Electoral College
The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding
fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise
between election of the President by a vote in Congress and
election of the President by a popular vote of qualified
citizens.
The Electoral College process consists of the selection of
the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for
President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral
votes by Congress.
The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of
270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your
state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members
in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House
of Representatives plus two for your Senators.
Each candidate running for President in your state has his or
her own group of electors. The electors are generally chosen by the
candidate’s political party, but state laws vary on how the
electors are selected and what their responsibilities
are.
Precedent
A legal decision that serves as an authoritative rule or pattern
in future similar cases or situations.
Judiciary Act of 1789
Established the organization of the U.S. federal court
system, which had been sketched only in general terms in the U.S.
Constitution. The act established a three-part judiciary—made up
of district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme
Court—and outlined the structure and jurisdiction of each
branch.
The Judiciary Act of 1789, officially titled “An Act to
Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,” was
principally authored by Senators Oliver
Ellsworth and William Paterson and signed
into law by Pres. George Washington on
September 24, 1789.
The act divided the country into districts with
one court and one judge in each, along with attorneys
responsible for civil and criminal actions in their districts. The
act also created the office of attorney general of the
United States; the attorney general, a member of the cabinet,
is appointed by the president and is head of
the Department of Justice.
Circuit courts—which make up the middle tier of the federal
court system—were created to serve as principal trial courts. They
also exercise limited appellate jurisdiction. A local district
judge and two Supreme Court justices preside over the
circuit courts.
The act established that the Supreme Court would be composed of
one chief justice and five associate justices and that
all decisions of the Supreme Court would be final. The act also
vested in the Supreme Court the power to settle disputes between
states and provided for mandatory Supreme Court. Review of the
final judgments of the highest court of any state in cases
Alexander Hamilton
Served as Washington’s secretary of treasury. Was responsible
for the financial concerns of the US. His job was to develop a
financial plan for the new national government.
His plan included:
1. Dealing with the after war debt
2. Create a national bank
3. Create a national currency.
National Debt
The biggest concern of the new country was the money the US owed
from the Revolutionary War. The US owed about 12 million to foreign
countries (like France) and 40 million to the American people.
Bonds
During the war, the government sold bonds to help raise money.
Bonds are certificates of debt that carry a promise to buy back the
bonds at a higher price. The US could not afford to keep this
promise.
French Revolution
The storming of the Bastille was one of the first acts of
the French Revolution—a rebellion of French people against
their king in 1789. The French people overthrew their king and
created a republican government.
Many French citizens had been inspired to take action by the
American Revolution. Many Americans, in turn, supported the French
Revolution. They thought that France was creating the same kind of
democracy as the United States.
Some Americans worried about the French Revolution’s violent
riots and attacks on traditional authority. Revolutionaries shocked
many Americans by beheading King Louis XVI in January 1793 and
Queen Marie-Antoinette later that year.
French revolutionaries storm the Bastille.
A few years after the French Revolution started, France and
Great Britain went to war. Some Americans supported the French,
while others backed the British. Some wanted to remain neutral.
Neutrality Proclamation
This Neutrality Proclamation stated that the United
States would not take sides with any European countries that were
at war. Washington believed his plan was the safest for the long
run, but not everyone agreed.
Some members of Congress criticized Washington’s ideas. James
Madison believed that the president had gone beyond his authority.
He questioned Washington’s right to issue the proclamation without
the approval of Congress.
Privateer
Private ships hired by a country to attack its
enemies.
Jay’s Treaty
In late 1793 the British seized ships carrying food to the
French West Indies. Hundreds of the ships were neutral American
merchant ships. Also, British officers were helping Native
Americans fight settlers.
Washington wanted to prevent another war with the British. He
sent Chief Justice John Jay to London to work out a compromise. In
November 1794 the two sides signed Jay’s Treaty. Jay’s Treaty
settled the disputes that had arisen between the United States and
Great Britain in the early 1790s. The British would pay damages on
seized American ships and abandon their forts on the northwestern
frontier. The United States agreed to pay debts it owed the
British.
Jay’s Treaty sparks protest throughout the United States in
November 1794.
The treaty was unpopular and sparked violent protests. Citizens
and congressional leaders thought the treaty hurt trade and did not
punish Britain enough for some of its actions. Southerners were
especially angry that the treaty did not ask Britain to repay them
for slaves that Britain had set free during the Revolutionary War.
