John Adams's midnight judiciary appointments
1800-1801 Adams used his authority under the Judiciary Act of 1801 to pack the courts with Federalist judicial appointments during the final two months and up to the last days of his administration. He believed a Federalist judiciary was necessary to offset an incoming president (Thomas Jefferson) and Congress dominated by one party, the Democratic-Republicans.
Judiciary Act of 1801
One of the last important laws passed by the expiring Federalist Congress. It created 16 new federal judgeships and other judicial offices. This was Adams's last attempt to keep Federalists power in the new Republican Congress. His goal was for federalists to dominate the judicial branch of government.
Repealed in 1802
Yazoo Land Compromise
controversy over land that had been sold through the bribery of a state legislature
Marbury v. Madison
The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, (the Judiciary Act of 1789).
The U.S., under Jefferson, bought the Louisiana territory from France, under the rule of Napoleon, in 1803. The U.S. paid $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase, and Napoleon gave up his empire in North America. The U.S. gained control of Mississippi trade route and doubled its size.
Justice Samuel Chase
Associate justice of the Supreme Court and signer of the Declaration of Independence, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1791 by Washington, and was impeached for his criticism of President Jefferson. Chase was defended strongly, and was later acquitted by the Senate.
Jilted presidential nominee, he duels and kills Hamilton and attempts to create a revolution in the West
Lewis and Clark Expedition
an expedition sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the northwestern territories of the United States
1807 - The American ship Chesapeake refused to allow the British on the Leopard to board to look for deserters. In response, the Leopard fired on the Chesapeake. As a result of the incident, the U.S. expelled all British ships from its waters until Britain issued an apology.
Act that forbade the export of goods from the U.S. in order to hurt the economies of the warring nations of France and Britain. The act slowed the economy of New England and the south. The act was seen as one of many precursors to war.
1809 - Replaced the Embargo of 1807. Unlike the Embargo, which forbade American trade with all foreign nations, this act only forbade trade with France and Britain. It did not succeed in changing British or French policy towards neutral ships, so it was replaced by Macon's Bill No. 2.
Macon's Bill No. 2
reopened trade with everyone, and if either Britain or France repealed commerical restrictions, America would restore the trade restrictions against the other
Battle of Tippecanoe
1811 Tecumseh and the Prophet attack, but General Harrison crushes them in this battle ends Tecumseh's attempt to unite all tribes in Mississippi.
Orders in Council
edicts that closed European ports to foreign shipping unless they stopped first in a British port
War of 1812
a war (1812-1814) between the United States and England which was trying to interfere with American trade with France
warship which defeated the British Warship Guerriere in 1812 -- called "Old Ironsides"
Battle of Lake Eerie
Oliver Hazard Perry led a small fleet to meet the British on September 10. This battle ended when the British surrendered. Perry's victory forced the British to withdraw, giving the U.S. Army control of the lake and new hope.
Battle of the Thames
William Henry Harrison pushed up the river Thames into Upper Canada and on October 4, 1813, won a victory notable for the death of Tecumseh, who was serving as a brigadier general in the British army. This battle resulted in no lasting occupation of Canada, but weakened and disheartened the Indians of the Northwest.
Battle of Bladensburg
American Defeat in war of 1812 in Maryland. This allowed the Brits to enter Washingon (James Madison and wife fled to Virginia), and burn the whitehouse.
Meeting by Federalists dissatisfied with the war to draft a new Constitution; resulted in seemingly traitorous Federalist party's collapse
Treaty of Ghent
December 24, 1814 - Ended the War of 1812 and restored the status quo. For the most part, territory captured in the war was returned to the original owner. It also set up a commission to determine the disputed Canada/U.S. border.
Battle of New Orleans
Jackson led a battle that occurred when British troops attacked U.S. soldiers in New Orleans on January 8, 1815; the War of 1812 had officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in December, 1814, but word had not yet reached them
Second Bank of the United States
chartered in 1816, much like its predecessor of 1791 but with more capital; it could not forbid state banks from issuing notes, but its size and power enabled it to compel the state banks to issue only sound notes or risk being forced out of business.
1817; The US and British agreed to set limits on the number of naval vessels each could have on the Great Lakes.
gave America fishing rights in Newfoundland, fixed boundaries between Canada, opened the Oregon Territory
Treaty signed in 1819 between the U.S. and Spain in which Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. and agreed to a southern border of the U.S. west extending all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
Supreme Court ruled that a private corporation could not be altered by the state.
McCulloch v. Maryland
Maryland was trying to tax the national bank and Supreme Court ruled that federal law was stronger than the state law
an agreement in 1820 between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States concerning the extension of slavery into new territories