American Civilization 07.11.2011

December 15, 1791 : Ratification of the first 10 admenments ==> Bill of rights.

Thanks to those articles, people are now protected under articles of the Constitution. Before, C. Only was about government. We say that C. Is a living document because it can be changed, amended instead of having to change everything, it can be easily amended. The new government had 3 separate branches and the principle of check and balances protected each branch. The USA is a nation of change, the founding fathers were forward thinking. 13 colonies constituted the USA, there were still entities. The lands claimed by different countries were viewed as open territories, public domains. Americans ignored many land barriers. In the future, when the USA required territories, these lands were not used like the other 13 colonies but at least, they had the same status than the other colonies. Jefferson proposed the plan " Add-a-state" or the " Northwest Ordinance" of 1787. This plan was voted into law and it gave structures on how to get a territory and how to create a state. Every terrotiry was considered public domain and it would become state of the union. There were 3 parts :

• When there were almost no people in the territory, the area would be given a governor, a secretory and 3 judges named by Congress.
• When there were 5000 free adult males, there would be a legislation so that people in the territory could make laws for themselves. Legislation could be written.
• When the population reached 60 000 , the territory could apply to join the union.

In The USA, in 1790, there was the first census ( for what ? voting, taxes, population). In 1790, there were 3,929,625 people. Out of this number, there were approximately 700 000 slaves. At that time, the USA territory was 865 000 sqare miles. Most of the territory was virgin land, covered by forests. In the south,there were open structures of lands. 90% of the people living in the USA at that time were farmers. Very little of people lived in cities. There were 6 cities that had a population of 8000 people or a little more ( Baltimore, Charleston..). In the colony, there were difficulties and troubles, communication was not that great. NY to Philadelphia ==> 2 days before and now it is one hour. The mail service was non existant. Franklin invented it later. The time when independance was declared, it took 29 days to go to Philadelphia to Charleston to announce it. For the most part, because communication was difficult, most crops such as tobacco were floating down the rivers. Stability and prosperity depended on communication, people but also on the salad financial plan. Hamilton suggested many propositions. After the war, there was a massive debt in America and there had been no taxes collected. How could the USA become a credible country then ? Hamilton came up with a suggestion. He became the secretary of treasury, he favored a nation who was ruled by merchants and bankers. He was federalist, he didn't want to trust the general population, they couldn't take good decisions for him. He developed a master plan to give USA stability and credibility. His mission was to restore national credit. The debt of the government and the state was 75 million dollars. He wrote sereval reports which provoked a lot of controversy. For him, a heavy debt could strenghten the government. The third proposition of his plan was to propose an increase of domestic manufacturing. this plan built a national economy, took control of the national debt, it would separate how money could be shuffled for the states. It divided the countries into 2 groups :

• Many people disagreed on how to restore credit
• Others approved

Washington and Hamilton were federalists. They supported strong government and had little faith in the mass of people. The other party were followers of Jefferson. It became known as Democratic or Jeffersonian RepublicanS. These people liked the idea of a small central government and more power given to the state for a stronger local government. Throughout 1790's, many domestic problems came up. The Brtiish still held trading posts especially in America. With this, you combine the foreign american issues...The British supported the native americans. In 1789, the french revolution broke out, fearing the same in other countries, a lot of european countries rallied together against France. The Spanish had control of New Orleans and Americans were not allowed to float their goods down to the river to sell their goods. THEY HAD to pay, american farmers couldn't pay. It was a very delicate situation and in 1796, Washigton refused another term, he warned everyone that the nation would be destroyed by the dangers of factionalism : struggles between parties. Adams, the vice president, was elected president and Jefferson was now vice predident. Adams was from the federalists and Washingtion waS not. Throughout Adams'presidency, tyhe USA came closer and closer to war with France. Between 17ç_ and 1800, there were more than 13 ships that were captured. There was a signature of document, US would be releaved of all obligations to France . In return , the USA gave up all claims against france.

In 1800, people were scared that if Jefferson was elected, he would destroy all the things that had been done in the last decade. There was a revolution in 1800. When Jefferson was elected, he represented the Jeffersonian Republicans, before his election there were a lot of taxes and mudslinging, rumours and negative campaigning. Federalists were scared that Jefferson would create chaos and undo all of the progress that had been made before under the Constitution. There were a lot of fears but Adams was a good patriot, he didn't want another war, he tried to make a transition. In his inauguration speech " we are all Republicans, we are all Federalists" ==> Thomas Jefferson. It had a positive effect. The transition between one political party to another was smooth...In 1800, nothing happened during the revolution, nothing. There had been problems with elections so the 12^th admendment was passed in 1804 to avoid specific election problems. This is a period of history known as the " Age of Jefferson". His presidency was probably the most succesful and productive. It was a time of It was also a time of expansion and unification for the USA. During this time, the capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington DC. The city was surveyed by a free black man Benjamin Banneker. There was the architect of Washington whose name was Major Pierre-Charles L'enfant. Jefferson's first term was very succesful, much more relaxed and less formal. He was a fabulous orator, very well educated, he was surrounded by the best scientists, architects. Jefferson believed that slavery was wrong but unfortunately, he found no way of abolishing it. He thought if it were abolished, it would cripple ( handicaper) the country, especially the south. "Justice is in one scale and self preservation in the other" ( Jefferson). He was pushing a plan for manufacturing economy. There are 2 basic doctrines :

• Strict adherence to the Constitution
• Severe economy in spending public money

During his presidency, more and more people moved west. Because of european claims, a part was owned by Spanish. Jefferson knew he had to do with them. Spain had secret deals, agreements and treaties. When Jefferson learned that French had the control of Louisiana, he wrote to Robert Livingston, an ambassador. USA offer to buy Louisiana, to get some ports, a part of the river...At the time, there were some troubles in the Carribean, with Haiti. Napoleon thought he couldn't control Louisiana anymore as he had already problems with a so little island. A deal was worked out : ambassador offered 15 000 000 dollars for the territory of Louisiana. This was the Louisiana purchase, the finance of France were going dry so Napoelon needed some cash. On october 1803, France was paid. This transaction is known as the Lousiana Purchase, it doubled the size of the USA. Jefferson sent a team in 1804 to explore the fauna and the flora in the USA. There were two men who lead this expedition : Meri Wether Lewis and William Clark. They were at the head of the team and their main mission was to find a route to the Pacific. They hired french trappers Toussaint and Charbonneau and Sacajawea. There were domestic and international conflicts that were raising. There was a legal battle : this was due to adam's calculation. Before Jefferson, a lot of judge positions were created until midnight till the end of his term. These judges were federalists. They were the midnight judges. This was the best example of court packing. He pointed John Marshall to be the chief justice, he had studied law briefly and he had no judicial experience but amazingly, he head his post till his death. He participated to Marbury v Madison.