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States with the right to establish branches in different parts of the country. He was the first to use the version of an “infant industry” argument: that temporary protection of new firms can help foster the development of competitive national industries. These measuresplacing the credit of the federal government on a firm foundation and giving it all the revenues it needed - encouraged commerce and industry, and created a solid class of businessmen who stood firmly behind the national government.

The Anti-federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, advocated states’ rights and spoke for the rural and southern interests. Jefferson advocated a decentralized agrarian republic, free from a government tyranny. Hamilton feared anarchy and thought in terms of order; Jefferson feared tyranny and thought in terms of freedom. The United States needed both influences. It was the country’s good fortune that it had both men and could, in time, fuse and reconcile their philosophies. One clash between them, which occurred shortly after Jefferson took office as secretary of state, led to a new and profoundly important interpretation of the Constitution. Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank Jefferson objected, arguing that the Constitution expressly enumerates all the powers belonging to the federal government. Nowhere was it empowered to establish a bank. Hamilton contended that the Constitution authorized the national government to levy and collect taxes, pay debts and borrow money, and a national bank would materially help in performing these functions efficiently. Congress, therefore, was entitled, to create such a bank. Washington and the Congress accepted Hamilton’s view - and an important precedent for an expansive interpretation of the federal government’s authority was made. Finally the Federalists and DemocraticRepublicans became the first two political parties in the U.S.A.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Antipathy toward a strong central government was only one concern among those opposed to the Constitution. Of equal concern to many was the fear that the Constitution did not protect individual rights and freedoms sufficiently. When the first Congress convened in New York City in 1789, the calls for amendments protecting individual rights were virtually unanimous. Congress adopted such amendments. Collectively they are known as the Bill of Rights. Among their provisions: freedom of speech, press, religion, and the right to assemble peacefully, protest and demand changes; protection against unreasonable searches, seizures of property and arrest; due process of law in all criminal cases; right to fair and speedy trial; protection against cruel and unusual punishment; and provision that the people retain additional rights not listed in the Constitution. Ten Amendments were added to the Constitution. These are called the Bill

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of Rights and guarantee of individual rights. Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, only 16(!) more amendments have been added to the Constitution. Although a number of the subsequent amendments revised the federal government’s structure and operations, most followed the precedent established by the Bill of Rights and expanded individual rights and freedoms.

Questions for Discussion

1. How ling did the War for Independence last? 2. Who helped the revolutionists? 3. How did the Revolutionary War end? 4. Where did the Convention take place? 5. What organization was set up to work out the laws in a newly-born nation? 6. What system was worked out for adding new states to the Confederation? 7. What kind of government did the delegates want to set up: powerful or effective? 8.What powers was it essential to reconcile? Why? 9. What branches of the US government did the Convention set up? How were these branches to be checked? 10. When was the Constitution signed? 11. What was invented to protect the Constitution from hasty alteration? 12. What is the Bill of Rights?

Agree or disagree.

1.Alexander Hamilton is the Father of the US Constitution.

2.The Federalists expressed the interests of business and developing industries.

3.The Anti-federalists led by Jefferson advocated strong government.

4.The Federalists feared anarchy and thought in terms of freedom.

5.Jefferson feared freedom and thought in terms of order.

6.National bank was designed by Jefferson.

7.Rural interests were represented by Jefferson.

8.Jefferson was strongly against Hamilton’s bill to establish a national bank because the Constitution forbade it.

9.Hamilton claimed that the Constitution was entitled to create such a bank.

10. Washington declined Hamilton’s view.

Consider the Issue

1.Amendments are called that because they fix mistakes or correct omissions. Does it mean that they themselves can be changed?

2.Is the Constitution meant to be written in stone? Doesn’t it need to be “improved” and “fixed” to be relevant and keep up with time ?

