nd

2 Semester
George Washington was elected the first President. His Vice President was John Adams. He
appointed a four-man cabinet. The Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson. His Secretary of
the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. His Secretary of War was Henry Knox. Additionally he
appointed Edmund Randolph as the first Attorney General. Congress met for the first time in
1789. They had three very important jobs. Their first job was to pass a bill of rights. Additionally
they had to pay back the debts of the United States and setup courts. To tackle the system of
the courts they passed the Judiciary Act of 1789. It established that there would be six Justices
on the Supreme Court. One Chief Justice and five associate judges. The first Chief Justice was
John Jay. There are no famous cases during his tenure. He was more of a politician than a
lawyer. The flaw in the system was that there was an even amount of Justices in the Supreme
Court which allowed for ties. The biggest problem in the country was the economic problem.
Washington asked his cabinet for solutions and it was Hamilton who produced one.
Hamiltons Plan
Plan
Create a government based on trade in line with the needs of the upper class. It
was the wealthy that supported the government at the time. If you helped the
upper class everyone would benefit. This is known as trickle down economics.
Objections
o Thomas Jefferson and James Madison objected. They said that the major flaw
was that it only benefited the upper class. This was odd because Madison was
with Hamilton during the writing of the Federalist Papers.
Parts of the Plan (4 parts divided into 4 bills)
o Repayment of all national debts that were accumulated during the War and the
era of the Articles of Confederation. He wanted to pay back all domestic and
foreign debts. The objectors only objected that they shouldnt pay the debts par
as was suggested. The reason Jefferson and Madison were against paying them
back at par is because the holders of the bonds bought them from soldiers for
essentially no money and the rich would get richer and the Federal Debt would
grow larger. Hamilton was intent on establishing good credit so paying the bonds
back par was essential. In the end everyone was paid back in full.
o Additionally Hamilton wanted to assume the state debts. Any state that had
borrowed money to fight the Revolution should be paid back by the federal
government. This was to gain loyalty with the states. Jefferson and Madison
objected for the following reasons. States like Virginia had started taxing their
citizens pay back their debts. Now Virginians were going to be taxed to help pay
back the debts of states like New York that hadnt paid back their debts.
o

Hamilton knew that if Jefferson didnt agree with his plan it would never pass in
Congress. Hamilton told Jefferson, the Virginian, that if he helped him in his plan
he would help him go to Congress and try to get the Capitol moved to the South.
Jefferson didnt want the capitol in New York where the big money was.
Jefferson agrees to what is now known as the Assumption Bill (they assumed
the debts) which also, now, moved the capitol to the south (but Pennsylvania in
the meantime, New York was too much of a business center)
o Hamilton wanted to setup three different sources of money for the federal
government. He wanted a protective tariff. (two different kinds of tariffs,
protective and revenue and protective. A protective tariff places taxes so high
on foreign goods that nobody wants foreign goods) He thought this was a great
idea because additionally it would grow the manufacturing industry. He wanted
to instill something called excise (elimination) taxes, specifically on things that
they wanted to discourage the use of. The specific one proposed at the time
was called the whiskey tax. Finally he wanted to sell land in the West. Jefferson
and Madison objected to the tariffs because tariffs only benefited the rich. The
average American had to pay the extra money. In the end Congress passed a
revenue tariff. The difference between this and a protective tariff is that a
revenue tariff is lower because the purpose is to still have foreign goods being
purchased with more tax money. A protective tax is to make sure that people
didnt buy foreign products. Those tariffs are obviously much higher. Nobody
disagreed about the sale of Western land. Jefferson complained about the
whiskey tax because it only taxed the people making the Whiskey who were the
farmers in the Midwest. Of course Hamilton would tax them and not the rich. The
Whiskey Tax was passed in the end without any deviations.
o Lastly, Hamilton saw that a banking and money system were absolute
necessities. He called for the minting of gold and silver coins. These were so
important because they will always have value. Additionally he wanted a strong
bank to keep the governments money in. It was deemed unconstitutional by
Jefferson and Hamilton because its not in the Constitution. Hamiltons defense
was the elastic clause. He thought this was a stretch and not something new
making it valid under the elastic clause because if they can tax and make money
they should have somewhere to keep it. He wanted to borrow money and use it
to pay back the debts they owed. He thought that having some debt because it
helps you build a good credit rating. Extra money would be loaned out. Another
objection was that by having a debt, taxes would have to be raised to pay for it.
In the end the gold and silver coins were minted and the bank was created. They
took $10,000,000 of private investments from people who were partial owners
and created the bank. This was essentially a trial run. The bank would
2

