I.

Intro
A. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson represented the first political party conflict
1. Adam’s Federalists waged a defensive struggle for strong central
government and public order
2. Jeffersonians were guardians of agrarian purity, liberty and states’ rights
3. conflicts over foreign policy, which require the assertion of federal
authority, caused opportunities and crises
a) easier to condemn than to reign
II. Federalist and Republican Mudslingers
A. Federalist hate
1. many people resented them for the Alien and Sedition Acts
2. conflict over war with France
a) Hamiltonian Federalists split with President Adams because he
didn’t go to war
b) war preparations had swelled the public tax, which included a
stamp tax
c) military preparations seemed unnecessary: navy
B. Federalists thrown on the defensive, concentrated their fire on Jefferson
1. accused of having robbed a widow and her children of a trust fund
2. accused of having fathered numerous mulatto children with his slaves
3. condemned by orthodox clergy for his liberal views on religion which he
successfully separated church and state in Virginia
4. preachers throughout New England called him atheist
III. The Jeffersonian “Revolution of 1800”
A. Jefferson won
1. majority of 73 electoral votes to 65
a) Aaron Burr turned New York Jeffersonian
b) lots of votes from Virginia and Southern and Western states which
had granted manhood suffrage
2. three-fifth clause of the Constitution gave Jefferson an edge in the South
3. Jefferson and Burr, his vice-president, actually tied for presidency in the
electoral college
a) vote went to the HoR, which the Federalists controlled
b) vote took forever, Federalists prefered Burr
4. John Adams was the the last Federalist president
5. Jefferson claimed his victory as the Revolution of 1800
a) bring back republican government from Hamilton and Adams
 6. revolutionary peaceful transition of power
IV. Responsibility Breeds Moderation
A. Jefferson’s entrance to presidency
1. inaugurated on March 4, 1801
2. intimidating and sophisticated but connected to common ideals
a) strode on foot to the capital, no horse drawn carriage
B. new Washington capitol and Jefferson
1. it was rustic and suitable for the simplicity of Jeffersonian Republicans
2. compared to the elegant atmosphere of Federalist Philadelphia
3. Jefferson established the rule of pellmell at official dinners
a) seating without regard to rank
4. Jefferson would receive callers in sloppy attire
a) once in a dressing gown and heel-less slippers
5. established the precedent of sending messages to Congress to be read
by a clerk, personal appearance was too monarchal
C. Jefferson was inconsistent in his policies
1. two different personalities
a) a scholarly private citizen who philosophized in his study
b) harassed public official who discovered that bookish theories
worked out differently in practical politics
2. he ended up reversing many of the political principles he had championed
D. Jefferson showed moderation in party disputes
1. Federalists feared he would take advantage of power
2. he dismissed only a few public servants for political reasons
E. Jefferson was an effective politician
1. especially able in the informal atmosphere of a dinner party
a) wood congressional representatives while personally tasting wines
and dishes from his French cook
2. Democratic-Republican unity was crumbling
a) denied patronage influence as public servants and so could not
build a loyal political following
b) only thing keeping them together was general dislike of
Federalists
V. Jeffersonian Restraint
A. began to undo the abuses of the Federalists forgotten in the anti-French hysteria
1. Alien and Sedition Acts already expired
 a) speedily pardoned the “martyrs” who were serving in jail under the
Sedition Acts
b) new naturalization law of 1802
(1) reduced the unreasonable requirement of fourteen years of
residence to the previous five years
2. Jefferson hated the excise tax which bore heavily on his farmer following
a) caused Congress to repeal it
b) cost the government a million dollars a year for principles
B. Albert Gallatin as new Secretary of the Treasury
1. agreed with Jefferson that the national debt was a burden, not a blessing
C. Jeffersonians generally left the Hamiltonian framework in tact
1. didn’t mess with the Federalist programs for funding the national debt at
par and assuming the Revolutionary War debts of the states
2. no attack on the Bank of the United States
3. did not repeal the mildly protective Federalist tariff
a) they actually wanted to recharter a bigger bank and to boost the
protective tariff in later years
D. proved in the “Revolution of 1800” that a change of regime was not disastrous to
the defeated group
VI. The “Dead Clutch” of the Judiciary
A. the Judiciary Act of 1801
1. one of the last important laws passed by expiring Federalist Congress
2. created sixteen new federal judgeships and other judicial offices
a) “midnight judges”
3. caused bitter resentment by Jeffersonians
a) packed these lifetime posts with anti-Jeffersonian partisans
b) Federalists tried to entrench itself
B. Republican Congress repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 a year after
1. swept sixteen benches under the recently seated “midnight judges”
C. Jeffersonians also went after Chief Justice John Marshall who had been
appointed by Adams in the dying days of his term
