View source for History of the United States (1789–1815)

{{Short description|none}}

{{Infobox historical era
| name = The United States of America 
| location = [[United States]]
| start = 1789
| end = 1815
| image = Flag of the United States (1795–1818).svg 
| alt = 
| caption = The [[Star Spangled Banner]] flag (1795–1818) 
| before = [[History of the United States (1776–1789)]]
| including = [[Federalist Era]]<br/>[[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian Era]]<br/>[[American frontier]]
| after = [[History of the United States (1815–1849)]]
| leaders = 
| presidents = [[George Washington]]<br>[[John Adams]]<br>[[Thomas Jefferson]]<br>[[James Madison]]
| key_events = [[Ratification of the United States Constitution|Ratification of the Constitution]]<br>[[Whiskey Rebellion]]<br>[[Quasi-War]]<br>[[Louisiana Purchase]]<br>[[War of 1812]]
}}
{{History of the United States sidebar}}

[[File:United States 1789-03-1789-08.png|425px|right]]

The '''history of the United States from 1789 to 1815''' was marked by the nascent years of the American Republic under the new [[U.S. Constitution]].

[[George Washington]] [[1788–89 United States presidential election|was elected]] the first [[President of the United States|president]] in 1789. On his own initiative, Washington created three departments, [[United States Department of State|State]] (led by [[Thomas Jefferson]]), [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury]] (led by [[Alexander Hamilton]]), and [[United States Department of Defense|War]] (led at first by [[Henry Knox]]). The secretaries, along with a new [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]], became [[Cabinet of the United States|the cabinet]]. Based in [[New York City]], the new government acted quickly to rebuild the nation's financial structure. Enacting Hamilton's program, the government assumed the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] debts of the states and the national government, and refinanced them with new federal bonds. It paid for the program through new tariffs and taxes; the [[Whiskey Rebellion|tax on whiskey]] led to a revolt in the west; Washington raised an army and suppressed it with minimal violence. The nation adopted a [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] as 10 amendments to the new [[Constitution of the United States|constitution]]. Fleshing out the Constitution's specification of the judiciary as capped by a [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], the [[Judiciary Act of 1789]] established the entire [[Federal judiciary of the United States|federal judiciary]]. The Supreme Court became important under the leadership of Chief Justice [[John Marshall]] (1801–1835), a federalist and nationalist who built a strong Supreme Court and strengthened the national government.

The 1790s were highly contentious. The [[First Party System]] emerged in the contest between Hamilton and his [[Federalist Party|Federalist party]], and [[Thomas Jefferson]] and his [[Democratic-Republican Party|Republican]] party. Washington and Hamilton were building a strong national government, with a broad financial base, and the support of merchants and financiers throughout the country. Jeffersonians opposed the new [[First Bank of the United States|national Bank]], the [[History of the United States Navy|Navy]], and federal taxes. The Federalists favored Britain, which was embattled in a series of wars with France. Jefferson's victory in [[1800 United States presidential election|1800]] opened the era of [[Jeffersonian democracy]], and doomed the upper-crust Federalists to increasingly marginal roles.

The [[Louisiana Purchase]] from [[Napoleon]] in 1803 opened vast [[Western United States|Western]] expanses of fertile land, which exactly met the needs of the rapidly expanding population of [[Plain Folk of the Old South|yeomen farmers]] whom Jefferson championed.

The Americans declared war on Britain in the [[War of 1812]] to uphold American honor at sea,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Risjord |first=Norman K. |date=1961 |title=1812: Conservatives, War Hawks, and the Nation's Honor |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_william-and-mary-quarterly_1961-04_18_2/page/196 |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=196–210 |doi=10.2307/1918543 |jstor=1918543}}</ref> and to end the Indian raids in the west, as well as to temporarily seize Canadian territory as a negotiating chip. Secretary of State James Monroe said in June 1812, "It might be necessary to invade Canada, not as an object of the war but to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stagg |first=J.C.A. |date=1981 |title=James Madison and the coercion of Great Britain: Canada, the West Indies, and the War of 1812 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_william-and-mary-quarterly_1981-01_38_1/page/4 |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=4–34 |doi=10.2307/1916855 |jstor=1916855}}</ref> Despite incompetent government management, and a series of defeats early on, Americans found new generals like [[Andrew Jackson]], [[William Henry Harrison]], and [[Winfield Scott]], who repulsed British invasions and broke the alliance between the British and the Indians that held up settlement of the Old Northwest. The Federalists, who had opposed the war to the point of trading with the enemy and threatening secession, were devastated by the triumphant ending of the war. The remaining Indians east of the [[Mississippi River]] were kept on reservations or moved via the [[Trail of Tears]] to reservations in what later became [[Oklahoma]].

