Chapter 6 and 7 notes Chapter 6 p214-5 Governments exist to promote the happiness of the people, Adams declared. Happiness depends on “virtue,” both public and private. Public virtue meant “pa- triotism,” the willingness of citizens to value the common good above their per- sonal interests and even to die for their country. The form of government that rests entirely on virtue, Adams argued, is a republic In the early state constitutions, every state lodged sovereign power in its legislature and let the legislature define the rights of citizens. Because America had no aristocracy, uncertainty about the proper makeup of the upper house was widespread. 1781 (end of war) Articles of Confederation finally went into force (unanimous approval) 1787 p.238 The antislavery clause may have been part of a larger Compromise of 1787, involving both the ordinance and the clauses on slavery in the federal Constitution. The Philadelphia Convention permitted states to count three-fifths of their slaves for purposes of representation and direct taxation. The antislavery concession to northerners in the ordinance was made at the same time that southern states won this concession in Philadelphia. Several congressmen were also delegates to the Con- stitutional Convention and traveled back and forth between the two cities while these decisions were being made. They may have struck a deal. Shays Rebellion Significance p.239 In Massachusetts, Shays’s Rebellion converted into nationalists many gentlemen and artisans who until then had opposed strengthening the central government. Occupy Wall Street anyone? Cosmopolitans vs. Localists The tensions racking Massachusetts surfaced elsewhere as versus Localists well. Angry debtors in other states closed law courts or even besieged the legislature. State politics reflected a persistent rift between “cosmopolitan” and “localist” coalitions. Merchants, professional men, urban artisans, commercial farmers, southern planters, and former Continen- tal Army officers made up the cosmopolitan bloc. They favored aggressive trade policies, hard money, payment of public debts, good salaries for executive officials and judges, and leniency to returning loyalists. Localists were farmers, rural arti- sans, and militia veterans who distrusted those policies. They demanded paper money, debtor relief, and generous salaries for representatives so that ordinary men could afford to serve. finance Congress also faced severe fiscal problems. Between October 1781 and February 1786, it requisitioned $15.7 million from the states but received only $2.4 million. Its annual income had fallen to $400,000 at a time when interest on its debt neared $2.5 million and the principal on the foreign debt was about to come due. Requisi- tions were beginning to seem as inefficient as George Grenville had predicted when he proposed the Stamp Act. Foreign Policy and the Mississippi River North vs. South p.240 The quarrel became public in early 1787 when a Boston newspaper called for dissolution of the Union. The FEDERAL government The Philadelphia Convention opened in May 1787 VA large state plan NJ small state plan Connecticut Compromise KEY POINT His/Madison's plan also required ratification by state conventions, not by state legislatures. States would not want to give up power to a national government p.241 The result was a federal Constitution that was, in its own way, revolutionary. Are your textbook authors supporting Gordon Wood's concept of a (radical) revolution? p.242 "The delegates (to the Philadelphia Convention) understood that they were proposing an illegal but peaceful overthrow of the existing legal order—that is, a revolution." Once every colony followed suit, "their revolution would become both peaceful and legal." Our Government revealed on p.241 reps, senators, electors, president, terms, 3.5ths, foreign, interstate commerce, necessary and proper, supreme laws of the land, no bill of rights yet. special conventions, 9 out of 13 required (unlike Articles) ASIDE Each elector had to vote for two candidates, of whom one had to be from another state. This provision reflected a fear that localist impulses might block a majority for anyone. Washington would surely be the first president, but there was no obvious choice after him. Federalists and ratifying the Constitution see professor MacDonald CHAPTER 7 C H A P T E R 7 Federalists wanted the Constitution to counter democratic excesses. They were determined to make the national government powerful enough to command respect abroad and to impose order at home These self-styled Democratic Re- publicans (led almost from the beginning by Thomas Jefferson) were as firmly tied to revolutionary ideals of limited government and a citizenry of independent farmers as the Federalists were tied to visions of an orderly commercial republic with a powerful national state. The fight between Federalists and Democratic Republicans echoed the revolutionary contest between liberty and power. Mr. Precedent the "blueprint" p.247 Thus the battle over presidential titles was not “silly business.” It was a revealing episode in the argument over how ques- tions of power and liberty that Americans had debated since the 1760s would finally be answered. James Madison Father of the Constitution "strengthened the national government at every turn." #1 MONEY Passed an import tariff #2 focused on Bill of Rights reflected fear of a centralized power the Amendments (see existing slides) p.248 I don't agree Madison, a committed nationalist, had performed skillfully. Many doubters at the ratifying conventions had called for amendments that would weaken the national government. By channeling their fears into the area of civil liberties, Madison soothed popular fears while preserving governmental power. The Bill of Rights was an important guarantee of individual liberties. In the context in which it was written and ratified, however, it was an even more important guarantee of the power of the national government. 1789 Judiciary Act Supreme Court - 6 justices Alexander Hamilton the debt foreign and domestic debts to individuals (domestic paper - speculators 10-30%) debts to states (South paid off) - money flow to NE 80% holdings (speculators) TODAY - debt relief (Student loan relief - can we relate) Consolidate debt - creditors tied to success of national government Bank of the United States chartered excise taxes to fund the debt - 1st nat'l gov't power to levy and collect a tax Hamilton's Plan: 1 consolidate debt 2 national bank 3 excise tax Madison turns on Hamilton and joins Jefferson DEAL - move capitol south to D.C. Hamilton vs. Jefferson no constitutional right for a bank - strict constructionism necessary and proper clause - loose FOREIGN POLICY French Revolution 1789 Executions 1793 treaty with monarchy (king now dead) is not same treaty the French republic GW abrogates the 1778 treaty - neutrality Federalists - Good terms with Britain - 90% of imports (and tariff "duties") $$$ Jeffersonians - cared less for NE Federalist commercial interests (agrarian farmers) p.253 Thus, while the French ignored the neutrality of the United States, the English engaged in both overt and covert acts of war. 1794 Whiskey Rebellion 12,000 soldiers 1794 NW Indians Mad Anthony Wayne Fallen Timbers Treaty of Greenville p.254 Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory admitted that frontier whites “consider the murdering of the Indians in the highest degree meritorious.” Jay Treaty - impressment (north) avoid war with Britain and keep commerce Pickney Treaty - Spain, Miss R. (south) impeach me - added GW prestige to the treaty Farewell Address 2 term limit = precedent until FDR in 1940 (150 years) secured distant regions no entangling alliances no political divisions (anti Dem Repub) 1796 contested election Federalist - NO Republican - SO 1st place president and place vice president "fixed" in 1804 with 12th A French grievance significant Jay's Treaty Abrogating 1778 but then XYZ affair unofficial naval war with France anti-French sentiment at home Federalists graduated federal property tax Alien and Sedition Acts Alien - never used Sedition used vs. 14 Repub journalists TJ Kentucky Madison VA Resolves - Alien and Sedition Acts not given power in the Constitution and 10th A reserved that power to the states BIG THEME - TJ caused the Civil War p.260 He also argued that the Constitution was a “compact” between sovereign states and that state legislatures could “nullify” federal laws they deemed unconstitu- tional, thus anticipating constitutional theories that states’-rights southerners would use after 1830. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolves demonstrated the extremes to which Jefferson and Madison might go.