The Constitution’s Early Years (1787-1823)

Washington’s description of the American government, both a democracy and a republic, as an “experiment” run by its citizens would hold true. Three years after the Constitution’s ratification, amendments proved necessary and were added in 1791. These ten amendments were called the Bill of Rights and focused largely on rights for American citizens that were not covered in the Constitution. These included the right to free speech, religion, to petition the government, and to bear arms. Additionally, reprising the anxiety felt as colonies under British rule, the tenth amendment delegated “The powers not [given] to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”[3] As explicitly stated by both Washington and Congress, America was by the people for the people.

The Presidential Election of 1800 was significant to the nation as it marked the first time a political party other than the Federalists held presidential power. It was also the first time an incumbent president lost reelection as, in 1800, John Adams lost to Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, former Secretary of State, and Democratic Republican. In his inaugural address on March 4, 1801, he addressed the American people’s concerns about the transfer of power to another political party, stating, “We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans; we are all Federalists.”[4] Jefferson did not want there to be polarizing divides based solely on party lines but declared that, above all else, each group fought for the same core tenets of the United States.

Thirty-six years after declaring their sovereignty from Great Britain, America found itself in another war with the empire: the War of 1812. Britain violated U.S. maritime rights, specifically their trade relationship with France, and due to this, the nation declared war on the strongest Navy in the world. Famously, the British burned down the White House on August 24, 1814, but First Lady Dolley Madison remained in the home even after her guards fled, managing to save several historical artifacts from the fire. From September 12 to 15, 1814, the Battle of Baltimore occurred, in which the British bombarded Baltimore, both by land and sea, but the American soldiers stationed in Fort Henry managed to fend them off. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, witnessed the battle and, on the morning of September 14^th, upon seeing the American flag still flying above the fort, wrote what would become the nation’s national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner: “The rockets’ red glare, / the bombs bursting through air, / gave proof through the night, / that our flag was still there.”[5] The War of 1812 resolved with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Great Britain gave up any claim to the Northwest territory and both nations affirmed their intent to abolish the slave trade, restoring the relationship between the two powers. Due to America’s history as the “New World,” with settlers immigrating from all over Europe, as well as wars fought against European forces, the Monroe Doctrine was prominent under President James Monroe. It was a U.S. foreign policy position that strongly warned against European colonization in the Western Hemisphere, stating “the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.”[6] Additionally, this was urged on by Manifest Destiny, the concept that America’s westward expansion was fate. The country’s growth further established the United States as an aspiring world power as, at the time of writing, the nation grew from thirteen states in 1776 to twenty-four in 1823, new additions including Maine, Maryland, and Alabama.