University of West Georgia Party Politics in 1790s Discussion Unit 4 Discussion:
Party Politics in the 1790s
The 1790s was a decade of significant political conflict as the new nation witnessed the rise of political parties in response to domestic and international developments. In 1789, there were no official political parties. By the end of the century, two political parties, the Federalists and Republicans, vied with one another for control of Congress and the presidency. In this discussion, you will explore the positions of one of these political parties.
REQUIRED READINGS
Read the following sources for this discussion:
History in the Making – Chapter 10
Alien and Sedition Acts
Kentucky Resolutions
INSTRUCTIONS
For this assignment, you will CHOOSE ONE of the political parties to write on: either the Federalists OR the Republicans. Choose whichever party interests you, or choose a party that you don’t know much about. Once you choose your party, you will assume the role of a member from that party – pretend that you are either a Federalist or Republican from the 1790s. There are three parts to this assignment:
1. You will write a minimum of three paragraphs discussing the political, economic, and diplomatic views of your political party (based on the content from the textbook). Your political views will include your perspective on state and national government (how strong or weak should they be); your economic views will include your perspective on economic directions that the nations should take (or not take); your diplomatic views will include your perspective on France and England (which nation do you support? why?).
2. You will also write an additional paragraph on one of the primary source readings:
– If you are a Federalist, you will explain what the Alien and Sedition Acts are and give examples from the Acts that you think are necessary to support your position (ex: what parts of the Alien Acts are necessary for the survival of the United States?).
-If you are a Republican, you will explain what the Kentucky Resolutions are and give examples from the Resolutions that you think are necessary to support your position (ex: what role should states play when the national government oversteps its authority?).
3. Respond to at least two postings by other students. Use the voice of your political party when responding to the other postings (ex: if you are a Federalist, then either support a fellow Federalist or attack a Republican – with respect, of course). Be sure that your responses are analytical and include material from the reading (ex: if you are a Republican, why do you despise a Federalist?).
This means that you will write a MINIMUM OF 4 PARAGRAPHS that discuss your particular political party’s perspective AND respond to at least two other postings. Your answers should reflect the main points from the textbook and primary source document for your political party, and be sure to use examples from the readings to support your main points. Proof your answers before submitting it as errors in grammar and spelling will lead to a deduction in points. Use quotations when using the exact wording from the reading. Most of your answer should be in your own words and be sure to cite any quotes used in your answer.
THIS IS FOR POST AND RESPONSE TO CLASSMATE!!
READINGS: An Act Respecting Alien Enemies
(Alien Act)
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war
between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or
predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of
the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United
States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or
subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and
upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be
liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies . . .
APPROVED, July 6, 1798.
An Act in Addition to the Act, Entitled “An Act for the
Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the United States.”
(Sedition Act)
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America, in Congress assembled, That if any persons shall unlawfully
combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the
government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to
impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to intimidate or prevent any
person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from
undertaking, performing or executing his trust or duty, and if any person or persons, with
intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot,
unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel,
advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty
of a high misdemeanor, and on conviction, before any court of the United States having
jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and
by imprisonment during a term not less than six months nor exceeding five years; and
further, at the discretion of the court may be ho]den to find sureties for his good
behaviour in such sum, and for such time, as the said court may direct.
SEC. 2. And be it farther enacted, That if any person shall write, print, utter or
publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall
knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false,
scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States,
or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States,
with intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the
said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite
against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States,
or to stir up sedition within the United States, or to excite any unlawful combinations
therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President
of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested
by the constitution of the United States, or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or
act, or to aid, encourage or abet any hostile designs of any foreign nation against United
States, their people or government, then such person, being thereof convicted before any
court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted and declared, That if any person shall be
prosecuted under this act, for the writing or publishing any libel aforesaid, it shall be
lawful for the defendant, upon the trial of the cause, to give in evidence in his defence,
the truth of the matter contained in Republication charged as a libel. And the jury who
shall try the cause, shall have a right to determine the law and the fact, under the direction
of the court, as in other cases.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue and be in force until
the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and one, and no longer: Provided,
that the expiration of the act shall not prevent or defeat a prosecution and punishment of
any offence against the law, during the time it shall be in force.
APPROVED, July 14, 1798.
Sources:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/alien.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/sedact.asp
Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions:
October 1798
1. _Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are
not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but
that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of
amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, -delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the
residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General
Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no
force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its coStates forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact
was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself;
since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its
powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common
judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the
mode and measure of redress.
