Chapter 9: The Republicans in Power, 1800–1824
TIMELINE
1800 |
Thomas Jefferson elected president |
1803 |
Louisiana Purchase made • Marbury v. Madison decided |
1805 |
Treaty signed with Tripoli |
1807 |
Embargo Act passed |
1808 |
James Madison elected president |
1810 |
Fletcher v. Peck decision |
1812 |
United States declares war on England |
1814 |
Francis Scott Key composes the “Star-Spangled Banner” • New England states meet at Hartford Convention • Treaty of Ghent signed |
1816 |
James Monroe elected president • Tariff of 1816 passed • Second Bank of the United States chartered |
1818 |
Rush-Bagot Agreement signed |
1819 |
Adams-Onis Treaty signed • Dartmouth College v. Woodward decided • McCulloch v. Maryland decided |
1820 |
Missouri Compromise preserves balance of power in Congress |
1823 |
Monroe Doctrine proclaimed |
1824 |
Gibbons v. Ogden decided |
1825 |
Erie Canal completed |
IMPORTANT PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS, AND CONCEPTS
John Adams
Henry Clay
Federalists
Gibbons v. Ogden
Francis Scott Key
Marbury v. Madison
Missouri Compromise
Rush-Bagot Agreement
Treaty of Ghent
Adams-Onis Agreement
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
Fletcher v. Peck
William Henry Harrison
Louisiana Purchase
John Marshall
James Monroe
Tariff of 1816
War of 1812
The American System
election of 1800
Fort McHenry
Hartford Convention
Macon’s Bill No. 2
McCulloch v. Maryland
Monroe Doctrine
Tecumseh
Napoleon Bonaparte
Embargo Act of 1807
Four Pillars
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
midnight appointments
Republicans
Tippecanoe
“Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind…. We have been called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”
—Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
INTRODUCTION
With 35 votes in the House of Representatives, Republican Thomas Jefferson was elected president of the United States in the election of 1800; Federalist Aaron Burr was elected vice president. Labeled by some as “The Revolution of 1800.” the election of Jefferson marked a peaceful transition of government from the Federalist Party to the Republican Party. Jefferson’s election was dismaying to Federalists; in the end, however, Jefferson acted more like a Federalist than a Republican in many cases.
JEFFERSON’S ADMINISTRATION (1801–1809)
Domestic Affairs
According to Jefferson’s first inaugural address, the agenda for his administration involved creating a “wise and frugal government” that would establish order in society based on the Bill of Rights and equal protection under the law. He also vowed to protect states’ rights. To aid him in these tasks, he selected James Madison as his secretary of state and Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania as his secretary of the treasury.
Jefferson replaced many Federalist office holders with Republicans. He allowed the Alien and Sedition Acts to expire and reduced the number of years necessary for naturalization. In addition, Jefferson retired the public debt, cut executive offices, reduced the regular army and the navy, and improved the state militias.
He also ignored John Adams’s “midnight appointments” to the federal courts, resulting in the landmark Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803. Shortly before Jefferson was inaugurated, John Adams had tried to fill the federal courts with Federalist judges. Adams’s secretary of state, John Marshall, was to have delivered the appointments, but he failed to do so. Jefferson’s secretary of state, James Madison, refused to do so. One of the judges that was to have been appointed, William Marbury, sued Madison.John Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Court, ruled that a portion of the Judiciary Act of 1789—the part that allowed the Supreme Court jurisdiction in this case—was unconstitutional. Marshall, by this action, established the power of judicial review, which allows the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress and the president unconstitutional. He thus expanded the power of the court, a far more important outcome than Jefferson had anticipated.
Jefferson left untouched many Federalist programs established under the first two administrations. The Bank of the United States remained undisturbed until 1811, when its charter expired. He supported the growth of the “Four Pillars of Posterity,” which had been part of Hamilton’s financial program: manufacturing, commerce, navigation, and agriculture.
