Where US Politics Came From: Crash Course US History #9

Summary

This episode of Crash Course U.S. History explores the early political divisions in America, focusing on the contrasting visions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton advocated for a mercantile and manufacturing powerhouse with a strong central government, while Jefferson preferred an agrarian republic with local governance. The episode covers the birth of political parties, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the contentious Alien and Sedition Acts, highlighting the challenges of defining American democracy and the ongoing struggle to balance freedom of speech and national security.

Takeaways

• 📜 The script discusses the early political climate of the United States, focusing on the fundamental conflicts that arose post-Constitution, particularly the vision for the country's future led by figures like Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.
• 🌐 Hamilton envisioned a mercantile and manufacturing powerhouse for the U.S., with a strong central government to support infrastructure and economic growth, while advocating for close ties with Britain.
• 🌾 In contrast, Jefferson's vision was of an agrarian America with small-scale farmers, minimal international trade, and a small local government, reflecting his democratic ideals and preference for France.
• 🏛 The Federalist Party, aligned with Hamilton's views, represented the interests of the elite, while Jefferson's Republicans sought more democracy and free speech, despite internal contradictions like slaveholding.
• 🗳️ George Washington's presidency set several precedents, including the two-term limit and civilian attire for the president, but it was Hamilton who was the driving policy force behind a stronger nation.
• 💼 Hamilton's economic plan included establishing national credit, creating a national debt, founding a Bank of the United States, implementing a Whiskey tax, and imposing tariffs to encourage domestic manufacturing.
• 🥃 The Whiskey Tax was particularly controversial, leading to the Whiskey Rebellion, which Washington himself helped to quell, demonstrating the new nation's commitment to tax collection and law enforcement.
• 🤝 Foreign affairs were complicated by the U.S.'s perpetual alliance with France and the desire for close commercial ties with Britain, culminating in the 'quasi-war' and the controversial Jay Treaty.
• 📜 The Alien and Sedition Acts, passed during John Adams' presidency, were highly controversial, extending the time for citizenship and criminalizing government criticism, leading to states' rights debates and nullification claims by Virginia and Kentucky.
• 🗣️ The script highlights the early struggles with defining American democracy, including the tension between freedom of speech and the perceived need for government control, as well as the challenges of new democracies.
• 🎓 The video concludes by emphasizing the complexity of American history and politics, suggesting that even significant elections like Jefferson's in 1800 did not straightforwardly resolve the ideological conflicts of the time.

Q & A

What was the fundamental conflict that arose immediately following the passage of the U.S. Constitution?

The fundamental conflict was about the vision of what kind of country the United States should be.

What were Alexander Hamilton's key ideas for the future of America?

Hamilton wanted the U.S. to be a mercantile nation deeply involved in world trade, a manufacturing powerhouse, and he favored a strong government that could build infrastructure and protect patents. He also envisioned an America governed primarily by the elite.

How did Thomas Jefferson's vision for America differ from Hamilton's?

Jefferson envisioned an agrarian America with small-scale farmers, no international trade, and a small-scale local economy served by a small-scale local government. He was an avowed democrat who distrusted concentrated power and privilege.

What was the significance of the Whiskey Tax in Hamilton's plan?

The Whiskey Tax was a way to raise money by taxing whiskey, which was a significant source of income for small farmers. It was controversial because it hurt small farmers and led to the Whiskey Rebellion.

What was the Whiskey Rebellion and why was it significant?

The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in 1794 by western Pennsylvania farmers against the federal tax on whiskey. It was significant because it was one of the first instances of organized resistance against the new federal government's tax policies, and it led to President Washington personally leading troops to suppress the rebellion.

How did the Jay Treaty impact U.S. relations with Britain and France?

The Jay Treaty improved trade relations between the U.S. and Britain but did not address impressment or American shipping rights, which were contentious issues with France. This led to a quasi-war with France, despite the U.S. having a perpetual alliance with them.

What were the Alien and Sedition Acts, and why were they controversial?

The Alien and Sedition Acts were laws passed by John Adams' administration that made it more difficult for immigrants to become citizens and criminalized criticism of the government. They were controversial because they were seen as an attack on freedom of speech and were opposed by states like Virginia and Kentucky, which passed resolutions against them.