==Federalist Era==
{{Main|Federalist Era}}
{{Further|Presidency of George Washington}}
{{See also|Founding Fathers of the United States}}

===Washington administration: 1789–1797===
[[File:Gilbert Stuart - George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[George Washington]], the first [[president of the United States|U.S. president]], depicted in the 1796 [[Lansdowne portrait]] by [[Gilbert Stuart]]]]
[[George Washington]], a renowned hero of the American Revolution, commander of the [[Continental Army]], and president of the [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|Constitutional Convention]], was unanimously chosen as the first [[president of the United States]] under the new [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]]. All the leaders of the new nation were committed to [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]], and the doubts of the [[Anti-Federalism|Anti-Federalists]] of 1788 were allayed with the passage of a [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] as the first ten amendments to the Constitution in 1791.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDonald |first=Forrest |title=The Presidency of George Washington (American Presidency Series) |date=1974 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=9780700601103 |author-link=Forrest McDonald}}</ref>

The [[1790 United States census|first census]] enumerated a population of 3.9 million. Only 12 cities had populations of more than 5,000; most people were farmers.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Eschner |first2=Kat |title=The First US Census Only Asked Six Questions |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-us-census-only-asked-six-questions-180964234/ |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

The Constitution assigned [[United States Congress|Congress]] the task of creating inferior courts. The [[Judiciary Act of 1789]] established the entire [[Federal judiciary of the United States|federal judiciary]]. The act provided for the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] to have six justices, and for two additional levels: three [[United States circuit court|circuit courts]] and 13 [[United States district court|district courts]]. It also created the offices of [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshal]], Deputy Marshal, and [[United States Attorney|District Attorney]] in each [[United States federal judicial district|federal judicial district]].<ref>Charles Warren, "New Light on the History of the Federal judiciary Act of 1789." ''Harvard Law Review'' 37.1 (1923): 49-132. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1328407.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022041458/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1328407.pdf |date=2022-10-22 }}</ref> The [[Compromise of 1790]] located the national capital in a district to be defined in the South (the [[District of Columbia]]), and enabled the federal assumption of state debts.

The key role of [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] was awarded to Washington's wartime ''aide-de-camp'', [[Alexander Hamilton]]. With Washington's support and against [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s opposition, Hamilton convinced Congress to pass a far-reaching financial program that was patterned after the system developed in England a century earlier. It funded the debts of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], set up a national bank, and set up a system of tariffs and taxes. His policies linked the economic interests of the states, and of wealthy Americans, to the success of the national government, and enhanced the international financial standing of the new nation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edling |first1=Max M. |last2=Kaplanoff |first2=Mark D. |date=October 2004 |title=Alexander Hamilton's Fiscal Reform: Transforming the Structure of Taxation in the Early Republic |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_william-and-mary-quarterly_2004-10_61_4/page/713 |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=713–744 |doi=10.2307/3491426|jstor=3491426 }}</ref>

Most Representatives of the [[Southern United States|South]] opposed Hamilton's plan because they had already repudiated their debts and thus gained little from it. There were early signs of the economic and cultural rift between the Northern and Southern states that was to burst into flames seven decades later: the South and its plantation-based economy resisted a centralized federal government and subordination to Northeastern business interests. Despite considerable opposition in Congress from Southerners, Hamilton's plan was moved into effect during the middle of 1790. The [[First Bank of the United States]] was thus created that year despite arguments from Thomas Jefferson and his supporters that it was unconstitutional while Hamilton declared that it was entirely within the powers granted to the federal government. Hamilton's other proposals, including protection tariffs for nascent American industry, were defeated.

The [[Whiskey Rebellion]] broke out in 1794 when settlers in the [[Monongahela River|Monongahela Valley]] of western [[Pennsylvania]] protested against the new federal tax on whiskey, which the settlers shipped across the mountains to earn money. It was the first serious test of the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]]. Washington ordered federal marshals to serve court orders requiring the tax protesters to appear in federal district court. By August 1794, the protests became dangerously close to outright rebellion, and on August 7, several thousand armed settlers gathered near [[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]. Washington then invoked the [[Militia Acts of 1792|Militia Law of 1792]] to summon the militias of several states. A force of 13,000 men was organized, and Washington led it to [[Western Pennsylvania]]. The revolt immediately collapsed without violence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connor |first=George E. |date=1992 |title=The politics of insurrection: A comparative analysis of the shays', whiskey, and fries' rebellions |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_social-science-journal_1992_29_3/page/259 |journal=[[Social Science Journal]] |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=259–81 |doi=10.1016/0362-3319(92)90021-9}}</ref>

