AFP NOTES 1/29

Lec 2 Cont
Exemplarists vs Vindicationists

Pessimistic vs Optimistic


Lec 3- Origins and Founding Principles
Domestic Politics
no unified form of thought, very regionally based

Sectional Priorities
-New England and the South/West
-NE
-Free (regards to slaves)
-pro-improvements (roads, bridges, canals, railways)
-commercial
-British supporters
-Hamilton was proponent
-mainly federalist
-S/W
-Slave (regards to slaves)
-Strict construction (limit power of the government)
-agrarian
-supported the french
-Jefferson was proponent
-mainly republican

the fear that the northerners would sacrifice the mississippi was a huge part of constitutional debate of the time
-this may be the reason that a 2/3 majority in the senate is necessary for any treaties
south was huge proponents of westward expansion
-this leads to tension between the states
british admirals, for instance, were empowered to negotiate with individual states, not just the whole of the united states
new englanders were kind of pissed over the war of 1812, try to maintain their power base
-leads to the Hartford Convention of 1814- no new state can be admitted to the union without the approval of 2/3 of the states
US power is very spread out, population is dispersed, no real military power base

Washington Administration
1) Neutrality Proclamation
-april 22, 1793
-america would not be involved in the european war, nor could any american CITIZENS be involved in the european war
2) Citizen Genet
-ambassador from france
-landed in south carolina
-instead of going to the capital, he starts hiring privateers to invade spanish florida
-embarrassing to the US because it looked like america was gonna be drawn into the war despite the proclamation
-rather than getting recalled after a coup in france, he lived out his life peacefully afterwards in the US
3) Jay Treaty
-signed treaty in November 1794
-compensation to american ships
-england would vacate the 7 british forts in the americas
-in exchange, britain gets favored trading partner status
-several problems, though
-no compensation for slaves confiscated during the revolutionary war
-no agreement to stop impressment by the british
-no negotiation for navigation of the mississippi river
-submitted the treaty in june of 1795
-ratified in august 1795 by the bare minimum votes
4) Farewell Address
-september 1796
-warned against the 'insidious wiles' of foreigners
-in favor of temporary alliances during emergencies, but not permanent in any event
-US should be 'detached and distant'
-this was taken to heart- first permanent alliance made was NATO in 1949

Adams Administration
1) XYZ Affair
-april 1798
-american ambassadors to france were informed that they would get no access to the french government unless they paid bribes to individuals x, y, and z
-this led to a massive outbreak of public hatred for france, increase in armament and military
2) Quasi-war
-american and french warships started attacking each other and each other's warships
-british began moving in and offering to convoy ships and sold supplies and arms
-treaty of Mortefontaine- sep 30
-word of this didnt reach the us for a while, lost adams the election
-had the lag not have existed, the peace might have allowed adams to be re-elected
Jefferson Administration
1) War against Barbary
-decided he didnt want to keep paying ransom money to the barbary pirates, sent the fleet in to destroy them
-1805- william eaton advised jefferson and madison (sec of state) of internal squabbles in Tripoli
-if the US would support one faction in tripoli, the piracy could stop
-jefferson gave eaton the green light
-US was technically NOT AT WAR with tripoli at the time
-two important precedents here
-presidential authority to act militarily without a formal declaration of war in congress
-the 'just war' doctrine (now called 'regime change')
-america would maintain a presence there
2) Saint Domingue
-one of the richest parts of the caribbean
-accounted for a massive chunk of france's finances
-over 500,000 slaves in a place the size of maryland (compare to only 900,000 slaves in all of the US)
-slave revolt happened
-Toussaint L'Ouverture was the slave leader
-Adams supported toussaint
-jefferson flipped american policy 180 degrees
-jefferson even offered to help the french regain control of the slave territory, for ideological reasons
-ultimately jefferson flipped again, opposed the french for another reason
3) Louisiana Purchase
-all of a sudden, the french under napoleon owned the Louisiana territory
-napoleon saw Saint Domingue as a stepping stone to regaining the french empire in the western hemisphere
-napoleon's success rested on three things
-peace with UK
-friendship with US
-success in Saint Domingue
-none of these things ever happened
-Peace of Amiens (between france and uk) ended up failing
-french army in saint domingue was DECIMATED
-not just the resistance, also huge disease attrition
-US refused to help the french all of a sudden
-cut off supplies and finances to france
-at the same time, americans were negotiating to buy the louisiana purchase (but especially new orleans)
-they were offered all of the louisiana territory for $15 million
-napoleon figured he'd sell it to the US rather than go to war with it
4) France vs England
-Jefferson didn't recognize the only other successful revolting colony (Haiti) because of domestic interests
-he embargoed it
-biggest problem here was which side should jefferson support
-jefferson opted for neutrality
-figured he'd capitalize both sides
-jefferson himself, however, felt that britain was the biggest threat
-after the french fleet is annihilated by the british, the french just become incidental, he says that the US should support the french against the british