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The Early Part of the United States' History! "Does not get you through your SAT."
1 The Earliest Presidents
- Washington
- Adams
- Jefferson
- Madison
- Monroe
2 Westward Expansion
Always assumed that they would expand west and take rights from the Indians. The second amendment was as much about bearing arms against Indians than it is about bearing arms against the British.
2.1 Getting Texas
James Polk leveraged the Mexican-American war to acquire the new Western technology.
2.2 Louisiana Purchase
Did not actually have authority to do so, but just did it kind of for funzies.
3 Federalism vs Anti-Federalism
The perspectives of the new ideas remain. John Adams was a pretty large power grabber to solidify the federalist position. Pushing Virginia and New York to ratify was a pretty large point because they have the biggest negotiating point.
4 The Executive
Washington gave a lot of precedents to the presidents.
- Served two terms & steps down: does not try to take over
- Set a tone and expectation that presidents will not live their whole life in power
- Advised to avoid the fight between France and England
4.1 Washinton
4.1.1 Wiskey Rebellion
A rebellion rose against taxes of the Whiskey. Washinton's leadership and success in putting down the rebellion offers sharp contrast to the Articles' handling of Shay's Rebellion.
4.1.2 Dealing with Native Americans
Washinton dealt with the NAs by chasing them out into newly-treaties land via leveraging the military.
4.1.3 Hamilton's Financial Programs
4.2 Adams
Did not endear himself to others, and was quite a short stature. Was not quite benefited by the fact that Washington — who was tall and polished.
4.2.1 Alien and Sedition Acts
Got a lot of criticism by acts to exclude aliens from voting and preventing people from criticizing the government.
4.2.2 XYZ Affair
France wanted America to force a bribe before they would see the American ambassador.
4.2.3 Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions
Two different parties was leading and vice-leading. Jefferson was trying to jab the president in the back: trying to nullify federal law.
4.3 Jefferson
"Democratic Republican party": identify difference with the elite Federalists. Plantation owner with two families (look it up!).
- Among the political and economic elite in the US
- Wins the election, and inherits justices that were Federalists
Tells Madison to ignore Jefferson. The Marbury v. Madison is declared unconstitutional: which then solidifies the standing of the court as a group to interpret the laws. Jefferson was furious, as this expanded the power of the Judicial branch. But he did not wish to take action because if he did than Marbury would win.
4.3.1 Louis and Clarke
Looking for the water root of the Missouri River.
Flipped over the Rockies to hope to find the ocean, but no. It is not the ocean: its more land! They carried on, traded with the Native Americans for sustenance, and finally reach the Pacific Coast.
York, their slave, gets here the first vote to make the decision whether or not to return after the Pacific. The wife of a Frenchmen helped navigate the diplomacy of the group and translates. She helped create the opportunities for trade.
They make it back alive.
4.3.2 Louisiana Purchase
Naepolean needed money.
4.4 Madison
War of 1812 hits, US was at war with England to get Quebec. Naepolean was defeated in Europe, and DC was eventually burned. Also Andrew Jackson was fighting this war.
4.5 Monroe
The Missouri Compromise tries to keep the senate balance by bringing Maine as a free state: creating a 36*30 line. Monroe Doctrine: tried to push out England and France and will protect Latin America; this would therefore establish hegemony and a sphere influence ("England protected the 13 colonies, too.")
5 Characterizing the Antebellum Period
How might we best characterize the United States from 1790-1860
5.1 A note on characterization things
Remember: characterization is something subjective.
5.2 Social Changes
- Women's Roles: limited freedoms & limited access to upper-class education
- Free African Americans in the North — had freedoms and had no political/civil rights
- Second Great Awakening: religious ideas in the Americas transforms
- Huge revival period of religions (like the '60s, '70s, '80s)
- Pushing for things to reform society
6 The Divided Antebellum
The National period could be said to be a process that's quite divided, building up to the war.
Nationalism and Revolution are the two sides of a coin
- Remembering: the rebellion after the British in the nationalism in the US
- So, is the internal-to-American rebellions also an act of Nationalism?
6.1 Themes of the Antebellum
- Age of Genocide (Madley): native american killings
- Age of Abolition (Garland): civil war buildup
- Age of Andrew Jackson (Schlesinger): he's epic
- Age of Technological Revolution (Howe): tech happens always, its just tech influencing politics
- Era of Reform (Walters): reforms happens all the time, though
- Age of Immigration (Seller): globalization and huge global migration
- Evolution of Democracy (Boek): we are getting better as a democracy, right?
6.2 The Age of Division
- Dis-union is also nothing new!
- 13 isolated English colonies
- Failed Albany Plan of Union, 1754
- Confederation of Sovereign States
- Sectionalism: Northeast, South, west — leads states to want to leave the union
- Anti-Federalists vs. Ratification
Rhode Island did not want to join, NY did not ratify until very late.
6.2.1 The Secessionitis
- 1814 at the Hartford Convention – long before the civil war – several Northeastern states plan secession until Jacks'n victory
- South Carolina nullified federal laws
6.2.2 Slavery as the Core Division
- 1850: Compromise allows CA to enter as a Free State: making the senate unbalanced
- 1856: "Bleeding Kansas" was a mini-civil war about slavery
- 1857: Dred Scott vs Sanford reintroduced slaves as property in Free states
- 1859: John Brown's Raid Harper's Ferry Virginia fuels the fear in the South of Radical Abolitionists
6.2.3 Actual Scession
"Oh it wanes't about slavery, its about states rights, right?"
no. The Civil War is about slavery; its the right of slavery. That's it.
- Southern states believed that they had a constitutional linkage to Slavery
- The validity of session was rooted in the constitutionality of Slavery
6.3 Rebellions going on
That it is the rebellions that caused the increased nationalism
- Bacon's Rebellion
- Shay's Rebellion
- Ratification crisis
- Whiskey Rebellion
Latin-American revolutions soon followed the American Rebellion.
6.4 National Unities
- Apparent Victory in War of 1812
- Monroe Doctrine of 1823 - not only are we unified, we would control the hemisphere