1. The Early Republic A Growing Nation

2. Early Republic After the Constitution was adopted, the first step was selecting our first President. The obvious choice was George Washington. During the first election the House and the Senate met and unanimously voted for Washington as President.

3. Washington’s Cabinet John Adams served as the first vice president. Thomas Jefferson served as the first secretary of state. Alexander Hamilton served as the first secretary of treasury. John Jay served as the first United States chief justice.

4. Whiskey Rebellion Government knew the way to raise money was to tax, but they argued over what to tax. In 1791, they decided to tax “luxury” goods such as whiskey. Many farmers in the west complained that the tax made their whiskey to expensive to sell. They refused to pay the tax.

5. Whiskey Rebellion Washington and Hamilton viewed this as a threat to the authority of National Government. Washington sent 13,000 troops across the Appalachian Mts. To the west to put down the rebellion. This was one of the first authoritative acts of the new government.

6. French Revolution In 1789 in France, the French people rebelled against their government and overthrew it. Many Americans viewed this revolution as a great crusade for Democracy. Over time, as the revolution grew more and more violent, many Americans started to question their own safety in such situations.

7. Washington leaves office Washington stepped down from the office of President after two terms (8 years). In his farewell address he warned of two threats. 1.Political Parties are bad and will divide people. 2.America needs to be neutral and stay out of world affairs.

8. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists After Washington’s departure, two main parties rose to power. These groups were the Federalists and Anti- Federalists.

9. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists Alexander Hamilton headed the Federalist party. Hamilton was born in the West Indies in the Caribbean on the Island of St. Croix. Hamilton and the Federalists believed that most people were selfish and out for themselves, for this reason they distrusted a government that gave to much power to the people.

10. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists Federalists believed the government should be ran by, “the best people”. The wealthy and educated. “Those who own the country ought to govern it.” Hamilton wanted to expand the economy and increase the nations wealth by using the power of the government to promote business, manufacturing, and trade.

11. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists Thomas Jefferson headed the Anti-Federalists. Jefferson was born in Virginia to a farming family. He was one of then children. Jefferson and the Anti-Federalist believed that informed citizens could make good decisions for themselves and their country.

12. Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists They believed that the best government was the one the governed the least. This limited government was less likely to destroy the rights of the people. Anti-Federalist supported and economy based on Agriculture. They opposed the national bank as it loaned to industries, but not to farmers.

13. Alien and Sedition Acts Federalists passed four controversial laws while in office known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Three laws were aimed at aliens. They lengthened the time it took to become a citizen as well as the time it took to gain the right to vote. The other two called for jail sentences or deportation for any alien suspected of stirring up trouble. The Sedition Act made rebellion against the government a crime, and was unconstitutional.

14. Third Presidential Election In 1796, there was a very controversial election. Federalist John Adams ran against Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson. At this time the top two vote getters became President and vice-president. When the election ended, Adams won by just three votes, Jefferson came in second, leaving the President and vice president as bitter enemies.

15. Election of 1800 Federalist John Adams and his vices president Charles Pinckney, ran against Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson and his vice president Aaron Burr. The Federalist really wanted Alexander Hamilton to run for President, but he couldn’t as he was not born in the U.S. He worked behind the scenes to get the electoral college to vote for Pinckney over Adams as President.

16. Election of 1800 When the Election ended, there was a tie. Jefferson and Burr received the same number of votes. The election then went to the House of Reps. where each state has one vote, again there was a tie. Alexander Hamilton finally broke the tie by asking his supporters to vote for Thomas Jefferson, who won In 1804, the Twelfth Amendment was added to the Constitution which allows the electoral college to cast separate ballots for President and vice president.