History of USA Constitution (1781–1815) Brief Overview People & Qs
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Brief Overview
After declaring independence from Britain in 1776, the delegates at the Second Continental Congress immediately set to the task of creating a government. In 1777, Congress submitted the nation’s first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, to the states, who finally ratified it a few years later.
Problems Under the Articles
Congress proved unable to manage the country’s economic affairs under the Articles. Because most state currencies had become useless due to wartime inflation, Congress printed its own continental dollars to keep the economy alive, but these faltered as well. Congress also proved unable to raise enough money from the states, because the federal government had no way of forcing the states to pay taxes. Most states also ignored Congress’s attempts to resolve numerous interstate disputes that arose.
In addition, many Americans became fed up with their incompetent state legislatures and demanded debt relief and cheaper money. A few even revolted, as in Shays’s Rebellion in 1786–1787, which culminated in Daniel Shays leading 1,200 western Massachusetts farmers in an attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield. Although the rebellion was quickly dismissed, it convinced many American leaders that change was needed if the U.S. were to survive.
Drafting the Constitution
To resolve these problems, delegates from most of the states met at the Annapolis Convention in 1786. When nothing was resolved, they agreed to reconvene in 1787 at a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. At this second convention, it was quickly decided that an entirely new constitution was needed rather than just a revision to the Articles.
A major point of contention was the structure of the new legislative branch. Small states supported the New Jersey Plan, under which all states would have equal representation in the legislature. Large states advocated the Virginia Plan to create a bicameral (two-house) legislature in which representatives would be appointed according to population. The Great Compromise among the states created a bicameral Congress in which states would be equally represented in the Senate and proportionally represented in the House of Representatives.
The framers of the Constitution believed strongly in checks and balances and separation of powers to prevent any one branch of government from ever becoming too powerful. As a result, the new government would also have a strong executive branch and an independent judiciary branch.
The Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights
When the delegates submitted the Constitution to the states for ratification, heated debates erupted between the Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, who thought it gave the federal government too much power. Federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison coauthored the Federalist Papers in 1787–1788 to convince Anti-Federalist Americans, especially in New York, that the Constitution was necessary. Eventually, the Anti-Federalists conceded on the condition that a Bill of Rights be written to preserve liberties, such as freedoms of speech and religion and the right to trial by jury.
Strict vs. Loose Constructionism
The Electoral College unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president, with John Adams as vice president. Soon after, the new secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, wanted to repair the national credit and revive the economy by having the federal government assume all the debts of the individual states. He also wanted to establish a national Bank of the United States. The Constitution said nothing about a national bank, but Hamilton believed that the Constitution allowed many unwritten actions that it did not expressly forbid. Thomas Jefferson, the secretary of state and a strict constructionist, believed that the Constitution forbade everything it did not allow. These ideological differences within Washington’s cabinet formed the basis of what later became full-fledged political parties—the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans.
Domestic Unrest in the 1790s
Despite the passage of the Indian Intercourse Acts, beginning in 1790, Native Americans frequently raided American settlements west of the Appalachians until federal troops crushed several tribes in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
Later, when farmers in western Pennsylvania threatened to march on Philadelphia to protest the excise tax on liquor in 1794, Washington dispatched 13,000 federal troops to crush the insurgents. The Whiskey Rebellion, however, ended without bloodshed.
Washington and Neutrality
Events in Europe also affected the United States. The French Revolution of 1789 and France’s subsequent war with Britain split American public opinion: some wanted to support republican France, while others wanted to help England. However, under the Franco-American alliance of 1778, the United States was obligated to assist France.
Unprepared for another war, Washington issued the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793. Citizen Genêt, the French ambassador to the United States, ignored the proclamation and, immediately upon his arrival in the United States, began commissioning privateers and planning to use U.S. ports in the French campaign against Britain. Outraged over the Citizen Genêt affair, Washington requested Genet’s recall.
Meanwhile, Spain threatened to block Americans’ access to the vital Mississippi River, while Britain still refused to withdraw from American territory in the Ohio Valley. These issues were not resolved until Jay’s Treaty with Britain in 1794 and Pinckney’s Treaty in 1795.
Finally, in his famous Farewell Address in 1796, Washington warned against entangling alliances with European powers and potential political factions in the United States.
