iE 302 1.1 |.T9 Copy 1 /b^ UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DEPARTMENT SYLLABUS NO. 19 A HALF CENTURY OF AMERICAN POLITICS 1789=1840 SYLLABUS OF A COURSE OF SIX LECTURES. By FREDERICK J. TURNER, Ph. D. Professor of American History MADISON TRACY, GIBBS & CO., PRINTERS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS '^'^ 01 00001S71357 NOTE. Each lecture is followed by a conference, which all are invited to attend, where the lecturer answers questions and elaborates points in the lecture. The class consists of those who, in addition to attendance on the lecture and conference, pursue systematic reading, under the guidance of the instructor, and present pa- pers on some of the topics suggested for each lecture. Those who complete the course of study are admitted to an examination entitling them to credit in the University of Wisconsin. The lecturer will consult with any of the audience at the close of each conference. GENERAL REFERENCES FOR READING. For the class, the required reading of the course is pages 79 to 179 of Johnston's United States (Scribners, New York, $1.00); or Hart's Formation of the Union, and pages i to 115 of Wilson's Division and Reunion. These two volumes, to- gether with Thwaites' Colonies, form the Epochs of American History Series, published by Longmans, Green & Co., 15 East Sixteenth Street, New York, at $1.25 per volume. Together they make an excellent brief history of the United States. A good working library for the student would consist of these and selections from the American Statesmen Series (Houghton, Mifflm & Co., Boston, $1.25 per volume). A good selection for this course would be: Lodge's Washing- ton, two vols., Morse's Jefferson, Oilman's Monroe, Schurz's Clay, two vols., and Sumner's Jackson. To these might be well added: Adams' Randolph, Shepard's Van Buren, and Roosevelt's Benton. In the Makers of America Series, (Dodd, Mead & Co., $1.00) are, Sumner's Hamilton, and Schouler's Jefferson, which would be useful additions to this list. All of these, with the Epochs of Ameri- can History Series, should not cost over fifteen dollars. The student should own Foster's References to the History of Presidential Administrations, (Put- nams, 27 West 23d St., New York, 25 cents ) Johnston's American Politics (Holt & Co., $1.00) is a non-partisan compendium of the history of political parties. Stan wood's History of l^i'esidential Elections is useful. General works like Von Hoist's Constitutional History of the United States, Schouler's History of the United States, MacMaster's History of the People of the United States, Tucker's History of the United States (Southern), and Winsor's Narra- tive and Critical History of America, should, be consulted. Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science contains valuable articles on American history by Professor Johnston. Dunbar's Laws of the United States Relating to Currency, Finance and Banking, (Ginn & Co., Boston, $2.50) and Taussig's Speeches and State Pa- pers on the Tariff Question, (Harvard University), are valuable compilations. Johnston's American Orations, three vols., (Putnams, New York, about $3.00 is an excellent little work. ^%iff ' ^ '^""^■' t3o;L LECTURE I. THE ERA OF HAMILTON. Introduction. — Importance of the following processes in American history; the evolution of a complex industrial organization; the movement away from Eu- rope; the movement westward; the rise of democracy; the abolition of slavery; the triumph of nationalism over State sovereignty and sectionalism. All are interrelated. Period of this lecture exhibits two main phases: struggle for lib- erty; struggle for order. Colonial Characteristics: Internal. — Economic and social isolation and primi- tiveness. Frontier traits. Democratic tendencies and aristocratic survivals. Dislike of government, especially taxation. Debtor class; paper money. Quar- rels with the governors: colonial parties. Lack of unity. Sectionalism. Colonial Characteristics: External.— The colonies had political relations to each other and to the rest of the world only through England. Colonial doctrine of internal and external authority, The restrictive system. The colonies a part of the European system, involved in European contentions. The Revolution. — Economic growth of the colonies. More rigid application of English administration and the restrictive system, after the expulsion of France from the continent. Principles of colonial resistance: charters; English rights; theory of compact and rights of man. The Continental Congresses and the question of sovereignty. The formation of the States. Independence: decapitation of the central authority. Alliance with France. The Confederation.