Paul Jones

American Pageant Chapter 10

1. John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American politician and
the second President of the United States (1797–1801), after being the first Vice
President (1789–1797) for two terms. He is regarded as one of the most influential
Founding Fathers of the United States.
Adams' revolutionary credentials secured him two terms as George Washington's vice
president and his own election as the second president of the United States. During his
one term as president, he was frustrated by battles inside his own Federalist party against
a faction led by Alexander Hamilton, and he signed the controversial Alien and Sedition
Acts. The major accomplishment of his presidency was his peaceful resolution of the
Quasi-War crisis with France in 1798.
2. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826)[2] was the third President of the
United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence
(1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals
of republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the
Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806).
3. Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was the first
United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, economist, and political
philosopher. He led calls for the Philadelphia Convention, was one of America's first
Constitutional lawyers, and co-wrote the Federalist Papers, a primary source for
Constitutional interpretation.
4. Henry Knox
Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American bookseller
from Boston who became the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army and later the
nation's first Secretary of War.
5. James Madison
James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and
political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–
1817), and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Considered to be the
"Father of the Constitution," he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he
wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the
Constitution. The first President to have served in the United States Congress, he was a
leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafted many basic laws and was responsible for
the first ten amendments to the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration
of Rights), and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". As a political
theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and
balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.
6. Implied powers
The Congress shall have Power - To make all Laws which shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer
thereof.
7. Protective tariff
A tariff is a duty imposed on goods when they are moved across a political
boundary. They are usually associated with protectionism, the economic policy of
restraining trade between nations. For political reasons, tariffs are usually imposed on
imported goods, although they may also be imposed on exported goods.
8. Amendment
A constitutional amendment is a change to the constitution of a nation or a state. In
jurisdictions with "rigid" or "entrenched" constitutions, amendments require a special
procedure different from that used for enacting ordinary laws.
9. Cabinet
The United States Cabinet (usually referred to as the President's Cabinet or
simplified as the Cabinet) is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the
executive branch of the federal government of the United States. Its existence dates back
to the first American President, George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four
people (Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander
Hamilton; Secretary of War Henry Knox; and Attorney General Edmund Randolph) to
advise and assist him in his duties. Cabinet officers are nominated by the President and
then presented to the United States Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple
majority. If approved, they are sworn in and begin their duties. Aside from the Attorney
General, and previously, the Postmaster General, they all receive the title Secretary.
Members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President.
10. Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States was a bank chartered by the United States
Congress on February 25, 1791. The charter was for 20 years. The Bank was created to
handle the financial needs and requirements of the central government of the newly
formed United States, which had previously been thirteen individual colonies with their
own banks, currencies, and financial institutions and policies.
11. Bill of Rights
In the United States, the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten
amendments to the United States Constitution are known. They were introduced by
James Madison to the First United States Congress in 1789 as a series of articles, and
came into effect on December 15, 1791, when they had been ratified by three-fourths of
the States. Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of the Bill of Rights.
12. Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, less commonly known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a
popular uprising that had its beginnings in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in
1794 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Monongahela Valley. During George
Washington's presidency, the government decided to tax whiskey in order to pay off the
national debt. This infuriated the citizenry and led to the Whiskey Rebellion.
13. Ninth Amendment
Amendment IX (the Ninth Amendment) to the United States Constitution, which
is part of the Bill of Rights, addresses rights of the people that are not specifically
enumerated in the Constitution.
14. Tenth Amendment
The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) of the United States Constitution, which is
part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. The Tenth Amendment
restates the Constitution's principle of federalism by providing that powers not granted to
the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the
people.
15. Alien and Sedition Acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the
5th United States Congress, who were waging an undeclared naval war with France, later
known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams.
Proponents claimed the acts were designed to protect the United States from alien
citizens of enemy powers and to stop seditious attacks from weakening the government.
The Democratic-Republicans, like later historians, attacked them as being both
unconstitutional and designed to stifle criticism of the administration, and as infringing
on the right of the states to act in these areas. They became a major political issue in the
elections of 1798 and 1800. One act—the Alien Enemies Act -- is still in force in 2009,
and has frequently been enforced in wartime. The others expired or were repealed by
1802. Thomas Jefferson held them all to be unconstitutional and void, and pardoned and
ordered the release of all who had been convicted of violating them.
16. Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address was written to "The People of the United
States" near the end of his second term as President of the United States and before his
retirement to Mount Vernon.
17. Federalists
The term "'federalist'" describes several political beliefs around the world. It also has
reference to the concept of federalism or the type of government called a federation.
18. Democratic-Republicans
The Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison around 1792. Supporters usually identified themselves as Republicans,[1] but
sometimes as Democrats.[2] The term "Democratic Republican" was also used by
contemporaries, but mostly by the party's opponents.[3] It was the dominant political
party in the United States from 1800 to 1824, when it split into competing factions, one
of which became the modern Democratic Party.
19. XYZ Affair
In 1797, President John Adams sent delegates Elbridge Gerry, John Marshall, and
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to France in order to negotiate a peaceful resolution of
problems that existed between the two nations. The U.S. delegates were informed by
three French agents that negotiations could not begin until the U.S. granted a $10 million
loan to the French government and paid $250,000 to French foreign minister Talleyrand.
The U.S. delegation refused the French demands and negotiations were suspended. In
1798, the delegation's dispatches regarding the incident were made public. These
documents, in which the French agents were identified only as X, Y, and Z, incited
American outrage and precipitated an undeclared naval war (1798–1800) between the
U.S. and France. A treaty in 1800 finally averted a major war.