Hey and welcome back to Heimler’s History,
and further welcome to the first content video for Unit 4 of the AP U.S. History
curriculum. And in this video we’re going to be talking about the rise of political
parties and the Era of Jefferson. So crack them brain folds open so I can pour some unit
4 learning right into them. Let’s get to it. So for this video the main question
we’ll be trying to answer is this: what were the causes and effects of policy
debates in the early American republic? And hey, if you’re being helped by these
videos and want me to keep making them, well baby, that’s what that little
subscribe button is for down below. And if you want me to keep going, then
get that clicky finger out and go to town. So one of the main causes of policy debates
during this time was the further rise of political parties who fiercely opposed one
another. You may recall from the last unit that George Washington’s cabinet endlessly vexed him
because of the bitter fighting between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton was
the leading man for the Federalist Party, and they above all fought for a powerful
and vigorous central government and favored manufacturing interests. Jefferson was the
leading man for the Democratic Republicans, and above all they fought for a more limited central
government and favored the ideal of agrarianism, which is to say a nation of self sustaining
farmers, otherwise known as yeoman farmers. And so the first two presidents of the
United States were both Federalists, but in the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson
won the vote and he called it the Revolution of 1800 because it marked one of the few
times in history where power was transferred peacefully between rival parties. It really was
an astonishing thing. But as you might imagine, just because the Federalists were taken
out of power didn’t mean that they stopped fighting about what policies were best for
America. Three of the most significant of these fights were concerning the powers of the
federal government, and America’s relationship with European powers, and I’m kind of in
the mood to look at each of those in turn. So first let’s talk about policy debates over
the power of the federal government. So as I mentioned, Democratic Republicans worked to limit
the power of the federal government. There were many ways they did this, but one especially
symbolic way they did it was by abolishing the whiskey tax. Now you may remember from the
last unit that the whiskey tax was imposed under Washington’s administration and became the
occasion for the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Jefferson argued against this tax fiercely, and
now he went ahead and led Congress to repeal it. Jefferson also, to the great happy-clappies
of his fellow Democratic Republicans, limited the power of the federal government by
minimizing the military and reducing the number of federal jobs. And look at that: Jefferson is
just running right along the groove of his values, BUT here’s where we need to talk about the
Louisiana Purchase of 1803 in which Jefferson abandoned his Democratic Republic values and
acted more like one of those dirty Federalists. So this big section of land on the American
continent right here was owned by the French, including access to that exceedingly valuable
trade waterway the Mississippi River. Now the French happened to lose their war against
the Haitians during the Haitian Revolution, and since Haiti was no longer a French colony,
access to this land became more difficult than it was worth. And so Jefferson saw this as
an opportunity to gain navigation rights on the Mississippi River. So he sent James
Monroe to France with two million dollars in his pocket to secure said trading rights.
But as soon as they got down to negotiation, Napoleon went ahead and offered Monroe
the whole of the Louisiana Territory for fifteen million dollars, to which Monroe
promptly replied, “Uh, yes please.” Now of course Monroe couldn’t communicate
with Jefferson in a timely manner, so he went ahead and took the deal, and got
on a ship to come home. Now you would think that Monroe’s news about doubling the size of the
American territorial holdings would be music to Jefferson’s ears. But you remember that whole
thing about limiting the power of the federal government? And do you further remember that
one of Jefferson’s core principles was strict constructionism which argued that the federal
government can ONLY do what is explicitly written in the Constitution? Yeah, that’s going to
be a problem for Jefferson in this case, because in case you haven’t read the Constitution
lately, there is precisely NOTHING in it that grants the president the power to buy land. And
so Jefferson was conscience stricken about it, but he eventually came around and justified
the purchase on the grounds that all this land gave them more opportunities to move American
Indians westward while further curtailing European influence in the region. So values, shmalues,
we just doubled the size of America, baby. Now after the purchase Congress appropriated funds
for a Corps of Discovery led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Starting in 1804, Lewis and
Clark explored the northern Louisiana Territory travelling thousands of miles up the Missouri
River. The southern part of the territory was explored by Zebulon Pike in 1806. And
all of this led to more accurate mapping, greater and scientific knowledge of
the region, and the establishment of diplomatic relationships with
the Indians who lived there. Now, also with respect to federal power,
we need to talk about the Supreme Court. And here’s where I need to introduce you
to our boy John Marshall. Marshall was the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court
and during these early years of the 1800s, he may have done more to expand federal
