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Chapter 7: The Early Republic 

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Introduction o Jefferson electoral victory over John Adams – and the larger victory of the Republicans over the Federalists – was but one of many changes in the early republic o Some like Jefferson’s victory, were accomplished peacefully and others violently o The wealthy and the powerful, middling and poor whites, Native Americans, free and enslaved African Americas, influential and poor women: all demanded a voice in the nation that Thomas Pain called an “Asylum” for liberty Free and Enslaved Black Americans and the Challenge to Slavery o Gabriel’s Rebellion  Led by the slave Gabriel, close to 1000 enslaved men planned to end slavery in Virginia by attacking Richmond in late August 1800  Some of the conspirators would set divisionary fires in the city’s warehouse district  Others would attack Richmond’s white residents, seize weapons and capture Virginia governor James Monroe  On August 30, 2 enslaved men revealed the plot to their masters who notified authorities  Faced with bad weather, Gabriel and other leaders postponed the attack until the next night, giving Governor Monroe and the militia time to capture the conspirators  After briefly escaping, Gabriel was seized, tried and hanged along with 25 others  Their executions sent the message that others would be punished if they challenged slavery  Subsequently, the Virginia governor increased restrictions on free people of color  Suggested that enslaved blacks were capable of preparing and carrying out a sophisticated and violent revolution – undermining white supremacist assumptions about the inherent intellectual inferiority of blacks  Demonstrated that white efforts to suppress news of other slave revolts had failed  Not only did some literate slaves read accounts of the successful attack in Virginia’s newspapers, others heard about the rebellion firsthand when slaveholding refugees from Haiti arrived in Virginia with their slaves after July 1793 o Haitian Revolution  Inspired free and enslaved black Americans, and terrified white Americans  Port cities in the U.S were flooded with news and refugees  Free people of color embraced the revolution, understanding it as a call for full abolition and the rights of citizenship denied in the United States  Over the next several decades black Americans continually looked to Haiti as an inspiration in their struggle for freedom

Haiti also proved that, given equal opportunities. people of color could achieve as much as whites  Haiti, and the activism it inspired, sent the message that enslaved and free blacks could not be omitted from conversations about the meaning of liberty and equality The black activism inspired by Haiti’s revolution was so powerful that anxious white leaders scrambled to use the violence of the Haitian revolt to reinforce white supremacy and pro-slavery views by limiting the social and political lives of people of color White publications mocked black Americans as buffoons, ridiculing calls for abolition and equal rights The most (in)famous of these, the “Bobalition” broadsides, published in the 18180s, crudely caricatured African Americans Henry Moss  A slave in Virginia, became arguably the most famous black man of the day when white spots appeared on his body in 1792, turning him visibly white within 3 years  As his skin changed, he marketed himself as a great curiosity in Philadelphia soon earning enough money to buy his own freedom  He met the great scientists of the era – including Samuel Stanhope Smith and Dr. Benjamin Rush – who joyously deemed Moss to be living proof of their theory that “the Black Color (as it is called) of the Negroes is derived from the leprosy” The first decades of the new American coincided with a radical shift in understandings of race Politically and culturally, Enlightenment thinking fostered beliefs in common humanity, the possibility of societal progress, the remaking of oneself, and the importance of one’s social and ecological environment – a four-pronged revolt against the hierarchies of the Old World Division of Race  Carolus Linnaeus, Comte de Buffon, Johan Friedrich Blumenbach, and others created connections between race and place as they divided the racial “types” of the world according to skin color, cranial measurement and hair  They claimed that years under the hot sun and tropical climate of Africa darkened the skin and reconfigured the skulls of the African race, whereas the cold northern latitudes of Europe molded and sustained the Caucasian race  Jefferson thought Native Americans could improve and become civilized and he declared in his Notes on the State of Virginia (1784) that black people were incapable of mental improvement and that they might even have a separate ancestry – a theory known as polygenesis, or multiple creations.  This belief was to justify schemes for white America, such as the plan to  gradually send freed slaves back to Africa 

