UNIT: CREATING A NEW NATION
The New Nation
WEEK 30
AMERICAN FOUNDATIONS
WE THE PEOPLE FACE CHALLENGES After the Constitutional Convention, George Washington of Virginia was unanimously elected the president of the United States. The first Congress met and began the business of governing. There were many challenges facing the new federal government. Some of those challenges were because of new laws. Some challenges were inherited from the old system. One challenge inherited from the opinions created two different ways of thinking that eventually led to two political parties. The two parties were the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. Hamilton led the Federalists. Jefferson led the Democratic Republicans. By 1798, Washington had retired as president. John Adams, a Federalist, was the second president. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican,
John Adams ran for re-election in 1800 against Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Jefferson and Burr received the majority of votes in a tie. As directed in the Constitution, the election went to the House of Representatives to break the tie. After weeks of discussion and voting, with a tie occurring each time, Alexander Hamilton stepped up to endorse Thomas Jefferson over his friend, Aaron Burr. This swayed enough House members to vote for Jefferson as president. Burr conceded defeat and became vice president. The first peaceful transfer of power occurred after a very tense election process. Burr’s peaceful concession strengthened the Constitution and the new country. The Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed, or not renewed. President Jefferson began his administration by looking to give more power to the states. However, as time passed, an opportunity would come that made Jefferson stretch the authority of the presidency. He made the largest land purchase in the history of the United States.
old system was the debt created from the war. The cost of keeping an army supplied during the Revolutionary War had added up. Under the Articles of Confederation, the individual states were responsible for paying off this debt. However, the Confederation Congress did not have the power to collect tax money. The new federal government, however, had a taxation system in place. The new secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, created a plan. To give the new government a positive financial system, he suggested that the war debt be paid in full. After much debate, he persuaded the federal government to pay off the debt. To pay the debt, the Bank of the United States was established, and a system of currency, or money, was created that is still in place today. To strengthen the United States, Hamilton proposed that the United States promote manufacturing. He also advocated that the country limit its trade dependency on manufactured goods from Europe. Another challenge the new government faced was how to balance the demands of manufacturing and agriculture. Manufacturing favored the northern states but diminished the agricultural plantation system of the southern states. Thomas Jefferson, in contrast, promoted policies that favored agriculture and the southern states. Hamilton and Jefferson’s
was vice president. The two parties had such differing opinions on every topic that there was constant conflict in the government. The Federalists accused the opposing views of the other party as being disloyal to the Constitution. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. These Acts targeted immigration and immigrants living in the United States. The Acts also made it a crime for American citizens to “print, utter, or publish ... any false, scandalous, and malicious [hostile] writing” about the federal government. These legal actions were a direct challenge to the First Amendment, especially freedom of speech and the press. Many newspapers who supported Jefferson’s political party were arrested and shut down for printing material that opposed the Federalists.
James Madison
Thomas Jefferson
John Jay
Alexander Hamilton
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How did the United States change in the first decades following the founding of the country?
Made with FlippingBook Annual report