History 101: Week 7 (Professor Messer-Kruse)

Lecture 17: War and Society Under the Art. of Confederation

I. Naturally, during the war, Congress's biggest job was fighting England. It soon became clear that the Art. of Conf. were a poor instrument indeed for doing this.

A. Provisioning the army: Washington's army was extremely poorly provided for by Congress, though this was not really Congress's fault. The culprits were the states who ignored paying the requisitions laid upon them by the Congress and the war profiteers. 1. July 1781 4,000,000 due from the states and only 50,000 recieved. 2. Sept. 1781 6,000,000 due from the states and only 125,000 recieved. 3. Congress did the only thing it could, went deeply into debt and printed money as fast as it could. By 1779, Congress had printed some $200,000,000. In Dec. 1776 $1 gold = $1.50 continental; In Apr. 1781 $1 gold = $150-225 continental.

B. War Profiteering: In 1776, Robert Morris disclosed in an unguarded moment, "there never has been so fair an opportunity of making a large fortune since I have been conversant in the world." Morris was disappointed if a shipment of goods to the army brought him less than 500-700 percent profit. 1. the war profiteers had a vested interest in a strong central government to repay the large wartime debt. Morris became sec. of finance in 1781 and hatched an ambitious plan to retire the debt by establishing a national bank and instituting direct taxation.

II. Naturally, the army that suffered through the privations of Valley forge winter was in no mood to hear at wars end that the government was bankrupt. They wanted their pensions. 1. In the winter of 1782, disgruntled army officers met at Newburgh NY to consider a coup. Washington saved the day, but the incident indicates the fragility of the republican government. (Congress responded by giving lump sum severance payments to state officers.) 2. Potracted war had played into the hands of the centralists. In a war of attrition, central authority becomes of paramount importance in mobilizing and distributing resources.

III. War proved a nationalizing instrument. Whereas state identity was strongest early in the war. In 1776 Sam Adams had to read accounts of Virginia before going to congress, the place was so alien to him (native of Mass.). A. Of 700,000 eligible free white men, 300,000 served. The army and the common experience of fighting and sacrifice really founded the nation, not any scrap of paper or moving oratory. 1. Military officers developed a common identity that came to be seen as being at odds with republican ideals. Society of Cincinattus. (Hereditary membership).

IV. Beyond the creation of two constituencies that favored centralized government, bond speculators and army officers, the war created many conditions whose solutions seemed beyond the reach of the presently constituted Congress:

A. Destruction: 1. Razed cities: New York, New London, Norfolk. 2. Coastal populations reduced by 50%.

B. Wartime economic dislocation: 1. Fishing/International trade/shipbuilding industries suspended for duration of the war and slow to recover afterward. 2. Tory merchants and tory capital fled the country. 3. Legacy of hyperinflation. 4. Southern slave economy lost 30,000 slaves. 5. Hessian fly ended New England wheat economy.

C. British troops remained on northern frontier. Forts at Detroit and Niagara still a threat to western interests.

D. Mohawk leader, Joseph Brant, threatened war against Congress if it could not keep squatters out of its "7 ranges" lands in the Ohio Valley.

E. Army quickly disbanded after the war. By June 2, 1784, with British garrisons on its frontiers and Mohawks threatening war, the Continental army consisted of just 80 men. 55 men at West Point and a 25 man garrison at Fort Pitt.

[Note: the threat of foreign armies and Indian insurgencies on the western frontier were extremely alarming to the wealthy interests that had invested heavily in western lands, including many of the drafters of the Constitution itself. Moreover, soldiers pensions were tied to the success of federal profit in western lands.]

F. By the end of the war, the prestige of Congress had fallen to an extremely low level. States lost interest in national federation. By Nov. 1783, only a quarter of the states delegates cared to attend and congress could not even make its quorum of 9 states to ratify the peace treaty with England!

V. The Road to the Constitutional Convention: The conditions for a change of government were in place, it only took the precipitating event of farmer's rebellions to set the wheels into motion.

A. Of all sectors, farmers hit the hardest. 1. In one western Virginia country, there were 457 evictions in 1784 and this number doubled to 945 by 1788. By that year the sheriff was met by armed resistance. 2. In Worcester County, Mass., 4000 law suits for debt in 1785 alone. (Debters at this time suffered not only the loss of their property, but their freedom as well - no such thing as bankruptcy, you could be sold into servitude by the court or thrown into prison for your debts).

3. Annapolis Convention Sept. 1786: A convention called to address fundamental problems of trade policy attracted only representatives from five states. Called upon states to send delegations to another convention in Philadelphia in May of 1787. That convention attracted delegates from all but one state. Between Sept. of 1786 and May of 1787, the threat from the grass roots was demonstrated and alarmed the state elites to renew their efforts at creating a more effective national government.

