| |
The Federalist Era: Nationalism...
Introduction
|
In the wake of the Revolution, the Unites States' government, as organized under the Articles of Confederation, found itself unable to effectively address serious challenges: interstate quarrels, foreign policy and trade conflicts with Spain and Britain, and severe economic dislocations. Under the Articles, the states and federal government had unsuccessfully tried, often in conflict with one another, to pay their Revolutionary War debts, establish credit, and control new territory in the West. To deal with these problems, state delegates met in Philadelphia in 1787 and drafted the Constitution. This document created a new federal system and specifically delineated its powers, balanced between an executive branch, a bicameral legislature and the states. Although support for the Constitution was not unanimous (Federalists backed it; the Anti-Federalists did not), the Constitution was ratified by the states, in many cases with the stipulation that a Bill of Rights be added. Congress added the Bill of Rights in its first session and established the government’s third branch, the judiciary. George Washington, the first president, had within his cabinet both Federalists and Anti-Federalists. At the outset the most important figure was a Federalist, the Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, at whose behest Congress approved the establishment of a national bank and the federal assumption of states’ war debts, both signal events in the development of the national government. Meanwhile, the federal government faced a tax revolt in the West and threats from the Spanish, French, and British. The Whiskey Rebellion was put down by federal troops with relatively little trouble at Pittsburgh; the Jay Treaty settled American differences with Britain for the moment, and the Pinckney Treaty did the same with Spain. Relations with France were rockier, but in the wake of the Citizen Genet and XYZ affairs, Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which pushed France to sign the Convention of 1800 and avoided war. At home, the Alien and Sedition Acts provoked James Madison and Thomas Jefferson to issue the Kentucky and Virginia Resolves respectively, which not only argued that those acts were unconstitutional, but also raised the idea that states could declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
|
