Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9An Agrarian Republic, 1790 – 1824

North American Communities

The New Nation

Only 3 percent of Americans lived in cities. 100,000 Native Americans lived the American

West Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Boston,

and New York dominated trade. In 1800, the United States was surrounded by

European colonies.

To the North: British North America and Russian North America The heart of British North America was the

former French colony of Quebec. Loyalists comprised most of the other settlers.

The American Revolution caused Great Britain to create a national legislature under strict executive control.

British influence spread from the St. Lawrence to Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific Northwest.

To the North: British North America and Russian North America Russian settlements in Alaska were an

extension of its conquest of Siberia. The Russians established Sitka in 1804. Russia established new settlements in

California, including Fort Ross. British and Russian expansion both

threatened and frustrated American expansion.

To the West and South: The Spanish Empire

To protect their interests against Russian and British expansion, the Spanish had established a chain of missions throughout California.

The Spanish also controlled New Orleans, though in 1800 it was an international port.

Americans were concerned that whomever controlled New Orleans could choke off commerce along the Mississippi River.

Haiti and the Caribbean

The Caribbean produced 80 to 90 percent of Europe’s sugar.

Racially and socially, the Caribbean colonies resembled the American South.

The Caribbean slave societies were jolted by the successful slave revolt in Haiti.

Trans-Appalachia

The trans-Appalachia West was the most rapidly growing region of the United States.

By 1800, 500,000 Americans lived in Trans-Appalachia.

Cincinnati served as major trading center for the Ohio River Valley.

River traffic to and from New Orleans increased annually.

A National Economy

Cotton and the Economy of the Young Republic

Most Americans lived in rural, agricultural communities.

The plantation regions of the South were heavily involved in marketing crops overseas.

Trade with Britain was considerably less than before the Revolution.

Neutral Shipping in a World at War

In 1790, American shipping had been hurt by the end of ties with Great Britain.

The outbreak of war in Europe and American neutrality vastly expanded trade, fueling the growth of American coastal cities.

The economic boom included: American entry into the Northwest fur and China

markets; an active and growing shipbuilding industry.

The Jefferson Presidency

Republican Agrarianism Thomas Jefferson emerged as a strong

president with strong party backing. Jefferson’s ideal was an agrarian republic of

roughly equal yeoman farmers. America’s abundant land allowed Jefferson to envision a nation of small family farms.

Jefferson hoped American expansion would forestall the Malthusian crisis threatening Europe.

Jefferson’s Government Jefferson worked to reduce the size of the

federal government. The Post Office was the only contact most

Americans had with the federal government. The unfinished state of the nation’s capital

reflected the emphasis on local communities.

An Independent Judiciary

Midnight Judges Marbury v. Madison did not restore William

Marbury to his post, but it established the principle of judicial review and an independent judiciary

Chief Justice Marshall became a leader of judicial nationalism.

The Louisiana Purchase France and Britain conflict Napoleon’s acquisition of the Louisiana Territory

threatened American access to the Mississippi River. Jefferson attempted to buy New Orleans, but

accepted the French offer to buy the entire territory. The purchase doubled the size of the United States Destruction of Indians and the spread of slavery

challenged Jefferson’s vision of liberty in Louisiana.

Incorporating Louisiana

The immediate issue was how to incorporate the French and Spanish inhabitants of the Louisiana territory.

The solution was to maintain aspects of French institutions in Louisiana.

Despite a diverse population of creoles, immigrants and Americans, free persons of color and Indians won little protection of their rights in Louisiana.

Texas and the Struggle for Mexican Independence

Acquisition of Louisiana put the United States in conflict with Spain.

America now shared a vague boundary with Mexico’s Texas.

Several populist revolts fueled a strong independence movement in Mexico.

Americans from Aaron Burr in 1807 onward saw Texas and Mexico as ripe for American expansion.

Renewed Imperial Rivalry

Problems with Neutral Rights

In his second term, Jefferson faced problems protecting American neutrality.

British ships seized American vessels trading in the French West Indies and impressed sailors into the Royal Navy.

The 1807 Chesapeake incident highlighted American weakness and brought the nation to the brink of war.

The Embargo Act

Congress first imposed a boycott and then passed the Embargo Act on foreign commerce, but the policy: did not change British policy; caused a deep depression; and led to widespread smuggling.

Madison and the Failure of “Peaceable Coercion”

Elected in 1808, Madison faced renewed Federalist opposition.

Under Madison, the Embargo Act was repealed.

Other similar acts passed later also proved ineffective.

Frustration with government policy mounted.

A Contradictory Indian Policy

Indian affairs remained among the most difficult foreign problems.

Western tribes resisted American incursion into their territory.

Jefferson hoped that Indians would either be converted to white civilization or moved across the Mississippi River. Neither policy won much Indian support.

Accommodationist-traditionalist factions split many tribes.

Indian Alternatives

Shawnee: leading force of Indian resistance in the Ohio Valley Tecumseh sought refuge further west.

His brother, Tenskwatawa, The Prophet, called for a rejection of white ways.

Tecumseh formed a pan-Indian confederacy and was initially defensive but soon advocated military resistance.

While Tecumseh was in the South, Americans led by William Henry Harrison defeated Tenskwatawa’s followers at Tippecanoe.

In response, Tecumseh formally allied with the British.

