Political Developments in the Early Republic

1 Lesson Plan Title Problems in new republics

2 Concept/Topic To Teach Setting up the executive branch
Whiskey rebellion
French Revolution
Federalist Party
Republican Party
Alien and Sedition Acts
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions
Election of 1800

3 Essential Question of Lesson How do the struggles of the early republic effect us today?

4 Connection Quick-Write:
Look at pictures of Hilary Clinton, Barak Obama, John McCain, George W. Bush Can you tell what political party these people are from?
What do you know about the different political parties? Which do you support? Do you think they had political parties in 1800?
Discuss answers with the class

5 Direct Teaching Tell briefly about each event or person.
Take notes on each event, in the organizer.
Zoe- Thomas Jefferson, French revolution, Republican Party.
Kira-Whiskey Rebellion, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Party.
Maya- Alien and Sedition Acts, Election of 1800.
Lexus- Setting up the executive branch, Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.

6 Step-By Step Explanation Students will use their notes to create the skits.
Students will be given strips of paper with an event on it. They have to act the event out , to the class and the group that gets it wins a point. The group wins the most points wins the prize.
Criteria
Use the vocab word
Everybody has to participate
Other groups must wait until the skit is finished
Cannot use the actual word.

7 Student-Centered Activity Acting Game

8 Assessment We will answer questions while they are making up their skits.

9 Closure Present skits, give out the prize to the winning group.

Political Developments in the Early Republic Quiz

1. In 1791, the Federal government imposed an excise tax that was what percent of the cost of one gallon of whiskey?
a. 75%
b. 25%
c. 40%
d. 0%
e. none of the above

2. In the election of 1800, who became the third president?
a. Alexander Hamilton
b. John Adams
c. George Washington
d. Thomas Jefferson
e. Aaron Burr

3. What Act made it a crime to say anything bad about the government or president?
a. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
b. Alien Act
c. Sedition Act
d. Electoral College
e. None of the above

4. Who was leader of the Federalist Party and Treasury Secretary?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. George Washington
c. Alexander Hamilton
d. John Adams
e. None of the above

5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence and was leader of the Republican Party?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. Alexander Hamilton
c. George Washington
d. Thomas Jefferson
e. None of the above

6. The Republicans favored
a. a strong national government run by wealthy, educated aristocrats
b. a small national government run by the common man
c. French Revolution
d. All of the above
e. “b” and “c”

7. The executive branch of government included
a. Department of State
b. Department of War
c. Treasury Department
d. All of the above
e. None of the above

8. What happened in 1794?
a. American Revolution
b. Whiskey Rebellion
c. French Revolution
d. Civil War
e. None of the above

9. What happened in 1789?
a. French Revolution
b. George Washington was elected president
c. Whiskey Rebellion
d. American Revolution
e. None of the above

10. Who supported the French Revolution?
a. Britain
b. Thomas Jefferson and Republicans
c. Alexander Hamilton and Federalists
d. “a” and “c”
e. none of the above

11. Which Act made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen with the right to vote?
a. Kentucky Resolution
b. Sedition Act
c. Alien Act
d. Virginia Resolution
e. None of the above

12. Why was the election of 1800 a victory for the new nation?
a. John Adams lost
b. Power was transferred from one party to another without violence or civil war.
c. There was a tie and this made people excited about voting.
d. Thomas Jefferson was the best candidate.

13. Thomas Jefferson supported the French Revolution because
a. This was a war between common men against rich nobility
b. He liked the French.
c. He loved anything that Alexander Hamilton hated.
d. “b” and “c”

14. Why did the government impose taxes on whiskey?
a. The government wanted to discourage drinking.
b. Imposing taxes was a way to raise money so that the government could pay its war debts from the American Revolution.
c. The government wanted to discourage farmers from growing crops that went into making whiskey.
d. “a” and “c”

15. Who was the only president in history who personally led troops into battle?
a. George W. Bush
b. George Washington
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. John Adams

The Whiskey Rebellion:Federal Soldiers Marching to Pennsylvania

Journal Entry (Farmer's Perspective)

Journal Entry
August 25, 1794

Enough is enough! Last month some of my good neighbors tried to tar and feather John Neville, that dirty dog and trader who went over to the other side and became the tax collector for the government. His house was nearly burned down and I’m glad of that but then we heard that President Washington is leading 13,000 militiamen down here to try to end our rebellion.

