SSUSH 6 Analyze the challenges faced by the

SSUSH 6 Analyze the challenges faced by the first five presidents and how they responded. a. Examine the presidency of Washington, including the precedents he set. b. Explain the presidency of John Adams including the Sedition Act and its influence on the election of 1800. c. Explore Jefferson’s expansion of presidential power including the purchase and exploration of the Louisiana Territory. d. Explain James Madison’s presidency in relation to the War of 1812 and the war’s significance in the development of a national identity. e. Explain James Monroe’s presidency in relation to the Monroe Doctrine

6. a- Examine the presidency of Washington, including the precedents he set. • • • George Washington was the only candidate for president to run unopposed, the only president to win unanimous in the Electoral College, and the only president not affiliated with a political party. As the first president, Washington established several important precedents that were followed by future presidents, including: The two term tradition- even though he could have easily won a third term, Washington stepped aside after the completion of his second term, to reinforce the idea that no one person should hold power for too long. Serving no more two terms became a standard that was followed by future presidents until Franklin Roosevelt broke the precedence during the WWII era. In 1952, the 22 nd amendment made the two term tradition a law. Establishment of a “cabinet. ” Washington established the precedence of including the heads of the executive departments as members of his top advisory council, known as the president’s “cabinet. ” Enforcement of federal laws and taxation- Washington was important in establishing the president’s role in enforcing federal laws, as seen in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Upset over a federal excise tax on Whiskey, angry farmers in western Pennsylvania threatened violence and Washington led the US army to disband the rebellion and to reinforce the president’s duties to uphold the law. Isolationism in foreign affairs , although the United States would eventually embrace internationalism and interventionism after WWII, for most of US history prior to that, the US remained primarily isolationist, preferring to stay out of world affairs, while focusing more inwardly. Washington is often credited with supporting this idea in his Farewell Address in 1796, when he admonished future leaders to “avoid entangling alliances. ”

6. b- Explain the presidency of John Adams including the Sedition Act and its influence on the election of 1800. • John Adams was the first partisan president. A member of the Federalist Party, he served only one term, elected in 1796. • In 1798, Adams and his Federalists supporters passed a law known as the Sedition Act. The law was intended to silence those opposed to his party and presidency by making it illegal to say or print certain criticisms of the president and government. Adams was targeting supporters of the opposition party, headed by Thomas Jefferson. • The backlash against the law helped Jefferson to win the election of 1800, because many Americans feared the national government under the Federalists was growing too powerful and was trying to limit free speech.

c. Explore Jefferson’s expansion of presidential power including the purchase and exploration of the Louisiana Territory. • The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 more than doubled the size of the United States, setting the stage for the continued westward migration of Americans throughout the 1800 s. • The Louisiana Purchase included a huge area west of the Mississippispecifically the lands drained by the Missouri River. • The lands had reverted from the French to the Spanish after the 1763 Treaty of Paris (Seven Years’ War), but in 1800, the French leader (Napoleon) convinced Spain to give France the lands in exchange for French aid in gaining territory in Europe. • Jefferson sought to intervene diplomatically, attempting to block the deal, or at least gain concessions from France- full access to the Mississippi and New Orleans, for example. • In 1803, Napoleon sold the territory, including New Orleans, to the United States for roughly $15, 000. The United States now controlled the entire Mississippi River drainage.

Expansion of presidential power • The Louisiana Purchase represented an expansion of presidential power because Jefferson’s administration negotiated the purchase from France, but technically had no constitutional authority to make a land purchase from a foreign entity. • As a strict constructionist, Jefferson was acutely aware of that he was stepping outside of his expressed powers as president to conclude the deal, but felt the benefit to westward migration and the nation as a whole was too great to let pass.

Lewis and Clark Expedition • Even before the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson was planning an expedition to explore and map areas west of the Mississippi. He chose his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition. • William Clark joined Lewis to co-lead the expedition, which was charged with exploring the western reaches of the Missouri River, and ascertaining a route to the Pacific. • In May 1804, the “Corps of Discovery” set out from St. Louis, traveled up the Missouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, finally reaching the Pacific near present Portland, Oregon. Lewis and Clark returned over 2 years after they had begun. Their epic journey greatly increased knowledge of the west.

Lewis and Clark

Route of Lewis and Clark Expedition

Sacagawea

d. Explain James Madison’s presidency in relation to the War of 1812 and the war’s significance in the development of a national identity. • The War of 1812 (U. S. vs. Britain) was the culmination of years of rising tensions between Britain and its former colonies. James Madison was president at the time. • At the heart of that tension was trade diplomacy, as the United States tried to remain neutral in the Napoleonic Wars between France and Britain. There were also issues of naval impressment (forced service), and the continued British involvement with Native Americans in the Great Lakes region. • A contingent of Congress, the “War Hawks, ” mostly representing southern and western farmers, led the move toward war, citing the British trade restrictions and accusing British Canada of fomenting rebellion among the Native Americans on the frontier.

War of 1812 • The fighting during the War of 1812 consisted of three failed invasions of Canada, a series of Naval engagements in and around the Great Lakes, a British assault on Washington D. C. (Capitol and White House burned), and an unsuccessful siege at Baltimore. The latter battle inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, (later set to the melody of a British drinking ballad), as he awoke to see the U. S. flag still flying over Ft. Mc. Henry. • The Treaty of Ghent (1815) ended the war and restored the pre-war status quo- no territory changed hands, and none of the issues that led to the war were addressed in the treaty. • One of the most important social developments to emerge from the War of 1812 was a major upwelling of national pride and unity. The Americans defended their territory and hegemony, and began to be recognized as an emerging world power. This strong nationalism would influence the growth of the United States in the coming decades, as it continued to spread American culture and power westward across the continent.

e. Explain James Monroe’s presidency in relation to the Monroe Doctrine • The rise of the United States as an emerging world power led to a new diplomatic stance as well. Throughout the first decades of the 1800 s, nations in central and South America were declaring independence from their European colonizers. • During the administration of James Monroe, the United States acted on this development, declaring pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere with the Monroe Doctrine- a warning to European powers that the Americas were no longer under the European sphere of influence, and that the United States would prevent any attempts to re-colonize nations in the Americas. • The Monroe Doctrine established the United States’ sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, and signaled the beginning of a newly assertive U. S. in international relations and diplomacy.