Honors U.S.

History 2008/2009 Name:

Mr. Irwin
Week 9 Period:

Lecture - Chapter 9A
Defining the Nation 1801 - 1823

Election of 1800 - Thomas Jefferson becomes the Nation’s 3rd President

Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican who epitomized the philosophy of his political
party. He advocated that the United States would be best suited with a small and
simple federal government; a government that would be capable of solving disputes
between citizens, but one that did nothing to impede the economic and commercial
endeavors of its citizenry. He believed strongly in individual liberty, the concept of
limited government, and he saw the future of America as becoming an agrarian society.

Jefferson believed strongly in the concept of separation of church and state, and has
been quoted as writing that “religion is a matter which lies solely between a man & his
God.”

Voting in the Election of 1800

The U.S. Constitution specifies that the task of electing a president is to be done
through individual state elections. For the most part, it was the population of property-
holding men who voted. With one (temporary) state exception, women were not
allowed to vote. Free blacks were legally allowed to vote in most states, but were either
prohibited from voting in the southern states, or discriminated against, through voting
policies that had built in roadblocks, designed to keep free blacks from voting.

By the election of 1800, the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans had emerged
as America’s two strong opposing political parties. Each side made great efforts to
further their specific political philosophies, through the use of speeches, written
documents, posters, newspapers, and magazines, in order to get their messages out to
the public. In the early 1800s, the New York Evening Post became the voice of the
Federalist Party, and the National Intelligencer became the voice of the Democratic
Republican Party. These publications came out about five or six times per week.

Jefferson Takes Office

When Jefferson took over as President, he refused to recognize certain appointments
that his predecessor, John Adams had made; after all, Adams was a Federalist and
Jefferson was a Democratic Republican. Jefferson instead, filled treasury and judicial
offices by awarding them to members of his own party, the Democratic Republicans.

Jefferson’s reversal of these appointments upset many Federalists. Probably the most
well known challenge to Jefferson’s denial of Federalists to government appointed office
is the 1803 Supreme Court case of Marbury v Madison (which students will explore in
groups).

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When Jefferson took office, he perceived a government already corrupt and bloated as
the result of new positions that had been created in order to dole out government
appointments as political favors. Jefferson began eliminating such positions, and set
out to reduce the size and the expense of the federal government. Jefferson called for
substantial reductions in federal spending, and implemented a plan designed to
eliminate the government’s $83 million debt by the year 1817. Together with a
Democratic-Republican controlled Congress, all U.S. internal taxes were rescinded,
including the unpopular Whiskey Tax that had been passed in 1791.

The Democratic-Republican Congress let the Seditions Act expire in 1801, and the Alien
Act to expire in 1802. Also in 1802, Congress also revised the Naturalization Act of
1798, by lowering the residency requirement of aliens seeking to become a U.S. citizen
from fourteen years to five years.

President Jefferson and Congress also set their sights on incompetent or corrupt federal
judges. Since federal judges are presidential appointments, they typically turn into long-
term career positions. Jefferson did not want Federalist judges in the courts who might
use their position to further the political philosophies of the Federalist Party. He wanted
Federal judges on the bench who would rule based upon the merits of the case and the
law. As the result Congress held impeachment proceedings against some of the Adams
appointees. In 1803, through the impeachment process, federal judge John Pickering
of New Hampshire was removed from office. It should be noted that during the
Jefferson era, serious misconduct and/or criminal activity was established as the basis
for removal of a federal judge from office. Simply removing a judge from office because
he was a Federalist could not be a valid reason for impeachment.

John Marshall – Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

During Jefferson’s presidency, and beyond, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
was John Marshall. Marshall was a Federalist who had been appointed by President
Adams, with a term that would begin in 1801, the same year that Jefferson would take
office. Marshall held this position from 1801 – 1835, and during those years he would
consistently uphold federal supremacy over the states, and also rule in favor issues
relating to commerce. During his years a Chief Justice, Marshall, through his rulings,
strengthened the judicial branch of government to become comparable to that the
legislative and executive branches of government.

Marbury v Madison and the Concept of Judicial Review

As the result of Jefferson’s refusal to allow Federalist William Marbury’s appointment as
Justice of the Peace, in the District of Columbia, to go through, The Supreme Court of
John Marshall would be given an opportunity to rule on the legality of Jefferson’s actions
regarding the “Midnight Appointments” of John Adams.

When Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison refused to allow Marbury’s

appointment to go through, Marbury filed suit against Madison. Ultimately, the case of

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Marbury v Madison made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1803. Marbury
was seeking a writ of mandamus (a court order to force the appointment to go through).
In accepting the case, the Marshall court had a dilemma on its hands. If the Supreme
Court ruled in favor of Marbury, it was likely that Jefferson would still to refuse to allow
Marbury’s appointment to go through. According to the Constitution, the judicial branch
of government rules on and interprets laws, but it does not have the authority to enforce
laws. According to the Constitution, it is the executive branch that has the authority to
enforce federal law!

