Created by Angela Zorn @kyteacher

THE

FEDERALIST ERA

THE WASHINGTON & ADAMS ADMINISTRATIONS

Essential Standard

Learning Target

HS.UH.I.UE.2 Gather information and evidence from credible sources representing a variety of perspectives relevant to compelling and/or supporting questions in U.S. history.

We will discuss the social, political, & economic challenges facing the new nation; & we will evaluate the government’s success in dealing with each.

• The Electoral College unanimously chose George Washington as president in 1789.
• He was inaugurated in on April 30, taking the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City.
• His cabinet included advisors with opposing views who frequently clashed over issues.
• Vice President – John Adams
• Secretary of State – Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of Treasury – Alexander Hamilton
• Secretary of War – Henry Knox

THE WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• Who was elected as the first president of the U.S. in 1789?
• By what name did his group of advisors become known?

THE WASHINGTON ADMINISTRATION

• First, Hamilton’s Financial Plan called for the national government to assume states’ debts.
• The states that had already paid off their debts were not happy
• Led to the Compromise of 1790 (“Dinner Table Bargain”)
• Thomas Jefferson and James Madison agreed to the assumption of states’ debts by the national government
• In return, US capital (Washington, DC) would be in the South along the Potomac River
• Next, Hamilton’s plan called for the creation of the Bank of the United States.
• Hoped to provide a safe place to deposit the government’s money & help regulate state banks
• Opponents claimed that there was no constitutional basis for a national bank

HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following questions:

• Why did Jefferson object to the first part of Hamilton’s Financial Plan? What agreement did they reach?
• Why did opponents object to the creation of a national bank?

Learn more about Hamilton’s Financial Plan.

• Finally, Hamilton hoped to finance his plan with an excise tax on whiskey.
• The law was an immediate failure since farmers refused to pay it, and intimidated tax collectors
• Violence broke out in western Pennsylvania in the summer of 1794
• After a peace envoy failed, Washington led a militia of 13,000 to stop the Whiskey Rebellion
• Demonstrated that the government would not allow for violent resistance to its policies

HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• Why did farmers in western Pennsylvania object to paying an excise tax on whiskey?
• How did Washington respond? Why is this significant?

HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN

I have the pleasure of your private letter on the 26th of August. I most sincerely regret the causes of the uneasy sensations you experience. It is my most anxious wish to smooth the path of your administration, and to render it prosperous and happy, though I consider myself as the deeply injured party.

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I know that I have been an object of uniform opposition from Mr. Jefferson. I know from the most authentic sources, that I have been the frequent subject of the most unkind whispers and insinuations from him. I have long seen a party formed in the Legislature under his auspices, bent upon my subversion. I cannot doubt from the evidence I possess, that the National Gazette [a newspaper] was instituted by him for political purposes, and that one leading object of it has been to render me as odious as possible.

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Nevertheless, I can truly say, that, except explanations to confidential friends, I never directly or indirectly retaliated till very lately.

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But when I saw that the undoing of the funding system in particular (which would prostrate the credit and the honor of the nation) was an avowed object of the party, I considered it as a duty to resist the torrent.

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Nevertheless, I pledge my honor to you, sir, that if you hereafter form a plan to reunite the members of your administration, I will not directly or indirectly say or do a thing that shall endanger a feud. With the most affectionate and faithful attachment, etc.

CHOOSE 3 KEY WORDS THAT SUMMARIZE THE SOURCE

DRAW AN IMAGE THAT REPRESENTS THE MESSAGE CONTAINED IN THE SOURCE.

USE ALL 3 KEY WORDS TO EXPLAIN YOUR CHOICE.

Inspired by Justin Unruh @JustinUnrun16

HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN

II received your letter of August 23rd. In part of your letter you notice the internal dissentions which have taken place in our government. To no one have they given deeper concern than myself. I am so desirous that you should know the whole truth.

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If it has been supposed that I have ever intrigued among the members of the legislature to defeat the plans of the Secretary of Treasury, it is contrary to all truth. I value too highly their freedom of judgment. That I have, in private conversations, disapproved of the system of the Secretary of Treasury, I acknolege and avow. His system flowed from principles adverse to liberty, and was calculated to undermine and demolish the republic.

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If our tensions cannot be avoided altogether, my regard for you will be a sufficient motive for deferring it till I become merely a private citizen. At that point, however, I reserve the right to write about the issues that concern the republic.

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I will not let my retirement be clouded by the slanders of a man whose history, if history stoops to notice him, is against the liberty of the country. –Still however I repeat the hope that it will not be necessary to make such an appeal.

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I trust that you know that I am not an enemy to the Republic, nor a waster of it’s revenue, nor a traitor, as Hamilton has written about me.

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In the mean time and ever I am with great and sincere affection & respect, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.

