OMG! Marbury V. Madison!!!!

Alexander Hamilton was a big fan of Jefferson, so with Hamilton's influence, Jefferson became president. This made Burr pretty mad so they decided to have a duel. Burr won and Hamilton was dead. This was later the premise of a "Got Milk" commercial.

Along with Jefferson as president, there was a new Chief Justice in town, this was John "I'll still be talked about long after I'm dead" Marshall. He was involved in a lot of precedent setting matters such as.....

MARBURY V. MADISON!


Ok...in a nutshell....

Marbury was appointed a position by Adams at pretty much the last minute. Incoming Secretary of State James Madison refused to let the appointment go through. They went to court...and Marshall ruled in favor of Madison. So why is this important? Maybe one of the most important court cases ever? [46]

The concept is Judicial Review. This gave the court the power to review acts of Congress and the President to see if they were constitutional or not.

Score one for the Judiciary Branch!



[46] EVER!

Alien and Sedition Acts

Then during Adam's presidency there were 2 Acts that took effect that sort of dances with some Constitutional violations. What sort of a dance? A JIG!



The Alien Act authorized the President to arrest and deport immigrants who criticized the federal government. You may scratch your head and wonder what happened to the First Amendment.

Yes...the right to free speech, well..don't worry about it.


The Sedition Act was also pretty redic. It was made a crime for citizens to publicly discredit the federal government [45]. When it was all said and done, 10 people were convicted of Sedition. THE CONSTITUTION ROCKS!!!

Eventually these Acts were overturned by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Good job Virginia and Kentucky!

As it would turn out, these Acts and some taxes made Adams pretty unpopular. He lost the Election of 1800 to Thomas Jefferson. But this election was like no other election before. It was a tie! Yes, a tie, with Aaron Burr. To decide the tie they played 3 rounds of paper, rock, scicssors, this of course, is a lie.




[45] I think pretty much everyone would be arrested for this...

XYZ

John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 election. Adams carried the northern states while Jefferson carried the south, it was the red and blue map before CNN was around!

Back then whoever did not win the presidency became the VP, which was Jefferson, and it was kind of awkward.


Soon Adams found himself face to face with a French crisis.

In 1794 the Jay Treaty was made. This treaty said the British would leave forts and America would pay pre-war debts to Britain. The French were not happy, they said it violated a Treaty they made with the U.S.. So the French started seizing U.S. Ships.

Adams sent some of his peeps to France to talk this out. This didn't end well. Some French officials known as just "X,Y, & Z" demanded $250,000 in bribes. Things were tense between the US and France, this event was known as the XYZ Affair [44].



[44] Not to be confused for "Hey, XYZ", which usually means your pants are unzipped...you looked didn't you?

The Whiskey Rebellion and such

Farmers and settlers in rural Pennsylvania were not happy. They hated the tax on whiskey.


They hated it because they made whiskey and they made money off of whiskey. Everyone LOVED whiskey. So their reaction was to attack tax collectors and burn down barns!



These farmers also talked of creating their own nation. And then Washington steps in [40].

Washington came with a militia, the farmers were like, wow, we made him mad....crap. The farmers gave up and the rebellion was over. The lesson was learned; Do NOT mess with George Washington.

Washington dealt with other issues in his presidency...such as what to do when there is conflict abroad.

In 1789 the French Revolution began. This was an out right mess. Lots of people died and there were 95,000 new governments established in France [41]. Then France and England were at war [43]. Both Britain and France wanted the U.S. on their side. Washington opted to stay neutral. They were a new country, they had their own problems.

After 2 terms as president, Washington was done. In his farewell address he told the country to stay out of political parties, and foreign affairs [43].

After Washington was president in comes John Adams....


[40] He said, "Oh hell no"
[41] give or take a few
[42] as usual
[43] which of course we did....no...we didn't.

How Dare You Tax my Whiskey and Snuff!

Alexander Hamilton proposed 2 taxes. One would be a tariff. This is a tax on imported goods, like those Persian rugs you love so much. The second was an excise tax, this taxed liquor, sugar, snuff, and carriages. This was not popular.



Eventually, there was a compromise. The nations capital would be moved from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. This made the south happy, maybe those taxes weren't so terrible after all.



Then that Hamilton had another idea. He wanted a National Bank, was there anything in the Constitution about a bank? NO! But, Hamilton said it was covered under the necessary and proper clause.

Jefferson thought that was redic. But even though Jefferson felt this way, Washington still signed the bank bill and people no longer had to burry their money in a mason jar in the backyard [38]

So, we were on our way, things were going smoothly..oh, never mind, there's a bump in the road [39].

[38] Even though its how I prefer to do it..
[39] and it smells like whiskey

Ugghh again?

Now America had a Constitution, a Bill of Rights and we need the right guy to lead our awesome country. Who should this be? Why...George Washington, That's who!

On April 30th of 1789, Washington was inaugurated in New York City. It was a party, there were ever fireworks!


Washington named members of the very first cabinet [35]. This is a tradition that still happens today. The first members were Henry Knox [36], secretary of war, Thomas Jefferson, secretary state, Alexander Hamilton, secretary of treasury, and Edmund Randolph was attorney general.

After this, Congress met and the Judicial Branch was formed. And then...taxes [37]. Yes, again, the U.S. was in debt because of the Revolution.



[35] You can't keep cereal in this cabinet!
[36] The "Knoxinator"
[37] Again?!

A Break from Stick Figures...

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.- Ted Kennedy


Rest in Peace.