On taking office in 1789, President Washington nominated New York lawyer Alexander Hamilton to the office of Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton wanted a strong national government with financial credibility and he proposed the ambitious Hamiltonian economic program. James Madison was Hamilton's ally in the fight to ratify the new Constitution, but he and Thomas Jefferson, opposed Hamilton's economic programs by 1791. By the early 1790s newspapers started calling Hamilton supporters "Federalists" and their opponents "Democrats," "Republicans," "Jeffersonians" or—much later—"Democratic-Republicans". The 1790s served as the main stage of the Federalist Party ideas as they represented the first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams. …show more content…
More importantly, the act also created 16 new judgeships that John Adams rapidly filled with Federalists in the last weeks of his presidency; these judges came to be known as the "Midnight Judges." Since, as written in Article Three of the United States Constitution, federal judges serve for life, Adams’ Midnight Judges secured the great extent of Federalist Party influence through the later Democratic-Republican years by setting many influential Federalist-based precedents in the early 1800s, most commonly strengthening the power of the federal government. After John Adams filled the new spots for federal judgeships with Federalists, these judges, led by the Federalist Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, used their Federalist ideals to determine verdicts, thereby greatly influencing politics with Federalist ideas and precedents in the early 1800s. For example, In Marbury v. Madison, William Marbury had been appointed justice of the peace for the District of Columbia in the final hours of the Adams administration. When James Madison, Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state, refused to deliver Marbury’s commission, Marbury, joined by three other similarly situated …show more content…
Firstly, given the public support and the obvious value of purchasing Louisiana to the future growth of the United States, Jefferson decided to ignore his Democratic-Republican principle of strictly interpreting the Constitution. Because the ability of a president to purchase land is nowhere in the constitution, Jefferson had to consider, using a loose interpretation, the purchase a treaty which he would have the right to perform as president. This event clearly displayed great political influence of the Federalist Party’s principle of loosely interpreting the constitution since even the opposing Democratic-Republicans followed this Federalist view. The Missouri Compromise served as another event that sustained Federalist ideas, which, thereby, displayed great Federalist influence to early 1800s politics. By 1818, the Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its admission as a state. Its settlers came largely from the South, and it was expected that Missouri would be a slave state. To a statehood bill brought before the House of Representatives, James Tallmadge of New York proposed an amendment that would forbid importation of slaves and would bring about the ultimate emancipation of slaves born in Missouri. This amendment passed the House (February 1819), but not the Senate since southern senators feared this was a dangerous step towards
John Adams, the previous Federalist president, lost the Election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican. Before Jefferson took office, Adams decided to appoint as many Federalists into the Supreme court as he could, including William Marbury, all of whom needed to be commissioned in order to be officially sworn in. However, Jefferson took office before the commissions could be handed out, and he ordered his Secretary of State, James Madison, to not deliver the commissions. Marbury proceeded to ask Marshall for a writ of mandamus (found in Section 13 of the Judiciary Act), forcing Madison to issue the commissions. This dispute between Marbury and Madison sparks the famous case. The dilemma here is the differences in interpretation. Some viewed Section 13 as unconstitutional, as it added power to the Judicial Branch, disrupting checks and balances. Others saw that “Marbury had been duly appointed…[and] the writ of mandamus [was] to be an appropriate legal remedy for resolving Marbury’s dilemma”(Clinton 86). Marshall wanted to issue the...
