US History

U.S. History Study Guide

The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions The process of deciding on the constitutionality of federal laws was not defined. Since Jefferson and Madison decided that the state legislatures should have that power, they drew up a series of resolutions which were presented to the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures. They proposed that John Locke’s “compact theory” (people have the right to decide how they want to be governed) be applied, which would empower the state bodies to nullify federal laws within those states. These resolutions were adopted, but only in those two states, but a precedent was set in that would lead to the nullification controversy of the 1830s and finally in the secession crisis of 1860-61. 8.16 The Election of 1800 (The Revolution of 1800) The election of 1800 is often called the Revolution of 1800 because Jefferson was completely different in his thinking than his contemporaries, that he had an entirely new vision on how the United States should work. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran on the Republican ticket while John Adams and Charles Pinckney ran on the Federalist ticket. The Republican candidates won by wide margins, but both Burr and Jefferson received the same number of electoral votes, putting the selection of the president into the House of Representatives. After much debate, Alexander Hamilton backed Jefferson, and Burr had to accept the vice presidency. This increased the ill will between Hamilton and Burr which eventually contributed to their famous duel in 1804. Midnight Appointments Between December 12, 1800, when it became clear that Adams would not win the reelection, and the day of Jefferson's inauguration, March 4, 1801 Adams appointed a significant number of federal judges. These midnight appointments consisted exclusively of Federalists, most of who had strong ties to party members. Though Jefferson originally declared that he would not dismiss any Federalist appointees, he later revised this statement to protect only the appointees who did not fall into this category of midnight appointments. Packing the Judiciary The Federalist Congress passed a new Judiciary Act early in 1801 and President Adams filled the newly created vacancies with party supporters, many of them with last-minute commissions. John Marshall was then appointed Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, guaranteeing the continuation of the Federalist policies from the bench of the highest court. 8.17 The Jeffersonian Era, 1801-1817 Jefferson began a campaign to remove Adam's Midnight Appointments by impeachment. These last minute selections by Adams openly opposed Jefferson and were ardent Federalists who would not go along with Jefferson's vision, therefore Jefferson had to remove them. The threat had encouraged the judiciary to be less openly political due to partisan bias.

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