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"Founding Father" is a term in the dictionary, first coined by historians in 1886, which refers to the men who were most important in the founding of the United States, such as signing the Declaration of Independence or U.S. Constitution, or leading in other ways. The term "Framers" is more common today used to refer specifically to those who participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia, which drafted the U.S. Constitution.[[File:Declaration of Independence.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Agreeing on the Declaration of Independence, as painted later by the artist John Trumbull]]The Founding Fathers, ranked roughly by their importance, include the following (their colony is in parenthesis):

The Founding Fathers, ranked roughly by their importance, include: #George Washington(Virginia)#Benjamin Franklin(Pennsylvania)#Thomas Jefferson(Virginia)#Alexander Hamilton(New York)#James Madison(Virginia)#Samuel Adams(Massachusetts)#Thomas Paine(Pennsylvania)#Gouverneur Morris(New York, also Pennsylvania)#John Adams(Massachusetts)#Patrick Henry(Virginia)#John Jay(New York)#George Mason(Virginia)#Benjamin Rush(Pennsylvania)#John Witherspoon(New Jersey)#Roger Sherman(Connecticut)#John Hancock(Massachusetts)#James Monroe(Virginia)#James Wilson(Pennsylvania)#Robert Morris(Pennsylvania)#William Paterson(New Jersey)

Only six men signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution (four of whom are in the above list of the most important Founders): George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson. Robert Morris and Roger Sherman also signed the Articles of Confederation. In terms of religious belief, most of the Founding Fathers were Presbyterian. "Deism" -- a belief that God created the world but never intervenes and instead only His natural laws govern it -- was the view of [[Thomas Paine]] and some other colonists in the late 1700s. ==The Articles of Confederation==

The Articles provided for a unicameral (only one legislative body, not both a House and Senate like today) Congress to govern the states. There was no president (imagine that!), but rather a committee formed of one representative from each state who wielded executive authority. There were no federal (national) courts (imagine that also!). The Articles authorized Congress to conduct foreign policy, but did not authorize Congress to regulate commerce.

===Foreign Policy Problems Was Authorized, but Unsuccessful, under the Articles of Confederation===

"Foreign policy" is the term for how a country (in this case, the young United States) deals with other countries. The Articles of Confederation made it almost impossible for gave the former colonies government the authority to speak with one voice on conduct foreign policy, but made it difficult for those efforts to be successful without a president.

People wanted to use coin money that had some inherent value as gold, silver, or other valuable mineral, rather than paper money which became worthless over time. The phrase "not worth a Continental" referred to paper money authorized by the Continental Congress in 1775 to finance the war. The money became worthless because nothing like gold or silver backed it up, and states continued to use their own currencies. Rhode Island even tried to force citizens to use its paper money (as mentioned above), which people avoided because it was losing its value over time.

Massachusetts was the only state that did not follow the trend for printed money, which makes sense because Puritans tended to take their principles seriouslywere strict about almost everything. But hardship resulted for farmers from this "hard money" policy of the Puritans, because farmers tend to be in debt and prefer some inflation to alleviate the burdens of paying back loans. The hardship in Massachusetts sparked Shays' Rebellion, which is discussed further below.

Keep in mind that conflicts over money were as important throughout history as it is today in families. Whether or not money is the root of all evil, it is the root of many conflicts in history and shapes the course of human events. For example, there has always been constant conflict between people who owe money (debtors, including farmers) and people who save or lend money (creditors, including bankers). Farmers are often debtors and they have always had conflicts with banks, which lend them money.

In colonial America, people who could not pay their debts went to jail, and this was known as "debtor's prison." The entire colony of Georgia was founded by people who had been in debtor's prison in England. [[Founding Father]] [[Robert Morris]], who paid for [[George Washington]]'s troops during the American Revolution, ended up in debtor's prison for four years after the War due to risky investments by him, and he died a few years after his release. Debtor's prison was not abolished in federal law until 1833 and by most of the states soon afterwards.<ref>http://myvesta.org/history/history_debtorprison.html</ref> But even today some Americans can be imprisoned for failure to make payments that are ordered by courts.