2. _Resolved_, That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to
Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the
United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the
law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle,
and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” therefore the act of Congress, passed
on the 14th day of July, 1798, and intituled “An Act in addition to the act intituled An
Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,” [aka: Sedition Act]
[is] altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such
other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective
States, each within its own territory.
…
6. _Resolved_, That the imprisonment of a person under the protection of the laws of
this commonwealth, on his failure to obey the simple _order_ of the President to depart
out of the United States, as is undertaken by said act intituled “An Act concerning
aliens,” [aka: Alien Act] is contrary to the Constitution, one amendment to which has
provided that “no person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law;” and
that another having provided that “in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the
right to public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process
for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defence,” the same act, undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person out of
the United States, who is under the protection of the law, on his own suspicion, without
accusation, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses
against him, without hearing witnesses in his favor, without defence, without counsel, is
contrary to the provision also of the Constitution, is therefore not law, but utterly void,
and of no force: that transferring the power of judging any person, who is under the
protection of the laws, from the courts to the President of the United States, as is
undertaken by the same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the Constitution
which provides that “the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in courts, the
judges of which shall hold their offices during good behavior;” and that the said act is
void for that reason also . . .
…
8th. _Resolved_ . . . that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members
of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be
the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been
delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural
right in cases not within the compact to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of
power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the
dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for
them . . .
SOURCE: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffken.asp
Chapter Ten:
The Federalist Era
Contents
10.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………. 2
10.1.1 Learning Outcomes ………………………………………………………………………….. 2
10.2 The Washington Years: Implementing a “More Perfect Union” ……… 4
10.2.1 Beginning the New Government …………………………………………………………… 4
The Naming Controversy …………………………………………………………………………. 5
The Bill of Rights …………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Defining the Role of the President ………………………………………………………………. 6
10.2.2 The Road to Economic Recovery and Growth …………………………………………… 8
Dealing with the Debt …………………………………………………………………………….. 8
Promoting Economic Development ……………………………………………………………. 11
10.2.3 Foreign Policy Challenges …………………………………………………………………. 13
Disputes with the Indians ………………………………………………………………………. 14
Disputes with Great Britain and Spain ………………………………………………………… 17
10.2.4 Before You Move On… …………………………………………………………………….. 18
Key Concepts ……………………………………………………………………………………… 18
Test Yourself ………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
10.3 The Emergence of Partisan Politics …………………………………………….. 20
10.3.1 The Federalists and the Republicans ……………………………………………………. 20
10.3.2 The French Revolution …………………………………………………………………….. 22
10.3.3 The Whiskey Rebellion …………………………………………………………………….. 25
10.3.4 The Election of 1796 ……………………………………………………………………….. 27
10.3.5 Before You Move On… …………………………………………………………………….. 30
Key Concepts ……………………………………………………………………………………… 30
Test Yourself ………………………………………………………………………………………. 30
10.4 The Adams Years: Federalists Under Fire …………………………………….. 31
10.4.1 Adams, Jefferson, and Political Partisanship ……………………………………………… 32
10.4.2 The Quasi-War with France ……………………………………………………………….. 33
10.4.3 Domestic Turmoil …………………………………………………………………………… 36
The Alien Act ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 37
The Sedition Act ………………………………………………………………………………….. 39
10.4.4 The Election of 1800 ……………………………………………………………………….. 40
10.4.5 Before You Move On… …………………………………………………………………….. 43
Key Concepts ……………………………………………………………………………………… 43
Test Yourself ………………………………………………………………………………………. 43
10.5 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………… 45
10.6 Critical Thinking Exercises ………………………………………………………… 46
10.7 Key Terms ……………………………………………………………………………………… 47
10.8 Chronology ………………………………………………………………………………….. 48
10.9 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………… 49
10.10 End Notes ……………………………………………………………………………………. 50
Answer Key for Chapter Ten: The Federalist Era ………………………………… 55
Page | 1 Pa
Chapter ten: The Feder alist Er a
Chapter Ten: The Federalist Era
10.1 Introduction
After the ratification of the Constitution, a new American government
began to take shape in what historians refer to as the Federalist Era.