Adams’s Term
In 1797, Washington was succeeded by his Federalist vice president, John Adams, who faced continued challenges from Europe. When Adams sent an ambassador to Paris to restore Franco-American relations, three French officials demanded a bribe before they would speak with him. This incident, the XYZ Affair, shocked Americans and initiated two years of undeclared naval warfare.
To prevent unwanted French immigrants from entering the country, Adams and a sympathetic Congress passed the Alien Acts in 1798. They also passed the Sedition Act, which banned public criticism of the government in an attempt to stifle political opposition and wipe out the Democratic-Republicans. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison responded with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which nullified the Sedition Act in those states. They argued that because the states had created the Union, they also had the right to nullify any unconstitutional legislation.
The Election of 1800
The Democratic-Republicans defeated the Federalists in the election of 1800. Despite years of mutual hatred, the Federalists relinquished the government to their political enemies in a peaceful transfer of power. Thomas Jefferson, champion of western and southern farmers, became president and immediately advocated a reduction in the size and power of the federal government.
Increases in Federal Power
In reality, federal power increased in many ways during Jefferson’s eight years in office. The Supreme Court reasserted its power of judicial review in the 1803Marbury v. Madison decision. Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the country despite the fact that the Constitution said nothing about new land purchases.
The Embargo Act
Jefferson continued to face challenges from Europe, as neither Britain nor France respected American shipping rights as a neutral country. Both countries seized hundreds of American merchant ships bound for Europe, and British warships impressed (captured for forced labor) thousands of American sailors. To end these practices, Jefferson and Congress passed the Embargo Act in 1807, closing all U.S. ports to export shipping and placing restrictions on imports from Britain. Unfortunately, the boycott backfired, and the U.S. economy slumped as Britain and France found other sources of natural resources.
The Non-Intercourse Act and Macon’s Bill No. 2
Congress repealed the Embargo Act in 1809 but replaced it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which banned trade only with Britain and France. A year later, with James Madison in office as president, the American economy still had not improved, so Congress passed Macon’s Bill No. 2, which restored trade relations with all nations but promised to revive the Non-Intercourse Act if either Britain or France violated U.S. shipping rights.
The War of 1812
Meanwhile, War Hawks in Congress from the West and South pressed Madison for war against the British and Tecumseh’s Native American Northwest Confederacy. Tecumseh’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Since the British were still seizing American ships and impressing American sailors, Congress declared war on Britain in 1812.
The War of 1812was primarily a sectional conflict supported by Americans in the West and South and condemned by those in the Northeast. In 1814, delegates from the New England states met at the Hartford Convention to petition Congress and redress grievances. By the time Congress received their complaint, however, the war had ended and the Treaty of Ghent had been signed.
Key People
John Adams
A prominent Boston lawyer who first became famous for defending the British soldiers accused of murdering five civilians in the Boston Massacre. At the Continental Congresses, Adams acted as a delegate from Massachusetts and rejected proposals for self-governance within the British Empire. He served as vice president to George Washington and then as president from 1797–1801.
Samuel Adams
A second cousin of John Adams and a failed Bostonian businessman who became an ardent political activist in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Samuel Adams organized the first Committee of Correspondence and was a delegate to both Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775.
Alexander Hamilton
A brilliant New York lawyer and statesman who, in his early thirties, was one of the youngest delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. An ardent Federalist, Hamilton supported the Constitution during the ratification debates even though he actually believed that the new document was still too weak. He helped write the Federalist Papers, which are now regarded as some of the finest essays on American government and republicanism. He served as the first secretary of the treasury under George Washington and established the first Bank of the United States.
William Henry Harrison
A former governor of Indiana Territory and brigadier general in the U.S. Army who rose to national stardom when he defeated the Northwest Confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Harrison went on to be elected president in 1840.
Patrick Henry
A fiery radical who advocated rebellion against the Crown in the years prior to the American Revolution, as in his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. Later, Henry was a die-hard Anti-Federalist who initially opposed ratification of the Constitution.
Andrew Jackson
A hero of the War of 1812and the Creek War who later entered the national political arena and became president in 1829. Jackson, nicknamed “Old Hickory,” was the first U.S. president to come from a region west of the Appalachians.
