Essen%al Ques%on: for PowerPoint 2007 The Jefferson Presidency For 24 years, Democra%c Republicans from Virginia dominated the US Presidency There was Jefferson, 1801-­‐1809, followed by Madison, 1809-­‐1817, and then Monroe, 1817-­‐1825 This “Virginia Dynasty” drew much of its support from farmers in the South and West They were very much behind the so-­‐
called “Jefferson Revolu%on” because the Democra%c Republicans reversed the Federalist policies and ac%vely supported westward expansion The Barbary Pirates When Jefferson took office in 1801, he faced a problem that was disrup%ng American trade in the Mediterranean Algerian pirates of the Barbary Coast had raided all merchant shipping off the North African coast since the 1780s Many European na%ons, including the US, had paid the pirates a bribe to keep them from aZacking their vessels The cost of the bribe was enormous—and when the cost-­‐cu\ng Jefferson took office, he refused to pay it The Shores of Tripoli Then he ordered the US Navy to aZack the pirates home ports Over the course of 4 years of intermiZent figh%ng, US forces bombarded Tripoli and captured the city of Derna But as the US %red of war, Jefferson decided to cut costs & signed a peace treaty that included a ransom for returned prisoners Within a short %me, the Barbary pirates were raiding US shipping again, and taking more hostages The Midnight Judges Problem A`er the Federalists were beaten in the elec%on of 1800, the outgoing Federalist-­‐
controlled Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 The act created 16 new federal judgeships & other posi%ons The night before Jefferson took office, his predecessor John Adams was up late, signing job commissions for Federalist appointees to government offices-­‐the so-­‐called “midnight judges” One of those appointed was the new Chief Jus%ce of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, who was winding up his last day as Adams’ Secretary of State The next day, when Jefferson would be sworn in, a new poli%cal party would take the reigns of government-­‐and the courts seemed to be the last stronghold for the Federalists Marshall and Marbury vs. Madison On the night before Jefferson took office, John Marshall was s%ll Secretary of State, and it was his job to deliver the official papers signed by Adams and deliver them to the new “midnight”” appointees Because the %me was short, Marshall gave half the documents to his brother to deliver Unfortunately, his brother didn’t get them all delivered in %me The next day, the new Secretary of State James Madison refused to deliver the le`overs One of those Federalists who didn’t get the government job he expected was William Marbury Marbury thought he had been cheated out of a job by a technicality, so he sued Sec. of State Madison in federal court (presided over, of course, by Federalist John Marshall) Judicial Review Established Marbury was hoping for a slam-­‐dunk easy win to get his job—a`er all, the Supreme Court was packed with Federalists It didn’t work out that way In 1803, the Marshall Court made the most important ruling in US history If they had decided for Marbury, he would have been happy, but Marshall had bigger goals in mind The court said Marbury had the right to his job, but that the Supreme Court did not have the cons%tu%onal right to enforce it That made Jefferson & Madison happy, but by doing so, Chief Jus%ce Marshall said part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 was uncons%tu%onal—
the first %me any law had ever been so labeled The concept of “judicial review” was born—
Marshall had made it clear that if the Supreme Court calls a law uncons%tu%onal, the law is dead Jefferson Goes to Work Slashing Expenses When the Alien & Sedi%on Acts expired in 1801, the Democra%c Republican Congress called them uncons%tu%onal & refused to extend them They cut back the wai%ng period to become a ci%zen from 14 to 5 years, as it had been before the Adams Administra%on Jefferson then got Congress to abolish all internal taxes, including the Whiskey Tax that had caused the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 He reduced the size of the US Army to under 800 men Forty of the “midnight judges” were fired from office…but he kept all the competent Federalist officeholders He tolerated the Bank of the United States, which he had once condemned as uncons%tu%onal By limi%ng expenditures, he cut the na%onal debt from $83-­‐million in 1801 to $45-­‐million in 1812 Jefferson & The West Jefferson had long championed the seZlement of the West Western farmers loved him & voted for him faithfully In return, Jefferson backed the western land ordinances, and Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795 This agreement with Spain reopened the Mississippi River to American trade, & allowed seZlers living west of the Appalachians to export crops via the Spanish-­‐owned port of New Orleans American farmers found a way to get their produce to world markets—by floa%ng their hogs, corn, & wheat down the Mississippi to New Orleans instead of hauling them back across the Appalachian Mountains. Jefferson and the Sale of Federal Land Jefferson also made it easier for the average farmer to own land 1796-­‐The Federalist Congress had set the price of federal land for sale at $2 per acre Jefferson ordered a gradual reduc%on in the price, so that by the 1830s, the cost was down to $1.25 per acre He urged easy credit terms, & allowed illegal squaZers to by their farms The Louisiana Purchase 1799-­‐Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in France, and sought to re-­‐establish the French empire in North America Because France controlled Spain, he forced the Spanish to sign a “secret” treaty giving back to France all the land west of the Mississippi River & north of Texas France now controlled New Orleans—which could be a threat to American farmers & their trade This move made Jefferson ques%on why he had been so par%al to France “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans, we must