1. his formal legal schooling only lasted 6 weeks
2. powerful intellect and commanding personality shaped American legal
tradition profoundly
3. John Marshall had served at Valley Forge during the Revolution
a) painfull impressed with the drawbacks of weak central authority,
became a lifelong Federalist
 4. served for 34 years after Adams and kept Federalist ideals strong even
when the party itself died out
D. historic precedent of John Marshall with one of the “midnight judges” in 1801
1. William Marbury had been named a justice of peace for Washington DC
2. John Marshall knew that the Jeffersonian executive branch would not
respond to Federalist Marbury’s lawsuit for his comission delivery
3. dismissed Marbury’s lawsuit and avoided a direct political showdown
a) explained that the Judiciary Act of 1789 on which Marbry tried to
base his appeal was unconstitutional
4. Marshall greatly magnified the authority of the Court with this case
a) up until Marbury v. Madison (1803) no one knew who had the final
authority to determine the meaning of the Constitution
b) “judicial review,” the Supreme Court alone has the last word
E. Jeffersonians wanted revenge
1. Jefferson urged the impeachment of Samuel Chase, an arrogant
Supreme Court justice
a) House of Representatives passed the issue of guilt or innocence
on to the Senate based on “high crimes and misdemeanors”
b) but it was evident that the judge was not guilty of high crimes but
only with a big mouth
c) no other attempted to reshape the Supreme Court by the
impeachment weapon
VII. Jefferson, a Reluctant Warrior
A. Jefferson wanted a reduction of the military to only 2500 officers and men
1. decision was less about money but about republican ideals
a) hoped America would transcend the bloody wars of Europe
b) Republicans naturally distrusted large standing armies, navies
were less feared because they could not march inland
(1) Jefferson saw little point in building a fleet
2. harsh realities required Jefferson to bend: pirates of the North African
Barbary States was still blackmailing and plundering merchant ships in
the Mediterranean
a) Federalists had been forced to buy protection
B. in 1801 the pasha of Tripoli informally declared war on the US because he was
dissatisfied with his protection money
1. Jefferson was a pacifist, critique of a big-ship navy and non interventionist
2. Jefferson reluctantly dispatched the infant navy to the shores of Tripoli
 3. Tripolitan War: four years of intermittent fighting and exploits resulted in a
Jefferson securing a peace treaty from Tripoli in 1805
a) bargain price of only $60,000 for captured Americans
4. the navy used small gunboats to some success
a) Jefferson advocated for a large number of little coastal crafts
(1) “Jeffs” or “mosquito fleet”
b) Jefferson thought that they would be valuable in guarding
American shores and not get involved in oversea conflicts
c) two hundred tiny gunboats were constructed in small shipyards
(1) were actually pretty useless
VIII. The Louisiana Godsend
A. Napoleon had gotten the king of Spain to cede Louisiana back to France
B. Spaniards withdrew the right of deposit in 1802, a right guaranteed in Pinckney's
Treaty of 1795
1. anger from frontier farmers who needed the warehouses called for war
C. Thomas Jefferson reasoned with war
1. Louisiana under Spain is no threat
2. Louisiana under Napoleon is scary and Americans will be forced to
dislodge him through a war
a) America isn’t strong enough to dislodge him on our own, will need
to seek foreign allies
(1) goes against America’s no-alliance policy
D. Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris in 1803 to join with Robert Livingston
1. instructed to buy New Orleans and as much land to the east as they could
get for a maximum of $10 millions
2. if the negotiations fail then they will open talks with Britain
3. Jefferson was willing to make an alliance with his old foe, Britain, to go to
war against his old friend, France
E. Napoleon suddenly decided to sell all of Louisiana and abandon his dream of a
New World Empire
1. he had failed to reconquer sugar-rich Haiti, which Louisiana was
supposed to send foodstuffs to
a) slaves, led by Toussaint LOuverture, rebelled in 1791
b) revolt was eventually broken but mosquitoes carrying yellow fever
decimated thousands of French troops
2. Napoleon was about to end the 20-month peace with Britain
 a) Britain controlled the seas and Napoleon feared that he would
have to gift Louisana to them
b) holding Louisiana would drive the Americans to Britain
c) would rather sell it to them and pocket the money
F. negotiation developments
1. Livingston was trying to negotiate for a window to the Gulf of Mexico at
New Orleans
2. after a week, on April 30, 1803, France ceded Louisiana to for $15 million
G. Jefferson was startled
1. his envoys had signed three treaties that pledged $15 million for New
Orleans and immeasurable land to the west
2. his strict interpretation of the Constitution forbid him to take charge of the
entire tract of land involving Indian, French, Spanish and black inhabitants
3. his democratic visionary side figured that the new land would ensure the
health and long life of American democracy
H. Jefferson’s private proposal of a Constitutional amendment
1. but Napoleon might withdraw his offer if he acts
2. Jefferson reluctantly admitted that the purchase was unconstitutional
when submitting the treaties to the Senate