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Many Americans believed nature had made the white and black races too different to peacefully coexist, and they viewed African colonization as the solution to America’s racial problem o White Americans were forced to acknowledge that if the black population was indeed whitening, it resulted from interracial sex and not the environment o The sense of inspiration and wonder that followed Henry Moss in the 1790’s would have been impossible just a generation later Jefferson Republicanism o Free and enslaved black Americans were not alone in pushing against political hierarchies o Jefferson’s election to the presidency in 1800 represented a victory for non-elite white Americans in their bid to assume more direct control over the government o Elites had made no secret of their hostility toward the direct control of government by the people o He desired to convince Americans, and the world, that a government that answered directly to the people would lead to lasting national union, not anarchic division o He wanted to prove that free people could govern themselves democratically o Defined American union by the voluntary bonds of fellow citizens toward one another and toward the government o In contrast, Federalists supposedly imagined a union defined by expansive state power and public submission to the rule of aristocratic elites o Leaving behind the military-pomp of power-obsessed Federalists, Republicans had peacefully elected the scribe of national independence, the philosopher-patriot who had battled tyranny with his pen, not a sword or gun o Early American national identity was coded masculine, just as it was coded white and wealthy; yet, since the revolution, women had repeatedly called for a place in the conversation o American women were more than mothers to soldiers; they were mothers of liberty o Republican Motherhood  Term used to describe the early American belief that women were essential in nurturing the principles of liberty in the citizenry  Though mistakably steeped in the gendered assumptions about female sexuality and domesticity that denied women an equal share of the political rights men enjoyed, these statements also conceded the pivotal role women played as active participants in partisan politics Jefferson as President o Jefferson sought to implement policies that reflected his own political ideology o He worked to reduce taxes and cut the government’s budget, believing that this would expand the economic opportunities of free Americans o His cuts included national defense and Jefferson restricted the regular army to 3,000 men 

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o England may have needed taxes and debt to support its military empire, but Jefferson was determined to live in peace – and that belief led him to reduce America’s national debt while getting rid of all internal taxes during his first term o In a move of crowning achievement of his presidency, Jefferson authorized the acquisition of Louisiana from France in 1803 in what is considered the largest real estate deal in American history o France had ceded Louisiana to Spain in exchange for West Florida after the Seven Year’s War decades earlier o Jefferson was concerned about American access to New Orleans, which served as an important port to western farmers o His worries multiplied when the French secretly required Louisiana in 1800 o Spain remained in Louisiana for 2 more years while the U.S Minister to France tried to strike a compromise o Fortunately for the U.S, the pressures of war in Europe and the slave insurrection in Haiti forced Napoleon to rethink his vast North American holdings o Rebellious slaves coupled with yellow fever outbreak in Haiti defeated French forces, stripping Napoleon of his ability to control Haiti o Deciding to cut his losses, Napoleon offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory for $15- roughly equivalent to $250 million today o Embargo Act of 1807  Elicited the most outrage from his Federalist critics  The Atlantic Ocean soon became the site of Jefferson’s greatest foreign policy test, as England, France and Spain refused to respect American ships’ neutrality  The greatest offenses came from the British who resumed the policy of impressment, seizing thousands of American sailors and forcing them to fight for the British navy  American ports were closed to all foreign trade in hopes of avoiding a war  When Americans resorted to smuggling their goods out the country Jefferson expanded governmental powers to try to enforce their compliance, leading some to label him a tyrant o The federalist’s adoption of republican political rhetoric signaled a new political landscape in which both parties embraced the direct involvement of the citizenry o The republican party rose to power on the promise to expand voting and promote a more direct link between political leaders and the electorate o The American populace continued to demand more direct link between political leaders and the electorate o Under the leadership of Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe sought to expand voting through policies that made it easier for Americans to purchase land o Under their leadership 7 new states entered the union o By 1824, only 3 states still had rules about how much property someone could own before he could vote

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o Never again would the federalists regain dominance over either Congress of the presidency; the last Federalist to run for president, Rufus King, lost to Monroe in 1816 Native American Power and the United States o Diplomatic relations between Native Americans and local, state, and national governments offer a dramatic example of the dangers of those inequalities o Prior to the Revolution, many Indian nations had balanced a delicate diplomacy between European empires which scholars have called the Play-Off System o Americans pushed for more land in all their interactions with Native diplomats and leaders o Boundaries were only one source of tension o Trade, criminal jurisdiction, roads and the sale of liquor, and alliances were also key to negotiating points o Even as native Americans proved vital trading partners, scouts and allies against hostile nations, they were often condemned by their white settlers and government officials as “savages o In the wake of the American revolution, Native American diplomats developed relationships with the united states, maintained or ceased relations with the British Empire (or with Spain in the south) and negotiated their relationships with other native nations o Native diplomacy testified to the complexity of the indigenous cultures and their role in shaping the politics and policy of American communities, states and the federal government o Yet white attitudes, words and policies frequently relegated native peoples to the literal and figurative margins as “ignorant savages” o Tecumseh  Poor treatment like this inspired hostility and called for pan-Indian alliances from leaders of distinct Native nations  Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, helped envision an alliance of north America’s indigenous populations to halt the encroachments of the United States  They created pan-Indian towns in present-day Indiana, first at Greenville, then Prophetstown, in defiance of the Treaty of Greenville  Tecumseh traveled to many diverse Indian nations from Canada to George, calling for unification, resistance and the restoration of sacred power  The culmination of many movements that swept through indigenous North America during the 18th century  Along with his brother pronounced that the Master of Life entrusted them with the responsibility of returning Native peoples to the one true path and to rid native communities of the dangerous and corrupting influences of euro-American trade and culture  Confederacy drew heavily from indigenous communities in the old northwest and the festering hatred for the land-hungry Americans

