History Test 3 (11-14)
11.1b) Contrast the differing plans of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton for the future of the United States.
-(Democratic) Jefferson wanted states to retain most of the power over an expansive agricultural empire Jefferson's -(Republicans )Hamilton's Federalist, Hamilton thought America's survival depended on thriving industry and a strong central government.
11.8) Summarize the factors that made John Adams' presidency so difficult in the late 1790s.
Adams won, Jefferson was thus serving as VP under the man he'd just run against. He wasn't much interested in aiding Adams, so he concentrated on defining the vice-president's role as president of the Senate, writing procedural manuals Jefferson the Virginian chose to mobilize against Adams as leader of the Democratic-Republicans in hopes of defeating him in 1800. Adams and wanted him to attack the Democratic-Republicans and France more aggressively, stopping democracy in its tracks. Adams cratered to High Federalists with the Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798 — outlawing Jeffersonian newspapers and thereby undermining the First Amendment right to free speech within a decade of the Bill of Rights' ratification, "scandalous or malicious writing against the government" The Alien portion of the act made foreign immigration more difficult in order to keep French citizens from moving to the U.S. to spread democracy
14.9) Evaluate the term traditional housewife. Why was the concept new to early 19th America?
Americans to move into towns, which led to changes in lifestyles ranging from more multi-room homes (with new notions of privacy) to a new role for women in middle-class urban homes: the housewife. New in the early 19th century was the domestic sphere, idealized below in Godey's Lady's Book. A proliferation of such magazines and religious sermons powered by new steam-powered presses set the parameters of this new female role, which focused on nurturing children in a protected environment. Women were guardians of morality, more so than the men who had to lie, cheat, and steal in the competitive worlds of business and politics
14.8) Describe why the time of day started to matter to Americans in the 19th century.
Better communication and transportation, along with more factory shifts, necessitated keeping track of hours and minutes. With the Market Revolution, boats and trains had to run on time, workers had to clock in and out, and it mattered that noon in one part of the country was different than noon hundreds of miles away - thus the birth of time zones and daylight saving time (DST) first suggested by Ben Franklin, pushed by railroad companies and weather forecasters, and legalized a century later at the end of World War I.
14.15) Distinguish between moral relativism as it's sometimes described in the media and what it means to historians. Identify an example of moral relativism from the Market Revolution.
But moral relativism is a descriptive, not prescriptive, term, describing the way that morals are sometimes contingent (dependent) on, or relative to, historical circumstances. In this case, white Northerners and Southerners were both mainly Christian Americans who came from the same parts of Europe, but their respective economies dictated opposing moral outlooks on slavery.
14.7) Name two ways that the Market Revolution illustrates the saying, necessity is the mother of invention.
By the 1820s and 30's, there was a pressing need to move produce and goods that roads, trails, and railroads could not meet
13.1) Outline why politics became a bigger part of everyday life in early 19th century America.
By the 1830s, all white American males could vote whereas in the Colonies 6-penny papers steam-powered papers of the 19th century enhanced participatory democracy while still making it incumbent on readers to distinguish between truth and fiction.(fanciful stories, "penny-papers") hoaxes were democratic because people exercised their own right to distinguish truth from fiction integrated most people were into the market economy, Since the central government ran the bank voters blamed government for the recession
12.8) Analyze the long-term impact of the War of 1812 for both the U.S. and American Indians.
Contrary to Jefferson's original goal of keeping the U.S. economy focused on farming, his embargo and the War of 1812 forced American merchants to become more self-sufficient. Consequently, the apostle of agrarianism ironically accelerated the Industrial Revolution on American shores. impact of the embargo and war was that it motivated New England merchants to seek markets in the Pacific Ocean Line separating the U.S. and Canada became the longest undefended border in the world. one of the lasting effects of the much-maligned War of 1812 was that it precluded future wars between the Americans and British over the west. the two countries peacefully divided the continent along the 49º parallel. Indians of the Midwest faced nearly inevitable defeat in the face of American expansion. Unlike the Imperial Wars (including the French & Indian War), the Revolutionary War, and War of 1812, there were no longer two competing groups of Whites that needed Indians to fight for them.
