A few weeks before his term as president was over, John Adams signed into law the Judiciary Act of 1801, which reorganized the federal court system. The “midnight judges” were selected by President John Adams, who signed appointments up until midnight on his last day in office. President Jefferson refused to recognize their appointments, leading to the case Marbury v. Madison.
The Democratic-Republican Party was formed by Thomas Jefferson and others who believed in an agrarian-based, decentralized, democratic government. The party was established to oppose the Federalists who had supported and pushed through the ratification of the US Constitution. The party came into power with Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1801 and held the nation’s highest office through the election of Andrew Jackson in 1824. Jackson’s election was contentious, however, with the party dividing its support between him and John Quincy Adams....
The first Bank of the United States was chartered in 1791 with support from Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson and other small-government-minded politicians objected to the establishment of a national bank, arguing that it was not constitutional. The bank worked much in the way Hamilton envisioned, providing economic stability for the new country. In 1811, however, the bank ceased operation when Jeffersonian Republicans refused to renew its charter.
Samuel Chase (1741–1811) was a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1778) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though he opposed ratification, Chase was largely responsible for drafting clauses protecting trial by jury and freedom of the press. In 1796 he was appointed justice of the Supreme Court by Washington. Eight years later he was impeached at the behest of Thomas Jefferson, the Republican president, after Chase, a Federalist, spoke out against democratic “mobocracy” from the bench. Chase was not convicted, however,...
Aaron Burr (1756–1836) was an influential politican and the third vice president of the United States. Though he had a prominent career before his rivalry with Alexander Hamilton, Burr is best remembered for killing Hamilton in a duel in 1804. Burr was born in New Jersey and educated at Princeton (then the College of New Jersey). In 1775 he joined the Continental Army to fight in the Revolutionary War. After the war, Burr practiced law in New York City and in 1784 was elected to the state assembly. He continued his political career in the...
Benjamin Banneker (1731–1806) was an influential African American intellectual in early America. Born free in Maryland, Banneker became an accomplished mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, and writer. In 1791, Banneker was selected to be part of team approved by George Washington to survey and plan the new national capital at Washington, DC; a park in the city was eventually named in his honor. Banneker was best known for the almanacs he published from 1791 to 1797; he sent a copy of his first almanac to Thomas Jefferson, challenging the...
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) seized power in France at the end of the French Revolution and turned his focus toward expanding his empire. In 1803, Napoleon sold the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. Also in 1803, just before crowning himself emperor, Napoleon began waging wars for expansion, conquering most of Europe. Conflict between France and Great Britain complicated things for neutral America, with the warring countries placing restrictions on American trade. The United States responded to the restrictions with the...
Tecumseh (1768–1813) was a Shawnee leader who organized American Indian resistance to white expansion into Indian lands. Following the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, which gave the United States control of most of the Ohio Territory and which Tecumseh vehemently opposed, Tecumseh rose as a prominent American Indian leader. In 1805, his brother Tenskwatawa experienced a vision calling on his people to end their dependence on white traders and return to native ways. The brothers began to form a confederation to resist white incursion. Tecumseh...
Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) shaped the financial, political, and legal systems of the young United States. Born in poverty in the Caribbean, Hamilton was sent to New York to receive and education. He was sympathetic to the demands of rebellious colonists and he joined the militia when the Revolution began. In March of 1777 Hamilton was appointed to George Washington’s staff as an aide-de-camp and later distinguished himself at the Battle of Yorktown. He married Elizabeth Schuyler, of the eminent Schuyler family, and went on to serve in...