Foreign policy unexpectedly took center stage starting in 1793, when revolutionary [[Kingdom of France|France]] became engulfed in war with the rest of Europe, an event that was to lead to 22 years of fighting. France claimed that its 1778 alliance with the U.S. meant that the U.S. was bound to come to their aid. The [[Presidency of George Washington|Washington administration]]'s policy of neutrality was widely supported, but the Jeffersonians strongly favored France and deeply distrusted the British, who they saw as enemies of Republicanism. In addition, they sought to annex Spanish territory in the South and West. Meanwhile, Hamilton and the business community favored Britain, which was by far America's largest trading partner. The Republicans gained support in the winter of 1793–94 as Britain seized American merchant ships and impressed their crews into the Royal Navy, but the tensions were resolved with the [[Jay Treaty]] of 1794, which opened up 10 years of prosperous trade in exchange for which Britain would remove troops from its fortifications along the [[Canada]]–U.S border. The Jeffersonians viewed the Treaty as a surrender to British moneyed interests, and mobilized their supporters nationwide to defeat the treaty. The Federalists likewise rallied supporters in a vicious conflict, which continued until 1795 when Washington publicly intervened in the debate, using his prestige to secure ratification. By this point, the economic and political advantages of the Federalist position had become clear to all concerned, combined with growing disdain for France after the [[Reign of Terror]] and [[Jacobin]] anti-religious policies. Jefferson promptly resigned as Secretary of State. Historian [[George C. Herring|George Herring]] notes the "remarkable and fortuitous economic and diplomatic gains" produced by the Jay Treaty.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herring |first=George C. |title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 |date=2008 |isbn=9780199743773 |page=80 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=George C. Herring}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Elkins |first1=Stanley M. |title=The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 |last2=McKitrick |first2=Eric |date=1994 |isbn=9780195068900 |chapter=Chapter 9 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=Stanley Elkins |author-link2=Eric McKitrick}}</ref>

Continuing conflict between Hamilton and Jefferson, especially over foreign policy, led to the formation of the [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] and [[Democratic-Republican Party|Republican]] parties. Although Washington warned against political parties in his [[George Washington's Farewell Address|farewell address]], he generally supported Hamilton and Hamiltonian programs over those of Jefferson. The Democratic-Republican Party dominated the Upper South, Western frontier, and parts of the middle states. Federalist support was concentrated in the major Northern cities and [[South Carolina]]. After Washington's death in 1799, he became a symbolic hero of the Federalists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharp |first=James |title=American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis |date=1993 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300065190}}</ref>

===Emergence of political parties===
The [[First Party System]] between 1792 and 1824 featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: The [[Federalist Party]], which was created by [[Alexander Hamilton]] and was dominant to 1800; and the rival [[Democratic-Republican Party|Republican Party]] (Democratic-Republican Party), which was created by [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[James Madison]], and was dominant after 1800. Both parties originated in national politics but moved to organize supporters and voters in every state. These comprised "probably the first modern party system in the world" because they were based on voters, not factions of aristocrats at court or parliament.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chambers |first=William Nisbet |title=The First Party System: Federalists and Republicans |date=1972 |page=v}}</ref> The Federalists appealed to the business community, the Republicans to the planters and farmers. By 1796, politics in every state was nearly monopolized by the two parties.

Jefferson wrote on February 12, 1798:

<blockquote>Two political Sects have arisen within the U. S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are stiled republicans, whigs, jacobins, anarchists, disorganizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Letter from Jefferson on the Political Parties, 1798 [[American Historical Review]] |date=April 1898 |editor-last=Thorpe |editor-first=Francis N. |volume=3 |pages=488–489 |issue=3}}</ref></blockquote>

The Federalists promoted the financial system of [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] Hamilton, which emphasized federal assumption of state debts, a tariff to pay off those debts, a national bank to facilitate financing, and encouragement of banking and manufacturing. The Republicans, based in the plantation South, opposed a strong executive power, were hostile to a standing army and navy, demanded a limited reading of the Constitutional powers of the federal government, and strongly opposed the Hamilton financial program. Perhaps even more important was foreign policy, where the Federalists favored Britain because of its political stability and its close ties to American trade, while the Republicans admired the French and the French Revolution. Jefferson was especially fearful that British aristocratic influences would undermine [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]]. Britain and France were at war 1793–1815, with one brief interruption. American policy was neutrality, with the federalists hostile to France, and the Republicans hostile to Britain. The [[Jay Treaty]] of 1794 marked the decisive mobilization of the two parties and their supporters in every state. President Washington, while officially nonpartisan, generally supported the Federalists and that party made Washington their iconic hero.

===Adams administration: 1797–1801===
{{Main|Presidency of John Adams|Quasi-War}}
[[File:John Adams A18236.jpg|thumb|right|[[John Adams]],<br/>Second U.S. president]]
[[File:Hamilton small.jpg|thumb|right|[[Alexander Hamilton]],<br/>First U.S. Secretary of the Treasury]]

Washington retired in 1797, firmly declining to serve for more than eight years as the nation's head. The Federalists campaigned for Vice President [[John Adams]] to be elected president. Adams defeated Jefferson in the [[1796 United States presidential election|1796 presidential election]], who as the runner-up became vice president under the operation of the [[United States Electoral College|Electoral College]] of that time.

