Day 2 Group A

Maurice Jenkins Brandon Hippel

Brandon Houston

Question?

To what extent was the election of 1800 aptly named the “Revolution of 1800”. With reference to Economics and Politics

Thesis

The Election of 1800 was aptly named the “Revolution of 1800” because of the vast differences between the economic and political ideologies of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans for the future of the young nation.

Federalist Economics The Federalists lead by John Adams and

Alexander Hamilton believed the future of the nation lay in its abundance of natural resources and the ambitions of the people to create a rich economy.

Federalists supported growth in industry and trade.

The inexpensive and rapid expansion in ocean transportation for trading.

The Irish Potato Famine created a growth in cheap labor because of the Irish Immigrants

The Development of Corporations gave more labor for the economy

Democratic Republican Economics

The Democratic Republicans, lead by Thomas Jefferson, thought the Federalists had too much power and the government was being controlled by the wealthy.

The Democratic-Republicans believed in protecting the interests of the working classes: workers, farmers and laborers.

They were against the bank and the wealthy.

Federalist Politics

The Federalists favored a strong central government that would run the country efficiently and help them grow.

They believed that the states had to much power and the citizens were incapable of running the government.

The Federalists wanted to place limits on those who wanted to become citizens and on individual’s rights to criticize the government through the alien and sedition acts

Democratic Republican Politics

They believed that the true power of the government was given to the citizens and the states

They preferred small local governments to the large Federalist Government.

They wanted to encourage the common people to participate in the government and believed that many of the federalist policies were a threat to the rights and liberties of the people

Federalist Judicial Policy

Before the end of his term, John Adams appointed a number of Federalists judges to federal court positions in an effort to mitigate the upcoming Republican rule.

Adams signed the judges’ commissions during his final few hours in office—hence the name “midnight judges” or “midnight appointments.”

Democratic Republican Judicial Policy

The judiciary should be subservient to the elected branches and the Supreme Court should not have the power to strike down laws passed by Congress. The Jeffersonians lost this battle to Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist, who dominated the Court from 1801 to his death in 1835.

Marbury vs Madison- The first case of the Supreme Court deeming an act of Congress to be Unconstitutional

Federalist Foreign Policy

Adams continued to support Washington’s neutral foreign policy stance

Most Federalists favored an alliance with Great Britain

Democratic Republican Foreign Policy

Americans had a duty to spread what Jefferson called the "Empire of Liberty" to the world, but should avoid "entangling alliances."

Britain was the greatest threat, especially its monarchy, aristocracy, corruption, and business methods; the Jay Treaty of 1794 was much too favorable to Britain and thus threatened American values.

Favored an alliance with France during the early stages of their revolution but considered Napoleon an enemy republicanism

A standing army and navy are dangerous to liberty and should be avoided; much better was to use economic coercion such as the embargo such as the Embargo Act of 1807 {Against Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars}

The militia was adequate to defend the nation. But this proved wrong in the War of 1812 when militia units refused to leave their state to attack the British.

1803 Louisiana Purchase- Jefferson purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million to gain access to the Mississippi River

Changes resulting from the Election

Adams had appointed hundreds of federal Judges to the bench and left office after Jefferson won. They didn’t contest the outcome or call the army to keep Adams in power.

Federal Legislators left office without any trouble. The Dem-Republicans set a new course for the

country by repealing the Alien and Sedition acts Jefferson turned the efforts of the country to the

West, expanding and absorbing territories

More Changes

The election of 1800 marked the first time that power was peacefully transferred from one political party to another

The Dem-Republicans reversed many Federalist policies, but did not attempt to destroy the Federalist party.

The election also proved that citizens could successfully change the course of the Government when they saw fit.