American Cultural History 2:

The Nineteenth Century

Introduction: A New Nation
 Historical Periods
• Early Republic/Early National Period (1770s-
1820s)
• Jacksonian Era/Age/Democracy (1830s-1840s)
• Antebellum Era (1800-Civil War)
• Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-
1877)
• The Gilded Age (1860s-1900)
• The Progressive Era (1880s-World War I)
 Colonial Legacies
• Regional varieties
• Distinctions first settlers – immigrants: English
dominance, ethnic diversity
• Indian-white relations
• Expansions and frontiers
• Racial relations: role of slavery
• Gender relations: no civil status
 Colonial Legacies 2
• Religious diversity, religious rhetoric, dominance of
Protestantism, evangelical traditions: ‚Awakenings‘ and
Enlightenment
• Political traditions of self-government
• Traditions of volunteerism
• Economic traditions: dominantly agricultural,
involvement in trade and market relations
• Social relations: elites, ‚middling‘ classes, social mobility
• Foundational fictions: origin stories
 A New Nation Is Created
• Revolutionary War (1775-1781), Peace Treaty 1783:
conflicts over westward expansion, taxes, presence of
English troops, governance
• Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
• 1776-1781 drafting of 13 state constitutions
• 1781-1787 loose confederation of states
• 1787 drafting of Constitution
• 1787-1790 Constitution ratified by 13 states (Federalists
vs. Anti-Federalists)
• 1788 first elections
The Early Republic

Political Challenges
 Two Ambivalent Founding Documents: The
Declaration of Independence

• „We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men

are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness“
• Liberal utopian values, distrust of government
• Essential equality of all people
• Sovereignty located in the individual
• Paranoid view of power
 Two Ambivalent Founding Documents: The
Constitution
• Government as protector of liberty
• Sovereignty located in a collective whole
• Social peace valued over personal liberation
• Paranoid view of ‚the people‘: State constitutions too
‚democratic‘? Should the people elect the president
directly?
• „Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature
thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the
whole number of Senators and Representatives to which
the State may be entitled in the Congress“
 Causes for Disagreement in the
Constitutional Convention
• Issue of slavery
• Should slaves be counted?
• Strong central power or strong states?
• Bill of rights (protecting individuals and
states)?
• Economic base of the country? Manufacturing
and trade (with need for stronger central
authority) or decentralized, agrarian society?
 The First U.S. Government
• March 4, 1789 first session of new Congress
• April 30, 1789 inauguration of first president:
George Washington (re-elected in 1792)
• First Vice President: John Adams
• First Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson
• First Secretary of the Treasury: Alexander
Hamilton
 The Administration of George Washington
(1789-1797): Open Issues
• Nature of the new office of president unclear
• Vice President still seen as part of the
legislative
• Location of the capital
• Bill of Rights 1791
• Citizenship and naturalization: „all free white
persons … shall be entitled to the rights of
citizenship“ (1791)
 Political Disagreements
• Two political factions in Washington‘s cabinet:
• Federalists (Hamilton, Adams) versus anti-
Federalist Republicans (Jefferson)
• Part of disagreements at Constitutional
Convention of 1787 over:
– Size and power of federal government?
– Economic base of the country: agricultural or
manufacturing?
– Relations toward Britain and France?
 Hamilton versus Jefferson
• Identified with two major political factions and
regional interests:
• Hamilton: Northeastern Federalist, supporting
business interests, for strong central power
(military, banking), focus on collective will
• Jefferson: South(west)ern anti-Federalist
Republican, supporting agrarian interests,
decentralized powers, strong states, focus on
individual liberty
 Central Issues
• Land distribution, new states (1791 Vermont, 1792 Kentucky,
1796 Tennessee)
• Conflicts on the frontiers (1794 Whiskey Rebellion, Indian
policy), border disputes with Spain
• Slave revolutions (1791 Haiti)
• Standing army?
• Relations with Britain and France?
• Debts owed to Spanish and French governments, Dutch
bankers, funding of national debt
• Regulation of foreign goods, protection of domestic goods
• Fight against pirates at sea
 George Washington Retires
• 1796 announcement: voluntary surrender of
power, role of personal attacks and partisan battles
• Farewell Address: call for unity at home, justifies
strong executive leadership, calls for steering clear
of permanent foreign „entanglements“
• 1796 first bipartisan election for president: Adams
versus Jefferson
• 1797-1800 President John Adams, VP Jefferson