Alyssa's personal timeline, a place to collect and share things from Alyssa's life.
Created by aburgesssvms on Nov 10, 2008
Last updated: 11/17/09 at 03:32 AM
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Presedential election between Barack Obama and John McCain. Barack Obama won.
The Monroe Doctrine was an exlusive statement of American policy warning European powers not to interfere with the America's. President James Monroe settled U.S. foreign policy in Latin America in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Monroe stated this during his annual message to Congress. The document had four main points. The first was that the United States wouldn't interfere with affairs in the Eurpoean nations. Second, the document stated that the Unitied States would recognize, but not interfere, with colonies already in North and South America. Third, it said that the Western Hemisphere was not to be colonized by any foriegn power. At last but not least, the fourth main was that the U.S. would think about any European power's attempt to colonize or interfere with any place on the Western Hemisphere to be a warlike act. Most European nations didn't attempt to challenge this document despite the fact that some European nations disliked the document. The Monroe Doctrine has been very important to the United States foriegn policy. Foreign policy is described in the second article in the constitution.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/monroe.asp
The Missouri Compromise settled the conflict that had arisen from Missouri's application for statehood. This compromise banned slavery in the region north of 36 degrees and 30 degrees North. This had three main points. The first said that Missouri was going to enter the Union as a slave state. This was a problem because the Union had 11 slaves states and 11 free states. If they added another slave states it would throw off the balance. The second point was a resolvment to this problem. It stated that Maine would change to a free state so that Missouri could be a slave state. That ways, the number would stay even of slave states and free states. The third main point said that slavery would be prohibited in any new territories and or states that form north of 36 & 30 degrees latitude. This set longitude-latitude line was the border of Missouri. Even though the compromise had much success there were still disagreements between North and South over the expansion of slavery. Slavery is not stated anywhere in the constitution but dealiong with disputes among states is. It is in the fourth article in the constitution.
http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/200303.html
The Adams-Onis Treaty settles all border disputes between Spain and the Unites States. The treaty got it's name from John Quincy Adams and Luis de Onis. John Quincy Adams was the son of John and Abigail Adams. Luis de Onis was a Spanish diplomat. The two talked about letting the Americans settle in Florida. President James Monroe ordered troops to the U.S.-Florida border. The army was led by Andrew Jackson. Meanwhile, the United States started having problems with the Seminole Indians who lived in Florida. They had problems with them because they often helped runaway slaves and raided U.S. settlements. Jackson's troops went into Florida to capture the Indians in April 1818. Once there, the troops destroyed almost all for the Spanish military posts and they even overthrew the Spanish governor. Jackson ordered the troops to do all of these things without the order from President Monroe. The Spanish were not happy with Jackson's troops at all but most American's supported him. After Jackson's being in Florida, he convinced the Spanish to negotiate something. That’s when the two counties signed the Adams-Onis Treaty on 1819. This meant that the United States got East Florida but in return they had to give up present day Texas and they also agreed to pay $5 million of U.S. citizens claims against the Spanish.
http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/adamonis.htm
Just like the Rush-Bagot Agreement, the Convention of 1818 discussed the rights of fishing for the United States and British Canada. It is also like the Rush-Bagot Agreement because it deals with foreign affairs in which is stated in the first article of the constitution. The Convention of 1818 set the border between the U.S. and Canada at 49 degrees north as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Also in this agreement is the resolved issue of fur trade in the Oregon Country. The two countries agreed to occupy the Pacific Northwest. This is an agreement that would be tested in the next few years.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001893
The Rush-Bagot Agreement limited the Great Lakes naval power for both the United States and British Canada. Despite the fact that the War of 1812 had ended, America still faced problems with other nations. For example, the United States and British Canada both wanted their naval fleet and fighing rights the same in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are located on the border of Michigan and Canada. Since it was on both of their coasts, they wanted the same rights. During the spring of 1817, both nations compromised with the Rush-Bagot Agreement. Solving conflicts with foreign nations is stated in the first article uinder the constitution.
http://www.aandc.org/research/rush-bagot_agreement.html
James Monroe was elected president in 1816. Former presidents, Jefferson and Madison preferred Monroe for president. Monroes biggest opponent was Rufas King. King was a Federalist Senator from New York. Since the Federalists reputation had been destoryed during the War of 1812, the election was very one-sided. James Monroe won a huge majority of the electoral votes. Monroe got 183 of 217 electoral votes.