CHOOSE 3 KEY WORDS THAT SUMMARIZE THE SOURCE

DRAW AN IMAGE THAT REPRESENTS THE MESSAGE CONTAINED IN THE SOURCE.

USE ALL 3 KEY WORDS TO EXPLAIN YOUR CHOICE.

Inspired by Justin Unruh @JustinUnrun16

HAMILTON’S FINANCIAL PLAN

• The French Revolution began in 1789 and many Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, rejoiced.
• When the Revolution turned violent, war broke out in Europe.
• In 1793, Washington issued a formal Neutrality Proclamation in the growing conflict between France and Great Britain.
• Supported by Hamilton & his supporters – Federalist Party
• Opposed by Jefferson, Madison, & their supporters – Republican Party

PROCLAMATION OF NEUTRALITY

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• How did Washington respond to the outbreak of the French Revolution?
• What happened as a result?

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• Following the Revolution, the British continued to occupy forts in the Northwest Territory.
• They also began to seize American ships and impress American sailors into service
• In response, Washington sent John Jay to Britain to negotiate a solution.
• In Jay’s Treaty, Britain agreed to:
• Evacuate military posts in the West
• Pay damages for lost cargoes
• The British did not agree to stop seizing American ships in the future

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Directions: Use the text box to answer the following questions:

• Why did Washington send John Jay to Britain in 1794?
• What happened as a result?

FOREIGN RELATIONS - BRITAIN

Learn more about Jay’s Treaty.

• Spain and the US were engaged in a boundary dispute in the Southeast.
• In addition, Americans hoped to guarantee access to the port of New Orleans
• Washington sent Thomas Pinckney to negotiate a solution.
• Pinckney’s Treaty (1796)
• Granted Americans free access to the Mississippi River & New Orleans
• 31^o Parallel = US boundary with Florida

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Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• What did Americans gain as a result of Pinckney's Treaty in 1796?

FOREIGN RELATIONS - SPAIN

• Secretary of War Henry Knox was in charge of Native American policy
• Claimed that Indian land could not be sold without their consent except in cases of war
• Largely ignored by settlers moving west
• Native Americans, supplied by the British and led by Little Turtle, twice defeated US forces.
• They were finally defeated in 1794 “Mad” Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers
• Led to the Treaty of Greenville under which Native Americans were forced to cede their lands in the Ohio area

FOREIGN RELATIONS - NATIVE AMERICANS

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• What led to the conflict with Native Americans in 1794? Which previous conflict is this similar to?
• What happened as a result?

WHICH OF WASHINGTON’S FOREIGN POLICY INITIATIVES DO YOU THINK WAS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT? WHY?

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Inspired by Amanda Sandoval @historysandoval

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize…

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…All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations…are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community…

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…Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government…

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…The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns…

What two issues did Washington warn Americans about in his Farewell Address? What did he say about each? Summarize his main points in the space below, then highlight supporting details in the text.

WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS

THE ELECTION OF 1796

• After George Washington refused to seek a third term, John Adams was elected president in 1796.
• He faced a number of tests during his presidency, including:
• Rivalry with Alexander Hamilton
• Opposition from Vice President Thomas Jefferson
• Growing international crisis with France

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Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• Who became president in 1796?
• What issues did he face?

THE ADAMS ADMINISTRATION

• Beginning in 1792, The First French Republic fought a series of wars in Europe.
• American shipping interests were caught in the middle as both France & Britain continued to seize ships and impress sailors into service.
• In 1797 Adams sent 3 American diplomats to France to negotiate an end to the issue.
• Were met by French agents (X, Y, and Z) who demanded a bribe before negotiations could begin
• We refused and Americans at home began to call for war
• Adams resisted and we instead fought a Quasi-War from 1798-1800 in the Caribbean

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following questions:

• How did the growing conflict in Europe impact American trade?
• How did Adams respond? What happened as a result?

THE XYZ AFFAIR

Learn more about the X, Y, Z Affair.

• In response to the fighting, Federalists in Congress passed:
• Alien Act: Included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for new immigrants to vote
• Sedition Act: Banned the publishing of scandalous or malicious writings against the government
• Led to the arrest and, in some cases, the imprisonment of over 20 Republican newspaper editors
• Convinced Jeffersonians that individual liberties were under threat if the central government was too strong

THE ALIEN & SEDITION ACTS

Directions: Use the text box to answer the following question.

• What were the Alien & Sedition Acts?
• Why did Jeffersonians object to their passage?

THE ALIEN & SEDITION ACTS

KENTUCKY & VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS

DEFINITION

DETAILS

CONNECTIONS

IMAGE

HOW DID FEDERALIST POLICIES SHAPE THE AUTHORITY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL DIVISIONS IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC?

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Inspired by Justin Unruh @JustinUnrun16

THE FEDERALIST ERA