I am a peace loving man but I can no longer sit on the side and watch my neighbors be killed and jailed. We are loyal to the state of Pennsylvania and we will not be bullied by the rich bankers and merchants who run this new federal government. What do they know about how hard a farmers life is? Do they care about us when our crops fail and we’re not able to put the food on the table for our wife and children? They don’t care about us. All they care about is making a dollar and getting rich and if they break our backs and spirit they simply close their eyes and tax someone else.

Three years ago when the government first placed a 25% excise tax on all whiskey, we thought that it would still be fine and that we would still be able to get by and make enough money form selling our crops. How wrong we all were. Some of my neighbors turned to violence and picked up their guns to shoot at those traitorous men who signed on to become tax collectors. I didn’t agree with their tactics because I thought, fool that I was, that the government would come to see how wrong this tax is and how it punishes all of the hard working, honest farmers in Pennsylvania and other states.

Riots have broken out at town and now things have gotten so bad that the President is personally putting on his military uniform and leading the federal troops down here to restore peace and order. Last night my good neighbor Charles held a secret meeting and we all decided to fight. This is an important battle because we are protecting and defending our rights as individuals to not be intimidated and bullied by those rich folks in the government. We are being taking advantage of. Our federal government has huge debts to pay off from the Revolutionary War and that’s why they are taxing whiskey. But the debts of the government are not our problem and we are all law-abiding citizens who just have a different point of view. We should be allowed to express our point of view without having soldiers march down here.

My two sons want to fight with me and I will let them. This is a fight for justice for all of us farmers who have been unfairly taken advantage of. My boys must learn to stand up for themselves and we will not allow any outsiders, not even the President, to tell us what to do. My poor wife is scared to send us off to battle but I have reassured her that it is better to die defending our individual freedom than to live as a slave to the rich merchants and bankers who run our government. This may be the last chance I have to write in this journal but I just want my family to know that I am proud and not at all afraid to face the federal soldiers in battle. We fought against British tyrants 20 years ago and we won. We will fight against the federal government tyrants and win again. I am sure of this.