The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24th, 1814 in Belgium and it officially ended the War of 1812. Because news traveled very slow back then, neither Jackson or any of Federalists knew that the War of 1812 had ended. Both nations returned all the land that they had conquered and won. Although this did not mean everything was back to normal. This war gave many American's feelings of patriotism because they stood up to the British. Many Native American groups were broken up during the war. Manufacturing in America was restored because of the lack of goods.
http://war1812.tripod.com/treaty.html
Since When the Americans found themselves in the middle of a war with the greatest army nation in the world at the time, they knew that it wasn't going to be a fast, easy battle. The fight began while at sea. The British had hundreds of ships while the American's had less than twenty and none were as powerful as the British. Although, the American’s had a small advantage because most of the British ships were spread out around the world. Even though the American ships were small, the sailors were very well trained and they had some brand new ships, like the USS Constitution. When American ships defeated the British several times, Britain was very embarrassed and the American morale value was raised. Next, battles were fought near Canada. The Americans planned three different attacks. All three of them failed to succeed for different reasons. In 1813, the Untied States attacked again but this time their goal was to seize Lake Erie from Britain. This task was given to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Perry sailed out to meet the British on September 10, beginning the Battle of Lake Erie. This battle ended when the British surrendered. This defeat gave the American's even more hope. Many more events happened all the way throughout the year 1815. Things like the death if Tecumseh and The Creek War. In The Creek War, Andrew Jackson gathered over 2000 volunteers and attacked along the Tallapoosa River. Jackson's troops won this war. The Treat of Fort Jackson, signed in late 1814, signed the Creek War and forced the Creek to give up millions of acres of their land. Finally, the Battle of New Orleans made Andrew Jackson a hero and was the last major battle of the Way of 1812. In the second article of the constitution, it states the rules for war.
http://www.gatewayno.com/history/War1812.html
When William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana Territory, started to become convinced of Tecumseh, the cheif of the Shawnee tribe, having British backup, they ended in a war. Once Harrison was convinced of Tecumseh's backup, he met up with him in person. Harrison tried to tell him to follow the Treaty of Greenville and not go into American lands. Tecumseh said that the white people had no right in taking any American Indians land because they had it first. Tecumseh was worried a war would brake out so he went to the south to ask the Creek nation to help and join his forces. While he was in the south, Harrison attacked on his tribe. Lots of fighting broke out when Prophetstown called for an attack on Harrison's camp. Even when the Indians came through Harrison's camp, he kept it calm. When U.S. forces defeated Tecumseh and his followers became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. After the battle, all of Tecumseh's dreams were crushed and he fled to Canada.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1017.html
James Madison won the election of 1808 for president. Thomas Jefferson followed Washington's precedent of only serving for two four year terms. Madison was part of the Democratic-Republic political party. all together, Madison, Clinton, and Langdon won 122 of the electoral votes. The voting of the electoral college is described in the second article in the constitution. The Federalists party only got 47electoral votes. When Madison became president he had a lot to deal with. He had to continue the war on trade that Jefferson had started in his presidency. Next, Madison made a brave decision since he was a new president. In 1812, Madison decided that Congress should get to have a say in whether we go to war. He had them vote on whether or not they thought America should go to war. When Congress voted a couple days later, the War Hawks won. The War Hawks were young members of Congress who took the lead in calling for war against Britain. Now, for the first time in American history, Congress had declared war. Once Madison was reelected as president in 1812, he served as commander in chief during the War of 1812
http://www.multied.com/elections/1808.html
After the United Sates passed the Neutality Act, Great Britain made a huge deal about it. This sparked a big debate in America wabout what to do. Some people wanted to go to war and then some wanted an embargo agaisnt Britain. An embargo is the banning of trade. Jefferson was relected as president in 1804 and he suported embargo. In 1807, Congress passed the Embargo Act. This law banned trade with all foreign countries. After this, American ships could not go to foreign ports and all American ports were closed to British ships. Soon after this Act had tooken effect, Jefferson received many petitions to try to get him to repeal the embargo. The reason why people wanted him to do this is because it hurt the countries economy greatly. Northen states that relied heavily on trade got hit very hard by this act. An Englandler once said the Embargo Act was like, "cutting one's throat to stop the nosebleed". Something even worse for the United States is that their embargo didn't even barely hurt or affect Britain. Finaly, Congress tried to do something to help counteract the umpopular embargo. They passed the Non-Interocurse Act. This act banned trade only with Britain, France, and their colonies. This act also stated that the United States would keep trading with the first side that stopped violating the Neutrality Act. Nevertheless, this cat did not solve anything; it was just as ridiculous as the Embargo Act.