Two of Congress's attempts to make money raise revenue by selling land west of the Appalachians were the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. An "[[ordinance]]" is a new law, often particularly one that concerns the regulation of land. These two ordinances were the only major laws enacted under the [[Articles of Confederation]], and they can often show up in a question or two about on an American Historyexam.

The [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] provided for surveying and dividing territories west of the colonies into towns 6 miles square, and selling 640 acre chunks at public auctions for a minimum of $1 per acre. Almost no one wanted to pay buy so much money in order to obtain much landat once, so these chunks were often bought and divided by investors, and then sold to farmers.

The [[Northwest Ordinance of 1787]] was a greater achievement. '''''Keep in mind that the "northwest" in 1787 consisted of the territory north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and south of the [[Great Lakes]]'''''. It is the land that is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota (east of the Mississippi River), which was territory located northwest of the original 13 coloniesbut not what we think of as "northwest" today. [[Image:Northwest Territory.jpg|right|thumb|imprecise map of the Northwest Territory from the late 1700s]]

When a new territory in the "northwest" had less than 5000 adult free (non-slave) males, it was to be ruled by a governor, a secretary, and three judges appointed by Congress. When the population exceeded 5000, then they could elect a legislature (assembly) that which could send a nonvoting person to Congress. A territory was required to have at least 60,000 free men living in it before it could apply for statehood. A republican form of government was required a requirement in order for a territory to become a new state. Slavery was prohibited north of the Ohio River (which means it was prohibited virtually everywhere in the Northwest Territory).

The Northwest Ordinance was passed in by Congress under the Articles of Confederation during the summer of 1787, while which was the same time period at which the Constitutional Convention was meeting in Philadelphia. When the Articles of Confederation were replaced by the Constitution, the Northwest Ordinance was passed again under the new Constitutionto ensure its continuing validity.

The following new territories became five new states due to the success of the Northwest Ordinance (with their date of statehood in parentheses): Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848). A sixth state, and Minnesota (1858), also claims to have some roots in the Northwest Ordinance.<ref>https://www.sos.state.mn.us/about-minnesota/minnesota-government/northwest-ordinance-of-1787/</ref>

Shays' Rebellion was an armed revolt in Massachusetts that lasted six months, from August 1786 until February 1787, demonstrating how weak and inadequate the national government was under the Articles of Confederation. The cause of the revolt was, of course, money. It was an armed uprising of farmers in Massachusetts who were burdened with high debt. This was the first of many future clashes between Americans who owed money (debtors) and those who lent money (creditors). The farmers were angry that they had to pay back their loans in "specie" (gold or silver) rather than in cheaper paper money. Every state other than Massachusetts had issued paper money, and the sudden inflation that had occurred in other states was helpful to farmers by decreasing the burden of their loans and increasing the prices of their agricultural products in the stores. Little did the farmers know that the paper money in other states would soon become worthless and lead to a depression. The farmers lost their farms when they could not pay back their loans (banks would take ownership of the farms and auction them off). By losing their property, farmers also lost their right to vote, because at the time only property owners could vote. The farmers took to violence to help themselves. Specifically, they seized the town courthouse to prevent any additional court-ordered seizures of their farms. The Massachusetts governor sent in the militia but there were more farmers in the rebellion than there were in the militia sent by the governor. Daniel Shays then led 1200 men to Springfield to capture the federal arsenal, but by then there were enough state militiamen to protect it and defeat Shays. Shays fled to the Vermont areaterritory (it was not yet a state). After the rebellion was over Shays was pardoned for his crime, but was so vilified by newspapers in Massachusetts that he had to move to New York to farm there instead. Everyone was panicked by this uprising, and a newly elected Massachusetts legislature subsequently enacted some debt relief for the farmers. John Hancock (the famous signer of the Declaration of Independence) then defeated by a landslide the Massachusetts governor who mishandled this crisis, in the next election.

Economic concerns sparked the first serious call for a national convention to improve the Articles of Confederation. In September 1786, nine (9) states accepted Virginia's call for a national convention (the "Annapolis Convention") on the issue of interstate commerce, which was trade between the states. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state could impose taxes ("tariffs") on goods or merchandise shipped to it from another state, and these "tariff wars" disrupted the free market and impeded economic progress. Only five (5) states attended this "Annapolis Convention," so it was a failure. But it did something that proved to be historic: it called for another constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia.

