- Hamilton urged Congress to assume the states' debts.
- Hamilton's ulterior motive: further obligate states to the federal gov't.
a. Hamilton believed nat'l debt was a "blessing" that would cement the union.
b. States with huge debt were delighted (esp. Mass.), but States with less debt
or no remaining debt were unhappy because they did not want to pay taxes on
someone else’s debts. (Virginia)
- North-South struggle ensued over assumption
- Compromise achieved in 1790 throughh "log rolling": Two opposing factions
agree to vote for the other’s bills so that their bills will pass.
a. Federal government would assume all state debt
b. South would get new federal district-- now District of
Columbia.
c. Madison and Jefferson instrumental in helping set up
compromise.

3. Tariffs (customs duties) became a source of revenue for paying the debt
- Tariff revenues depended on a healthy foreign trade.
- Revenue Act of 1789 imposes an 8% tariff on dutiable imports, and protects
industry.

4. Excise taxes
- 1791, Hamilton secured an excise tax on a few domestic items incl. whisky.
a. Backcountry distillers most affected by the tax.
- Hamilton not overly concerned with the protests from the frontier – most had
been antifederalist in sentiment.

5. Battle for the National Bank: most important Hamilton v. Jefferson issue
- Foundation of Hamilton's financial plan was a Bank of the United States
- Provisions:
a. Gov't would be the major stockholder despite bank being a private stock corp.

b. Federal Treasury would deposit its surplus
moneys in the bank.
1. Federal funds would stimulate business by
remaining in circulation.
c. Government would print urgently needed paper
money thus providing a sound & stable national currency.
- Jefferson strongly opposed the bank
a. States' righters feared liberties would be jeopardized by a huge central
bank.
1. State banks would not be able
to compete against federal bank.
2. Federal gov't did eventually
enjoy a monopoly of surplus funds
b. strict construction loose constrution –
Jefferson’s strict interpretation of the Constitution did not stipulate the
creation of a nat’l bank, while Hamilton’s urged a broad interpretation of the
constitution.
1. Set a precedent for enormous federal powers, the “elastic clause” -- Provided
for passing any laws "necessary & proper" to carry
out the powers vested in the various governmental agencies.
- Washington reluctantly signed the bank measure into law in February, 1791
a. Bank chartered for 20 years; located in
Philadelphia
b. Old North-South friction surfaced again
1. Bank favored commercial and financial centers
in the North, while ending Southern state banks.
c. Bank issue sparked the open public split between Hamilton and
Jefferson.

14. Federalists and Republicans (again…political parties here)
a. Founding Fathers in Philadelphia did not envision the existence of political
parties.
1. Organized opposition seemed disloyal and
against spirit of national unity..
2. Factions had existed only over special
issues: e.g. Tories & Whigs, Federalists &
Antifederalists. Factions were not parties.
3. Jefferson & Madison first organized their
opposition to Hamilton only in Congress
- As their antagonism at Hamilton grew, political parties began to emerge.
- By 1792-1793, two well-defined grouups had crystallized:
a. Hamiltonian Federalists
b. Jeffersonian Republicans
- Our two-party system is owed to thee clash between Hamilton & Jefferson.
b. Federalists
1. Emerged from the federalists of the
pre-Constitution period by 1793.
2. Believed in gov't by the upper classes with
secondary attention to the masses.
- Openly advocated rule by the "besst people," the wealthy, cultured, and
educated.
3. Distrusted the common people.
- Regarded democracy as a "mobocracy,” too important to be left to the people.
4. Supported a strong central government
- Maintain law & order; crush democrratic excesses (Shays’ Rebellion)
5. Federal gov't should foster business, not
interfere with it.
- Most Federalists lived in urban areas of the seaboard where commerce &
manufacturing flourished, most are involved in this commerce, as merchants,
manufacturers, and shippers.
6. Pro-British in foreign policy over other
powers
- Foreign trade with Britain was key in Hamilton's plan.

c. Jeffersonians
1. Advocated the rule of the
people; government for the people
- Believed in the wisdom of the common ppeople; teachability of the masses
2. Biggest appeal was to the
middle class and the underprivileged
3. Democratic-Republicans
believed the best government was one that governed least.
- Bulk of power should be retained by thhe states.
- Central authority was to kept at bay bby a strict interpretation of
Constitution, to prevent tyranny. (especially the 10th Amendment).
4. National debt was a curse to
future generations that should be paid off ASAP.
5. Jeffersonians themselves were
primarily agrarians
- Insisted on no special privileges for special classes, esp. manufacturers.
6. Believed in freedom of speech
to expose tyranny.
7. Basically pro-French
- It was to <America's advantage to support liberal ideas of the French
Revolution.

