American History

Aristotle once said that the person who contemplates things in their first growth and origin be it a state or any other thing for that matter, would obtain a most clear view of them. The period between the years 1789 to 1840 is important for this consideration. It has been observed to be a period when the development of the National idea in the United States took place.

George Washington was elected the first President of the United States in 1789, the only man to ever be unanimously elected in the history of the U.S. He had previously served as Commander in Chief of the American Revolutionary Forces and had presided over the Philadelphia Convention responsible for drafting the American Constitution. He was thought to be such a suitable candidate for the job that the framers of the Constitution gave broad powers to the presidency being certain that he would be elected (Axelrod  Philips, 2003. 57). Washington thus laid the foundations that would govern the exercise of executive power in the fledgling democracy, setting precedents for future occupiers of the office. His universal proclamation of neutrality was made in 1793 to prevent the U.S. from being embroiled in the conflict between Britain and France. This proclamation laid the basis for which the new country would henceforth avoid getting involved in foreign conflicts. His refusal to serve a third term established the policy of a maximum of two terms for Presidents which later was enshrined in the 22nd amendment of the Constitution. He signed treaties with both England and Spain and approved a bill that created the first National Bank. During the whiskey rebellion he called up 12000 militiamen this was the first time the Federal Government used military force to exert its authority upon the citizenry.

Although Washington did a lot to lay the foundations of the new republic, he was opposed to the formation of political parties. Washington had stood for republican virtues and opposed partisanship. The task of forming a party fell upon his Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton formed the Federalist Party. It existed between 1792 and 1816, a period referred to as the era of the first party system. The party argued a system of fiscally sound Government policies and a strong National Government as it was made up largely of businessmen. Jeffersons group on the other hand was the Democratic Republicans. They insisted on the application of a strict constitution and favored the rights of States as opposed to the National Government. Unlike the Federalists they strongly opposed the Jay Treaty arguing for better relations with France and not Britain. The party later broke up, with one faction led by Andrew Jackson forming the Democrats and another led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay forming the Whig party. The Whig party was to later break up due to the slavery question in the 1850s.

The question of slavery had always been a divisive issue in the United States. In 1820 Missouri petitioned congress to allow it to be a slaveholding State. New York Congressman James Tallmadge however introduced an amendment proposing a ban on further introduction of slavery and the freeing of slaves in the new State once they were 25 years of age. The House of Representatives passed the amendment but the Senate rejected it. Senators from the North were of the opinion that Congress had powers to ban slavery in new states while Southern senators argued for the individual autonomy of each state. A compromise was needed to break the deadlock. The 2 part Missouri compromise was thus developed. Missouri was to be admitted as a slave state while Maine would be admitted as slave free state preserving the equal balance that existed in the Senate. A line was then drawn across Louisiana at latitude 36 degrees 30 min. Slavery would not be allowed henceforth north of the line. Although it never received universal support with John Adams describing it as the title page to a great tragic volume it succeeded in preserving the nation for another 30 years.

Andrew Jackson the founder of the Democratic Party was a well known National hero before he contested the Presidential election in 1824. He had achieved military distinctions during the War of 1812 both against the Indians and the British in New Orleans inflicting severe losses on them. Although he had won more electoral votes than his competitors garnering 99 over Quincy Adams 84, William Crawfords 41 and Henry Clays 37 none of the candidates received the majority (Axelrod  Philips, 2003. 83). When the election went to the House of Representatives, Clay gave his vote to Quincy Adams and Jackson lost. In 1828 he contested the election again and won. He was to win another subsequent term in 1832. His tenure was characterized by steps towards more democracy. The period of his presidency marked the beginning of the second party system. There was expanded suffrage. Unlike before ownership of property was not a prerequisite in order for a person to vote. Elected leaders began to act more like representatives of the people and a system of equal rotation in federal jobs was put in place.

On November 24th 1832, a special convention called by the State of Carolina legislature passed the Nullification Ordinance. This ordinance set to prevent the collection of duties after February 1 1833. The issue had first begun to rouse a storm in the South Carolina exposition and protest.  The State of Carolina held the position that it had the right to nullify the Tariff of Abominations Act of 1828. It also held that the state had the authority to prevent any Act that went against the interests of the State.  Jackson declared the States Action to be tantamount to treason and threatened to use the Army to enforce the law. The State afterward recapitulated.

What had started as an argument about fiscal policies however took a new twist. The status of the Union was now questioned. A debate took place between Senators Daniel Webster and Robert Hayne. This was to be known as the Webster Hayne debate. The debate served to highlight differences of opinion that existed in the South and in the North. Webster was for the idea of popular sovereignty. He felt that the constitution had guaranteed this for the people. Hayne on the other hand invoked the compact theory of the Union. This meant that each state had the right to interpret the constitution and the federal laws. The debate was never to be resolved until the North won the American Civil war, however it provided one of the finest pieces of oratory in the history of the U.S.

President Jacksons term was marred by the solution to the Indian problem. The policy was to remove them to new settlements. This was achieved albeit at great hardships to them in what was to be known as the trail of tears (Axelrod  Philips, 2003. 84). Jackson also succeeded in getting rid of the Second Bank of the U.S. He felt that it was largely foreign owned and wielded too much control over congress. He vetoed the banks charter and withdrew Federal funds from it setting the stage for its imminent collapse through bankruptcy. His legacy is the breed of populist politics that now bears his name Jacksonian democracy.

The 1830s were a period of sweeping changes. Society was changing just as fast as politics. In 1834 McCormick patented a reaper that was to revolutionize agriculture by allowing vast lands to be harvested. In 1830 it took about 20 hours to harvest an acre of wheat, by 1895, when the reaper was perfected it took about an hour (Axelrod  Philips, 2003. 93). John Deere invented the steel plough in 1836 which made hard soils tillable. It was these scientific developments that facilitated the market revolution which had begun in 1815 by completely altering the manual labor systems. The 1830s also marked the beginning of the underground rail road which enabled numerous slaves from the South to cross the north into safety. It was also in 1836 that the Texans defended the Alamo from the Mexican Army.

Before the decade was through the second awakening was still taking place. This was a period of renewed religious fervor that led to the establishment of such groups as the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists. The American Bible Society had already been founded by 1815. The temperance movement fuelled by this religious zeal was at its height during this period with groups formed to curtail the consumption of rum.

The era also witnessed an improvement in education standards with reforms instituted with regard to the training of teachers. Prisons were for the first time seen as places of rehabilitation and not punishment. Asylums and not prisons for the mentally ill were established and womens rights took centre stage.

The decade closed with the election of William Harrison in 1840. The period 1789 to 1840 had laid the foundations for subsequent decades. The whole structure of American democracy and American Union had both been laid and undermined. Precedents had been set that would govern American life for eternity. America was never to be the same again.