Thomas Jefferson and Tecumseh Constitution and Charisma in the Growth of the New Republic

The Formation of the Republic Confederation problems and the Annapolis Convention. The Constitutional Convention. Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan. The Great Compromise. Ratification and the Bill of Rights Anti-Federalism and the issues of ratification. The Bill of Rights: ten adopted amendments and the rights not enumerated. Government formation and unfinished business. Washington’s election and the new executive. The formation of government departments and institutions.

Federalism and Republicanism The Washington administration. The Cabinet and the Hamilton-Jefferson conflict. Hamiltonian economics and debt. Washingtonian foreign policy: the “middle course.” The First Party system. Ideological divisions: Federalist vs. Democratic- Republican, the press, and popular politics. The election of 1796 as a political watershed. Washington’s legacy and the formation of the Presidency.

Tecumseh The state of Native affairs in the early Republic. The Miami War, the Treaty of Greenville and the loss of native lands to encroachment. Tribal divisions and unification. Tecumseh: the leader and the man. Formative experience and education. The idea of the Confederation. Tecumseh’s role in the Confederation and the War of 1812.

Adams and Party Politics The election of 1796 and split administration. John Adams: personality and the presidency. The fight with his Cabinet and governing ideas. The Quasi-war with France. The XYZ Affair: “It is, no, no, not a sixpence.” Undeclared war and the rise of the US Army and Navy. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Jeffersonian response in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves.

Jefferson: American Sphinx Jefferson the man. Informality and the democratic ideal. Contradiction: the defining personality trait. Jefferson the president. The “Revolution of 1800” and electoral problems. Republican finance and Albert Gallatin. Limited military expenditure and the reliance on the militia.

Jefferson’s Presidency Jefferson’s fight with the Judicial branch. Marbury v. Madison and the establishment of judicial review. The Tripolitan War and American weakness. The Louisiana Purchase and the Burr conspiracy. Economic warfare with Great Britain. The Essex decision, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Paper blockade”. The Chesapeake incident. Orders, decrees, and the Embargo Act.

The War of 1812 Escalation to war. James Madison and the failure of economic coercion. Henry Clay and the War Hawks. Republican finance vs. needs for the Army and Navy. Fighting the war. Initial invasion of Canada and the failure of American forces. Naval action against the British, 1812 and after. The problem of the Great Lakes and American success. Crisis in 1814 and the myth of American victory. Status Quo Ante Bellum