Tecumseh attracted a wealth of allies in his adamant refusal to concede any more land o In the interim between 1765-1811, other Native prophets kept Neolin’s message alive while encouraging indigenous peoples to resist Euro-American encroachments o Although this “Western Confederacy” ultimately suffered defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, this Native coalition achieved a number of military victories against the republic, including the destruction of 2 American armies, forcing Washington to reformulate federal Indian policy o Many native leaders refused to join Tecumseh and instead maintained their American loyalties o After the failures of pan-Indian unity and loss at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, the foundation was floundered o The war of 1812 between the U.S and Britain brought up new opportunities The War of 1812 o Soon after congress ended the embargo and the British relaxed their policies toward American ships o Stemmed from American entanglement in 2 distinct sets of international issues o The first had to do with the nation’s desire to maintain its position as a neutral trading nation during the series of Anglo-French wars, which began in the aftermath of the French revolution in 1793 o The second had older roots in the colonial and revolutionary era, in both cases, American interests conflicted with those of the British empire o Impressments, the practice of forcing American sailors to join the British Navy, was among the most important sources of conflict between the 2 nations o Driven in part by trade with Europe, the American economy grew quickly during the first decade of the 19th century, creating a labor shortage in the American shipping industry o About 30% of American employed sailors worked on British ships o To the British, one you are born to the crown you are a member of the crown for life, the British navy was embroiled in a difficult war and unwilling to lose any of its labor force o Between 1803-1812, 6,000 American soldiers were “impressed” upon and taken back. o The British would release Americans who could prove their identity, but this process could take years while the sailed endured harsh conditions and the dangers of the Royal Navy o In 1806, responding to a French declaration of a complete naval blockade of Great Britain, the British demanded that neutral ships first carry their good to Britain to pay a transit duty before they could proceed to France o Jefferson’s Embargo Act dropped US exports form $108 million down to $22 million in 1808 o James Madison asked for a declaration of war on June 1, 1812 and it was passed on the 18th 

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o Atlantic Theater  Lasted until the spring of 1813  Britain was chiefly occupied in Europe against Napoleon and the United States invaded Canada and sent their fledgling navy against British ships  In July, U.S launched their first offensive against Canada  By August the U.S had lost control of Detroit and parts of the Michigan Territory o Second Theater  Early 1813-1814, the united states launched their second offensive against Canada and the Great Lakes. In this period, the Americans won their first success  By the end of 1813, Americans recaptured Detroit, shattered the Indian Confederacy, killed Tecumseh and eliminated the threat of the British  After the land campaign of 1812 failed to secure America’s war aids, Americans turned to the infant navy in 1813 o The Southern Stage  Concluded with Andrew Jackson’s January 1815 victory outside New Orleans  In 1814, Americans gained naval victories on Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, preventing a British land invasion of the United States and on the Chesapeake Bay at Fort McHenry in Baltimore  From a British war ship, Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner o American victory came after the united states and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814 but the Battle of New Orleans proved to be a psychological victory that boosted American morale and affected how the war has been remembered o New England Federalists  In 1814 wanted to end the war they proposed  Abolish the 3/5 Clause that afforded southern states larger representation in Congress  Limit the president to a single term in office  Demand 2/3 congressional majority rather than a simple majority for legislation that declared war  Admitted new states in the union  Regulate commerce  The next New England politician to assume the presidency was John Quincy Adams in 1824, he emerged not from within the Federalist fold but having served as secretary of state under President James Monroe, the leader of the Virginia Republicans o Treaty of Ghent  Essentially returned relations between the United States and Britain to their prewar status  New found nationalism o Monroe Doctrine

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1823 Declared that the united states considered its entire hemisphere, both North and South American off limits to new European colonization Advocated for a strong military and aggressive foreign policy

 Conclusion o Monroe’s election signaled the death knell of the Federalists...