Chapter 8
The Jefferson Era
1800 - 1815
Essential Question
How did the events
of the Jefferson Era
strengthen the
nation?
I. Jefferson Becomes President
 Election of 1800 – Jefferson vs. Adams
 Adams’s supporters claimed Jefferson was a proFrench radical and his interest in science and
philosophy was going to destroy religion
 Jefferson’s supporters claimed Adams wanted to
be a king and the new permanent army was
created to limit rights
 Jefferson wins
Jefferson’s Policies
Less formal than Washington and Adams
Wanted to limit the powers of government
Oversaw the expansion of the Capitol,
allowed the Alien and Sedition Acts to
expire, lowered military spending, reduced
the navy, and reduced domestic taxes
including the whiskey tax
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
 Federalists controlled the courts and passed the
Judiciary Act of 1801 to create new judgeships –
many appointments made by Adams the night
before he left office (“midnight judges”)
 William Marbury was named justice of the peace
by Adams, but he did not receive his documents
before Adams left office
 Jefferson and Madison refused to deliver his
documents, believing the appointments were not
valid
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
 Marbury sued and asked
the Supreme Court to
order Madison to deliver
the papers (according to
Judiciary Act of 1789)
 Chief Justice John
Marshall delivered the
decision – established
the Supreme Court’s
power to check the
power of other branches
of governments
 Marshall also ruled that
the Judiciary Act of 1789
was unconstitutional
because it increased the
types of cases the
Supreme Court could
hear beyond those
written in the Constitution
 Judicial review: the
power to declare an act
of Congress
unconstitutional
II. The Louisiana Purchase
 Many Americans begin to settle west of the Appalachian
Mountains – settlers depended on Mississippi and Ohio
rivers to move products to New Orleans
 Jefferson feared possible closure of the port by France
 Napoleon Bonaparte: needed money for wars in Europe,
offered all of Louisiana for $15 million – Louisiana Purchase
(1803)
Explorers Head West
 Jefferson sends Lewis and Clark to explore the Purchase
(Corps of Discovery)
 Sacagawea helped as a guide and interpreter
 In 1805, they reached the Pacific River
 Zebulon Pike (Pike’s Peak): followed the Red River in 180607 into present-day Colorado and promoted the idea of
business with the Spanish
III. The Coming of War
 Sea travel, though profitable, was very dangers with weather
and pirates
 Great Britain and France went to war in 1803 and tried to
prevent U.S. from trading with enemy
 Great Britain began to search American ships for sailors who
ran away from British navy – impressment: practice of
forcing people to serve in the army or navy
Embargo Act
 To counter Great Britain, Jefferson urged Congress to pass
the Embargo Act (1807): banned trade with all foreign
countries
 The act devastated American merchants, especially in the
North – the Non-Intercourse Act (1809): banned trade only
with France and Britain, but did little to help increase trade
Conflict in the West
 British begin to arm Native Americans in the West to halt
American settlement
 Shawnee chief Tecumseh urged Native Americans to unite
against the settlers
 William Henry Harrison: governor of Indiana territory
confronted and defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of
Tippecanoe (1811)
Call for War
 War Hawks: young members of Congress, from South and
West, who wanted war with Britain (Henry Clay, John
Calhoun, Felix Grundy)
 New England Federalists wanted friendly business ties with
Britain to help with trade
 Others argued U.S. was not ready for war – small army, navy,
could not produce goods fast enough
IV. War of 1812
1808 – James Madison elected President – felt
pressure from War Hawks to ask for war
War declared in 1812
America’s small navy defeated the British in
one-on-one duels, however the British
blockaded American seaports
Invasion of Canada was a disaster – defeat in
Detroit and state militias refused to fight in a
foreign nation
War of 1812 (the good stuff)
 Oliver Hazard Perry defeats the British navy on Lake Erie in
1811
 William Henry Harrison defeats the British and Native
American army and pushed them further into Canda
 Andrew Jackson, commander of Tennessee militia,
defeated the Creek Native Americans along the Alabama
River
War of 1812 (the bad stuff)
 British army gets reinforcement in 1814, invades Washington,
D.C. and burns the White House
 President Madison and his wife Dolley are forced to run away
from White House
 British navy shells Fort McHenry outside Baltimore, MD, but
luckily the fort does not surrender (but we did get the
“Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott
Key out of the battle)
End of the War of 1812
Battle of New Orleans (1815): British
attempt an invasion of New Orleans and
were defeated by Andrew Jackson’s mix of
regular, African American, Native American,
and pirate army
Treaty of Ghent (1814): ended the war
before the Battle of New Orleans – nothing
really changed
War produced strong feelings of patriotism,
broke the power of Native American tribes,