| Term | Definition |
|---|
| National Bank | Set up by Hamilton, it gave the government a place to keep money. Two million was put up by the government and eight million by investors. |
| Excise Tax | A tax on whiskey. The tax was higher on small farmers, because Hamilton figured that the major distillers would still pay more. |
| Tariffs | A tax put on imported goods. |
| Loose Construction | Using the elastic clause, they said that you did not have to follow the constitution word for word. |
| Strict Construction | The constitution must be followed word for word. |
| Assumption of Debts | The national government took on all of the state debts. |
| Funding at Par | Paying of government bonds at face value to the holder of the bond, not necessarily the the person the bond was issued to. |
| George Washington | The first president of the United States. He wanted the United States to stay neutral. |
| Cabinet | George Washington set up the the practice of the president having a group of advisers. |
| Knox, Hamilton, Jefferson | Members of George Washington's cabinet. They were all old friends of his. |
| Benevolent Procrastination | The practice, first set up by George Washington, that said the United States should hold off of getting involved in international affairs until it was strong enough to be effective. |
| Anthony Wayne | The general commanding the American soldiers at the Battle of Foreign Timbers. His nickname was "Mad". |
| Battle of Fallen Timbers | The Americans beat an a group of Native Americans, and discovered they were using weapons given them by the British. |
| Treaty of Greenville | This treaty between the Americans and the Native Americans. In exchange for some goods, the Indians gave the United States territory in Ohio. Anthony Wayne was the American representative. |
| War Bonds | In order to increase funding the military, the United States sold these. |
| James Madison | While originally a Federalist, he did not like how they abused their power and joined the Republicans. |
| James Monroe | A Republican, he was ambassador to France under Jefferson, and was against the treaties with the British and then the Spanish. |
| Whiskey Rebellion | In response to Hamilton's excise tax, farmers in Pennsylvania marched on Pittsburgh. Washington called up 15,000 militia and personally led them against the rebellion. His reputation caused the rebels to disband without incident. |
| First Party System | The Republicans and Federalists battled for national supremacy in the government. |
| Republicans | This party was made in response to the Federalists. The leader was Thomas Jefferson. They were pro-French, pro-agrarian, and wanted a strict construction, They wanted the states to be the most powerful. |
| Federalists | They were the first party, led by Alexander Hamilton. They wanted a strong national government and a loose construction. They were pro-British and wanted capitalism. |
| Agrarian Society | An economy based on farming with commercial activity designed only to aid the argriculture. |
| Commercial Society | An economy based on trade and industry. |
| French Revolution | Peasants in France rose up against the monarchy and overthrew it. The government that was put in its place, however, was tyrannical. |
| Citizen Genet | An ambassador from France, who came to America and tried to mobilize American seamen against England and Spain without meeting with George Washington. |
| Jay's Treaty | This treaty gave Britain most favored nation status from America while Britain pulled its forts out of American territory and set up a system to look at the commandeering of American ships by the British. This treaty averted war and showed that the USA had gained respect from Europe with their Constitution. |
| First Rapprochement | The period of relative peace between Britain and America during the period following Jay's Treaty. |
| Pinckney's Treaty | A treaty between Spain and America that fixed the border with Florida, allowed Americans to traverse the Mississippi and keep products in New Orleans without paying an extra fee. |
| George Washington's Farewell Address | Written primarily by Alexander Hamilton, the speech called for American isolation and condemned political parties. |
| John Adams | The second President of the United States. He was a federalist, but he was his own man. He met public criticism towards the end of his term and this led to the downfall of the Federalist party. |
| 12th Amendment | Under this, the way that Presidents and Vice Presidents were elected changed. It eliminated the possibility for members of opposing political parties being president and vice president. |
| Quasi-War | A state of undeclared hostility between France and America that was fought at sea. It was over the aftermath of Jay's Treaty and the refusal of the United States to repay their debts to the old French Government. |
| Talleyrand | He was a Prime Minister for France. He was able to survive the turbulent times in France because he was so skilled and did not care who he served. |
| XYZ Affair | When a delegation of Americans arrived in France, they were approached by three French officials who demanded bribes simply to begin the talks. The Americans refused, and the uproar created in America almost brought the country to war. The famous phrase from this event was "A million for defense, but not one cent for tribute." |
| Alien and Sedition Acts | Sensing that their downfall was imminent to the Democratic-Republicans, the Federalists tried to prevent the time of their downfall. The Republicans had a growing base in the immigrants, so the Federalists tried to make the number of years required for citizenship higher. In order to prevent the Republicans from speaking out against them, they made it illegal to talk ill of the government or President Adams. These laws backfired in that they made public opinion of the Federalists decrease drastically. |
| Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions | Responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts that said that the states withheld the right to nullify laws of Congress that they found unconstitutional. |
| Compact Theory | The theory that the nation was created from the states and thus the states should be the ones to judge when the National government has overstepped its boundaries or done an unconstitutional act. The theory was invented by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. |
| Matthew Lyons | He was the first person imprisoned for Sedtion. His Newspaper criticized Adams for his handling of the situation with France, and he was imprisoned. He won a seat in congress while in prison and got to cast the deciding vote for Jefferson when the Election of 1800 came to the House of Representatives. He is also famous for spitting on a member of Congress while in session and later defending himself with a pair of tongs after the man attacked him. |
| Revolution of 1800 | Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic Republicans unseated the incumbent Federalist party. It was the first time in a western government where a change in the ruling power had occurred so radically, peacefully, and without bloodshed. |
| Aaron Burr | He was a Democratic Republican who was Jefferson's VP. He was angry at losing to Jefferson in 1800 and so did not conduct the trial of Samuel Chase in the way that Jefferson wanted. He then left the office of to become Governor of New York, He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel and was involved in several plots of treason, such as the Essex Junto, against the Government. |
| Tammany Society | The first political machine. It was created in NYC by Aaron Burr. |
| Judiciary Act of 1801 | It was an act set to minimize the number of Supreme Court justices that Jefferson could appoint, and created more places for Federalist judges and less for Democratic Republicans. The bill was passed under the Adams administration to keep a Federalist stronghold in the Judicial Branch. |
| Midnight Judges | Judges who were appointed by John Adams at the very end of his presidency. It was said that he stayed up until midnight before Jefferson was inaugurated so he could sign them all. He did this to keep the Federalists strong in the Judicial Branch to check the powers of the Democratic Republicans. The failure of the next administration to delivers some of these seats led to the famous court decision, Marbury v. Madison. This decision set up the idea of judicial review. |
| Marbury v. Madison | A court case decided by John Marshall that said the judicial branch had the right of judicial review, or to say laws enacted by Congress were unconstitutional. The decision came from the fact the Sec. of State Madison would not deliver the judge seat that was given to Marbury under the previous administration. There was a law at the time called the writ of mandamus, which stated that the Supreme Court could order an executive to do something. Marshall ruled that this was unconstitutional. He both showed that he did not play to his Federalist ties to Marbury, and he increased the power of the Federal government. |
| Judicial Review | The right of the Supreme Court to rule whether or not a law is constitutional. |
| Writ of Mandamus | An order that was passed by Congress that the courts could order executives to do something. This law was ruled unconstitutional by John Marshall in the decision Marbury v. Madison. |
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