Summary

George Washington had his inauguration on April 30, 1789. He became the first president of the United States. Soon after Congress started to debate about what they should call the president. John Adams, the vice president, thought they should call him something like “Your Excellency” as a symbol of respect. Others argued that it was too much like royalty. It was not good for their new democracy because it would be too much like a monarchy. Washington finally ended debate by saying he would like to be called “Mr. President.” Next, they started setting up the executive branch. They had an argument on what departments they were going to have and which powers they should possess. They picked the Department of State, the Department of War, and the Department of Treasury. The Department of State handled the relations with the other counties. The Department of War had the power to defend the nation. The Department of treasury dealt with the nation's finances. Now they had to deal with the problems with their government. The biggest problem was that they had no money to start their new government. To gain money, they put taxes on whiskey and other “luxury” goods. The tax was too expensive so the farmers rebelled. In 1793, Congress lowered taxes. Some people in western Pennsylvania still rebelled and Washington led militia to crush the rebels. This ended the rebellion.
In 1789, the French Revolution began. The French became a republic and were rebelling against their king. The leaders of the French Revolution wanted “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” The Americans that were for the French Revolution were known as the Democratic-Republicans or Republicans. Their were 20,000 deaths caused be the revolution. Hamilton and the Federalists were appalled at the number of people killed and Hamilton warned America that this might be our future.
In 1792, Washington started his second term in office. Close to the end of his term, he announced that he wasn't going to run again. Before leaving office, he wrote a farewell address. In this he wrote what bound all Americans together. He also wrote about two threats we had to the nation. One was problems we had with other countries, and the other was the “spirit of the party.” He didn't want everyone to get too loyal to their parties because it could tear the nation apart.
Alexander Hamilton was the head of the Federalists. He was first discovered by Washington during the Revolutionary War and became his personal assistant. Later in his life he became a delegate for New York in Congress and went to the Constitutional Convention. Hamilton thought humans were selfish and only did things for personal gain, federalists agreed. They did not want to give the people much power. They thought the government should be ruled by the “best people,” which they considered as educated, wealthy, and public-spirited men. The federalists wanted a strong national government, the state's rights were not as important to them. Hamilton wanted to expand the economy and increase its wealth by using the federal government to promote trade, businesses, and agriculture. Before he could do that, Hamilton had to think of a plan to pay off debts owed to the states and Congress from the Revolutionary War. He presented a plan in 1790. A lot of people opposed this plan. It was mostly southern states because a lot of them had already paid off their war debts. To get the South’s support Hamilton promised the capital would be in the South. The plan was passed. Next, Hamilton wanted to establish a national bank for printing money, collecting taxes, making loans, and given the nation its own currency. Although others argued against this saying that Congress didn’t have the power to establish a bank, Congress still approved it. This bank helped the economy grow and prosper. When the French Revolution started Hamilton hoped it would lead to an “establishment of free and good government.” Then in 1793 a war started between France and England. The Federalists supported England and Hamilton hoped that America would be a powerful and respected nation like England.
Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia and became a tobacco planter. Later in his life, he became a politician. He thought that humans were citizens who could make good decisions for the country and themselves. He thought our government should be a democracy with a small, weak national government. He thought America should have more power for the people by getting a stronger state government. He also thought our economy should stay centered around agriculture. To him and other Republicans, a national bank was unconstitutional and anti-farmer because they would not give loans to farmers for buying land. During the French Revolution Republicans supported France for trying to get freedom from Britain.
In 1793, Edmond Genet came to the U.S. as an official representative of the French government. His job was to convince Americans to join the French Revolution against Britain. The Republicans welcomed him as a hero. On his journey, he became disrespectful to George Washington and made speeches attacking Washington. Washington’s cabinet decided to have him removed and Secretary of State Jefferson asked the government in France to recall him.
In 1796, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson ran for president. Federalists supported Adams and Republicans supported Jefferson. Adams won the election and became president. Jefferson became vice president. Soon after Adams became president, the Federalists passed Alien and Sedition Acts. These four new laws made it hard for Republicans to win. Three of the laws were aimed at aliens and made it harder for them to vote. The aliens usually voted for the Republicans. The one other law was the Sedition Act, which made rebellion a crime. This meant “printing, writing, or speaking in a hateful way against the government” was illegal. This punished Republican newspapers because they enjoyed insulting Adams. Jefferson and Madison made a set of resolutions saying the Alien and Sedition Acts were against the Constitution. Only Virginia and Kentucky approved the resolutions and they became known as the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Since no other states approved, the protest died.
In 1800, the federal government moved to D.C. and it became the nation’s new capital. The move to D.C. was during the election of 1800. Republicans wanted Jefferson to become president and wanted a New York politician named Aaron Burr to run for vice president. Federalists wanted Adams to run for president again and Charles Pinckney to run for vice president. Jefferson promised a “frugal and simple” government. Adams wanted peace and prosperity. Their campaigns became based on insults. Republicans called Adams a tyrant and said he wanted a monarchy. Federalists called Jefferson a “howling atheist” and said he was going to “destroy religion, introduce immorality, and loosen bonds of all society. Federalists became divided in this election. Although some federalists wanted Adams to win, Hamilton and his followers didn’t support Adams because of their disagreements about the president’s foreign policy. Hamilton wanted Pinckney to win because he was more likely to value Hamilton’s advice. In 1801, there was a tie between Jefferson and Burr. Then the election was sent to the House of Representatives. They voted and Jefferson won the election.
In 1804, the 12th amendment was created. This made it so that the Electoral College has to make separate ballots for the president and vice president. If there is a tie, the House of Representatives choose from the top three candidates. If no one wins for vice president, the Senate chooses the vice president.
Jefferson and the Republicans won the election of 1800. This established a new system of government. “The Revolution of 1800” was made without war or physical violence. It showed Americans that we could have a peaceful revolution.