Lecture 7b - Upper Iowa University

Hist 110 American Civilization I Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer Upper Iowa University

Lecture 7b Jefferson Takes Over  Election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson prevailed over Aaron Burr in the House of Representative  Led to the 12th Amendment joining the vote for President and Vice President 

 Jefferson’s inaugural: took a conciliatory stance toward the Federalists  His agenda:  Cut government spending  Eliminate internal federal taxes and pay off the national debt  Passive approach to economic policy  Selective removal of Federalists in appointive offices (only 69 of 433)  Judiciary Act of 1801: Republicans repeal act packing the judiciary with Federalists  Republicans fail at using impeachment to remove Federalist judges—unable to oust archFederalist Samuel Chase

What did Jefferson mean by the statement in his inaugural address: “We are all Federalists. We are all Republicans.”

Lecture 7b Westward Expansion Under Jefferson  Westward expansion sped up after 1783 By 1800, nearly a million Americans lived west of Appalachian crest

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 Movement encouraged by federal government, particularly with the use of U.S. army to force out Native Americans  Louisiana Purchase (1803)  Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800): Spain

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forced by Napoleon to cede Louisiana, which threatened American commerce on the Mississippi River Jefferson offered to buy New Orleans from France to fix this problem Napoleon, suddenly needing money, offered to sell all of Louisiana to U.S. (828,800 sq. miles of territory) Jefferson’s quandary: reconcile purchase with strict construction of Constitution Jefferson decided to allow the voters to judge the constitutionality of purchase in the 1804 presidential election

Map of the Louisiana Purchase (in deep green)

Lecture 7b Forces Underlying Westward Expansion  Two forces underlay Westward expansion in the decades following the American Revolution Yeoman farmers both in the North and South trying to maintain their independence in the face of growing land scarcity on the eastern seaboard  The movement of commercial agriculture, especially southern planters, looking for fresh land  The boom in cotton cultivation after the invention of the cotton gin spurred the movement of planters west as cotton quickly exhausted soil 

 Federal land policy, which initially required large purchases for cash, meant that much of western land ended up in the hands of speculators 

Speculators found themselves having to deal with squatters

 Growing land scarcity, worn out land, and labor departed for the frontier, forced eastern farmers to introduce progressive agricultural techniques

George Caleb Bingham’s famous painting of Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap

Lecture 7b Jefferson’s Difficult Second Term  

Jefferson easily re-elected in 1804, but afterwards his fortunes suffered Political troubles:   

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Fallout from Vice President Aaron Burr killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel The Quids: a ultra-pure faction within Jefferson’s Republicans James T. Callender: exposed Jefferson’s sexual relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings

Impressment  

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Collapse of Peace of Amiens in 1803 British began stopping U.S. ships and forcing American sailors to serve in the Royal Navy Non-Importation Act (1806): U.S. resorted to trade pressure to end British practice of impressment Embargo Act (1807): failure of nonimportation, the Chesapeake Affair, and New England’s resistance caused Jefferson to ask for a cessation of all U.S. imports and exports

Lecture 7b Origins of the War of 1812  James Madison succeeded Jefferson as president in March 1809 

Napoleon Bonaparte

Jefferson left the presidency unpopular because of his harsh and unsuccessful policies to end impressment

Who cheated the U.S. in the implementation of Macon’s Bill No. 2

 Madison also failed to end impressment Non-Intercourse Act (1809)  Macon’s Bill No. 2 (1810) 

 Roots of Anglo-American conflict 

Misunderstanding each others view of the world and their place in it—Americans wanted their neutral rights respected while British and French thought weak nations like the U.S. must ally themselves with a great power for their own protection

 War Hawks 

Up and coming politicians like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun who pushed for war because they felt it was the only way for the U.S. to reclaim its honor

Henry Clay

John C. Calhoun

Lecture 7b War of 1812 (1)  June 19, 1812: War declared Madison accused Britain violating U.S. neutral rights  Claimed also Britain was inciting Native American attacks on the frontier  Some Americans coveted Canada 

 U.S. divided on war  

South and West pro-war New England anti-war  They had strong trade ties to the British Empire

 U.S. ill-prepared for war Navy: 6 frigates, 3 sloops: even with the use of privateers not even close enough to the strength needed take on the Royal Navy  U.S. Army: never larger than 35,000 during war 

 Yet the U.S. lack of preparation was offset for most of the war by the fact that the British were in 1812 still heavily engaged in their war with France

American propaganda poster from the War of 1812 What does it say about American self perception?

Lecture 7b War of 1812 (2)  U.S. offense: 1812-1814. American forces repeatedly invaded Canada—and repeatedly failed  Some U.S. victories  Put-in-Bay: naval victory on Lake Erie  Battle of the Thames in which the Indian leader Tecumseh was killed 

 British offensive: 1814-1815 Invasion from Canada stopped on Lake Champlain  Chesapeake campaign  Washington, D.C. burned in retaliation for U.S. burning Toronto  Fort McHenry: successful defense saved Baltimore and inspired the national anthem 

 Treaty of Ghent (December 1814): 

With the end of the Napoleonic War the underlying causes of the war ended making a status quo settlement possible

American victory at the Battle of New Orleans that took place after the peace treaty ending the war American victory in the battle helped disguise that war had been a near disaster for the U.S.