Formation of the Union

A >> Albert Bushnell Hart >> Formation of the Union

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[Sidenote: Republicans successful.]

The campaign of 1800 thus began with the Federalists divided, and the
Republicans hopeful. Hamilton was determined to force Adams from the
headship, and prepared a pamphlet, for which materials were furnished by
Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury. Aaron Burr, a wily Republican
leader, managed to get a copy, published it, and spread it broadcast.
Adams was re-nominated by a caucus of Federalist members, and C. C.
Pinckney was put on the ticket with him. Jefferson was, as in 1796, the
candidate of his party for President. For Vice-President there was
associated with him Burr, who was able to control the important vote of
the State of New York. The result of this coalition was seen in May, 1800,
when a New York legislature was elected with a Republican majority; and
that legislature would, in the autumn, cast the vote of the State. The
Federalists persevered, but South Carolina deserted them, so that both
Jefferson and Burr received seventy-three votes, and Adams had only sixty-
five. The Federalist supremacy was broken.

[Sidenote: Election by the House.]

Now arose an unexpected complication. There being a tie between Jefferson
and Burr, the House of Representatives was called upon to decide between
them, its vote being cast by States. Had the majority of the House been
Republican, Jefferson would, of course, have received their votes; it was,
however, Federalist, and the Federalists thought themselves entitled to
choose that one of their enemies who was least likely to do them harm.
Obscure intrigues were entered upon both with Jefferson and Burr. Neither
would make definite promises, although Burr held out hopes of alliance
with the Federalists. Hamilton now came forward with a letter in which he
declared that of the two men Jefferson was less dangerous. "To my mind,"
said he, "a true estimate of Mr. Jefferson's character warrants the
expectation of a temporizing rather than of a violent system." After a
long struggle the deadlock was broken; Jefferson was chosen President of
the United States, and Burr Vice-President.

92. CAUSES OF THE FALL OF THE FEDERALISTS.

[Sidenote: Unpopularity of the Federalists.]
[Sidenote: Judiciary Act.]

The electoral majority was small; the Federalists preserved their
organization, and had the prestige of twelve years of administration; it
was impossible to realize that there never again would be a Federalist
president. In the election of 1804, however, they received but fourteen
electoral votes altogether (sec. 100). The reasons for this downfall are
many, However popular the French war had been, the taxes made necessary by
it had provoked great dissatisfaction; and in 1799 a little insurrection,
the so-called Fries Rebellion, had broken out in Pennsylvania. The
Sedition prosecutions were exceedingly unpopular, The last acts of the
party left a violent resentment. In 1801, after it was known that there
would be a Republican President with a large majority in both houses of
Congress, the Federalists resolved to bolster up their power in the third
department of government. A Judiciary Act was therefore passed, creating
new courts, new judges, and new salaried officials. All the resulting
appointments were made by Adams, and duly confirmed by the Senate, thus
anticipating by many years any real needs of the country. A vacancy
occurring in the chief-justiceship, Adams appointed John Marshall, one of
the few Virginia Federalists; he had made his reputation as a politician
and statesman: even Adams himself scarcely foresaw that he was to be the
greatest of American jurists.

[Sidenote: Internal dissensions.]

Still more fatal were the internal dissensions in the party. In 1799
Washington died, and no man in the country possessed his moderating
influence, The cabinet, by adhering to Hamilton and corresponding with him
upon important public matters, had weakened the dignity of the President
and of the party. In the election of 1800 Hamilton, besides his open
attack on Adams, had again tried to reduce his vote sufficiently to bring
Pinckney in over his head. Adams himself, although a man of strong
national spirit, was in some respects too moderate for his party. Yet his
own vanity and vehemence made him unfit to be a party leader.

[Sidenote: Republican theories.]

