Unit 4 (1800-1844):
○ Revolution of 1800 (peaceful transfer of power between parties)
○
○ Main themes
■ Expanding role of the USA in world affairs
■ The transformation of the society and economy in the early republic
● Expansion of federal power
■ How Americans came to terms with the growing democratic impulses
during this time
Political changes during the Jeffersonian republic (1800-1823):
● The 3rd president of the United States, and 1st Democratic-Republican (which led to the
○ Revolution of 1800: The shocking and peaceful transfer of power from the
Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans
■ This could’ve very much been the end of America if it went poorly, but
instead, every man decided to be the better man
● American relations with foreign powers:
○ The Barbary Pirates:
■ The prior Federalist presidents paid the Barbary states of North Africa in
exchange for the protection of American merchant ships
■ Thomas Jefferson was against this idea and ceased the payments
■ The Barbary Pirates then started attacking the ships
■ Jefferson's administration, in fear of war, negotiated a lower payment
● Federal power increases:
○ Democratic republicans had a Strict Constructionist view of the Constitution
■ Only what was explicitly stated was possible for the federal government in
the Constitution, and was allowed
○ Federalists had a Loose Constructionist view on the Constitution
■ The constitution was more flexible, federal government powers weren't all
explicitly stated in the constitution
○ The Louisiana Purchase:
■ After the Haitian revolution and their independence, Napoleon decided he
had no use for the Louisiana territory (GIANT territory in the middle of
today's USA) and decided to sell it to the United States for $15 million
■ Democratic-Republicans argued that nowhere in the Constitution did it lay
out that the federal government could purchase land
● Jefferson convinced himself it was ok because it allowed for
further Indian and European removal
■ Expanded what the federal government could do
○ The Lewis & Clark expedition:
■ They were assigned the task of exploring and mapping the newly
acquired Louisiana territory starting in 1804
○ The Marshall cases (led by Chief Justice John Marshall):
■ Marbury V Madison:
○ On his way out of office, James Madison appointed judges
to keep some Federalists in power, but Jefferson's
secretary of state refused to acknowledge some of the
appointments, so one of the appointees, Marbury, sued.
● Ruled in Marbury’s favor, but could not enforce it (Executive
balance)
● Established Judicial review (The courts had the final say on the
constitutionality of actions), which increased the power of the
judicial branch
■ McCulloch V Maryland:
● Federal law trumps state law
● Grew the power of the entire federal government
● Regional disagreements over National opinions:
○ The War of 1812:
■ Causes:
● French and English at war and angry that the USA is still trading
with the other and seizes their ships
● W/Westward expansion led to more conflicts with natives, which
Americans were convinced was the English’s doing
● British Impressment (kidnapping American men and forcing them
to serve in the Royal Navy)
■ Opinions:
● Democratic-Republicans were for it
● Federalists were against it
○ Met at the Hartford Convention on how to end the war
● The political parties at the time were still very regionally based, so
these opinions on the war were based on the region's specific
interests, rather than that of the nation
■ Results & aftermath:
● The USA won the war
● Created intense Nationalism for defeating the British once again
● Ended the Federalist Party
○ This was due to everyone's rejoice for winning the war
harshly conflicted with their strong anti-war opinions
● Started the Era of Good Feelings under the
Democratic-Republican party
● Pointed out big weaknesses
○ w/ national bank expired, funds were difficult to receive
○ No reliable transportation systems made it difficult to move
men and supplies
○ Henry Clay’s American System:
■ In the desire of unifying the American economy across regions, Henry
Clay devised a 3 part economic prescription
● federally funded internal improvements (like roads and canals)
that helped farmers and merchants
○ It was vetoed by James Madison due to the need for the
expansion of federal power
● Implementation of protective tariffs to help American
manufacturers
● Re-establish the Bank of the United States
○ Continued westward expansion:
■ Missouri’s application for statehood:
● Thousands of slaves had already been brought to the territory, so
it was assumed it would be a slave state, but the addition of the
Talmadge Amendment meant it would come in as a free state,
dislodging the balance of free and slave states in Congress.