automatically expire in 20 years. (1791-1811) At that time the owners of the bank
would get their money back with interest. If at that time it was proven that the
bank was a good idea then a new bill could be passed and another bank could be
created.
Whiskey Rebellion
Not much of a rebellion but Hamilton goes out to put down the rebellion himself
They send 15,000 soldiers as a big show of strength to show rebellion will not be tolerated
Jefferson believed that Hamilton did this on purpose as a show of force over the farmers
o Also, sees it as an attempt to separate the rich and the poor

1/30/15
2/3/15
2/6
Washingtons Policy of Foreign Affairs
Great Britain
o The number one conflict at this point was over, primarily, the Northwest territory
o Additionally we had not paid our debts
o We believed they were encouraging and inciting the Native Americans to attack
us
France/Spain/NAs
o At the time France was a monarchy under Louis XVI. They were in heavy debt.
There people were divided into the Church the nobles and everyone else. The
king couldnt tax. That was supposed to be carried out by Estates General
(French congress/parliament) who hadnt met in 175 years. Louis XVI was heavily
taxing the poor illegally. The problem was that they had no money anymore so he
started taxing the upper classes and the Church. He decides to then call the
Estates General. The country was elated to have the Estates General meet
again. They were made up of 1,200 people divided into 3 estates. 300 people
(first estate) represented the church, 300 (second state) represented the
nobles and 600 (third estate) represented everyone else. Each estate got a
single vote. Obviously nothing was accomplished. In response the third estate
met in secret and decided to declare independence and become a national
assembly similar to the new American Congress. They met in the local tennis
court and took the Tennis Court Oath that they wouldnt leave until they have a
new constitution. They turned to the other estates and some members of those
estates joined them. They wanted to have a new country in France with a
limited monarchy. They wanted Louis XVI to have limited power. The king was
fine with it as long as taxes were met. It was outside nations such as Britain who
were opposed. The revolution divided American public opinion. The federalists
3

o
o

o
o

wanted to side with England for our own national trading relationship with them.
The republicans wanted to side with the French because they stood for what
the Enlightenment taught. Additionally they helped us in our revolution and we
had a treaty with them.
(Another part of the revolution was to create a middle class)
French nobles went to other countries (they were against democracy) and
convinced other countries that revolt was possible in their country if the French
revolt succeeded so they try to convince other countries to try to stop France.
France doesnt wait for that they declare war on everyone to try to spread
democracy.
Robespierre was in charge of the Reign of Terror part of the revolution where he
killed anyone with a guillotine who was anti-revolution
(There was a group in France called the Jacobins who thought that the
revolution hadnt gone far enough. They wanted a full republic. This led to more
conflict and moderates were being executed.)
Washington had to make a decision. He was afraid that they couldnt afford or
deal with a possible civil war. So he issued a Proclamation of Neutrality stating
that America wouldnt get involved. Neither party recognized this neutrality so
the British started seizing American trading vessels in French water. France
started ignoring American policy in regards to the Spanish colonies and so on.
This was spearheaded by Citizen Genet of France. He was a diplomat from France
and went to the south to fight the Spanish (they were on the other side of the
war). He shouldve gone to the president to be recognized by the government.
Washington and Jefferson told him to leave because they were supposed to be
neutral. The French call him back to France because they didnt want him there
but by the time he wouldve gone back the revolution changed and he wouldve
been killed by the new leaders of the revolution so when he faced consequences
he married an American woman and became one himself.
In response to the British, the Americans sent John Jay (Chief Justice at the
time) who was more of a diplomat, to England. The Americans wanted the British
to stop raiding American ships, leave the forts in the Northwest, stop provoking
NA attacks and allow fishing in the North. Hamilton also sent over a note saying
the minimum that the Americans would take which hurt them in the negotiation
process. Other representatives were sent to both countries to try to get them
to understand Americas neutrality. In the end the Jay Treaty was signed. In the
treaty they re-agreed to evacuate the forts but of course that promise wasnt
kept. Americans were furious because they got nothing out of it. The people
hung and burned Jay in effigy. It was ratified by the Senate despite the disdain.
They would do anything to get out of war. Even if it meant that the ships would
4

