The Decade of the 1800's in America Quiz

Answer: Jefferson's strength was concentrated in the south, and Adams' strength mainly in New England and the Middle Atlantic states.

The only northern state won by Jefferson was New York, but this was crucial for his election as he won all 12 of New York's electoral votes. He did win all seven of Kentucky and Tennessee's votes, but without those he still would have won the election by one vote.

According to John Ferling in his wonderful book, "Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800", had slaves not been counted in allocating electors, then Adams would have won by two votes.

Adams always blamed the attack on him by fellow Federalist Alexander Hamilton as costing him the election, but Ferling disagrees. One of the things Hamilton did do is delay the sailing of the peace envoys to France, with the result that by the time they got back with news of the peace agreement, the election was already over.

Answer: midnight Judges

Nineteen days before the end of Adams' administration, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, otherwise known as the "midnight judges act", which created many new federal judgeships in an attempt to improve the operation of the federal judiciary. Adams moved immediately to appoint Federalists to these new positions, but incoming Secretary of State James Madison refused to process these appointments.

One such Federalist, William Marbury, sued Madison to enforce his appointment, leading to the famous Marbury vs. Madison case. In that case, Chief Justice John Marshall famously ruled that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to require the appointment, because part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 granting that authority was unconstitutional.

What this meant was that, in the process of denying itself the power to issue a writ of mandamus, the Supreme Court was actually giving itself the right of "judicial review", meaning it had the power to declare Acts of Congress unconstitutional, a power not specifically granted to it by the Constitution. No wonder this decision is so famous!

Answer: Lewis and Clark

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was a monumental undertaking for its day. The journey started August 31, 1803, and the intrepid explorers did not return home to St. Louis until September 23, 1806.

Answer: USS Philadelphia

The Philadelphia ran aground in October of 1803, and captain William Bainbridge and his crew were held captive until June of 1806. Yet, the result of the war was positive for the U.S., reducing, if not eliminating, the instances of piracy and showing that the U.S. could act effectively in far away places.

The Philadelphia itself met an ignominious end. U.S. forces surreptitiously boarded it and burned it in February of 1804 as it sat in the harbor, so that the Tripoli forces could not use it.

The USS Bainbridge is the ship which rescued an American captain from Somali pirates in April of 2009. It was named after the captain who fought in the First (and Second) Barbary Wars. The USS Enterprise and USS Intrepid were other ships which fought in the First Barbary War.

Answer: western territories of the U.S.

After leaving office, Burr took off on a trip to the western United States, and it was suspected he was trying to set up his own country in the western territories. He was arrested on February 19, 1807, and tried for treason later that year in Richmond, Virginia, before Chief Justice John Marshall.

Despite President Jefferson's strenuous efforts to convict Burr, he was acquitted, and he lived out his life as a private citizen. As much as any other, this case showed that the dream of the founding fathers for an independent judiciary had come to fruition.

Answer: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney

Pinckney lost to Jefferson 162-14, and lost to Madison 122-47. The success of the three Democratic-Republican Presidents (Jefferson, Madison and Monroe), led to the demise of the Federalist Party during the following decade.

Clinton was Jefferson's running mate in 1804 and Madison's in 1808. while King was Pinckney's running mate in both elections. DeWitt Clinton was the Federalist Party candidate in 1812.

Answer: Samuel Chase

This was really a pivotal event in the development of the U.S. Constitutional system. Chase was presented in 1804 with eight articles of impeachment, charging him with mishandling various trials he had presided over. However, none of the charge involved criminal misconduct, and the Senate failed to muster the two-thirds vote needed to convict on any of the charges, although a majority vote was obtained on three of them. According to William Rhenquist's wonderful book, "Grand Inquests", Chase's acquittal set an important precedent that political differences will not be the basis for removal of a judge, and as of 2009 Chase remains the only Supreme Court Justice ever impeached. Rehnquist believes that if not for this precedent, President Andrew Johnson might well have been convicted in his 1868 impeachment trial.

William Blount was the first federal official ever impeached. He was a United States Senator, and his impeachment was dismissed by the Senate in 1799 on the basis that there was no jurisdiction over him because he had already been expelled from the Senate. Pickering was a federal judge who was impeached and removed in 1804 due to drunkenness and possible insanity. John Marshall was the Chief Justice during this time period, and was never impeached although many at the time questioned his assertion of power on behalf of the the Supreme Court.

Answer: the Embargo Acts

The goal of the Embargo Acts was to pressure Great Britain and France, who were then at war with each other, to stop restricting American trade. The Embargo Acts were widely ignored, particularly in New England, and were repealed three days before Jefferson left office in March of 1809.

Answer: abolished the slave trade

The bill abolished the slave trade, effective January 1, 1808. This was the earliest that the slave trade was permitted to be abolished under Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution.

Answer: the Electoral College

The founding fathers weren't perfect, though they were nearly so. What they failed to anticipate was the development of political parties. By 1800 party discipline had become so complete that the system of having the Electoral College members vote for two candidates for President resulted in a tie between Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr.

This resulted in the House having to choose between the two, and fortunately they chose Jefferson. This glitch was soon corrected by requiring separate votes in the Electoral College for President and Vice-President.