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Tariff of 1789
First major Act passed in the United States under its present Constitution of 1789 and had two purposes: "Whereas it is necessary for the support of government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures, that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandise:" -
First Cabinet Positions
On that day, the president of the United States sent his first cabinet nomination to the Senate for its “advice and consent.” Minutes later, perhaps even before the messenger returned to the president’s office, senators approved unanimously the appointment of Alexander Hamilton to be secretary of the treasury. -
Judiciary Act
It established the U.S. federal judiciary -
Philadelphia as the nations capital
President George Washington signed the act naming the land for the new capital into law -
First Bank of United States
Establishment of the bank was included in a three-part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power (along with a federal mint and excise taxes) championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. -
The Bill of Rights
In response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties, the Bill of Rights lists specific prohibitions on governmental power. -
Fugitive Slave law
Guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. -
French Revolution - Citizen Genet
French dispatched Edmond Charles Genêt, an experienced diplomat, as minister to the United States. The French assigned Genêt several additional duties: to obtain advance payments on debts that the U.S. owed to France, to negotiate a commercial treaty between the United States and France, and to implement portions of the 1778 Franco-American treaty which allowed attacks on British merchant shipping using ships based in American ports. -
Eli Whitney's Patent for the Cotton Gin
Designed to separate cotton fiber from seed, Whitney's cotton gin, for which he applied for a patent on October 28, 1793, and received a patent on March 14, 1794, introduced a new, profitable technology to agricultural production in America. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion demonstrated that the new national government had the willingness and ability to suppress violent resistance to its laws. -
Jay’s Treaty with England
This treaty, known officially as the "Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America" attempted to diffuse the tensions between England and the United States that had risen to renewed heights since the end of the Revolutionary War. -
Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain
It resolved territorial disputes between the two countries and granted American ships the right to free navigation of the Mississippi River as well as duty-free transport through the port of New Orleans, then under Spanish control. -
Farewell Address
Washington wrote the letter near the end of his second term as President, before his retirement to his home Mount Vernon. It is a classic statement of republicanism, warning Americans of the political dangers they can and must avoid if they are to remain true to their values. -
XYZ Affair
A political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the administration of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France that led to an undeclared war called the Quasi-War -
Alien Act, Sedition Act
Four bills that were passed by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress and signed into law by President John Adams in 1798, the result of the French Revolution and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. Authored by the Federalists, the laws were purported to strengthen national security, but critics argued that they were primarily an attempt to suppress voters who disagreed with the Federalist party -
Naturalization Act
Increased the period necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from 5 to 14 years. -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. -
"Midnight Appointments"/Judiciary Act of 1801
Represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century.
