Jefferson's Presidency

Thomas Jefferson was sworn into office on March 4, 1801. He was the first Republican (not the same as present day Republican) president, and his victory proved that the leadership of the U.S. could switch hands peacefully (unlike many countries at the time).

Ten years before, Congress had decided to build a new capital at present day Washington, D.C., and when Jefferson took office there, the city was still being built. At first, many government officials complained about the horrendous status of the city (unfinished Capitol Building, lack of fancy social functions, and in the summer, there was uncomfortable heat, humidity, and danger of disease), but eventually, the city grew into a large, impressive city.

In Jefferson's new cabinet was James Madison (Secretary of State - Republican) and Albert Gallatin (Secretary of Treasury). They changed many of John Adams's policies - the most drastic of which was the decrease of military spending and taxes. However, Jefferson still kept some, including the National Bank. Another problem for Jefferson was pressure from each party - the Federalists were unhappy with his reductions and the Republicans wanted Jefferson to replace all Federalists in legislature with Republicans. Jefferson reacted by replacing some Federalists, but refused to replace all, and stuck with his new policies.

Jefferson was also worried about having all Federalist judges in the federal court system. They were all commissioned by John Adams, but several of appointees did not receive their commissions by the deadline. Jefferson took advantage of this by telling James Madison to withhold the commissions.

William Marbery was one of the appointees, and he took this case to the Supreme Court. This case is called Marbery vs. Madison, and the verdict of Chief Justice John Marshall was - Marbery had the right to judgeship, but that they couldn't force Madison to give it to him. This established the principle of judicial review, which means the Supreme Court can declare an act of Congress to be unconstitutional and without legal authority.

            In 1803, France and Britain were at war, and they both decided that to win, they needed to prevent neutral countries like the U.S. from supplying the enemy. Britain passed laws allowing the search and seizure of any boat sailing to France, and in retaliation, the French declared it illegal for other countries to trade with Britain. However, American merchant ships ignored these laws because of the desire for money, and the British navy captured hundreds of U.S. ships. Many American sailors were forced to serve on British warships. This policy is called impressments.

            Some Americans wanted war with Britain; others wanted an embargo (ban of trade) against Britain. President Jefferson passed the Embargo Act in 1807, which basically prohibited trade with all countries.  It was extremely ineffective, hit the economy and American merchants hard, and was heavily petitioned against. It was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act in 1809, which only prevented trade with Britain and France and stated that the U.S. would renew trade with the first country who stopped violation U.S. neutrality.

            There was also trouble on the Western Frontier. In the early 1800's American settlers were rushing into the Northwest Territory protected by the Treaty of Greenville. Britain wanted to contain the U.S. expansion and provided military aid to Indian nations that were angry over the terms of the treaty. Tecumseh - a Shawnee Indian chief - wanted to unite the American Indians in a confederation to oppose the settlers. In 1811, when Tecumseh was trying to get the support of the Creek Indians in the South, the Americans decided to take the chance to attack the Indian confederacy. On November 7, 1811, the Battle of Tippecanoe began and in the end, Tecumseh's village was burned to the ground and although he was safe, he lost the support he needed to lead a successful attack.

            Many Americans were sure the British were behind the Indian attacks. Some members of Congress (called War Hawks) wanted war with Britain. Others, including Federalists from New England, were more interested in renewing friendly business ties with Britain. Some thought war would accomplish nothing (like the coming war in Iraq), and some thought the U.S. wasn't ready to fight the powerful British army.

            President James Madison was faced with pressure from the War Hawks and difficulty with the trade war. He asked Congress to vote about the impending war, and the War Hawks won. This marked the first time Congress declared war, and the War of 1812 began.

American Culture

            The American public was fascinated with the Revolutionary era in the early to mid 1800's. There were a growing number of writers who wrote about the heroes of the Revolution encouraging American pride. Washington Irving gained national fame by writing satirical (humorous) works showing why Americans should learn from the past. He was also one of the first American writers to gain respect in Europe.

            Many authors at the time period decided to write historical fiction - including James Fenimore Cooper (who wrote The Spy and The Last of the Mohicans) and Catharine Maria Sedgwick (the most popular female author of her time).

            Inspired by the writers of the time, some painters drew landscapes showing the beauty of the American landscape and American history. The group of artists who painted landscapes was called the Hudson River school and was led by Thomas Cole - an immigrant from Britain in 1819. By the mid 1800s, artists began combining images of the landscape with the people who lived in it.

            Before the revolution, Americans had used the "Georgian" British style with flat roofs and square buildings. However, in the early 1800s there was a shift to more classical (Greek and Roman) designs with large columns. The Americans admired the ancients because they had many of the same ideals, but some, like Thomas Paine, thought the architecture should be more unique to show that the U.S. government was better than those of the ancient Romans. However, most Americans adopted the old style.