○ Slave status was a regional interest, rather than a united
national opinion
● The solution was the Missouri Compromise/The Compromise
of 1820:
○ Missouri came in as a slave state, and Maine was admitted
as a free state
○ Future states below the bottom border of Missouri would
be slave, and above free
● USA on the global stage:
○ Goals were to firm up boundaries and gain territory
○ Boundaries:
■ North:
● John Quincy Adams was sent to London (by the new president,
Monroe) to settle the northern border
● He came back with the agreements for the 49th parallel border
and the joint occupation of the Oregon territory
■ South:
● To decrease Spanish influence on the Americas, Adams signed
the Adams-Onis Treaty
○ This treaty sold Florida to the USA and drew the official
southern border line
○ Monroe Doctrine:
■ Established the Western hemisphere as the U.S.’s domain of influence,
allowing them to interfere in any affairs
Changes to society and economy within the Market Revolution:
● The linking of northern industries with western and southern farms, which was created
by advances in agriculture, industry, communication, and transportation
● Economy:
○ Invention of the Cotton Gin & Spinning Machine
■ Revolutionized farming by speeding up the time it took to pick seeds from
cotton, allowing farmers to grow even more cotton with less labor
■ Revolutionized manufacturing by decreasing the time it took to spin cotton
into yarn
○ Creation of Interchangeable Parts:
■ Rather than having 1 person create an item from beginning to end,
manufacturers were able to mass produce individual parts and then have
them all assembled into the final product
■ This was the base of the American System of Manufacturing, which
was
● Water-powered machines
● Division of labor into small, repeatable tasks that require little to no
skills from laborers
● Hence, Mass Production
○ Invention of Steamboats
■ Revolutionized trade through water by allowing trade to happen in both
directions, along canals and streams
○ Advancement of transportation
■ Building of Canals (man-made waterways) like the Erie Canal in New
York, which had massive economic benefits and led to further Canal
creation
■ Railroads started to take hold over canals due to easier and further
possible construction
● Government aided by giving land grants and tax grants to
companies
○ The effect of all this new technology was the intertwining and growing
independence of American industries
● Society:
○ Northern industrial cities exploded in population and diversity
■ 1820 - 1840, 2 million new immigrants arrived in America and settled in
the East, providing an expanding and cheap workforce
● Created the “laboring poor” and crammed themselves into tight
and close homes with terrible conditions and sanitation
● Able to keep the culture and customs from wherever they moved
from, diversifying American society
■ Others moved west and established farms on the frontier
■ Growing Middle class who had disposable income to spend on leisure
○ Women were expected to conform to the norm known as the Cult of
Domesticity
■ A woman's sense of purpose came from working in the home and
childbearing
■ Created 2 separate spheres of sexes within the middle and upper classes
○ Expansion of democracy:
■ Voting was only available to the Elite (white male property owners), and
many non-elites started to demand the right to vote
● Panic of 1819 (1st recession)
○ Caused by irresponsible banking practices and decreased
demand for American exports
○ Effects: Working men demanded the franchise (the right to
vote) to hold politicians accountable for their failures
● Influx of new voters exacerbated differences within the
Democratic-Republicans, leading to a split and the end of the Era
of Good Feelings
● Split of the Democratic republicans:
○ The rift between the 2 sides of the democratic republicans created 2 factions
within the party
■ National Republicans
● Expansive view of federal power
● Lose constructionists
● Similar to the old school Federalists
■ Democrats
● Restrictive view of federal power
● Strict constructionists
● Mainly based on Democratic-Republicans
○ Because of the rift between the groups, it was difficult to choose a candidate for
president, so instead, there were 4
■ John Quincy Adams & Henry Clay - Republicans
■ Andrew Jackson - Democratic
● Jackson campaigned with the people and therefore won the
popular vote
■ Since there were 4 candidates, no 1 person got the required 50%, so the
vote went to the house, where Clay happened to be the speaker and
strongly endorsed Adams, leading to his victory
■ Adams nominated Clay as his secretary of state, causing Jackson
supporters to call foul, which was called the Corrupt Bargain
○ By the next presidential election, the 2 factions had solidified into political parties
■ Jackson with the Democrats
■ Adams with the Republicans
■ Jackson won again by campaigning to the people
Jacksonian democracy ():
● By the time Andrew Jackson got into office, the parties shifted a bit to the Democrats (led
by him) and the Whigs (Led by Henry Clay)
○ The main disagreement was the scope of federal power
■ Tariff of 1828:
○ Raised import taxes are high
○ North and Westerners ayed it because it protected their
industry
○ Southerners hated it bc they relied on imported goods
● Jackson's vice president (a South Carolinian) came up with the
idea of Nullification: The states had the right to determine the
constitutionality of federal laws, and if a state found this
unconstitutional, they could nullify this
● When Congress reaffirmed the tariff in 1831, South Carolina
decided to nullify the law and said that if the federal government
tried to come and collect those taxes, they would secede from the
union