14.5) Describe how the cotton gin actually increased rather than decreased the need for southern slaves.
Despite being a labor-saving device, the cotton gin paradoxically increased the demand for slaves because it made growing short-staple cotton more profitable. In fact, cotton became the driving force behind the entire American economy, amounting to a larger industry than banking, railroads, and (non-textile) factories combined by the onset of the Civil War. Southern cotton fueled the northern textile industry, the first major sector of the Industrial Revolution.
11.5) Analyze how the French Revolution affected American politics. What does the Citizen Genêt Affair tell us about early American politics?
European politics complicated this already divisive political atmosphere, compounding partisanship between Federalists and Republicans The French Revolution inspired abolition in its colonies, called for racial equality at home among males (tearing down ghetto walls to integrate Jews), established a modern legal system, created a non-Christian/Roman calendar, and endorsed a rational metric measuring system The "Citizen Genêt Affair" was an early indicator that the U.S. was hesitant to stray too far from its British roots and that President Washington was not radically inclined (defined here as democratic). When the more radical and bloodthirsty Jacobin Club took power in Paris, they issued an arrest warrant for Genêt. Realizing that he'd be sent to the guillotine, Hamilton (his most vocal critic) convinced Washington to grant the enthusiastic democrat asylum in America.
13.7) Compare Andrew Jackson's Indian policy to that of the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln.
Europeans granted themselves the right to conquer and take land from anyone on Earth not ruled by a Christian sovereign through the Discovery Doctrine. George Washington saw the "merciless savages" as "wolves and beasts" that deserved nothing from Whites but "total ruin." Washington thought buying land from Indians would be more cost effective, though, than war a harsh policy of displacement continued from Thomas Jefferson on through the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and his successors, all the way to 1890. Unlike every president before and most after (Lincoln and Nixon were arguably exceptions), Jackson didn't honor the Court as the final arbiter of American law. He mocked Justice John Marshall and the judicial branch for not having an army and encouraged citizens to ignore them. Jackson forced the remaining Indians west to Oklahoma, then part of the western Arkansas Territory. Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren, made those who refused to go voluntarily march west in the dead of winter, 1838, on the Trail of Tears. All displacement but Washington wanted to buy, Jefferson and Lincoln gave new land and customs, but Jackson strong armed
11.6) Identify the Newspaper War. Explain why Washington was so disappointed in Jefferson.
Foreign relations drove the wedge deeper between America's political factions, fueling the Newspaper War. The Federalists and Republicans each had newspapers in Philadelphia cranking out propaganda on a daily basis. while Hamilton smeared the opposition through the Gazette of the United States. Jefferson's men excoriated Washington behind his back even as Jefferson served in his administration, but they mostly trashed Hamilton.
11.2) Contrast the constitutional principles of strict construction and loose, or broad construction. Which portions of the Constitution do strict and loose constructionists emphasize, respectively?
Hamilton was a broad, or loose constructionist, meaning that he thought that if the Constitution didn't expressly prohibit the national government from doing something necessary and proper to conduct its affairs, then it could. The "Elastic Clause" (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18) was one of his favorites because it gives Congress all the powers "necessary and proper" to carry out its business, along with the "Supremacy Clause" (Article 6, Clause 2) that gives the national government precedence over conflicting state laws or constitutions.
12.2) Explain how Jefferson's victory in 1800 represented at least a moderate revolution in American politics.
His election was, among other things, a referendum on religious freedom He endorsed spreading the vote to all white males at a critical stage in its history, path toward democracy. Jefferson played up his republicanism, 1801 inauguration, he walked in the mud beside his horse and took pains to avoid the near monarchical foppery, Jefferson answered the door himself in slippers with his hair down to accentuate his non-kingliness, State meals no attention paid to rank or prominence in terms of what order people sat in. Deism under wraps, except for maintaining support for what he called "separation of church and state"
14.6) Describe the economic impact of the Erie Canal. Analyze how it affected the Market Revolution.
