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Week 7 · Readings & resources

Week 7 — Readings & Resources · The New Republic

U.S. History to 1877 · HIST 1301 Fall 2026 · Prof. Hartwell Fictional sample

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objectives covered: Objective 5 — the Constitution and the politics of the early republic: Hamilton's financial plan; the first party system; foreign policy crises; Adams's presidency; the Revolution of 1800.

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and there is nothing to buy.

This week's load: 2 short videos + 2 short readings + the primary source for the Workshop. Work one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 50–60 minutes for everything, less if you pick one per group.

Order that matches the lecture: ① Hamilton's financial plan → ② the first party system → ③ foreign crises, XYZ, and the Alien & Sedition Acts → ④ the Revolution of 1800 → ⑤ the week's primary source (for the Workshop).

A habit to continue: before trusting any historical claim — in these resources or anywhere — ask: Who made this source, when, and why? What did they leave out? Does another source back it up?

Links-rot note: all links below point to stable institutional archives (National Archives, Library of Congress, Avalon Project at Yale, Khan Academy, the American Battlefield Trust). These are among the most durable URLs in the field. If a link becomes unavailable, search the institution's site directly for the title.

① Hamilton's Financial Plan & the Bank Debate

Maps to Lecture Segments 2–3. The core of Hamilton's three-part plan: assumption of state debts, the Bank of the United States, and the whiskey excise tax; the constitutional debate between strict and loose construction.

Reading — "The First American Party System" (Khan Academy, AP®/College US History, The Constitution and The New Nation unit)
🔗 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/road-to-revolution/creating-the-us-government/a/the-first-american-party-system
Why it earns the click: a clear overview of Hamilton's economic vision versus Jefferson's agrarian ideal, the Bank debate, and the origins of the two-party system — the conceptual core of this week. Read it before class if you read only one thing.
⏱ ~12 min

Reading — "Alexander Hamilton and the Financial Program" (OpenStax, U.S. History, §8.1)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/8-introduction
Why it's assigned: free, detailed narrative of Hamilton's plan — assumption, the Bank, the Whiskey Rebellion — and Jefferson's opposition. (Navigate to §8.1 from the introduction page.)
⏱ ~15 min

② Foreign Policy: Neutrality, the Jay Treaty & the XYZ Affair

Maps to Lecture Segments 5–6. The crises that defined Washington's and Adams's foreign policies: the Neutrality Proclamation (1793), the Jay Treaty (1795), the XYZ Affair (1797–98), the Quasi-War, and the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Video — "Age of Jefferson — Crisis in the Early Republic" (CrashCourse US History #10)
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLbm5y0cFk
Why it earns the click: a brisk, reliable sweep through the XYZ Affair, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and the election of 1800 — everything in Segment 6 of the lecture, compressed into ~14 minutes. Good pre-class prep or post-class review.
⏱ ~14 min

Reading — "XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War" (American Battlefield Trust)
🔗 https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/xyz-affair
Why it's assigned: a concise, authoritative narrative of the French crisis that drove Adams toward the Alien and Sedition Acts — the foreign-policy context the lecture assumes you have.
⏱ ~8 min

③ The Alien & Sedition Acts and the Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions

Maps to Lecture Segment 6. The Federalists' controversial security measures of 1798 and the Democratic-Republican response that planted the seeds of states'-rights doctrine.

Reading — "Alien and Sedition Acts" (Bill of Rights Institute)
🔗 https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-alien-and-sedition-acts/
Why it earns the click: a clear explanation of what the four Acts actually did, why the Federalists passed them, and why Democratic-Republicans called them unconstitutional — plus the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions as a response. Covers the key exam distinctions.
⏱ ~10 min

④ The Election of 1800 and the "Revolution of 1800"

Maps to Lecture Segment 7. The first peaceful transfer of power between opposing parties in American history — and why it was not guaranteed.

Video — "Election of 1800" (CrashCourse US History #6)
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydnLmHYFnBY
Why it earns the click: covers the Federalist vs. Democratic-Republican conflict of the 1790s and the election of 1800 — including the Jefferson-Burr tie and the House vote — in an accessible, fast-moving format.
⏱ ~14 min

⑤ The Week's Primary Source — Washington's Farewell Address (1796)

This is the source you'll analyze in Primary Source Workshop 7. Read it here first; bring your notes to the Workshop.

Primary source — Washington's Farewell Address (September 19, 1796) — Avalon Project, Yale Law School
🔗 https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
What it is: the full text of Washington's letter to the American people, published in the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796. Read especially the sections on the "spirit of party" and on "permanent alliances" with foreign nations — those are the Workshop's close-reading targets.
⏱ ~25 min (full text); ~10 min if you focus on the party and foreign-policy passages

Secondary context — "Washington's Farewell Address, 1796" (U.S. State Department, Office of the Historian)
🔗 https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/washington-farewell
Why it earns the click: a brief, authoritative commentary on what Washington was responding to (the Jay Treaty, party conflict) and why the Address mattered — useful context before you close-read the primary source.
⏱ ~5 min

Optional — Washington's Farewell Address (U.S. Senate historical page + full PDF)
🔗 https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Washingtons_Farewell_Address.pdf
Why it's here: the Senate has read the Address aloud in chamber every year on or near Washington's birthday since 1896 — a measure of how influential it became. This PDF is a clean, archival-quality text if you find the Avalon version harder to navigate.

Optional / Going deeper

~ Prof. Hartwell's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com