Launching the New Ship of State

1
Launching the New Ship of State

• GROWING PAINS
• Infant government finances were precarious
• Revenue had declined to a trickle
• Public debt, with interest heavily in the
  arrears, was mountainous
• Worthless paper money both state and national was
  plentiful
• Americans brashly trying to erect a republic on
  an immense scale

2
Launching the New Ship of State

• GROWING PAINS
• Constitution launched in 1789
• Population was doubling about every 25 years
• 1790 census 4,000,000 people
• Americas population still about 90 percent rural
• 5 lived east of the Appalachian Mountains
• Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio (14years)

3
Launching the New Ship of State

• GROWING PAINS
• Mouth of the Mississippi lay in the hands of the
  Spaniards
• Agents of Spain and Britain moved among the
  people of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, offering
  gold and independence.

4
Launching the New Ship of State

• Washington for President
• Washington drafted president by the Electoral
  College in 1789 (only unanimous election)
• Greeted by roaring cannon, pealing bells,
  flower-carpeted roads, and singing and shouting
  citizens.
• Took oath of office April 30th, 1789
• Overlooking Wall Street (Bad omen)

5
Launching the New Ship of State

• Washingtons Stamp on New Government
• Established the cabinet (not mentioned in the
  constitution)
• Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of the Treasury - Alexander Hamilton
• Secretary of War - Henry Knox

6
Launching the New Ship of State

• The Bill of Rights
• Ratification of the Constitution by many states
  was conditional.
• An understanding that protections such as freedom
  of religion and trial by jury would be added to
  the Constitution.

7
Launching the New Ship of State

• The Bill of Rights
• Amendments could be proposed in 2 ways
• A new constitutional convention requested by
  two-thirds of the states or
• By a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress
• Fearing that a new convention might unravel the
  narrow victory by the federalists, James Madison
  decided to write the amendments himself

8
Launching the New Ship of State

• The Bill of Rights
• James Madison then guided the bills through
  Congress, making him a leading figure
• 1st 10 Amendments to the Constitution were
  adopted by the necessary number of states in
  1791.
• Freedom of religion, speech, and the press the
  right to bear arms and to be tried by a jury and
  the right to assemble and petition the
  government for redress of grievances. Prohibits
  cruel and unusual punishments and arbitrary govt
  seizure of private property.

9
Launching the New Ship of State

• The Bill of Rights
• Madison inserted the 9th amendment to protect
  against the idea that enumerating the rights
  meant that those were the only one.
• shall not be construed to deny or disparage
  others retained by the people.
• For states righters he included the 10th
• Which reserves all rights not explicitly
  delegated or prohibited by the federal
  Constitution to the States respectively, or to
  the people.
• Madison had partially swung the pendulum back in
  the Anti-federalist direction

10
Launching the New Ship of State

• The First Congress
• It created effective federal courts Judiciary
  Act of 1789.
• Organized Supreme Court
• Chief Justice and 5 associates
• Federal district and circuit Courts
• Established the office of Attorney General
• John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the
  United States