Instead of New Orleans becoming the most important port city in America, as Jefferson predicted, New York was now linked to the interior, making it the commercial capital. Goods flowed both ways, from America's interior to Europe and vice-versa. The canal was also located near a major salt mine, allowing easy shipping of that important commodity in either direction the Erie Canal indirectly helped the Democratic Party forge its status as a trans-sectional party, popular in both the North and South. it also became known for believing in states' rights because, after building the canal with their own money, they opposed efforts of other states to tap into federal funds to build their own versions.
12.3) Dissect Jefferson's motivations for creating an officer's academy at West Point.
Instead of allowing the cliquish and nepotistic Federalists from simply passing down commissions to their own friends and sons, Jefferson set up the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to draw cadets from all over the country, in the tradition of the Revolution's citizen soldiers. While he didn't want a large military, he wanted a democratic, smart one that drew from the people and could build better bombs and bridges than the enemy. The heart of early West Point was thus the Army Corps of Engineers. West Point graduated many of the men who mapped and built western railroads and mines in the first half of the 19th century. Jefferson could control the curriculum and admissions
13.5) Explain Andrew Jackson's attitude toward finance, and what impact it had on the country. Evaluate whether it was a wise move to dismantle the National Bank.
Jackson thought that only defined as hard money or precious metals like gold and silver, should be used as currency. Bad idea... unfortunately, only spread the type of corruption and over-speculation in western land that Jackson feared. With the Bank War, we see Jackson strengthening the executive branch in relation to congress, but not strengthening the American economy.
11.9) Evaluate the logic of Jefferson & Madison's Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions. Analyze their issue with the Alien & Sedition Act. What's problematic with Nullification Theory?
Jefferson and Madison would've been jailed themselves had they protested in print, so they did so anonymously in the Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions. They argued that states had the right of judicial review over national laws Nullification Theory, or what Jefferson called "cission," doesn't make much sense when you think about it because it would give states ultimate power over the national government (of course, that's what Jefferson wanted). influential in the evolution of states' rights theory
11.3) Identify the story around "Dinner Deal" and describe how it lead to the creation of Washington, D.C.
Jefferson brought together Hamilton and the Republicans' congressional leader, James Madison. Over food and wine, the principals agreed to what became known as the Dinner Deal. (Really, the actual dinner is mostly a symbolic legend for a compromise they hammered out in various negotiations and in Congress.) Jefferson and Madison consented to Hamiltonian finance in exchange for Federalists agreeing to move the capital away from the "stinking sewer of New York City" to a more Southerly locale - specifically a new city in the Virginians' backyard, just south of Washington's plantation at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. In truth, Madison already had the necessary votes to move the capital, but what he and Jefferson coaxed out of Hamilton on the night of June 20, 1790, was a $1.5 million reduction in the amount their home state of Virginia contributed toward national debt assumption.
12.5) Describe Jefferson's motivations for the Louisiana Purchase and sending Lewis & Clark across the Rockies. How did they connect to his vision for America's future? How did Indians fit into America's future for Jefferson?