What was the 'X, Y, Z affair' and how did it affect U.S.-French relations?

The 'X, Y, Z affair' was a diplomatic incident in which French emissaries attempted to extort bribes from U.S. representatives. This led to a deterioration in U.S.-French relations and contributed to the quasi-war between the two nations.

How did the election of 1796 expose a flaw in the U.S. electoral system?

The election of 1796 resulted in John Adams as president and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, with the latter being the runner-up in electoral votes. This exposed a flaw because it placed the president and vice president from opposing political parties, which was not conducive to effective governance.

What was George Washington's stance on political parties, and what did he warn against in his farewell address?

George Washington was disillusioned by the rise of political parties and warned against the 'baneful effects of the spirit of party' in his farewell address, arguing that it could lead to division, animosity, and foreign influence.

Outlines

00:00

🇺🇸 Birth of American Politics

John Green introduces the early stages of American politics, highlighting the fundamental conflicts that arose post-Constitution. He discusses the vision of Alexander Hamilton, who advocated for a mercantile and manufacturing economy, supported by a strong central government. Hamilton's Federalist Party favored elitism and close ties with Great Britain. In contrast, Thomas Jefferson's vision, supported by the Republicans, leaned towards an agrarian society with minimal government involvement and a preference for France. The video also touches on the philosophical debates over democracy and free speech, with Jefferson and the Republicans advocating for more of both, despite the complexities and contradictions inherent in their stance.

05:03

📋 Hamilton's Five Point Plan

This section outlines Hamilton's economic plan for the United States, which includes establishing national credit-worthiness by assuming state debts, creating a national debt to give the wealthy a stake in the nation's success, establishing a Bank of the United States to manage public funds and issue currency, imposing a Whiskey tax to raise revenue, and encouraging domestic manufacturing through tariffs. The plan faced opposition from Republicans who disagreed with its principles and constitutionality. A compromise led to the acceptance of the first four points in exchange for a permanent capital on the Potomac, solidifying the Hamiltonian economic model for a time.

10:04

🍻 The Whiskey Rebellion and Foreign Affairs

The Whiskey Tax, part of Hamilton's plan, was met with resistance, leading to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, where western Pennsylvania farmers took up arms against the tax. President Washington led troops to quell the rebellion, setting a precedent for presidential military involvement. In foreign affairs, the U.S. faced challenges in maintaining neutrality between Britain and France, with the Jay Treaty attempting to address trade issues without resolving the impressment of American sailors by the British. The French Revolution further complicated relations, with differing American views on the event.

🗳️ The Evolution of American Political Parties

The script discusses the development of political parties in the United States, starting with the Federalist and Republican parties. It highlights the unique situation of the 1796 election, where John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, from opposing parties, became President and Vice President, respectively. The Alien and Sedition Acts, pushed by Adams, aimed to extend citizenship periods and criminalize government criticism, which were met with significant opposition and legal challenges, leading to debates over states' rights and nullification. The election of 1800 is noted as a significant, yet not entirely conclusive, event in the evolution of American politics.

Keywords

💡Constitution

The Constitution refers to the United States Constitution, the supreme law of the United States, which was adopted in 1787 and replaced the Articles of Confederation. In the video, it is mentioned as a foundational document that set the stage for the birth of American politics and the ensuing debates over the country's future direction.

💡Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and played a crucial role in the establishment of the U.S. financial system. In the video, he is depicted as advocating for a mercantile and manufacturing economy, as well as a strong central government, which aligns with his vision for America's future as outlined in the Federalist Papers.

💡Federalist Party

The Federalist Party was one of the first two political parties in the United States, generally favoring a strong central government and support for a national bank and manufacturing. In the script, it is associated with figures like Alexander Hamilton and is characterized by its support from the 'rich, the able, and the well-born.'

💡Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States and a key figure in American history, known for his agrarian vision of the country. In the video, he is presented as opposing Hamilton's vision, advocating instead for an agrarian society with a small-scale local economy and a smaller, less intrusive government.