— Attempt to establish a central government on the princi- ples of the revolution. Formation of the Articles of Confederation, 1777. De- lay in ratification. Land cessions. Articles adopted, 1781. Defects! Weak- ness of the confederation: requisitions; paper money; danger from the army: intercolonial commercial war; boundary controversies; violations of the treaty; Mississippi question; Shays' rebellion; attempts to amend the Articles. Situa- tion in 1786. Ordinance of 1787. The Constitution.— Commercial questions. Mount Vernon meeting, 1785. Annapolis convention, 1786. Constitutional Convention, 1787. Parties: large States, small States; slave States, free States. Plans: Virginia, New Jersey, Hamilton's. Compromises: Connecticut compromise; compromise on represen- tation and taxation; on navigation and the slave trade. The constitution not a product of abstract reasoning, but the result of selection from State constitutions, and of compromise. Ratification. Carried by votes of the areas of intercourse, commerce and wealth, against the interior agricultural and debtor region. "The Federalist." Who ratified the constitution? Sovereignty? It was forced on the people. Constitutions grow. Administration. — Importance of the question of putting the constitution into op- eration. Washington's cabinet; Supreme Court. Hamilton as an administrator. His measures: funding, assumption, location of the capital, excise, bank, manu- factures, suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion. Relation of his financial system to his theory of government. Testimony of his enemies. Doctrine of "implied powers" and the crystallization of parties. Hamilton and the Feder- alists: loose construction, nationalism, aristocracy, English sympathies, reli- ance on the commercial classes. Jefferson and the Republicans. TOPICS. 1. Was Hamilton a monarchist? 2. Compare the Virginia and the New Jersey plan of a constitution. 3. Compare the tariff of 1789 with the principles laid down in Hamilton's Report on Manufactures. 4. Did the Congress of 1774 possess sovereignty? 5. Explain the political significance of Hamilton's financial system. READING ON LECTURE I. The required reading for the class is Johnston's United States, pages 79 to 127. Hart's Formation of the Union gives abundant bibliography. The Con- federation and the Constitutional Convention maybe pleasantly studied in Fiske's Critical Period. Sumner's Hamilton, in the Makers of America Series, is a use- ful little book, portraying the evils of the revolutionary period, and Hamilton's work in fighting them; it is critical of his financial schemes. Lodge's Hamilton (American Statesmen Series) is more favorable to Hamilton as a financier. There is a good article on Hamilton in the Political Science Quarterly for March, 1890, and in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, for October, 1888. A brief sketch of the Constitutional Convention is in Century Magazine, for September, 1887. Albert, Scott & Co., Chicago, have recently issued a reprint of Madison's Journal of the Constitutional Convention. The Federalist, written by Ham- ilton, Madison, and Jay, should be studied, not only as illustrating the questions debated in the ratification period, but as a useful commentary on the constitution. The Confederation and the Convention are more fully treated in Bancroft's History of the Constitution, or History of the United States, vol. VI. (1885), and in Curtis' Constitutional History of the United States. A Southern view may be gained from the study of Stephens' War between the States, or Sage's Republic of Republics. Lodge's Washington (American Statesmen Series) gives a good view of Washington's administration. The tariff history of the period is given in Elliott's Tariff Controversy. The student who has access to origi- nal authorities, such as the works of Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, Maclay's Journal, Journals of the Old Congress, Elliott's Debates, Annals of Congress, Benton's Abridgement of Debates, and the American State Papers, should turn to them, after a general view of the period has been ob- tained in some book like Hart's Formation of the Union. It is in such study that the real meaning of history appears. LECTURE II. JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY. Introduction.-Democratic elements in the formation of the colonies. Free land. Restraints on democracy: limitation of the franchise; gerrymanders- solidarity of commercial interest; ruling classes rs. majorities. Jefferson's Preparation.-Virginia traits: agriculture; aristocracy of common- ers; state sovereignty; tide water 7^^. interior. Doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. Virginia reforms (1776-79): abolition of entail and primogeni- ture; codification; bill for religious freedom; bill for general education- pro- posal of gradual emancipation of slaves. Ordinance of 1784. Minister to France at time of Revolution. Attitude toward Shays' rebellion. Organization of Republican Party.