President Washington wanted to remain neutral in the ongoing war between France and Britain but staying out of this conflict was not easy
George Washington was inaugurated in 1789 shortly after the French revolution began in Europe.
Radicals
Those who his political views and practices are considered extreme These French radicals executed thousands of people including the king and queen.
Many federalists did not agree with the radicals
The federal lists were shocked by the violence and chaos and opposed the French revolutionaries
The Republicans supported the revolutionaries
Because they seemed to be fighting for liberty
President Washington found himself in a difficult position when France declared war on Britain
The treaty of 1778 with France require the United States to help defend Francis colonies in the Caribbean
Washington wanted to remain neutral
In 1793 Washington to clear the United States to be friendly and impartial toward both warring parties
Jay's Treaty and Pinkneys treaty
Congress was taken to the brink of war in 1794 because the British still occupied forts in American territories and worse inciting native Americans to attack Western settlers
Johnjay was sent to Britton to seek a solution to avoid war
Britain agreed to a treaty but Jay was a forced to agree that Britton had the right to seize cargoes bound for French ports. The British then agreed to give up their forts on American territory and granted the United States most favored nation status
Most favored nation
A policy between two countries ensuring fair trade policies
Spain was afraid that the United States would join Britain and seize all of their North American holdings
Spain offered to negotiate all outstanding issues with United States. In 1795 the Spanish signed Pinkneys treaty granting United States the right to navigate the Mississippi and deposit goods in New Orleans
Americans were trying to settle between the Appalachians and the mississippi river. little turtle led the native american resistance.
General anthony wayne defeated the indians at the battle of fallen timbers in 1794.
1795 treaty of Greenville was signed by 12 indian nations
in 1795 the native americans agreed to give up part southern ohio and indiana in exchange for 9,500 dollars per year.
In 1796 george washington stepped down as president after serving two terms.
That year the U.S. held their first openly contested election with john adams on the federalist side and Thomas jefferson on the democratic-republican side.
The French were enraged by Jay's Treaty so they started to seize goods off of American ships. This made many Federalists angry so they called for war. Adams sent Charles Pickney elbridge Jerry and John Marshall to Paris to negotiate with the French government.
After a long wait the French government came to the Americans and asked for a bribe of $250,000 and a loan of $12 million. After that John Marshall recalled the bribe.
When Pres. Adams informed Congress about this he referred to the French agents as X Y and Z people referred to this as the XYZ affair.
Angry Americans called for war. In June 1798 Congress suspended trade with france. They were fighting a war at Sea known as the quasi-war. Eventually the two countries signed the convention of 1800 which released the US from jay's Treaty of 1778. This brought the quasi-war to an end
At the height of public anger at france in 1798, the Federalists pushed for lawsthe Federalists pushed for laws through Congress.
The first three laws working aliens. The next two laws gave the president the power to deport without trial any alien seemed dangerous to the nation
Alien
A person living in an country who is not a citizen of that country
Sedition
Incitement to rebellion
Incident in 98 in 1799 the Republican controlled legislators of the Republican controlled legislators of Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions anonymously written by Jefferson and Madison
These criticized the alien and sedition acts. The Virginia resolutions int The Virginia resolutions introduced the theory of interposition
Interposition
Theory that a state should be able to intervene between federal government and the people to stop an illegal action
Nullification
Theory that states have the right to declare a federal law invalid
John Adams faced a tough battle for reelection in 1800
Is alien and sedition acts angered many people
The election revealed flaw in the system for selecting the president
The Constitution didn't let citizens choose presidents directly each state chooses collectors, the same number as it has senators and representatives. This group is known as electoral college which will vote for the president
The Republicans needed to avoid a tie between Jefferson and Burr. The Republicans intended for one electorate surf rain from voting for Burr but when the votes recounted, Jefferson and Burr each had 73
Since no candidate had a majority the Federalist controlled House of Representatives had to choose a president
Many Federalists despised Thomas Jefferson
Alexander Hamilton convinced his followers to support Jefferson
In February 1801, one Federalist cast a blank ballot so that Jefferson received more votes then burr and became president.
This election of 1800 was an important turning point in American history because at the time the Federalists controlled the army the presidency and Congress they could've refused to step down and overthrown the Constitution
Why was the election of 1800 an important turning point in American history?
This election of 1800 was an important turning point in American history because at the time the Federalists controlled the army the presidency and Congress they could've refused to step down and overthrown the Constitution. This shows that the Federalists demonstrated that power in the US be peacfully transferred despite strong disagreements between the parties.