B. 1786 rebellions began to break out in the states: 1. New Hampshire - armed farmers broke into the State House and took the legislature hostage, demanding debt forgiveness ("stay laws") and paper money. 2. Western Mass. - 2000 armed farmers march on Springfield arsenal.

VI. The Constitutional Convention was composed of a different generation from the men who declared independence in 1776. Only 8 signers of the Declaration were in attendence and 3 of these had oppossed it! None of the popular radicals of 1776 were there.

A. The Constitution was ratified by a successful coalition of land speculators, financiers, merchants, war officers, and urban artisans. The urban artisan element may have been the crucial swing vote and they became convinced of the neccessity of strong federal government as a means of: 1. creating and enforcing strong protective tariffs. 2. governmental support for internal improvements and domestic manufactures.

B. Had the Constitution not been ratified, it is not improbable that a military force would have arisen to impose it violently. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a very insightful observer of national politics at the time, wrote in 1787: "(if the country rejects the Constitution) then FORCE will not be wanting to carry it into execution, for not only all the wealth, but all the military men of our country are in favor of a wise and efficient government."

Lecture 18: The Rise of the Second American Republic

VII. The Constitution was drafted by a new generation of American leaders who had moved away from older notions of rebublicanism to a new political theory they called "federalism."

A. Federalism defined: the belief that a large republic was better able to defend the liberties of the people than a small one. Why? 1. In a small republic, a single majority could become tyrannical over the minority. But by increasing the size of the republic, the number of groups and independent interests in society also expands, thereby making the possibility of the formation of one hegemonic majority position less likely. 2. In older notions of republicanism, the potential for tyranny was counterbalanced by the, hopefully, virtuous public spiritedness of its citizens. In James Madison's scheme (elaborated in #'s 10 & 51 of the Federalist Papers) public virtue and liberty were the byproducts of many independent self- interests competing for power in the public sphere. 3. Federalists believed in the neccessity, not only of a larger republic, but one with a more powerful (coercive) central authority. Hamilton and Madison went so far as desiring for the states to be reduced in power to the status of mere adminstrative units of the central government.

VIII. The Constitution's new powers: A. lay and collect taxes and regulate commerce among the several states and with foreign nations. B. "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing Powers..." C. Constitution and treaties proclaimed to be "the supreme law of the land." D. Articles "expressly" reservation of power to the states dropped in Constitution.

IX. Changed democratic character of US government under the Constitution: A. voting eligibility left to states. B. Senate created to serve as check on democratic movements in the House of Representatives. (Even its deliberations were held in secret). C. Strong executive.

X. The Bill of Rights. Federalists in the Constitutional convention deliberately left out a specific bill of rights for fear that it would undermine the powers of the central government and they only reluctantly agreed to it after popular pressure for its passage mounted.

XI. Slavery and the Constitution. Controversy erupted not over the institution of slavery but over the power of slave states. A. Virginia led the way and its representatives demanded that their slaves be considered "persons" for the sake of apportionment. Compromise settled on calculating each slave as 3/5ths of a person. B. Southern slave states succeeded in extending the slave trade until 1808. (20 years) C. Southerners also succeeded in getting a fugitive slave provision written into the Constitution: "No Person held to service or labour in one state...excaping into another, shall be discharged from such Service or Labour."

Lecture 19: Federalists and Republicans

XII. Rise of the First Party System: Ideological and programmatic splits emerged quickly in the first Congress:

A. April 30, 1789, Washington sworn in as President on a balcony overlooking Wall street.

B. Washington announced that he would address a joint session of Congress and the Congress realized that it did not know how to introduce him. The purists demanded that he be called simply "Mr. President," while the centralists wanted a more exalted title, such as "His Excellency" or the compromise "His Elective Highness." One Congressional Committee reported "His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of the Rights and the Same."

1. No one was more in favor of giving exalted titles to the officers of government than John Adams - especially to the President, not because he liked Washington, indeed he was bitterly jealous of him, but because he fully expected to be the next occupant of the office.

2. In return, the opponents of aristocratic pretensions in the Congress addressed Adams as "His Rotundity."

3. Washington was most in favor of aristocratic splendors of his office (rode in a six-horse carriage with liveried outriders and held elaborate "levees".)

XIII. The most decisive issue was what to do about the tremendous public debt in the hands of the new federal government.

A. Over the past decade, the bonds and notes of the old Confederation government had depreciated to the point where they were sold for fractions of their face value. They were snapped up by speculators who now looked to the new federal government to redeem them fully and thereby reap a tremendous profit.

1. Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, reported a plan to redeem the bonds fully at face value - a plan that rewarded northern merchants and financiers at the expense of the common taxpayer. James Madison, representing Virginian planters, strenuously opposed Hamiltons plan as a huge giveaway to avaricious Yankees.