http://www.rkci.org/library/gsp/early/nonintercourseact.htm
On October 20th, 1803, the Senate approved the agreement of the Louisiana Purchase, which roughly doubled the size of the United States. In the early 1800's,the Spanish gave Louisiana to the French. France, at the time, was led by Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a very powerfull and he had already taken over much of Europe because he dreamed of rebuilding France's North America empire. He was going to the French colony, Haiti, as a base for supplies. He sent his troops from there to North America but some enslaved Africans freed themselves on the way. Although, his troops were defeated in 1802 and this defeat crushed Napoleon's dreams of rebuilding. After this had happened, the Americans ambassador was surpringly offered all of Louisiana by the French foreign minister, Charle sTalleyrand, when the America's tried to buy New Orleans. This was an amazing offer so the American's took it right away. The French offered to sell Louisiana for $15 million. Once Jefferson cought wind of this offer he was both happy and troubled. His first thought was that this purchasing of foreign land was not in the constitution anywhere. Alos, he did not like to spend a huge amount of public money but Jefferson agreed to the offer because he thought it was best for the country. The French now had $15 million in their bank and this made Napoleon very happy!
http://www.gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html
Marbury v. Madison was a case that helped establish the Supreme Court's power to check the power of the other branhces of government. It all started once the Judiciary Act of 1801, that created 16 new federal judgships, passed. It passed right before the end of Adam's term. Thinking that he would be president for another term, Adam's placed other Federalists in these open judgeships. He appointed some of the judges so close to the end of his office they are called mignight judges because it was said that Adam's chose them the nigth before he resigned. Some of the documents that authorized the new judges didn't come in until Jefferson was president. This became a huge conflict. When a judge, William Murbury, appointed by former president Adams asked for his documents, the Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to give them to him. Jefferson argued that the appointments of the midnight judges made by Adam's were not valid. Murbury sued and asked the Supreme Court to order Madison to give him the documents. John Marshall, the chief justice, agreed to hear the case, but he noted that in the third article of the constituion it states that the Supreme Court can only take certain types of cases; this case was not one of them which therefore ma edit unconstitutional. Afters this, the Court avoided confrontation with Jefferson's administation to ask for the documents. The most important value that came out of this case is the Courts power of judicial review-the power to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0831715.html
Thomas Jefferson was elected president in the Election of 1800 agaisnt John Adams and Thomas Pinckney. Jefferson and Aaron Burr won with 73 electoral votes each. Adams had 65 votes and Pinckney had 64 votes. There was a problem though, the constituion states ( article two) that the candidate with the highest number of votes gets to be president but Jefferson and Burr had tied votes. The decision was made by the House of Representatives as called for in the constitution. The House had no luck though. After voting several times, each ended in ties. Finally Jefferson won the majority vote on the thirt-sixth vote. In this election, the Untied States president at the time, John Adams, lost his role as president when the electoral college did not relect him, instead they elected Thomas Jefferson. Since the governemnt did not impeach or declare his laws unconstituional, John Adam's was still our president despite the fact that nobody liked how he lead our country. Although, when Thomas Jefferson was elected president, everyone was happy to get rid of Adams. Because of all the problems within the last election, Congress proposed the Twelfth Amendement. The twelfth ammendment was on how to elect presidents and vice presidents. It created a separate ballot for president and vice president. This amenment was passed by Congress on Decmeber 9th, 1803 and was ratified on June 15th, 1804.