While these reasons may account for the defeat of the Federalists, they do
not explain their failure to rise again. They had governed well: they had
built up the credit of the country; they had taken a dignified and
effective stand against the aggressions both of England and of France. Yet
their theory was of a government by leaders. Jefferson, on the other hand,
represented the rising spirit of democracy. It was not his protest against
the over-government of the Federalists that made him popular, it was his
assertion that the people at large were the best depositaries of power.
Jefferson had taken hold of the "great wheel going uphill." He had behind
him the mighty force of the popular will.

CHAPTER IX.

REPUBLICAN SUPREMACY (1801-1806).

93. REFERENCES.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES.--W. E. Foster, _References to Presidential
Administrations_, 8-12; Justin Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_,
VII. 310, 315-320, 336-341, 418-420, 519-522, 527-547; H. B. Tompkins,
_Bibliotheca Jeffersoniana_; Channing and Hart, _Guide_, secs. 167-171.

HISTORICAL MAPS.--Nos. 1 and 4, this volume (_Epoch Maps_, Nos. 7 and
9); Labberton, _Atlas_ Nos. lxvi., lxvii.; MacCoun, _Historical
Geography_; Scribner, _Statistical Atlas_, Plates 13, 14.

GENERAL ACCOUNTS.--J. B. McMaster, _People of the United States_, II.
538-635; III. 1-338; J. Schouler, _United States_, II. 1-194; Bryant
and Gay, _Popular History_, 1. 144-184; H. Von Holst, _Constitutional
History_, I. 168-226; R. Hildreth, _United States_, V. 419-686; VI. 25-
148; Geo. Tucker, _United States_, II. 146-348; Bradford, _Constitutional
History_, I. 202-329.

SPECIAL HISTORIES.--Henry Adams, _United States_, I.-IV., _John Randolph_,
48-267, and _Life of Gallatin; J. T. Morse, _Jefferson_, 209-300; George
Tucker, _Life of Jefferson_; H. S. Randall, _Life of Jefferson_; J. A.
Stevens, _Gallatin_, 176-311; S. H. Gay, _Madison_, 252-282; lives of
Burr, Gerry, Plumer, Pickering; T. Lyman, _Diplomacy_; J. C. Hamilton,
_Republic_, VII.

CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS.--Works of Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin; J. Q.
Adams, _Memoirs_, I. 248-551; William Sullivan, _Familiar Letters_, 187-
289; Timothy Dwight, _Character of Thomas Jefferson_; S. G. Goodrich,
_Recollections_, I. 106-137, 265-298; Basil Hall, _Voyages and Travels_;
Timothy Dwight, _Travels_ (1796-1813); Thomas Ashe, _Travels_ (1806); John
Mellish, _Travels_ (1806-1811); John Davis, _Travels_ (1798-1802); Isaac
Weld, _Travels_; J. Stephens, _War in Disguise_.--Reprints in Mathew
Carey, _The Olive Branch_; Henry Adams, _Documents Relating to New England
Federalism; American History told by Contemporaries_, III.

94. THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION OF 1801.

[Sidenote: Character of Jefferson.]

To the mind of the Federalists the success of the Republicans, and
particularly the elevation of Jefferson, meant a complete change in the
government which they had been laboring to establish. Jefferson was to
them the type of dangerous liberality in thought, in religion, and in
government. In his tastes and his habits, his reading and investigation,
Jefferson was half a century in advance of his contemporaries. Books and
letters from learned men constantly came to him from Europe; he
experimented in agriculture and science. Accused during his lifetime of
being an atheist, he felt the attraction of religion, and, in fact, was
not far removed from the beliefs held by the Unitarian branch of the
Congregational Church in New England. Brought up in an atmosphere of
aristocracy, in the midst of slaves and inferior white men, his political
platform was confidence in human nature, and objection to privilege in
every form. Although a poor speaker, and rather shunning than seeking
society, he had such influence over those about him that no President has
ever so dominated the two Houses of Congress.

[Sidenote: Jefferson's faults.]