2. Hamilton also proposed that the federal government assume the debts that the states had incurred during the war. (This was a clever strategy that attempted to build support for the new central government by tying the economic interests of bondholders with the federal credit.) The hitch was that Virginia and some other southern states had already retired their debts and did not favor being taxed all over again to pay for the debts that New York and Massachusetts had neglected to discharge. 3. In the end, Hamilton won but the controversy exposed deep divisions within Congress between rural and urban, southern and northern interests.

B. Debate also erupted over the question of a national capital. Southerners hated New York - its winters, its distance from their homes, and especially the pressure that northern merchants applied to Congress to pass legislation in their own interest (the Federal Hall was on Wall Street after all!).

1. Washington was a compromise - Capitol was to be at Phily until the new capitol was constructed (and in exchange for a southerly location for the capitol, southerners supported Hamiltons financial program.

C. Hamilton also proposed new taxes and duties to pay for the federal debt. Congress approved with little dissent a heavy tax on luxuries and upon distilled spirits.

D. Finally, Hamilton proposed the creation of a national bank, but one in which the government held only a minority interest. Madison again saw this as an insidious device for increasing the power of northern financiers and merchants within the government and he fought the bank on the grounds of Constitutionality.

XIV. Republican views of political parties: The appearance of factional strife within Congress worried many American leaders, because they believed that political parties were signs that the republic was in decay. By the middle of 1791, Madison's supporters began describing themselves as the "republican interest in Congress" (thereby implying that their Hamiltonian opponents were monarchists.)

A. According to the views of the day, political parties were engines of corruption - they represented narrow special interest rather than the public interest.

B. Representatives in congress were ideally not supposed to simply represent the self-interests of their constituents, but were to look at all times toward the greater national public interest.

C. Finally, political parties were seen as "engines of corruption" - they operated by bending the will of individual leaders to that of the party leadership and bred conspiracies and cabals.

XV. The "republican interest" in Congress coalesced as a political party in the passions aroused over the revolution in France and the War in Europe:

A. 1789 French Revolution was applauded by most Americans but looked upon suspiciously by Hamiltonian conservatives, especially after 1793 when Louis was offed and the Jacobins took power.

B. In 1793, an alliance of European monarchies declared war on France, bent on stamping out this republican germ. The US was then still under the alliance of 1778 that potentially bound the US to aid France in the Americas. Washington and Hamilton preferred neutrality rather than alienating the British while Jefferson, many southerners, and northern working people expressed support for France. The situation worsened as British war ships began intercepting American merchant ships on the high seas plying the French trade.

C. In 1793, French minister Genet toured America to much popular acclaim, attempting to persuade the federal government to come to France's aid. He was snubbed by Washington, but in the wake of his tours many "Democratic Societies" sprang up around the country that were the seedbed of the Jeffersonian republican party.

D. The final straw that broke Congress into two hostile camps was the treaty negotiated by John Jay with the British. Jay's bargained away America's maritime neutrality in exchange for the British evacuation of Western forts and trading equality within the British empire. Jay also pledged full repayment of outstanding war debts and damages.

1. So pro-British was the treaty that the Senate ordered that its provisions be kept secret from the public until it was ratified. When word leaked out, popular indignation was unprecedented. Jay quipped that he could have travelled from one end of the country to the other by the light of his burning effigies.

2. Out of the wrangling over the Jay treaty, the two factions in Congress organized themselves formally into political caucuses within Congress and political parties without.

XVI. The depth of the division between Jeffersonian Republicans andFederalists was as deep as any in American history. The stakes were raised toward the end of the 1790's as France attempted to coerce America out of its British treaty by seizing American ships carrying British goods. The Federalist prepared for war,(tripled the army and refurbished the navy) and began cracking down on their political opponents:

A. Alien Acts: extended naturalization term from four to fourteen years. Allowed President to imprison or deport without hearing of any alien deemed "dangerous".

B. Sedition Acts: allowed prosecution of any speech or publication any false and malicious claims against the government or any public official.

C. All told ten people were convicted and imprisoned under the sedition act, including the three editors of the largest circulation Republican newspapers in the country.

D. Sedition act prompted Virginia and Kentucky legislatures to proclaim their states rights against the federal government, and to proclaim the theory of "nullification" that would become very pernicious later in the controversy over slavery.

XVII. As Federalists continued to rattle their sabres and make war preparations against France (seen by many Americans as a selfish move to advance the Federalist party). The public reaction against the Federalists reached a point in 1798 that civil war threatened. Republican party militia drilled in several Northern cities, and Jeffersonian mobs protested and burned effigies. Pres. John Adams felt so threatened that he hadarms smuggled into his home in case he had to make a last stand.

A. But as the crisis deepened, John Adams made the most courageous stand of his political life by opposing his own more militant party stalwarts and making a new gesture of conciliation and peace toward France, which the French government eagerly embraced, thus diffusing both the war clouds internationally and the divisive crisis in America.

B. Though Adams peace move was popular, the election of 1800 proved a turning point as the Federalist reputation was beyond repair and Jefferson was swept into office.

ID: NOTES-101.7.

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