Hello everyone, I am your professor, Dr. George Pabis, and today's subject is The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power: 1800-1824. The election of 1800 was very significant. You had Jefferson running against Adams--two of the founding fathers of this country. They had ran before, but now this election was far more bitter. But there was a twist in this election. Jefferson had a running mate named Aaron Burr and when the Republicans in the electoral college voted, they gave Jefferson and Aaron Burr an equal number of electoral votes. John Adams was in third place so he was out of the presidential race. There were two number one candidates both of them Republican. Well, Aaron Burr should step down everyone said, but Burr refused to step down. So the election of 1800 went to the House of Representatives. Remember you have to have the majority of the Electoral College to win a presidential election--neither Jefferson nor Aaron Burr had that majority. The Federalists, though they were upset with Jefferson, were really not happy with Aaron Burr. They just didn't vote and what happened was that Jefferson won the election. Aaron Burr was very angry and he kind of retreats from political life for now, and he will reappear again. Thankfully, though there was such hostility between Jefferson and Adams, there was a peaceful transition of power, and that's something very rare in world history. I mean just take a look at elections around the world. In the same year, in 1800, there was Gabriel's rebellion a rebellion that actually really never occurred. but it was a plot that was uncovered. Like many slave plots, the person who expose the rebellion was actually another slave. Remember the punishment for rebelling was capital punishment. They would kill you. It behooved slaves who may have learned about a plot to tell their masters about a plot because they may find themselves killed. What's crucial about this is that this is again in that atmosphere of the Haitian revolution, which just had occurred a few years earlier. There's ever an increasing fear among the slave holders that something has to be done to prevent a rebellion in the United States. If a slave is a troublemaker, is there somewhere we can ship them off. Is there a place, maybe, that we could send our slaves someday when slavery would no longer be a part of our economy. But for now, the end result of Gabriel's Rebellion was even more stricter laws regulating the lives of slaves. Let's turn our attention to Jefferson's presidency. He entered the presidency with a vision. He believes in limited government. He emphasized frugality. But there's more to his vision than just economics--it was an idea that the foundation of the republic. the people upon which the republic really really depended on. were the independent farmers. They were independent. They were their own business people. Think about that--each farm is a business venture. They need to be involved in politics because of their business. Jefferson believed these hardworking people who were farming were the foundation of the Republic, and therefore the country should do everything possible to maintain the status of the independent farmer Jefferson was horrified by the Industrial Revolution. It was creating a class of people that had no ties to land and were just employees of someone else. This was not a good foundation for the Republic. He turned to the farmer. He was going to do everything to help the farmer. What was a federal government in 1800. There's a postal system--the best postal system in the world at that time. There were federal courts, lighthouses, people collecting custom duties, which are import taxes, and people conducted the census. That's the federal government at this point in history--not very big and that's the way Jefferson wanted it. When Jefferson came to power, he noticed something. Adams had appointed federalist judges literally hours before Jefferson assumed the presidency. Jefferson cancelled those appointments. Marbury, a person who had received the commission from Adams, sued Jefferson. In the famous Supreme Court case, Marbury vs Madison, the Supreme Court said that yes the commission is valid and the new president should do something about it, but there was no way for the court to force Jefferson to give him the commission. Ultimately, they ruled that the grounds of the case were unconstitutional. What really is crucial here is the fact that the case went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled on it, and it just established something--that if there's a dispute in the federal government about who has what power. they should go to the Supreme Court. and this is established the concept of judicial review. When Jefferson took office the United States consisted basically of the land east of the Mississippi River. What was west of it? Remember Spain had it. Well Spain gave back that territory back to France. Jefferson thought that maybe the United States could buy New Orleans from France. Americans knew very little about the lands west of the Mississippi, so Jefferson sent two explorers, Lewis and Clark, and a handful of other men on an expedition to find out what was out West. Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to buy New Orleans from France. What surprises Livingston is that Napoleon is willing to sell all of Louisiana for fifteen million dollars--a huge bargain. This will nearly double the size of the United States for fifteen million dollars. Jefferson gets word that we can buy this land. Where in the Constitution does it say that the president United States can buy land from another country--it's not there. Jefferson does it anyway. Jefferson realizes a deal is a deal. and he expands the power of the presidency. Does the Congress object? No, we've just doubled the size of the United States for fifteen million dollars. During Jefferson's time as president, Barbary pirates in Tripoli on the North African coast were attacking ships that were trading in the Mediterranean. and demanding basically a bribe, a tribute to be paid if you wanted to trade in the Mediterranean. Between 1801 and 1803, theee American ships blockaded Tripoli. But in 1803, a U.S. ship ran aground and three hundred Americans were captured. The Barbary pirates wanted money--you want these guys back, give us money. For the first time in US history American troops and vessels are sent to fight outside the borders of the United States. The first fight is, interestingly, along the coast of Africa. The US attacks,destroyed some enemy vessels, and fired upon the city. Eventually a truce