-Material: the "people-; agricultural classes- State rights men; French sympathizers. Attitude of South .nd Middle States' Principles: strict construction; attack on aristocratic and monarchical tenden- cies; economy; taxation to be reduced to expenditures; States before the nation- individuals before the States. Virginia and Kentucky Resoiutions.-Alien and Sedition laws of the Federalists, (17.98). Virginia Resolutions (Madison), limited government, compact, "inter- pose." Kentucky Resolutions (Jefferson), Resolutions of 1799, "nullification " Replies of the States. Virginia Report. Election of 1800-1.-Federalist downfall: dissensions; alien and sedition laws- direct tax; reaction. Disputed election: Hamilton favors Jefferson as against Burr. ° Revolution of I800.-Jeffersonian principles: laissez faire: restriction of gov- ernmental functions; frugality in government; promotion of agriculture and commerce; public debt should be restricted to the generation which contracts It; State sovereignty, but protection of national government in its just powers- the general government to be reduced to foreign affairs; the danger of the fed- eral judiciary; equilibrium in office; confidence in the people under leadership- education; danger to his system from war: peaceable coercion through com- merce. Two-fold character of Jefferson's democracy; (a) Virginian; State sov- -ereignty; m theory; Randolph; Calhoun-(b) Middle State and National- rule of the people; in practice; Gallatin, Jackson. Application of Jeffersonian Democracy. -Gallatin's financial system. Attack on the Judiciary. Purchase of Louisiana: "Let us not make blank paper of the Constitution by construction." Embargo administration. Randolph's defec- tion. Jefferson's later career. TOPICS. 1. Compare the political views of Herbert Spencer and Jefferson. 2. Give an account of Randolph's defection. 3. Give an account of the "Essex Junto." 6 4. Discuss the constitutionality of the Louisiana Purchase, and its effect oa the doctrines of strict construction. 5. Compare Jefferson and Hamilton. READING ON LECTURE IL The required reading is Johnston's United States, pages 125 to 146; or Hart's Formation of the Union, pages 16S to 198, and Wilson's Division and Reunion, pages 12 to 15, 21. Morse's Jefferson, and Schouler's Jefferson, are good brief biographies, the former less appreciative than the latter. Mrs. Randolph's Jefferson's Domestic Life, -is good. The best survey of Jefferson's administra- tions is Adams' History of the United States (Scribners) I-IV. It is perhaps the best work of political history and criticism yet done by an American writer. The first volume contains an excellent account of the United States in 1800. Randall's Life of Jefferson is eulogistic. Adams' Life of Gallatin, and his John Randolph, are valuable. MacMaster's History of the People of the United States, II., III., has some very good material on this period. Prof. Morse has an able article on the Democratic party in the Political Science Quarterly for December, 1891. Warfield's Kentucky Resolutions is a useful monograph. Von Hoist's Constitutional History of the United States, I., has some trenchant criticisms on Jefferson. Adams' Thomas Jefferson and the University of Vir- ginia (U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information No. i, 1888) is a valuable contribution. LECTURE III. THE STRUGGLE FOR NEUTRALITY. Introduction. — The European situation; struggle of France and England for colonial power in the eighteenth century; Napoleonic wars. Desire to elimin- ate neutrals. The American situation: Shall the United States be a part of the European state system? If not, what shall be its position? Treaty of alliance with France, 177J. Treaty of peace, 1783. Washington's Administration.— Proclamation of neutrality, 1793. Genet; Dem- ocratic clubs. Jay's treaty with England. Monroe's recall. Treaty with Spain. George Rogers Clark and the danger in the West. Adams' Administration. — The X. Y. Z. correspondence. Preparations for war: "Hail Columbia!" Alien and sedition laws. New commission and the treaty of 1800 with France. Jefferson's Administration. — Spanish cession of Louisiana to France, 1800. ' 'The day France takes possession of New Orleans ... we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." — Jefferson. Louisiana purchase, 1803. Threats of New England. Neutral trade. Aurora case. 1806, Or- ders in Council; Berlin Decree. 1807, Orders in Council; Milan Decree; Chesapeake and Leopard; embargo: peaceable coercion. 1809, non-intercourse. Randolph and the Virginia ideal. Massachusetts ideal. Effects of peaceable coercion. Madison's Adminlstralion.