QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES 249 of Representatives to choose between them. After some delay that body elected Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia (1801). Aaron Burr, of New York, became Vice President. QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES Review Questions. What was the population of this country when Washington became President? Where were negroes to be found? What were the chief occupations in New England? What in the Middle States? Describe the pursuits of Southern people. What is said of city life at the end of the eighteenth century? Tell what you know of the organization of the new government. What is the Cabinet? Give an account of the revenue measures recommended by Secretary Hamilton. How do you account for the location of the capital on the Potomac? Tell the story of the Whisky Insurrection. What new states entered the Union? Who imposed peace on the Indians of Ohio? How many terms did Washington serve? In the war between England and France what position did Washington decide to take? Justify it. Discuss Jay's Treaty. Why did Washington decline a third term? Who succeeded him in the presidency? Tell the story of the X, Y, Z Mission to France. What caused the naval war with France? What were the Alien and Sedition Laws? What called forth the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions? Did the other states approve them? Explain the defeat of the Federalists. When did Washington die? Who was chosen President by the House of Representatives in 1801? References. McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol. I; Lodge, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton (American Statesmen); Morse, Thomas Jefferson, (American Statesmen); Henry Adams, A History of the United States, Vol. I. 1 To prevent such a contest in the future the Twelfth Amendment was made a part of the Constitution in 1804. Among other changes this required each presidential elector to vote for President and Vice President on separate ballots. Before this, the electors voted for two candidates without naming them for either office; the one receiving the highest number of votes was declared President, provided the number was a majority (more than half) of all the electors. CHAPTER XXI GOVERNMENT BY THE REPUBLICANS UNDER Jefferson and the Civil Service. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the greatest of American political thinkers, took the oath of office as President. The government having been for twelve years in Federalist hands, Jefferson on taking up his duties found in office but few members of his own party. Therefore, he deemed it necessary to make a number of changes. According to some authorities the removals numbered one hundred twenty.1 The Louisiana Purchase. The movement of population into the country beyond the Alleghenies (p. 219) was steadily building up new communities. The settlers took up the fertile lands along the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and other rivers. Their barns were soon filled with farm produce, but Spain owned New Orleans, the only port of deposit near the mouth of the Mississippi where they could transfer it to sea-going vessels and send it to market. Disputes with Spanish officers brought forcibly to the mind of President Jefferson the idea of purchasing New Orleans. But in 1801 Spain gave it, with all of Louisiana, back to France. At that time Napoleon, the ruler of France, was planning to build up a great French colony in the Mississippi Valley. Congress had placed at the disposal of the President a large sum for the purchase of New Orleans. When Livingston, our minister to France, was engaged on 1 Other writers estimate the number of removals under Jefferson at thirty-nine. The larger number, one hundred twenty, was less than a third of the appointive offices then in existence. this negotiation, Napoleon surprised him by offering to sell the whole of the Louisiana territory extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Monroe had. been sent over to assist Livingston, and jointly they made a SIGNING THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TREATY treaty agreeing to pay and When, in 1803, the United States had acquired the region between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, President Jefferson sent out an expedition to explore it. The party was in charge of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. Leaving St. Louis in 1804, they went up the Missouri to its source; then found the valley of the Columbia, which they explored to the Pacific. After spending the winter Out of the purchase have since been formed the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, the two Dakotas, and the greater part of Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. 2 In 1792, long before the arrival of Lewis and Clark in the Oregon country, Captain Robert Gray, in his ship Columbia, had discovered its great river and given it the name of his vessel. It is clear that the title conferred by his discovery was strengthened by that derived from exploration. Later the United States acquired other titles to that region. JEFFERSON'S POLICY 253 of 1805-6 near the coast, in the spring they set out on their return, and arrived at St. Louis in the autumn. Jefferson's Policy. As Jefferson was strongly opposed to ceremony, he declined at the opening of the sessions of Congress to appear before the members and deliver the usual address. Instead he sent a written message. Though in 1802 the United States Military Academy was founded at West Point, New York, on the Hudson River, the army was reduced. There was likewise an economy in the management of the navy. In fact, the expense of government was lessened generally, and certain taxes were removed. Jefferson's policy, which was to reduce expense, made it possible to save millions of dollars and to apply them to the payment of the public debt. In a word, he kept his promise to economize and made his first administration one of the most peaceful and prosperous that this nation has known. Growth of the Republic, 1790-1805. The fifteen years after Washington's inauguration witnessed many changes. The population had grown by 1800 to more than 5,000,000. Of these nearly 400,000 dwelt in the Western states and territories. Tennessee was admitted as a state in 1796, Ohio in 1803. Industrial Progress. Between 1790 and 1800 Samuel Slater, an Englishman, settled in the United States and built the first American mill for the working of cotton yarn. In the same decade Eli Terry commenced as a business the manufacture of clocks, but by far the most important improvement of that era was the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 by Eli Whitney. Formerly it had been found difficult to separate the seed from the fiber of the cotton, but after a short trial of the new machine it was seen that great quantities could easily be prepared for spinning. This discovery led to a more extensive cultivation of the |