3. senators promptly passed it
IX. Louisiana in the Long View
A. avoided a war with France and a complicated alliance with England
B. secured the west half of the continent, laid the foundations for the future
1. deal of a great agrarian republic
C. important precedents for future expansion
1. acquisition of foreign territory and peoples by purchase and their
incorporation into the Union on a basis of equal membership
a) Washington agreed to accept the legal code of French
Louisianans’ civil law rather than English common law
D. Indians, in future decades, they would be forcibly removed from their ancestral
homes on the basis of questionable treaties
1. open lands for the cotton boom and for the expansion of slavery
E. contributed to the isolationist principles of Washington’s Farewell Address
1. the US was now at liberty to take over the entire continent, free from Old
World rivalries
F. new explorations of the new territory
1. in the spring of 1804, Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore
 2. the “Corps of Discovery” ascended the Missouri River from St. Louis to
North Dakota with Mandan Indians, struggled through the Rockies and
descended the Columbia River to the Pacific coast
3. two year and a half year expedition yielded new scientific observations,
maps, knowledge of Indians in the region and adventure stories
a) Lewis was lucky to make it out alive after being robbed by teenage
Blackfoot Indians
4. other explorers made their way to the Pacific
a) thousands of missionaries, fur-traders and pioneering settlers
b) Zebulon Pike trekked to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in
1805-1806
X. The Aaron Burr Conspiracies
A. consequences of the Louisiana Purchase
1. long-term: greatly expanded the fortunes of the US and the power of the
federal government
2. short-term: the vast expanse of the territory and the feeble reach of
control of the government raised fears of secession and foreign intrigue
B. Aaron Burr provoked, justified, these fears as Jefferson’s first term vice president
1. dropped from the cabinet for Jefferson’s second term
2. Burr joined the Federalist extremists to plot the secession of New England
and New York
a) Alexander Hamilton exposed and foiled the conspiracy
b) Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel
(1) Hamilton’s honor at stake although he deplored dueling
(a) Hamilton refused to fire
(2) Burr killed Hamilton in one shot
(a) blew the greatest brain out of the Federalist party
and destroyed its last hope of effective leadership
3. Burr turned his disunionist plots to the Mississippi West
a) alliance with General James Wilkinson
(1) dishonest military governor of the Louisiana Territory and
sometimes a secret agent to the Spanish crown
b) apparently planned to split the western part of the United States
from the East and expand their confederacy to Florida and Mexico
c) in fall of 1806, they planned to meet at Natchez
(1) Wilkinson learned that Jefferson had gotten wind of the
plot and fled to New Orleans
 4. Burr was arrested and tried for treason
a) John Marshall insisted of true proof of overt acts of treason, not
merely treasonous intentions
b) Burr was acquitted and fled to Europe where he urged Napoleon
to make peace with Britain and launch an invasion of America
5. showed that purchasing the land is different than governing it effectively
XI. A Precarious Neutrality
A. Jefferson was reelected in 1804, 162 to 14 votes
B. new conflict with Napoleon's intent of war with Britain
1. maritime neutral United States reaped commercial benefits
2. British supremacy of the seas: in the Battle of Trafalgar Horatio Nelson
smashed combined French and Spanish fleets off the coast of Spain
3. French supremacy of land: Napoleon crushed combined Austrian and
Russian armies in the Battle of Austerlitz
C. the two forces were forced to hurt each other indirectly
1. Britain ruled the waves and waived the rules: Orders in Council in 1806
a) closed the European ports under French control to foreign
shipping, including American, unless the vessels first stopped at a
British port
2. Napoleon ordered the seizure of all merchant ships, including American,
that entered British ports
3. no way to trade with either nation
D. British actions in war
1. impressment of American sailors, forcing them to His Majesty’s service
2. Chesapeake Affair of 1807
a) a British royal warship overhauled a US warship, the Chesapeake,
off the coast of Virginia
b) British captain demanded the surrender of four alleged deserters
(1) although London had never claimed the right to seize
sailors from a foreign warship
c) American commander refused and the British fired three
devastating broadsides at close range
(1) killed three, wounded eighteen and took the four deserters
d) London admitted that it was wrong but the national wrath of
America was lit
XII. The Hated Embargo
A. national honor at stake due to British and French mistreatment, but not willing to
risk a large-scale foreign war
1. navy was weak, thanks to Jefferson, the army was weaker
B. warring nations in Europe depended heavily on the US for raw materials and
foodstuffs
1. Jefferson reasoned that if America cut off its exports, the offending
powers would be forced to pay their respects
C. Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807
1. forbade the export of all goods from the United States whether in
American or foreign ships
a) “peaceful coercion”