Jefferson was already planning to explore the new territory even before he struck the deal for the Louisiana Purchase Jefferson thought Oregon was too far away to ever become part of the U.S., but he hoped for a friendly alliance with whatever country Whites would someday settle there. He wanted to initiate friendly Indian relations along the entire route, gave Indians coins called Peace Medals Jefferson was also interested in finding a Northwest Passage whereby one could travel all the way to the Pacific by boat, Lewis and Clark were to map the entire region and collect as many plant and animal specimens as possible, then schlep them home 2k miles to decorate Monticello's man cave. Jefferson wanted them to investigate evidence of pre-Columbian Welsh contact among the Mandan, as well, potential British claims on the West. Jefferson's Indian policy wasn't oriented toward long-term peaceful co-existence. He was fascinated with Indian culture from an anthropological perspective, but also wanted them out of the way in order to clear the land for a future agricultural empire. Founders initiated the policy of Indian removal The Lewis & Clark Expedition got critical assistance, though, from a Shoshone intermediary named Sacagawea, an updating of the familiar theme we've already seen with Cortès-Malinalli, John Smith-Pocahontas, and early Pilgrims-Tisquantum. There was, of course, no Northwest Passage that far south, just the mountainous Continental Divide that Lewis and Clark discovered, from which all rivers flowed into either the Pacific or Gulf of Mexico. While pleased with his mementos, the hard-to-please Jefferson was disappointed that Lewis and Clark didn't find the Northwest Passage and never hyped their trip. Lewis and Clark didn't gain traction until the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904
11.12) Imagine how Jefferson and Hamilton would have felt about the major developments of the 19th century had they lived to see them.* Such developments include: the expansion of the vote among white males, the rise of slavery in importance to the Southern economy, the continued exploration of the west and settlement by Americans, the expansion of farming across the Midwest and Heartland, the rise of industry during the Market Revolution and the rise of New York as a major financial center. *This objective connects to the first objective on Jefferson and Hamilton's hopes for the American future. It will connect to 2-3 questions on the exam.
Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans because they endorsed voting for all white males. embraced the term Democrat and dropped Republican from their name. Democrat promote unions, minimum wage, and Social Security, Hamiltonian means for Jeffersonian ends, Federalists most commonly associated with Republicans Federalists promoted stronger central government rather than weaker, in order to stabilize currency and jumpstart a young economy with no existing infrastructure. Hamilton embraced debt and taxes. Modern Republicans dislike the power of the national government as expressed in too much bureaucracy, taxes, and regulations. It's impossible, then, to correlate the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans of the 1790s with today's Republicans and Democrats. The ingredients are recombined into different recipes.
12.6) Evaluate Jefferson and Madison's embargo against European trade. Analyze its cause and how it led to the War of 1812. Explain why it was divisive between the Northeast and the rest of the U.S.
Jefferson's policy of maintaining a small military and relying on agricultural exports to leverage American power came back to haunt him in his second term. He mistakenly figured that embargoing American produce would be enough to keep others in line. The flaw in his theory was that Europeans didn't need American imports as much as Americans needed exports the president didn't have the right to slap an embargo on the entire American export economy according to anyone's reading of the Constitution, strict or loose. An embargo was what King George III had done to punish America with the Prohibitory Act of 1775. first group to consider seceding from the U.S. was northeastern Federalists during the embargo and ensuing war. Madison limited the embargo to just Britain and France, rather than all of Europe, and it started to have some effect U.S. had never really gotten out from under the British thumb, Congress could bear and they convinced President Madison that it was time for a 2nd War for Independence British didn't want to be pestered by Americans again while fighting Napoleon, so they agreed to all the American demands, revoking their 1807 Orders in Council of economic warfare against anyone violating their boycott of France. Madison heard that the British revoked the Orders in Council, he changed the terms of the war to include the impressment of sailors
14.12) Describe how anticipation of the Second Coming [of Christ] affected reform movements in the 19th century. Explain how these movements connected to the Market Revolution.
Many evangelicals thought Christ would not return until America's most egregious sins were mollified by abolishing slavery, improving the treatment of prisoners beyond simple incarceration, and curbing alcohol abuse.
14.10) Identify how the Market Revolution connected to the early Women's Suffragist movement.
Many of the new prototypical housewives were perfectly happy, of course. Others were bored with their new roles and, together with the growing number of poorer women working in factories, forged the women's suffrage (voting) movement. As traditional English common law coverture doctrines slowly began to erode around 1840, some states, including Mississippi and New York, granted women the right to control their own property.
12.4) Explain why Napoleon agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S.