From 1789 to 1801, national leaders grappled with questions relating to
implementing the Constitution. The framers had sought to create a more
centralized national government to handle domestic and foreign policy
issues. They had also wanted to curb what they saw as the excesses of
democracy at the state level. Finally, they had hoped to create a “more
perfect union” led by disinterested leaders. However, few members of the
new government realized how difficult it would be to achieve these goals.
The democratic ideals of the Revolutionary Era continued to grow in the
1790s. The American people became quite vocal about their opinions on the
issues of the day, and they rarely agreed on the appropriate course of action.
Nor, for that matter, did their leaders. Disagreements that had surfaced in
Philadelphia about the real purpose of the central government remained.
During the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, two
political parties emerged to represent the broad views of the people on
how to interpret the Constitution. The Federalists, the party in power,
preferred a strong central government. They saw the federal government as
a positive agent for change, which would bring prosperity to all Americans.
The Republicans, the opposition party sometimes labeled DemocraticRepublicans to distinguish them from the modern Republican Party,
preferred a limited central government. They feared a strong government
would trample the rights of the people, believing too much power corrupted
even the most well-intentioned politicians. Divisions between the two parties
marked the Federalist period. Debates arose, primarily over Alexander
Hamilton’s economic plans and the nation’s foreign policy in the wake of
the French Revolution. The Federalist Era proved to be a turbulent period
because the future of the republic appeared uncertain.
10.1.1 Learning Outcomes
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
• Explain Alexander Hamilton’s vision for the republic and the reasons why his
vision garnered such opposition.
• Evaluate the reasons for the emergence of the two-party system and the ideas
about political parties held by Americans of this era.
Page | 2 Pag
Chapter ten: The Feder alist Er a
• Compare and contrast the philosophical positions of Federalists and
Republicans on the issues of public credit, the bank, tariffs, internal
improvements, new lands, and foreign policy.
• Analyze the significance of the French Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion, the
Quasi-War, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Virginia and the Kentucky
Resolutions on the development of political parties in the 1790s.
• Explain the reasons for the peaceful transfer of power in the election of 1800.
Page | 3 Pag
Chapter ten: The Feder alist Er a
10.2 The Washington Years: Implementing a
“More Perfect Union”
The Federalist Era began during George Washington’s presidency
as national leaders sought to implement the “more perfect union” they
envisioned when drafting the Constitution. The new president hoped to
create a strong central government respected both by the American people
and by foreign governments. He also looked to outline the strongest possible
role for the president given what the Constitution said about the executive
branch. During his time in office, Washington and his advisers pursued
economic and diplomatic policies that became associated with the Federalist
Party. To deal with the country’s economic problems, the administration
introduced initiatives to promote growth suggested by Alexander Hamilton.
To help secure the nation’s borders, they sought to remove the threats posed
by the Indians as well as the British and the Spanish in the borderlands
(the western territories). Although these policies did have positive effects,
they also paved the way for the development of an opposition party, the
Republicans, before the end of Washington’s first term.
10.2.1 Beginning the New Government
On April 23, 1789, George Washington arrived triumphantly in the
nation’s capital, New York City. A week later, he made his way to Federal
Hall through streets filled with well-wishers to take the oath of office. On a
portico facing Broad and Wall Streets, Washington swore to uphold the laws
of the nation. Afterwards New Yorker Robert Livingston, who administered
the oath, bellowed, “Long live George Washington, President of the United
States.” The crowd roared, and church bells tolled throughout the city. The
president then retreated into the Hall to deliver his inaugural address to
the members of the First Congress. Historians James McGregor Burns and
Susan Dunn suggest Washington “sounded a note of profound elegance”
when he mentioned how the preservation of liberty had been placed in the
hands of the people.1
At the same time, the new president seemed almost apprehensive; he
and the assembled members of Congress realized the awesome task they
had before them—to put the principles of the Constitution into practice and
demonstrate that the republican form of government could be successful.
Washington knew he had to serve both as a political and a symbolic
leader because the Constitution provided only a sketch of the president’s
responsibilities. Congress recognized it had to determine the structure of
the executive and legislative branches. Initially, members of the national
government recognized the necessity of gaining the respect of the American
Page | 4 Pag
Chapter ten: The Feder alist Er a
people and foreign governments.2 In the coming years, their task would
become more complicated because they disagreed on how to implement the
Constitution.
The Naming Controversy
Though Congress had serious work to attend to in its opening session, the
Senate’s first major debate focused on how to address the president. John
Adams, the vice president, felt it was …
Purchase answer to see full
attachment