John Jay
A coauthor of the Federalist Papers, which attempted to convince Anti-Federalist New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution. Jay served as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and became one of the most hated men in America after he negotiated Jay’s Treaty with Britain in 1794.
Thomas Jefferson
A Virginia planter and lawyer who in 1776 drafted the Declaration of Independence, which justified American independence from Britain. Jefferson went on to serve as the first secretary of state under George Washington and as vice president under John Adams. He then was elected president himself in 1800 and 1804.
James Madison
A Virginia Federalist who advocated for the ratification of the Constitution, coauthored the Federalist Papers, and sponsored the Bill of Rights in Congress. After ratification, he supported southern and western agrarian interests as a Democratic-Republican. After a brief retirement, he reentered politics and was elected president in 1808 and 1812. As president, Madison fought for U.S. shipping rights against British and French aggression and led the country during the War of 1812.
James Monroe
A Virginia officer, lawyer, and Democratic-Republican who was elected president in 1816 and inaugurated the Era of Good Feelings. An excellent administrator, Monroe bolstered the federal government and supported internal improvements, and was so popular in his first term that he ran uncontested in 1820. The “good feelings” ended, however, during the Missouri Crisis that split the United States along north-south lines. Monroe is most famous for his 1823Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers against interfering in the Western Hemisphere.
Tecumseh
A member of the Shawnee tribe who, along with his brother Tenskwatawa (often called the Prophet), organized many of the tribes in the Mississippi Valley into the Northwest Confederacy to defend Native American ancestral lands from white American settlers. Even though the tribes had legal rights to their lands under the Indian Intercourse Acts of the 1790s, expansionist War Hawks in Congress argued the need for action against Tecumseh, and eventually William Henry Harrison was sent to wipe out the Confederacy. Tecumseh’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
George Washington
A Virginia planter and militia officer who led the attack that initiated the French and Indian War in 1754. Washington later became commander in chief of the American forces during the American Revolution and first president of the United States in 1789. Although he lost many of the military battles he fought, his leadership skills were unparalleled and were integral to the creation of the United States. In his noteworthy Farewell Address, Washington warned against factionalism and the formation of political parties, believing they would split the nation irreparably.
Terms
Alien Acts
A group of acts passed in 1798, designed to restrict the freedom of foreigners in the United States and curtail the free press in anticipation of a war with France. The Alien Acts lengthened the residency time required for foreigners to become American citizens from five years to fourteen years and gave the president the power to expel aliens considered dangerous to the nation. It was passed simultaneously with the Sedition Act, and together they provoked the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, written the same year in protest. These resolutions stated that individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional laws passed by Congress.
Annapolis Convention
A meeting of delegates from five states in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786 to discuss the bleak commercial situation in the United States, growing social unrest, and Congress’s inability to resolve disputes among the states. The conference dissolved when Alexander Hamilton proposed holding the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia the next year to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Anti-Federalists
Primarily farmers and poorer Americans in the West, a group that strongly opposed ratification of the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists were suspicious of governments in general and a strong central government in particular. Rather, they believed that state legislatures should maintain sovereignty. Although they eventually lost the ratification battle, their protests did encourage the first Congress to attach the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
Articles of Confederation
The first U.S. constitution, adopted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. The Articles established a national Congress in which each state in the Union was granted one vote. Congress had the right to conduct foreign affairs, maintain a military, govern western territories, and regulate trade between states, but it could not levy taxes. Because most states refused to finance the Congress adequately, the government under the Articles was doomed to fail. After Shays’s Rebellion in 1786–1787, delegates met to discuss revising the Articles of Confederation, which ultimately led to the drafting of the Constitution.
Bank of the United States
A plan proposed by Alexander Hamilton for a treasury for federal money funded by private investors. The Bank started a debate between “strict constructionists” and “loose constructionists” regarding interpretation of the Constitution.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the Constitution, sponsored in Congress by James Madison, to guarantee basic freedoms and liberties. The Bill of Rights protects freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition, and the rights to have trial by jury, bear arms, and own property, among others. Moreover, the Ninth Amendment states that the people have additional rights beyond those written explicitly in the Constitution; the Tenth Amendment awards state governments all the powers not granted to the federal government. The promise of a Bill of Rights helped convince many Anti-Federalists to ratify the new Constitution. Today, these rights are considered fundamental American liberties.