http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/a/electionof1800.htm
The XYZ Affair was what the French demanded a bribe came to be called. One of the first things Adam's wanted to do once he became president is smooth things over with France. He sent diplomats over seas to try to negotiate a treaty to protect U.S. shipping. He wanted to talk to the French foriegn minister, Talleyrand, but he refused to speak to him. Instead, three secret French agaents talked with them in a strange meeting. The secret agents said that Talleyrand would talk about a treaty in opne condition. The French asked for $250,000 bribe and the French governemnt wanted a $12,000,000 loan. The diplomats were amazed that the French would ask for soemthing like that. Adam's let CFongress know that the peace making mission failed to occur. He explained what had happened in France and substitiued the names of the French agaents for the letters X. Y, and Z. This is how the affair got it's name. Once COngress got hold of th news, Fedralists called for a with France. This angered many Americans. They started a rally chant, " Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!". This whole situtation was ok for Adam's to deal with because it states in the second article in the constituion that the president can deal with foriegn affairs.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h465.html
Congress passed four laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The laws were said to protect United States, but the Federal government actually passed them to crush opposition in war. They wanted to do this because many Democratic-Republicans still symplathized with France. This angered the Ferderalists so they started to call them, "democrats, mobocrats, and all other kinds of rats." The first law that was published on June 18th, was the Naturalization Act that required aliens to be residents for 14 years instead of 5 years before they became eligible for U.S. citizenship. Next, Congress passed the Alien Act on June 25th,that allowed the President to banish aliens "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States" during peacetime. The third law was the Alien Enemies Act passed on July 6th. This law said that during war times aliens could be arredted and deported if the U.S. felt that they were a threat or a spy for an enemy country. The last law upset and affected the most people; it was the Sudition Act. It didn't allow anyone to publish or voice anyhting bad about the federal government. The reason why this upset many people is because it went against the peoples rights in the first amendment (freedom of speech and freedom of the press).
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/sedition/
The Kentucky and Virginia Rsolutions were documents that argued that the Aliens and Sedition Acts were uncontitutional. They were written by two main Democratic-Republicans, Thomas Jefferson and James Madsion. They believed the Alien and Sedition Acts served as a misues of the federal governement on the states powers. Their resolutions were passed by the Kentucky government in November 1798 and they pased in Virginia in early 1799. In their resolutions, it stated that the federal governemnt could not do this because it interfered with the state government. Once they published their resolutions, Madsion and Jefferson thought that Congress could repeal the Alien and Sedition Acts, but they didn't. Instead, they made the acts expire after a few years. Despite the fact that the resolutions didn't change the law, it gave the that states could challenge the federal government and this would be extremely important in the early 1800's.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-KentuckyNV.html
The election in 1796 was the first election were there was more than one candidate. Even though political parties had formed when Washington was president they hadn't been in an election going agaisnt each other yet. Political parties are groups that help elect people and shape policies. The two main parties were Federalists who wanted the federal government to have more power and the Demoracrtic-Republican Party that wanted to limit the federal governments power. The candidates for the Federalist Party were John Adams and Thomas Pinckney. The Demorcatic-Republican Party chose Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr as candidates. In the end, Adam's defeated Jefferson with 71 electoral votes. Jefferson was very close with 68 votes. In the constituion it sated that the lectprs had to place one name on their ballot and the person wioth the highest num,ber of votes would win presidency (in article two). Back then the runner up became the vice president so after running agaisnt each other for months, the two worked together in office. Once Adam's was president, ge knew that he had big shoes to fill because of how the people looked at Washington in adorement. John Adam's was not the first person anyone woould choose as president but still, many people respected him for his hard work, honesty, and intelligence.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h458.html
Pinckney's Treaty was a treasty that settled the border and trade disputes with Spain. American businesses started having economic problems because of the closing of New Orleans and the Mississippi River ports. Washington asked Abbassador Thomas Pinckney to ask the Spaniards to reopen the ports so the Americans' boats could transfer goods into New Orleans without paying cargo fees. Washington was able to do this because it states in the second article in the constituion that the president can make treaties with foriegn affairs. The Spanish minister Manuel de Godoy didn't want to sign the treaty to quick because he thought that Pinckney might give in and sign a treaty that sided with the Spanish. He didn't wnat the United States and Britain to go agaisnt them after Jay's Treaty was passed. But finaly in October 1795 Godoy agreed to thew treaty and the United States southern boundary was set to 31' N latitude. Spain also opened up their port in New Orleans for American ships.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h454.html
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was fought against the Native Americans and General Anthony Wayne's troops. The battles was called this because of all the trees that had been destroyed by a tornado in the area they fought. Wayne's troops burned down the Natives villages and fields. The Indian's soon lost their land to the American's by signing the Treaty of Greenville. General Wayne was able to present thios treaty becaus ethe president (Washington) appointed him to present the treaty as stated in the second article in the constituion. This teaty gave the Unitied States claim to most Indian lands in the Northwest Territory. This treaty guarenteed the American's safety and in exchange the Native American's got $20,000 worth of goods. It was called the Treaty of Greenville because when Wayne's troops moved noth, they built a fort they called Fort Greenville.