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Chapter 5 Founding Fathers

Libraries’ worth of books have been penned about each of these men of genius whose extraordinary achievements and revolutionary ideas are virtually impossible to overestimate. They weren’t gods, they were men. They had flaws. And they, believe it or not, had slaves! Yes, they were accomplished: they discovered electricity, invented stoves, efficient printing presses, and swivel chair! Composing the Declaration of

Independence was hard work. God didn’t dictate it for them. Well, their purpose was to create a living document based on principles that transcended the times they lived in. And they did it. They created a blueprint for a system that would endure. They were imperfect. It was imperfect. And they expect their descendents to work as hard as they did on keep-ing what they thought was a profoundly excellent form of government supple, evolving and relevant.

Who were these upstarts, the Founding Fathers who dared challenge the might and majesty of Great Britain and Destiny itself?

George Washington (1732 – 1799)

Term : 1789-1797

Party : Federalist

Boy and soldier, in peace or strife, He loved America all his life!

From “Washington” by Nancy Turner

One of the last acts of the Congress of Confederation was to arrange for the first presidential election, setting March 4, 1789, as the date that the new government would come into being. One name was on everyone’s lips for the new chief of state – George Washington. Washington’s fidelity to the Revolution inspired others – and he was unanimously chosen president on April, 30, 1789. That time the nation’s capital was New York, but in 1790, the capital was moved to Philadelphia. In words spoken by every president since, Washington pledged to execute the duties of the presidency faithfully and, to the best of his ability, to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Until the judiciary could be established, laws could not be enforced. The Army was small and poorly equipped. Navy had ceased to exist. When Washington took office, the new Constitution enjoyed neither tradition nor the full backing of organized public opinion. Moreover, the new government had to create its own machinery.

Congress created the departments of State and Treasury, with Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton as their respective secretaries. Simultaneously, the Congress established

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the federal judiciary, establishing a Supreme Court. Secretary of war (now Secretary of Defense) and an attorney general (now Head of Federal Department of Justice) were also appointed. And since Washington preferred to make decisions only after consulting those men whose judgment he valued, the presidential Cabinet came into existence, consisting of the heads of all the departments that Congress might to create. Washington included in his first cabinet pair of political polar opposites Hamilton (who wanted to centralize power) as Treasury secretary and Jefferson (who wanted to defuse it) as Secretary of State. In realms of power, yes men (and women) are inevitable. The greatest presidents actively seek out diverse points of view. Meanwhile, the country was growing steadily and immigration from Europe was increasing. Many Americans were moving westward to settle in the wilderness. Ohio; Kentucky and Tennessee lay beyond the western boundary of the U.S.A - the Appalachian Mountains – and were Indians’. The first settlers in new areas, people who opened the way west for others were called pioneers.

The Indians fought these invaders with vengeance. Encouraged by the French or the British, who were trying to retain control of the lands, Indians attacked frontier settlements. The white settlers struck back, massacring entire Indian villages. Indian warfare quickly became a part of frontier life. It was necessary to regulate the settling of the new frontier.

Although many items were still homemade, the industrial Revolution was dawning in America. In this critical juncture in the country’s growth, Washington’s wise leadership was crucial. He organized a national government, developed policies for settlement of territories, previously held by Britain and Spain. British troops still occupied the West, British navy was seizing American ships, he stabilized the northwestern frontier and oversaw the admission of three new states: Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792) and Tennessee (1796).

In 1793, U.S. had to sign the British-American Treaty to secure withdrawal of British soldiers from western forts. But under the Treaty of Alliance of 1778, U.S. and France were perpetual allies, and America was obliged to help France in war against Britain and other European countries. The Treaty of 1793 touched off a stormy disagreement over foreign policy between the Anti-federalists, now called Republicans, and the Federalists favored a pro-British policy because the commercial interests they represented profited from trade with Britain. The Republicans, by contrast, favored France and regarded the Treaty too favorable to Britain. After a long and heated debate, the Senate ratified the Treaty. The cornerstones of Washington’s foreign policy were to preserve peace, to give America time to recover from its wounds and to permit the slow work of national integration to continue.

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Washington retired in 1797, firmly declining to serve for more than eight years as the nation’s head. He died from the cold he had caught when riding his horse in a snowy weather. The news of his death was received with sorrow both in America and Europe. He was one of the United States great heroes. Americans celebrated Washington’s birthday while he was still alive. They were grateful to “the Father of His Country”, a strong leader who had proved that democracy was a feasible way to govern the growing country.

