A School History of the United States Part 22

%225. "Federalists" and "Republicans."%--When the Const.i.tution was before the people for acceptance or rejection in 1788, they were divided into two bodies. Those who wanted a strong and vigorous federal government, who wanted Congress to have plenty of power to regulate trade, pay the debts of the country, and raise revenue, supported the Const.i.tution just as it was and were called "Federalists."

Others, who wanted the old Articles of Confederation preserved and amended so as to give Congress a revenue and only a little more power, opposed the Const.i.tution and wanted it altered. To please these "Anti-Federalists," as they were a large part of the people, Congress, in 1789, drew up twelve amendments to the Const.i.tution and sent them to the states.

With the ratification of ten of these amendments, opposition to the Const.i.tution ceased. But as soon as Congress began to pa.s.s laws, difference of opinion as to the expediency of them, and even as to the right of Congress to pa.s.s them, divided the people again into two parties, and sent a good many Federalists into the Anti-Federalist party.

A very large number of men, for instance, opposed the funding of the Continental Congress debt at its face value, because the people never had taken a bill at the value expressed on its face, but at a very much less value; some opposed the a.s.sumption of the state debts, because Congress, they said, had power to pay the debt of the United States, but not state debts; others opposed the National Bank because the Const.i.tution did not give Congress express power in so many words to charter a bank. Others complained that the interest on the national debt and the great salary of the President ($25,000 a year) and the pay of Congressmen ($6 a day) and the hundreds of tax collectors made taxes too heavy. They complained again that men in office showed an undemocratic fondness for aristocratic customs. The President, they said, was too exclusive, and owned too fine a coach. The Justices of the Supreme Court must have black silk gowns, with red, white, and blue scarfs. The Senate for some years to come held its daily session in secret; not even a newspaper reporter was allowed to be present.

As early as 1792 there were thus a very great number of men in all parts of the country who were much opposed to the measures of Congress and the President, and who accused the Federalists of wishing to set up a monarchy. A great national debt, they said, a funding system, a national bank, and heavy internal taxes are all monarchical inst.i.tutions, and if you have the inst.i.tutions, it will not be long before you have the monarchy. They began therefore in 1792 to organize for election purposes, and as they were opposed to a monarchy, they called themselves "Republicans." [1] Their great leaders were Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Randolph, and Albert Gallatin.

[Footnote 1: This party was the forerunner of the present Democratic party.]

%226. The Whisky Rebellion, 1794.%--One of the taxes to which the Republicans objected, that on whisky, led to the first rebellion against the government of the United States. In those days, 1791, the farmers living in the region around Pittsburg could not send grain or flour down the Ohio and the Mississippi, because Spain had shut the Mississippi to navigation by Americans. They could not send their flour over the mountains to Philadelphia or Baltimore, because it cost more to haul it there than it would sell for. Instead, therefore, of making flour, they grew rye and made whisky on their own farms. This found a ready sale.

Now, when the United States collectors attempted to collect the whisky tax, the farmers of western Pennsylvania drove them away. An appeal was then made to the courts; but when the marshal came to make arrests he, too, was driven away. Under the Articles of Confederation this would have been submitted to. But the Const.i.tution and the acts of Congress were now "the supreme law of the land," and Washington in his oath of office had sworn to see them executed. To accomplish this, he used the power given him by an act of Congress, and called out 12,900 militia from the neighboring states and marched them to Pittsburg. Then the people yielded. Two of the leaders were tried and convicted of treason; but Washington pardoned them.

The insurrection or rebellion was a small affair. But the principles at stake were great. It was now shown that the Const.i.tution and the laws must be obeyed; that it was treason to resist them by force, and that if necessary the people would, at the call of the President, turn out and put down rebellion by force of arms.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, Vol. II., pp. 189-204; Findley's _History of the Insurrection in Pennsylvania_.]

SUMMARY

1. As soon as Washington was inaugurated, Congress proceeded to organize the new government.

2. The Supreme Court and circuit and district courts were established.

3. The departments of State, War, and Treasury were formed.

4. Twelve amendments to the Const.i.tution were proposed.

5. Three financial measures were adopted: A. A tariff act was pa.s.sed.

B. The debts of the states were a.s.sumed, and, with that of the Continental Congress, funded.

C. A national bank was chartered.

6. The price of funding was the ultimate location of the national capital on the Potomac.

7. The first census was taken in 1790.

8. The result of the financial measures of Congress was the rise of the Republican party (the forerunner of the present Democratic party).

THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL PARTIES /--------------------------------------------------------------------

Funding the Continental Debt.

/------------ / Money borrowed in Shall it be Foreign debt. France, Holland, funded at Yes ------+ and Spain. / face value? / / Bills of credit. Loan-office certificates. Shall it be Lottery funded at Yes ----+ Domestic debt. certificates. face value / Interest indents. or market New tenor. value? / Yes --+ Certificates of officials. Final settlements. / a.s.sumption of / Yes ---------------------------------------+-+ [1]

state debts. No ----------------------------------+ / Establishment / Yes -----------------------------------------+ of a national bank. No ------------------------------------+ Internal revenue / Too heavy ----------------------- taxes. / / President too exclusive. Aristocratic Secret sessions Administration customs. of the Senate. --+-+-+ [2]

not democratic. Gowns of the justices. / Monarchial / Great debt. inst.i.tutions. National bank. Heavy taxes. /

/ Leaders.

