Friday, April 5, 2013

Gathering storm- Monroe Doctrine enduring vision notes


The Gathering Storm, 1805-1812
•      Introduction
–     Jefferson’s second term as president was beset by problems caused by the breakdown of Republican Party unity and the renewal of the Napoleonic Wars
Challenges on the Home Front
•      Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s first-term VP, stirred up factionalism within the Republican party
•      Jefferson believed that Burr was the chief plotter in a conspiracy to separate the western states from the Union
–     The president had Burr arrested and tried for treason
–     At the trial, over which John Marshall presided, the jury found the charges “not proved”
•      Jefferson also was attacked by another faction of Republicans known as the Quids and led by John Randolph
–     They criticized the president’s handling of the Yazoo (present-day AL and MS) land scandal (GA legislature had sold the land at a fraction of its worth to land companies.  The land companies bribed the GA legislatures.) and other actions that they saw as compromising “republican virtue”

The Suppression of American Trade and Impressment
•      The British and French, at war with each other, forbade American ships from entering each other’s ports and trading with the other side.
•      Both powers seized U.S. ships
•      Actions of the British caused greater harm because they had the larger navy and their warships often hovered just off the U.S. coast
–     The British also removed sailors on American ships and forced (or pressed) them into service in the Royal Navy
•      When the British warship HMS Leopard attacked the American frigate USS Chesapeake near the VA coast and impressed 4 of its crewman
–     the country was outraged
–     Jefferson still sought to avoid war

The Embargo Act of 1807
•      Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass an embargo as a means of “peaceable coercion”
•      He hoped that U.S. refusal to export any goods or to buy any products from abroad would put sufficient economic pressure on GB and France to make them respect U.S. neutral rights
•      Unfortunately, the cutoff of trade did not hurt them enough to change their actions
•      It proved disastrous to the U.S. economy
–     Seamen were unemployed; merchants and farmers who depended on foreign sales were ruined
–     The impact was hardest on New England
•      An unintended consequence of the embargo was to encourage the transfer of capital into domestic manufacturing, a development Jefferson had initially opposed

James Madison and the Failure of “Peaceable Coercion”
•      The unpopularity of the embargo revived the Federalist Party
•      1808 election
–     Federalist=Charles C. Pinckney
–     Republican=James Madison
•      Federalist carried much of New England
•      Madison carried most of other sections of the country
•      Just before Jefferson left office, Congress repealed the embargo and replaced it with the weaker Non-Intercourse Act
–     This law worked no better than the previous one
•      For the next year and half, President Madison tried variations of the laws of peaceable coercion (Macon’s Bill No. 2)
–     all failed to change British and French behavior
•      By 1810, Madison faced increasing pressure from Republican congressional representatives from the South and West
–     Demanded a more aggressive policy toward Britain and France
•      “war hawks”
–     resented the insults to American honor
–     Blamed the interference in trade for the economic recession hitting their home states

Tecumseh and the Prophet
•      The war hawks wanted the British to get out of Canada
–     They believed that the British were arming and inciting the Indians on the American frontier
•      Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) were 2 Shawnees attempting to unite the tribes of Ohio and Indiana against white settlers
•      Initially they had no connections with the British
–     When William Henry Harrison attacked the Prophet’s town and won the battle at Tippecanoe, Tecumseh did join forces with England

Congress Votes for War
•      June 1, 1812, Madison asked Congress to declare war on England
•      The vote reflected party and sectional splits
–     Most of the “no” votes came from New England Federalists
–     The majority of Republicans passed the declaration
The War of 1812
•      Reasons U.S.A. declared war in 1812
–     Britain’s incitement of the Indians
–     The belief that continuing British restrictions on U.S. shipping was causing the recession in the South and West
–     Madison’s view that England intended to ruin America as a commercial rival

On to Canada
–     In 1812, American attempts to conquer Canada failed
•      The British took Detroit
•      American victories:
–     Oliver H. Perry’s victory on Lake Erie
–     William Henry Harrison’s at the Battle of the Thames

The British Offensive
•      In 1814, the British landed on the shores of Chesapeake Bay and marched to Washington
•      Captured Washington and burned it
•      After they failed to take Baltimore, they broke off the campaign

The Treaty of Ghent
•      U.S. and British commissioners met at Ghent, Belgium in Dec. 1814
•      The British demanded territory from the U.S.A.
–     The U.S.A. refused
–     British backed down
•      Dec. 24, 1814, they signed the treaty
•      The U.S.A. was restored to prewar status quo
•      Battle of New Orleans
–     Fought 2 weeks after the Treaty was signed
–     U.S. had a resounding victory
–     Had no bearing on the terms of the Treaty of Ghent
–     Provided an uplifting ending for Americans