Napoleon's main interest in America was growing crops to feed slaves in the Caribbean slave revolt led by Toussaint Louverture, Napoleon was willing to part with Louisiana. 20k troops to quell the Haitian revolt, but many surrendered to yellow fever skeptical about France's ability to govern the area Napoleon opted to cut his losses in the Western Hemisphere altogether and focus on conquering Europe, Russia, and North Africa Congress could only afford Louisiana by borrowing from English banks, Napoleon figured he would allow the U.S. time to repay the loans then conquer England and steal the money from their banks, thus being paid twice for the same transaction
14.3-4)Describe why subsistence farming gradually gave way to market-based farming in the 19th century.
New plows hastened the transition from families simply growing their own food and raising their own livestock to larger operations where farmers grew surplus to sell on a market
13.2) Describe why political parties naturally form in a democracy and what their function is.
Parties organized to mobilize these new voters and cohere their views. they formed outside the government as a way for people to get elected to serve in the government Ideally, they provide a non-violent way to channel peoples' hatreds and disagreements
12.7) Discuss other factors (besides the embargo) that contributed to U.S. involvement in the War of 1812.
Redcoats remained in western forts where they forged Indian alliances to block American settlers. British didn't want to be pestered by Americans again while fighting Napoleon, so they agreed to all the American demands, revoking their 1807 Orders in Council of economic warfare against anyone violating their boycott of France. But word of the Anglo-American truce didn't make it back across the Atlantic in time to prevent war from breaking out: the War of 1812 that lasted from 1812 to 1815. would be a good pretext to conquer Canada. Multiple failed attempts to take Canada in 1812, "Old Ironsides" only victory was small American navy against large British navy Burned York Canada became Toronto campaign ultimately failed despite numerous incursions and victories along the way.
14.14) Summarize how steam power impacted religion, education, and politics.
Steam-powered presses increased book publication generally, allowing for more primary schools. The Market Revolution made education more important because both merchants and farmers had to be able to read, write, and do arithmetic in order to function in the new more complicated economy. These fundamentals were sometimes known as the "3 R's: Readin', 'Ritin' & 'Rithmetic." Family farming hadn't required literacy prior to the Market Revolution. Finally, as we saw in the previous chapter, steam-powered printing presses provided cheap newspapers filled with political commentary, as newly eligible men voted.
14.4-3) Analyze how John Deere's steel-tipped plow both exemplified the industrial revolution and helped cause the Market Revolution. How did it trigger a multiplier effect?
Steel plows are a good example of how economic growth can trigger a multiplier effect, creating more jobs without displacing others. Farmers grew more food, which they traded for money they spent on other consumer goods, employing more people. Soon, those people needed teachers, lawyers, police, carpenters, etc., creating more employees who spent more money. Large-scale farming was part of the industrial revolution and its yield fed a growing army of immigrant factory workers.