Checks and Balances
A term referring to the overlapping of powers granted to the three branches of government under the Constitution. For example, Congress has the power to pass laws and regulate taxes, but the president has the ability to veto, or nullify, those acts. On the other hand, Congress may override a president’s veto if two-thirds of its members support the bill in question. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has the power to review all laws but must rely on the president to enforce its decisions. The framers of the Constitution included this system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch of government from having too much power over the others.
Constitution
A 1787 document that established the structure of the U.S. government, drafted at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia by prominent statesmen from twelve states (minus Rhode Island). Unlike its predecessor, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution established a strong central government divided into three separate but equal branches (legislative, executive, and judiciary). This separation of powers, combined with a system of checks and balances, was designed to prevent the new government from becoming too strong and tyrannical.
Constitutional Convention
A 1787 meeting in Philadelphia in which delegates from twelve states convened to revise the Articles of Confederation. The Convention quickly decided that the Articles should be scrapped and replaced with an entirely new document to create a stronger central government binding the states. The result was the Constitution.
Declaration of Independence
A document written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that proclaimed the creation of the United States. The Declaration sets forth a persuasive argument against King George III, claiming that the king ruled the colonies poorly and unjustly. The document thus served not merely as a declaration but also as a rational justification for breaking away from Britain.
Democratic-Republicans
Successors of the Anti-Federalists who formed a party under Thomas Jefferson’s leadership during Washington’s and Adams’s presidencies. The Democratic-Republicans generally favored westward expansion, the formation of an agrarian republic, and an alliance with France, and were strict constructionists and advocates of states’ rights. Political battles between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists were frequent during the first years of the nineteenth century. Though the Federalist Party died out during the War of 1812, the Democratic-Republicans lived on during the Era of Good Feelilngs and eventually became the Democratic party.
Elastic Clause
A nickname for Article I, Section VIII, Paragraph 18 of the Constitution, which states that Congress has the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” to carry out its proscribed duties. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists interpreted this clause to mean that the Constitution allows everything it does not expressly forbid, and used it to justify the creation of the Bank of the United States. George Washington agreed, and the clause has since given presidents and Congress ample justification for expanding federal power. The clause has been dubbed “elastic” because it gives federal policymakers great flexibility when drafting laws.
Electoral College
A body of representatives appointed by states to cast their votes for president. The presidential candidate who receives the most Electoral College votes, regardless of how many popular votes he or she receives, becomes president. The framers of the Constitution created the Electoral College out of fear that the whimsical American masses might one day popularly elect someone “unfit” for the presidency.
Excise Tax of 1791
A liquor tax proposed by Alexander Hamilton in 1790 to raise revenue so that Congress could pay off all national and state debts. The excise tax was immensely unpopular with western farmers, whose protests eventually culminated in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.
The Federalist Papers
A series of eighty-five articles written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in 1787–1788 to convince New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution. The Federalist Papers are now regarded as some of the finest essays on the Constitution, American government, and republicanism.
Federalists
Primarily from the wealthier and propertied classes of Americans along the eastern seaboard, a group that supported ratification of the Constitution and creation of a strong central government. The Federalists eventually became a full-fledged political party under the leadership of John Adams and Alexander Hamilton. Adams was the first and only Federalist president, as the party died after Federalist delegates from the Hartford Convention protested the War of 1812 and were labeled traitors.
Great Compromise
An agreement between the large and small states at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to create a bicameral (two-house) Congress with one chamber of delegates assigned based on population (the House of Representatives) and another chamber in which all states had two representatives regardless of population (the Senate). The agreement ended the deadlock among the states and set a precedent for compromise in American politics.
Hartford Convention
An 1814–1815 meeting of delegates from five New England states in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss possible secession from the Union due to discontent with the War of 1812. The delegates ultimately decided to remain in the Union but sent a petition to Congress, requesting amendments to the Constitution in order to alter the office of the presidency and to change the distribution and powers of Congress. None of their demands were met, however, because the petition arrived at Congress during celebrations over Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Nonetheless, the convention demonstrated the sectional nature of the war and the growing differences between the North and the South.
