Domestic Issues of Early America Fill in your guided notes as we discuss problems that America faced at home during the early years of its independence!

ISSUE ONE: What should the executive branch look like? Congress approved the creation of 3 departments in the executive branch to help the president run the country The Department of State was created to handle relations with other countries The Department of War was created to defend the nation The Treasury Department was created to manage the nation’s finances. Congress also created the position of “attorney general” to serve as the president’s legal advisor. The Congress also created the job of postmaster general to head the mailing and postal system throughout the nation. The heads of these departments became known as the president’s “cabinet.”

Check your Understanding! Draw a visual in this box to represent the different parts of the executive branch!

ISSUE TWO: What do we call the President? The first major argument in Congress was about the president’s title—in England, the king had been addressed as “Your Excellency” or “Your Highness.” Federalists, who supported a strong national government, believed that Washington should be addressed with a similar title. Republicans disagreed—they thought that this sounded too much like the King of England, and it went against the ideas of democracy. Washington finally reached compromise when he requested that he preferred the simple title of “Mr. President.”

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING! Draw a picture of Washington as “Mr. President”:

ISSUE THREE: Does the National Government have the right to tax the people? A major source of domestic problems was a divided Congress—Federalists believed that the national government should be strong and powerful by collecting money with taxes, while Republicans believed that the power of the national government should be limited. Eventually, Congress agreed to tax whiskey (an alcoholic drink) and other “luxury goods” to help raise money for the government.

ISSUE THREE: Does the National Government have the right to tax the people? This led to a protest by Americans who did not want to pay the tax—this was the Whiskey Rebellion. Hamilton, who supported the idea of a strong national government, sent American troops to crush the rebellion. This ended the protest, but Jefferson and the Republicans were disturbed (upset) by this use of force to put down opposition to government policies.

Check your Understanding! Do you agree or disagree with how the government handled the Whiskey Rebellion? Why or why not?

ISSUE FOUR: Does the national government have the power to set up a national bank? Hamilton asked Congress to establish a national bank where he could store the money collected by taxes. The bank would also print paper money, which would provide the nation with a stable and secure currency. The bank could also make loans to businesses to help them expand their trade and manufacturing. Many people opposed this, because in the Constitution, it did not state that Congress had the power to create a national bank. Many argued that Congress only had the powers listed in the Constitution—nothing more. Creating a national bank would be unconstitutional and an abuse of power by the national government. Opponents of the bank supported a “strict construction” of the Constitution, meaning the government should strictly obey the rules of the Constitution.

ISSUE FOUR: Does the national government have the power to set up a national bank? Hamilton and the Federalists supported a “broad construction” of the Constitution. He pointed out the “elastic clause” of the Constitution which stated that Congress could “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out its listed powers. Since collecting taxes was one of Congress’ powers, Hamilton argued that Congress should be allowed to set up the bank to help with tax collection. The debate went to the Supreme Court in the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland—in this case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional for the Congress to create a federal (national) bank. The elastic clause of the Constitution gave Congress the power to do so. Once the bank was established, it helped the American economy to grow and prosper.

O.P.T.I.C Analysis: How to Analyze Images O: Overview-- First, write a 1 sentence overview or summary of what the picture is showing you. P: Parts--Second, circle all parts of the image. This includes people/captions/speech bubbles or any other parts of the picture. T: Title--Third, write down the title of the image or cartoon if there is one (sometimes there isn’t, so you can leave this blank if you don’t see a title) I: Importance--Fourth, explain the message or importance of the image. All political cartoons are sending some sort of message or information to the viewer. All images we analyze in history will be important to helping us understand that time in history. C: Connections--Fifth, connect this image or cartoon to something that we have learned about in history. This can be a fact from a lesson or an event we discussed!

“Early American Dentistry” EXAMPLE: “Early American Dentistry”   O: Overview P: Parts (Circle all parts of the picture) T: Title: I: Importance C: Connection

Activity Directions At your table, you will receive four different visuals or cartoons that you must analyze. Follow the steps of OPTIC and fill in the information in your OPTIC charts! Work with your table partner to complete each OPTIC analysis.

Visual One

Visual Two

Visual Three

Visual Four