The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Chapter Review 167

1781 States fail to approve Congress’s tariff

1786 Rhode Island Supreme Court upholds state legal

tender act (Trevett v. Weeden)

Shays’s Rebellion collapses in Springfield,

Massachusetts

Only five states send delegates to Annapolis

Convention

1787 Delegates meet at Philadelphia Constitutional

Convention

1787– All states but North Carolina and Rhode Island

1788 ratify Constitution

1789 President Washington is inaugurated

Storming of Paris Bastille begins French

Revolution

1790 Hamilton issues hisReport on Public Credit

1791 Hamilton issues hisReport on Manufactures

First Ten Amendments (Bill of Rights) to the

Constitution are ratified

Republican and Federalist political parties are

organized

Philip Freneau’sNational Gazetteand John

Fenno’sGazette of the United Statesare founded

1793 French revolutionaries execute King Louis XVI

Washington issues Declaration of Neutrality

1794 “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s troops defeat Indians at

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Washington’s militiamen thwart Whiskey

Rebellion in Pennsylvania

1795 Senate ratifies humiliating Jay’s Treaty

1796 Washington announces his retirement in Farewell

Address

John Adams is elected president

1798 French demand bribe during XYZ Affair

Congress passes Alien and Sedition Acts

1798– Jefferson presents Kentucky Resolutions

1799 Madison presents Virginia Resolutions

Milestones

Chapter Review

Key Terms

Alien and Sedition Acts Four laws passed by the
Federalist-dominated Congress in 1798 directed
against sympathizers to the French Revolution—
chiefly Thomas Jefferson and hisRepublican
party. The laws, which stifled dissent and made it
more difficult for immigrants to gain citizenship,
had lapsed by 1802, 165
Antifederalists Critics of the Constitution who
initially opposed its ratification. By the late
1790s, they generally endorsed states’ rights and
sought limitations on federal power, 149
Bank of the United States Established as a joint
public and private venture in 1791 at the behest of
Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the
Bank of the United States served as a depository
of government funds, collected and expended
government revenue, and issued notes to serve as
a national medium of exchange. The bank’s char-
ter expired in 1811. A Second Bank of the United
States was chartered in 1816, 156
Bill of Rights The first ten amendments to the
United States Constitution (adopted in 1791);
they protected individual liberties and states’
rights against the power of the national govern-
ment, 154

Electoral College An assembly of delegates repre-

senting each of the states who choose the presi-

dent of the United States. This mechanism,

established by the U.S. Constitution, was regarded

as less volatile than allowing voters to elect the

president directly, 148

Farewell Address President Washington’s influen-

tial 1796 speech in which he deplored the rise of

political factions and warned against “permanent

alliances” with foreign nations, 163

Federalist Papers A series of essays, chiefly written

by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John

Jay, explaining and defending the national govern-

ment proposed by the Constitutional Convention

of 1787, 153

Federalists Advocates of a strong national govern-

ment; they supported ratification of the

Constitution and subsequently supported measures

to expand federal revenues and functions, 149

French Revolution The massive and violent social

and political upheaval commencing in 1789 that

ended the French monarchy, established a repub-

lic, expropriated the land and property of the

Catholic Church, and culminated in a bloody

reign of terror, 158