1. Inventing the Executive
Precedents
The Cabinet
Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson (VA)
Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton (NY)
Secretary of War
Henry Knox (MA)
Attorney General
Edmund Randolph (VA)
“Advice and Consent” of the Senate
George Washington “unanimously” elected
69 out of 138 votes
VP – John Adams (34) votes
Federalist majority in Congress

2. First Congressional Acts
Bill of Rights
Written by Madison
10 out of 12 ratified
Judiciary Act of 1789
Supreme Court
Six justices
Chief Justice – John Jay
13 District Courts
“Original jurisdiction”
3 Courts of Appeal

3. Hamilton’s Financial Plan
Opposition
Madison and Jefferson
Funding
Benefited speculators
“Discrimination” between current bond holders and original buyers
Assumption
Some states (VA & NC) already paid debts
“The Dinner”
“Residency” of the capital in South – Potomac River
Temporary capital – Philadelphia
The debt
National debt: $54 million
State debts: $25 million
Total debt: $79 million
“Report on the Public Credit”
Funding
Fund bonds at face value to:
Establish credit
Tie businessmen to national government
Put capital in hands of industrialists
Assumption
National government assumes state debts
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”
~ Alexander Hamilton ~
“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.”
~ Alexander Hamilton ~

4. Hamilton’s Financial Plan
“Report on Manufactures”
Subsidies
Protective tariff
Revenue
Tariff of 1789 (non-protective)
Excise tax on whiskey
National Bank
20% government-owned
80% private investment
Federal funds
Borrowing easier
Paper currency
Madison and Jefferson – not in enumerated powers
Hamilton – implied powers
Coinage
Decimal system based on Spanish dollar

5. Washington - Whiskey Rebellion – 1794, PA
Fed-up farmers revolted against Hamilton’s excise tax. They said it was a tax on a necessity (whiskey used as currency on the frontier).
Washington sent about 13,000 troops to the revolt, but the rebels had scattered.
Washington’s new presidency now commanded new respect, but anti-federalists criticized the government’s use of a sledgehammer to crush a gnat.
Around those parts, liquor and alcohol was often used as money.
They cried “taxation without representation” since many were from Tennessee and Kentucky which were not yet states and had no one in Congress.

6. Washington - Neutrality Proclamation
France declared war on Great Britain and the battle for North American land began…again.
The nation was militarily and economically weak and politically disunited.
In 1793, he issued the Neutrality Proclamation, proclaiming the U.S.’s official neutrality and warning Americans to stay out of the issue and be impartial.

7. Washington - Jay’s Treaty
In an attempt to avert war, Washington sent John Jay to England to work something out.
Britain would repay the lost money from recent merchant ship seizures called “impressment”, but it said nothing about future seizures or supplying Indians with arms.
America would have to pay off its pre-Revolutionary War debts to Britain.

9. Doc. 5 Washington’s Farewell Address
List some items that Washington warns against.
Why does Washington warn against foreign alliances?
What would be the benefits of isolationism?
What would be the drawbacks of isolationism?

10. Washington’s Farewell Address
Main points
Stay away from European affairs
No “permanent alliances”
Isolationism
No political parties
Avoid sectionalism
1796 – Washington will not serve a third term
Farewell Address published in newspapers
Assisted by Hamilton and Madison
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible…’Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world”
“Let me now…warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party…the disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual.”

11. Adams - XYZ Affair
France was furious about Jay’s Treaty and began seizing defenseless American merchant ships.
Adams sent three representatives (including John Marshall) to France, where they were approached by three agents, “X,” “Y,” and “Z,” who demanded a bribe before talks could begin.
They refused and returned to America, cheered as having done the right thing.

12. Quasi-War with France Domestic action
Federalists in control
The Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)
Naturalization Act
Alien Act and the Alien Enemies Act
Sedition Act
Kentucky and Virginia Resolves
Written by Jefferson and Madison
1798 – All trade suspended with France
Privateering authorized
Department of the Navy created

13. Adams - Alien and Sedition Acts
Alien Laws – raised the residence requirements for citizenship from five to fourteen years. Also, the president could deport dangerous foreigners during peacetime and jail them during times of war.
Sedition Act - anyone who impeded the policies of the government or falsely defamed its officials, including the president, would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment

14. Adams - KY and VA Resolutions
Since the states made the federal government, the states reserve the right to nullify those federal laws.
“compact theory,” “states’ rights theory,” or “nullification.”

15. Early Presidents Organizer
Please complete the following:
doesn’t have to be in chart form
Don’t forget to address the significance of key events
WASH.
ADAMS
Key Events
Bill of Rights
Hamilton’s Financial Plan (objectives and policies)
Whiskey Rebellion
Neutrality Proclamation
Jay’s Treaty
Farewell Address
Development of political parties
XYZ Affair
Alien and Sedition Acts
KY and VA Resolutions
Big Idea:
Domestic Policy
Foreign Policy
Lesson Learned from Presidency