still be seized. Now that America and Britain were aligned the Spanish were
worried about their control of the Mississippi. The Spanish wanted to then make
a treaty with America. Americans wanted access to the southern mouth of the
Mississippi without paying a tariff (Right of Deposit). We gained this right
through this treaty. They would send cheap rafts down the Mississippi and then
sell the raft and all the goods at the bottom and it would be loaded onto larger
ships to go up north. The number one thing that Washington was able to
accomplish with this neutrality was keeping us out of war. The Jay Treaty and
Pinckney Treaty (Spanish Treaty) accomplished this. It became a cornerstone of
American foreign policy (neutrality) until at least WWII. This saved the country.
o The fourth group that America had to deal with was the NAs. At this point
settlers were settling in the Northwest Territory. As soon as they moved into
these lands they were attacked by NAs. Specifically the Miami Indians. They
were originally from Ohio then moved to Florida after they lost this war. They had
supported the British during the Revolution. They were lead by Chief Little Turtle.
He had defeated French forces who were allied with Americans. After the war
they had formed the Western Confederation with the aim of wiping Americans
off of their land. In the 1790s a war broke out with the NAs called the Little
Turtle War (Northwest Indian Wars). In that time they inflicted heavy damage on
the Americans. Finally the US calls in General Anthony Wayne who called the
forces and defeated the NAs at Toledo. The Miami Confederation had to sign a
treaty called the treaty of Greenville. After this NAs were still attacking
Americans even though it was discouraged by their leaders. They still wanted big
forests while we wanted farmland for westward expansion. We want them to
become farmers instead of hunters because farmers need less land than
hunters so we get more land. Eventually they adapt to agricultural methods and
help the Americans. Most presidents and people of the United States want them
to convert to farmers.
o

XYZ Affair
France was extremely upset about the treaty between the Americans
and the British. a quazi-war broke out between the two. Things such as
the seizing of ships was very common. At this point Jon Adams was
already president. In response they needed to send over a navy so
Adams authorized the building of the first American naval vessels. He,
like Washington understood that America could not handle a war so he
sent three representatives to France to negotiate. French
representatives who represented Talleyrand met with the ambassadors.
at this point Talleyrand was the man to make treaties with. His
5

representatives demanded a large sum of money up front just to arrange

the meeting. The Americans were not used to this and rejected the offer.
When reporting the incident they referred to the French men as X, Y and
Z leading to this being called the xyz affair. The Americans told their
ambassadors not to pay. This would not be the American way. This led to
many people saying that Hamilton was right all along - We should go to
war with the French. Millions for defense not one cent for tribute The
federalists in Congress (dominated by the Federalists) used this as an
excuse to pass four laws. When grouped together these are called the
Alien and Sedition Acts. The first was called the Naturalization Act. It
said that the new number of years that it would take to become a citizen
is 14 years. It had been 5. They did this so people would become
Americanized and get rid of dump foreign ideas. There was an ulterior
motive. The Federalists (who had a Congressional majority) wanted to
stay in power for the most amount of time. Immigrants were poorer and
would likely be more Jeffersonian. They wanted people to become more
stable economically and therefore more Federalist. There were two Alien
Acts. The first allowed the president to deport any alien who he thought
to be dangerous without trial. The second allowed the detaining of any
alien during times of war. The last act was the Sedition Act. It made it
illegal for newspaper editors to criticize the President or Congress and
had heavy penalties for anyone who did so. This was because Adams
wasnt nearly as popular as Washington. The reason congress supported
this was because it would lower the esteem of the president to foreign
countries and has a negative effect on the United States overall. The
obvious question was whether or not this was Constitutional under the
First Amendment. The defense for the alien acts was that the
Constitution only applies to Americans. In response to the Sedition acts
Jeffersonian supporters said that they were unconstitutional (first
amendment [freedom of press]) and violated the Compact Theory of
Govt. which states that since the nation was formed through a compact
agreed upon by all the states, and that the federal government is thus a
creation of the states and states should be the final arbiters over
whether the federal government had overstepped the limits of its
authority as set forth in the compact. Called Nullification which applied
only in their state. They had the right to declare it null and void because
it was outside of the jurisdiction of the federal government and so
Virginia and Kentucky did. Rhode Island stepped in to defend the federal
government. They fought for the fact that the Constitution says that
6