14.1) Briefly describe the origins of the Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution began in England with advances in mechanical engineering and steam technology and then spread to Germany, France, and the United States. British engineers like Thomas Newcomen (1705) and Scotsman James Watt (1769), who coined the term horsepower, reinvented and improved upon steam power almost by accident steam pressure (pink, right) from a coal or wood fire boiler can convert into mechanical energy when pumped through a piston or turbine. Manchester, England was the first industrial city. With its network of roads and canals, embrace of the scientific revolution, natural resources (coal), dynamic financial markets, naval strength, and overseas empire "on which the sun never set," Britain was a natural incubator of the industrial revolution. With these advances the population soared with the steam engine and the health benefits of boiling and antibacterial properties of tea Richard Arkwright applied new cotton-spinning frames to yarn production. Soon the British were mass-producing cotton from India in history's first mechanized factories. The British jealously guarded their technological secrets, keeping engineers from emigrating and even going so far as to search people leaving England for blueprints of spinning looms or steam engines. Engineers could disguise themselves as laborers or just memorize the basic mechanics. The Industrial Revolution spread to continental Europe and North America. While opposed by business leaders, his embargo and the War of 1812 had the long-term effect of making the U.S. more self-sufficient. Even earlier, Engineer Samuel Slater built the first advanced water-powered cotton mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island for Moses Brown after apprenticing in Jedidiah Strutt's English stocking mill. Slater's industrial espionage earned him the sobriquet "Slater the Traitor" in Britain, but future president Andrew Jackson called him the "father of the American industrial revolution." Francis Cabot Lowell snuck detailed power loom blueprints out of England and memorized others Massachusetts built industrial compounds that employed girls from surrounding areas, providing them campus-like accommodations with dorms, chapels, and chaperones. Oliver Evans of Delaware not only improved on the steam engine, he also built the country's first assembly-line type system in his automated flour mill, including conveyor belts, bucket elevators, and Archimedean screw pumps. In the 1830s, Evans designed a steam-powered horseless carriage, the amphibious Oruktor Amphibolos To top it off, Evans designed the first refrigerator but never built it; Jacob Perkins won the patent for the first vapor compression cycle model in 1834, based on Evans' idea. More so than the improved power looms of the 1790s, steam turbines launched the American industrial revolution.
14.2) Outline the key technological and production innovations of the early Market Revolution in America.
The American System of manufacturing, first applied to firearms, used specialized milling machines to crank out parts then assembled them quickly. Gunsmiths like Whitney, Simeon North, and Samuel Colt standardized barrel gauges to mass-produce bullets, creating the .22 and .45 caliber, etc. With common gauges, bullets no longer had to be melted down for individual guns. Machine tools (lathes) and jigs enabled mass production and interchangeable parts. The key breakthrough in guns came from North's milling machine, a more maneuverable drill press used to make solid single-piece parts, reducing the need for filing. Standardized guns made warfare more efficient because parts could be replaced quicker on the battlefield and governments could contract large orders. Inventors soon applied the standardized parts concept to a host of other inventions, including textiles with the application of sizes including black and decker, singer sewing machines The government encouraged inventors like Colt, Howe, and Charles Goodyear by awarding patents: certificates granting short-term monopolies on profits from new inventions. The term for proprietary rights on patents varies. Goodyear invented a better rubber Improved rubber wasn't just critical to tires years later, but also the numerous gaskets and seals that would've otherwise melted in the gears and pipes of factories and their power stations. Rubber stopped engines from shaking shops or vehicles apart. Machinery also needed to be oiled and sperm whales provided the necessary lubricant whales were over-hunted and coal-based kerosene filled the void in the mid-1840s, followed by petroleum-based products later (and light-bulbs for lamps) Instead of segmented sleep, separated by an hour or two of wake after midnight, people stayed up later and tried to sleep once through the night.
11.10) Summarize the impact of personal bickering and dirty politicking on the respective careers of Jefferson and Hamilton during the era of the Newspaper Wars. How did the Reynolds Affair affect both men?
The Democratic-Republicans discovered that Hamilton was carrying on with Maria Reynolds, wife of a former Continental Army officer named James Reynolds who had abused and abandoned her. James Reynolds found out and blackmailed Hamilton Democratic-Republicans caught wind of Hamilton's story years earlier (1792) during another investigation into Reynolds and corruption involving speculation on back pay for soldier, proof of his innocence lay in his love letters from Maria Jefferson was gentlemanly enough about the indiscretion to keep it from Washington and set the letters aside, after Jefferson and Hamilton's relationship got worse Jefferson finally paid editor James Callender to publish the letters in 1797. The fallout of the Reynolds Affair was bad for both Hamilton and Jefferson. The resulting scandal ruined Hamilton's public reputation and he never again held office. James Callender revealed that Jefferson had fathered children with his domestic slave, Sally Hemings.
14.13) Explain why basic education (the 3 R's) started to matter more during the 19th century.
