Vocabulary
Helped Lewis and Clark as a translator and guide on their exploration of the Louisiana Territory.
Who is Sacajawea?
President Thomas Jefferson defended his purchase of the Louisiana Territory under this Constitutional power.
What is the power to make treaties with foreign nations?
Act imposed by President Jefferson in 1807 as a way to show America's neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain, it prohibited virtually all commerce with foreign nations.
What is the Embargo Act?
French Ambassador who wanted the United States to honor the Treaty of 1778 and organized pro-French clubs that criticized American neutrality and outfitted American ships against England.
Who is Citizen Genet?
The name given to the judicial appointments made by President John Adams in the final hours of his presidency in order to maintain a Federalist hold in the judiciary.
What are the midnight appointments?
Accused of several conspiracies against the United States government, and personally accused by Alexander Hamilton of being unfit for office, he shot and killed Hamilton in a duel.
Who is Aaron Burr?
Two main reasons why Napoleon wanted to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States.
What are that: 1) He needed money to finance his military campaigns in Europe(especially against Britain) 2) His dream of building an empire in America was shattered when Haiti won independence.
Passed by Congress in 1809, this act only prohibited trade with Great Britain and France, but was still unpopular because most American trade was with Great Britain and France anyway.
What is the Nonintercourse Act?
Describe the debate between Jefferson and Hamilton regarding Hamilton's plan to create a national bank.
•Jefferson argued that the National Government did not have the authority to create a bank because the Constitution did not specifically authorize it. (Strict interpretation).He cited the 10th Amendment which said, “all powers not delegated to the United States government are reserved to the states or the people”.
•Hamilton favored a loose interpretation. He argued that the government had powers that were not listed. He cited that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gave Congress the power to make all laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the other powers listed in the Constitution. Since the United States had the power to tax, it had the power to create a bank to receive the taxes it collected. (The President and Congress agreed. So, it passed.)
Name two actions President Jefferson took with regard to the Barbary Coast pirates.
What are: 1) He sent a squadron of 8 naval vessels to blockade the Tripoli harbor, 2) The "Philadelphia" was captured by pirates but later burned by Americans (the Intrepid)so it couldn't be used against us. 3) Marines landed in Tripoli and forced the Barbary States to make peace.
To break away or withdraw from a union(especially a government) with the intention of starting a new government.
What is to secede?
Hero and victor over the British at the Battle of New Orleans, his victory came after a peace treaty was already signed, yet it raised American morale and pride and jump started his political career.
Who is Andrew Jackson?
Name two reasons Jefferson wanted to acquire the Louisiana Territory.
What are that: 1) He feared Napoleon might try to use the territory as a base to build his empire in the West and he might close American shipping in New Orleans because they were at war with Great Britain and 2) New settlements and people were sprouting up in that territory and their security was threatened unless the federal government could protect them with official ownership.
After the British attack on Washington D.C., it is was these two things that forced them out of the city.
What are a tornado and a hurricane?
Name four ways Jefferson "downsizes" the Federal Government during his Presidency.
Decreased the size of the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury.
He cut the Federal budget.
He repealed the excise tax on whiskey.
He slashed the armed forces budget by half and cut the naval defense budget.(This last one was a BIG mistake.) Why?
Under Adams' presidency, what were the Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts? What was their stated purpose What was their real purpose?
•NATURALIZATION ACT – increased number of years to qualify for U.S. citizenship from 5 to 14 (this act hurt the D-R because immigrants tended to vote for D-R candidates)
•ALIEN ACT – authorized the President to deport any aliens considered dangerous and to detain enemy citizens in time of war
•SEDITION ACT – made it illegal for newspaper editors to criticize either the President or Congress and imposed heavy penalties (fined or imprisoned) for editors who violated the laws
A French term meaning noninterference.
What is laissez-faire?
Name three objectives President Jefferson gave to Lewis and Clark for their expedition of the Louisiana Territory.
What were: 1) to gather information about the flow of rivers and the availability of natural resources, 2) Study the climate, plant growth and geology, 3) See if a Northwest Passage with an easy water route across North America existed to make travel and trading easier.