Even before he entered the presidency, Adams had quarreled with [[Alexander Hamilton]], a conflict that was hindered by a divided Federalist party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Ralph A. |title=Presidency of John Adams (American Presidency Series) |date=1975}}</ref>

These domestic difficulties were compounded by international complications: France, angered by American approval in 1795 of the [[Jay Treaty]] with its great enemy Britain proclaimed that food and war material bound for British ports were subject to seizure by the French navy. By 1797, France had seized 300 American ships and had broken off diplomatic relations with the United States. When Adams sent three other commissioners to Paris to negotiate, agents of Foreign Minister [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand]] (whom Adams labeled "[[Jean-Conrad Hottinguer|X]], Y and Z" in his report to Congress) informed the Americans that negotiations could only begin if the United States loaned France $12 million and bribed officials of the French government. American hostility to France rose to an excited pitch, fanned by French ambassador [[Edmond-Charles Genêt]]. Federalists used the "[[XYZ Affair]]" to create a new American army, strengthen the fledgling [[United States Navy]], impose the [[Alien and Sedition Acts]] to stop pro-French activities (which had severe repercussions for American [[civil liberties]]), and enact new taxes to pay for it. The [[Naturalization Act of 1798|Naturalization Act]], which changed the residency requirement for citizenship from five to 14 years, was targeted at Irish and French immigrants suspected of supporting the [[Democratic-Republican Party|Republican Party]]. The Sedition Act proscribed writing, speaking or publishing anything of "a false, scandalous and malicious" nature against the president or Congress. The few convictions won under the Sedition Act only created martyrs to the cause of civil liberties and aroused support for the Republicans. Jefferson and his allies launched a counterattack, with two states stating in the [[Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions]] that state legislatures could nullify acts of Congress. However, all the other states rejected this proposition, and [[Nullification (U.S. Constitution)|nullification]]—or as it was called, the "principle of 98"—became the preserve of a faction of the [[Jeffersonian democracy|Republicans]] called the [[Tertium quids|Quids]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gutzman |first=Kevin |date=2000 |title=The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Reconsidered: 'An Appeal to the Real Laws of Our Country,' |journal=[[Journal of Southern History]] |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=473–496 |doi=10.2307/2587865 |jstor=2587865}}</ref>

In 1799, after a series of naval battles with the French (known as the "[[Quasi-War]]"), full-scale war seemed inevitable. In this crisis, Adams broke with his party and sent three new commissioners to France. [[Napoleon]], who had just come to power, received them cordially, and the danger of conflict subsided with the negotiation of the [[Convention of 1800]], which formally released the United States from its [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|1778 wartime alliance]] with France. However, reflecting American weakness, France refused to pay $20 million for American ships seized by the French navy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=De Conde |first=Alexander |title=The quasi-war: the politics and diplomacy of the undeclared war with France 1797–1801 |date=1966}}</ref>

In his final hours in office, Adams appointed [[John Marshall]] as chief justice. Serving until his death in 1835, Marshall dramatically expanded the powers of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] and provided a Federalist interpretation of the Constitution that made for a strong national government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jean Edward |title=John Marshall: Definer of a Nation |date=1996}}</ref>

==Thomas Jefferson==
{{Main|Presidency of Thomas Jefferson|Jeffersonian democracy}}
[[File:ThomasJefferson.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Jefferson]], the third [[President of the United States|U.S. president]]]]
[[File:GROWTH1850.JPG|thumb|]]
[[File:USA Territorial Growth 1810.jpg|thumb|Territorial growth in the U.S. between 1800 and 1810]]
[[Thomas Jefferson]] is a central figure in early American history, highly praised for his political leadership but also criticized for the role of slavery in his private life. He championed equality, democracy and republicanism, attacking aristocratic and monarchistic tendencies. He led and inspired the [[American Revolution]], advocated [[freedom of religion]] and tolerance, and opposed the centralizing tendencies of the urban financial elite. Jefferson formed the second national political party and led it to dominance in 1800, then worked for western expansion and exploration. Critics decry the contradiction between his ownership of hundreds of slaves and his famous declaration that "all men are created equal", and argue that he fathered children with his slave mistress.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gordon-Reed |first=Annette |title=Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings: An American Controversy |date=1997}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cogliano |first=Francis D. |title=Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy |date=2006}}</ref>

Under Washington and Adams, the Federalists had established a strong government, but sometimes it followed policies that alienated the citizenry. In 1798, in order to pay for the rapidly expanding army and navy, the Federalists had enacted a new tax on houses, land and slaves, affecting every property owner in the country. In the [[Fries's Rebellion]] hundreds of farmers in Pennsylvania revolted—Federalists saw a breakdown in civil society. Some tax resisters were arrested—then pardoned by Adams. Republicans denounced this action as an example of Federalist tyranny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ridgway |first=Whitman H. |date=January 2000 |title=Fries in the Federalist Imagination: A Crisis of Republican Society |journal=[[Pennsylvania History]] |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=141–160}}</ref>

Jefferson had steadily gathered behind him a great mass of small farmers, shopkeepers and other workers which asserted themselves as Democratic-Republicans in the [[1800 United States presidential election|election of 1800]]. Jefferson enjoyed extraordinary favor because of his appeal to American idealism. [[First inauguration of Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson's first inaugural address]] on March 4, 1801, was the first such speech in the new capital of [[Washington, D.C.]]. In it, Jefferson promised "a wise and frugal government" to preserve order among the inhabitants but would "leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry, and improvement".{{Citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Jefferson encouraged agriculture and westward expansion, most notably by the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and subsequent [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]]. Believing America to be a haven for the oppressed, Jefferson reduced the residency requirement for naturalization to five years.