The Market Revolution made education more important because both merchants and farmers had to be able to read, write, and do arithmetic in order to function in the new more complicated economy. These fundamentals were sometimes known as the "3 R's: Readin', 'Ritin' & 'Rithmetic." Family farming hadn't required literacy prior to the Market Revolution. Finally, as we saw in the previous chapter, steam-powered printing presses provided cheap newspapers filled with political commentary, as newly eligible men voted.
12.1) Describe how the Burr conspiracy trial established an important precedent for America's future. Why did Justice John Marshall handle the case the way he did? Was it because he thought Burr was innocent?
The Supreme Court cleared Burr in a generous treason trial in 1807, meant to set a high standard as to what constitutes treason and how much evidence it would take to prove it. Being put to death for treason thus required either a confession or at least two incriminating witnesses Jefferson's lawyers could only muster one for any of Burr's particular actions. Marshall asked prosecutors, "Is this the best you've got?" It was and he dismissed Burr helped establish a strong separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches
11.7b) Describe how you could characterize the Whiskey Rebellion as a win-win situation for most people involved, or at least both main political factions (Federalists & Democratic-Republicans).
The remaining rebels agreed to pay the tax, but the Whiskey Rebellion was a notch in Jefferson's belt as it played into the Democratic-Republicans' portrayal of the Federalist regime as over-bearing Federalists: Hamilton wanted to consolidate and gain efficiency of scale across agriculture and industry and would help fund the government's budget in the meantime. Washington showedAmericans and Europeans that he and his government were in charge of the country and had ways of raising revenue; and he managed to do it with little bloodshed.
13.4) Describe some of the ways Andrew Jackson redefined and strengthened the Presidency.
Their hero, Jackson, strengthened the executive branch in relation to both the legislative (Congress) and judicial (courts) branches, as well as the states. Jackson understood that part of the checks and balances system was the president's right to veto any law he disagreed with His twelve vetoes eclipsed the ten total from the previous six administrations.
11.4) Explain Hamilton's connection to early Wall Street finance.
U.S. Bonds came into existence as part of Hamilton's financial plans and, so far, their default rate is 0% since 1791. They got off to a good start in the 1790s because Europeans, skittish over the Napoleonic Wars, saw the young U.S. as the safest place to put their money, despite its unproven reputation. In the minds of modern Chinese, Japanese, and Saudi Arabians, American bonds are still the safest money in the world, outside of perhaps gold. Investors started buying and selling these bonds, along with stocks, at 68 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, under a Buttonwood tree to be precise. In time, they institutionalized themselves as the New York Stock Exchange and moved indoors. The first shares on the exchange were the aforementioned treasuries and the North American Bank, the government's First National Bank, and then Hamilton's own Bank of New York, now BNY Mellon
11.1a) Explain how cabinets arose in the executive branch.
Unelected agencies pass more rules than Congress does laws.The president has control over appointing the agency heads (the Cabinet). Yet, Congress created and maintains oversight over all these agencies (e.g. the Justice Department is accountable to the House Judiciary Committee, or at least was prior to 2019).
14.11) Contrast between the older, vertical orientation of workers and the new horizontal outlook. Why did that gradually begin to shift in the 19th century? How did some radicals in Europe advocate coping with that shift?
Unlike the 18th century, when most craftsmen had the potential to rise vertically through the apprentice-journeyman-master ladder within a given guild (e.g. blacksmith, butcher, cooper, tanner), most were now stuck permanently on a large factory floor with little hope for advancement. The same was true of hundreds of others across town, who came to identify with each other more horizontally as working class. In the 19th century, the Democrats of Andrew Jackson appealed to blue-collar workers primarily, including craftsmen and factory workers to go along with their traditional farming constituents.