💡Agrarian

Agrarian refers to a society or economy based on agriculture, with a focus on farming and land cultivation. In the context of the video, Jefferson's agrarian vision for America is one where most people are small-scale farmers, with little emphasis on international trade or manufacturing.

💡Whiskey Tax

The Whiskey Tax was a tax imposed on distilled spirits in the United States, which became a significant point of contention among small farmers who used their grain to produce whiskey. In the script, it is mentioned as a part of Hamilton's plan and led to the Whiskey Rebellion, illustrating the tension between government policies and the populace.

💡Democratic-Republicans

The Democratic-Republicans, also known as the Republicans in the script, was a political party that emerged in opposition to the Federalists. They generally favored more democratic principles, including more freedom of speech and a preference for agrarianism. The party was associated with figures like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

💡Jay Treaty

The Jay Treaty was an agreement negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, which aimed to improve trade relations and resolve issues left over from the Revolutionary War. In the video, it is mentioned as an example of Washington's foreign policy efforts, despite its lack of addressal of certain contentious issues like impressment.

💡Alien and Sedition Acts

The Alien and Sedition Acts were a series of laws passed in 1798 during John Adams' presidency, which aimed to suppress dissent and extend the time required for naturalization. In the script, these acts are highlighted as controversial and indicative of the unsettled nature of American politics at the time, with states like Virginia and Kentucky opposing them.

💡Nullification

Nullification is the act of a state declaring that a federal law is invalid within its borders, based on the belief that the state has the power to overturn or ignore laws it deems unconstitutional. In the video, the concept is introduced through the response of Virginia and Kentucky to the Alien and Sedition Acts, foreshadowing future debates over states' rights.

💡Electoral College

The Electoral College is the system used to elect the President and Vice President of the United States, where electors chosen by each state cast votes for the candidates. In the script, it is mentioned as having flaws that led to the president and vice president being from opposing political parties, highlighting the complexities and challenges of early American electoral systems.

Highlights

Introduction of the birth of America's political system, emphasizing the adversarial nature from the beginning.

Discussion on the fundamental conflict post-Constitution regarding the type of country the U.S. should be.

Alexander Hamilton's vision for a mercantile and manufacturing powerhouse with a strong central government.

Hamilton's role in writing the Federalist Papers and his belief in an elite governance.

Thomas Jefferson's opposing view of an agrarian America with a focus on local economies and small government.

Jefferson's democratic ideals and distrust of concentrated power, despite his slaveholding status.

The political divide between pro-French Republicans and pro-British Federalists during the constant wars between France and Britain.

The debate on democracy and free speech, with Republicans advocating for more freedom.

The unique situation of George Washington's uncontested presidency and the precedents he set.

Hamilton's 5-point plan for a stronger nation, including establishing credit, creating a national debt, and imposing a Whiskey tax.

The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and Washington's response as the only sitting president to lead troops.

The complex foreign affairs of the U.S., including the Jay Treaty and the quasi-war with France.

John Adams' presidency and the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted immigration and free speech.

The response to the Alien and Sedition Acts with Virginia and Kentucky's nullification resolutions.

The significance of the electoral system flaw exposed by Adams' election and the subsequent constitutional change.

The enduring impact of early American political divisions and the struggle to define the nation's identity.

The Crash Course production team credits and call for viewer engagement and questions.

Transcripts

Hi, I'm John Green, and this is Crash Course U.S. History, and now that we have a Constitution, it’s actually United States history.

Today we’re going to look at the birth of America’s pastime.

No, Stan, not baseball. Not football. Not eating.

I mean politics, which in America has been adversarial since its very beginnings, despite what the founders wanted.

[Theme Music]

We looked at the first big conflict in American politics last week: Constitution or Articles of Confederation?

I hope that I convinced you we made the correct choice, but regardless, we made it; the constitution passed.

But immediately following the passage of the constitution a pretty fundamental conflict came up:

what kind of a country should we be?

Mr Green, Mr Green!

The US is supposed to be the policeman of the world and keep the people in the green parts of Not-America from hurting themselves.

Oh, Me From The Past, we don’t get into that stuff until 1823.