By the end of his second term, Jefferson and [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] [[Albert Gallatin]] had managed to reduce the national debt to less than $56 million by reducing the number of executive department employees and [[United States Army|Army]] and [[United States Navy|Navy]] officers and enlisted men, and otherwise curtailing government and military spending.

Jefferson's domestic policy was uneventful and hands-off; the [[Presidency of Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson administration]] concerned itself predominantly with foreign affairs and  territorial expansion. Except for Gallatin's reforms, their main preoccupation was purging the government of Federalist judges. Jefferson and his associates were widely distrustful of the judicial branch, especially because Adams had made several "midnight" appointments before leaving office in March 1801. In ''[[Marbury vs Madison]]'' (1803), the Supreme Court under [[John Marshall]] established the precedent of reviewing and overturning legislation passed by Congress. This ruling by leading Federalists upset Jefferson to the point where his administration began opening impeachment hearings against judges perceived as abusing their power. The attempted purge of the judicial branch reached its climax with the trial of Supreme Court Justice [[Samuel Chase]]. When Chase was acquitted by the Senate, Jefferson abandoned his campaign.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Frank Jr. |last2=Pollitt |first2=Daniel H. |date=1970 |title=Impeachment of Federal Judges: An Historical Overview |url=https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2416&context=nclr |journal=[[North Carolina Law Review]] |volume=49 |page=87-121, especially pp 92-100 |access-date=2019-05-28 |archive-date=2021-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804142808/https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2416&context=nclr |url-status=live }}</ref>

With the upcoming expiration in 1807 of the 20-year ban on Congressional action on the subject, Jefferson, a lifelong opponent of the slave trade, successfully called on [[United States Congress|Congress]] to criminalize the international slave trade, calling it "violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country have long been eager to proscribe."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finkelman |first=Paul |date=2008 |title=Regulating the African Slave Trade |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_civil-war-history_2008-12_54_4/page/379 |journal=[[Civil War History]] |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=379–405 |doi=10.1353/cwh.0.0034|s2cid=143987356 }}</ref>

===Jeffersonian principles of foreign policy===
The Jeffersonians had a distinct foreign policy:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hendrickson |first=Robert W. Tucker and David C. |title=Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson |date=1990}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence S. |title=Entangling Alliances with None: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Jefferson |date=1987}}</ref>

* Americans had a duty to spread what Jefferson called the "[[Empire of Liberty]]" to the world, but should avoid "[[United States non-interventionism|entangling alliances]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence S. |title=Entangling alliances with none: American foreign policy in the age of Jefferson |date=1987}}</ref>
* Britain was the greatest threat, especially its monarchy, aristocracy, corruption and business methods''—''the [[Jay Treaty]] of 1794 was much too favorable to Britain and thus threatened American values.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Estes |first=Todd |title=The Jay Treaty Debate, Public Opinion, and the Evolution of Early American Political Culture |date=2006}}</ref>
* Regarding the [[French Revolution]], its devotion to principles of Republicanism, liberty, equality, and fraternity made France the ideal European nation. "Jefferson's support of the French Revolution often serves in his mind as a defense of republicanism against the monarchism of the Anglophiles".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hardt |first=Michael |date=2007 |title=Jefferson and Democracy |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-quarterly_2007-03_59_1/page/41 |journal=[[American Quarterly]] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=41–78 |doi=10.1353/aq.2007.0026 |s2cid=145786386}}, quote on p. 63</ref> On the other hand, Napoleon was the antithesis of republicanism and could not be supported.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Merrill D. |date=1987 |title=Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution |journal=Tocqueville Review |volume=9 |pages=15–25|doi=10.3138/ttr.9.15 |s2cid=246031673 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shulim |first=Joseph I. |date=1952 |title=Thomas Jefferson Views Napoleon |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_virginia-magazine-of-history-and-biography_1952-04_60_2/page/288 |journal=[[Virginia Magazine of History and Biography]] |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=288–304 |jstor=4245839}}</ref>
* Navigation rights on the Mississippi River were critical to American national interests. Control by Spain was tolerable''—''control by France was unacceptable. The [[Louisiana Purchase]] was an unexpected opportunity to guarantee those rights which the Jeffersonians immediately seized upon.
* Most Jeffersonians argued an expensive high seas Navy was unnecessary, since cheap locally based gunboats, floating batteries, mobile shore batteries, and coastal fortifications could defend the ports without the temptation to engage in distant wars. Jefferson himself, however, wanted a few frigates to protect American shipping against Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=The Jeffersonian gunboat navy |date=1993}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Macleod |first=Julia H. |date=1945 |title=Jefferson and the Navy: A Defense |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_huntington-library-quarterly_1945-02_8_2/page/153 |journal=[[Huntington Library Quarterly]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=153–184 |doi=10.2307/3815809 |jstor=3815809}}</ref>
**To protect its shipping interests from pirates in the Mediterranean, Jefferson and Madison fought the [[First Barbary War]] in 1801–1805 and the [[Second Barbary War]] in 1815.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gawalt |first=Gerard W. |url=http://solaleworks.com/islam/America_and_the_Barbary_Pirates.pdf |title=America and the Barbary pirates: An international battle against an unconventional foe |date=2011 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=2019-05-28 |archive-date=2017-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027125639/http://solaleworks.com/islam/America_and_the_Barbary_Pirates.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Robert F. |url=https://cnsl.virginia.edu/sites/cnsl.virginia.edu/files/Turner-Jefferson-Barbary-Pirates-NWC-2010.pdf |title=President Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates |collaboration=et al. |date=2010 |work=Piracy and Maritime Crime: Historical and Modern Case Studies |editor-last=Elleman |editor-first=Bruce A. |pages=157–172 |access-date=2019-05-28 |archive-date=2019-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528074506/https://cnsl.virginia.edu/sites/cnsl.virginia.edu/files/Turner-Jefferson-Barbary-Pirates-NWC-2010.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* A [[standing army]] is dangerous to liberty and should be avoided. Instead of threatening warfare, Jeffersonians relied on [[Coercion|economic coercion]] such as the [[Economic sanctions|embargo]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} See [[Embargo Act of 1807]].
* The locally controlled non-professional militia was adequate to defend the nation from invasion. After the militia proved inadequate in the first year of the [[War of 1812]] President Madison expanded the national Army for the duration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stagg |first=J. C. A. |date=2000 |title=Soldiers in Peace and War: Comparative Perspectives on the Recruitment of the United States Army, 1802-1815 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_william-and-mary-quarterly_2000-01_57_1/page/79 |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=79–120 |doi=10.2307/2674359 |jstor=2674359}}</ref>