the only party that can state whether a law is unconstitutional is the
Judicial Branch. This is the beginning of the endless argument of states
rights VS federal rights which will eventually lead to a civil war. The
reason this didnt happen right now is because of a general apathy on
the part of most of the states. Only Virginia and Kentucky passed
resolutions on the matter. Additionally in 1800 Jefferson was elected and
these acts expired.
2/10
2/4/15
The Effect of the Revolution on Women and African Americans
See Assignment AND these notes for the section on Women
Women
o Despite the fact that the revolution was about the rights of equality and
representation these rights were not extended to women
o Women were operating the colonies while men were at war proving their worth as
viable contributors to the economy yet no rights were extended.
o They fought alongside men and cared for them in battle
o Abigail Adams (Wife of Jon Adams)
She was an activist for womens right during and after the Revolution
Wrote to her husband at the Continental Congress (Remember the
Ladies)
Participated in town hall meetings and pushed for the education of
women
o Mercy Otis Warren
Helped form the Committees of Correspondence
Wrote a pamphlet against the ratification of the Constitution under a
pseudonym stating that a Bill of Rights were essential including womens
rights
o Judith Murray
Promoted the idea that women were cognitively equal to men
o Republican Motherhood
The ideas of republicanism and patriotism are passed down through the
women as they raise and teach the kids. This reinforces the fact that the
womans role is a domestic one. On the other hand it encourages the
education of women in order to do that teaching. This remains philosophy
at least until the mid-1800s.
o New Jersey accidently granted voting rights to women for a short period
because the suffrage law stated that the heads of households who paid taxes
could vote. This was corrected in 1807.
7

African Americans
o During the Revolution, African Americans were heavily involved. Many took up
arms for the British in exchange for their freedom. George Washington later
installed a similar policy. In addition to allowing the enlistment of free blacks any
black man who fought in the war for more than a year would be granted freedom.
After the war 40,000 blacks fled with the British to Canada or England. The
Revolution pointed out the major lack of inequality in America. We fought
because the British were treating us like slaves yet we were doing the same to
blacks. This led to the rise of small anti-slavery societies. Quakers in
Pennsylvania formed one of the first groups was formed. In March of 1780, the
Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery was passed in Pennsylvania. This was the
first bill passed in the Western Hemisphere of this kind. It prohibited the
importation of slaves and required a slavery registration. Any children born from
then on were now free regardless of their parents. Those enslaved in
Pennsylvania before the act were still enslaved for life. This became the model
for freeing slaves in the North. There was one caveat: one group that this did not
effect. It specifically exempted members of the US Congress (Capitol was in
Pennsylvania) from other states because they had slaves in other states. When
Massachusetts passed a new State Constitution it immediately emancipated all
slaves in 1780. In 1786 all Northern States had either gradual or immediate
abolition acts and emancipated their slaves.
There are 3 things that are related to slavery
Slavery
Importation of slaves
o This doesnt stop slavery because the slaves reproduce
This and Jews in Egypt are the only 2 times that enslaved people have
increased their own population
Internal slave trade
Slaves in the constitution
3/5 compromise
Extradition of slaves (in regular extradition clause)
And expiration of importation
They believed this would delay dealing with slavery because in 20 years they would no
longer need slavery
Cotton gin
o Requires more slaves to pick and plant the cotton
Made slavery grow
Ironic because created by a northerner who was against slavery
2/9/15

XYZ Affair is above under foreign affairs

2/19
The Election of 1796/Louisiana Purchase
For the first time (in terms of presidential) election there are two political parties. The
federalists put up Adams (VP) (not Hamilton because he was obnoxious and disliked) and the
Democratic-Republicans put up Jefferson (already had stepped down as Secretary of State).
Adams won and Jefferson was VP. They were in conflict all the time. The Constitution didnt
foresee this because it didnt foresee parties. The main divide of parties began with the
argument over the National Bank.