[Patriotic Rock Music]

So, one vision of America was put forward by Alexander Hamilton, who’d served in the war as Washington’s top aide and would go on to be his first Secretary of the Treasury

and probably would have been President himself, had he not been born in the British West Indies.

Hamilton had a strong personality, and as you can see, the beautiful wavy hair of a Caribbean god, and he had very definite ideas about what he wanted the future of America to look like:

First, Hamilton wanted the country to be mercantile, which means that he believed that we should be deeply involved in world trade.

Second, he wanted the U.S. to be a manufacturing powerhouse.

We wouldn’t just buy and sell stuff; we would make it too.

He even invested in a plan to make Patterson, New Jersey, a manufacturing hub, which of course ultimately failed, because New Jersey.

But to make a manufacturing giant, he needed a strong government that could build infrastructure and protect patents.

But you already knew that he was in favor of a strong government because, of course, he wrote so many of the Federalist Papers.

Hamilton also envisioned an America that was governed primarily by the elite.

His party, which came to be known as the Federalist Party, would be the one of “the rich, the able and the well-born.”

I mean, just think if the federalist party had survived, we might have had a bunch of like, Bushes and Kennedys as president.

Hamilton wanted America to be firmly affiliated with Great Britain.

Which isn’t surprising, given his passion for elitism and trade.

But there was an opposing view of what America should look like, and it is most associated with Thomas Jefferson.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

Jefferson wanted an America that was predominantly agrarian, with most people being small scale subsistence level farmers.

Maybe they would produce a little surplus for local markets, but certainly not for international consumers.

There would be no international trade.

And he didn’t want manufacturing either.

This small scale local economy could best be served by a small scale, local government.

It’s not a surprise to find that Jefferson’s sympathies lay with the anti-federalists, even though he benefited from the new constitution a little bit, since he eventually got to be president and everything.

Unlike the elitist Hamilton, Jefferson was an avowed democrat, which meant that he distrusted concentrated power and privilege and believed that the masses could basically govern themselves.

To him, government and concentrated economic power were greater threats to liberty than a tyrannical majority.

Jefferson was a big fan of the French, and not only because he spent a fair amount of time in Paris as our ambassador there.

He also liked the French because they fought with us in the war of independence against the British.

And because, after 1789, he liked the way the French treated their aristocrats – that is, brutally.

In general, Jefferson and his partisans who called themselves Republicans

(although some current textbooks call them Democratic-Republicans just to make things incredibly confusing)

preferred France just as the Hamiltonians preferred Britain.

And this was a bit of a problem since France and England were pretty much constantly at war between 1740 and 1815.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

So linked to these imagined Americas were the questions of how democratic we should be and how much free speech we should have.

Jefferson and the Republicans wanted more democracy and more free speech, well, sort of

I mean, during Washington’s presidency, Democratic-Republican Societies sprang up, the first opposition political parties.

And in 1794, the Democratic-Republican society of Pennsylvania published an address which made the point that,

“Freedom of thought, and a free communication of opinions by speech or through the medium of the press, are the safeguards of our Liberties.”

The Federalists on the other hand saw too much free speech and democracy as a threat.

And from this it sounds like the Republicans were “better democrats”, but it’s a lot more complicated than that.

I mean, for one thing many Republicans, including Thomas Jefferson, were slaveholders, and slavery is kind of the opposite of Democracy.

And for another, many were supporters of the French Revolution, and supporting the French Revolution after 1793 is pretty problematic.

Because as you’ll remember from Crash Course World History, Robespierre was guillotining everyone, up until the point where he himself was guillotined.

OK, so in the first real American presidential election there weren’t any political parties.

There wasn’t even a campaign.

The election was uncontested and George Washington won.

He didn’t even have to run for office; he stood for it.

Washington’s presidency is important for a number of precedents that he set, including the notion that a president should only serve two terms and the idea that even if he was a general the president should wear civilian clothing.

But he wasn’t the real policy brains. Hamilton was.

Washington probably wouldn’t have called himself a Federalist, but he backed Hamilton’s plan for a stronger nation.