The crowning achievement of Jefferson’s administration was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Seeking to establish his empire in Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte agreed to sell a large expanse of land, known as the Louisiana Territory, to the United States. Jefferson, a strict constructionist, understood that, similar to the problem faced when establishing the Bank of the United States, no provision in the Constitution allowed for land purchases by the government. He bought Louisiana anyway and justified his actions using the same arguments Hamilton and the Federalists had used to establish the Bank of the United States: The power to purchase land was implied, based on the elastic clause. Jefferson received much criticism from both the Federalists and the Republicans for his actions. Once it was purchased, Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the land. The territory of the United States doubled in size, and the control of the Mississippi River, vital to Western development, belonged to the United States.
Foreign Affairs
It was the area of foreign affairs that was most troublesome for Jefferson, who espoused a policy of nonintervention. Four years after sending a fleet to deal with the Barbary Pirates in 1801, Jefferson signed a treaty with Tripoli that ended the practice of paying tribute to allow American ships to travel through the Mediterranean Sea.
Jefferson’s greatest challenge was the continual harassment of American ships by both England and France. In 1807, the frigate U.S.S. Chesapeake was attacked by the British near Norfolk, Virginia. Jefferson responded by ordering the Embargo Act of 1807, which forbade all foreign vessels from entering American ports and prohibited American vessels from shipping cargo to foreign ports. This was met with opposition from the people of the United States because of its detrimental effects on trade and commerce.
THE WAR OF 1812
Despite the increased popularity of the Federalists, James Madison, a Republican and Jefferson’s secretary of state, won the presidency in 1808. As the hostilities between England and France increased, the United States moved closer to war. In 1812, Napoleon tricked Madison into believing that France would end its harassment of America at sea when he agreed to the provisions of Macon’s Bill No. 2. According to Macon’s Bill, the United States was to resume trade with the first nation, either England or France, that pledged to end its harassment of U.S. shipping.
There were many reasons the United States declared war against Great Britain in June of 1812:
• The newly elected representatives to Congress, or War Hawks, who were mainly from the West, saw war with England as a way to conquer Canada.
• Westerners were unhappy with the situation with the Native Americans, whom they believed to be working with the British against the American settlers. In 1809, General William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, duped the Indians into signing away tribal land. Tecumseh, a Shawnee Indian, attempted to form a confederation of tribes to fight the advances of the whites; however, in a premature attack launched by Tecumseh’s brother, the Native Americans were defeated at Tippecanoe by Harrison. Some of their recovered weapons had come from Canada, increasing the War Hawks’s desire for war against Britain and conquest of Canada.
• Anti-British feeling increased with the impressment of U.S. seamen, who were removed from American ships and forced to serve on British ships.
Without a real navy, a real strategy, or a national bank, the United States was unprepared for the war. As a result, the British gained control of much the Ohio Valley and burnt Washington, D.C. But they failed to seize Baltimore, and the American victory at Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star-Spangled Banner,” which became the national anthem.
Ironically, New England, the area most involved in shipping and commerce, opposed the war. They feared the diminishment of their power in Congress as new Western states were admitted to the Union. In 1814, the New England states met at the Hartford Convention, where they proposed a number of amendments to the Constitution that attempted to reduce the power of other sections of the country. However, the war was over by this time. The convention provoked a hostile reaction from the rest of the country and the virtual death of the Federalist Party.
In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed between the United States and Great Britain. It provided for a status quo ante bellum, meaning that the territory held by Britain and the United States was to return to the way it was before the war. Therefore, no land changed hands. The issues of impressment and freedom of the seas were not addressed.
The War of 1812, often called “Mr. Madison’s War,” had many significant results:
• It opened the way for a new relationship between England and the United States. In 1815, the United States signed a commercial treaty with England, and in 1818, the Rush-Bagot Agreement was signed, which involved the fortification of the Great Lakes. The northern boundary of Louisiana was set, and the United States and England agreed to occupy the Oregon Territory jointly for 10 years.
• The embargo led to development of U.S. industries, and the country began to look within itself for the goods and services it required.
