Transfer of Power

Examples of Transfer of Power in the following topics:

• The Election of 1800 and the Federalist Legacy

  • The presidential election of 1800 represented the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in U.S. history.
  • Jefferson swept the South, helped along by the Three-Fifths Clause of the Constitution, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of assigning electoral votes and gave additional power to the slave states.
  • This was the first peaceful transfer of political power in the history of the republic, and Democratic-Republicans hailed Jefferson's victory as the "Revolution of 1800."
  • The transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans in a peaceful manner was the most significant and surprising outcome of the election and was singled out as a break from European precedent of violent and bloody power transfers.
  • In part, the peaceful transfer of power was due to the fact that the regime change did not necessarily signal a complete overhaul of Federalist policies.

• The Transfer of Power between the Federalists and the Republicans

  • The Federalists were dominant until the Election of 1800.
  • The First Party System is not only a tool of analysis for social scientists, but also, bore significance to contemporaries, who analyzed the implications behind this divergence of political organizations.
  • "Two political Sects have arisen within the U.S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes Tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are still republicans, Whigs, Jacobins, anarchists, disorganizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons. "
  • Following ratification of the Constitution, the term Federalist Party referred to a somewhat different coalition of supporters of the Constitution that in 1787-1788 that combined entirely new elements, and even gained a few former opponents of the Constitution (such as Patrick Henry).
  • The successful transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans during the 1800 Election of Thomas Jefferson was sometimes referred to as the peaceful Revolution of 1800.

• Governors and Assemblies

  • The governor had the power of absolute veto and could prorogue (i.e., delay) and dissolve the assembly at any time.
  • A governor's power could diminish as the colony gained more representative government.
  • In practice, this was not always achieved, because many of the provincial assemblies sought to expand their powers and limit those of the governor and crown.
  • Laws could be examined by the Board of Trade, which also held veto power over legislation.
  • Maryland was the only colony that did not forcibly eject its last proprietary governor from office, choosing instead a formal and largely courteous transfer of power.

• The Republican Alternative

  • This new coalition was composed of politicians who were vehemently opposed to Hamilton's economic policies, the expanse of federal power under the direction of Washington and Adams, and the Jay Treaty with Britain.
  • In 1801, the Democrat-Republicans came to power with Jefferson's election to president.
  • The election wrought a complete shift in political power and ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule.
  • The peaceful transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans was the most significant and surprising change in the election.
  • It was singled out as a point of departure from European precedent, in which power transfers were often violent and bloody.

• The Republican Victory

  • The election of 1800 marked a peaceful transition of power from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans.
  • Over the course of seven days, the House cast a total of thirty-five ballots, with Jefferson receiving the votes of eight state delegations each time—one short of the necessary majority of nine.
  • The transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans in a peaceful manner was the most significant and surprising outcome of the election.
  • It was singled out as a break from European precedent, in which power transfers were often violent and bloody.
  • Despite the partisan polarization that occurred in the election of 1800, Jefferson's early presidency embodied both Federalist and Democratic-Republican policies that facilitated a stable transition of power in this otherwise volatile political period .

• Incorporating Louisiana

  • All slave societies enacted codes to regulate the behavior of enslaved peoples, and with the transfer of power from the French to the Americans, the old French Code Noir, or Black Law, was replaced by the more restrictive Slave Laws of the Deep South.
  • Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801 after discovering the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso.
  • He also thought that to do so would erode states' rights by increasing federal executive power.
  • Acquiring the territory would double the size of the United States at a sum of less than 3 cents per acre.
  • From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank. "

• Nixon and the Economy

  • Nixon's domestic policies were shaped by the ideas of New Federalism, which proposes the decentralization of political power.
  • Nixon's broader philosophy on domestic policy was informed by the ideas of New Federalism, which proposed the decentralization of political power and the transfer of certain powers from the United States federal government back to the states.
  • The primary objective of New Federalism, as opposed to the 18th-century political philosophy of Federalism, is the restoration to the states some of the autonomy and power which they lost to the federal government during the New Deal, including the power to administer social programs.
  • In 1970, Congress had granted the President the power to impose wage cuts and price freezes.
  • Many saw the price board bureaucracy, associated with Republican policy, as more dangerous than powerful labor unions, which were associated with the Democratic party.

• A New Nation

  • The Federalist-dominated Congress and President Washington approved Hamilton's policies, which broadly interpreted the powers of the federal government under the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.
  • Many of Hamilton's opponents believed that his proposed plans went far beyond the powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution.
  • Furthermore, Democratic-Republicans adhered to a stricter interpretation of the Constitution and believed that state sovereignty was paramount to the powers of the federal government.
  • Often referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," this transfer of power from one party to another was the first in American history.
  • When Democratic-Republican Burr lost his bid for the office of governor of New York, he was quick to blame Hamilton, who had long disliked him and had done everything in his power to discredit him.

• Economic Controls

  • The OPA had the power to place ceilings on all prices except agricultural commodities, and to ration scarce supplies of other items, including tires, automobiles, shoes, nylon, sugar, gasoline, fuel oil, coffee, meats, and processed foods.
  • Most functions of the OPA were transferred to the newly established Office of Temporary Controls (OTC) by Executive Order 9809, December 12, 1946.
  • The Financial Reporting Division was transferred to the Federal Trade Commission.
  • Only a year later, its functions were transferred to the Economic Defense Board (later changed to the Board of Economic Warfare).
  • After a set of controversies over the Board's authority and financing,  its functions were transferred to the newly created Office of Economic Warfare in the Office for Emergency Management in 1943.

• Pinckney's Treaty

  • Pinckney's Treaty between Spain and the United States defined the boundaries of the Spanish colonies of West and East Florida.
  • Among other things, the treaty ended the first phase of the West Florida Controversy, a dispute between the two nations over the boundaries of the Spanish colony of West Florida.
  • With the signing of the treaty in 1795, the border between the United States and the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida became what is now the line through the present-day states of Georgia and Florida, respectively, and the territory extended from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana East of the Mississippi.
  • New Orleans was reopened, and Americans could transfer goods without paying cargo fees (right of deposit) when transferring goods from one ship to another.
  • Spanish power in the region began to weaken, and Spain slowly ceded more territory.