Jefferson's great defect was a mistaken view of human nature: this showed
itself in an unfortunate judgment of men, which led him to include among
his friends worthless adventurers like Callender. As a student and a
philosopher, he believed that mankind is moved by simple motives, in which
self-interest is predominant: hence his disinclination to use force
against insurrections; the people, if left to themselves, would, he
believed, return to reason. Hence, also, his confidence in a policy of
commercial restriction against foreign countries which ignored our neutral
rights; this was set forth in his commercial report of 1793 (sec. 85), and
later was the foundation of his disastrous embargo policy (sec. 103). He
had entire confidence in his own judgment and statesmanship; his policy was
his own, and was little affected by his advisers; and he ventured to
measure himself in diplomacy against the two greatest men of his time,--
William Pitt the younger and Napoleon Bonaparte.

[Sidenote: Moderate policy.]

Fortunately his administration began at a period when general peace seemed
approaching. The treaty of Amiens in 1802 made a sort of armistice between
France and Great Britain, and neutral commerce was relieved from capture.
The national income was steadily rising (sec. 52), the Indians were quiet,
the land dispute with Georgia--the last of the long series--was on the
point of being settled, the States showed no sign of insubordination. In
his inaugural address the new President took pains to reassure his fellow-
citizens. "We have called by different names brethren of the same
principle," said he; "we are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."
Among the essential principles of government which he enumerated, appeared
"absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority,--the vital
principle of republics,--from which is no appeal but to force, the vital
principle and immediate parent of despotism."

[Sidenote: Purpose to win the Federalists.]

The studied moderation of this address shows clearly the policy which
Jefferson had in his mind. In a letter written about this time he says:
"To restore that harmony which our predecessors so wickedly made it their
object to break, to render us again one people, acting as one nation,...
should be the object of every man really a patriot." Jefferson was
determined to show the Federalists that there would be no violent change
in his administration; he hoped thus to detach a part of their number so
as to build up the Republican party in the Northern States. Even in
forming his cabinet he avoided violent shocks; for some months he retained
two members of Adams's cabinet; his Secretary of State was Madison, who in
1789 was as much inclined to Federalism as to Republicanism; and he
shortly appointed as his Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the
Parliamentary leader of the party, but in financial principles and policy
much like Hamilton.

95. JEFFERSON'S CIVIL SERVICE (1801-1803).

[Sidenote: Jefferson's principles.]

In a few weeks the disposition to conciliate was severely tried by the
pressure of applicants for office. Jefferson's principles on this subject
were summed up in a letter written March 24, 1801: "I will expunge the
effects of Mr. A.'s indecent conduct in crowding nominations after he knew
they were not for himself.... Some removals must be made for
misconduct.... Of the thousands of officers, therefore, in the United
States a very few individuals only, probably not twenty, will be removed:
and these only for doing what they ought not to have done." Gallatin
heartily supported him in this policy of moderation. Jefferson then laid
down the additional principle that he would fill all vacancies with
Republicans until the number of officeholders from each party was about
equal. "That done, I shall return with joy to that state of things when
the only questions concerning a candidate shall be, Is he honest? Is he
capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?"

[Sidenote: Political removals.]

Adams was promptly rebuked by the removal of twenty-four persons appointed
in the two months previous. Other removals were made for what would now be
called "offensive partisanship." Then came a third group of removals, in
order, as Jefferson said, "to make some room for some participation for
the Republicans." At the time he acknowledged that there had been sixteen
cases,--in fact, there were many more; at the end of about two years after
his inauguration, out of 334 officers occupying important places, 178 were
new appointments, and of their predecessors at least 99 had been removed.
These officers in many cases carried with them a staff of subordinates. It
is safe to say that one half the persons who had been in the civil service
of the United States in March, 1801, were out of it in March, 1805.

[Sidenote: Appointments.]

Nor did Jefferson adhere to his purpose to appoint Federalists and
Republicans indiscriminately after the balance should have been reached.
He appointed none but members of his own party; many Federalists in office
came over to the Republicans; and by 1809 the civil service was
practically filled with Republicans.

