Tag Archives: Oliver Ellsworth

2.22 – Enter the Federal City



Year(s) Discussed: 1799-1801

As President Adams and the federal government transition to the new federal capital, the next presidential election looms, and both Federalist and Democratic-Republican leaders work on behalf of their favored candidates to meet challenges to their prospects. While Federalists cope with an internal debate over exactly which candidate to support, Democratic-Republicans in Virginia work to cover up the involvement of French agents in Gabriel’s Rebellion. All the while, the US commission to France scrambles to conclude their work with a treaty in time for Adams and the Federalists to claim credit for winning the peace. Source notes for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “A view of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British” by William Russell Birch [c. 1800], courtesy of Wikipedia


2.18 – New Year, New à Vous



Year(s) Discussed: 1797-1800

The French Directory falls, and the three US peace commissioners are left with many questions as to how to proceed before they even arrive in Paris. Meanwhile, the US government considers a change in its policy towards the Barbary States, and the USS Constellation engages French naval forces once more in the Caribbean. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Les trois consuls de la Constitution de l’an VIII (de gauche à droite : Cambacérès, Bonaparte, Lebrun)” by Henri-Nicolas Van Gorp [c. 1803], courtesy of Wikipedia


2.17 – Some Awful Crisis



Year(s) Discussed: 1798-1799

In Trenton, Adams confronted his Cabinet as well as Gen. Alexander Hamilton over the peace mission to France before the government moved back to Philadelphia for one last winter. After the new session of Congress began in December 1799, news arrived which was described as a national tragedy and had many wondering what lay in store for the US as a new century dawned. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Representation of the great fire at New York” by Franz Xaver Habermann [c. 1776], courtesy of Wikipedia


2.16 – High Noon in Trenton



Year(s) Discussed: 1798-1799

New unrest in the government of France in 1799 presented President Adams with an important decision as to whether to continue with his peace overtures. Meanwhile, competing agendas within his own administration prompt one of Adams’s Cabinet members to urge him to end his sojourn in Quincy as yet another yellow fever epidemic strikes Philadelphia. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Drawing of the New Jersey state capitol at Trenton” [c. 1879], courtesy of Wikipedia


2.14 – The Plausible Probability of Preserving the Peace



Year(s) Discussed: 1798-1799

Adams throws the American political landscape into a frenzy with a special message to Congress announcing that he was appointing a new Minister to France to negotiate peace. While exploring what this all means for Adams, his administration, and the nation, we also take a step back in this episode to look at the influence of American policy in Saint-Domingue and South America on the realities and future of Franco-American relations in 1799. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Atlantic or Western Ocean” by John Thomson [c. 1814], courtesy of Wikipedia


2.03 – The New Sheriff in Town



Year(s) Discussed: 1796-1797

The election of 1796 results in John Adams becoming the nation’s second chief executive, but he quickly finds more questions than answers awaiting him on the path to taking the oath of office. Adams is immediately faced with the need to make decisions about who to keep from the previous administration, what if any policy changes to make, and even where he and his family will live. It’s a transition unlike any other in American history to that point, and with various pressing issues waiting on the desk, the honeymoon for the new President promised to be short-lived. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Congress Hall,” unknown artist, courtesy of the US Senate Historical Office


1.32 – Samsons and Solomons



Year(s) Discussed: 1795-1796

Though finally managing to resolve his personnel issues, Washington and his Cabinet find themselves faced with a host of new problems including a new round of debate over the Jay Treaty and political maneuverings by the Democratic-Republicans as the next presidential election draws ever closer. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “James McHenry” by H Pollock, courtesy of Wikipedia


1.22 – My, What Big Treaties You Have



Year(s) Discussed: 1793-1794

Developments on both sides of the Atlantic keep the administration busy in 1794. Prominent envoys are sent to both Britain and France in order to avert the US being drawn into conflict with a foreign power. General Wayne and his troops march into action in the Northwest Territory. Even Washington is getting into the action as he heads into the field to face the rebels in western Pennsylvania. Though only five years old, the new government under the Constitution is tested like never before. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured image: John Jay, copy based on an original by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy of Wikipedia


1.21 – The Bigger They Are



Hugh Henry Brackenridge by Clayton Braun, courtesy of Wikipedia

Year(s) Discussed: 1792-1794

The Washington administration is beset by various problems in the west while the British threaten American shipping interests in the West Indies, leading the two nations on the path to war. Though growing ever more tired of his position, President Washington must devise a plan to thwart attempts at rebellion in the west, decide upon an envoy to send east to London to seek out a diplomatic resolution, and begin work to build the US Navy. No rest for a weary President in 1794! Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.


1.09 – Agitations



Fisher Ames, courtesy of Wikipedia

Year(s) Discussed: 1789-1791

Increasingly during the Washington administration, tensions were beginning to build between pro-administration and anti-administration factions which would ultimately culminate in the development of the First Party System. This episode looks at some of the structural and cultural reasons for these divisions as well as some of the early leaders of the two factions including, of course Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Source information for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.