The West and Early National Politics

Early United States foreign policy was primarily a defensive reaction to perceived or actual threats from Europe. Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to United States foreign policy on TWO major issues during the period from 1789 – (83) Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation provided an effective form of government with respect to any TWO of the following: Foreign relations Economic conditions Western lands ( 96)

Territory Northwest of the River Ohio Territory Southwest of the River Ohio

I. An Empire of Liberty A. The Possibilities and Problems of the West 1. Land sales to pay $28,000,000 war debt 2. Ward off British (frontier forts, Canada) 3. Market for Eastern goods (mercantilism) 1. Landed vs. Landless states 2. Land bounties (100,000,000 acres) 3. No army  no land  no government

B. The West and the Articles of Confederation Divided internally + lacking army  Congress unable to enforce Treaty of Paris: –British refused to give up western posts (Detroit) until US pays back Loyalists –1784: Spain closed Mississippi river (New Orleans) to US (block expansion)  Ohio River to Mississippi to sea to Europe and Atlantic Coast

1784: Fort Stanwix: Iroquois give up lands –Repudiate in 1786, but too weak to stand up  NY buys up lands and settlers move upstate Ohio Indians (Shawnee, Chippewas, etc.) form confederacy  able to hold off Americans (although difficult)

C. Organizing the Land 1781: Landed States finally give up lands  MD ratifies AofC Ordinance of 1785: land to be surveyed and divided in orderly manner Hope to raise $ to pay off debts  required minimum purchase of 640 acres at $1/acre  $640 out of reach of small farmers (except Army vets w/bounties)  Ohio Company, Marietta (Society of Cincinnati)

II. The Northwest Territory: Blueprint for the Empire of Liberty A. The Federalist Vision: The West is the nation Phases of settlement: Savage frontiersmen Lazy, selfish squatters Republican farmers “republican liberty”: self-interest tied to public good

The Northwest Ordinance (1787) One of last and most important acts passed under Articles of Confederation –Development over time: stages of self-government by population (territorial Gov appointed by Congress  territorial assembly w/Gov  60,000 = Statehood) Eventually accepted into Union as fully equal States –Publicly-funded education –Patronage, roads, and forts –No slavery

B. The Democratic Republican Vision of the West Americans natural republicans West as salvation of the East: –Yeoman farmers vs. Anglophile (pro-English) manufacturers and merchants –Rural (natural, pure) vs. urban (corrupting) –Immediate self-government

III. Winning the Northwest A. “Not a Mere Shadow”: The Federalists in the West Whiskey Rebellion and Fallen Timbers –“Light Horse Harry” Lee and 12,000: No Shays’ Rebellion –1795: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Legion of the United States: Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greeneville

1795 Pinckney’s Treaty –Spanish grant US access to Miss. navigation Jay’s Treaty –British give up Western forts  Floodgates open

B. “Old Veto” and the Ins and Outs Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair versus the Chillicothe elite –New Englanders in Marietta (Ins) Orderly Deeply Federalist Receive patronage and contracts  econ. ad. –Virginians in Virginia Military District (Outs) Liberty Unattached (leaning Republican) Largely left out of patronage VMD

Thomas Worthington –Virginian looking for land –On the make: land speculation, land surveying, town booster, trade –Looking for advantage: sides with Republicans when Federalists fail to ante up –No strong ideological commitment –Statehood (1803) to gain power over St. Clair  control patronage, construction (forts, roads, mills, etc.)

IV. Losing the Southwest Southwest Ordinance, 1790 –Same basic form as Northwest Ordinance –Slavery allowed –Almost no Federal military presence despite Indian presence Sectionalism –Northwest (Ohio, Nebraska, Indiana): free, tied closely to Federal Government –Southwest (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas): slave, distant from and resentful of Federal Government

V. Conclusion 1. The West as test case for Constitution 2. The West as the future of America: order or liberty, manufacturing or agriculture, free or slave? 3. The West as the death of a dream: growing sectionalism 4. All politics are local: party affiliation not primarily ideological