Week 4 Day 1

Today in class we reviewed the Era of Good Feelings slide from the War of 1812 PPT and covered the Missouri Compromise as well as the Monroe Doctrine. We then watched a documentary on the Supreme Court and filled out the worksheet through question 6.

The Missouri Compromise delayed answering the question of slavery by stating that new states north of the southern Missouri border would not allow slavery. This compromise only applied to the lands acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. Maine separated from Massachusetts and also became a free state to balance the number of free states and slave states. Slavery was slowly going out of existence because with the US slowly transitioning from agrarian to manufacturing, slaves were taking away jobs from workers, and were not as efficient as machinery. The slave states were aware that the free states would only grow in number, so they were worried the free states would try to impose a constitutional amendment banning slavery.

The Monroe Doctrine (1823) stated that European nations should not be allowed to interfere or colonize in the Western Hemisphere unless they were already there. In exchange, America would stay out of European affairs. The doctrine was inspired by the Central and South American colonies' attempts to gain independence from Spain. The Europeans were fine with this because then they could focus on other matters. The Doctrine may have played an indirect part in the Scramble for Africa that would later occur.

The documentary is called "The Supreme Court: One Nation Under Law" and is about how the Supreme Court gained such enormous power and prestige. John Marshall is the main focus of the documentary. The Marbury v. Madison case began at the very end of John Adam's presidency. Federal judges are appointed for life, so Adams tried to stuff as many Federalists into those positions as possible the very last night of his presidency. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to send out all the commissions in time and so the posts remained unfilled. Jefferson and Madison, both Republicans, refused to send out the commissions and left them alone. Ten months later, however, Marbury, who had been promised a position as a federal judge, demanded that Madison give him his commission. James Madison refused and Marbury sued.

Through the Marbury v. Madison case, Marshall created the concept of judicial review and gave it to the Supreme Court. He did so by ruling in favor of Madison, Jefferson's ally, but also implicitly stating that the Supreme Court has the power to interpret the laws and make sure they are constitutional. This put Jefferson in a difficult position because if he argued against judicial review, and therefore the ruling, he would have to fill the federal courts with Adam's handpicked Federalist judges, an action he was not willing to take. Marshall's strategy put Jefferson in a lose-lose situation, and so the Supreme Court became a coequal branch along with the legislative and executive branches.