Us History: The Federalist Era

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Daniel Shays

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Leader of a group of Massachusetts farmers and malcontents who, in 1786, forcibly undertook to close the close the courts in Massachusetts in order to save their property from foreclosure.

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Alexander Hamilton

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At the Annapolis Convention of 1786, he proposed holding another convention at Philadelphia to propose amendments to the Articles of Confederation. He was appointed as the first Secretary of the Treasury.

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James Madison, Jr.

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He is considered to be the "Father of the Constitution." He took notes at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, thus documenting what happened.

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Edmund Randolph

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He refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked a Bill of Rights. He is known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights." He was appointed as the first Attorney General.

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Citizen Edmond Genet

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He was a French envoy to the US, where he took advantage of his welcome as a hero to send out privateers and raising militia forces to fight the British. He became and embarrassment to the US and Washington demanded his recall.

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John Jay

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He was the first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and negotiated a treaty with Great Britain in 1794, which resulted in accusations that he had "sold out" to the British.

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Thomas Pinckney

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He negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo and was John Adams' running mate in the election of 1796.

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Thomas Jefferson

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He was appointed as the first Secretary of State.

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Henry Knox

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He was appointed as the first Secretary of War.

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Benjamin Lincoln

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He was the commander of the Massachusetts militia which put down Shays' Rebellion.

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John Dickinson

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He was the principal auther of the Articles of Confederation. He was,also, the principal author of the New Jersey Plan at the Constitutional Convention.

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Ben Franklin

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He chaired the Grand Committee at the Constitutional Convention which modified the Connecticut Compromise.

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Roger Sherman

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He proposed the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention.

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Gouvernor Morris

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He chaired the Committee on Style at the Constitutional Convention and prepared the final form of the Constitution. He was the author of the Preamble to the Constitution.

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Nathaniel Gorham

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He was the presiding officer at the Constitutional Convention when they formed themselves into a Committee of the Whole.

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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

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He was the crafty French foreign minister who was first hostile and then friendly to Americans during XYZ Affair.

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Articles of Confederation

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The first constitutional government for the United States.

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Northwest Territory

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The territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi Rivers governed by the Acts of 1785 and 1787.

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Shays' Rebellion

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A failed revolt in 1786 by poor debtor farmers that raised fears of "mobocracy."

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Large-State Plan

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Also known as the "Randolph Plan" or the "Virginia Plan," it was introduced at the Constitutional Convention to propose a bicameral legislature with representation based on population.

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Three-Fifths Compromise

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The compromise between the North and South that resulted in each slave being counted as 60% of a free person for the purposes of representation and taxation.

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Anti-Federalists

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The opponents of the Constitution who argued against creating such a strong central government.

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The Federalist Papers

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A series of pro-Constitution articles that were printed in New York.
Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

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Small-State Plan

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Also known as the "Paterson Plan" or the "New Jersey Plan," it was introduced at the Constitutional Convention to propose a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states regardless of size and population.

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Bill of Rights

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A list of guarantees that Federalists promised, in order to win ratification, to add to the Constitution.

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Society of the Cincinnati

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An exclusive order of military officers that aroused strong democratic opposition.

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Federalists

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Wealthy conservatives devoted to Republicanism who engineered a nonviolent political transformation of the United States.

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Electoral College

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The official body of voters, chosen by the states under the new Constitution, who in 1789 unanimously elected George Washington as president.

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Funding at Par

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Alexander Hamilton's policy of paying off all federal bonds at face value, with interest, in order to strengthen the national credit and the national government.

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Assumption

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Alexander Hamilton's policy of having the federal government take over and pay the financial obligations of the states.

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Proclamation of Neutrality

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A message issued by George Washington in 1793 that urged Americans to stay impartial and aloof from the French Revolution and their wars with the British.

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Jay's Treaty

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A document signed in 1794 whose terms favoring the British outraged the Jeffersonian-Republicans.

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Quasi-War

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An undeclared naval war between France and the US from 1789 to 1800.

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Compact Theory

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The political idea on which Jefferson and Madison based their anti-Federalist resolutions declaring that the 13 sovereign states had created the Constitution.

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Nullification

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The doctrine, proclaimed in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, that a state can block a federal law it considers unconstitutional.

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Alien and Sedition Acts

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Harsh and probably unconstitutional laws aimed at radical immigrants and Jeffersonian writers.

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Anti-Federalists
(party)

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Political party that believed in the common people, no government aid for business, and a pro-French policy.

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Federalists
(party)

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Political party that believed in a strong central government run by the wealthy, government aid to business, and a pro-British policy.

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Whiskey Rebellion

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A protest by poor western farmers that was firmly suppressed by Washington and Hamilton's army.

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X,Y,Z Affair

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This was a diplomatic episode in 1798 that worsened relations between France and the United States after three French agents attempted to extract bribes from American diplomats.

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Rule of 1756

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British policy which effectively shut off all foreign trade for the United States.