13.3) Describe Martin Van Buren's role in the rise of the Democrats.
gave unprivileged men like Van Buren, whose parents were tavern-keepers, a stepping-stone into politics by allowing them to work their way up through the organization, similar to a company ladder. listening to state bank supporters like his VP Van Buren When Calhoun resigned from the vice-presidency Martin Van Buren replaced him For the figurehead of the Democratic Party in the 1820s, Van Buren favored Andrew Jackson, the most popular and famous man in the America and hero of the Battle of New Orleans.
13.6) Explain how the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina connects to sectional politics between the 1830s and the Civil War. Also, explain how the Democratic party managed to maintain a trans-sectional allegiance up until the mid-1840s.
recycled Jefferson and Madison's old Nullification Theory from the controversy over the Sedition Act in the 1790s: the theory that states could nullify any national law they deemed unconstitutional. Sure enough, like the Sedition Act, the 1828 Tariff was unconstitutional; in this case, because it was a protective, high tariff rather than a legal, moderate, revenue-raising tariff (high tariffs don't raise any revenue because no one imports the item). On the other hand, if any state could overturn a national law per nullification theory, then the states would essentially have all the power. Jackson thought the South Carolina Tariff Crisis, or Nullification Crisis, offered him an excellent opportunity to get in front of an army and wage war on South Carolina, ala George Washington in the Whiskey Rebellion. He was reaffirming the power of the executive branch and national government over the states. With Van Buren being from New York and Jackson from Tennessee, their administration helped forge a national identity for the Democratic Party. Rather than morphing into a regional (mainly southern) party, they stayed strong along a north-south axis, with a common support for slavery binding them together. That helped stave off regional conflict for another quarter-century, though the Democrats ultimately broke apart regionally during the sectional crisis leading up to the Civil War.
13.8) Describe what role the new Whig party played in American politics. Why did they choose the name they did? What was their platform? Why did they choose the candidate they did in 1840? How did they give the Democrats a "dose of their own medicine" in 1840?
the U.S. hadn't really had two parties since the demise of the Federalists years earlier. A new party calling themselves the Whigs, led by Kentuckian Henry Clay, established a platform they called the American System: higher tariffs, renewal of the National Bank, support for education, and promotion of internal improvements (infrastructure) like roads and canals. most farmers stood to gain from improved infrastructure. But the Whigs included many southern Planters, too, who thought that Jackson's conservative banking policies slowed down the growth of "King Cotton." The name Whigs was a clever way for the new party to shed the elitist reputation of the Federalists. The Whigs were the English party that supported the people in Parliament's House of Commons (and American Revolution) and opposed the Tories, aristocracy, and king. The American Whigs even tried spinning Jackson as a king they too nominated a War of 1812-era hero, William Henry Harrison, who also had a catchy nickname: Old Tippecanoe, after his 1811 victory at Tippecanoe Creek in Indiana. The Democrats' slanders accidentally played into the hands of the Whigs, who emphasized his apolitical, outsider status. They "took ownership" as we'd say today and even coined the phrase Log Cabin Campaign.
13.9) Explain how in some ways, but not others, we live in an "era of common men" ourselves.
the contest to see who can come across as most "regular," like you and me. No campaigner in his or her right mind would consider a good education a selling point. Each politician, no matter how privileged, has to weave a rags-to-riches narrative into his or her biography, with parents whose calloused hands taught them the value of hard work. But people from regular backgrounds with extraordinary ability and/or ambition occupy the White House around half the time (Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Obama). Like Van Buren, their only chance was to rise up through a political party or, in Reagan's case, gain fame in another profession first (acting). The Age of Jackson, not the American Revolution, gave ordinary white men a chance to participate.
11.7a) Explain what is wrong with viewing the Whiskey Rebels as simple anti-government, anti-tax yahoos unwilling to pay their fair portion.
the rebels weren't just angry hillbillies opposing all taxes, or even a national government; they opposed Hamilton's insistence on consolidating the industry by favoring bigger distillers with regressive taxes that went toward paying interest to wealthy federal bondholders. The upshot is that the regressive tax favored larger, year-round distillers and punished less efficient, seasonal one-pot farmers and frontiersmen.