Indian Intercourse Acts
A series of acts passed in the 1790s that attempted to smooth relations between the United States and Native American tribes along the western frontier. The act attempted to regulate trade between these groups and promised that the United States would acquire western lands only via treaties. Most American settlers ignored this bill, which produced bloody clashes between tribes and settlers.
Judiciary Act of 1789
The first act that Congress passed, which created the tiered U.S. federal court system. The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Jay, was at the head of the court system, supported by three circuit courts and thirteen district courts. Even though the Judiciary Act strengthened federal judicial power, it also upheld local and state courts by stipulating that most cases heard in federal courts would be appeals cases.
Land Ordinance of 1785
An ordinance passed by the national Congress under the Articles of Confederation that established an efficient system to survey and auction lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
Loose Constructionists
People such as Alexander Hamilton, who believed that the Constitution allowed the government to take any actions that were not expressly forbidden in the document. The loose constructionists’ interpretation was challenged by Thomas Jefferson and other strict constructionists, who believed that the Constitution must be read literally.
Macon’s Bill No. 2
An 1810 bill that restored U.S. commerce with Britain and France (after their interruption under the Embargo Act and Non-Intercourse Act) but threatened to revive the terms of the Non-Intercourse Act if either country failed to respect U.S. neutrality and shipping rights.
New Jersey Plan
Also known as the small state plan, a proposal at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to create a unicameral (single-house) legislature in which all states would be equally represented. The New Jersey plan appealed to smaller states but not to more populous states, which backed the Virginia Plan to create a bicameral legislature in which representatives were apportioned by population. The Great Compromise solved the dilemma by creating a bicameral Congress featuring one house with proportional representation and another with equal representation.
Non-Intercourse Act
An 1809 act that replaced the ineffective Embargo Act in an attempt to revive the faltering American economy by boosting U.S. exports. The Non-Intercourse Act banned trade only with France and Britain (unlike the Embargo Act, which banned exports completely) until both nations agreed to respect American sovereignty. When this bill also failed, Congress passed Macon’s Bill No. 2.
Northwest Confederacy
A confederation of Native American tribes in the Mississippi Valley, led by Tecumseh and his brother, for mutual defense against white settlers. Although the tribes of the Northwest Confederacy had legal rights to their lands under the Indian Intercourse Acts of the 1790s, expansionist War Hawks in Congress nonetheless prevailed, and William Henry Harrison was sent to wipe out the Confederacy. Tecumseh’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
A framework passed by the national Congress under the Articles of Confederation to decide which western U.S. territories (Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana) could become states. Because the ordinance also abolished slavery and established basic civil liberties (trial by jury, freedom of religion) in the Northwest Territory, it is often seen as an important first step toward the creation of the Bill of Rights.
Second Continental Congress
A meeting of colonial delegates that convened in different places from 1775 to 1789 to establish a new U.S. government after declaring independence from Britain. In 1777, the Congress drafted the Articles of Confederation as the first U.S. constitution.
Sedition Act
A 1798 act (passed simultaneously with the Alien Acts) that banned all forms of public expression critical of the president or Congress. President John Adams approved the act, fearing the influence of French immigrants in the United States and also hoping the free speech ban would harm his political opponents, the Democratic-Republicans. Ironically, the act only made the opposition party stronger. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions the same year in protest, arguing that individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional laws passed by Congress.
Separation of Powers
A term referring to the fact that each of the three branches in the American federal government has separate and distinct powers. The legislative branch, for example, has the sole ability to propose and pass laws, while the executive branch has the power to enforce those laws, and the judiciary the power to review them. The writers of the Constitution separated these powers to prevent any one part of the new government from becoming too powerful.
Shays’s Rebellion
A 1786–1787 revolt by western Massachusetts farmer Daniel Shays, who led 1,200 other men in an attack on the federal arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts. Shays and others like him throughout the United States were dissatisfied with the ineptitude of state legislatures during the economic depression after the American Revolution. Shays’s Rebellion and other revolts spurred leading Americans to meet and discuss revising the Articles of Confederation.
Strict Constructionists
People such as Thomas Jefferson who believed that the Constitution forbade the government to take any actions that it did not expressly permit. The strict constructionists’ interpretation was challenged by Alexander Hamilton and other loose constructionists, who believed that the Constitution allowed the government many implied powers.