There are a lot of stories and legends about that remarkable personality which represent him as a highly honest man. George Washington was the only president to be elected unanimously. He is the only president to have a state named after him. The nation’s capital,

Washington, D.C., also has his name. There are cities, streets, parks, schools, bridges named after him and another great American president Lincoln; both have famous memorials in Washington, D.C., their portraits are on postage stamps, bills, coins.

Washington’s home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, has been made into a museum. Cherry pie is a traditional food for Washington’s birthday (February 22nd).

In the 1970s, Congress declared that in order to honor all past presidents of the United States, a single holiday, to be called Presidents’ Day, would be observed on the third Monday in February, as the birthday of Abraham Lincoln comes on the same month, February 12.

John Adams (1735 – 1826)

Term : 1797 – 1801

Party : Federalist

Washington’s vice-president, John Adams of Massachusetts, was elected as the nation’s head. His family was the first presidential party to live in Washington, D.C., where the nation’s capital was moved in1800. The White House was unfinished when John and his wife became residents.

Even before he entered the presidency, John Adams of Massachusetts had quarreled with Hamilton and thus was handicapped by the divided government and party. These domestic difficulties were compounded by international complications: in1798, France broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, so the war seemed inevitable. American hostility to France had risen to an exciting pitch and it led Congress to pass a number of unpopular Acts targeted at French and Irish immigrants suspected of supporting the Republicans. The Acts were met with resistance.

A Navy Department was first established during Adams’ term. Adams is sometimes called the “Father of the United States Navy.” His son, John Quincy Adams, was the USA 6th president who after serving as President, was elected to Congress and served for 17 years. He helped to establish the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

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Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)

Term: 1801 – 1809

Party: Democratic-Republican

Under Washington and Adams, the Federalists had established a strong government but sometimes failing to honor the principle that the American government must be responsible to the will of the people they had followed polices that alienated large groups of people. For example, they had enacted an act on houses, land and slaves affecting every property owner in the country.

Jefferson gathered behind him a great mass of small farmers, shopkeepers and other workers. In the election of 1800, Jefferson enjoyed extraordinary favor because of his appeal to American idealism. In his inaugural address, the first such speech in the new capital of Washington, D.C. (on December 1, 1801, the capital moved from Philadelphia), he promised “a wise and frugal government” to preserve order among the inhabitants but would “leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry, and improvement.” By the end of his second term, the national debt was much reduced, more humane laws for debtors and criminals were passed.

By that time, France had ceded to Spain a great tract called Louisiana - the territory west of the Mississippi River, with the port of New Orleans near its mouth. But shortly after Jefferson became president, Napoleon took possession of Louisiana. He did not want Britain to get hold of Louisiana and decided to sell it to America. In 1803, Ohio entered the Union as the 17th state and in the same year, the U.S.A. obtained the “Louisiana Purchase” for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase would doubled the US land areathe new lands stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountainsthe area was almost the size of the original 13 colonies. The nation had gained a sweep of rich plains, high mountains, forests and river systems that would become the nation’s heartlandand one of the world’s great granaries.

As Jefferson began his second term in 1805, he declared America neutrality during the struggle between Great Britain and France. By 1807, Britain had strengthened her navy and controlled the sea lanes. Jefferson issued a proclamation ordering British warships to leave U.S. territorial waters. He decided to rely on economic pressure to force the British to back down. Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding all foreign commerce. In a single year, American exports fell to one-fifth of their former volume. Shipping interests were almost ruined by the measure, and discontent rose in New York and New England. Agricultural interests were suffering heavily, prices dropped as the Southern and Western farmers could not export their surplus grain, cotton meat and

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tobacco. The grumbling at home increasing, Jefferson signed the act permitting commerce with all countries but Britain or France and their dependencies.

