UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5982 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



established by him. The adoption by the First 

 Congress (1791) of the first ten amendments 

 to the Constitution, which may be said to con- 

 stitute a bill of rights, was important in that it 

 helped to quench some lingering opposition to 

 the new government. On the whole the first 

 administration of Washington proved the suc- 

 cess of the new government; the states found 

 that they had now to deal with a government 

 possessing powers which it was not unwilling to 

 use. During this administration Congress chose 

 the banks of the Potomac as the site of a per- 

 manent capital of the United States. 



In 1793 Washington was reflected President, 

 though somewhat against his own wishes. His 

 first administration was concerned almost ex- 

 clusively with domestic affairs with the or- 

 ganization of the governmental machinery. 

 During his second administration interest was 

 centered almost as exclusively on foreign rela- 

 tions, particularly with France and Great Brit- 

 ain, who were then at war. . The first important 

 incident was the arrival of Edmond Genet, who 

 sought aid for the new French republic. He 

 commissioned privateers, and even tried to 

 raise recruits for an expedition to seize Louisi- 

 ana from Spain, but Washington issued a proc- 

 lamation of neutrality and warned Genet to 

 cease his activities. The proclamation of neu- 

 trality, the first act of its kind in United States 

 history, caused a distinctly partisan division in 

 politics. 



The followers of Jefferson, imbued with the 

 spirit of Thomas Paine and the French Revo- 

 lution, reproached the administration for its in- 

 gratitude to France, accused it of monarchical 

 tendencies, and began to call themselves Re- 

 publicans, or Democratic-Republicans. The 

 Federalists, on the other hand, believed that 

 the British form of government, if the king 

 were removed, was best, and their sympathies 

 lay with England in the war. The unsatisfac- 

 tory Jay Treaty, together with England's re- 

 fusal to surrender her forts in the Northwest 

 and to grant any rights to American shipping, 

 also strengthened the Republican opposition. 

 The first rebellion against the United States, 

 the Whisky Insurrection, it was even charged, 

 was stirred up by the French party. By treaty 

 with Spain in 1795, the United States secured 

 the free navigation of the Mississippi, and as 

 the result of Anthony Wayne's victory over the 

 Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), 

 most of the present state of Ohio was opened 

 to peaceful settlement. 



The troubles with France came to a head in 



1797, when France demanded that the Jay 

 Treaty be annulled and broke off diplomatic 

 relations with the United States. John Adams. 

 who had succeeded Washington as President, 

 sent three commissioners, Charles C. Pinckney, 

 John Mai-shall and Elbridge Gerry, to Paris, to 

 negotiate for a renewal of relations, but the 

 mission failed (see X Y Z CORRESPONDENCE). 

 For a short time it appeared that war would 

 result. Washington was appointed commander- 

 in-chief of the army, and the President wa> 

 authorized to issue letters of marque and re- 

 prisal, but except for a few small naval en- 

 counters, open warfare was prevented because 

 Napoleon in 1799 overthrew the Directory and 

 renewed friendly relations. 



The excitement over the threatened war had 

 important political results. It led to the pas- 

 sage of the Alien and Sedition laws of 1798, 

 which roused great opposition among the Re- 

 publicans and induced Jefferson and Madison 

 to frame the Kentucky and Virginia Resolu- 

 tions. It also led to a split in the Federalist 

 party, Hamilton being in favor of keeping up 

 the war spirit, while Adams inclined to peace. 

 The Hamilton faction voted for Charles C. 

 Pinckney in the election of 1800, cutting Adams' 

 electoral vote in half. Burr and Jefferson, the 

 Republican candidates, each received seventy- 

 three votes, Adams sixty-five votes, and Pinck- 

 ney sixty-four votes. The election was thus 

 thrown into the House of Representatives, 

 which finally elected Jefferson President and 

 Burr Vice-President. 



Jefferson and Madison. This election of 1800 

 ended Federalist supremacy. It marked the 

 reaction away from centralization of authority, 

 from an aristocratic government, some histo- 

 rians have said, to democracy and equal rights 

 for every individual. Some writers have even 

 spoken of the "revolution of 1800," so great was 

 the change in the government's attitude. Jeffer- 

 son took office with the belief that the Const i- 

 tution stated all the powers of the national gov- 

 ernment and that it was proper to reduce these 

 admitted powers to a minimum. His policy of 

 strict construction was pushed aside by cir- 

 cumstances. The war with Tripoli (see BAR- 

 BARY) compelled the government to increase 

 the efficiency of the navy. Again, in 1803 

 Jefferson took a step necessitating a broader 

 interpretation of the Constitution than any act 

 of either of his predecessors, both loose con- 

 structionists ; this was the purchase of Louisi- 

 ana. To explore this great addition to United 

 States territory he sent out the Lewis and 