15. Citizen Genet affair, Treaties of Jay and Pickney
a. Citizen Genet
1. French envoy/ profiteer undertook to entice
U.S. profiteers to outfit French ships and supply the French war cause and
recruited Americans
- Wrongly believed Neutrality Act did noot truly reflect the wishes of
Americans, appealed to votes for support.
2. Washington demanded his withdrawal & Genet
was replaced.
3. America & France benefited from U.S.
neutrality
- >America's neutrality meant it could still deliver foodstuffs to the West
Indies.
- If U.S. entered war, British navy would blockade coasts and cut off needed
supplies.
b. Jay Treaty (1794) -- Temporarily eased U.S. conflict with
Great Britain
1. A. Significance: Most important immediate
cause for formation of Democratic Republican party.
2. Background: British had continued menacing
Americans on U.S. soil and on the high seas
- British remained in their northern froontier posts on U.S. soil
a. Violation of the Peace treaty of 1783
b. Sold firearms and alcohol to Native Americans who attacked
American settlers
- Hundreds of Americans impressed into sservice on British vessels while
hundreds of others imprisoned.
- Federalists unwilling to go to war
3. Washington sent Jay, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to London in
1794
- Jeffersonians feared the conservative Jay would sell out
- Hamilton handicapped Jay’s negotiations; secretly gave Brits U.S. bargaining
strategy
4. Provisions: America won few concessions
- British renewed their pledge to removee their posts from U.S. soil (as in
1783)
- British consented to pay damages for rrecent seizures of American ships
- British refused to guarantee against ffuture maritime seizures and
impressments or the inciting of Native Americans to violence on the frontier.
- Jay forced to bind U.S. to pay pre-Revolution debts owed to British merchants

5. Jeffersonian outrage vitalized the new Democratic-Republican party.
- South felt betrayed that northern merchants would be paid damages
- Southern planters would be taxed to paay pre-Revolution debt.
6. War with Britain was averted
- Washington, after realizing a war with Britain would be worse than passage of
Jay’s humiliating treaty, reluctantly and courageously pushed for ratification
of the treaty
c. Pinckney Treaty of 1795 (1796)
1. Normalized relations with Spain
2. Spanish Motive: fearful of an Anglo-American
alliance; sought to appease Americans
- >Spain a declining power in Europe, and on the American Frontier.
3. Treaty provisions: (Spanish concessions)
- Granted free navigation of the Misssissippi to the U.S. including right of
deposit at port city of New Orleans
- Yielded large area north of Floridaa that had been in dispute for over a
decade.

16. XYZ Affair and undeclared war with France
A. French Directory government infuriated by Jay Treaty
1. Condemned it as an initial step towards alliance with Britain
2. Saw it as a flagrant violation of the Franco-American Treaty of 1778
3. French warships began seizing U.S. merchant vessels (about 300 by
mid-1797)
4. Refused to receive America's newly appointed envoy; threatened him
with arrest.
B. XYZ Affair
1. President Adams sent a delegation to Paris in 1797 (incl. John
Marshall).
2. Secretly approached by three go-betweeners (agents"X,Y, & Z")
-- French demanded a large loan of $32 million florins and a bribe
of
$250K for U.S. privilege of merely talking to foreign minister
Talleyrand.
3. Negotiations broke down and Marshall came home—seen as a hero
4. War hysteria swept the U.S.
-- Federalists encouraged that the Jeffersonians' ally (French) was
now hated
C. Undeclared Naval Warfare, 1798-1799 -- “Quasi -War”
1. U.S. war preparations set in motion
a. Navy Department at the cabinet level was created: 3 ship navy
expanded
b. Marine Corps established
c. Army of 10,000 men was authorized (not fully raised)
-- Washington was top general but gave aactive command to
Hamilton
2. Adams suspended all trade with France and authorized American ship
captains
to capture armed French vessels
3. Undeclared hostilities ensued for 2 1/2 years between 1798-1800
a. Principally in the West Indies.
b. U.S. privateers + U.S. navy captured over 80 French armed vessels
c. Several hundred Yankee merchantmen lost to the French.
d. Full-blown war loomed imminently and Adams sought to keep U.S. out

D. Convention of 1800 (Adam's “Finest Moment”)
1. French Foreign Minister Talleyrand became eager to negotiate a peace
-- Did not want another enemy on the side of the British
2. Adams shockingly submitted to the Senate a new foreign minister to
France
a. Hamiltonian "High Federalists" enraged by designs for peace;
sought military glory
b. Jeffersonians and moderate Federalists favored one last try for
peace
3. Envoys arrived in 1800 to negotiate with Napoleon (who was bent on
European conquest)
4. Convention of 1800
a. France agreed to end the 22-year Franco-American alliance with the
U.S.
b. U.S. agreed to pay the damage claims of American shippers.
c. Thus, America's only peacetime military alliance for a century and
a half was ended
5. Significance:
a. Major war with France avoided
b. Rapprochement made possible the Louisiana Purchase 3 years later.
-- If war had occurred, Napoleon would nnot have sold Louisiana
c. Adams felt this to be his finest achievement.