Get Notes on Washingtons Farewell Address

Election of 1800 (Revolution of 1800)
Jefferson runs again representing the DR. He assumed that Aaron Burr (fellow DR) was
interested in being VP. The federalists put up Adams and assumed that Charles C. Pinckney
would be VP. When the electoral college votes came in Jefferson and Burr had 73 votes each.
This tie led to a vote in the House. The new Congress would come in in the next few months
(March 1800) but for the time being Congress was heavily Federalist and they had to pick
between two members of the DR. Burr knew that he had more friends in the House than
Jefferson even though Jefferson was more popular. Burr wanted it to go to the House. There
were many debates and nothing was settled. The Federalist rival of Jefferson, Alexander
Hamilton stepped in and told Congress to vote for Jefferson. He did this because he disliked
Burr. This later led to a duel that ended with Burr killing Hamilton. In this same election the DR
took control of Congress so the current Congress was in its final days. When the DR Congress
comes in they passed the 12th amendment that formed the President VP tandem election
format. This was called a Revolution simply because it was major change. Jefferson famously
stated that we are all Republicans and we are all Federalists. We are all Americans. Peaceful
transition though. No drastic changes. He named his ally James Madison as Secretary of State
(it would become the trend that Secretary of State would become President). He named Albert
Gallatin Secretary of the Treasury. He was the first immigrant in a Presidential Cabinet or any
major role in government. In terms of the economy he wanted to reduce the size of the army
and limit the size of the navy. In the time of the naval war with the French, Adams authorized
the building of a large navy. Jefferson countermanded that. He drastically lowered the budget
for govt. entertainment (state dinners). Did not have the formality of the federalists. Often
greeted people in his pajamas. He ended Hamiltons financial programs. (excise taxes) He could
not get rid of the bank. It had to last for 20 years. He could reduce the influence. He could
9

reduce things like the Whiskey Tax. The Alien and Sedition Acts had expired. He also got rid of
the Naturalization Acts and brought the residency requirement of citizenship back down to five
years. The major problem he had was the remaining Federalist influence in the Supreme Court.
They were there for life. He could, however, impeach them. He picked Samuel Chase as his
victim. He asked the House to vote by a majority to charge him with a crime. The Senate then
has a trial and can convict him. He ultimately failed and it proved that you could not whimsically
get rid of judges.
2/17/15
The international problem that he had to face was Napoleons conquest of Europe. Americans
had a persisting navy influence in France but Jefferson pulled them out. However, Napoleon had
conquered Spain and the Americans ability to use the Mississippi was in jeopardy because their
treaty was worthless. They didnt want to make another treaty because it was possible that the
Mississippi would be back in the hands of the Spanish soon. They needed that territory for their
own. They needed the mouth of the Mississippi (Louisiana). Napoleon wanted this territory to
take control of the farming lands and make it a breadbasket for France. His troops in this region
were in Haiti. The only problem for Napoleon was that a slave named Toussaint L (a little line
thingy) Ouverture was leading a revolution in Santo Domingo and got rid of these troops. With
those troops occupied the French had no way to protect that area. Not knowing this, the
Americans sent Monroe and Livingston to negotiate. They wanted a small piece of land for no
more than $10 million. The counter offer was all of the Louisiana territory for $15 million. This was
troubling because there was no guarantee what was there. An additional problem was that
nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the govt. can buy land and Jefferson believed in a
strict interpretation of the Constitution and the elastic clause only applied in an absolute
emergency. This was not an emergency. It was extra land. In the end Jefferson decided to buy it.
He was very hasty because the territorial and political climate was rough and there was no
guarantee in the future, the French agreed to this because they needed the money to start
fighting England again in the near future. The federalists objected for three reasons. 1) It was
unconstitutional. 2) It was extremely expensive. 3) Nobody knew what was there. In response
Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1803 to explore the Louisiana Territory
from St. Louis to the Pacific. The goals were to find an all water route across the continent
study the ecology of the territory and meet with NAs to organize fur trade.
The purchase was significant for seven reasons:
1) It doubled the size of the US.
2) It gave us many new resources.
Gold and other stuff
3) It gave the US all of the Mississippi (both sides and mouth).
4) It changed the attitude of farmers who now had more land. They had previously felt
animosity to the government and now they were given so much more land because of the
government.
10

5) It promoted Western expansion.