On the other hand, if the Federalist dominated Supreme Court ruled that Jefferson had
the right to deny Marbury’s appointment, the court would be handing down a political
victory to Jefferson. Marshall found a way to rule on the case that xxx

He ruled that Marbuy had the right to his appointment but that the Supreme Court could
not compel Madison to honor the appointment because the Constitution did not grant
the court the power to issue a writ of mandamus.

Marshall then went on to rule that a section of a previous act of Congress, the Judiciary
Act of 1789, that authorized the Court to issue writs, was unconstitutional. While this
ruling might seem to diminish the power of the Court, it actually strengthens the power
of the Supreme Court, because as the result of this ruling, the concept of judicial review
is established.

By establishing the power of judicial review for the Supreme Court, Marshall laid the
foundation for the Court to be in position to be able to review the constitutionality of laws
passed by Congress. Since the Constitution is the “supreme law of the land,” should
upon review, the Court find that Congress has established a law that goes against the
Constitution, the Court has the authority to declare such a law to be “null and void,” and
therefore, the Court has the authority to order such a law to be retired.

The Election of 1804 - Thomas Jefferson’s Second Term

In the election of 1804, Thomas Jefferson was reelected. He won the election by a
substantial margin of electoral votes over his opponent. By the early 1800s, there were
hundreds of thousands of Americans settled along the Ohio and Mississippi River
valleys. This was a source of friction with a number of Native American Indian tribes.
Nevertheless, the white settlers in the northern part of this western frontier grew wheat.
In the southern portion of this region, settlers began growing “short-staple” cotton, a
crop that practically grew wild, but one that was very difficult to process because of its
sticky seeds.

The invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, in 1793, made it possible for one person to
remove the same amount of cotton seeds from the plant that previously required fifty
people to do by hand. As the result, the cultivation of cotton rapidly spread to Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee. This increase in the production of
cotton triggered an increase in the need for slave labor.

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The farmers of these west-inland states depended on the Mississippi River to transport
their crops to market, and to bring needed supplies back to their farms and plantations.
For the economic growth and success of the United States, the Mississippi was viewed
as a very important resource. The territory west of the Mississippi had once been
claimed as Spanish territory, but in 1801 and 1802, Spain transferred its holdings in this
area to France. It seemed at the time, that Napoleon Bonaparte was interested in
establishing a strong presence in this part of North America. According to Robert
Livingston, America’s foreign Minister in Paris, “Every eye in the United States is
focused on Louisiana.”

With Pickney’s Treaty, the U.S. had had a treaty with Spain relating to the use of the
Mississippi River, in the vicinity of New Orleans, and relating to the ability of the U.S. to
deposit products in New Orleans, for shipment out of the area. On the eve of the
transfer of New Orleans from Spain to France, access to this port city by American
shippers was closed. The natural inference was that somehow, Napoleon had a
scheme to cut off America’s ability to use the port of New Orleans.

Jefferson sent James Monroe to join Robert Livingston in Paris, and gave instructions
that the two should attempt to purchase New Orleans, and as much of the Mississippi
Valley as possible from Napoleon. As it turned out, the two Americans were able to buy
827,000 square miles, the entire Louisiana Territory, for $15 million. Napoleon was
occupied with a slave revolt, the French Revolution, and a war against Britain. As the
result, he was forced to give up his idea of more colonies in North America. Instead, he
took the $15 million from the United States to pay for the various conflicts that he was
engaged in.

The Louisiana Purchase gave Americans peace regarding access and control over the
Mississippi River, and the port of New Orleans, although, some people were critical of
this move. After all, Jefferson was in favor of “small government” and he wanted to
erase the national debt by 1817. With the Louisiana Purchase, in the signing of just one
treaty, he increased the national debt by $15 million. Some of Jefferson’s critics
complained that the way in which the Louisiana Purchase was handled, was
unconstitutional, and apparently, even Jefferson himself was said to question the
constitutionality of the acquisition. Nevertheless, the Louisiana Territory became U.S.
territory, and as the result, it increased the geographic size of the U.S. by more than
one third.

The Louisiana Purchase is considered the most import achievement of Jefferson’s

presidency. Shortly after acquiring the Louisiana Territory from France, Jefferson
commissioned Meriwether Lewis & William Clark to map and explore the territory that
very little was known about at the time.

The Lewis & Clark expedition began in May 1804 and took more than two years to
complete. *

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*Students will learn the details of the Lewis & Clark expedition by watching films in
class.

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