Tecumseh Brother…after we agreed to bury the Tomahawk at Greenville…the Americans…

told us they would treat us well.…Since the peace was made you have killed some of the Shawnee, Winnebagoes, Delawares, and Miamis and you have taken our lands from us and I do not see how we can remain at peace with you if you continue to do so.…You wish to prevent the Indians to do as we wish them to unite and let them consider their land as the common property of the whole.…You are continually driving the red people when at last you will drive them into the great lake where they can't either stand or work.

Brother. This land that was sold and the goods that were given for it [in the Treaty of Fort Wayne] was only done by a few.…These tribes set up a claim [to the land that was sold] but the tribes with me will not agree to their claim. If the land is not restored to us you will soon see when we return to our homes how it will be settled. We shall have a great council at which all the tribes shall be present when we will show to those who sold that they had no right to sell the claim they set up and we will know what will be done with those Chiefs that did sell the land to you. I am not alone in this determination. It is the determination of all the warriors and red people that listen to me.

Now wish you to listen to me. If you do not it will appear as if you wished me to kill all the chiefs that sold you this land. I tell you so because I am authorised by all the tribes to do so. I am at the head of them all.…It has been the object of both myself and [my] brother from the beginning to prevent the lands being sold.…I am alone the acknowledged head of all the Indians.

The War of 1812

The War Hawks

Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun were leaders of a new generation of War Hawks from the South and West that supported war as a means of expansion into Florida and Canada.

Madison’s declaration of war received no Federalist support.

The U.S. entered the War of 1812 deeply divided.

The War of 1812

Madison was reelected in 1812 despite strong Federalist opposition in New England and the Middle States.

America was unprepared for war and humiliated when the British captured and burned Washington DC in 1814, forcing Madison to flee.

American naval victories could not break the British blockade and did little to affect the outcome of the war

The Campaigns Against Northern and Southern Indians

American efforts to capture Canada failed due to: New England opposition; the strength of the British-Indian forces; and the resistance of Canadians.

The Americans won the Battle of the Thames, at which Tecumseh was killed.

In the South, Jackson defeated the Creeks in 1814 and forced large land cessions.

Ending the War: The Hartford Convention

Continued opposition from New England led to the Hartford Convention.

Federalists demanded redress of grievances though they dropped talk of secession.

New England Federalists when news of peace reached America.

The Treaty of Ghent

The end of the war in Europe removed the real causes for the war.

The Treaty of Ghent ended the war without addressing the major grievances, but the British did agree to evacuate the western forts.

Andrew Jackson’s victory at New Orleans saved American pride.

The war also ended lingering feelings of American colonial dependency.

The Indians were the only clear losers.

Defining Boundaries

Another Westward Surge

Peace brought widespread Indian removal that opened lands and enabled Americans to resume their westward migration.

Northern migrants traveled the Genesee Turnpike.

Middle States settlers went west on the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Turnpike and the National Road.

The Wilderness and Federal Roads were southern migration routes.

Another Westward Surge

The Old Northwest shared New England values.

The Old Southwest was based on plantation slavery.

Ties to eastern areas prevented the West from emerging as a separate region.

The Election of 1816 and the Era of Good Feelings

James Monroe presided over the post-war “era of good feelings.”

Elected over the last Federalist candidate in 1816, Monroe was unopposed in 1820.

Fears of Monroe in the north were eased by his moderation, leading a Federalist journalist to call it an “Era of Good Feelings”

The American System

Monroe brought former Federalists into his cabinet. Madison and Monroe broke with Jefferson’s

agrarianism and embraced Clay’s Hamiltonian program for economic development

It included: The establishment of a national bank A tax on imported goods to protect American manufacturers A national system of roads and canals When Monroe balked at national spending, projects such

as the Erie Canal were financed by the states or local investors.

The Diplomacy of John Quincy Adams

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams laid the foundation for continued expansion. Two treaties with Britain established a

demilitarized Canadian border and provided for the joint occupation of Oregon.

The Adams-Onis Treaty turned over Florida to the United States and relinquished claims to Louisiana.

Adams designed the Monroe Doctrine.

Monroe Doctrine Western Hemisphere is closed to further

European Colonization Attempts to colonize would be viewed

unfavorably No interference with existing colonies U. S. would stay out of European affairs

The Panic of 1819

A land boom was financed by speculative buying and easy credit.

The Panic of 1819 was triggered by the Second Bank of the United States foreclosing on loans that led to six years of depression.

The Panic of 1819 hurt urban workers suffering from the decline in trade and manufacturing failures.

Manufacturers pressed for higher protective tariffs, angering Southerners.

Jefferson’s republic of yeoman farmers had failed to develop and the U.S. had become tied to commerce.

The Missouri Compromise

Effort to admit Missouri into the Union as a slave state created a crisis.

Northerners opposed the creation of new slave states because it would tip the balance between slave and free states.

Southerners sought to expand slavery and were concerned that Congress would even consider the matter.

The Missouri Compromise

Henry Clay forged a compromise that maintained the balance between free and slave states.

Maine was admitted as a free slave state and slavery was barred north of Missouri’s southern boundary.

Southern resentment of Northern attacks on slavery led to greater sectional unity and national tensions.

Jefferson on the Compromise I thank you, dear sir, for the copy you have been so kind as to

send me of the letter to your constituents on the Missouri question. It is a perfect justification to them. I had for a long time ceased to read newspapers, or pay any attention to public affairs, confident they were in good hands, and content to be a passenger in our bark to the shore from which I am not distant. But this momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper. I can say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in any practicable way.

Conclusion

Conclusion As the U.S. grew and developed before and

after the War of 1812, national expansion became a dominant and troubling theme as Jefferson’s united “Empire of Liberty” failed to materialize and sectional tensions grew.