6) It forced Jefferson to take a loose interpretation of the Constitution (one Jefferson or
two)
7) It will hurt the federalists because they were opposed to what would prove to be an
extremely popular purchase
War between US and Tripoli in Textbook
Tripoli pirates wants extortion money to not attack their ships
European nations pay
America is above that
So they decide to go to war but they dont have such a big navy and only use mosquito
ships
Marbury v. Madison
At this point Jon Marshall had been appointed the Chief Supreme Court Justice. He was the first
heavily active person in this position. Adams passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 that created 52
new judge positions. This was done so that at the end of his presidency, Adams could appoint 52
new federalist judges who would serve for life. He was appointing judges even on his last night.
These judges were called midnight judges. One of them was William Marbury. The appointment
had to be delivered to Congress the next day (when Jefferson entered office) by the Secretary
of State, Madison, who didnt do so on the order of now President Jefferson. When Marbury
found out he sued Madison (really the Jefferson administration) for not delivering his
appointment. Specifically his writ of mandamus (his official papers).
Important Figures
William Marbury
o A judge appointed by federalist President Jon Adams
Jon Marshall
o Federalist Chief Supreme Court Justice
Case

Issue

Decision and Why

Significance

11

Marbury
Vs.
Madison
(1803)

Should Marbury be a
judge?

Marshall and the

court ruled that
Marbury should be a
Is this an issue for the judge. They could
court?
have done so
because the
Does the Supreme
Judiciary Act of 1789
Court have the power said so, however, the
to issue a writ of
clause that granted
Mandamus (an order
the Supreme Court
from the court ordering this power was ruled
someone in an
unconstitutional.
executive position to
do something)?

Jon Marshall, the federalist,

would in theory want to
increase the power of the
federal government and make
Marbury a judge. He didnt
however, because in
sacrificing Marbury he
established a precedent for
Judicial Review (Ruling federal
laws constitutional or not)
which as a federalist and a
judge, is a major win for
Marshall. This was a loss for
Jefferson and DRs because it
violated Compact Theory
(states decide
constitutionality of laws).

2/21
Adams signed a treaty that ended the Franco-American hostilities that arose after the XYZ
affair (Convention of 1800). However, Great Britain and France were still at war and attacking
Americans trading with the other. The early presidents really wanted to stay out of the
European wars. At the beginning of Jeffersons Presidency, Napoleon was in control of a majority
of the continent of Europe (everywhere but GB and he called them a nation of Traders who live
off of importing). He instilled the Continental System through the Edict of Berlin. This stated
that nobody could trade with England unless you had a license granted by the French. This
applied to any nation inside or outside of Europe. In response England created the Orders of
Counsel. This stated that nobody can trade with France unless they get a license from England.
This greatly affected the Americans because their ships were being abd0ucted left and right.
They were caught in the middle. Jefferson, wanting nothing more than to stay out of war came
up with a solution. Under his guidance he passed the Embargo Act of 1807. It stated that
Americans could no longer export anything anywhere. Eventually foreign trade would lead to war.
Now England will respect our neutrality because they need our goods. The boycott hurt the
12

English but it hurt the Americans even more. England wouldnt acknowledge the neutrality of
America. It was a complete failure. The next step was the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809. It stated
that Americans could trade with anybody but France and GB. This was better but the problem
still remained because they had been Americas biggest trade partners. Pretty quickly, Congress
allowed the bill to expire because it was of no real help. In 1809 they replaced it with Macons Bill
#2. It allowed the President to say that as soon as someone agreed to respect our neutrality
and shipping rights we would begin trading with them again. Trade with the other nation would
still be non-existent. Napoleon took advantage of this and half-heartedly stated that he
respected our neutrality and trade with France, not GB, resumed. This was in 1811. Madison, who
was now President urged for Congress to declare war in June of 1812. His reasons included the
following: 1) Seizure of American naval vessels and impressment of the Americans on those
vessels. They treated them like deserters. 2) Lack of recognition of our independence. 3)
Attacking American ships even in American harbors randomly not formally. 4) The British are
inspiring savage NA attacks. 5) Stifling American trade.
There were War Hawks in Congress that were looking to expand and gain more land for the
country. We dont use this as a reason because it would make us appear on an offensive and we
want to appear to be victims on the defensive.
The Americans wanted the impressment to stop. Additionally they wanted Britain to recognize
the neutrality of the US. They wanted them to repeal the Orders of Council. In fact, the British
did so 2 weeks before the fighting started but by the time the news reached America the
fighting had started and all the other reasons kept the war going.
The war hawks were in favor of the war. Also the western farmers because they were the ones
getting attacked. Most Democratic Republicans. Federalists were very against the war because
they were friends with the British. Merchants were against the war because they wont be able
to trade at all. Virginia was against going to war because they were against getting Canada who
was anti-Slavery.
Three pronged attacks were very important. They didnt let us take Canada but we defended
very well. The only successful attacks by the British was on Washington, DC where they burned
the Capitol and White House. There next target was Baltimore
Francis Scott Key wrote a poem called the Star Spangled Banner which would become the
National Anthem. It was based on his observations during the shelling of Fort McHenry during
the War of 1812. The ultimatum offered by the British was that if the flag was lowered they would
see it as surrender and cease fire. The Americans refused and didnt surrender. Had that fort
surrendered the British would have had a clear path to the South and regained control of the
country.
13

