10) Major Political and Economic Developments of the Early Republic

Question 1

Federalist Party

Answer 1

• Alexander Hamilton
• Mostly northern followers
• Favored strong central government
• Sympathetic to Great Britain and its interests
• Supported by merchants and ship owners in Northeast

Question 2

Democratic-Republican Party

Answer 2

• Formed by Thomas Jefferson
• Mostly southern followers
• Wanted a weak central government
• Supported stronger relations with France
• Supported by small farmers, craft workers, some wealthier landowners

Question 3

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Answer 3

• Written by Federalist Congress

- Made it a crime to voice criticism of the President or Congress

Question 4

Hamilton’s Policies / Beliefs

Answer 4

• Promote economic growth
• Strengthen new nation’s finances
• Wanted federal government to be stronger than state governments
• Wanted to establish national bank
• Loose interpretation of Constitution
• Implied powers (“necessary and proper”)
• Reasoned that if Congress had right to collect taxes, it could create bank
• Believed that what the Constitution does not forbid, it permits
• Favored business leaders
• Mistrusted common people

Question 5

Jefferson’s Policies / Beliefs

Answer 5

• Believed state governments should be stronger than federal government
• Opposed national bank
• Strict constructionist
• Believed that what the Constitution does not permit, it forbids
• Believed that the common farmers were the backbone of the nation
• Thought that the rise of big cities and manufacturing corrupted America

Question 6

Judiciary Act

Answer 6

• Set up the U.S. Supreme Court
• Provided for a Chief Justice and five associate justices
• Established federal district and circuit courts

Question 7

Marshall Court

Answer 7

• Chief Justice John Marshall
  1. Power of judicial review (right of SC to determine the constitutionality of laws passed by congress)
  2. SC could set aside laws based by state when the contradicted U.S. Constitution
  3. Right of SC to reverse state court decisions

Question 8

McCulloch v. Maryland

Answer 8

• Court struck down MD law taxing Baltimore branch of National Bank

Question 9

Key Tenets of Jeffersonian Democracy

Answer 9

1. Yeoman farmer best exemplifies virtue and independence
2. Federal government must not violate states rights
3. Freedom of speech and press are essential rights
4. Scope and activities of federal government should be reduced

Question 10

Washington’s Farewell Address

Answer 10

• Warmed Americans about dangers of foreign entanglements

Question 11

Louisiana Purchase (1803)

Answer 11

• Had its origins in Jefferson’s desire to acquire New Orleans to provide outlet for Western Crops
• Sold to Jefferson by Napoleon

Question 12

Causes of the War of 1812

Answer 12

1. British impressments on American seamen
2. British interference with American commerce (wanted to destroy their trade with France)
3. British aid to Native Americans on the frontier

Question 13

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

Answer 13

• Ended the War of 1812

Question 14

Missouri Compromise of 1820

Answer 14

• Main entered Union as free state
• Missouri entered Union as slave state
• Maintained balance between free and slave states
• Closed the remaining territory of the Louisiana Purchase above the 36/30 line to slavery

Question 15

Monroe Doctrine (1820)

Answer 15

• Monroe’s message to Congress
• Unilateral declaration of American independence from Europe in foreign policy
• Political system in Western hemisphere is different than Europe
• Warned European nations against further colonial venture in Western Hemisphere
• American continents no longer open to European colonization
• US would not interfere in European affairs

Question 16

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1789)

Answer 16

• Passed by the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
• Authored by Jefferson and Madison
• Argued that the federal government