Democratic Republican Era
•Thomas Jefferson’s Administration
•James Madison’s Administration
•James Monroe’s Administration
Jefferson
Madison
Monroe
•Following the election of 1800, the Democratic
Republicans took power for the next 25 years
•Also known as the Virginia Dynasty
Thomas Jefferson
Takes Office
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Jefferson was the first
president in the new
capital, Washington D.C.
“We are all Republicans,
we are all Federalists,”
Jefferson outlined in his
Inaugural Address on
March 4, 1801.
His goals included “a wise
and frugal government”
and “the support of
state governments in all
their rights.”
He believed in the policy
of laissez-faire, little
government interference
in a nation’s economy
(business and industry).
Jefferson’s Cabinet
•Secretary of State
James Madison, from
Virginia
•Secretary of
Treasury Albert
Gallatin, from
Pennsylvania
Madison
Gallatin
Jefferson’s Views
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Jefferson was a man of
contradictions.
He stressed the evils of
slavery and thought it would
disappear if small farms
replaced plantations, or large
estates. However, Jefferson
was a wealthy landowner, with
a huge estate at Monticello,
Virginia. He also was a
slaveholder.
In the Declaration of
Independence, he proclaimed
“that all men are created
equal.” Yet, most states still
had property requirements
for voting and office holding.
As a young man, Jefferson
was a political philosopher and
an idealist. As president,
Jefferson became a political
realist (Hamiltonian).
Jefferson’s Economic Policy
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Jefferson instructed
Secretary of Treasury Albert
Gallatin to economize, or cut
costs wherever possible.
Jefferson and Gallatin
advised Congress to cut the
navy from 25 to 7 ships and
reduce the size of the army
by 1/3.
They also persuaded Congress
to repeal all federal internal
taxes, including the tax on
whiskey.
These measures hurt
Jefferson later in his
administration, during the
Barbary wars in North Africa.
Government funds would come
from the levy of tariffs and
the sale of western lands.
Jefferson and the Courts
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The Judiciary Act of 1801
This act set up regional courts for the
United States with 16 judges and many
other judicial officials.
In his last days of the presidency,
John Adams made several “midnight”
appointments to these positions, some
of which never took effect because
the commissions, or papers, were not
delivered on time.
Marbury V. Madison
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William Marbury, a Federalist,
tried to force the delivery of
his commission.
He took his case to the
Supreme Court, claiming
jurisdiction as a result of the
Judiciary Act of 1789.
Chief Justice John Marshall
noted that the Constitution
did not give the Court
jurisdiction to decide
Marbury’s case.
In Marbury v. Madison,
Justice Marshall had for the
first time exercised judicial
review, which gave the United
States Supreme Court the
right to review and rule on
the acts of the other
branches of government.
The Louisiana Purchase
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The Western Territory
In 1800, the territory of the United States extended only as far
west as the Mississippi River.
The land west of the river, the Louisiana Territory, belonged to
Spain.
France and England were at war in Europe, and Spain ceded her land
to the French to protect it from a British seizure.
Anticipating the French arrival to the territory, in October 1802,
Spanish authorities closed the port of New Orleans to American
traffic.
A Special Envoy
•Americans were
outraged! The militia
from Kentucky
threatened to seize the
port. To ease the
situation, President
Jefferson sent a
special envoy to Paris,
France.
• He chose an old friend
from Virginia, James
Monroe, to either buy
the port of New
Orleans or to persuade
Napoleon, the French
Emperor, to open the
port.
The Nation Expands
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By the time Monroe reached France, the situation in Paris
had changed.
Napoleon, in need of money, offered to sell not only New
Orleans, but also the entire inland empire that was drained
by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
He summoned Robert Livingston, the American minister to
France, and offered $15 million, which included war debts
owed to France.
The two had been coming to terms when Monroe arrived,
and the treaty of the Louisiana Purchase was signed in May
1803.
Concerns over the
Purchase
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Jefferson worried over the
constitutionality of such a
purchase. The Constitution
said nothing about acquiring
new territory.
In Congress, New England
Federalists bitterly opposed
the purchase. They felt it
would weaken the Union.
Jefferson’s use of executive
power and Federalist
opposition to the purchase
was curious reversal of roles.
It shows how ideas can
change when people’s
situations and interests
change.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
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In early 1803, Thomas
Jefferson asked his
friend and neighbor,
Meriwether Lewis, to
organize an expedition
to explore the
territory.
Lewis asked Virginian
William Clark to assist.
They assembled forty
volunteers. The
expedition left St. Louis
in May 1804.
Jefferson instructed
the explorers to find a
route across the Rocky
Mountains to
the Pacific Ocean.
They traveled along the
Missouri River, and
spent the winter of
1804-1805 at an Indian
village, near present day
Bismarck, North Dakota
Sacajawea
•They met
Sacajawea (sac-uhjuh-wee-uh), or Bird
Women, who had
helped Lewis and
Clark through the
Rocky Mountains.