17. Alien and Sedition Acts…Resolutions of Kentucky and Virginia
E. Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
1. Purpose: Federalists passed a series of oppressive laws in 1798 that
would reduce power
of Jeffersonian foes and silence anti-war opposition
2. Alien Acts
a. Attack on pro-Jeffersonian "aliens"
i. Most immigrants lacked wealth and were welcomed by
Jeffersonians.
ii. Scorned by Federalists who did not want the "dregs" of
Europe voting in U.S.
b. Raised residence requirements for U.S. citizenship from 5 yrs to
14 yrs.
c. President empowered to deport "dangerous" foreigners in time of
peace and to
deport or imprison them in time of hostilities.
d. Laws in some ways seemed sensible
i. Some foreign agitators were coming into the country (Citizen
Genet)
ii. Many from France sought anti-British policies
iii. Others were foreign agents who should have been expelled.
e. Alien Acts never enforced but some frighented foreign agitators
left
3. Sedition Act
a. Anyone who impeded the policies of gov't or falsely defamed its
officials, incl.
the president, would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment.
b. Direct violation of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution
-- Federalist Supreme Court not interestted in declaring it
unconstitutional.
c. Many outspoken Jeffersonian editors were indicted; 10 brought to
trial & convicted
d. Law expired in 1801 the day before Adams left office.
-- Demonstrated dubious intentions of biill (in case a
Federalist was not elected in
1800, Republicans would not have the Sedition Act to
prosecute Federalists.)
4. Popular support for Alien and Sedition Acts significant
a. Anti-French hysteria played into the hands of the Federalists
b. Largest ever Federalist victory in 1798-99 congressional elections

5. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (Jefferson and Madison)
a. Republicans convinced Alien and Sedition acts were
unconstitutional
-- Process of deciding constitutionalityy of federal laws
hitherto undefined
b. Jefferson & Madison secretly created a series of resolutions
-- As V.P. Jefferson in awkward position & feared prosecution from
Sedition Act
c. Premise: States had the right to nullify unconstitutional laws
passed by Congress
d. Aim not to break up the union but preserve it by protecting civil
liberties.
-- Essentially campaign documents to deffeat the Federalists
e. Compact theory
i. Popular among 17th c. English political philosophers (John
Locke)
ii. 13 sovereign states created the federal gov't & had entered
a "compact"
iii. Thus, national gov't was an agent or creation of the
states.
iv. Nullification: Individual states were the final judges of
whether a federal law was
constitutional.
f. Result:
i. No other states passed the Jefferson & Madison resolutions
ii. Federalists argued that the people, not the states, had made
the original compact
-- Argued Supreme Court, not states, couuld nullify laws.
g. Significance: Later used by southerners to support nullification
and ultimately secession
prior to Civil War.
18. Revolution of 1800

IX. The Jefferson "Revolution of 1800"
A. Federalist handicaps
1. Federalist split over going to war with France biggest reason for
Adam’s defeat
-- Hamilton and "High FFederalists" openly broke from Adams for
his refusal to fight
against France
2. Alien and Sedition Acts
3. Federalists swelled the debt in preparation for war with France.
-- New taxes (incl. a stamp tax) were leevied to pay the costs.
4. Military preparations now seemed unnecessary
B. Federalist mudslinging accused Jefferson of:
1. being an atheist (Jefferson really a deist)
-- His success with separating church &aamp; state in Virginia
incurred the wrath
of the orthodox clergy esp. in Congregationalist &
Federalist New England.
2. robbing a widow and her children of a trust fund
3. fathering mulatto children by his own slave woman (note: in 1998,
genetic
tests apparently proved that Jefferson had fathered at least one
child from his slave
mistress, Sally Hemmings)
C. Jefferson defeats Adams: 73 to 65
1. Most support from South & West where universal manhood suffrage was
adopted.
-- New York was the pivotal key: Aaron Burr narrowly turned NY to
Jefferson
2. Yet, Jefferson tied with Burr, his V.P. running mate, for electoral
votes
a. House of Representatives had to break the deadlock
b. Federalists wanted Burr; hated Jefferson
c. Eventually, a few anti-Burr Federalists, refrained from voting
and Jefferson
became president (swayed by Hamilton; Burr now hates
Hamilton)
3. Significance: Peaceful change of power was revolutionary
a. Transfer of power on a basis of an election that all parties
accepted
b. Britain would not achieve the same stature for another
generation.
19. Midnight appointments
a. Aftermath of the Election of 1800
1. Adams, a Federalist, was fearful of a Republican winning the election,
thinking that Jefferson would undo all the things that the Federalists had done.

2. In the remaining weeks of his presidency, he made several judicial
appointments, which because of the lateness of them, are called midnight
appointments .
3. Many of these were delivered just before Adams left office.