2. if it worked, it would validate the rights of neutral nations and point to a
new way of handling foreign affairs
3. if it failed, the Republic would perish, subjugated European powers or get
sucked into their bloody war
D. effects of the Embargo Act
1. shipyards deserted, many went unemployed
2. it hurt America’s economy more that both Britain and France
a) farmers in the South and West were affected by their unexportable
cotton, grain and tobacco
3. enormous illicit trade mushroomed in 1808
a) along Canadian border where bands of armed Americans
overwhelmed federal agents
4. Federalism actually revived with new converts
a) New England seethed with talk of secession
E. Congress finally repealed the embargo on March 1, 1809
1. Non-Intercourse Act
a) formally reopened trade with all nations except Britain and France
b) economic coercion continued until 1812
F. why did the Embargo Act collapse?
1. Jefferson underestimated the determination of the British and
overestimated the dependence of both powers on American trade
a) British: bumper grain crops and Latin American exports
b) French: Napoleon had most of Europe under his belt and
continued to seize American ships and steal their cargoes
2. miscaluclated the unpopularity of a self-crucifying weapon and the
difficulty enforcing it
 a) not continues long enough or tightly enough to be effective
3. New England Yankees reopened old factories and erected new ones in
response to the embargo
XIII. Madison’s Gamble
A. Jefferson left after two terms
B. Madison’s presidency
1. crippled by factions within his party and cabinet
2. unable to dominate Congress, he was left to manage risky foreign policy
C. Macon’s Bill No. 2
1. the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 was due to expire in 1810
2. if either of Britain or France repealed their commercial restrictions,
America would restore its embargo against the non-repealing nation
3. Madison thought that it was shameful: United States could not survive
without one of them as a commercial ally
D. Napoleon’s chance
1. British Orders in Council of 1806 implied that trade restrictions would be
lifted if the French decrees were repealed
2. Napoleon leaked in 1810 that the decrees might be repealed if the Orders
in Council also lifted
3. Napoleon can take advantage of a partial blockade from America against
his enemy without doing anything
E. Madison’s gamble with Napoleon
1. thought that the threat of seeing United States trade exclusively with
France might make British want to repeal their restrictions
2. accepted Napoleon offer, despite obvious deceit
a) allowed Britain three months to repeal the Orders of Council
F. Madison’s gamble failed: the British did not repeal
1. the British were in full control of the seas
2. decided that America could trade exclusively with Britain or nobody at all
3. Madison had no choice but to establish a full embargo against the British
alone, and ended American neutrality
a) feared that it would lead towards war
XIV. Tecumseh and the Prophet
A. new Twelfth Congress in 1811
1. war hawks: young hotheads from the South and West
 a) hated the manhandling of American sailors and the British Orders
in Council that damned American trade, especially western farm
products headed towards Europe
b) yearned to wipe out the Indian threat to the pioneer settlers west
of the Appalachians
B. Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, “the Prophet” decided to stop the white settler tide
1. welded together a far-flung confederacy of all the tribes east of the
Mississippi
2. renewed sense of unity and culture
a) gave up textile clothing for buckskin
b) gave up alcohol
c) Tecumseh urged his supporters to never give up land
3. William Henry advanced at Tecumseh’s headquarters in 1811
a) Congress was convinced that British Canada was helping them
b) Tecumseh was absent
c) Battle of Tippecanoe: the Prophet attacked Harrison’s army with a
small force, resulted in the Shawnees getting routed and their
settlement burned
d) made Harrison a national hero and drove Tecumseh into an
alliance with the British
(1) without Tecumseh, no hope of an Indian confederacy
XV. Mr. Madison’s War
A. war was inevitable by 1812
1. Madison urged by the war hawks in his party against the Indians
a) convinced that the only way to remove the Indian threat was to
wipe out their Canadian base
2. Southern expansionists looked to weak Spanish Florida
3. Madison needed to restore confidence in the republican experiment
a) their foreign policy neutrality had only brought international conflict
and internal division
b) needed to demonstrate that America could defend its rights
B. Madison asked Congress to declare war on June 1, 1812
1. Congress passed it, but the vote was close
a) support for war from the South and West, Republicans from
populated states like Pennsylvania and Virginia
b) opposed by Northern and Southern Federalists
2. why did New England oppose the war?
 a) pro-British Federalists sympathized with Britain and despised
Republican sympathy with Napoleon
b) opposed the acquisition of Canada, which would only add more
farmland
3. New England was determined to side with the British
a) led them to treason or near-treason
b) New England gold holders probably lent more money to the British
than the federal treasury
c) Federalist farmers sent huge quantities of supplies and foodstuffs
to Canada, enabling British armies to invade New York
d) New England governors refused to permit their militias to serve
outside their own states
C. war was the last choice