This American ship was nicknamed "Old Ironsides" after a great naval battle with the British ship Guerriere. A sailor on the Guerriere saw 18-pound British cannonballs bouncing right off the hull of the American ship and exclaimed, "Huzza, her sides are made of iron!"
What is the U.S.S. Constitution?
Describe the events leading up to and through Marbury vs. Madison.
Marbury vs. Madison
Before leaving office, John Adams appointed a number of Federalist judges, hoping to maintain Federalist control in the courts even after he had left office. He appointed them last minute, thus his actions earned the term “midnight appointments”.
However, it was so last minute that Adams wasn’t able to deliver the letters of appointment to his new judges. Jefferson ,upon taking office, refused to acknowledge the appointments and told his Secretary of State James Madison not to deliver the letters.
William Marbury, one of the judges Adams had wanted “appointed”, sued Madison for not getting his appointment.
Supreme Court Justice Marshall, a Federalist, actually ruled in favor of Madison and Jefferson,(citing a section in the Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional) but in doing so, loudly proclaimed that the Supreme Court had the right to review all laws passed by Congress and reject those it deemed “unconstitutional”. Jefferson, a Republican, feared that the Federalists’ “loose interpretation” of the Constitution would reek havoc on Republican policies, and take too many liberties with the Constitution.
•Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that according to the Judiciary Act of 1789, Marbury should get his commission, but the act itself was unconstitutional
Jefferson responds by encouraging Congress to impeach Federalist judges.
Describe the events of the X,Y, Z affair.
•U.S. merchant ships were being seized by French warships and privateers
•Seeking peace, Adams sent a delegation to Paris to negotiate a treaty
•French ministers known only as X, Y, Z (their names were never revealed) requested bribes before they would enter into negotiations.( A loan of several million dollars and a bribe of $250,000 merely for allowing the Americans to talk to the French foreign minister.
•U.S. delegates refused and went home.
•Americans wanted to go to war with France because of this insult.
•Adams opposed going to war with France and kept the U.S. out of the European wars.
The literal interpretation of the Constitution that says that the federal government has only those powers specifically listed in the Constitution.
What is strict construction?
The cost of the Louisiana Purchase.
What is 15 million dollars?(less than 3 cents an acre)
Name three reasons why the Americans were not ready/prepared for the War of 1812.
What are: (possible answers)
New Englanders were the biggest objectors to the war because foreign trade had fallen 80 percent during the war. And since they did most of the shipbuilding and that was a huge part of their profits, and it dropped 80% during the war, they were in debt. In general the young country itself was still in debt.
Regular army numbered fewer than 7,000 soldiers.
State militia soldiers were reluctant to leave their homes and Congress acted too slowly to bring them in under federal authority.
Few competent leaders(most generals hadn’t fought since Revolutionary War)
Navy soldiers had some Barbary Coast experience, but navy fleet was still small from Jefferson’s downsizing and by the time that Congress agreed to build more warships, the war was over.
The key to an American victory was winning in Canada and cutting off British access to the sea. However, Americans were busy fighting Native Americans.
Name the four parts(give four examples) of Hamilton's financial program.
1)Assume the debts of the states and the federal government.
2)Create a Bank of the United States.(Gov’t would own 1/5 of stock in bank and private citizens could buy the rest. Stockholders would elect bank officers and bank would be in private hands.)
3)Create protective tariffs.
(Would place a tax on imported goods, making them more expensive than goods made in U.S. South objected because they imported a lot of manufactured goods because of their agricultural economy. This was rejected by Congress.
4)Excise tax on distilled liquors(Like Whiskey)
•Distilling grain into whiskey made sense to farmers. Whiskey was easier to transport by wagon and brought a higher price than grain. The tax cut into their profits.
Name two ironies/coincidences regarding Thomas Jefferson's and John Adams' deaths?
What is that they both died on July 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (Also, John Adams, while dying, professed, "Thomas Jefferson lives" when in reality, he had died hours earlier on that same day.)