Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0387/03878.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 18KB | 312 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03878}
$Pretitle{444}
$Title{United States of America
Chapter 3B.   Two Enduring Viewpoints Compete}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{United States Information Service}
$Affiliation{United States Government}
$Subject{american
british
government
war
jefferson
states
national
united
new
britain}
$Date{1991}
$Log{}
Country:     United States of America
Book:        An Outline of American History
Author:      United States Information Service
Affiliation: United States Government
Date:        1991

Chapter 3B.   Two Enduring Viewpoints Compete

     Congress quickly created departments of State and of the Treasury.
Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander
Hamilton, his aide during the Revolution, as Secretary of the Treasury.
Simultaneously, the Congress established the federal judiciary, setting up
not only a Supreme Court, with one Chief Justice (John Jay was named to the
post) and five associate justices, but also three circuit courts and 13
district courts.

     In the first administration, both a Secretary of War and an Attorney
General were also appointed. And since Washington generally preferred to make
decisions only after consulting those men whose judgment he valued, the
American Cabinet came into existence, consisting of the heads of all the
departments that Congress might create.

     Hamilton and Jefferson represented two powerful, though to some extent
antagonistic, forces in American life. Hamilton tended toward closer union
and a stronger national government; Jefferson leaned toward a broader, freer
democracy. Hamilton brought to public life a love of efficiency, order, and
organization. In response to the call of the House of Representatives for a
plan for the "adequate support of public credit," he laid down and supported
principles not only of the public economy as such, but of effective
government.

     He pointed out that America must have credit for industrial development,
commercial activity, and the operations of government. It must also have the
complete faith and support of the people. There were many who wished to
repudiate the national debt or pay only part of it, but Hamilton insisted upon
full payment and also upon a plan by which the federal government took over
the unpaid debts of the states incurred in furthering the Revolution.

     Hamilton did much else. He devised a Bank of the United States, with the
right to establish branches in different parts of the country. He sponsored a
national mint, and argued in favor of tariffs based upon the protection
principle in order to foster the development of national industries. These
measures-placing the credit of the federal government on a firm foundation and
giving it all the revenues it needed-encouraged commerce and industry, and
created a solid phalanx of businessmen who stood firmly behind the national
government and were ready to resist any attempt to weaken it.

     More meditative and philosophical, Thomas Jefferson was frequently at
odds with Hamilton. Jefferson recognized the value of a strong central
government in foreign relations, but, fearing it would fetter free men, he did
not want it strong in many other respects. Hamilton's great aim was more
efficient organization; Jefferson's was wider individual liberty, in the
belief that "every man and every body of men on earth possess the right of
self-government." Hamilton feared anarchy and thought in terms of order;
Jefferson feared tyranny and thought in terms of freedom. The United States
needed both influences. It was the country's good fortune that it had both men
and could, in time, fuse and reconcile their philosophies. One clash between
them, which occurred shortly after Jefferson took office as Secretary of
State, led to a new and profoundly important interpretation of the
Constitution. When Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank,
Jefferson objected. Speaking for those who believed in states' rights as
opposed to national rights, and for those who feared great corporations, he
argued that the Constitution expressly enumerates all the powers belonging to
the federal government and reserves all other powers to the states. Nowhere
was it empowered to set up a bank.

     Hamilton contended that, because of the mass of necessary detail, a vast
body of powers had to be implied by general clauses, and one of these
authorized Congress to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper" for
carrying out other powers specifically granted. The Constitution authorized
the national government to levy and collect taxes, pay debts, borrow money. A
national bank would materially help in performing these functions efficiently.
Congress, therefore, was entitled, under its implied powers, to create such a
bank. Washington and the Congress accepted Hamilton's view, thus establishing
a precedent.

     Although one of the first tasks to be done was to strengthen the domestic
economy and make the Union financially secure, the young nation could not
ignore political affairs abroad. The cornerstone of Washington's foreign
policy was to preserve peace, to give the country time to recover from its
wounds, and to permit the slow work of national integration to continue.
Events in Europe threatened this goal. Many Americans were watching the French
Revolution with the keenest interest and sympathy, and in April 1793, news
came that made this conflict an issue in American politics. France had
declared war on Great Britain and Spain, and Citizen Genet was coming to the
United States as Minister of the French Republic.

     America was still formally an ally of France, and felt a debt of
gratitude for her aid in the War of Independence. But though the people and
the government wished the French well, they wanted very much to stay out of
war. Washington proclaimed a state of neutrality, and when Genet arrived, he
was treated with cool formality. Angered, he attempted to disobey an order
forbidding him to use American ports as bases of operation for French
privateers. Shortly afterward the United States requested his recall by the
French government.

     The Genet incident strained American relations with France. At the same
time, relations with Great Britain were far from satisfactory. British troops
still occupied forts in the west, property carried off by British soldiers
during the Revolution had not been restored or paid for, and the British navy
was playing havoc with American commerce. To settle these matters, Washington
sent to London, as envoy extraordinary, John Jay, Chief Justice of the United
States. Acting with moderation, Jay negotiated a treaty securing withdrawal of
the British from western forts and some slight trading concessions. Nothing
was said,  however, about the return of property, seizure of American ships in
the future, or "impressment" -the forcing of American sailors into British
naval service.

Washington Retires

     Jay's treaty caused general dissatisfaction, but as the end of
Washington's second administration approached, it was evident that marked
progress had been made in other fields. The government had been organized,
national credit established, maritime commerce fostered, the Northwest
Territory recovered, and peace preserved.

     Washington retired in 1797, firmly declining to serve for more than eight
years at the nation's head. His Vice President, John Adams of Massachusetts,
was elected the new President. Even before he entered the Presidency, Adams
had quarreled with Alexander Hamilton-who had contributed much to the previous
administration-and thus was handicapped by a divided party. These domestic
difficulties were compounded by international complications: France, angered
by Jay's recent treaty with Britain, refused to accept Adams' minister. When
Adams sent three other commissioners to Paris, and they too were rejected,
American indignation rose to an excited pitch. Troops were enlisted, the navy
was strengthened, and, in 1799, after a series of sea battles with the French