The next convention -- the famous "Constitutional Convention" -- convened in the summer of 1787 (May through September) in Philadelphia to strengthen the national government by modifying the Articles of Confederation. Notice that its original goal was to fix the Articles of Confederation, not to replace them, but once at the convention the [[Founding Fathers]] (or "Framers") decided to replace the Articles altogether. '''''This Convention became one of the most important events in the entire history of mankind.'''''

In total, 55 delegates attended from twelve states. The highest attendance and participation at the Constitutional Convention came from large states, particularly Virginia, and Pennsylvania, . Attendance was also high from Connecticut, and South Carolina.

[[File:Independence Hall meeting room.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Where the Constitutional Convention was held, in Independence Hall in Philadelphia]][[James Madison]] took copious notes during the deliberations and was a tireless worker. All Most of his proposals were rejectedor at least modified, but he received is called the misnomer of "Father of the Constitution" because most he arrived many days early and put all of his energy during and after the information of the proceedings comes from convention to making it a success, including preserving his detailed notesabout what happened.

The Constitutional Convention was governed by strict rules. For example, "Every member rising to speak, shall address the President; and whilst he shall be speaking, none shall pass between them or hold discourse with another, or read a book, pamphlet or paper." There were no teleprompters then! Nothing was to be considered final until the entire Constitution had been written. Each state received only one vote, regardless of how many delegates a state sent to the convention, similar to how the U.S. Senate today allows each state only two votes (two senators) regardless of how large or small the population is in each state.

While most delegates agreed that stronger central government was necessary, they were uncertain how they could accomplish this without creating too much centralized power. Their fear of the corruption that resultant from power brings reflects reflected the Christian beginnings beliefs of our nation. most of the Founders: Christianity teaches that humans are sinful and prone to corruption. Very few other religions teach , and thus a constitution should restrain thattendency towards corruption.

As the Constitutional Convention began, the delegates agreed that the Articles of Confederation had not created a functional successful government. Congress was in shambles, and attendance in Congress was so sporadic that between October 1785 and April 1786 it had the minimum required attendance to conduct business (a "[[quorum]]") on only three days. The stated purpose of the Constitutional Convention was to "render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of Government and the preservation of the Union."

Those words left the Convention somewhat open unlimited in terms of its goalgoals. Delegates had a choice. First, they They could amend the Articles, but this would be very difficult because unanimous approval from the states was required. Instead, they could draft a new constitution. Some questioned whether the Convention had authority to do this, but consensus was that a new constitution was the only choice.

The attendees thereby did not limit their actions to fixing the Articles of Confederation. This same debate rages today by calls for a constitutional convention. There is no way to limit what a constitutional convention does. This debate over whether a constitutional convention can be limited to a particular issue (e.g., requiring a balanced budget by the national government) continues today, with many saying that there is never a way to limit a constitutional convention. The only real protection from a convention exceeding its scope is that its proposal must still be ratified by not to have one in the statesfirst place.

The first was written by Virginia delegate James Madison and submitted by [[Edmund Randolph]] (then the Governor of Virginia), and was called the [[Virginia Plan]], or the "Large States Plan," because it was favored by the larger stateshaving larger populations. Our three branches of government -- legislative, executive, and judicial -- originated in the Virginia Plan. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, this plan gave government the power to directly enforce laws. The Virginia Plan assigned delegates to both houses of Congress (a "bicameral" legislature) based on a state's population, and the legislature selected the chief executive (president) and the judges under this Plan. The Virginia Plan contributed much to the finished Constitution, although Edmund Randolph himself refused to sign it in the end.

In June 1787, William Paterson next proposed the [[New Jersey Plan]], which was more favorable to the small states having smaller populations, and which departed less from the Articles of Confederation. This plan was favored by small the less-populated states because each state was represented equally in Congress. This allowed small states to have an equal amount of power. The Virginia plan, in contrast, would have allowed large the more-populated states much more power than small ones because representation in Congress was based on population.

