Four Coercive Acts As A Direct Response To The Boston Tea Party

Hamilton was appointed by President George Washington as the first Secretary of the Treasury Department. Hamilton was a Federalist and wanted a strong central government which means it should have more power than the states. Hamilton believed in a loose interpretation of the constitution which means the document allowed everything if it did not forbid. During the French Revolution, Hamilton supported and was an ally of Britain. Hamilton wanted elite rule America. The Federalist Party would be one of the “rich, the able, and the well-born” (Foner, Give Me Liberty, I, 295) as Hamilton stated. Hamilton favored a close relationship with Britain and he wanted America’s economy like Britain where trade and manufacturing were priorities. Hamilton desired to develop the economy and financial stability of the United States, so he established an economic five-program in 1790 and 1791. The first part was to establish the new nation’s credit worthiness which means people

Federalists (pro-ratification)” and the “Antifederalists” (against the ratification) (5). Finally, the ratifications were settled on April 30, 1789 with the “inauguration” of George Washington, along with his appointed cabinet members, such as Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State), Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury), Henry Knox (Secretary of War), and Edmund Randolph (Attorney General) (6). The debates had been continuous, from gun ownership rights to “inalienable rights,” feminist views and nationalistic aims (8).

When the system of government was finally decided on, our founding fathers understood the importance of the balance of power within the three branches of the government. They called this system checks and balances. This system was set up to ensure that the government would remain loyal to the people and loyal to their states (Hamilton). In The Federalist Papers, No. 68, Alexander Hamilton discusses the importance of having the president elected by the Electoral College. He said that in order to ensure that we do not end up with the same problems that America had with the monarch of England, it was important that the balance of power was spread throughout the government and that no one portion have too much power.

Created then consolidated by our founding fathers, its purpose served to balance the power between the populous states and less populated states. However, there is another reason and that reason is the founding fathers did not want a direct democracy. While the Founding Fathers wanted the people to have a say, there was one concern with this. This concern was that a charismatic tyrant could rise in power and gain the popularity of the public through manipulation. It would be Alexander Hamilton, who would address this concern and many more in “The Federalist Papers”(Williams C. Kimberling). The idea behind the Electoral College was that the group of electors could be trusted in choosing a qualified person who would then become president. This could all be seen within the constitution. The constitution itself is an ingenious set of rules created by the founding fathers, which has led our country to this day, more specifically a different era. The founding fathers wanted the constitution to be America’s fundamental laws and inside these laws, existed a fair way in selecting the president of America, known to this day as the Electoral College. Originally, the way the Electoral College was set up had made it so the runner-up would usually become the vice-president. This was a huge problem as opposing candidates usually have differing viewpoints on running the country and would not work together

BOSTON- King George III and the British government were outraged with the colonists who participated in the Boston Tea Party or the Boston Tea Party in general. Therefore, Parliament passed four very harsh laws called the Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts. The first closed the port of Boston; two others increased the powers of the royal governor, abolished the upper house of Massachusetts legislature, and out the powers of town meetings, the fourth and final law strengthened the 1765 Quartering Act. On March 24, 1774, King George III passed four very harsh laws that were hated by the colonists.

The United States declared its independence from Great Britain once again with an astounding victory during the War of 1812. Following the war, the nation ushered in an “era of good feelings”. This was a time period when nationalism increased and the economy was thriving. In terms of the political scene, the Democratic-Republican Party was the only political party in existence. The Federalist Party, the former opposing party, ceased to exist during the War of 1812 following the aftermath of the Hartford Convention.

The Federalists is a group of people in the early U.S. who supported the strong national government and who worked and supported the U.S. Constitution, they supported in removing some powers from the states and give more powers to the national government. They favored dividing powers among the different branches of government. in the Federal papers to explain why people should approve the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, having a well-constructed government to control the people. By doing so, created the two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects (Regent, Word Doc., 2017). Therefore, the different governments will control each other, while each will be controlled by itself

John Adams: Federalist or Nah? John Adams, one of the few federalist presidents of the United States, once stated, “I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states.” Notably, Adams supported the states while identifying strongly as a federalist. Adams federalist identity was based on his strong upbringing, belief in a strong Central government, and believed in government’s regulatory systems.