• The absence of Britain and Spain, from whom Florida had been purchased in 1819 via the Adams-Onis Treaty, left the United States free to expand.
• A new spirit of nationalism developed from what is sometimes called “The Second War of Independence.”
THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING
The American System
In 1817, James Monroe, a Virginia Republican, became president of the United States. His term in office marked a period during which the United States grew from within. Henry Clay, ever prominent on the political scene, proposed the idea of the American System. He believed that the industrial North would become the manufacturing center for the United States, while the South and West would raise the raw materials and food supply of the country. To accomplish this, it was necessary to improve transportation, set up a national banking system, and levy protective tariffs—that is, taxes on imports high enough to keep out competitive foreign goods. Revenue from the protective tariffs was to be used for internal improvements, such as roads.
The Tariff of 1816 was passed and was not significantly high, but by 1828, the tariff was raised considerably, drawing objections from the South and West. A national road was constructed from Maryland to Illinois, and, in 1825, the Erie Canal was completed. In 1816, Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States, which issued paper money that could be used in all places.
John Marshall and the Supreme Court
Serving as chief justice of the Supreme Court for 34 years, John Marshall shaped the Court and solidified the power of the central government. Some significant cases from his tenure as chief justice include the following:
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)—This case established the principle of judicial review.
• Fletcher v. Peck (1810)—This case involved a contract between a state and individuals concerning a land grant. The contract was upheld, and this case marked the first time the Court declared a state law unconstitutional, stating that a state cannot pass laws that violate the federal Constitution.
• Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)—Dartmouth College, having been granted a charter at its founding by royal authority, sued when the state of New Hampshire attempted to alter that charter. The state contended that no contract existed, as defined by the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dartmouth. This established the idea that states cannot interfere with contracts between states and corporations.
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)—This case involved a branch of the Bank of the United States that was being heavily taxed by the state of Maryland. Declaring that “the power to tax is the power to destroy,” Marshall declared the Bank of the United States constitutional and extended the authority of federal law over state law.
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)—This involved a contract for a ferry service on the Hudson River. The Court established the federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce (commerce among the states). Intrastate commerce (commerce within the state) remained under the control of the states.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE
With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the United States feared that Spain and Portugal might attempt to regain control of their colonies in the Americas that had become independent. The Russians had also been increasing their influence from Alaska to California. Responding to these fears in a speech to Congress in 1823, President Monroe presented the United States’s policy concerning interference in the Americas. He stated that:
• the Americas were closed to further colonization;
• the United States would not interfere with already existing colonies in the Americas;
• the United States would not interfere in European affairs; likewise, the Europeans were to stay out of the affairs of the Americas; and
• actions taken by the Europeans to colonize the Western Hemisphere, or any attempt to interfere with the newly independent nations, would be considered by the United States to be dangerous to the people of the United States.
The Monroe Doctrine disturbed the European nations, none of whom took action against the policy due to their belief that the British supported it. The Monroe Doctrine became the basis for American policy concerning the Western Hemisphere.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
In 1819, the issue of slavery became a national debate when Missouri applied for admission into the Union as a slave state. This admission would have affected the balance of power in the Senate, which was shared equally between North and South. When Maine applied for admission as a free state, a compromise was reached under the leadership of Henry Clay. Maine entered the Union as a free state, while Missouri entered as a slave state, thus preserving the balance in Congress. In addition, slavery was forbidden north of the 36° 30’ north latitude line, except for the southern boundary of Missouri. This measure preserved the Union, but the debate over slavery continued.
SUMMARY
The Republicans who led the United States from 1800 to 1824 guided the country through further growth and development from 13 individual entities into a whole nation. With the peaceful transition of government in 1800, the development of nationalism after 1812, and the establishment of the Constitution of the United States as the guiding light for the rule of law, the country began its journey as an adult in the world.
