Chapter 7 - Hammering Out a Federal Government (1787-1820)

Question 1

Judiciary Act of 1789

Answer 1

An 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

Question 2

Bill of Rights

Answer 2

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, officially ratified by 1791. The amendments safeguarded fundamental personal rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and mandated legal procedures, such as trial by jury.

Question 3

Report on the Public Credit

Answer 3

Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 report recommended that the federal government should assume all state debts and fund the national debt - that is, offer interest on it rather than repaying it - at full value. Hamilton’s goal was to make the new country creditworthy, not debt-free.

Question 4

Bank of the United States (BUS)

Answer 4

A bank chartered in 1790 and jointly owned by private stockholders and the national government. Alexander Hamilton argued that the bank would provide stability to the specie-starved American economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills of credit.

Question 5

Report on Manufactures

Answer 5

A proposal by treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1791 called for the federal government to urge the expansion of American manufacturing while imposing tariffs on foreign imports.

Question 6

Proclamation of Neutrality

Answer 6

A proclamation issued by President Geroge Washington in 1793, allowing US citizens to trade with all belligerents in the war between France and Great Britain.

Question 7

French Revolution

Answer 7

A 1789 revolution in France was initially welcomed by most Americans because it abolished feudalism and established a constitutional monarchy but eventually came to seem too radical to many.

Question 8

Jacobins

Answer 8

A political faction in the French Revolution. Many Americans embraced the democratic ideology of the radical Jacobins and, like them, formed political clubs and began to address one another as “citizens.”

Question 9

Whiskey Rebellion

Answer 9

A 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to enforcement of an unpopular excise tax on whiskey.

Question 10

Jay’s Treaty

Answer 10

A 1795 treaty between the United States and Britain, negotiated by John Jay. The treaty accepted Britain’s right to stop neutral ships. In return, it allowed Americans to submit claims for illegal seizures and required the British to remove their troops and Indian agents from the Northwest Territory.

Question 11

Haitian Revolution

Answer 11

The 1791 conflict involving diverse Haitian participants and armies from three European countries. At its end, Haiti became a free, independent nation in which former slaves were citizens.

Question 12

XYZ Affair

Answer 12

A 1797 incident in which Americans 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.

Question 13

Naturalization Acts

Answer 13

A law passed in 1798 that limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system. This act lengthened the residency requirement for citizenship.

Question 14

Alien Act

Answer 14

A law passed in 1798 that limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system. This act authorized the deportation of foreigners.

Question 15

Sedition Act

Answer 15

A law passed in 1798 that limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system. This act prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the president or member of Congress.

Question 16

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Answer 16

Resolutions in 1798 condemning the Alien and Sedition Acts that were submitted to the federal government by the Virginia and Kentucky state legislature. The resolutions tested the idea that state legislatures could judge the constitutionality of federal laws and nullify them.

Question 17

Treaty of Greenville

Answer 17

A 1795 treaty between the United States and various Indian tribes in Ohio. American negotiators acknowledged Indian ownership of the land, and, in return for various payments, the Western Confederacy ceded most of Ohio to the United States.

Question 18

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 18

A Supreme Court case established the principle of judicial review in finding that parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 were in conflict with the Constitution. For the first time, the Supreme Court assumed legal authority to overrule acts of other branches of the government.

Question 19

Louisiana Purchase

Answer 19

The 1803 purchase of French territory west of the Mississippi River that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States and opened the way for future American expansion west. The purchase required President Thomas Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him by the Constitution.

Question 20

Embargo Act of 1807

Answer 20

An act of Congress that prohibited US ships from traveling to foreign ports and effectively banned overseas trade in an attempt to deter Britain from halting US ships at sea. The embargo caused grave hardships for Americans engaged in overseas commerce.

Question 21

Battle of Tippecanoe

Answer 21

An attack on Shawnee Indians at Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River in 1811 by American forced headed by William Henry Harrison, Indiana’s territorial governor. The governor’s troops traded heavy casualties with the confederacy’s warriors and then destroyed the holy village.

Question 22

Treaty of Ghent

Answer 22

The treaty signed on Christmas Eve 1814 ended the War of 1812. It retained the prewar borders of the United States.

Question 23

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 23

A Supreme Court case that asserted the dominance of national over state statutes.

Question 24

Adams-Onis Treaty

Answer 24

An 1819 treaty in which John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to cede the Florida territory to the United States. In return, the American government accepted Spain’s claim to Texas and agreed to a compromise on the western boundary for the state of Louisiana.

Question 25

Monroe Doctrine

Answer 25

The 1823 declaration by President James Monroe that the Western Hemisphere was closed to any further colonization or interference by European powers. In exchange, Monroe pledged that the United States would not become involved in European struggles.