Notes for Monday October 16

At the beginning of class we received our summer assignment essays back and they were graded out of 9 AP essay points. However, they aren't the actual grade for the paper. Moving on, we went over the reading assignment for the previous night.
Here are my notes:

• Courts: A federal court system was established where the President would appoint judges. Soon after Jefferson's election, Congress passed the Judiciary Acts of 1801 which created a number of new courts. A scandal arose because Adams could choose to appoint the new 16 judges or leave the choice to Jefferson. He chose to appoint his own judges before Jefferson was inaugurated. All of his appointees were harsh Federalists and were nicknamed the Midnight Judges. Jefferson became angry with this occurence and tried to get Adams' judges impeached. He successfully got John Pickering out of office for being insane. He tried again with Samuel Chase but was unsuccessful and his impeachment was aquitted.
• Marbury vs Madison: Marbury was one of the Adams appointed judges who did not receive his letter of appointment. Madison and Jefferson discovered it and decided to appoint a judge of their own and not give Marbury his letter. Marbury sues Madison to get his appointment but loses after the Marshall decides that the choice would be unconstitutional. This resulted in the Judicial Review by the Supreme Court.
• Jefferson's Dilemma: Jefferson came into a business proposition when he wanted to buy New Orleans from the French. Napolean was going through money issues and offered to sell the Louisiana Territory to Jefferson. Jefferson becomes worried that he doesn't have to right to buy the land without Congressional approval. He decides to buy the land and it's not a problem with anyone.
• 1803: French and England are at war but the US stays neutral. Neither of the countries agree with this decision so both of them torment America. Congress gets angry and passes the non importation act which stops the buying of goods which would hopefully lessen impressment. France passes the Berlin Act which outlaws trade with Britain. England says that all neutral ships must pass through England before going anywhere else. Then the Milan Decree states that one who is searched by England before going to France would be seized.
• Avoiding War: Jefferson did not want to be involved with the wars so he goes to Congress and cuts off all trade with foreign countries. The Embargo Act of 1807 caused the economy to plummet and the merchants to be unhappy.
• 1808: Election Year which brought Madison to be the President. Congress passed the NonIntercourse Act which banned trade with Britain and France but not everyone else. This didn't work because those other countries did not have what America needed. Congress allows President to open and close trade if the countries were willing to adhere to America's wishes. Neither country agrees.
• Macon's Bill 2: Opens trade with France and England. Can be closed at any time if the countries mess up. Britain continues to harass American ships so Madison reopens the Embargo on Britain because they continued to harass the ships even after Madison allowed them a three month period to shape up.
• War of 1812: Jeffersonian Republicans control both houses which are mainly comprised of young, talented men. A large block of the Congress was the Warhawks who wanted war and were fed up with Britian supporting NW Indians and Impressment. Warhawks carry the vote although New England disagrees. (Federalists) The war is opened with defense into Canada but that fails. A treaty was signed with Britain in Ghent, Belgium. The Treaty of Ghent was a treaty to cease fighting, not to end the war. Communications with the Americas is bad so the news of the treaty did not get to New Orleans and a battle takes place some two weeks after the end of the war. Jackson wins the battle and thinks they won the war. The Star Spangled Banner poem was written during this war.

Okay, so there are the notes from today. Sorry they were kind of long. Oh yes, and we have a test on the material on Thursday, October 19th.