[1]--- Federalists Washington.

/ Adams.

Hamilton.

/ Leaders.

Jefferson.

[2]--- Republicans Madison.

Monroe.

Randolph.

/ Gallatin.

CHAPTER XVI

THE STRUGGLE FOR NEUTRALITY

%227. Trouble with Great Britain and France.%--From the congressional election in 1792 we may date the beginning of organized political parties in the United States. They sprang from differences of opinion as to domestic matters. But on a sudden in 1793 Federalists and Republicans became divided on questions of foreign affairs.

Ever since 1789 France had been in a state of revolution, and at last (in 1792) the people established the French Republic, cut off the heads of the King and Queen (in 1793), and declared war on England and sent a minister, Genet, to the United States. At that time we had no treaty with Great Britain except the treaty of peace. With France, however, we had two treaties,--one of alliance, and one of amity and commerce. The treaty of alliance bound us to guarantee to France "the possessions of the crown of France in America," by which were meant the French West Indian Islands. When Washington heard that war had been declared by France, and that a French minister was on his way to America, he became alarmed lest this minister should call on him to make good the guarantee by sending a fleet to the Indies. On consulting his secretaries, they advised him that the guarantee applied only when France was attacked, and not when she was the attacking party. The President thereupon issued a proclamation of neutrality; that is, declared that the United States would not side with either party in the war, but would treat both alike.

%228. Sympathy for France; the French Craze.%--Then began a long struggle for neutrality. The Republicans were very angry at Washington and denounced him violently. France, they said, had been our old friend; Great Britain had been our old enemy. We had a treaty with France; we had none with Great Britain. To treat her on the same footing with France was therefore a piece of base ingrat.i.tude to France. A wave of sympathy for France swept over the country. The French dress, customs, manners, came into use. Republicans ceased to address each other as Mr.

Smith, Mr. Jones, Sir, or "Your Honor," and used Citizen Smith and Citizen Jones. The French tricolor with the red liberty cap was hung up in taverns and coffeehouses, which were the clubhouses of that day.

Every French victory was made the occasion of a "civic feast," while the anniversaries of the fall of the Bastile and of the founding of the Republic were kept in every great city.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_, Vol. II., pp. 89-96; _Harpers Magazine_, April, 1897.]

%229. England seizes our Ships; the Rule of 1756%.--To preserve neutrality in the face of such a public sentiment was hard enough; but Great Britain made it more difficult yet. When war was declared, France opened the ports of her West Indian Islands and invited neutral nations to trade with them. This she did because she knew that the British navy could drive her merchantmen from the sea, and that all trade between herself and her colonies must be carried on in the ships of neutral nations.

Now the merchants of the United States had never been allowed to trade with the French Indies to an unlimited extent. The moment, therefore, they were allowed to do so, they gladly began to trade, and during the summer of 1793 hundreds of ships went to the islands. There were at that time four questions of dispute between us and Great Britain:

1. Great Britain held that she might seize any kind of food going to a French port in our ships. We held that only military stores might be so seized.

2. Great Britain held that when a port had been declared to be blockaded, a ship bound to that port might be seized even on the high seas. We held that no port was blockaded unless there was a fleet actually stationed at it to prevent ships from entering or leaving it.

3. Great Britain held that our ships might be captured if they had French goods on board. We held that "free ships made free goods," and that our ships were not subject to capture, no matter whose goods they had on board.

4. Great Britain in 1756 had adopted a rule that no neutral should have in time of war a trade she did not have in time of peace.

The United States was now enjoying a trade in time of war she did not have in time of peace, and Great Britain began to enforce her rule.

British ships were ordered to stop American vessels going to or coming from the French West Indies, and if they contained provisions, to seize them. This was done, and in the autumn of 1793 great numbers of American ships were captured.

%230. Our Sailors impressed.%--All this was bad enough and excited the people against our old enemy, who made matters a thousand times worse by a course of action to which we could not possibly submit. She claimed the right to stop any of our ships on the sea, send an officer on board, force the captain to muster the crew on the deck, and then search for British subjects. If one was found, he was seized and carried away. If none were found, and the British ships wanted men, native-born Americans were taken off under the pretext that one could not tell an American from an English sailor. Our fathers could stand a great deal, but this was too much, and a cry for war went up from all parts of the country.

But Washington did not want war, and took two measures to prevent it.

He persuaded Congress to lay an embargo for thirty days, that is, forbid all ships to leave our ports, and induced the Senate to let him send John Jay, the Chief Justice, to London to make a treaty of amity and commerce with Great Britain.

%231. Jay's Treaty, 1794.%--In this mission Jay succeeded; and though the treaty was far from what Washington wanted, it was the best that could be had, and he approved it.[1] At this the Republicans grew furious. They burned copies of the treaty at ma.s.s meetings and hung Jay in effigy. Yet the treaty had some good features. By it the King agreed to withdraw his troops from Oswego and Detroit and Mackinaw, which really belonged to us but were still occupied by the English. By it our merchants were allowed for the first time to trade with the British West Indies, and some compensation was made for the damage done by the capture of ships in the West Indies.