The Hartford Convention
•      The unpopularity of the war in the Northwest contributed to the revival of the Federalists
•      In the election of 1812, antiwar Republicans and Federalists supported DeWitt Clinton for president against Madison
–     Madison won reelection (128 to 89)
–     Clinton carried most of the Northeast
•      American military losses intensified Federalist discontent
•      In Fall of 1814, Group of Federalists convened at Hartford, CT
•      Passed resolutions aimed at strengthening their region’s power within the Union
•      Their timing could not have been worse
–     Coincided with the end of the war and news of Jackson’s victory in New Orleans
•      Silenced Federalist criticism
•      Public disapproval of the Hartford Convention led to the rapid demise of the Federalist Party
•      In the election of 1816, James Monroe (the Republican nominee) scored an easy victory
•      In 1820, Monroe won reelection with every electoral vote but one
                             

The Awakening of American Nationalism
·         War of 1812 was 1st major war since revolution
o   Produced American symbols like White house
o   British attack on Fort McHenry prompted Francis Scott Key to compose Star Spangled Banner
o   Battle of New Orleans brought Andrew Jackson to politics
§  Made legends of American military prowess

Madison’s Nationalism and the Era of Good Feelings, 1817-1824
•      Era of Good Feelings was the name given to the postwar time period
–     Heightened spirit of nationalism
–     New political consensus
–     Federalist party disappeared
•      Republicans wanted to make the country more self-sufficient
–     Enacted many measures that the Federalists had earlier supported
–     Chartering of a new national bank
–     Protective tariff (help domestic manufacturing)
•      Sectional harmony started to break down because of the issue of slavery and its spread westward

John Marshall and the Supreme Court
•      Chief Justice Marshall wrote opinions that strengthened the power of the federal govt. at the expense of state sovereignty
–     Also gave more power to the court.
•      Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)
–     Forbade state interference with contracts
•      McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
–     Prohibited states from interfering with the exercise of federal powers

The Missouri Compromise, 1820-1821
•      National harmony crumbled in the 1819 controversy over Missouri’s application for statehood
•      For the 1st time, bitter sectional debate took place over the issue of the spread of slavery because the institution had become embroiled in political and economic issues dividing North and South
•      Admitting MO as a slave or free state would upset the balance of 11 free and 11 slave states that existed in 1819
•      1820 the Missouri Compromise was approved by Congress
1.) MO (Missouri) entered the Union as a slave state
2.) ME (Maine) entered as a free state
3.) In the remainder of the Louisiana Territory, slavery would be permitted only south of 36 30 latitude
•      The southern boundary of MO

Foreign Policy Under Monroe
•      Under the leadership of President James Monroe and his able secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, the U.S. achieved several foreign-policy successes
•      Good relations with the British were cemented through agreements
–     Rush-Bagot Treaty (1817)
•      British and U.S.A. agreed to eliminate their fleets from the Great Lakes
–     British-American Convention (1818)
•      Clarified the western border between Canada and the United States “as a line from the farthest northwest part of Lake of Woods to the 49th parallel and thence west to the Rocky Mountains.”
•      1819 Adams-Onis Treaty
–     Spain ceded East Florida to the U.S.A. and renounced its claims to West Florida

The Monroe Doctrine (December 1823)
•      Mostly written by John Quincy Adams
•      Purpose
–     to discourage European powers from helping Spain regain her lost colonies in the Americas
–     reserve the right of the U.S. to expand further in the Western Hemisphere
•      The Monroe Doctrine stated:
–     1.) the U.S.A. would not become involved in strictly European affairs
–     2.) the American continents were not available for further European colonization
–     3.) the U.S. would look upon any attempt by European countries to regain lost colonies or to interfere in the Americans as an “unfriendly act.”

Conclusion
•      In the election of 1800, the Republicans gained control of the federal govt.
•      President Jefferson in his first term cut govt. spending and taxes.
–     He also protested Federalist stacking of the judiciary
–     And he purchased Louisiana
•      Jefferson’s second term was beset by factionalism within his party and foreign difficulties as Britain and France were again at war (and violated U.S. neutral rights)
–     When the policy of “peaceable coercion” initiated by Jefferson and followed by Madison, failed, Congress declared war on Britain (War of 1812)
•      The War of 1812 caused sectional divisions
–     Federalist denunciation of the war at the Hartford Convention hastened the demise of the party
–     The remaining Republicans wanted to make America economically self-sufficient
•      They passed many of the nationalist measures once advocated by Hamiltonian Federalist
–     A new national bank; federally supported internal improvements; protective tariffs
•      Even U.S. foreign policy, especially the Monroe Doctrine, reflected assertive nationalism
•      National harmony shattered as Congress battled over the spread of slavery and Missouri’s admission as a slave state

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