After many weeks of arguments, a compromise was reached. In July 1787, Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman proposed the Connecticut Plan, in which representation in the House would be proportional to population, and representation in the Senate would be 1 vote per state. '''''This became the Great Compromise or the [[Connecticut Compromise]], and it resolved that Congress would have one house with equal representation based on population (the House of Representatives) and one house with equal representation based on populationfor every state (the Senate)'''''. This compromise became part of the Constitution (with the change that there would be two votes per state), and today we have both to this day the United States Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

A dispute arose between the North and the South over whether slaves should be counted in determining how many congressmen a State could have in the House of Representatives. Representation was in proportion to population, but the North opposed counting slaves because that would give the South more power than if slaves were not counted. The "Three-Fifths Compromise" counted Ironically, the southern states wanted to count slaves as three-fifths of a free man for in order to give the purpose of determining how many southern states more representatives a State would have in the House of Representatives (Art. Iin Congress, Section 2, Paragraph 3):while the northern states did not want to count slaves so that northern states would have more relative power.

A compromise was reached. The "Three-Fifths Compromise" counted slaves as three-fifths of a free man for the purpose of determining how many representatives a State would have in the House of Representatives (Art. I, Section 2, Paragraph 3): :"Representatives and direct Taxes ... shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."

The Constitution was written through the use of the following several committees, which illustrates how to organize a large group of people in order to accomplish a good result. These committees included:<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/constcmte.html</ref> : the Rules Committee, appointed May 25 in order (to set rules for the conventionConvention), including Alexander Hamilton and Charles Pinkney : the First Committee of Eleven (delegates), appointed July 2 in order (to resolve the issue of equal representation in the Senate), including George Mason and William Paterson : the Committee of Detail, appointed July 24 in order (to draft the Constitution on terms agreed to by the Convention), including Edmund Randolph and James Wilson : Second Committee of Eleven, appointed August 25 in order to consider issues of uniform duties and fees, including George Mason and Roger Sherman : Third Committee of Eleven, appointed August 31 in order to address "tabled" and unresolved issues, including James Madison and Roger Sherman : the Committee of Style and Arrangement, appointed September 8 in order (to revise the style and arrangement of the Constitution, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison).

After all the compromises and hard work of the committees, most (but not all) of the delegates at the Convention agreed to the final version of the Constitution; 39 (out of the original 55) signed it on Sept. 17, 1787 (now honored annually as "Constitution Day"). Next it was sent to the states for ratification, and then The Constitution begins with its Preamble which shows that the People are in charge: "fun" began. There was bitter opposition by We the Anti-Federalists who did not like the idea People of the United States, in Order to form a powerful new central governmentmore perfect Union ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

At the timeBenjamin Franklin, nearly every country in upon leaving the world Convention (which had been conducted in secrecy), was asked by a monarchymember of the public what kind of government he created. The new American government Franklin famously replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it." Franklin was the first right that it requires constant hard work by many citizens to preserve our wonderful system of its kindgovernment, which is by and for the People. The United States is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic. At the time most other countries were run by monarchies.

The Articles of In addition to its Preamble quoted above, the Constitution are contains Articles as follows:

:Article V outlines the procedures for amending the Constitution. Contrary to the Articles of Confederation, unanimous consent of the states is not required to amend the Constitution: approval by only 3/4ths of the states is necessary to amend the Constitution.

The Constitution itself (before passage of the Bill of Rights adding the first ten amendments) contains several important protections of individual rights, including a right to a jury trial and a prohibition on any bill of attainder, which was a practice in England whereby the legislature would punish an individual by expressly and specifically naming him in legislation. Under the Constitution, only courts can punish individual citizens. Also, the Constitution banned nobility as exists in England, and spoke in terms of "citizens" in contrast to EnglishBritain, where the people were merely "subjects" of the King or Queen until 1948.

The Constitution was then sent to the states to consider ratifying it. Every state except Rhode Island held a ratifying convention to consider adopting it. Many small states ratified the Constitution quickly (the first state to ratify it was Delaware), because they liked the idea of having equal representation in the Senate. But bigger states, such as [[Massachusetts]], [[Virginia]] and [[New York]], were more reluctant to give up their power to a national government.

The debate over ratification in the large states pitted the Federalists (for example, Alexander Hamilton) against the Anti-Federalists (for example, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, George Mason, and John Hancock). Federalists supported the ratification of the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists opposed it, primarily because it lacked the Bill of Rightsbut also because they disliked creating a powerful new central government.