End of the War Battle of New Orleans. Led by Jackson, American forces massacred Britain in
New Orleans. This was weeks after the treaty of Ghent was signed. The same time problem arose
and this battle happened anyway.
New Englanders were against the Canadian invasion because they were being drafted. Northern
federalists held the Hartford Convention in 1814. They argued that the Constitution states that
we can only go to war for defensive purposes and here we are invading Canada. They argued
that they didnt have to do it on the grounds of the Compact Theory. This is the only time that
the North ever used the Compact Theory as a defense. They tried to secede. They suggested
that 2/3 of congress needs to pass a resolution to go to war not just a simple majority. They also
suggested that the President had more limited war power. This didnt lead to Civil War because
the war ended before the convention finished so the steam was out of their argument.
Treaty of Ghent (1814). In 1814 the British defeated Napoleon. He is exiled and the war in Europe is
over. This means that the entire British military could concentrate its efforts on America. In
order to avoid annihilation, Americans sent diplomats to Europe to negotiate a treaty. The
fighting stopped. All borders returned to the pre-war status. The naval discrepancies would not
continue because the Orders of Council were gone. In the end it was a pointless war that ended
in a tie. Americans thought they won because they won the last battle. This was despite the
fact that the war was really over at this time and the British were destroying America. The
British didnt continue for the simple reason that they were sick of war. It was draining their
population morale and wallets. The British finally officially recognized Americas independence.
They did so by evacuating the forts in the Northwest.
There are six major significances of the War of 1812. 1) Foreign respect. This was the 2nd time in
less than 50 years that they were able to defend themselves against the most powerful nation
in the world. 2) End of American military involvement in Europe (for 100 years). 3) Intense
nationalism in America. Americans decided that we are not British anymore and this led to the
creation of an American culture as opposed to one that mirrored Britain. (They would start
writing their own dictionary soon as well as other things). 4) Major westward expansion. British
and NAs leave so Americans can move to Ohio area. 5) The growth of manufacturing. This was a
result of the pre-war acts that forced us to be more self-sufficient rather than the war itself. 6)
The Federalists finally faded out. They had been losing power since the Election of 1800. Judges
remained though.
Timeline of the War of 1812
1803
o War breaks out between France and Britain
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1806
o

Young nationalist War Hawks, including John Calhoun, Felix Grundy and Henry
Clay enter Congress and play bold roles in politics

Shawnee Indian leader Tecumseh forms a confederacy; US beats them at

Tippecanoe

1811

1812

D.C. is razed and the treaty of Ghent is signed

1815
o

Andrew Jackson becomes Hero of New Orleans after defeating British.

Commercial trade reopens between GB and US

Rush-Bagot agreement limits number of war-ships on Great Lakes; Jackson

fights Seminoles in Spanish-Florida

1817

1818
o

Madison declares war; after several US armies fail to attack British and Indians in
Canada, Cptn. Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British fleet on Lake Erie; in another
battle, Tecumseh is killed and his confederacy dissolved

1814
o

Impressment leads British to attack the Chesapeake, a United States ship off
the coast of Virginia; in response to the Chesapeake incident, Congress passes
the Embargo Act to stop US sea trade. This was an influential impressment
because it was the first impressment of a war vessel

1810

Britain attempts to blockade France from ships of other countries

1807
o

You need money to fight a war and now Napoleon had money after the
Louisiana Purchase

Borders are agreed on for Louisiana and Oregon territories

1819
o

Adam-Onis Treaty: Spain gives Florida to the US

End Test 5

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