CHAPTER 8 Securing the Republic, 1790–1815
This chapter concentrates on the political history of the new nation as it enlarged its boundaries and solidified its independence. Start-
ing with George Washington’s inauguration, the chapter explains how the founding fathers believed that the preservation of liberty
and freedom for the republic relied on the success of the American experiment in self-government. Contrasting views as to how Amer-
ica should develop economically and how its government should operate emerged with the formation of America’s first political par-
ties in the early 1790s. Federalists supported Alexander Hamilton’s program for economic growth, while Republicans embraced
Thomas Jefferson’s vision of an agrarian republic. These different points of view fostered political debates that enlarged the public
sphere. The chapter also explores the rights of women as a way of illustrating expanding ideas about who should enjoy freedom of
expression. The chapter then examines the presidency of John Adams, highlighting the restrictions placed on liberties through the Al-
ien and Sedition Acts and the Republican response in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. Further restrictions to freedom are ex-
plored when discussing slavery and politics and the attempted slave rebellion led by Gabriel. The chapter also examines the “Revolu-
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Introduction: George Washington’s Inauguration
a. His speech expressed the revolutionary generation’s conviction that it had embarked on an enormous experiment in forming
a republican model of government.
II. Politics in an Age of Passion
A. Hamilton’s Program
1. As secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton’s long-range goal was to make the United States a major commercial
and military power.
2. His program had five parts:
a. Create creditworthiness by assuming state debts
3. He also proposed creation of a national army to deal with uprisings like Shays’s Rebellion.
B. The Emergence of Opposition
1. Opposition to Hamilton’s plan was voiced by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.
a. Hamilton’s plan depended on a close relationship with Britain.
C. The Jefferson-Hamilton Bargain
1. At first, opposition to Hamilton’s program arose almost entirely from the South.
3. Jefferson insisted on a “strict construction” of the Constitution, which meant the federal government could only exercise
D. The Impact of the French Revolution
2. Despite its radicalism, Jefferson and his followers wanted to support France’s attempt at self-government.
4. George Washington declared American neutrality.
5. Jay’s Treaty did not address the issues with Britain on the high seas but positioned the United States closer to Britain and
abandoned the American alliance with France.
E. Political Parties
1. The Federalist Party supported Washington and Hamilton’s economic plan and close ties with Britain.
a. Freedom rested on deference to authority.
F. The Whiskey Rebellion
2. Washington dispatched 13,000 troops to western Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion.
G. The Republican Party
1. Republicans were more sympathetic to France and had more faith in democratic self-government.
a. The party was led by Jefferson and Madison.
2. Political language became more and more heated.
H. An Expanding Public Sphere
2. Newspapers and pamphlets were a primary vehicle for political debate.
I. The Democratic-Republican Societies
1. Supporters of the French Revolution and critics of the Washington administration formed nearly fifty Democratic–
Republican Societies in 1793–1794.
2. The societies argued that political liberty meant not simply voting at elections but also constant involvement in public
4. The Republican Party gained support from political dissenters emigrating from the British Isles.
J. The Rights of Women
2. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
4. Judith Sargent Murray
a. Murray was well educated as a child but not permitted to attend college.
5. A common call was for greater educational opportunities.
III. The Adams Presidency
A. The Election of 1796
2. His presidency was beset by crises.
a. XYZ affair
B. The “Reign of Witches”
1. The Alien and Sedition Acts limited civil liberties.
2. The main target was the Republican press.
C. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
1. The Sedition Act thrust freedom of expression to the center of discussions of American liberty.
D. The “Revolution of 1800”
2. A constitutional crisis emerged with the election.
3. Twelfth Amendment
5. Adams’s acceptance of defeat established the vital precedent of a peaceful transfer of power from a defeated party to its
successor.
E. Slavery and Politics
1. Jefferson’s election as president was aided by the three–fifths clause, which gave a disproportionate number of electoral votes
to southern states.