To persuade New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay anonymously wrote the ''Federalist'' papers, which were a series of editorials that ran in a prominent New York newspaper. The most famous of these is Madison's Federalist No. 10, which contains the following: "Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction." Madison's insight was that a new United States of America, with its large size and separation of powers, could actually guard against tyranny and evil factions better than individual colonies could. The  These Federalist papers set forth the arguments -- like a debater's handbook -- to be used by supporters of the Constitution to obtain ratification in Virginia and New York, and the many other states that had not yet ratified. Later, the Federalist papers became a reference source for judges to use in interpreting what the Constitution means.

The final two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, still opposed the Constitution and did not ratify it until after George Washington began serving as president. North Carolina ratified it in 1789. Rhode Island, also known for its "separation of church and state," had an economic reason for not ratifying the Constitution: Rhode Island wanted to hold onto its power to tax imports at its ports along the ocean, which the Constitution would take away from it. Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until 1790, after the other 12 states threatened to boycott it. Rhode Island ratified it in 1790.

The U.S. Constitution is the longest governing constitution in the history of the world. Containing merely 4,424 words (not including the signatures), the Constitution is less than 2/3rds half the length of this lecture. The Constitution is the shortest of any large country, and the most elegant.

[[George Washington]] was so popular and respected that he probably could have become king. Even if Washington did not become king, he could have ruled as president for the rest of his life. But his greatness was, like Jesus, to decline included declining this worldly power that was available to him he could have had, in order to advance a greater goodallow the young nation to develop for the benefit of the People. Washington was inaugurated as president in 1789 and voluntarily gave up power in 1797 at the age of 65 - seven years younger than the 2008 presidential candidate John McCainand nine years younger than President Donald Trump when he runs for reelection in 2020. Washington set an unwritten tradition of a maximum of two terms for presidents, which was followed by every president until the Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. After Roosevelt broke the rule by being elected four times to presidentin the early 1940s, the two-term tradition was enshrined in the Constitution as an amendment the 22nd Amendment in 1951.<ref>http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html</ref>

An example of Washington's greatness was his handling of "Citizen" Edmond Genet (pronounced "zhe–nay"), who was sent by France to the United States just after the French Revolution. France felt that the United States owed it assistance after how France provided so much help to Americans to win the Revolutionary War. But Washington wanted to stay out of foreign conflicts. Ignoring Washington's wishes, Genet went around America stirring up pro-French sentiment with his impassioned speeches. Genet even sent out private American citizens to attack British shipping (called "privateers," but acting like pirates). Washington told Genet to stop this, but he refused. Washington told France to recall him. But the French Revolution had become uncontrollable, with senseless violence and executions. "Citizen Genet," as he was known, reasonably feared the guillotine if he returned to France. He then begged Washington to grant him asylum in this country, which means allowing him to stay here safely. Despite Washington's enormous and justified irritation, he granted Genet's wishes. Genet later married the daughter of the governor of New York, and became an ordinary farmer!

The first major legislative accomplishment of the "Washington Administration" (the name given to the government under a particular president) was the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established federal court system. (Later, in the first major ruling of the Supreme Court in 1803, the Court declared a small portion of this Act unconstitutional in ''Marbury v. Madison''.)

In 1793, President Washington issued "Washington's Neutrality Proclamation,"which established the neutrality of the United States in the French Revolution, despite our alliance with France. This was consistent with Washington's view that the United States should not entangle itself in foreign matters.

There were also conflicts between Congress and the President. Due to the American outrage at this unpopular treaty, Congress demanded that President Washington provide papers relating to Jay's Treaty so everyone could see how this happened. But Washington refused, and established the principle of "Executive Privilege" of President: the President does not take orders from Congress and does not have to produce executive-type documents to it. Being George Washington and having suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion, he was not going to be challenged by anyone nowfurther!