http://www.fallentimbersbattlefield.com/
Jay's Treaty settled the disputes that had arisen between the United States and Great Britiain in the early 1790's. Because of the United States new found neutrality, the British threatened them many times. The Britsh knew that the U.S. didn't have a strong army and that we relied on their resources but they did not want to start another war. Washinton also did nto want to start another war so he sent then Cheif Justice John Jay to London to work somethign out. In November both sides signed Jay's Treaty. The British aggreed to pay any damages they made and the Americans agreed to pay for their debts owed to Britiain. Once approved, some people were not happy that Washington didn't ask the British to repay them for the slaves they had set free during the Revolutionary War. Washington was not thoroughly happy with the treaty but he believed it was needed. This power is stated in the second article in the constituion.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/jaytreaty/
The Whiskey Rebellion, in 1794, was when farmers lashed out agaisnt the tax on whiskey. This battle started when COngress passed a tax on American-made whiskey in March 1791. They did this because whhiskey ebcame as valuable as money. According to Hamilton, this tax was supposed to raise money to help pay off the federal debt and to test the federal governments power to control the states' actions. In western Pennsylvania, people (mostly farmers) were not happy with this tax. Farmers believed the tax was aimed directly at them. Framers who made a small amount of whiskey thought they should be able to keep the money they made on goods they created themselves. These complaints were at first shown peacfully but by 1794 a fighting had broke out and spred to other states. Washington thought that the rebels threatened the federal government so he sent the army in military action agaisnt the rebellion. He wanted to make sure people knew that he had the right to pass and enforce the law as stated in the second article in the constituion. He is the only president ever to do this. When the army of 13,000 men reached Pennsylvania in November 1794 most rebels had left. The rebellion ened without any battles.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/whiskey/
The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the Judicial Branch of our government. This law was approved on September 24, 1789 and gave detail on exactly what the judicial branch is in charge of. It noted that the branch could settle disputes between the states and that the decision they make is final. It gave a set number of Supreme Court justices and the number of lower district courts just like in the third article in the constituion. The president would nominate candidates for judgeship and they had to be approved or rejeted by the house or Senate.
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/judiciaryactdef.htm
The French Revolution was a rebellion of French people against their king in 1789. It all started with when the french invaded and captured the Bastille-a hated fortress and prision that stood as a symbol of sole and might power. The citizens of Paris then overthrew their king and created a republican government inspired by the American Revolution. This worried some americans because they didn't want to get involed in another fight/war. Americans were surprised when the French beheaded King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Anntoinette. Some Americans supported the French and some others suported the British. This created a dispute between Congress adn Washington's cabinet. So, inspite of these uprising arguments, Washington stated the Neatrality Proclamation was the way to go. This law stated that the United States would not take sides with any European countries that were at war. Now because of this many cabinet members, including James Madison, thought Washiongton had gone out of his authority and soon questioned him. Washington was allowed to deal with foreign affairs as stated in the second article in the constitution.
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html
On April 30th, 1789, George Washington took the oath to be the United States first president. He did not intend to be president but his fellow citizens called him to office. They believed in him and saw him as a strong leader because he fought against Britain for their freedom as head of the Continental Army. When the electoral college unanimously voted on whether he would be president, Washington won 69 votes. The electoral college is a body of electors chosen by the voters in each state to elect the President and Vice President of the U.S. The electoral college is described in the second article in the constitution. George Washington became our first president. He sreved as president from 1789-1797.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html
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