1. Mitten – CSHS AMAZ History – Semester 1
Launching the New Nation, 1789 – 1816 Washington Heads the New Government – Sect. 1
Mitten – CSHS
AMAZ History – Semester 1

2. New Government Takes Shape
Judiciary Act of 1789
Judiciary Act of 1789 creates Supreme, 3 federal circuit courts, 13 district circuit courts
Washington Shapes Executive Branch
Washington elected first president of U.S. in 1789
Executive branch = president, vice president
Congress creates State, War, Treasury Departments
Alexander Hamilton = 1st secretary of treasury
Washington adds attorney general; these department heads are Cabinet
During the 1790s, the young republic faced many of the same problems that confronted the newly independent nations of Africa and Asia in the 20th century. Like other nations born in anti-colonial revolutions, the United States faced the challenge of building a sound economy, preserving national independence, and creating a stable political system which provided a legitimate place for opposition. In 1790, it was not at all obvious that the Union would long survive. George Washington thought that the new government would not last 20 years. One challenge was to consolidate public support. Only about 5 percent of adult white males had voted to ratify the new Constitution and two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, continued to support the Articles of Confederation. Vermont threatened to join Canada.
The new nation also faced economic and foreign policy problems.
A huge debt remained from the Revolutionary War and paper money issued during the conflict was virtually worthless.
In violation of the peace treaty of 1783 ending the Revolutionary War, Britain continued to occupy forts in the Old Northwest.
Spain refused to recognize the new nation's southern and western boundaries.

3. Hamilton and Jefferson Debate
Hamilton and Jefferson in Conflict
Hamilton: strong central government led by wealthy, educated
Jefferson: strong state, local government; people’s participation
Hamilton has Northern support; Jefferson has Southern, Western support
Hamilton’s Economic Plan
U.S. owes millions to foreign countries, private citizens
Plan – pay foreign debt, issue new bonds, assume states’ debt
Some Southern states have paid debts, against taxes to pay for North
Politically and economically, the 1790s was the nation's formative decade. During this decade the United States implemented the new Constitution, adopted a bill of rights, created its first political parties, and built a new national capital city in Washington, D.C. The 1790s were also years of rapid economic and demographic growth. It was during this critical decade that the United States established the foundations of a prosperous, growing economy. But the 1790s were also years of conflict and threats of civil war. At the root of conflict were two divergent visions of the kind of nation the United States should become. Alexander Hamilton envisioned an economic and military power modeled on Britain, with a strong central government, a national bank, a standing army, and flourishing industry. Thomas Jefferson offered a very different ideal. He envisioned an agrarian society, without a central bank, taxes, a standing army, or a large government bureaucracy.
The Hamiltonians and the Jeffersonians both feared for the future of the new nation. Hamilton and his supporters were convinced that the Jeffersonians sought to subvert legitimate government, private property, religion, and morality, and ally the United States with revolutionary France. The Jeffersonians believed that Hamilton and his supporters wanted to recreate the monarchical society that Americans had rebelled against in 1776 and that they were willing to use the army to suppress the peoples' liberties.

4. Hamilton and Jefferson
Plan for a National Bank
Hamilton proposes Bank of the United States:
funded by government, private investors
issue paper money, handle taxes
Disagreement over Congressional authority to establish bank
Debate begins over strict and loose interpretation of Constitution
The District of Columbia
To win Southern support for his debt plan, Hamilton suggests:
moving nation’s capital from NYC to South
Washington D.C. planned on grand scale; government seat by 1800

5. Political Parties and Rebellion
Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
Split in Washington’s cabinet leads to first U.S. political parties
Jefferson’s allies: Democratic-Republicans
Hamilton’s allies: Federalists
Two-party system established as two major parties compete for power
The Whiskey Rebellion
Excise tax charged on product’s manufacture, sale, or distribution
In 1794, Pennsylvania farmers refuse to pay tax on whiskey - threaten secession
Federal government shows it can enforce laws by sending in militia
The framers of the Constitution had not prepared their plan of government with political parties in mind. They hoped that the "better sort of citizens" would debate key issues and reach a harmonious consensus regarding how best to legislate for the nation's future. Thomas Jefferson reflected widespread sentiments when he declared in 1789, "If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." Yet despite a belief that parties were evil and posed a threat to enlightened government, the nation's first political parties emerged in the mid-1790s. Several factors contributed to the birth of parties.
The Federalists, under the leadership of George Washington, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton, feared that their opponents wanted to destroy the Union, subvert morality and property rights, and ally the United States with revolutionary France.
The Republicans, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson, feared that the Federalists were trying to establish a corrupt monarchical society, like the one that existed in Britain, with a standing army, high taxes, and government-subsidized monopolies.