power and the power of the court than anyone. The first significant case you should know
about is Marbury v Madison in 1803. Now in order to understand this decision, it’s helpful
to know a little of the backstory. So just before the Federalist dominated Congress
passed into Democratic Republican hands, they passed the Judiciary Act which created 16
new openings for federal judges. John Adams, who was a Federalist, spent the last days of
his administration packing those seats with Federalist judges, and they became known as the
midnight judges because he was appointing them at the very last moments of his authority to do
so. And look, this was a shrewd move by Adams because while he could see that federal power was
passing to the Deomcratic Republicans, this move meant that federal courts could be dominated
by Federalist judges for a long time to come. So anyway, once Jefferson took office and
appointed James Madison his secretary of state, Madison went ahead and decided that he was gonna
get saucy and NOT deliver those appointments. One of those appointed judges by the name of
William Marbury argued that he had a right to his commission under the Judiciary Act, and the
case wound up before the Supreme Court. And when John Marshall handed down the decision of the
court, the conclusion was kind of astonishing. He argued that yes, under that law, Marbury
had a right to his commission. And that’s not the astonishing thing, HERE’S the astonishing
thing. In the very next breath, while Marbury was high fiving his lawyers, Marshall declared
that the Supreme Court was in fact the final interpreter of the Constitution and thus had
the authority to declare laws unconstitutional, and the Judiciary Act itself was declared
unconstitutional. Therefore, Marbury, get your hand down, no more high fiving, ain’t
nobody getting a commission. So this power became known as judicial review and it significantly
increased the power of the federal Supreme Court. Now let me tell you about a second case a
little more briefly. McCulloch v Maryland was argued before the Supreme Court in 1819.
This was an argument over whether a state had the power to tax a federal bank, and when the
decision was handed down, Marshall declared that no, a state cannot tax a federal bank, and
furthermore, and here’s the sauce, national law trumps state laws whenever the two contradict.
So there’s yet another expansion of federal power. OKay, now let’s talk about policy battles when it
came to relationships with European powers. Since the 1790s the federal government paid tribute to
the Barbary States of North Africa in exchange for their protection of U.S. merchant ships trading
in that area. Once Jefferson was in office, the ruler of Tripoli demanded even higher
payments. Jefferson fundamentally opposed not only the hike in rates but also making the
payments at all. And so he refused to pay. And upon such a snub the Barbary governments withdrew
their protection, and the Barbary Pirates had a field day attacking U.S. merchant ships. At
this, Jefferson sent the U.S. Navy to retaliate, and while it never broke into full out war,
there was intermittent fighting for the next four years. But in the end, in order to avoid all out
war, a reduced tribute payment was agreed upon. And yet another policy battle came in
the form of a war with Britain, namely, the War of 1812. And for this we’re going to have
to step a little beyond Jefferson’s administration to the next president, James Madison. Now this
war began because of two problems. The first was the continued impressment of American
citizens into fighting for the British. YOu might remember that Britain had a nasty habit
of forcing American colonists onto their ships in order to fight their battles. Now the
American colonists hated that practice, but it was almost understandable when they were
British citizens. But in case you forgot, between that time and the time we’re talking about there
was a little event called the American Revolution and now the British were impressing AMERICAN
citizens to fight in their wars. NO BUENO. The second problem that caused the war
was issues on the frontier. As you know, Americans were always hungry to move further
west, and that was a constant problem because they kept running into American Indians who
already lived there and were none too willing to just give up their land. And so when it was
discovered that the British were sending aid to a confederacy of Indians who were attacking westward
migrating settlers, that was just too much. Now, to be clear, the aid the British sent was very
minimal, but that nuance apparently didn’t matter. Now remember that the House of Representatives
had passed into Deomcratic Republican hands. And there was an influential group of them in
the House who were eager for war with Britain, if only to defend America’s national honor. They
were known as the war hawks. And as it turned out, when Britain was unwilling to give in to American
demands, war was declared. Now the Federalists, especially in the New England area, fiercely
opposed this war. They even held a meeting called the Hartford Convention in which they threatened
to secede from the union over this disagreement. Well as it turned out, America won this war,
or maybe it would be more accurate to say, America didn’t lose the war. And as a result
of beating the British for a SECOND time, there was a great swelling of nationalism throughout
the states. And this had the effect of making the Federalists look like a bunch of crusty old
harrumphs whose values no longer lined up with the American public. And so one of the consequences of
this war was the demise of the Federalist party. Okay, that’s what you need to know about Unit
4 Topic 2 of the AP U.S. History curriculum. If you need help getting an A in your
class and a five on your exam in May, me to keep making these videos by subscribing.
I’ll catch you on the flip flop. Heimler out.