The Founding Fathers: speak about 1 statesman.

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson was born in 1743 in Virginia. Jefferson became one of the most learned lawyers in America. He had a reputation of one of the most eloquent ɛləkwənt красноречивый advocates of the American cause. Thomas Jefferson is considered the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.

Congress nominated the Committee of Five (John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman) to compose a declaration of independence. Jefferson was chosen to author the declaration's first draft. Some of his language and many of his ideas drew from well-known political works, such as George Mason's Declaration of Rights. He also relied on the ideas of Enlightenment (John Lock’s ideas) His ultimate goal was to express the unity of Americans against the tyranny of Britain. Congress accepted the document. After authoring the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson returned to Virginia, where he served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which established freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. Although the document was not adopted as Virginia state law for another 9 years, it was one of Jefferson's proudest life accomplishments.

As vice president

Jefferson wrote A Manual of Parliamentary Practice, one of the most useful guides to legislative ˈlɛdʒɪslətɪv proceedings, and served as the president of the American Philosophical Society.

In the presidential election of 1800, the Federalists refused to back Adams (Federalist Party) and cleared the way for the Republican candidates Jefferson and Aaron Burr who tied for first place. The House of Representatives selected Jefferson to serve as the 3rd U.S. president (1801-1809), with Burr as his vice president. The election of Jefferson was a landmark of world history, as it was the first peacetime transfer of power from one party to another in a modern republic (from Federalists to Republicans).

Jefferson's accomplishments достижения:

· reduced the size of the armed forces and government bureaucracy bjʊ(ə)ˈrɒkrəsi

· lowered the national debt in just first 2 years in office

· stabilized the U.S. economy.

Louisiana Purchase – his most significant accomplishment as president. He acquired land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains for the bargain price of $15 million and doubled the size of the nation.

Tripoli Pirates. Jefferson put an end to the problem of Tripoli pirates from North Africa disrupting American shipping in the Mediterranean. During the Barbary War, Jefferson forced the pirates to capitulate by deploying new American warships.

Jefferson won re-election in 1804, but his 2nd term in office proved much more difficult and less productive. Britain and France attempted to prevent American commerce with the other power by harassing American shipping, and Britain in particular sought to impress American sailors into the British Navy. In response, Jefferson passed the Embargo Act, suspending all trade with Europe. It wrecked the American economy as exports crashed significantly. The embargo also led to the War of 1812 with Great Britain after Jefferson left office.

 

 

 

John Adams (1735–1826)

John Adams – the 1st vice president of the USA and the 2nd president. His son, John Quincy Adams, was the nation's 6th president (a member of the opposition party, the Democratic-Republicans).

 

John Adams was a direct descendant of Puritan colonists from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He studied at Harvard University. In 1774, he served on the First Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He was an Enlightenment political theorist and he also opposed slavery.

 

Political Career

It was Adams’ opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 (Гербовый акт, Акт о гербовом сборе) which made him well known in Massachusetts. The Stamp Act was a very unpopular system of levying taxes on stamped documents. It was used not to finance colonies but to finance the British war against France. He authored the Braintree Instructions, which argued that the Act should be opposed because it denied colonists 2 important freedoms – the right to be taxed by consent and the right to be judged by one’s peers.

Boston Trial Massacre

In 1770 Adams represented the British soldiers on trial for killing 5 civilians in the Boston Massacre (Бостонская резня). Because he believed in the right of everyone to have representation and a fair trial, he agreed to represent the British soldiers, even though it made him unpopular with public opinion. The case became an important exposition of Adams skill as a lawyer and certain principles of justice and fairness. Adams argued if we lose the right to a presumption of innocence, then it will lead to a loss of belief in natural justice. Reaction to Adams's defense of the soldiers was hostile, and his law practice suffered greatly. However, later he had his reputation as a courageous, generous and fair man.

 

Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly and was one of 5 to represent the colony at the First Continental Congress in 1774. In 1776, Congress approved his resolution proposing that the colonies each adopt independent governments. He wrote the preamble to this resolution, setting the stage for the formal passage of the Declaration of Independence. Congress appointed Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman, to draft the declaration.

 

In 1779, Adams was one of the American diplomats sent to negotiate the Treaty of Paris, which brought an end to the Revolutionary War. After the war, he remained in Europe, and arranged treaties of commerce with several European nations. In 1785, he became the 1st U.S. minister to England.

He was one of the authors of the Massachusetts Constitution (1780). The constitution was organized as a structure of chapters, sections, and articles and became a model for the Constitution of the USA, drafted in 1787.

 

In 1789, he took part in the America's first presidential election. As expected, George Washington received the highest number of electoral votes and was elected the 1^st US president. Adams became Vice President. The same result occurred in the 1792 election.

 

In 1796, Adams was elected as the Federalist nominee for president. Jefferson led the opposition for the Democratic-Republican Party. Adams won the election, becoming the 2nd president of the USA. During that time, Britain and France were at war and these conflicts were causing political difficulties for the US. Adams wanted the US government to stay out of the European war but the French saw America as Britain's junior partner and began seizing American merchant ships that were trading with the British. In order to build diplomatic relations with the French, he sent an American commission to France in July 1797 to negotiate problems that were threatening to break out into war. The French demanded bribes (≈ взятки) before formal negotiations could begin and this offended the Americans who left without negotiations.This failed negotiation attempt led to an undeclared war called the Quasi-War (1798-1800). Adams’ popularity as the president declined considerably following this event and he lost the re-election in 1800, with only a few less electoral votes than Jefferson, who became president.

 

 

The New Republic

The ratification of the Constitution closed an era of protest, revolution, and political experimentation. The anti-Federalists lost the ratification battle, but because of them the nationalists had to promise to add a bill of rights to the Constitution. Ratification was possible in part because the conventions attached to their acceptance of the document suggestions for the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. From more than 200 proposals submitted by the state conventions, Madison narrowed the list to 17. Of those proposals, 12 were approved by Congress in 1791, and 10 were quickly ratified and became the “ Bill of Rights. ”

The United States began to function on March 4, 1789, with 8 senators and 13 representatives; no quorum was achieved until sometime in until April. Congress had to write its own rules—there were only precedents borrowed from the British, and that was done very cautiously. The State Department consisted of Secretary of State Jefferson and a couple of clerks. Jobs and responsibilities of the four cabinet officers—secretaries of State, Treasury, and War and the attorney general—and their “departments” had to be invented, and under the Constitution Congress was required to create a federal court system; the Constitution named only one specifically—the Supreme Court—and even there the number of justices was left to Congress to determine.

Because America had been governed by congresses or assemblies since 1775, that branch probably had the easiest time finding its way. Its first major act was to create a federal court system, which was accomplished by the Judiciary dʒʊˈdɪʃ(ə)ri Act of 1789.

Federalists and Republicans: The Rise of Political Parties

The Federalist party evolved out of those who supported adoption of the Constitution (leaders: John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Washington). The anti-federalists evolved into the Democratic Republican party (leader – Thomas Jefferson, later Madison).