Chapter 7 Flashcards
Bill of Rights
Def: the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which were ratified by 1791. The amendments safeguarded fundamental personal rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and mandated legal procedures, such as trial by jury.
Sig: by protecting individual citizens, the amendments eased antifederalists’ fears of an oppressive national government and secured the legitimacy of the Constitution. It also addressed the issue of federalism: the proper balance between the authority of the national and state governments.
Judiciary Act of 1789
Def: act that established a federal district court in each state and three circuit courts to hear appeals from the districts, with the Supreme Court having the final say.
Sig: specified that cases arising in state courts that involved federal laws could be appealed to the Supreme Court. This provision ensured that federal judges would have the final say on the meaning of the Constitution
Hamilton’s “Report on the Public Credit”
Def: Hamilton proposed that the national government further enhance public credit by assuming the war debts of the states.
Sig: outlined a coherent program of national mercantilism — government-assisted economic development
Bank of the United States
Def: A bank chartered in 1790 and jointly owned by private stockholders and the national government.
Sig: the bank would provide stability to the specie-starved American economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills of credit.
Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures”
Def: Hamilton sought revenue to pay the annual interest on the national debt. At his insistence, Congress imposed excise taxes, including a duty on whiskey distilled in the United States.
Sig: urged the expansion of american manufacturing and as american trade increased, customs revenue rose steadily and paid down the national debt.
Proclamation of Neutrality
Def: A proclamation issued by President George Washington in 1793, allowing U.S. citizens to trade with all belligerents in the war between France and Great Britain.
Sig: american merchant ships claimed a right to pass through Britain’s naval blockade of French ports, and american firms quickly took over the lucrative sugar trade between France and its West Indian islands
Whiskey Rebellion
Def: a 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to enforcement of an unpopular excise tax on whiskey.
Sig: the Whisky Rebellion; whiskey Rebels assailed the tax collectors who sent the farmers’ hardearned money to a distant government.
Jay’s Treaty
Def: a 1795 treaty between the United States and Britain, negotiated by John Jay. The treaty accepted Britain’s right to stop neutral ships.
Sig: it allowed Americans to submit claims for illegal seizures and required the British to remove their troops and Indian agents from the Northwest Territory.
XYZ Affair
Def: a 1797 incident in which American negotiators in France were rebuffed for refusing to pay a substantial bribe. The incident led the United States into an undeclared war that curtailed American trade with the French West Indies. (p. 223)
Sig:
Naturalization Act
Def: lengthened the residency requirement for american citizenship from five to fourteen years
Sig: limited individual rights
Alien and Sedition Acts
Def: Alien Act- authorized the deportation of foreigners
Sedition Act-prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the president 224 or members of Congress.
Sig: these 2 coercive laws limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system, which sparked a constitutional crisis.
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Def: set forth a states’ rights interpretation of the Constitution, asserting that the states had a “right to judge” the legitimacy of national laws, 1798
Sig: set forth because they declared the alien and Sedition acts to be “unauthoritative, void, and of no force.”