- Seizures and impressments. Indian troubles Henry's mission. Ri^e of new men: the West. War of 1813. Hartford Con: vention. Treaty of Ghent, 1814. nartrora Con Monroe's Adminislration.-Quadruple alliance: intervention. South American mdependence. Canning's attitude. Russian colonization in California Mo" roeDoctnne. 18.3. Interpretations. United States secures freedom from Eu- rope and turns toward the West. American pride. TOPICS. 1. The effects of the colonial restrictive system on the United States in Wash- ington's admmistration. 2. Origin of the Monroe Doctrine. 3. Who deserves the credit of the Louisiana Purchase' 4. What was the importance of Washington's proclamation of neutrality' 5. Causes and effects of the War of 1812. READING ON LECTURE III. The required reading is Johnston's United States, pages 142 to .51, 157- or Hart Formation of the Union, pages 185 to ^^^, 341 to 343. The special his ones Tresc Xd'V' ." 5^"' ^''' ^^"^'^'^ ^'P^°"^^^^ °^ '"^^ United States, and Trescott s Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams MacMaster'sHistoryof the People of the United States, IL, and III is pTr ^cu^rly good on this subject. The best account of the Louisiana PurchaL'the Embargo, and War of 1813, is in Adams' History of the United States. There is an admirable outline of the history of American diplomacy in Winsor's N^rra Z:t TTl T''' °' r ^^.^^^^ ^"- ^- ^^^ ^--^-' --^ -enent 17 6 1887^- wh . ;."' T^' '°' Conventions of the United States, 1775-1887. Wharton s Digest of International Law, III., ^ § 403-40C has val uable material on the doctrine of neutrality; and the same work I.,V57 i use oubirs ; T'°^ ''T'"°" ''°^^" "- ^'°' ^ ^^^' '4th Street N w York publish all the essential portions of documents to elucidate the Monroe Doctrine in American History Leaflet" no. 4. price ten cents, edited by Drs Har Td Channing of Harvard University. Tucker's Monroe Doctrine, and Gil man's Monroe are essential to a full understanding of this doctrine. The document relatingtodiplomacy maybefound in American StatePapers. Foreign ReTaZs LECTURE IV. NATIONAL TENDENCIES. tioL?°'Gr!duaTd°T''""r^ ^'^'-^ ^'^"^^^^'^^ '^ ^^^^^^'^ -^ social condi- on of th W ' °V^^°°°™'^ ^°d ^°-^l particularism. The coloniza- tion of the West, a nationalizing force. Effects of the War of I812.-Military weakness shown by lack of means of con- centration and intercommunication. Collapse of New England Federalism NatltT T'"^"'""?^^ '^'' ^° P^^^"^^' ^^'^^P'^^ *h« Federalist princip e" National pride aroused. Rise of manufactures. Nationalizing Legislation. — Second national bank, 1816. Internal improve- ments: Cumberland road; Calhoun's bonus bill, 1817; Madison's veto; Erie canal; Monroe's attitude; J. Q. Adams' position. Protective tariff: 1817, 1820, 1824, 1828. "The American System." Physics begin to prevail over meta- physics. Territorial extension: Oregon question; Florida purchase. Land legislation. Development of the Constitution by Judicial Decisions. — Modes of constitutional growth: amendment; interpretation; usage. John Marshall. Leading cases: Marbury vs. Madison, 1803; United States vs. Judge Peters, 1809; Fletcher vs. Peck, 1810; Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee, 1816; McCuUoch vs. Maryland, 1819; Dartmouth College vs. Woodward, 1819; Cohens vs. Virginia, 1821; Gibbons vs. Ogden, 1824. Rise of the West. — ^The steamboat. Frontier States admitted: Louisiana, 1812; Indiana, 1816; Mississippi, 1817; Illinois, 1818; Alabama, 1819; Missouri, 1821. National and democratic tendencies. Western statesmen. Election of 1824. — Characteristics of the Era of Good Feeling: ' 'disintegration and germination." Candidates: Clay, J. Q. Adams, 'Crawford, Jackson. Cal- houn's attitude. The National Republicans. The United States in 1825. TOPICS. Compare J. Q. Adams, Clay and Crawford. Constitutional questions involved in internal improvements. 3. Tariff arguments in 1816, 1824. 4. Abstract of McCulloch vs. Maryland. Tendencies in the constitutions of the new States. READING ON LECTURE IV. The required reading on this lecture is Johnston's United States, pages 139 to 165, or Hart's Formation of the Union, pages, 223-262, and Wilson's Division and Reunion, pages 2-17. The results of the War of 1812 are well summed up in Adams' History of the United States, IX. The following volumes of the American Statesmen Series are particularly useful: Schurz's Clay, Von Hoist's Calhoun, Roosevelt's Benton, Magruder's Marshall, Gilman's Monroe, Morse's J. Q. Adams. The work of Marshall as a maker of the nation can be traced in the United States Supreme Court Reports; his decisions are all worthy of study. Marshall's services are set forth in the following books; The Constitution of 'the United States as Seen in the Development of Its Law; Carson's History of the Supreme Court, and Willoughby's Supreme Court. Taussig's Tariff History, and Elliott's Tariff Controversy unfold the tariff questions. Story's Commentaries on the Constitution, §§ 1272 to 1281 discuss the constitutional questions in regard to internal improvements. Calhoun's speech in the Senate, February 4, 1817, on the bonus bill gives an excellent idea of the national tendencies at the close of the War of 1812. LECTURE V. