American Politics

Jefferson and Hamilton had very different viewpoints. Hamilton believed in strong national power and he didn't have faith in the people. He also favored a loose construction of the Constitution meaning that he thought that the government could use implied powers of the Constitution to do anything as long as they weren't prohibited by the Constitution. He also thought that America should pay back the debts gained during the Revolutionary War by putting taxes on whiskey and on imported goods. Jefferson, on the other hand, had more faith in the people than he had in the government. He favored a strict construction of the Constitution meaning that he believed that the government should use implied powers only when it was necessary. Jefferson thought that Hamilton was betraying the ideals of the American Revolution because Hamilton was taking away some of the liberties of the American people that they had worked hard for.

A political party is a group of people who seek to win elections and hold public office in order to control government policy and programs. The first political parties were the Federalists an the Jeffersonian Republicans, who were state leaders who promoted resistance to the Federalists.

John Adams' presidency was very difficult for him because he had to deal with and mend situations that occurred during Washington's presidency. He had to deal with the parties that were new to the country and the feuding between them. Also, he had to deal with the consequences of making a treaty with Britain. The French were angry that America made a treaty with Britain. Adams tried to solve this by sending officials to Paris but this only resulted in more controversy and eventually an undeclared war.

Jefferson's presidency in his first term was satisfying for both political parties. The first thing he did was reduce the influence of the government in the Americans' lives by undoing some of the acts of the Federalists like reducing taxes, cutting the size of the federal bureaucracy, and reducing the size of the army. This was in favor of the Republicans. He also let some of the Federalist's acts be like letting the Bank of the United States function. This was in favor of the Federalists. Pleasing both parties was a good move, because he later won reelection. One of the last things John Adams did before leaving office was to appoint John Marshall as Chief Justice and William Marbury as justice of the peace for the District of Colombia. This angered Jefferson because he wanted to appoint judges from his own party. So Jefferson had James Madison never deliver the papers to give Marbury official authority. Marbury sued Madison and wanted the Supreme Court to make Madison let him take his office. Marshal decided that the Supreme Court couldn't make this order to the executive branch. It was unconstitutional. This was a victory for Jefferson and the Supreme Court because it established judicial review. Judicial review helped make laws more fair. Jefferson also bought Louisiana from France which increased America's size as well as it's debt. Jefferson convinced Congress to pass the Embargo Act of 1807 which made most trade with foreign countries illegal when Jay's Treaty expired and America was being threatened by Britain and France. This ruined Jefferson's second term because it hurt Americans who made their living through trade.