Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. It represented a bloody culmination to an extensive political feud between the two men. Burr had long blamed Hamilton for costing him the Presidential election of 1800, when Hamilton has used his influence to encourage votes for Jefferson. The matter came to a head when Hamilton released a newspaper account disparaging the integrity of Burr during Burr’s 1804 campaign for governorship of New York. Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton on July 11^th 1804. It would spell the almost immediate end to his political career and contributed to the death of the Federalist Party. 

The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant was marred by scandals almost too numerous to list. Nepotism—the practice of awarding jobs based on personal association and favor—was rampant. The Credit Mobilier scandal is perhaps unfairly attributed to Grant as it began during the Johnson administration and did not involve Grant specifically. To make a very lengthy story simple—the scandal involved the misallocation of government funds by a group of railroad construction companies and individuals in order that they should achieve individual profit. The so-called Salary Grab is perhaps a better indicator of the corruption during Grant’s administration. A bill was proposed to double the President’s salary and to increase the salaries of Congressmen by fifty-percent. The Federal Government’s power to raise its own salary is protected by the Constitution, but allegedly Grant encouraged the Senators to pass the bill in secrecy. He was later exposed by several different journalistic publications and public opinion was not kind. 

Alexander Hamilton served as the first Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington. During his tenure Hamilton led the creation of the National Bank and the establishment of a United States Minting Office. Hamilton’s ideas on manufacturing and trade were also central to the direction of the infant United States. 

The Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party were the first two political parties to exist in the United States. They formed the first of America’s few two-party systems. The Federalist Party eventually declined in popularity after the War of 1812, soon after to the point of non-existence. The Democratic-Republican Party survived for several electoral campaigns before splitting during the ascendency of President Andrew Jackson. 

The term “Virginia System” was used by many politicians in the early years of the United States to refer to the dominance of the Presidential office by Virginians. Four of the first five Presidents were born residents of Virginia—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Many of their opponents deplored this state of affairs, some proclaimed conspiracy. After this initial wave of Virginians, however, there has been only one other President from Virginia—John Tyler. 

The Judiciary Act of 1801 was designed primarily to expand the Federal court system; specifically it was designed to increase the number of judges in the lower levels of the court. It also led to the famous “Midnight Appointments,” where President Adams, realizing he was about to be replaced by a President with a different ideology, sought to fill as many of the vacancies with Federalist minded Judges as quickly as possible. 

The Election of 1816 came immediately after the end of the War of 1812. Although the war had hardly resulted in an overwhelming victory for the United States, it had also not resulted in defeat. The Democratic-Republican Party took national credit for the outcome and the Federalist Party, with their opposition to the war and secessionist rhetoric, had become decidedly out of favor with the majority of the American voting population.

Perhaps understanding their own inevitable demise, the Federalist Party hardly bothered to have a nominating convention and allowed a weak candidate by the name of Rufus King to run for them. King won only a few New England states and Monroe and the Democratic-Republicans carried the election in a landslide victory. 

The 14th Amendment guaranteed the rights of citizenship to freed slaves. In addition, it states that all citizens have equal rights and every citizen is protected by the Constitution.

The "Second Party System" developed in the wake of Andrew Jackson's victory in the 1828 Election. The Federalist Party had died out after the War of 1812, and saw a general one party system for slightly over a decade. Jackson generated a great deal of anger and opposition in his call for populist economics and politics. Those following Jackson retained the name "Democrats," as Thomas Jefferson used at the turn of the century. Jackson's opponents, led by Henry Clay, slowly coalesced into a cohesive opposition, and used the name "Whig" to describe themselves, after the more liberal British political party.

The Marshall Court was the name given to the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall. John Marshall is the longest serving Chief Justice in American history, serving for more than thirty years. During that time his court did a great deal to expand the powers of the Federal government at the expense of the states. His most important contribution was defining the role of the judiciary. His court established the principle of judicial review, which states that the judiciary has the ability to nullify the actions of the executive and legislative branches when those actions are unconstitutional.