In the book “The Great Game”, John Steele Gordon wrote, “In the 1790s what mattered was that Hamilton’s program caused the American economy to flourish. In the 1780s the United States had been in financial chaos, not altogether dissimilar to Russia today. But by 1794 it had the highest credit rating in Europe.” According to the quote, Hamilton’s vision of the U.S. economy came true because of his program to help the economy. Thus if it weren’t for Alexander Hamilton, the economy would have crumbled very early on. The early U.S. economy succeeded because of Alexander Hamilton’s contribution to the failing economy during his position as secretary of the treasury via honoring the national debt and creating the nation’s first central bank.

The coercive acts came to be when the British got upset/mad from the event of the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was an event when the Sons of liberty destroyed tons of British tea by dumping it into the river. The British then established a series of four acts to try to restore order. First the Boston Port Act, which was the port to be closed until the tea that was dumped into the river was paid for. Second Massachusetts Governing Act, to suppress town meeting and trials of royal officials to be held outside of New England. Third was the Quartering Act, governor’s requisition housing for British troops. Fourth Quebec Act, allowing freedom of worship to Canadian Catholics. Which all lead to Shays Rebellion. Shays Rebellion was a series of protests. How it lead to the constitution because it was the most dramatic social, political and economic struggle.

Major sources/regions of support for Hamilton’s economic program is merchants, landowners, Northern states (especially New England). Views on the Constitution is centralized government power- to protect the nation and the people’s liberties. Views on popular participation is government should be led by elites who have both education and property. Economic Policy is favored Hamilton’s financial plan: management of the national debt. Views on foreign policy is favored peace and a strong commercial. This is how Hamilton’s economic program had progressed throughout the time. He had supported the Constitution which he is a federalist.

To some the Boston Tea Party was merely an act of radical men, as noted by Joshua Wyeth, “...making so a large cup of tea for the fishes…,” but to others it was a revolutionary statement. At the time, the colonists had to stand together as a nation to defy the submissive Acts that Britain implemented upon them. The issues leading to the Boston Tea Party and the results were discussed by Professor Benjamin Carp’s in his lecture, “Acts of Power: The Boston Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson, and Fears of Enslavement,” a part of the 31st Annual Abram Kartch/Thomas Jefferson Lecture Series at William Paterson University. Professor Carp’s perspective on the situation largely emphasized the four main causes that sparked the acts of the colonists in Boston.

The 1790s was a time for economic expansion and Hamilton was ready to take full advantage of this with his economic plan. The economy was increasing because of an increased need for goods around the world and America could fill the void. This Boom helped all parts of the economy. Hamilton’s first step in his economic plan was not to pay off the National debt but instead roll them over into new bonds that would pay interest to the people owed. He thought that slowly paying back the debt would allow the government to put out money to improve the economy. After that Hamilton also wanted to

It is correct that the geographical mixtures might not always be in the confines of the boundary lines of the constituent units. In a lot of countries, and for the most part in the United States, the function of the federal system has shown diversities of opinion or custom that is more nearly linked with districts or groups of states rather than with the separate states themselves. This is enthusiastically understood. Federalism encompasses not only a diversity of opinion on one issue but a huge series of diversities on a variety of issues. It can only just be expected that state boundary lines will be sufficient to indicate areas in which attitudes differ on all potential questions. But regionalism in this logic is a suitable manifestation of the federal principle. It obeys the rules to the criterion suggested above, specifically, that the assortments in the society are collected territorially. It should be noted; furthermore, that regionalism in the political affairs of a federal country is made likely only by the federal allotment of functions to the states. The information that more than a few states have comparable opinions on a particular issue and therefore unite on that issue does not take away from the importance of the states as the basic structure of the federal system (Krane, 2002).

While framing the Constitution, the Founding Fathers disagreed amongst themselves on how to the president would be elected. Some of the Framers wanted the president to be chosen through solely congressional selection, The other Framers wanted the process to be through a direct popular vote. In order to compromise between these two contradicting opinions, the Framers decided to include the states in the presidential election through the Electoral College. This reflects the principle of federalism because federalism is a system in which power is divided between two levels of government- the federal government and the state and local governments. In presidential elections, people are not technically voting for a presidential candidate, but for an elector of their state to represent them. Ultimately, in events such as the presidential elections of 2000 and 2016, it has been proven that the Electoral College is an unfair and undemocratic practice.