And to that end, Hamilton began the great American tradition of having a 5 point plan:

Point 1: Establish the nation’s credit-worthiness.

Hamilton realized that if the new nation wanted to be taken seriously it had to pay off its debts, most of which had come during the war.

And to do this Hamilton proposed that the U.S. government assume the debts that the states had amassed.

Point 2: Create a national debt.

That’s something you don’t hear politicians say these days.

Hamilton wanted to create new interest bearing bonds, hoping to give the rich people a stake in our nation’s success.

Point 3: Create a Bank of the United States.

This bank would be private and it would turn a profit for its shareholders but it would hold public funds and issue notes that would circulate as currency.

And the bank would definitely be needed to house all the money that was expected to be raised from:

Point 4: A Whiskey tax.

Then, as now, Americans liked to drink.

And one sure way to raise money was to set an excise tax on whiskey, which might reduce drinking on the margins or cause people to switch to beer.

But what it would definitely do is hurt small farmers, who found the most profitable use of their grain was to distill it into sweet, sweet whiskey.

So the Whiskey Tax really upset small farmers, as we will see in a moment.

Point 5: Encourage domestic industrial manufacturing by imposing a tariff.

For those of you who think that the U.S. was founded on free trade principles, think again.

Now you will remember that the Republicans wanted an agrarian republic with freer trade, so they disliked pretty much all of Hamilton’s plan.

They also argued that none of this was in the Constitution, and they were right.

This position of expecting government to be limited by the text of the constitution came to be known as strict construction.

But the Republicans lacked a five point plan of their own, so their only hope of success was to shave Hamilton’s five point plan down to four points, which is what they did.

In 1790, many of the Republicans, who were Southerners like Jefferson, struck a bargain.

They agreed to points 1-4 of Hamilton’s plan in exchange for a permanent capital on the Potomac

(in the South as opposed to the first two temporary capitals of the US in New York and Philadelphia).

So the Hamiltonian economy won out. For a while.

Probably the most immediately controversial aspect of Hamilton’s program was the whiskey tax, and not just because people loved to drink.

But also because farmers love to turn their rye into whiskey, into profits.

In 1794, western Pennsylvania farmers even took up arms to protest the tax, and that clearly could not stand.

Washington actually led (at least for part of the way) a force of 13,000 men to put down this Whiskey Rebellion, becoming the only sitting president to lead troops in the field,

and America continued to tax booze, as it does to this day.

On the subject of foreign affairs, there was much more agreement. Just kidding.

Hamilton wanted the U.S. to have close ties to Britain for commercial reasons, but Britain was perpetually at war with France, which whom the U.S. technically had a perpetual alliance.

You know, because they helped us with the American Revolution, they gave us the Statue of Liberty, and Marion Cotillard, etc.

And the French revolution made things even more complicated, because Republicans liked it but Federalists, being somewhat conservative and elitist, were afraid of it.

This was especially true when French emissary Citizen Genet showed up in 1793 and started hiring American ships to attack British ones.

Britain in response began impressing American sailors, which sounds fun, but it isn’t.

It doesn’t mean the British sailors wowed Americans with their awesome mermaid tattoos, it means they kidnapped them and forced them to serve in the British navy.

Washington dispatched secretary of state John Jay to deal with the impressment issue and he negotiated the boringly named Jay Treaty,

which improved trade relations between the U.S. and Britain and said absolutely nothing about impressment or American shipping rights.

For the rest of his term, Washington just tried to ignore the problem, thereby inaugurating another presidential tradition:

kicking big foreign policy problems down the line for future presidents.

By the end of his presidency, George Washington was somewhat disillusioned by politics.

His famous call for unity said that “with slight shades of difference, you Americans have the same religion, manners, habits and political principles,”

Washington warned against the “baneful effects of the spirit of party generally,”

saying that “it agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms;

kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection.

It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption.”

Still, by the time the diminutive John Adams took over as the second president, Americans had already divided themselves into two groups:

elitist Federalist and Republicans who stood for freedom and equality and…

Oh, It’s time for the Mystery Document?

The rules here are simple: I guess the author of the mystery document.

If am right, I do not get shocked; if I am wrong, I do get shocked.