In 1819, Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a slave state (at the time there were 11 slave states and 11 free states). To protect the power of the free states, the House of Representatives (which was controlled by the North) passed an amendment accepting Missouri as a state only if all children of Missouri were set free at the age of 25 and the banning of more imported slaves. However, the Senate rejected the amendment. Because of this problem, Henry Clay, a representative from Kentucky proposed the Missouri Compromise, which stated that Missouri would be a slave state and Maine joined as a free state. The compromise also stated that slavery was prohibited in any new state above the southern border of Missouri (36 degrees, 30' N). Congress approved the compromise in 1820.

Henry Clay also believed that the key to preventing regional conflicts was to make a national economy that linked everyone together. Thus, he supported the creation of the charter Second National Bank of the United States and suggested a protective tariff to support American industries. He wanted to use the proceeds for internal improvements like better roads and canals. This plan became known as the American System. Congress approved the protective tariff, but the use of the proceeds was still debated because some representatives believed that the Constitution did not authorize the use that Clay had proposed.

Despite the federal debate, state governments and private citizens were investing in transportation improvements. In the early 1800s roads were made of dirt, which made travel rough. Soon, paved roads called turnpikes became common in the U.S. The Cumberland Road (or National Pike) was the first federal road project, and ran from Cumberland, Maryland to a town called Wheeling on the Ohio River. Construction began in 1815, halted for a while after an economic crisis in 1819, and kept growing until it reached Vandalia, Illinois in 1850. Many waterways were also built in the early 1800s including the Erie Canal, which ran from Buffalo to Albany, NY. It connected the Great Lakes region to the nation's largest port city.

            The election of 1824 involved 5 Republican candidates, including Andrew Jackson and former secretary of state John Quincy Adams.  Jackson had gotten the popular vote, but tied with Adams in electoral votes, so the decision went to the House of Representatives. John Adams won, and he was suspected of a "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay. He became very unpopular, and proposed federal funding of scientific research and education, but failed.  

In 1837, Samuel Morse began putting some parts together in a machine without knowing the principle. This machine was the telegraph, which uses pulses of electric current through wire to transmit messages using a special alphabet (using dots and dashes) called the Morse code. This new system of communications greatly increased the speed at which messages could travel across long distances. By 1854, over 15,000 miles of telegraph cable connected throughout the U.S. The telegraph grew side by side with the railroad - with lines alongside railroad tracks, and telegraph offices in train stations.

                Also, more factory owners began using steam to power their machines instead of water where there was no suitable source of water. This allowed factories to be run closer to cities, reducing shipping costs and the price of labor. Machines were being applied to almost every trade, including Eli Whitney's dream of interchangeable parts.

                In the 1830s, new technology benefited the farming industry as well. Blacksmith John Deere invented a steel plow in 1837 that sliced through dirt better than the old iron plows and made planting wheat easier. At about the same time, Cyrus McCormick, began developing a mechanical reaper for the time-consuming task of harvesting the wheat.  Despite many difficulties, he persisted, and eventually succeeded in building a large factory in Chicago, Illinois to mass-produce his new, efficient machine, making him a millionaire. These new inventions made it cheaper and faster for midwestern farmers.

The Growth of Cotton

Since 1612, agriculture was a very important part of the Southern culture and economy. To the plantation owners, successfully growing crops using special techniques was an art form to be passed down through the family, and farmers competed and prided themselves in their cash crops (crops grown for the purpose of earning money such as cotton, indigo, rice, and tobacco). However, after the Revolutionary War, these major cash crops in the South fell drastically in price. Some slaves were freed because of the ideals of liberty that were fought for during the war, but also because slaves were mainly needed for growing the cash crops that had become less lucrative.

The Southerners realized that growing their old cash crops wouldnt be worth it and turned their attention to growing cotton. The reason? They saw the growing textile industries in the North and Britain and realized that in order to make cloth, the factories needed raw cotton. At first, it was difficult to keep up with the demand because growing and processing the crop is difficult. There are three types of cotton: one from China that was yellow, one called long-staple or black-seed, and one called short-staple or green-seed cotton. The short-staple cotton grew the best in the South, but the short white fibers were hard to remove from the seed. To solve this problem, Eli Whitney (from the North) invented the cotton gin in 1793. It's basically a cylinder with rows of wire teeth inside that is spun with a crank to pull the fibers away from the seeds. This machine gave life again to the Southern economy, and planters (large-scale farmers who owned more than 20 slaves) began processing tons of cotton quickly. Cotton was an auspicious cash crop because it was easy to grow, did not "expire" over time (like food crops), and was lighter (made transportation cheaper).

There was a sudden "cotton boom," and short-staple cotton, which could be grown virtually anywhere in the South, basically was. The South became known as the cotton belt. In the 1830s, diseases wiped out entire fields of cotton in many areas. To stop the disease, Dr. Rush Nutt crossbred the short-staple cotton with some Mexican cotton. These experimentations promoted scientific agriculture (using science to improve crop production). The cotton belt produced more than 2/3 of all cotton grown in the U.S., and Southern cotton comprised more than half of all U.S. exports by 1860.

Slavery also grew in the South at this time because growing cotton required many workers in the field. Although the importation of slaves became illegal in 1808, the internal slave trade thrived.