Alexander Hamilton was a Federalist. A federalist is Supporter of the Constitution during the debate over its ratification; someone who favored a strong central government. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the Constitution. This means that he believed that the Constitution was a set of guidelines that did not need to be followed strictly. Hamilton wanted to expand the economy and increase the nation's wealth by using the power of the federal government to promote
Madison as he was in the Louisiana Purchase, he was still a key player in this episode that redefined the Judiciary branch of American government. Jefferson had just taken over the presidency from John Adams, a member of the rival Federalist Party, who, during his last days in office, had many of his fellow Federalists assigned offices in the Judiciary, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall (Goldfield 277). Jefferson and his Secretary of State, James Madison, resented this Federalist grab for power and refused to give one of the appointees his position. This appointee, William Marbury, used the Judiciary Act of 1789 to take the issue to court (277). However Marshall, did not rule that Marbury be given his appointment by Jefferson, who had been actively removing Federalist Judges and would likely choose not to acknowledge Marshall’s authority (277). Marshall took a different approach, instead of giving Marbury his appointment, he declared the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional because it gave the Supreme Court authority that was beyond what was outlined in the Constitution (277). By taking away some of his own authority, Marshall gave the Supreme Court the formidable ability to declare laws unconstitutional (277). Interestingly, it would never have happened if Jefferson and his administration had not have taken action (or in this case lack of action) against the appointment
George Washington the first president of the United States had a great duel ahead of him. Outraged citizens had a great deal of tension before his term, but when he entered into office those feelings of frustration arose. The Americans commenced to contradicting the ideas and beliefs of their counterparts, these hostile events eventually lead to the clashing of the citizens. Both sides were infuriated with one another, so they formed separate parties known as Republicans and Federalists. These clashes were instituted by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison of the Republican Party, along with Alexander Hamilton of the Federalist Party. Alexander Hamilton and The Federalists supported a strong central government, and they believed that without one an individual would have too much power possibly forming an anarchy, while the Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and
Henry Clay’s first major compromise was the Missouri Compromise of 1820, created after a huge debate regarding slavery that threatened to tear the Union apart. The dispute started in 1817, when Missouri applied for statehood. Congress decided to make a law to allow Missouri to frame a state constitution in 1819, and Representative James Tallmadge of New York wanted to add an antislavery amendment to the law to stop further introduction of slaves to the state and to free slaves already there at the age of twenty-five. This caused a huge uproar about the national government’s right to restrict slavery, resulting in Tallmadge’s bill passing in the House but failing in the Senate. When Congress received a request from Maine for statehood in December 1819, the Senate took the chance for compromise. It passed a bill to admit Maine as a free s...
Alexander Hamilton exerted the most influence in the new Federalist Party. He believed that only an enlightened ruling class could produce a stable and effective federal government. The government therefore needed the support of wealthy men. Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans defended more the rights of the common man and an agrarian society with little power from the federal government. His basic principle was "in general I believe the decisions of the people in a body will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men."
Marshall made a landmark decision in the MARBURY V. MADISON case, that would define the boundries between the executive and judical branches of the American government. Marbury had been appointed as a Justice of the Peace by John Adams, but his commission was not delivered before Thomas Jefferson assumed the Presidency in 1801. Marbury filed a petition with the Supreme Court to force the Secretary of
Additionally, the majority of states had conflicts between slavery in their territory, one of them dealt with missouri. Missouri applied for admission into the Union as a slave state; this became a problem because missouri ruined the balance for free slaves and slave states. The northern states wanted to ban slavery from occurring in missouri because the unbalanced situation it put towards the other states. In response, the southern states declared how congress doesn’t have the power to ban slavery in missouri. However, Henry Clay offers a solution, the missouri compromise of 1820. Missouri admitted as slave state and Maine becomes a free slave state. Slavery is banned in Louisiana creating a 36 30 line in missouri’s southern border; this maintained the balance in the U.S senate.
As a federalist Alexander Hamilton wanted to establish a stronger federal government under a new Constitution. He met in Philadelphia with other delegates to discuss how to fix the Articles of Confederation that created a weak central government. During the meeting, Hamilton expressed his view that a dependable current source of revenue would be crucial to develop a more powerful and resilient central government. Although Hamilton played a diminutive part in the writing of the Constitution itself, he did heavily influence its ratification. In cooperation with James Madison and John Jay, Hamilton wrote fifty one of eighty five essays under the joint title The Federalist “The Federalist Paper.” In the essays, he cunningly explained and defended the newly drafted Constitution prior to its approval. In 1788, at the New York Ratification Convention, two thirds of delegates opposed the Constitution, however Hamilton was a powerful advocate for ratification, effectively arguing against the anti Federalist persuasion. His efforts succeeded when New York agreed to ratify, which led the remaining eight states to follow. He had a proposal for the new government that was modeled on the British system, which Hamilton considered the best.
