Adams and Hamilton: Architects of Centralized Federal Authority

After George Washington left office, the second president of the United States, John Adams came into office in 1797. John Adams was a federalist and a pessimistic president, he was skeptical about society and believed they need to be governed. In 1798, congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts signed in to law by John Adams. These acts were passed in preparation for an anticipated war with France and asserted power to a centralized government. Like John Adams, Alexander Hamilton is one of our founding fathers of the constitution. He is a federalist and believed in an economy built on independence. Together, Adams and Hamilton had a vision of a centralized federal authority. A centralized federal authority being a government that is safest in the hands of wealthy and independent individuals. A challenge to this is the ability of the states to override the authorities. The national bank was created by Alexander Hamilton to stabilize and improve the nations economy. The national bank can solidify the control of federal authority by buying up the states debts. The federal government will buy the debt and owe the money instead, so it ties the states to the success of the federal government. The creation of the national bank allows the federal government to be dominant over the states.

Thomas Jefferson became the third president in office in 1801. Thomas Jefferson was a democratic-republican and antifederalist. Thomas Jefferson believed in a world with an open society were people do not need to be governed, they need to be free to be successful. A future with no slavery and men did everything for themselves. Along with the Virginia Dynasty, Thomas Jeffersons vision was to expand land therefore Jefferson negotiated with Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 and received a big piece land and this came to be know as the Luisiana Purchase. Jefferson knew he had "done an act beyond the constitution(238)" yet he also knew that the outcome would be of much benefit. One problem with the idea of expansion was foreign powers being an obstacle. Since the purchase, this expansion would bring Americans to closer contact with people from other nations. Also, people where already trading with other foreign nations. The Embargo Act was first issued by Jefferson to deal with foreign powers by cutting off all foreign trade but it became a major issue and was more harmful than helpful. Later when James Madison became president in 1808 he annexed Baton Rouge in to the American territory, this annexation showed how far and willing they will go to acquire land without embroiling the nation in war. This created a pattern future filibusters could emulate. Following Madison, James Monroe came into office in 1817, also being Virginia decent, wrote the Monroe Doctrine after the war of 1812 in 1823. The Monroe Doctrine was written to state that the United States will handle its own affairs and Europe should handle theirs.

John Quincy Adams came in to office in 1825 and was later succeeded by the seventh U.S president, Andrew Jackson in 1829. Both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson wanted equal rights and opportunities for white men. He believed that it was constitutional and crucial for the government to sponsor programs to improve society like constructions of roads and canals, but lack of federal founding prevented him from doing this. For this reason, John Quincy Adams introduced the Tariff of 1828 which was able to use the tax collected from it to cover for all of the internal improvements. Andrew Jacksons saw white male progress as a vision for the future and this consisted of them moving to the areas where the civilized tribes inhabited but Native Americans hindered this vision. For this matter Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Acts off 1830, allowing the government to forcibly remove any Native American The Indian Removal Act overturned the attitude that Washington saw for the future which aimed at acculturation.

America slowly moved from a struggling republic to a thriving Atlantic power through acts and establishments, for example the Alien and Sedition Act.

The Alien and Sedition act established a sense of security though the Alien Friends Act but it also established immigration in America through the Naturalization Act. Another example being the Monroe Doctrine setting a standard with foreign relations. The Monroe Doctrine set a a neutrality in regards to future European dilemmas and in a friendly manner asked Europe to stay out of their business. Through the Luisiana purchase the U.S was able to expand its territory and gain control of more land and of the people living in the

land.