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. Introduction. — Slavery in the colonies; in the period of the Revolution; in the Constitutional Convention. Ordinance of 1787. Memorials to Congress on abolition. Slave trade: foreign, interstate, District of Columbia, territorial. Slavery and foreign relations. The Colonization Society. Expansion of Slavery. — Cotton gin. Increase of cotton culture; effect in con- solidating the South. The migration of the sections, and their antagonisms. Political balance of the sections. Missouri Compromise. — The Tallmadge amendment, 1819. Discussion in the States. Maine and Missouri, 1820. Compromise: 36° 30', a geographical line. Second Missouri Compromise: free negroes. Constitutional questions. Ques- tions of expediency and justice. Who gained the advantage? Prophetic insight of Jefferson and J. Q. Adams. Danger of overstating the inportance of the slavery issue in politics at this period. TOPICS. 1. Slavery in New England. 2. The arguments, pro and con. of the justice of excluding slavery from the ter- ritories. 3. Attempts to introduce slavery into the Northwest. 4. Has Congress a right to impose restrictions on a State at its admission? Are they perpetually binding? 5. Was the Compromise necessary to save the Union? READING ON LECTURE V, The required reading is Johnston's United States, pages 113, 114, 137, 138, 161, 162; or Hart's Formation of the Union, pages 19 to 2r, 113, 114, 126, 127, 138, 151, 152,236-241; and Wilson's Division and Reunion, pages 119-132. General surveys of the slavery contest are: Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science, III., 725-738; Von Hoist's Constitutional History of the United States I.,- chs. viii-x; Hurd's Law of Freedom and Bondage; Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Power; Williams' History of the Negro Race; Rhodes' History of the United States since the Compromise of 1850, I., ch. i,; Greeley's American Conflict, I. The accounts of the Missouri Compromise in the general histories mentioned in the introductory note, should be consulted. To these may be added, Benton's Thirty Years View; Carr's Missouri; and the volumes of the American Statesmen Series mentioned under Lecture IV. The debates as given in Benton's Abridgement of Debates, VI., VII., and Adams' Memoirs, 1819- 1820, are very interesting reading. LECTURE VI. JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY. Introduction. —The United States in 1830. Influence of the West on democ- racy. New elements of national growth. Labor question. The extension of the franchise. The passing away of the older type of statesmen. Jackson's Preparation. — Characteristics of the frontier States. Jackson's per- sonality. His military career: New Orleans, Seminole war. Western bank troubles. The election of 1824-5: "demos krateo" ; "bargain and corruption." The Spoils System. — Growth of the nominating conventions. The Albany Regency; council of appointment. Tenure of office act, 1820. "To the victors belong the spoils." Kitchen cabinet. Struggle with Nullification. — Ratification debates. Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. Pennsylvania's attitude in 1811. Massachusetts in 1814. Cher- okee case. "Tariff of abominations," 1828. Calhoun's "South Carolina Ex- position." Webster and Hayne's debate over Foote's resolutions, 1830. Tariff of 1832. South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification, 1832; "the systematization of anarchy." Relation of the doctrine to the Virginia and the Kentucky resolu- tions. Abolitionists. Effect of cotton culture in intensifying the State sov- ereignty doctrine; the rights of the minority; relation to Southern gerry- manders; distinguished from secession; historical development vs. logic. Jackson's proclamation. Compromise. War on the Bank.— The bank as "an engin3 of aristocracy." Recharter by Congress, 1832; veto by Jackson; removal of the deposits, 1832-3. Resolutions of censure; Jackson's protest. The "tribune of the people. " Pet banks. Dis- tribution of the surplus. Inflation, and speculation in public lands. The "specie circular." Crisis of 1837. Independent treasury. Repudiation. Jack- son's Maysville road veto. Failure of State internal improvement. Rise of railroad corporations. Contrast Between Jackson and Jefferson. — The man /cr the people, and the man