marry ourselves to the Bri%sh fleet and na%on,” he warned Jefferson sent James Monroe to London to nego%ate an alliance, but he told our French ambassador to see if we could make a deal with Napoleon to buy New Orleans Napoleon Needs Money In 1803, the Emperor of the French was gathering a huge army on the shores of the English Channel He was wai%ng for an expected defeat of the Bri%sh Navy, and then he would move his 500,000 men across the Channel & invade England Feeding, clothing, & paying this army to sit around for months was expensive Napoleon Makes An Offer We Can’t Refuse Napoleon realized that for the %me being, any territory France owned in America was not necessary US ambassador Robert Livingston was probably shocked when Napoleon offered to sell all of the land west of the Mississippi for $15-­‐million (about $500-­‐million in today’s money) Livingston quickly signed the biggest land deal in history—for about 3-­‐cents an acre Napoleon now had money to pay his army What’s a Strict Construc%onist Do? Jefferson didn‘t believe the Cons%tu%on gave the president the authority to buy land—
but the deal was done Where would he come up with $15-­‐million? That sum was nearly twice the Federal budget The only lenders with that kind of money were in London Borrowing the Money Jefferson’s diplomats told the Bri%sh banks we needed money for “internal improvements” and borrowed the sum We then turned around & handed the money to Napoleon, who would pay his army which was about to invade England As it turned out, the invasion was called off, as Napoleon turned east to aZack Prussia, Austria, & Russia instead For his part, Jefferson pragma%cally accepted a loose interpreta%on of the Cons%tu%on and used its treaty-­‐making powers to complete the deal with France Jefferson hoped that the new territory west of the Mississippi could be “a means of temp%ng all our Indians on the East side of the Mississippi to remove to the West” Secessionist Schemes The Louisiana Purchase didn’t sit well with some Federalists in New England Such a land deal would not help their party or region, so they openly began talking about leaving the Union & forming a confederacy of New England states The secessionists won the approval of Vice President Aaron Burr Burr was a notorious scoundrel He had held a grudge against Alexander Hamilton since 1800, when he felt Hamilton had gypped him out of becoming president Then in 1802, Hamilton arranged for Burr to lose a close race for governor of New York That was the last straw—Vice President Burr challenged Hamilton to an illegal duel, and shot him in the chest Hamilton had been murdered, but Burr was not charged with the crime—but his reputa%on had been tarnished forever Burr Is Charged With Treason When his term as vice president expired in 1805, Burr moved west to avoid prosecu%on There he conspired with Gen. James Wilkinson, the military governor of the Louisiana Territory, to seize territory from New Spain & part of Louisiana and set up a separate na%on Wilkinson double-­‐crossed Burr, and had him arrested In a highly poli%cized trial presided over by Chief Jus%ce Marshall, the jury acquiZed Burr of treason All in all, the Louisiana Purchase had increased party conflict and generated secessionist schemes in both New England and the Southwest Lewis and Clark Meet the Mandans & Sioux Jefferson had just spent $15-­‐million buying up land that doubled the size of the US Now he wanted to know what he had just purchased, so he charged his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, with staging an expedi%on to explore the new lands Jefferson was also worried about intruders—Bri%sh traders from Hudson’s Bay Company and the Northwest Company were ac%vely trading furs on the upper Missouri River The Corps of Discovery Sets Off Jefferson told Lewis to recruit a party of soldiers & fron%ersmen, to be called The Corps of Discovery Lewis chose his friend William Clark as his second in command A party of about 40 launched out in a keelboat from near St. Louis in May, 1804, heading up the Missouri River It took un%l late June for the expedi%on to reach the area where Kansas City now stands Reaching The Mandan Villages By September, they had pulled, poled, and sailed their keelboat into territory owned by the Teton Sioux in South Dakota This powerful tribe nearly stopped the Corps of Discovery—
a baZle nearly broke out when the Sioux tried to snag one of the expedi%on’s canoes as the price for passage As the days grew colder, Lewis realized he was no where near where he had planned to spend the winter, so he pulled into the last known seZlement on the map-­‐the Mandan Villages of North Dakota Sacagawea’s Help During the frigid North Dakota winter, Lewis contracted with a French half-­‐breed named Charbonneau This man had a pregnant wife, a Shoshone cap%ve held by the Mandans as a slave When the Corps headed west again in April, they took Charbonneau, his wife Sacagawea, and their new child along as interpreters To the Coast and Back Sacagawea would also be valuable as a guide Coincidentally, when the expedi%on reached Shoshone lands, Sacagawea was surprised to find out that her own brother was now chief of the Shoshones The tribe sold enough horses to the expedi%on to allow them to cross the Rocky Mountains They reached the Pacific Coast of Oregon in Nov., 1805 The following spring, the expedi%on returned home by backtracking the same way they came The Value of the Corps of Discovery The Lewis and Clark Expedi%on learned much about the new land bought by the US Americans for the first %me had established contact with about 58 tribes in the West, making speeches & telling the Indians about their new white father in the east Many of the tribes were anxious to trade for modern muskets Lewis & Clark capped off the expedi%on by providing Jefferson with the first maps of the immense wilderness and a detailed account of its natural resources and inhabitants The report caused some Americans to envision a na%on that would span the con%nent