Jeffersonian America

Did Jefferson abandon his principles for the good of the nation?

I. The Adams Presidency

• XYZ Affair
• Adams sent diplomats to France b/c they were raiding U.S. ships
• French demanded bribe
• Quasi-war w/ France
• Alien and Sedition Acts
• Targeted DR opposition
• Violated 1^st Amendment
• Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions
• Nullification
• States’ rights

II. Election of 1800

• Bitter campaign between Jefferson and Adams
• Republicans tie in the Electoral College
• House of Representatives chooses Jefferson; Burr becomes VP
• 12^th Amendment added to Constitution

Election of 1800

Jefferson’s Inaugural Address

• “We have called by different names brethren of the same principles. We are all republicans—we are all federalists.”
• “…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none…”
• “…the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies…”
• “…a well disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority…”
• “…encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid…”

III. Jefferson’s Principles

• Had faith in the common man (the farmer)
• Repealed Naturalization Act and allowed Alien and Sedition Acts to expire
• Repealed the excise tax on liquor
• Reduced military expenditures and the national debt
• Supported states’ rights

IV. The Louisiana Purchase

• 1800, secret pact signed:
• Bonaparte induced Spain to cede immense region of Louisiana, including New Orleans
• Spaniards at New Orleans withdrew warehouse rights guaranteed by Pinckney's Treaty of 1795
• Hoping to quiet clamor in West, Jefferson in 1803 sent James Monroe to Paris to work with Robert Livingstone, the regular minister there

IV. The Louisiana Purchase

• Instructed to buy New Orleans and as much land as possible for $10 million
• Napoleon suddenly decided to abandon dream of New World empire and sell all of Louisiana
• Failed in effort to reconquer sugar-rich island of Santo Domingo (Haiti)
• Slaves struck for freedom in 1791
• Haitian Revolution eventually crushed, but yellow fever killed thousands of French troops

IV. The Louisiana Purchase

• Without Haiti, no need for Louisiana's food supplies.
• To keep Louisiana from British, Napoleon decided to sell it and use money for schemes in Europe.
• Livingston was shocked when French asked him what he would give for all of Louisiana:
• On April 30, 1803, treaties signed ceding Louisiana to United States for about $15 million

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IV. The Louisiana Purchase

• Treaties included immense tract to west of New Orleans that would more than double size of U.S.A.
• Once again, two Jeffersons wrestled with each other:
• The theorist and former strict constructionist versus the democratic visionary
• Jefferson submitted treaties to Senate, while privately admitting purchase was unconstitutional
• Gained 828,000 square miles at three cents an acre

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IV. Louisiana Purchase

IV. Louisiana Purchase

• Impact of Louisiana Purchase—
• Secured western half of richest river valley in world & laid foundation of a future major power
• Established valuable precedent for future expansion on basis of equal membership
• Imperialism with a new democratic face
• Would lead to displacement of many Indians
• Made isolationist principles of Washington's Farewell operational because remove Europe from N. America

IV. Louisiana Purchase

• Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery:
• 1804 Jefferson sent personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and army officer William Clark to explore northern part of Louisiana
• Exploration took 2 ½ years
• Rich harvest of scientific observation, maps, knowledge of Indians, and adventure stories
• Demonstrated viability of overland trail to Pacific

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V. Barbary Wars

• Fought between the US and the N. African Muslim states known collectively as the Barbary States
• Head of Tripoli demanded $$$ as tribute from American merchant vessels
• Jefferson refused

V. Barbary Wars

• Showdown came in 1801-1805, Tripolitan War:
• Jefferson sent infant army to “shores of Tripoli”
• Four years of intermittent fighting
• Succeeded in extorting treaty of peace from Tripoli in 1805; bargain price of $60,000 (ransom payment for captured Americans

VI. Chesapeake-Leopard Affair (1807)

• British impressment of American sailors recommences
• Forced conscription of sailors by British
• Some 6,000 U.S. citizens impressed by Britain (1808 to 1811)
• The crew of the Leopard pursued, attacked and boarded the American frigate Chesapeake looking for deserters from the Royal Navy, killing 3 Americans
• The Royal Navy's humiliating attack on the

USS Chesapeake left many Americans

clamoring for war, but there was little the

ill-prepared United States could do to answer

British aggression

VII. Embargo Act, 1807

• Prevented US from engaging in foreign trade
• Federalists -> ☹
• Hurt US economy and Jefferson’s reputation
• Non-Intercourse Act – opened up traded with all nations except Britain and France

Chesapeake/ Leopard Affair and Embargo Act 1807

VIII. War of 1812 - Causes

• British impressment of US sailors
• American Embargo
• Macon's Bill #2
• - America dropped its embargo with France
• British supporting/arming Shawnee Confederation
• Battle of Tippecanoe
• Republican War Hawks in Congress– nationalist/expansionist
• Major Issues:
• 1) Nationalism and land hunger
• 2) British impressment
• 3) Indian atrocities
• Despite pleas from New England Federalists, Madison asked Congress for a war declaration on June 18, 1812.

Competing Visions

WAR HAWKS AND THEIR CRITICS

Why did Westerners believe that the British were encouraging Indian violence against Americans?

War Hawks accused British of arming Native Americans and inciting them to attack American settlers.

Critics argued that conflicts with Native Americans resulted from settlers’ encroachment on their lands.

20 Visions of America, A History of the United States

IX. War of 1812

• Regular U.S. army ill-trained, ill-disciplined, and scattered
• Canada was important battleground because British forces were weakest there
• America's offensive strategy failed
• Control of Great Lakes was vital
• American officer Oliver Hazard Perry's victory on Lake Erie infused new life into American cause

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IX. War of 1812

• A second British force of 4,000 landed in Chesapeake Bay area in August 1814.
• Set buildings on fire, including Capitol & White House.
• Americans at Baltimore held firm:
• British hammered Fort McHenry, but unable to take city
• Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”
• American victory in Battle of New Orleans
• Andrew Jackson becomes national hero
• Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve, 1814 was essentially an armistice.

X. Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention

• New England extremists proposed secession or at least separate peace with Britain @ Hartford Convention
• Demands reflected Federalist fears that New England was becoming subservient to South & West
• Demanded financial assistance from Washington to compensate for lost trade
• Proposed constitutional amendments requiring 2/3 vote in Congress before an embargo could be imposed, new states admitted, or war declared
• In light of American victories, Federalists were seen as traitors, and never regained political power

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XI. 1812 War - Results

• War of 1812 a small war:
• 6,000 Americans killed or wounded
• Globally unimportant, war had huge consequences for United States:
• Other nations developed new respect for America's prowess thanks to Perry & Macdonough
• In diplomatic sense, conflict could be called 2^nd War for American Independence

XI. 1812 War - Results

• Sectionalism increased
• Federalists party died (but ideas were absorbed by Republicans)
• War heroes emerged—Jackson and Harrison—both later became president.
• In economic sense, war bred greater U.S. independence through increased manufacturing.

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