Three-Fifths Clause
A nickname for Article I, Section II, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which states that representation in the House of Representatives is determined by counting all free persons and “three-fifths of all other persons,” or slaves. The three-fifths clause was created as part of the Great Compromise between states with few slaves and those with many slaves.
Treaty of Ghent
The December 1814 treaty that ended the War of 1812between Britain and the United States. The treaty stated that the war had ended in a stalemate and that neither side had gained or lost any territory. Ironically, the Battle of New Orleans—the greatest American victory in the war—was fought about two weeks after the treaty had been signed, as General Andrew Jackson had not gotten word of the war’s end.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Two resolutions, passed in 1798–1799 and written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, that declared that the individual states had the right to nullify unconstitutional acts of Congress. The resolutions stated that because the individual states had created the Union, they also reserved the right to nullify any legislation that ran counter to their interests.
Virginia Dynasty
A nickname that arose because four of the first five presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) all hailed from Virginia. Many northern states resented this fact, as demonstrated by the Hartford Convention’s 1814 request that presidents should not come from the same state as their predecessor.
Virginia Plan
Also known as the large state plan, a proposal at the 1787Constitutional Convention to create a bicameral (two-house) legislature in which delegates would be appointed according to the population of the state they represented. Large states with greater populations supported this plan, unlike small states, which backed the New Jersey Plan to create a unicameral legislature in which all states were equally represented. The Great Compromise solved the dilemma by creating a bicameral Congress featuring one house with proportional representation and another with equal representation.
War Hawks
A younger generation of statesmen, primarily from the West and South, who replaced the Founding Fathers in the first decade of the 1800s. The War Hawks favored westward expansion and a nationalist agenda and thus encouraged war against both the Northwest Confederacy and against Britain (in the War of 1812). Despite their early zeal, many War Hawks, such as Henry Clay, eventually settled down to become some of the most revered statesmen in American history.
XYZ Affair
A bribery scandal that caused public uproar during the Adams administration in 1798. After several naval skirmishes and French seizures of American merchant ships, Adams sent ambassadors to Paris to try to normalize relations. When the emissaries arrived, however, French officials demanded $250,000 before they would even speak with the Americans, let alone guarantee a truce. These officials, whom Adams dubbed X, Y, and Z, outraged Congress and the American public. Adams’s popularity skyrocketed, and Congress braced for war. Although no war declaration was ever made, the United States and France waged undeclared naval warfare in the Atlantic for several years.
Study Questions
How effective was the national Congress under the Articles of Confederation? Why were the Articles replaced by the Constitution? How was the federal government different under the Constitution?
Afraid of strong centralized government after the Revolutionary War, the drafters of the Articles of Confederation made certain that the federal government would never be able to strip power from the individual states. As a result, the national Congress was so weak and politically ineffective that it was unable to maintain national unity and went virtually bankrupt. The specter of rebellion and collapse forced American elites to create a stronger, more centralized government under the Constitution.
In 1777, America’s leading politicians were well aware that powerful governments could become stifling and oppressive. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson had outlined King George III’s “long train of abuses” against the colonies: unfair and unpopular taxes, quartering acts, and other punishments. With these abuses fresh in mind, the framers of the Articles decided that the United States should be only a loose confederation of thirteen nearly independent members. They believed that this structure would bind the states for common defense but would allow republicanism to flourish in smaller communities. The Articles therefore created a national Congress with the power to maintain armies, declare war and peace, govern western lands, and resolve interstate disputes, but lacking the power to levy direct taxes. Each state was given one vote, and most decisions were to be made by majority rule.
Although the confederation looked good on paper, it proved to be wholly ineffective. First, Congress had virtually no power to control the states. Commerce and territorial disputes erupted throughout the decade during which the Articles were in effect. Second, Congress, unable to levy taxes of its own, could only request money from the individual states. Many states, however, refused to pay. Finally, growing domestic unrest among the working classes, which reached a peak in Shays’s Rebellion, convinced wealthier Americans that the Articles had to be amended, if not replaced.