== Other Events of the 1790s The Supreme Court ==

Two other events of the 1790s were significant, though unrelated to President Washington or Congress. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which is a mechanical way to separate cotton from its thorny branch and seeds. The cotton gin enabled a machine to do the work of 50 men, and greatly increased cotton production by the South. It turned the South into a powerful economic force and made it the primary source of cotton production in the entire world. By the time of the [[Civil War]], the South thought it was invincible due to its ability to produce cotton ("King Cotton"), and how the entire world depended on the South for this basic ingredient of so many things at the time. Also in 1793, the new U.S. Supreme Court did not have its own building or the immense power it has today. In 1793 it issued a decision named ''Chisholm v. Georgia''. It which allowed, for the first time, a lawsuit to be filed against a state in the new federal courts by a citizen of ''a different'' state. This outraged the states and was considered an "activist" decision by the Supreme Court, because it subjected a state to the judicial power of the new national government. Within Proving how little respect there was for the new Supreme Court, within two years Congress passed and more than 3/4 4th of the states ratified the [[Eleventh Amendment]] to the Constitution specifically to overturn this decision. This illustrated a type of "check and balance" on Supreme Court power: the power of the People to amend the Constitution to overturn a bad Supreme Court decision. Including the Bill of Rights, there have been a total of 27 amendments to the Constitution, a few of which were motivated by a desire to overturn a bad Supreme Court decision. Notice that Congress cannot overrule the Supreme Court if the Court bases its decision in the Constitution itself; an amendment to the Constitution is then the only way to overrule a Supreme Court decision that is based in the Constitution.

The "two-party" system developed as part of the political struggle between rivals to take power after George Washington. On one side was were farmers, people in debt (debtors), and rural America, which was who were led by future Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. On the other side were the bankers, manufacturers and cities (urban interests), which were led by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. Jefferson sided with farmers, while Hamilton sided with manufacturers, and they opposed each other often during the Washington Administration.

The split between those loyal to England and those loyal to France also fed into the new two-party system. Jefferson favored France, while Adams favored England. They had previously been ambassadors diplomats to those countries.

Around 1792, two political parties arose in opposition to each other. Jefferson and Madison founded the Democratic-Republican Party, while Hamilton and Adams founded the Federalist Party. Thereafter political candidates for office, including the presidency, aligned themselves with one or the other of the two main political partyparties. Later other political parties arose to replace one or the initial ones. George Washington disfavored political parties, and in a sense was "above" them. But today many consider political parties to be essential to give voters a real choice in elections rather than having candidates adopting the same positions as each other, which would deprive voters a real choice on Election Day.

Adams was a brilliant man with a hard-charging personality. He was considered rude and arrogant, and did not take criticism well. Adams was not creative. His personality was the opposite of Thomas Jefferson, whom Adams narrowly defeated in 1796 for president but then lost to Jefferson in 1800. But Adams' wife Abigail was very charming and is credited with keeping Adams more polite than he would have been. Also, Adams is credited for his view of the Constitution: “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Adams served only one term (four years) and his presidency was a failure due primarily to foreign policy humiliations. The problem was that no one in Europe respected this new country called the United States, and Adams was unable to deal with that lack of respect. For example, in 1798 there was the "XYZ Affair," in which American diplomats went to France to demand an end to French attacks on American ships. Instead of being received welcoming the Americans in a dignified manner, three French agents (referred to anonymously as "XYZ") demanded that a bribe be given to them or else the American request would not even be considered. News of this demand for a bribe reached the United States and it was humiliating to the young country.

One final act by President Adams angered his political opponents further. There was a five-month delay between the presidential election and the swearing in of a new President (the gap is only about two months now). After Thomas Jefferson crushed Adams in the election of 1800, Adams appointed a bunch of "midnight judges" just before Adams was replaced by Jefferson. Jefferson was so angry by this "lame duck" action (something done by a politician after he is defeated but just before he is replaced in office by the winner) that Jefferson blocked the payment of salaries to these new judges for their work. This led to the famous case of ''Marbury v. Madison'' (1803), where the Supreme Court held in Jefferson's favor by declaring a federal law to be unconstitutional. This was the first time the new Supreme Court declared an Act of Congress to be unconstitutional and thereby void. The Court grabbed power for itself to invalidate an Act of Congress, but did it in a way that President Jefferson would not complain by making him the victor in that particular case. Think about the this clever way that the Supreme Court expanded its own power without sparking any resistance by Jefferson, who opposed a powerful judiciary.