The country turned inward for a few decades as it completed its “manifest destiny,” to expand westward and occupy the lands from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The looming issue of slavery occupied the national mind for many years to come. Unfortunately, the euphoria of this “Era of Good Feeling” gave way to the anger and bloodshed of the 1860s.
THINGS TO REMEMBER
• Impressment: The policy used by the British before the War of 1812 wherein the British stopped U.S. vessels and removed sailors from them to be used on British naval vessels; it was also used to a limited extent by the French during this same period, and was one of the causes of the War of 1812.
• Interstate commerce: Trade that takes place between states; under the U.S. Constitution, the power to regulate interstate commerce is delegated to the Congress.
• Intrastate commerce: Trade that takes place within the boundaries of a state; under the U.S. Constitution, the power to regulate intrastate commerce is delegated to the states.
• Judicial review: The principle that the Supreme Court has the power to review laws passed by Congress and actions taken by the president to determine whether or not they are consistent with the Constitution; the Supreme Court can declare a law or presidential action unconstitutional, thereby nullifying it.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. The election of 1800 has often been termed the “Revolution of 1800.” This refers to the fact that it
(A) marked the first election of a non-Virginian to the presidency since the establishment of the Constitution.
(B) was a peaceful transition of the control of the presidency from a Federalist to a Democratic-Republican.
(C) changed the process of electing the president.
(D) resulted in the election of the first non-Christian to the presidency.
(E) was the first election in which the western section of the country was very influential.
2. The Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) was significant because it
(A) gave more power to the Republicans.
(B) established the right of the federal government to control interstate commerce.
(C) supported the doctrine of states’ rights.
(D) gave the states the power to control interstate commerce.
(E) established the court’s power of judicial review.
3. The Missouri Compromise (1820) provided for all of the following EXCEPT
(A) the extension of slavery into the Northwest Territory.
(B) for Missouri’s entrance into the Union as a slave state.
(C) for Maine’s entrance into the Union as a free state.
(D) that there was to be no slavery north of the 36° 30’ north latitude line.
(E) that slavery was to be permitted south of the 36° 30’ north latitude line.
4. The Monroe Doctrine
(A) was enforced by England.
(B) created a sphere of influence for the United States in the Western Hemisphere.
(C) expelled all European nations from the Western Hemisphere.
(D) reiterated the U.S. policy of involvement in world affairs.
(E) was part of the American System proposed by Henry Clay.
ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS
1. B
The Election of 1800 marked a change from Federalist control of the White House to Democratic-Republican control. This transition took place peacefully. However, Jefferson kept many Federalist programs and used the Federalist argument of implied powers to justify the Louisiana Purchase. John Adams was from Massachusetts and was elected in 1796; Jefferson was elected in 1800, and he was a Virginian. The electoral process was not changed in this election. Jefferson was believed to be an agnostic or atheist. There were people who objected to him on these grounds, but this is not the reason for calling his election the “Revolution of 1800.” The West had not yet become influential by 1800; when Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828, the West was more involved.
2. E
John Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1803, used the case of Marbury v. Madison to establish the Court’s power of judicial review whereby the Supreme Court can declare a law passed by Congress and signed by the president as unconstitutional and, therefore, null and void. This case arose from John Adams’s Midnight Appointments. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) established the right of the federal government to control commerce between and among the states (interstate commerce), while giving the states the control of commerce within the states (intrastate commerce).
3. A
The Missouri Compromise did not extend the practice of slavery into the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had barred slavery from that territory. The Missouri Compromise dealt with the admission of Maine and Missouri into the Union, with Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery from the area of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36° 30’ north latitude line.
4. B
The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 forbade future colonization in the Western Hemisphere and warned the European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Americas. Thus, it created a sphere of influence for the United States in the Americas. Supported by England, the Monroe Doctrine required no enforcement. The colonies already held by the European nations in the Americas were not to be interfered with under the terms of the Monroe Doctrine, and it appeared to be more a policy of isolation than a policy of involvement. The American System proposed by Henry Clay was a vision for the United States in which the United States would become more self-sufficient, but this was not part of the Monroe Doctrine.