1700-1800

  • Shay's Rebellion

    This Rebellion was a violent series of attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts.
  • The Federalist Papers

    The Federalist Paper were a collection of eighty-five essays published in New York newspapers written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. These essays were intended to convince New Yorkers to ratify the new Constitution.
  • Northwest Ordinance

    The confederation Congress passed the third major land policy, the Northwest Ordinance. This set forth two key principles: the new territories would eventually become coequal states, and slavery would be banned form the region north of the Ohio River. The Northwest Ordinance also states a promise, which would be repeatedly broken, that Indian lands "shall never be taken from them without their consent."
  • French Revolution

    The French Revolution sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed and to redefine the nature of political power.
  • Bill of Rights

    James Madison presented to Congress a set of constitutional amendments intended to protect individual rights. Congress later approved twelve amendments which is now known as the Bill of Rights.
  • Bank of the United States

    The Bank of the United States had three primary responsibilities, to hold the government's revenues and pay its bills, provide loans to federal government and to state-charted banks to promote economic development, and manage the nation's money supply by regulating the power of state-chartered banks to issue paper currency or banknotes.
  • Jay's Treaty

    The British wanted to incite Indian attacks on American settlements along the western frontier threatened to renew warfare between the old enemies.
  • Whiskey Rebellion

    Farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. The Whiskey Rebellion was the first domestic challenge to the federal government, and George Washington responded decisively.
  • Alien and Sedition Acts

    This Act confirmed Republican suspicions which was that Jefferson and other Republicans were convinced that the real purpose of the French crises was to give Federalists and excuse to quiet their American critics. These laws passed a wave of patriotic war, and gave the president extraordinary powers to violate civil liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.
  • Election of 1800

    Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the presidential election by an electoral vote of seventy-three to sixty-five.