===Louisiana Purchase===
{{Main|Louisiana Purchase}}

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 gave Western farmers use of the important Mississippi River waterway, removed the French presence from the western border of the United States, and, most important, provided U.S. settlers with vast potential for expansion. A few weeks afterward, war resumed between Britain and [[Napoleon]]'s France. The United States, dependent on European revenues from the export of agricultural goods, tried to export food and raw materials to both warring [[Great power|Great Powers]] and to profit from transporting goods between their home markets and Caribbean colonies. Both sides permitted this trade when it benefited them but opposed it when it did not. Following the 1805 destruction of the French navy at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]], Britain sought to impose a stranglehold over French overseas trade ties. Thus, in retaliation against U.S. trade practices, Britain imposed a [[Orders in Council (1807)|loose blockade]] of the American coast. Believing that Britain could not rely on other sources of food than the United States, Congress and President Jefferson suspended all U.S. trade with foreign nations in the [[Embargo Act of 1807]], hoping to get the British to end their blockade of the American coast. The Embargo Act, however, devastated American agricultural exports and weakened American ports while Britain found other sources of food.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dangerfield |first=George |title=The Awakening of American Nationalism: 1815–1828 |date=1965 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=9780061330612|chapter=Chapters 7-8}} </ref>

===War of 1812===
{{Main|War of 1812}}
[[James Madison]] won the [[1808 United States presidential election|U.S. presidential election of 1808]], largely on the strength of his abilities in foreign affairs at a time when Britain and France were both on the brink of war with the United States. He was quick to repeal the Embargo Act, refreshing American seaports. Despite his intellectual brilliance, Madison lacked Jefferson's leadership and tried to merely copy his predecessor's policies verbatim. He tried various trade restrictions to try to force Britain and France to respect freedom of the seas, but they were unsuccessful. The British had undisputed mastery over the sea after defeating the French and Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in 1805, and they took advantage of this to seize American ships at will and force their sailors into serving the Royal Navy. Even worse, the size of the U.S. Navy was reduced due to ideological opposition to a large standing military and the Federal government became considerably weakened when the charter of the First National Bank expired and Congress declined to renew it. A clamor for military action thus erupted just as relations with Britain and France were at a low point and the U.S.'s ability to wage war had been reduced.

[[File:Battle erie.jpg|thumb|right|340px|''Battle of Lake Erie''; American victory in 1813 meant control of the Northwest; painting by [[William Henry Powell|William H. Powell]] (1865)]]

In response to continued British interference with American shipping (including the practice of [[impressment]] of American sailors into the British Navy), and to British aid to [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] in the [[Northwest Territory|Old Northwest]], the [[12th United States Congress|Twelfth Congress]]—led by Southern and Western Jeffersonians—declared war on Britain in 1812. Westerners and Southerners were the most ardent supporters of the war, given their concerns about defending national honor and expanding western settlements, and having access to world markets for their agricultural exports. [[New England]] was making a fine profit and its Federalists opposed the war, almost to the point of secession. The Federalist reputation collapsed in the triumphalism of 1815 and the party no longer played a national role.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perkins |first=Bradford |url=http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=9780520009967 |title=Prologue to war: England and the United States, 1805–1812 |date=1961 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203215517/http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=9780520009967 |archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Tecumseh ante Harrison crop.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Tecumseh]] and Governor William Henry Harrison; Tecumseh's death in the [[Battle of the Thames]] in 1813 ended British hopes to create a neutral Indian state in the Midwest]]

