Growing Pains: The New Republic - Paper Example

In chapter 8, growing pains: the new republic; we are introduced to Thomas Jeffersons Embargo Act in 1807, an Act which bore a thorough effect on to the existing state of commerce in America. President Jefferson was aware of all complaints from American merchants and farmers. The citizens would argue on bitter grounds as it concerns to the scope and size of the new national government. These arguments began to birth forth transition in the national government. The 1790s began to witness a thorough rise in existing political parties that would oppose each other. The Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists rose from the ashes at this point. Federalists perceived uncontrolled democracy as a significant threat to the well-being of the nation. The Democratic-Republicans acted in opposition to the belief of the Federalists, stating that only those with good education were in charge of overseeing the government. The democratic-republicans perceived all this as a means of oppression that would birth forth aristocracy. These hardened differences between the democratic-republicans and the Federalists were as a result of the French Revolution that had established ground within the United States. The Federalists saw the French Revolution as an anarchy of its own, with much worry that Democratic-Republicanism were infiltrating such a disorder into the nation. The Democratic-Republicans applauded the peoples cry for equity and liberty. Jeffersons election into the presidency was considered a great revolution, as political powers shifted entirely from one political power to the other. The Federalists who had favored the urban class of citizens had now been dethroned. The new republic is a documentation of how the federal governments power was limited bringing forth significant slashing of taxes that had been created up by Adams while in power.

The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.The Kentucky Legislature on the 10th of November 1798 passed a series of resolutions as a vibrant protest against the Congress passed sedition acts. These resolutions were written down by Thomas Jefferson who was the president at the time. His entry into power brought an entire shift in the Federalist's dominion that had consumed the entire nation like a plague. The Kentucky resolutions which were made in the year 1798 perform a thorough expression of how Jefferson thought the Constitution ought to be implemented. In the presented document, Thomas Jefferson argues out openly on the principle of nullification and the compaction theory. He says that each State within the nation had the right to bring the constitutionality of all laws passed by the government since each state was a party to the constitution. This statement would mean that each state had an ability to declare any constitutionality of enacted laws as being void and unconstitutional. The Kentucky resolutions came in handy to save the nation from the control that had been posed to them by the federal government. George Washington and John Adams had been the image of the Federalists government before Jeffersons succession. Both presidents appointed federal judges into power in a move to consolidate all political power. The Kentucky resolutions were later followed up by Virginia resolutions the same year. The Virginia resolutions of 1798 were passed by the general assembly of Virginia. The Several States within the nation responded violently denouncing the Virginia resolutions. This made President Thomas Jefferson withhold his stand over the position of the Kentucky resolutions. The Kentucky resolutions, later on, declared the Alien Friends Act as being of no force thus void.