is agreed upon. They pay a ransom, a very low ransom, and get their troops back. The United States feels good about it. the Barberry pirates would continue doing what they're doing, but basically the Americans had shown them that they weren't just going to be pushed around. In Europe, the war between France and England continued. Americans want to do business with Britain and France. Now the British were seizing American ships like they had done earlier during the Adams's presidency. In 1807, the Republicans who controlled the Congress passed a total embargo, prohibiting American ships from trading with any foreign port. France is causing us problems. Britain is causing us problems. --a total embargo. Remember, Jefferson's support is mainly from Virginia and states west of Virginia. In contrast, the Federalists are still strong in New England. New England's economy is very much intertwined with maritime trade. When Jefferson and the Republicans create the embargo, it is an economic disaster for New England. Many in New England feel that the federal government no longer is working for them. As we shall see, the idea of secession will be tossed around in New England in the next few decades. The federal government seems to be against them. After serving two terms in office, Jefferson decided not to run again. James Madison, another founding father of this country, was elected president. He continued the economic pressure on England and France. Let's mention here his wife, Dolly Madison. George Washington's wife Martha never lived in the White House. Dolly Madison took over the White House. She became the hostess of the White House. She made the White House the center of social life in Washington D.C.. She was a gracious host an intelligent woman who really made an impact in Washington D.C. society. As First Lady, she and her husband had a marriage in which they were partners, working together. Dolly Madison helped furnish the first White House. But when it was burned down by the British during the War of 1812, she stepped in and started working on furnishing the second White House. Let's turn now to focus on the relationship between the United States and Native Americans during the presidency of James Madison. Although the Native Americans of Ohio had been defeated, what about those of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other places in the Midwest. A Shawnee chief named Tecumseh sought to unify Native Americans against the United States. He had a brother who was a shaman, and together they managed to create a confederacy of several tribes. Tecumseh understood that the only way Native Americans had a chance to really influence the United States and have some control over their own destiny, was for Native Americans to unite. But in the battle of Tippecanoe, General William Harrison soundly defeated Tecumseh. Tecumseh survives the battle, but his army was defeated. Native Americans would be pushed once again further west. The dispute when England continued to fester. England continued to seize American ships. Congressmen known as the War Hawks were sick of this continuing embarrassment of England not honoring the sovereignty of the United States and the right of the United States to trade with whoever it wanted to. The War Hawks wanted a war with England. They wanted to go after Native Americans even more so--basically saying that the Native Americans are just waiting to side with England against us. So in June, 1812, Congress declared war on England. New England was against it, the South in the West were for. The War hawks called for the invasion of Canada, but the American attack on Canada failed. While this war progressed, General Andrew Jackson defeated Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in which the Creeks ceded land to the United States. Then, in August of 1814, a British force of five thousand landed just outside Washington D.C. and captured the capital of the United States. The White House, the original White House was burnt down. British troops from Canada moved into New York State. The British army landed in Louisiana. Have we heard this before--how were they going to defeat the United States. The same problems that they faced in the American Revolution were still there. They couldn't defeat the United States when there were only thirteen colonies, now they were looking at a territory three, four times as large. The British were trying to find a way to get out of this war. And so too with Americans. They had made their point. They were unhappy with the British, but this war could last a long time and there was no need to continue it. Let's get a treaty signed. In a world with very slow communication, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, but it took several weeks for that information to reach Louisiana. Even though the treaty had been signed officially, General Jackson and the British fought a battle--the famous Battle of New Orleans. General Jackson placed his army behind bales of cotton. Then the British marched across an open field and were pretty much slaughtered. It was an astounding American victory, and it made Andrew Jackson a hero in America's eyes. Politicians in New England organized something called the Hartford Convention in December 1814. What they discussed was possible secession--we don't want this war and the United States is doing things that that are not in our interest. Maybe we should secede from the Union. Once the peace is signed and Jackson victory becomes news, the Hartford Convention looks very unpatriotic, and they quickly disbanded. We talk a lot about politics in this course, but there are also changes occurring in American society so let's focus on that right now. We have talked about Republican Motherhood and that it had an important role in seeing women as a vital part of the American experiment of Republicanism. Yes, they couldn't vote, but they were important not only to the family but to creating educated American citizens. Compared to the Colonial Period and to what was happening in England, the status of women in the early American Republic improved. If you looked at England women had no legal or political personhood. A woman's life revolved around her husband not only socially but legally. During the early Republic, things were changing. What we need to look at is divorce. Before the American Revolution, except for New England, all the other states did not allow divorce, even if your husband was cheating on you--even if your husband was cheating on you and beating you. In 1820, except for South Carolina, every other state would allow divorce. Now