3. In 1793, Congress adopted a law to enforce the Constitution’s fugitive slave clause.
F. The Haitian Revolution
2. A successful slave uprising led by Toussaint L’Ouverture established Haiti as an independent nation in 1804.
G. Gabriel’s Rebellion
1. A slave rebellion was attempted in Virginia in 1800.
3. Gabriel spoke the language of liberty forged in the American Revolution and reinvigorated during the 1790s.
5. Virginia’s slave laws became stricter.
IV. Jefferson in Power
2. However, he hoped to dismantle as much of the Federalist system as possible.
A. Judicial Review
2. Marbury v. Madison (1803) established the precedent of the Court’s power of judicial review relative to federal laws.
B. The Louisiana Purchase
1. To purchase Louisiana, Jefferson had to abandon his conviction that the federal government was limited to powers
specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
C. Lewis and Clark
1. Lewis and Clark’s objective was both scientific and commercial.
2. Their journey from 1804 to 1806 brought invaluable information and paved the way for a transcontinental country.
D. Incorporating Louisiana
1. In 1803, New Orleans was the only part of the Louisiana Purchase territory with a significant non-Indian population.
2. Louisiana’s slaves had enjoyed far more freedom under the rule of Spain than they would as part of the liberty-loving United
States.
E. The Barbary Wars
2. Barbary pirates from North Africa demanded bribes from American ships.
3. Because Jefferson refused to increase payments to the pirates, the United States and Tripoli engaged in a naval conflict
that ended with American victory in 1804.
F. The Embargo
2. The Embargo Act resulted in a crippled U.S. economy.
a. It was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act.
G. Madison and Pressure for War
1. Macon’s Bill no. 2 allowed trade to resume.
2. War Hawks called for war against Britain.
V. The “Second War for Independence”
A. The Indian Response
2. By 1800, nearly 400,000 Americans lived west of the Appalachian Mountains.
4. William Henry Harrison destroyed Prophetstown at the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811).
5. Voices of Freedom (Primary Source document feature)
B. The War of 1812
2. The government found it difficult to finance the war.
3. Americans enjoyed few military successes.
a. The British invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the White House.
4. Eventually, Britain compensated millions of dollars for the loss of slave property.
C. The War’s Aftermath
1. The conflict confirmed the ability of a republican government to conduct a war without surrendering its institutions.
2. More importantly, the war completed the conquest east of the Mississippi River
D. The War of 1812 and the Canadian Borderland
2. Attacks on Canada increased anti-Americanism, but trade and exchange of ideas continued.
4. The war also strengthened a growing sense of national identity in Canada.
E. The End of the Federalist Party
2. It asked for:
3. Jackson’s victory at New Orleans overshadowed Federalist demands.
a. Within a few years, the party disappeared.
4. Federalists raised an issue—southern domination of government—that long outlived their party.
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• Describe how and why political parties arose.
• Explain why Thomas Jefferson thought Alexander Hamilton’s economic system “flowed from principles adverse to liberty, and
was calculated to undermine and demolish the republic.”
• Who did Gabriel think might support his rebellion and why? How was the language of liberty and freedom invoked by Gabriel?
• Why was Napoleon willing to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States?
SUPPLEMENTAL WEB AND VISUAL RESOURCES
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton Biography
The Duel: Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton
George Washington
James Madison
John and Abigail Adams
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson and the French Revolution
Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Lewis and Clark
Tecumseh and Native American Resistance
cumseh and Tenskwatawa.
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
The War of 1812 (PBS documentary, 2 hrs., 2011)
SUPPLEMENTAL PRINT RESOURCES
Ambrose, Stephen. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schus-
ter, 1997.
Appleby, Joyce. Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Balieck, Barry. “When the Ends Justify the Means: Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 22, no. 4 (1992):
679–696.
Bolster, W. Jeffrey. Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.
Cornell, Saul. The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788–1828. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North
Carolina Press, 1999.
Dowd, Gregory. A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1993.
INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTOR ACTIVITIES
1. Classroom Jury: The Duel
Place the duel between Hamilton and Burr in focus by forming a jury of the students to determine which man was morally and politically right in enter-
ing into the duel. You may also want to approach the issue by placing Burr on trial and selecting one student to take his identity. Show the PBS film The
Duel before dividing the class in half into Hamiltons and Burrs, or use the class as a jury to try Burr for murder. Ask the students to discuss the biog-
raphy of each man as well as the political and cultural background that produced the conditions for the duel. Then hold a debate in class at large by ask-
ing for the main points that support each man’s argument for satisfaction for dishonor.
Questions include:
1. Why did the duel take place from Hamilton and Burr’s different perspectives?
2. Group Debate: The War of 1812
Turn the class into interest groups to answer questions surrounding the causes and impact of the War of 1812 based on the following historical
perspectives: U.S. government personnel, Native American leaders, French officials, and the British monarchy/members of Parliament. Give the
groups time to prepare main talking points about causation, significance, and impact. Ask the students a series of questions including:
1. Why does it appear that the war will take place?
2. How will the war potentially impact local Native American populations in the East and West?