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Tariff of 1789
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 -
Judiciary Act, 1789
The bill was principally written by Senator Oliver Ellsworth from Connecticut
It established the U.S. federal judiciary. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution prescribed that the "judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court," and such inferior courts as Congress saw fit to establish -
The first cabinet positions—treasury, war, state, attorney general
Secretary of State (Thomas Jefferson)
Secretary of Treasury (Alexander Hamilton)
Secretary of War (Henry Knox)
Attorney General (Edmund Jennings Randolph) -
Philadelphia as the nation’s capital, 1790
A mansion at 6th & Market Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania served as the executive mansion for the first two Presidents of the United States, while the permanent national capital was under construction in the District of Columbia -
First Bank of United States , 1791-1811 (Report on Public Credit, Report on Manufactures)
The Bank prospered for twenty years and performed traditional banking functions in exemplary fashion. With a main office in Philadelphia and eight branches nationwide to serve its customers, the Bank’s influence stretched along the entire Atlantic seaboard from Boston to Charleston and Savannah and westward along the Gulf Coast to New Orleans. -
The Bill of Rights, 1791
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. Written by James Madison in response to calls from several states for greater constitutional protection for individual liberties
The House approved 17 amendments. Of these 17, the Senate approved 12. Those 12 were sent to the states for approval in August of 1789. Of those 12, 10 were quickly approved (or, ratified) -
Fugitive Slave law, 1793
Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave -
French Revolution - Citizen Genet, 1793
Edmond Charles Genêt served as French minister to the United States from 1793 to 1794. His activities in that capacity embroiled the United States and France in a diplomatic crisis, as the United States Government attempted to remain neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and Revolutionary France. The controversy was ultimately resolved by Genêt’s recall from his position. As a result of the Citizen Genêt affair, the United States established a set of procedures governing neutrality. -
Eli Whitney granted patent for the cotton gin, 1794
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, 1794
he Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791, during the presidency of George Washington. The rebellion was provoked by the imposition of an excise tax on distilled spirits.
The tax was resisted by farmers in the western frontier regions who were long accustomed to distilling their surplus grain and corn into whiskey. In these regions, whiskey was sufficiently popular that it often served as a medium of exchange. -
Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain, 1795
Pinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. -
Jay’s Treaty with England, 1795
Treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolution), and facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which began in 1792. -
Farewell Address, 1796
George Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by the first American President, George Washington, to "The People of the United States of America". Washington wrote the letter near the end of his second term as President, before his retirement to his home Mount Vernon -
XYZ Affair, 1797
An American diplomatic commission was sent to France in July 1797 to negotiate problems that were threatening to break out into war. The diplomats, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were approached through informal channels by agents of the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. -
Naturalization Act, 1798
Increased the period necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from 5 to 14 years.
Also, the act distinguished between native, citizen, denizen, or subject of any nation or state. The act is the first to maintain records of immigration and residence, and provided certificates of residence for white immigrant aliens, for the purpose of establishing the date of arrival for subsequent qualification for naturalization. -
Alien Act, Sedition Act, 1798
The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from 5 to 14 years. The Alien Friends Act allowed the president to imprison or deport aliens considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States" at any time, while the Alien Enemies Act authorized the president to do the same to any male citizen of a hostile nation, above the age of 14, during times of war.
Lastly, the controversial Sedition Act restricted speech which was critical of the federal -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, 1798
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (or Resolves) were 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. The resolutions argued that the states had the right and the duty to declare unconstitutional any acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution. In doing so, they argued for states' rights and strict constructionism of the Constitution. The Kentucky -
"Midnight Appointments"/Judiciary Act of 1801
Represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century. There was concern, beginning in 1789, about the system that required the Justices of the Supreme Court to “ride circuit” and reiterate decisions made in the appellate level courts.