Under the new Constitution, the United States was a more tightly bound federation than the loose confederation that had existed under the Articles. The new federal government was divided into three separate but equal branches, each with distinct powers and authority. The new bicameral Congress was given the power to levy taxes, while the president was given the authority to execute and enforce congressional laws. The Supreme Court assumed the task of judicial review to determine whether Congress’s laws were constitutional. Thus, though the Constitution gave the new government greater power and authority, it also instituted safeguards to keep federal power in check, as the framers of the Articles of Confederation had originally intended.
Which political group do you believe had a more profound effect on the formation of the United States, the Federalists or the Democratic-Republicans?
Even though Democratic-Republican presidents held the White House for twenty-four of the United States’ first thirty-six years, the Federalists had a much greater effect on the formation of the new nation. The Federalists pushed for the ratification of the Constitution and then bolstered the federal government by providing solid economic and legal infrastructure. Their influence put in place the systems that have kept the United States stable and unified throughout its history.
Had the Anti-Federalists had their way, the Constitution might never have been ratified. Patriots like Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams believed that the new federal government would be too powerful and too constricting. They feared that the new office of president was too much like a monarch and did not think that Congress should have the right to tax all Americans. Like many political philosophers of their day, they thought that republicanism would never survive in a large country because the government would be too distant from the hearts and minds of the people it represented.
Federalists, however, disagreed. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison argued that republicanism would work for the United States. The republic would be so large, with so many conflicting constituencies, that no single faction would ever be able to dominate the others. Moreover, safeguards inserted into the Constitution, such as the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, would prevent the government from ever becoming too powerful. These Federalist arguments helped convince the states to ratify the Constitution.
Other major Federalist contributions came through Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s economic policies, which bolstered the federal government and put the nation on sound financial footing. Despite protests from Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans, Hamilton urged President Washington and Congress to support the development of American manufacturing, pass an excise tax to fund the government, assume all state and federal debts, fund those debts at par, and create a Bank of the United States. The assumption of debt and funding at par gave the country credibility and encouraged speculators to invest in American enterprises. The excise tax filled the federal treasury, and the Bank of the United States helped stabilize the economy. Perhaps most important, the Federalists’ loose interpretation of the Constitution justified strong centralized government.
The Federalists also influenced the U.S. legal infrastructure through the decisions of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall. Most of Marshall’s rulings during his years as chief justice bolstered the federal government’s power vis-à-vis the individual states. In Marbury v. Madison, for example, he secured the power of judicial review for the Supreme Court. In subsequent cases, he also defended the Court’s superior position to state courts. In doing so, Marshall legitimized the federal government and gave it strong legal precedents.
Which nation was responsible for the War of 1812, Britain or the United States? What caused the war?
Despite the fact that the United States was the first to declare war, Britain clearly initiated the conflict, as British troops continued to occupy U.S. territory in the Ohio Valley and the Royal Navy seized American merchant ships and impressed their crews. The United States tried to resolve the disputes diplomatically, and then, when diplomatic attempts failed, imposed trade sanctions on Britain in an attempt to gain London’s attention. However, these measures failed, leaving President James Madison and Congress little choice but to defend American sovereignty.
The war stemmed from the fact that Britain had continued to treat the United States as one of its colonies even after the Revolutionary War and the establishment of a new U.S government. Under the Treaty of Paris, Britain had agreed to withdraw its troops from the Ohio Valley and to respect American shipping. In practice, though, neither promise was ever honored: British troops remained stationed in British forts on U.S. territory, and Royal Navy captains continued to seize American merchant ships. The British made the same concessions again in Jay’s Treaty in 1794 but never honored those commitments either. In fact, seizures of American merchant ships increased in the first decade of the 1800s, and Royal Navy officers began to impress an increasing number of American sailors to serve on British warships. Impressment outraged Americans and thus forced the U.S. government to act.
When diplomatic efforts failed to resolve the crisis peacefully, Jefferson encouraged Congress to pass the Embargo Act in 1807 to ban trade with all foreign countries. Jefferson hoped the sanctions would convince the British government to change its ways. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Embargo Act failed miserably and only hurt American merchants. Congress repealed the law in 1809 and tried to use the new Non-Intercourse Act to ban trade only with Britain and France. This act, however, likewise failed to produce any response, leaving Congress effectively out of diplomatic options.