it was not easy to get. The woman had to prove the man was cheating on her at this point. Divorce gave women more power and that they are not just property of a husband, but a person that deserves protection. By 1820, a woman could own property. If her husband died, the woman would own the property. A woman could sell the property. She could inherit property. She can make contracts. She could sue someone--she could be sued, and she could pay taxes. However, an increasing number of women were asking--why can't we vote? Women could vote, they could not serve on juries, and they could not practice law at this point in history. The founding generation of American history during the colonial period and then the American Revolution talked about rights--the rights of citizens,rights of people --rights. They even talked about equality a little bit, but they surely talked about the rights and the Bill of Rights. You see--the Bill of Rights--there they are--written down, and women can point to that and say "what about us?". Why are we not allowed to have those exact same rights? What about former slaves who are now free? They wanted their rights too. Native Americans could point at those rights also, so too could immigrants. The founding generation of this country created a language--they gave so much meaning to the words: liberty, freedom, rights. Those ideas continued to have meaning over the coming centuries. In the future various civil rights movements would use those very same words to ask--what about us? To better understand the origins of the women's suffrage movement, we need to focus on the role of women in Protestant churches. In 1800, women were the majority of the people who were attending church in the United States. Women were the most active members in those churches. Although the church hierarchy was made up of men, women did most of the work of organizing and setting up all kinds of church functions. Decade after decade, women were getting valuable experience in organization and getting something done. Someday they could use those skills in organizing the Women's Suffrage Movement. Let's turn back to politics once more. In February one thousand nine hundred Missouri applied for statehood James Talmadge added two amendments to the bell ranting Missouri statehood. That slaves want to Missouri after statehood would be freed at twenty five years old. And known as slaves would be imported into Missouri. Northern states are trying to limit the expansion of slavery. The South says, no, no. Why is this important? If there are more states in the Union that are anti-slavery, there will be more senators in the Senate that are anti-slavery, and they could then attack slavery. So beginning in 1820, what we are going to see, this idea of there's got to be a balance here. So the compromise in the Senate is that Missouri will be a slave state and a new free state is brought in--Maine. One for one, you see---Missouri, Maine. The southern boundary of Missouri was extended west, and this was going to be the boundary between slave states and free states--this line extended all the way to the Pacific. By 1816, more and more southerners were accusing the Seminole Indians in Florida of harboring and protecting runaway slaves. The Seminoles were living in Florida, which was Spanish territory, so the U.S. was saying Spain give us our slaves back. In 1816, General Jackson attacked Florida. Interestingly, no president, no Senate, no Congress had approved this invasion. General Jackson took it upon himself to invade Florida. Most Southerners sympathized with General Jackson, and there was no real big punishment there. Spain had few people living in Florida. The colony was not making it any money, and the US was probably going to invade and take Florida. So they decided to sign a treaty, and let the United States buy Florida from them. For the Seminoles this is a disaster. During Monroe's presidency, he's the president after Madison, his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, formulated something that throughout history is known as the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine warned Europe that any attempt to interfere in the Western Hemisphere would be considered an unfriendly act toward the United States. You stay out of the Western Hemisphere, we'll stay out of European struggles, which you think about the United States does so until World War I. For those living in Central and South America who wanted to get rid of the European powers, this sounded great, but it also implied that the United States would be like a big brother watching all over Central and South America, and at times interfering in their politics. We'll end this screencast discussing the election of 1824 just briefly. John Quincy Adams, the former Secretary of State and the son of John Adams, ran for president and again in 1824, no one gets the majority of votes. It's John Quincy Adams versus Andrew Jackson versus Henry Clay. The Electoral College has not elected a president. You need a majority of votes. It goes to the House of Representatives, but no one has a majority in the House of Representatives either. John Quincy Adams has a secret meeting when Henry Clay. After the meeting Henry Clay threw his support for John Quincy Adams. Later John Quincy Adams will make Henry Clay his Secretary of State. To Andrew Jackson and his supporters this is the "corrupt bargain", a behind the scenes deal that stole the election from Andrew Jackson. He is never going to forget that. This backroom deal ruins Henry Clay's chances of ever becoming president. But that's later, right now John Quincy Adams is president and he has a vision for America. He saw government as a tool to spur economic development. He had a plan to make improvements to the United States. He called it the American System--road building, improving the rivers. The United States government should invest in the United States in ways that spurs business--not to control business, but to foster business. And you can go, well American business is thriving! Well yeah that's true, but they can do more. Private companies weren't going to invest in roads, canals, and even a national university. The United States Congress was not prepared for this and said no way. John Quincy Adams didn't have the charisma nor the political clout to convince people to support this, and this fell through. Of course, the federal government will do road building and other internal improvements later in its history. but the US was not ready at this point to do so. Why don't we stop here. I wish everyone a good day and bye-bye.