Alexander Anderson's Cartoon Dbq

The Revolution of 1800 was a turning point for American politics as power peacefully transitioned from the federalist party to the democratic-republican party when Thomas Jefferson, a democratic republican, won the election against John Adams. Adams lost the election because his support decreased after he went against his party’s advice to go to war with France. The French revolution created another divide between federalists and democratic-republicans as the federalists sided with the British and the democratic republicans sided with the French. Along with differences about the French Revolution, the Federalist party had opposing ideas of a strong central government, loose construction of the Constitution, and support of a market economy compared to the democratic republicans who supported strong state

governments, a strict interpretation of the Constitution and an agrarian economy. In order to protect the federalist ideals and power while the Democratic-Republicans held executive power, Adams appointed John Marshall and other federalist judges to the Supreme Court. Marshall strengthened federal and judiciary power through his court decisions.
The Democratic Republican party platform greatly changed after the revolution of 1800 by embracing a much more diverse economy, while also accepting a looser construction of the Constitution and stronger national government power than it advocated for in the 1790’s. The political cartoon created by Alexander Anderson demonstrates how the Democratic-Republican party experienced change in their core values (Document A).

The historical context of Alexander Anderson’s cartoon from 1808 relates to the Embargo Act enacted by Jefferson which forbid exports of all goods from the U.S., in hopes of hurting the British and French economy and resulting in the end of impressments on American ships, however the American economy was negatively impacted and the Act particularly hurt farmers in the south. Alexander Anderson’s cartoon demonstrates change in the Democratic-Republican core values because the Embargo Act benefited a manufacture economy since the agrarian economy was dependent on exporting goods to other countries, the Embargo Act was created using a loose interpretation of the Constitution, and increased the power of the national government by cutting off all trade. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 is another example of how Democratic-Republican core values changed after the Revolution of 1800. The Louisiana Purchase was a purchase between Napoleon and America in which America doubled its size and gained control over the Mississippi River. The Louisiana

Purchase demonstrates how the Democratic-Republican core values changed because the Constitution does not specifically state that the government could buy or acquire land, meaning that Jefferson purchased the land using a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The 2nd National Bank is another example of how the Democratic-Republican core values changed. Signed by James Madison in 1816 after the war with England, the 2nd national bank had the power to regulate state banks, issue capitol and provide basic financial needs for a central government. The 2nd national bank demonstrates how the Democratic-Republican core values changed because in the 1790’s the idea of a national bank was rejected by the Democratic-Republican party since they believed the national bank would give the central government too much power and the Constitution did not specifically state anything about creating a national bank. The Democratic-Republican party platform changed as they encouraged a diverse economy, looser interpretation of the Constitution, and a stringer national government through the Embargo Act, the Louisiana Purchase, and the creation of the 2nd national bank.