Washington did not like the treaty but believed it was the most
that could be done. At his urging, the Senate approved the
treaty.
Pickney’s Treaty
The Spanish disputed the border between the United States and
Florida. Spain closed the port of New Orleans to U.S. trade in
1784. This hurt the American economy because all goods moving down
the Mississippi to places in the East or overseas had to pass
through New Orleans.
Washington asked Ambassador Thomas Pinckney to meet with Spanish
officials to discuss the problem and create a treaty.
Under the treaty, Spain agreed to recognize the U.S. southern
boundary as 31° north latitude. Spain’s government also reopened
the port at New Orleans to American ships and gave them the right
of deposit. Because it opened the frontier to more expansion,
Washington and most other Americans believed that Pinckney’s Treaty
was a successful compromise.
Battle of Fallen Timbers
Americans continued to settle the Northwest Territory despite
Native Americans’ protests. Supplied by British traders with guns,
Native Americans went to war. The final conflict in this war was
fought at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
General Anthony Wayne fought against several Native tribes that
banded together.
On August 20, 1794, Native Americans fought Wayne’s troops in
the Battle of Fallen Timbers and were defeated. The
battle was named for an area where many trees had been destroyed by
a tornado. Wayne’s forces burned Native Americans’ villages and
fields. The strength of Native American forces in the region was
broken.
Treaty of Greenville
In August 1795 Native American leaders signed the Treaty of
Greenville, which gave the United States claim to most Indian lands
in the Northwest Territory. The treaty also guaranteed the safety
of citizens there. In exchange, Native Americans received $20,000
worth of goods and an acknowledgment of their claim to the lands
they still held.
Whiskey Rebellion
A tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791
during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called
"whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by
the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was
intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during
the Revolutionary War. The tax applied to all distilled
spirits, but American whiskey was by far the country's
most popular distilled beverage in the 18th century, so the excise
became widely known as a "whiskey tax". Farmers of the western
frontier were accustomed to distilling their
surplus rye, barley, wheat, corn, or
fermented grain mixtures into whiskey. These farmers
resisted the tax. In these regions, whiskey often served as
a medium of exchange. Many of the resisters were war veterans
who believed that they were fighting for the principles of
the American Revolution, in particular against taxation
without local representation, while the federal
government maintained that the taxes were the legal expression
of Congressional taxation powers.
Federalists Party
The country’s first political party. Alexander Hamilton helped
found the party, which called for a strong national government
that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships
with Great Britain, as well as opposition to revolutionary
France. The Federalists chose John Adams and Thomas Pinckney
as candidates. Adams knew he was not well liked in the South or the
West, but he hoped people would support him after they thought
about his years of loyal public service.
Democratic-Republican Party
Jefferson and Madison founded the party in opposition
to the Federalist Party, which was led by John
Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall, who fought
for a strong federal government and supporting policies that
favored the wealthy. The primary difference between the
Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalists was Jefferson's
belief in the authority of local and state governments.
"Jefferson's party stood for rural agricultural interests urban
commercial interests represented by Hamilton and the Federalists,"
wrote Dinesh D'Souza in Hillary's America: The Secret
History of the Democratic Party.
The Democratic-Republican Party was initially just a "loosely
aligned group that shared their opposition to the programs
introduced in the 1790s," wrote University of Virginia political
scientist Larry Sabato. "Many of these programs, proposed by
Alexander Hamilton, favored merchants, speculators, and the
rich."
Federalists including Hamilton favored the creation of a
national bank and the power to impose taxes. Farmers in the western
United States strongly opposed taxation because they worried about
not being able to pay and having their land being bought up by
"eastern interests," Sabato wrote. Jefferson and Hamilton also
clashed over the creation of a national bank; Jefferson did not
believe the Constitution permitted such a move, while Hamilton
believed the document was open to interpretation on the matter.
Jefferson initially founded the party without the prefix; its
members were initially known as Republicans. But the party
eventually became known as the Democratic-Republican Party.
Jefferson initially considering calling his party the
"anti-Federalists" but instead preferred to described its opponents
as "anti-Republicans," according to the late New York
Times political columnist William Safire.