All right, let’s give it a go.

“Yes, ye lordly, ye haughty sex, our souls are by nature equal to yours; the same breath of God animates, enlivens, and invigorates us;

Were we to grant that animal strength proved any thing, taking into consideration the accustomed impartiality of nature,

we should be induced to imagine, that she had invested the female mind with superior strength as an equivalent for the bodily powers of man.

But waiving this however palpable advantage, for equality only we wish to contend.”

So the author of the Mystery Document is a badass woman.

So we have here an argument, and a bit of a snarky one, for equality between men and women.

All right, I can do this.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is too young, also, probably not funny enough.

Ahhh, bleergh.

Stan, my official guess is Sarah Grimké.

[buzzing sound] [groaning] DANG IT!

AHHHH! JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY?

[groan] Well, you know, as part of the patriarchy I probably deserve this anyway.

So Judith Sargent Murray reminds us that once unleashed, ideas like liberty and equality spread to places where neither the male Federalists nor the male Republicans wanted them to go.

But back to Adams: his election in 1796 exposed a big flaw in our electoral system.

Because the vice presidency went to whomever had the second highest total number of electoral votes, and that person happened to be Thomas Jefferson,

we ended up with a situation where the president and the vice president were on opposite sides of the political spectrum, which was not good.

So they changed the constitution, but not until after the next election which featured another screw up.

We are awesome at this.

Side note: The electoral college system would continue to misrepresent the will of the American voters, most notably in 1876, 1888, and 2000, but also in every election.

Domestically, Adams continued Hamilton’s policies, but Adams’ presidency is best known for foreign problems,

especially the way Adams’ administration totally overreacted to problems with France.

Because we were trying to maintain good commercial relationships with England, and England was perpetually at war with France, France ended up in a “quasi-war” with the United States despite our eternal alliance.

They disrupted our shipping; we felt nervous about their increasingly violent revolution.

And then, after 3 French emissaries tried to extort a bribe from the U.S. government as part of negotiations –

the so called “X, Y, Z affair" because we didn’t want to give the names of these bribe-seeking French scoundrels

– the American public turned against France, somewhat hysterically, as it will.

Taking advantage of the hysteria, Adams pushed through the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Alien Act lengthened the period of time it took to become a citizen, and the Sedition Act made it a crime to criticize the government.

Among the more famous people prosecuted under the Sedition Act was Matthew Lyon, a Congressman from Vermont who was jailed for saying that John Adams was maybe not the best president ever.

And while in jail, Lyon won reelection to Congress, which might indicate just how popular this law wasn’t.

It was so unpopular that Virginia and Kentucky’s legislatures passed resolutions against it,

claiming that it violated Americans’ liberties and that state legislatures had the power to overturn or nullify any federal law that they found to violate the constitution.

This whole business of nullification and states rights? It will return.

The Alien and Sedition acts were allowed to lapse under Jefferson, and they didn’t lead to widespread arrests of everyone who called Adams a tyrant or expressed admiration for the French Revolution.

And even though they weren’t popular, they didn’t doom the Federalist party either, even though no Federalist was elected president after Adams.

But the Alien and Sedition Acts and the response to them from Virginia and Kentucky are important, because they show us how unsettled American politics were in the first decade of this country's existence.

Even something as basic as freedom of speech was up for grabs as America tried to figure out what kind of country it was going to be.

That’s important to think about when studying American history, but it’s also important to think about when looking at new democracies.

You might think that Thomas Jefferson winning the presidential election of 1800 settled all this stuff, but it wasn’t so simple.

It never is, really.

Thanks for watching. I’ll see you next week.

Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller.

Our script supervisor is Meredith Danko.

The associate producer is Danica Johnson.

The show is written by my high school history teacher Raoul Meyer and myself.

And our graphics team is Thought Café.

If you have questions about today’s video, particularly if they’re actual questions,

and not passive-aggressive attempts to impose your ideology upon other people, leave them in comments, where they will be answered by our team of historians.

We’re also accepting your submissions for Libertage captions.

Thanks for watching Crash Course, and as we say in my hometown, Don’t Forget To Be Awesome.