•They finished their
journey down the
Columbia River to
the pacific coast.
Hamilton and Burr Duel
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Aaron Burr, a Federalist, opposed the Louisiana Purchase.
A group of Federalists in Massachusetts planned to secede,
or withdraw, from the Union. They wanted to form a
separate “Northern Confederacy.”
The Federalists gave Burr their support in 1804, when he ran
for governor of New York.
Alexander Hamilton prevented his election. As a result, Burr
challenged him to a duel.
Hamilton Dies
• In July 1804, the two
men, armed with pistols,
met in Weehawken, New
Jersey. Hamilton fired
first and missed Burr,
probably deliberately.
• Burr, however, aimed to
hit. Seriously wounded,
Hamilton died the next
day. Burr fled to avoid
arrest.
Trouble on the High Seas
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By 1800, the United States was second to Great Britain in the
number of merchant ships traveling around the world. However,
sailing in foreign seas, was not without danger.
The Muslim States of North Africa demanded tribute, or
protection money, for safe passage through the Mediterranean
Sea.
In May 1801, the pasha, or ruler of a Muslim state, cut down the
flagpole at the American consulate. It was the pasha’s way of
declaring war.
The Barbary Wars
•Jefferson, determined to uphold American rights, set a 38gun frigate, the Philadelphia, to patrol the Mediterranean Sea.
•The squadron met disaster when it ran aground and the crew
was captured.
•In 1803, Jefferson sent a stronger squadron to the
Mediterranean commanded by Edward Preble. As commander,
he assigned Stephen Decatur, an U.S. Navy captain to re-take
the Philadelphia.
•Decatur, with a small raiding party, sailed into the harbor,
boarded the Philadelphia, and burned it.
Edward Preble
Stephen Decatur
Results of the War
•For the next two
years, Preble
blockaded the harbor,
and by 1805, the
pasha agreed to
release the
Philadelphia crew for
a ransom of $60,000.
•Fighting continued
for the next ten
years, but Americans
took satisfaction that
they, alone, did not
have to buy their
passage through the
Mediterranean Sea.
Significance
• It was the first war declared on the United States since its
successful bid for independence from Britain.
• It was the first time the United States waged war not on the
American continent.
• The US Navy had only been formed a few years prior, so it was
the first test of the Constitution class of warship in live fire
conditions.
• It was the very first interaction between the United States and
the Arab world, and would have long-term repercussions.
• The American flag was raised as a symbol of conquest over
foreign soil for the very first time, in the Tripolitan city of
Derne.
• John Ackinson’s Web Site. “The Battle of Tripoli.”
www.66.70.254.100.html. (accessed November 2, 2010).
The Election of 1804
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Thomas Jefferson carried
every state but Connecticut
and Delaware.
Jefferson received 162
electoral votes to only 14 for
his Federalist opponent,
Charles Pinckney.
George Clinton became
Jefferson’s Vice President.
George Clinton
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s Second
Administration
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Great Britain and France were at war and
threatened to interfere with American trade.
Napoleon dominated mainland Europe; England
controlled the seas.
Each country resorted to economic warfare,
trying to force the other into submission.
The neutral United States was caught in the
middle.
American Neutrality
•When England and France were
at war in 1803, the United
States had been enjoying a
period of economic prosperity.
•By 1805, however, Great
Britain and France had lost
patience with American
neutrality.
•Great Britain blockaded the
French coast and threatened to
search all ships trading with
France.
•France announced that it would
search and seize all ships
trading with Great Britain.
British and French
Impressment
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The British, in need of sailors and
ships for their naval war, began seizing
American ships and began forcing
American sailors into service. This
practice, known as impressment, was a
clear violation of American neutrality.
Help
! I’m
be
impr ing
esse
d!
Your not
my father!
Don’t tell
me what to
do
You are now a
swabbie in the
British Royal
Navy!
Chesapeake v. Leopard
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In June of 1807, a British
warship, the Leopard,
intercepted the 38-gun
frigate, the Chesapeake,
and demanded to search
the ships for British
deserters When the
ship’s captain refused,
the Leopard fired
broadside at the
Chesapeake, killing three
and injuring fifteen.
British officers then
boarded the ship, caught
four British deserters
and hanged them.
In response to the British
seizures, the Republican
Congress, in December
1807, passed an embargo,
which prohibited the
United States from
trading with all foreign
countries.
Chesapeake v. Leopard
The Embargo Act of
1807
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Jefferson, trying to avoid war, used the embargo to
hurt Great Britain. He thought that Great Britain
depended upon American agricultural goods.
The Embargo Act, however, proved very ineffective.
Britain simply traded with South America for
agricultural goods.
New England Federalists and Republicans in Congress
opposed the embargo. On March 3, 1809, in Thomas
Jefferson’s last day in office, Congress repealed, or
cancelled, the act.