XYZ Affair
One of Adams’s first goals as president was to improve the
relationship between the United States and France. With Great
Britain and France still at war, the French had begun harassing and
seizing U.S. ships. Adams sent U.S. diplomats to Paris to smooth
over the conflict and to negotiate a treaty to protect U.S.
shipping.
When the diplomats arrived in France, they learned that French
foreign minister Talleyrand would not speak to them. Instead, they
had a strange and secret visit from three French agents.
Shockingly, the agents said that Talleyrand would discuss a treaty
only in exchange for a $250,000 bribe. The French government also
wanted a loan of $12 million. The amazed diplomats refused these
demands.
In March 1798 President Adams told Congress that the
peace-seeking mission had failed. He described the French terms,
substituting the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of the French
agents. Upon hearing the disgraceful news, Federalists in Congress
called for war with France.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Many Democratic-Republicans continued to sympathize with France.
Federalists, angered by their stand, called them “democrats,
mobocrats, and all other kinds of rats.”
In 1798 the Federalist-controlled Congress passed four laws,
known together as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws were said
to protect the United States, but the Federalists intended them to
crush opposition to war. The most controversial of these laws was
the Sedition Act, which forbade anyone from publishing or voicing
criticism of the federal government. In effect, this canceled basic
protections of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson wanted to expand the borders of the United States. One
problem that the young nation faced was that it had no ports on the
Gulf of Mexico. Farmers in western areas had to ship their crops on
boats down the Mississippi River to the port of New Orleans. The
port of New Orleans was controlled by Spain. In 1801 in a secret
treaty, Spain gave the Louisiana Territory back to France. The
Louisiana Territory was a huge area to the west of the Mississippi
that included New Orleans.
Jefferson feared that France would close New Orleans to American
trade. So he sent James Monroe to Paris to try to purchase New
Orleans. The French, however, offered to sell all of the Louisiana
Territory to the United States for just $15 million. Monroe quickly
agreed. Finalized in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase more
than doubled the size of the United States.
The Louisiana Purchase was a remarkable bargain. However, it
raised many questions. The U.S. Constitution made no mention of
buying foreign lands. As a strict constructionist, Jefferson was
troubled that he might be overstepping his power.
Lewis & Clark
Jefferson wanted Americans to learn more about the lands of the
Louisiana Purchase. He asked his secretary, Meriwether Lewis,
to lead an expedition to gather information about the territory.
Lewis invited experienced frontiersman William Clark to
join him as co-leader. In May 1804 Lewis and Clark led about 30
frontier soldiers from their camp in St. Louis northwest up the
Missouri River. By October the group, called the Corps of
Discovery, had reached what is now North Dakota. One member of the
Corps was York, an enslaved African owned by William Clark. York
was a very skilled scout and hunter.
Sacagawea
A Lemhi Shoshone woman who is known for her help to
the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their
chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana
Territory.
Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles
from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean. She helped
establish cultural contacts with Native
American populations in addition to her contributions
to natural history.
Marbury v. Madison
A landmark case by the United States Supreme
Court which forms the basis for the exercise of judicial
review in the United States under Article III of
the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the
boundary between the constitutionally
separate executive and judicial branches of
the American form of government.
The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme
Court by William Marbury, who had been
appointed Justice of the Peace in the District of
Columbia by President John Adams but
whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury
petitioned the Supreme Court to force the new Secretary of
State, James Madison, to deliver the documents. The Court,
with John Marshall as Chief Justice, found firstly that
Madison's refusal to deliver the commission was both illegal and
correctible. Nonetheless, the Court stopped short of ordering
Madison (by writ of mandamus) to hand over Marbury's
commission, instead holding that the provision of
the Judiciary Act of 1789 that enabled Marbury to bring
his claim to the Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional, since
it purported to extend the Court's original
jurisdiction beyond that which Article III established. The
petition was therefore denied.
The Marbury v. Madison decision expanded the power of
the Supreme Court in general, by announcing that the 1789 law which
gave the Court jurisdiction in this case was unconstitutional.
Marbury thus lost his case, which the Court said he should have
won, but, in explaining its inability to provide Marbury the remedy
it said he deserved, the Court established the principle of
judicial review, i.e., the power to declare a law
unconstitutional
Judicial Review
Power of the Supreme Court that was established by the landmark
case Marbury v. Madison. Gave the Supreme Court the power to
declare an act of Congress unconstitutional. Eventually made the
courts a much stronger part of the national government.