After Thomas Jefferson, who served as president from 1801 to 1809, made the Louisiana Purchase on April 30, 1803, the U.S. gained 828 thousand square miles of territory from France. In 1817, the Missouri territory assembly applied for statehood. Missouri was slated to be the first state, other than Louisiana, to be created from the purchase. Considering there was slaves already in Missouri territory, it was clear that Missouri was going to enter the Union as a slave state and have implications on the rest of the new territory from the Louisiana Purchase unless congress opposed it (America Past and Present). Fear began to rise due to the unbalance of free and slave states. Fortunately, the Maine territory was separating from Massachusetts and requested for statehood. Correspondly, the senate passed the Missouri Compromise on February 1820, which allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine enter as a free state, making the free and slave states balanced once again. Another amendment was passed to prohibit slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern border of Missouri. This event envisioned a possible threat on the relationship between the North and South.
In the early years of the eighteenth Century, the young United States of America were slowly adapting to the union and the way the country was governed. And just like the country, the governmental powers were starting to develop. Since the creation of the Constitution and due to the Connecticut Compromise, there is the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial Power. But the existence of those powers was not always that naturally. In these crucial times, the Judicial Power had problems controlling the other powers. It was a challenge for the Supreme Court to exercise the powers granted by the new Constitution. Federal Government was not generally appreciated and its formation also caused many disagreements and debates.
As the country began to grow and expand we continued to see disagreements between the North and South; the Missouri Territory applied for statehood the South wanted them admitted as a slave state and the North as a free state. Henry Clay eventually came up with the Missouri Compromise, making Missouri a slave state and making Maine it’s own state entering the union as a free state. After this compromise any state admitted to the union south of the 36° 30’ latitude would be a slave state and a state north of it would be free. The country was very much sectionalized during this time. Thomas Jefferson felt this was a threat to the Union. In 1821, he wrote, ”All, I fear, do not see the speck on our horizon which is to burst on us as a tornado, sooner or later. The line of division lately marked out between the different portions of our confederacy is such...
With that said after the Constitutional Convention was signed in 1787, President Washington felt it was necessary to institute the Judicial Courts, that are meant to exercise “judicial powers and to perform only judicial work” (Structure of the Federal Court System, 196). Since the country towards the end of the eighteenth century were under the Common Law rule, this step seemed sufficient to benefit the society. Before signing the Judiciary Act the founders wanted to go further than establishing a pyramid for the courts, they sent a draft for guidance. The few characteristics came from previous claims, one of the most uncomfortable features of the federal system were circuit riding in which the judges from the highest court to travel to different states to try cases. The circuit riding was basically a mirror match of the English courts, similarly the circuit courts were the major trial courts within the Federal Court System. Another issued faced by the system was the dealing of the single judge in the district courts. Through the time being the District Courts were “under limited jurisdiction over revenue, admiralty, and minor crimes” (Surrency, 7). Lastly, the distinction of between the Circuit Court and the Appellate Court, they both contained the same limited jurisdiction and could hear cases through writ of
The case of Marbury v. Madison centers on a case brought before the Supreme Court by William Marbury. Shortly after Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the election of 1800, Congress increased the number of circuit courts. Adams sought to fill these new vacancies with people who had Federalist backgrounds. To accomplish this, he used the powers granted under the Organic Act to issue appointments to 42 justices of the peace and 16 circuit court justices for the District of Columbia. Adams signed the appointments on his last day in office and they were subsequently sealed by Secretary of State John Marshall. However, many of the appointments were not delivered before Adams left office and Jefferson ordered the deliveries stopped when he took charge. Marbury was one of Adams’ appointees for justice of the peace. Marbury brought a case before the Supreme Court seeking a writ of mandamus compelling the new Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the appointment.
Alexander Hamilton, one of the most important people of the time, was the first Secretary of the Treasury. Utilising federal power to modernize the nation, he convinced Congress to use an elastic interpretation of the Constitution to pass laws that Jefferson deemed unconstitutional. These laws included federal assumption of the state debts, creation of a national bank, and a system of taxes through a tariff on imports and a tax on whiskey. Hamilton was also the creator of the Federalist party. In contrast, Thomas Jefferson was born to a wealthy family but was nonetheless an anti-federalist. He was sypathetic towards the poor people and advocated state’s rights. afgads