The Southern Economy

Many foreign countries bought the South's cotton and other staple products, but Great Britain was the South's main foreign trading partner. This boom in trade led to the growth of major port cities like Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans. The South also provided tons of cotton for the Northern textile industry, which led northern port cities like New York to trade cotton. Crop dealers (called factors) in the Southern port cities were middlemen between the planters and their buyers, and small farmers sold to merchants who then sold the goods. To get the cotton to the factors and merchants in the port cities, farmers living near rivers used flat boats and (when it was invented) steamboats. For those farmers less fortunate (no nearby rivers), there were very few roads and/or canals in the South for transportation.

But not all southern people supported cotton. They were worried about the dependence on cotton. A major problem was that cotton sucked nutrients quickly out of soil, so the cotton was wearing out the soil. The omnipresence of cotton also made the South rely upon foreign manufactured products. Thus, some southern farmers grew food crops - corn was still the most important southern food crop (in the late 1830s three of the nation's top corn-growing states were in the South); sweet potatoes, wheat, rice, and sugar cane were also common in the South. Maryland and Virginia led the wheat production and high demand of flour in Britain increased the price, and Louisiana was the capital of the U.S. sugar industry. Tobacco, hemp, and flax were some crops that aren't food that were also grown in the South.

Despite the majority of southerners being farmers, there were some factories built in the South. Mainly in Tennessee and Kentucky, rope and sackcloth industries provided for the needs of farmers. There, horses and mules were also raised on the hearty bluegrass that grew there. The lumber industry also served farmers in the South (the first sawmill using cutting machines was built in 1803 in Louisiana). Most of the first factories in the South were used for processing crops, but mechanization didn't spread quickly in the region as it did in the North. One major factory built in the South was Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, which grew to become one of the most productive iron works in the nation in 1860.

Southern Society

Although we've been talking so much about planters (farmers with large plantations and many slaves), they really only accounted for 1/3 of the white population in the South. Some of these planters had beautiful mansions to flaunt their wealth, while others had plain, wooden houses to save money for buying new land and slaves. The male planters raised the crops while their wives took care of household (raising children, managing household slaves, social events, etc.). Planter families often arranged the marriages of the children to gain better status economically or politically.

                Most white southerners were small farmers called yeomen (farmers who owned small plots of land). They took great pride in their work, and the few who were able to earn enough money to buy slaves worked side by side with them. Besides the yeomen and the planters, there were a few very poor whites that did not own land and did odd jobs for money.

                Religion was a very important aspect of the white southern culture in the 1800s because the church was usually the only place neighbors could meet (the houses were so far apart). Women played important volunteer roles in the southern church. An interesting fact is that the southerners believed that God created whites to rule over others to justify slavery. Southern writers at the time romanticized the southern lifestyle (mainly on plantations) in their books.

                Despite the abundance of plantations, there were some cities in the South, and in many ways they were very much like those in the North. Although they were closely tied to plantations, there were other businesses because the urban leaders wanted to impress their international visitors. Many of the businesses in the cities were also run by slaves.

                Surprisingly enough, more than 50% of all free African-Americans were in the South by 1860. They worked in cities as skilled artisans or sold out their services on plantations, and a few became very successful. However, free African-Americans were heavily discriminated against - they couldn't vote, states passed laws against them, and in some places, a white person was needed for the African American to do business.

Slaves in the South

                Slaves were always pushed to do as much work as possible by their masters. On small farms, slaves did a wide variety of jobs, whereas on large plantations, slaves were assign a specific task and were overseen by other slaves. Wmoen, children over ten, and men did the same work, and everyone worked oin the same task from dawn to dusk in any weather. Some slaves worked in the house (cooks, nurses, butlers) and received better food and clothing, but had to work more hours a day. Some slaves did skilled jobs on larger plantations.

                Slaves were viewed as property by their masters - they were bought, used, and sold to maximize profits. Some free African-Americans in the North were kidnapped and sold in the South just to gain more money. Most slaves lived in dirt-floor cabins with leaky roofs and had clothes to match. Slaves struggled to try to make the conditions better by using discarded fabric to "spruce up" their clothes and making gardens to grow extra food. Most slaveholders used punishment to encourage obedience, and southern communities passed laws restricting slaves to discourage escape.

                Despite the harsh, environment, slaves found comfort in their culture. Most important to a slave was his family and heritage. Slave parents told stories handed down from the generations of Africa and folktales (stories with morals) to tell how to survive under slavery. Religion was also very important to slaves and by the early1800s many slaves were Protestant, and although white ministers tried to justify slavery through God, the slaves saw themselves as the chosen people (like the Jews). Some slaves sang spirituals, or emotional Christian songs that were a blend of European and African traditions.

                Slaves always tried to stop their masters from controlling them completely. Sometimes they worked slower to protest, and other times they even left - although, usually not permanently because it was difficult to make the long journey to the North. Very rarely, there were violent slave revolts. One of the most famous was Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, in which 60 white people were killed.