Jeffersonian America

I. An agrarian republic

- Rejection of federalism- Institutes for a landed democracy- Borrowing from the Federalists’ playbook

A. Rejection of federalism

1. 1st Inaugural - critique of Federalists

2. Vowed return to “contract” nationalism

3. Allowed Alien / Sedition acts to expire

4. shortens naturalization

5. embraces opposition party

6. “Wise and frugal government”- support state govts.- pay debts

B. Early National Period, 1800-28

1. Republicans in White House next 23 years- Federalists disappear

2. Republican coalition- southern planters- backcountry farmers (the west)- mechanics and artisans

II. Institutes for a Landed Democracy

Why a “landed” democracy- yeoman farmers

Creating a “rational” landscape

Republican virtue

Cato the Elder

A. Land Ordinance of 17851. Rectangular townships>

sections

2. make land affordable

3. proceeds go to govt. Education section 16

B. Northwest Ordinance of 1787

1. New states on par w/ originals- Congressional Gov- 5,000 voters, territorial legislature- 60,000 voters, apply for admission- all rights of citizenship apply

2. Banned slavery

3. Impending controversy - sectionalism

III. Stealing ideas from the Federalists

National expansion, war

A. The Louisiana Purchase

Jefferson’s need to build agrarian republic…

…while recognizing necessity to expand federal power

1. Pinckney Treaty, 1795

2. Napoleon, Master of Europe- new French Empire?- reacquires Louisiana Territory

3. Touissant L’Overture - Saint-Domingue

- 1804, Haitian Independence

4. Loose v. Strict construction

B. Corps of Discovery

1. Voyage had been pre-planned Lewis & Clark

2. “Enlightened” discovery

3. Expand Americaninfluence

C. Marbury v. Madison, 1803

1. Tension between Republicans,

Federalist judges

2. Principle of “judicial review”

Chief Justice John Marshall

D. Economic policy1. Radical budget cuts

- slash bureacracy / army- no internal taxes- free trade

2. Revenue from western lands

Economic growth tied to geographic expansion

Albert Gallatin

- Republicans adopt loose construction

- “fast & loose” w/ sovereignty issues

- Activist federal government

IV. Westward Expansion & Social Stress

Population Growth

Slavery in the Early Republic

A. Population growth

1. 1st “baby boom” - TN, KY, OH, MO

2. Regional tension- West growing faster than East

B. The “wild” West

1. Agrarian dreams deferred- geography inhibited prosperity

2. Localized economies- boom & bust

3. Early communities mostly men- diverse river towns

4. Myth of “rugged individualism”

C. The Problem of Race

1. Eli Whitney, cotton gin

2. Cotton provides stability

4. Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781- limits of Enlightenment / republican thought- rejected Benjamin Banneker

5. Majority of African-Americans remained slaves

D. Free blacks in a slave society

1. 1790s = #s increase- met with resentment throughout America

2. Independent institutions- Richard Allen, AME Church (1816)- magazine; college

E. Native America

1. Jefferson not sure about inferiority “noble savages”

2. Survival strategies

3. Segregation

Dark side of democracy?

American people not ready to live up to ideals of the

Enlightenment

War of 1812

“Second War for Independence”

A. Continuing tensions

1. U.S. caught in Anglo-French Wars - Federalists preferred diplomacy

2. 1803-1812, Republicans more hostile(Jefferson, James Madison)

3. 1806 – Orders in Council Impressment

4. Motives for war? - not in New England

5. Embargo Act, 1807

B. pro-War West & South

1. British presence in Old Northwest

2. Tecumseh- alliance of northern, southern tribes- Battle of Tippecanoe (1811)- militarizes U.S.

Tecumseh

C. War Hawks

1. pro-war, strong govt. Republicans

Henry Clay John C. Calhoun

2. Pressure James Madison into war

3. Goals - drive Brits out of Old

NW - subdue Native Americans

- conquer Canada

D. Near disaster

1. Failed Canadian campaigns, 1812, 1814

2. the West - Great Lakes

- War on Indians

Battle of Lake Eerie

Andrew Jackson

3. D.C. burned, Aug 1814

4. . The Hartford Convention,

- “nullification

5. Treaty of Ghent, 1814 - Battle of New Orleans, Jan 1815

E. Legacy of the war

1. American confidence / Brit withdrawal

2. “Indian removal” and politics

3. Demise of the Federalists- “Era of Good Feelings”

4. Population explosion- 1790: 95% live in Atlantic states- 1820: 25% lived west of Appalachians

Land Act of 1820 – lowered price of land

Ohio River Valley

“Black Belt” Alabama/Mississippi

5. Industrial Revolution in America