Jefferson had a reputation of one of the best-educated people of that time. He is known to have created the American system of money –in 1785 dollar was adopted as

America’s currency. A self-taught architect, he designed the most beautiful houses in the world. He was also interested in mechanical engineering. He was a scientist, an inventor and enjoyed recreational paleontology. He is known as a botanist hobbyist and a fine musician. Jefferson’s greatest achievement as President was in expanding the area of the United States westward. In 1809, when his second term was over, he retired to his estate, but to his last days he kept in touch with public affairs through a large correspondence. He is remembered as the “Father of the Declaration of Independence.” He died on July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

James Madison (1751 – 1836)

Term: 1809 – 1817

Party: Democratic-Republican

James Madison is recognized as the “Father of the Constitution” and sponsor of the Bill of Rights. He is also known as guarantor of church-state separation.

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson as president. Relations with Great Britain grew worse, and the two countries moved rapidly toward war: the British sailors had impressed American citizens; northwestern settlers had suffered from attacks by Indians incited allegedly by British agents in Canada. The desire to conquer Canada coupled with deep resentment over impressments of the British generated war fervor, and in 1812 the United States declared war on Britain.

The British marched from the South and in 1814 made a surprise attack on Washington. The Capitol Building was burning, the President’s residence would be next. Dolly Madison had only time to rescue her husband’s papers and a portrait of George

Washington. When the British arrived, they set fire to the President’s house. When the war was over, the house was repaired and repainted white to cover the burned places. It has remained the White House ever since.

The war had no clear winner. But the United States had shown that it could defend itself on land and sea. In 1815, the British were defeated in the Battle of New Orleans, and the peace treaty was signed.

No invaders have attacked America since 1812. The last time the USA and Britain threatened to go to war against each other was in 1895 when America vowed to “by every means resist Britain’s adventuring in the Caribbean.” Both countries calmed

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down when Britain realized it faced a bigger threat –Germany. British and American leaders saw that their peoples were better served as partners than rivals. The partnership has been a good thing for much of the rest world. The spread of English-speaking hegemony was at times ruthless and self indulgent. But America and Great Britain shared values and institutions that helped them to at once prosper and foster democracy, freedom and the rule of law. In his speech at Harvard, 1943, Winston Churchill said: “Law, language, literature – these are considerable factors. Common conceptions of what is right and decent, a marked regard for fair play, especially to the weak and poor, a stern sentiment of impartial justice, and above all a love of personal freedom… these are the common Conceptions on both sides of the ocean among the English-speaking peoples.”

Allied throughout the 20th century, the two nations fielded the most powerful militaries in the world. Britain which required its Navy to be the largest in the 19th century, bequeathed rule of the seas to America before the mid-20th century. “The Englishspeaking peoples have been seriously threatened by force,...they rarely win the first battle, writes Roberts in his book “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples”, “but they equally rarely lose the subsequent war.” They have been saved time and again.

And this is no accident: liberal democracies breed men and women who, like Churchill and Roosevelt, can possess powerful, even hubristic sense of self, yet also the humility to know the lead governments of law, not men.

Questions for Discussion

1. Which of the presidents was elected unanimously? 2. What difficulties did George

Washington face when he took office? 3. What were Washington’s strengths? 4. Why was it necessary to regulate the settling of the new frontier? 5. What international complications were the domestic difficulties compounded by? 6. Which polices caused alienation of large groups of people and why? 7. What did Jefferson’s “wise and frugal government” involve? 8. What were the assets of his policy? 9. What is the Louisiana

Purchase? 10. Why did economic pressure on Britain fail? 11. What generated war fervor? 12. Why did many Americans favor conquest of Canada? 13. When did war on Britain begin? 14. Was Washington, D.C. attacked by British? 15. When did the war end? 16. The war had no clear winner, did it? 17. How did the President’s residence get its name? 18. How was the British-American partnership born? 19. Are Americans and British rivals rather than partners at present? 20. Which of the presidents created the American system of money?

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Consider the Issue

The Founding Fathers boasted relatively impressive credentials. But would their genius hold up against standards of today’s office-seekers?

Chapter 6. Expanding the Nation

In 1816, Indiana, the 19th state, entered the Union as a nonslave state; in 1817, Mississippi, as a slave state, became the 20th state of the Union.