● So, to not have his authority taken from beneath him, Jackson had
Congress pass the Force Bill, which allowed him to use federal
troops to enforce federal law in South Carolina
○ South Carolina also nullified the Force Bill, but stayed in
the union
■ Jackson's veto of the 2nd bank of the United States
● Although the United States bank did stabilize the economy, it led
to state banks having to close due to not being able to pay the
federal bank, leaving people with worthless money
● When the reaproval of the bank came across his desk, Jackson
vetoed the bill, calling it an attack on the common man and
favoring the Elite
■ Project of Indian Removal
● Indian Removal Act (1830):
○ After the discovery of gold on the land of many natives
(including the Cherokee), the push for their removal was
increased, and the Indian Removal Act was passed
○ The Cherokee people fought against this in the Supreme
Court with the case of Worcester V Georgia
■ Court ruled the Cherokee Nation sovereign and
Georgia had no right to impose state laws within
their boundaries
○ Treaty of New Echota: Exchanged Cherokee land in
Georgia for a reservation territory west of the Mississippi
○ The long and painful walk to the territory was called the
Trail of Tears
● American culture and reform
○ The American Dictionary of the English Language (published by Noah
Webster):
■ Standardized the pronunciation and spelling of American English
○ American philosophy of Transcendentalism
■ Belief in human perfection
■ Switched emphasis from logic to emotion
■ Followed human power, and beauty of nature, and simplicity
■ Leaders:
● Ralph Waldo Emerson:
○ Began the movement
○ Believed oral perfection could be achieved in the United
States
● Henry David Thoreau
○ Lived among nature completely for a year to try and
achieve human perfection
○ Wrote a book called Walden about his experiences
■ Art:
● The Hudson River School of Art painted romanticized landscapes
in New York and the western territories
■ Push for spiritual renewal
● Creation of Utopian Communities: influenced by European
intellectuals and American equality
○ Oneida Community:
■ A group of Christians who were convinced that the
2nd Coming of Christ had already happened and
that they must shake all worldly restraints and live
in community and equality
■ All members relinquished any property
■ Complex marriage (everyone in the community was
married to everyone in the community)
● Second Great Awakening:
○ Different Christian denominations created camp meetings
featuring different preachers that would last days on end
○ These camp meetings were mostly egalitarian (White,
Black, Men, & Women)
■ Wasn't all egalitarian, Southern Baptists broke off
from the Baptists as a whole because of all the
abolitionists in the North
○ Preacher Charles Finney:
■ Spoke with vivid imagery that was easy for the avg.
person to understand
■ His preaching spread to cities across the north,
causing Christian revival
■ Focused on the moral reformation of SOCIETY as
a whole, rather than the individual
○ Temperance movement:
■ Led by the American Temperance Society
■ The movement away from alcohol, mainly among
working-class men who abused alcohol
■ Wanted COMPLETE abstinence
○ Creation of Mormonism:
■ Founded by Joseph Smith on the grounds that all
other churches had strayed from the true teachings
of god
■ The people of New York (where it was founded) first
put up with the Mormons, but onced Smith said that
god instructed them to enjoy polygamy, they
prosecuted
■ The riot led the next leader to lead the Mormons to
the Great Salt Lake in today's Utah
○ Growing movement of Abolitionism:
■ movement grew outside of Free blacks and Quakers due to the writing of
The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison
● Argued that white folks need to make a stand against slavery by
moral persuasion, not violence
● His work helped to create the American Anti-Slavery Society,
which spread rapidly across the North. Not everyone in the North
was an abolitionist, though.
● such as merchants who relied on slavery for the cotton trade,
feared what abolition would do to their industry
● Working men feared free blacks would try and take their jobs, but
for lower pay
■ Many Women supported the movement but knew that their status as
women would make it difficult for them to create an impact, creating a
desire for rights for themselves
● This led to the Seneca Falls Convention, which was the 1st ever
convention held on the basis of earning rights in the US
○ Drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which called for
equality in education, legal rights, and voting
○ Growing Southern culture
■ Slaves continued their own unique cultures despite this harsh treatment,
notably their songs
■ In this period, plantation owners started to get harsher with their slaves for
reasons including:
● Southern plantation owners moved westward with expansion and
grew their plantations and prospective profits from their crops,
harvested by slaves. Plantation owners grew harsher to their
slaves to protect their profits
● Growing fear of slave results continued, and harsher punishments
were believed to keep slaves in line
○ Fears came true with Nat Turner’s Rebellion:
■ Slaves revolted under Nat Turner, who believed
that god had come to him and told him to do so
■ By the end, they had killed over 50 white people
■ Increased fear of slave revolts even more, creating
even harsher punishments
■ Most white southerners were NOT slave owners, but rather Yeoman
Farmers who just worked independently. But these people were still pro
slavery and believed in the racial hierarchy, despite owning no slaves
■ As soil nutrients became depleted from overfarming, these southerners
moved westward and brought slavery with them