The war drew to a close after bitter fighting that lasted even after the [[Burning of Washington]] in August 1814 and [[Andrew Jackson]]'s smashing defeat of the British invasion army at the [[Battle of New Orleans]] in January 1815. The ratification of the [[Treaty of Ghent]] in February 1815, formally ended the war, returned to the ''[[status quo ante bellum]]''. Britain's alliance with the Native Americans ended, and the Indians were the major losers of the war. News of the victory at New Orleans over the best British combat troops came at the same time as news of the peace, giving Americans a psychological triumph and opening the [[Era of Good Feelings]]. Recovery from the destruction left in the wake of the war began, including rebuilding the Library of Congress collection which had been destroyed in the Burning of Washington.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jefferson's Library |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html |website=Library of Congress |date=24 April 2000 |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=22 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322203344/https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The war destroyed the anti-war Federalist Party and opened the door for generals like [[Andrew Jackson]] and [[William Henry Harrison]], and civilian leaders like James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay, to run for national office.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Borneman |first=Walter R. |title=1812: The War That Forged a Nation |date=2005}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Social history==

===Second Great Awakening===
{{Main|Second Great Awakening}}
The [[Second Great Awakening]] was a Protestant religious revival movement that flourished in 1800–1840 in every region.

===Women===
Zagarri (2007) argues the Revolution created an ongoing debate on the rights of women and created an environment favorable to women's participation in politics. She asserts that for a brief decades, a "comprehensive transformation in women's rights, roles, and responsibilities seemed not only possible but perhaps inevitable." However the opening of possibilities also engendered a backlash that actually set back the cause of women's rights and led to a greater rigidity that marginalized women from political life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zagarri |first=Rosemarie |title=Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic |year=2007 |ref={{SfnRef|Zagarri}} |author-link=Rosemarie Zagarri}}</ref>

[[Judith Sargent Murray]] published the early and influential essay ''[[On the Equality of the Sexes]]'' in 1790, blaming poor standards in female education as the root of women's problems.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weyler |first=Karen A. |title=John Neal and Nineteenth Century American Literature and Culture |isbn=978-1-61148-420-5 |editor-last=Watts |editor-first=Edward |location=[[Lewisburg, Pennsylvania]] |page=232 |chapter=Chapter 11: John Neal and the Early Discourse of American Women's Rights |year=2012 |editor-last2=Carlson |editor-first2=David J.}}</ref> However, scandals surrounding the personal lives of English contemporaries [[Catharine Macaulay]] and [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] pushed feminist authorship into private correspondence from the 1790s through the early decades of the nineteenth century.{{Sfn|Weyler|2012|pp=233–235}}

<!--spacing-->

<gallery class="center" widths="150px" heights="250px" caption="US Population Distribution">
File:USA population distribution 1790.png|1790
File:USA population distribution 1800.png|1800
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Timeline of the history of the United States (1790–1819)]]
* [[History of the United States (1815–1849)]]
* [[First Party System]]
* [[American gentry]]
* [[Slavery in the United States]]
* [[Presidency of George Washington]]
* [[Presidency of John Adams]]
* [[Presidency of Thomas Jefferson]]
* [[Presidency of James Madison]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==

===Surveys===
* {{Cite book |last=Channing |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofuniteds05chaniala |title=A History of the United States: Federalists and Republicans, 1789-1815 |date=1921 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=9780819189158 |author-link=Edward Channing}}
* Collier, Christopher. ''Building a new nation : the Federalist era, 1789-1803'' (1999) [https://archive.org/details/buildingnewnatio0000coll for middle schools]
* {{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century |date=2001 |isbn=9780684804989 |editor-last=Finkelman |editor-first=Paul}}
* {{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754–1829 |date=2005 |isbn=9780684313467 |editor-last=Finkelman |editor-first=Paul}}
* {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Paul E. |title=The Early American Republic, 1789-1829|date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195154238|author-link=Paul E. Johnson}} 
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=John Chester |title=The Federalist Era: 1789–1801 |date=1960 |isbn=9780060129804 |author-link=John Chester Miller}} [https://archive.org/details/federalistera178008879mbp online]
* {{Cite book |last=Smelser |first=Marshall |title=The Democratic Republic, 1801–1815 |url=https://archive.org/details/democraticrepubl00smel |date=1968|publisher=New York, Harper & Row }} [https://archive.org/details/democraticrepubl0000unse_k2r3 online]
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Alan |title=American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804 |date=2016 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=9780393253870 |author-link=Alan Taylor (historian)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Gordon S. |title=Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 |date=2009 |isbn=9780195039146 |series=Oxford History of the United States |author-link=Gordon S. Wood}} [https://archive.org/details/empireoflibertyh0000wood online]