The mountains, plains and deserts of the Southwest had been controlled by Spain for almost 300 year, but very few Spaniards lived there; American Indian had been living there for 10,000years, but their settlements were far apart. The history of the Westward Expansion includes stories of fur trappers, explorers and pioneers. Many saw the west as a corrective to the newly urbanizing, industrializing society of the East. The West offered an opportunity for a new beginning. The phrase “GO WEST, YOUNG MAN” expressed the dream which Americans held for independence and prosperity.

Pioneers began moving westward and southwest to the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Americans went to trade, others went to settle. The different ways of dealing with the

“Indian problem” boiled down to this: The Indian had to be either assimilated or removed farther west to make room for the European civilization which the Americans felt was destined to rule the continent. And so, in 1830, the U.S. passed the Indian Removal Act. All Indians in the East would be removed to lands west of the Mississippi River. Some whites saw it a way to get more land from the Indians. Pressure for removal mounted. The peaceful Indians were removed by force from their homes and were forced to march to the land in what is now the state of Oklahoma. In all, some thousand Indians lost their lives in the course of this removal. This shameful moment in American history has come to be called “The Trail of Tears”.

Americans also wanted to settle Florida, which was a colony of Spain. In the 1800s Florida was the home of many run-away slaves from Georgia the Indians driven out of Georgia by settlers. Farmers and plantation owners wanted to stop slaves from escaping to Florida and to put an end to raids by the angry Indians. In 1818, Spanish forts were captured by the American army and brought all of eastern Florida under the control of the US. Soon Spain realized it could not defend its territory, so in 1819 it sold all of Florida to the U.S.A. for 5 million dollars, and in 1821 formally ceded Florida to the U.S.A. Since 1818 to 1845, Illinois Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Texas entered the Union.

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TO THE PACIFIC

Texas In the early 1800s, Texas was a Mexican territory. In 18121 Mexico won its independence from Spain and Santa Fe became a Mexican city. The Mexicans allowed Americans to trade in Santa Fe. Americans were amazed by the beauty of the city and its friendly people who were cultured and educated. The new Mexican government welcomed Americans to settle in Mexico on condition that they would become Mexican citizens and obey the local laws. By the 1830s, the newcomers outnumbered the locals. The growing American population (Texans) brought a new culture, new religions and a new language with them. Mexico did not al low slavery. Many Americans were slaveowners and did not want to obey Mexican laws. In 1835, the trouble between Texans and the Mexican government turned into war resulted in Texas’ declaring its independence of Mexico (1836). Sam Houston was elected the first president of the new republic of Texas called the Lone Star Republic (their flag had only one star). In 1845, Texas joined the Union as the 28th state. There was a disagreement between the United States and Mexico over the territory in the Southwest and California. These lands were owned by Mexico. The US tried to buy the lands but Mexico refused to sell them. In 1846, President Polk asked the Congress to declare war on Mexico. The war lasted until 1848; the Mexicans fought bravely but in the end the United States won. A treaty was signed: the U.S. bought the Southwest from Mexico for 15 million dollars.

Oregon and Utah

When Lewis and Clark traveled to the Pacific coast, they went far beyond the boundary of the Louisiana Territory. At that time the Pacific Northwest was known as the Oregon Territory. Today the states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho occupy this area.

In the early 1840s, many people who had lost their jobs and decided to go to Oregon to make a new start. Wagon trains of settlers traveled from the Missouri River down the rout of more than 3,200 km long. The route was called the “Oregon Trail.” The trail went through prairies, deserts and mountains. The main struggle was that of man against wilderness. The pioneers needed courage, determination and the ability to cooperate with each other. In spring the traveling families gathered in Independence - a busy town where merchants sold supplies to the pioneers - when enough families gathered, they formed a wagon train. The pioneers hired a scout to be the leader of the wagon train and set off moving northwest. At night, the pioneers put their wagons in a circle for protection: American Indians who did not want settlers to cross their lands often attacked the wagon trains. Each year more and more pioneers came to settle in the Far West. Utah was settled in 1847 by Mormons - a religious group organized in New York. Later they moved to Ohio and than to Illinois. Mormons were treated with hostility by