===Political and diplomatic history===
* {{Cite book |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |title=The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government |date=2016 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brands |first=H. W. |title=Heirs of the Founders: Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants |date=2018 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cogliano |first=Francis D. |title=Emperor of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson's Foreign Policy |date=2014}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Elkins |first1=Stanley |url=https://archive.org/details/ageoffederalism00elki |title=The Age of Federalism - The Early American Republic, 1788 - 1800 |last2=McKitrick |first2=Eric |date=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-506890-0 }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Revolution of 1800: Democracy, Race, and the New Republic |date=2002 |publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]] |editor-last=Horn |editor-first=James |editor-last2=Lewis |editor-first2=Jan Ellen |editor-last3=Onuf |editor-first3=Peter S.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Schoen |first=Brian |date=2003 |title=Calculating the price of union: Republican economic nationalism and the origins of Southern sectionalism, 1790-1828 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-the-early-republic_summer-2003_23_2/page/173 |journal=[[Journal of the Early Republic]] |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=173–206 |doi=10.2307/3125035 |jstor=3125035}}
* {{Cite book |last=Silbey |first=Joel H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgCJAgAAQBAJ |title=A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents 18371861 |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118609293 |author-link=Joel H. Silbey}}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert W. |title=Amid a Warring World: American Foreign Relations, 1775–1815 |date=2012}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Robert W. |title=Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson |last2=Hendrickson |first2=David C. |date=1990}}
* {{Cite book |last=White |first=G. Edward |title=The Marshall Court and Cultural Change, 1815–1835 |date=1990}}
* {{Cite book |last=White |first=Leonard |url=https://archive.org/details/jeffersoniansast011195mbp |title=The Jeffersonians, 1801–1829: A Study in Administrative History |date=1951|publisher=The Macmillan Company }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilentz |first=Sean |title=The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln |date=2005}}

===Social and economic history===
* {{Cite book |last=Berlin |first=Ira |title=Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America |date=1998}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boorstin |first=Daniel J. |title=The Americans: The National Experience |url=https://archive.org/details/americansnationa0000unse |date=1967}}
* {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Christopher |title=Social Change in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War |date=2007}}
* {{Cite book|author1-link=Eugene Genovese |last=Genovese |first=Eugene D. |title=Roll, Jordan, roll: The world the slaves made |date=1976}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Krout |first1=J. A., and |title=The Completion of Independence: 1790-1830 |last2=Fox |first2=D. R. |date=1944}}
* {{Cite book |last=Larkin |first=Jack |title=The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790–1840 |url=https://archive.org/details/reshapingofevery00lark |date=1988|publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=9780060159054 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Charles R. |title=The Dawn of Innovation |date=2012 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shachtman |first=Tom |title=The Founding Fortunes: How the Wealthy Paid for and Profited from America's Revolution |date=2020 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stuckey |first=Sterling |title=Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory And The Foundations Of Black America |date=2013 |edition=2nd}}

===Interpretations of the spirit of the age===
* {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Henry |title=[[s:History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson/First|History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison]] |volume=1 |chapter=1–5 on America in 1800 |author-link=Henry Brooks Adams}}
* {{Cite book |last=Appleby |first=Joyce |title=Inheriting the Revolution: the First Generation of Americans |url=https://archive.org/details/inheritingrevolu00appl_0 |date=2000|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674002364 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Kolchin |first=Peter |date=2016 |title=Slavery, Commodification, and Capitalism |journal=[[Reviews in American History]] |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=217–226 |doi=10.1353/rah.2016.0029 |s2cid=148201164}}
* {{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Perry |title=The Life of the Mind in America: From the Revolution to The Civil War |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofmindinamer00mill |date=1965|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |isbn=9780156519908 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Parrington |first=Vernon |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/parrington |title=Main Currents in American Thought |date=1927 |volume=2: The Romantic Revolution, 1800–1860 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317223336/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/parrington |archive-date=March 17, 2015}}
* {{Cite book |last=Skeen |first=C. Edward |title=1816: America Rising |date=2004}}

===Historiography and memory===
* Cheathem, Mark R. "The Stubborn Mythology of Andrew Jackson." ''Reviews in American History'' 47.3 (2019): 342–348. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734058/summary excerpt]
* Stoltz III, Joseph F. ''A Bloodless Victory: The Battle of New Orleans in History and Memory'' (JHU Press, 2017).

==External links==
{{Wikibooks|US History}}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/_Topics/history/_Periods/frontier/home.html Frontier History of the United States] at Thayer's American History site
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070512222830/http://dca.tufts.edu/features/aas/index.html A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787–1825]

{{US history}}
{{Years in the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of the United States (1789-1815)}}
[[Category:1780s in the United States]]
[[Category:1790s in the United States]]
[[Category:1800s in the United States]]
[[Category:1810s in the United States]]
[[Category:History of the United States by period]]
[[Category:Federalist Era]]