96. ATTACK ON THE JUDICIARY (1801-1805).

[Sidenote: Repeal of the Judiciary Act.]

Moderation in Jefferson's mind did not extend to the judiciary which had
been forced upon the country by the Federalists in 1801. At his suggestion
Breckenridge, in 1802, moved to repeal the recent Act, and thus to get rid
at once of the new courts and of the incumbents. The Federalists protested
that the Constitution was being destroyed. "I stand," said Gouverneur
Morris, "in the presence of Almighty God and of the world, and I declare
to you that if you lose this charter, never, no, never, will you get
another. We are now, perhaps, arrived at the parting point." The repeal
was plainly intended to remove the last bulwark of the Federalist party in
the government. It was made more obnoxious by a clause suspending the
sessions of the Supreme Court until February, 1803. It was passed by a
majority of one in the Senate, and by a party vote of fifty-nine to
thirty-two in the House. The President signed it, and all the new circuit
judges and judicial officers were thus struck from the roll of the
government.

[Sidenote: Impeachments.]
[Sidenote: Marbury vs. Madison.]

The narrow majority in the Senate warned Jefferson not to proceed farther
with such statutes; but the judiciary could be affected in another way.
Several of the supreme and district judges were ardent Federalists, and
had expressed strong political opinions from the bench. In February, 1803,
the House impeached John Pickering, district judge in New Hampshire; his
offence was drunkenness and violence on the bench; but the purpose to
intimidate the other judges was unmistakable. Two of them accepted the
issue. The Supreme Court had resumed its session only a few days, when, in
1803, Marshall made a decision in the case of Marbury _vs._ Madison.
Marbury was one of Adams's "midnight appointments;" the suit was brought
for his commission, which had not been delivered, and was retained by
Madison when he became Secretary of State. Marshall decided that "to
withhold his commission is an act deemed by the court not warranted by
law, but violative of a legal vested right." Upon a technical point,
however, the complaint was dismissed.

[Sidenote: Chase trial.]
[Sidenote: Appointments.]

Further defiance came from another justice of the Supreme Court, Samuel
Chase of Maryland. His prejudice against Callender on his trial for
sedition had exasperated the Republicans (sec. 89), and on May 2, 1803,
while the Pickering impeachment was impending, Chase harangued the grand
jury as follows: "The independence of the national judiciary is already
shaken to its foundation, and the virtue of the people alone can restore
it.... Our republican constitution will sink into a mobocracy,... the worst
of all possible governments." Pickering was convicted March 12, 1804, and
on the same day the House impeached Chase. By this time the Republicans
had overshot the mark, and notwithstanding Chase's gross partisanship,
on March 1, 1805, the impeachment failed for want of a two-thirds vote.
The only hope of controlling the Supreme Court was therefore to fill
vacancies, as they occurred, with sound Republicans. Three such
opportunities occurred in Jefferson's administration. To his great
chagrin, the new judges showed themselves as independent, though not as
aggressive, as Marshall.

97. THE POLICY OF RETRENCHMENT (1801-1809).

[Sidenote: Federal finance.]

Although the effort to check the power of the judiciary failed, in another
direction Jefferson struck out a new and popular policy. Under the
Federalists the taxes had increased from $3,600,000 in 1792 to $10,700,000
in 1800. This increase had been more than balanced by the growth of
expenditures. The Indian and French wars had brought unexpected expenses
upon the government, and the construction of a little navy was still going
on, In 1793 the government spent $3,800,000. In 1800 it spent $10,800,000.
Of this amount $6,000,000 went for the army and navy, and $3,000,000 for
interest. The deficits had been obscured by a funding system under which
payments to the sinking fund were practically made out of borrowed money,
so that the debt had risen from $80,000,000 in 1793 to nearly $83,000,000,
in 1800.

[Sidenote: Gallatin's finance.]

If peace could be guaranteed, a considerable part of the expenditure could
be cut down; and thus taxes might be reduced, and still a surplus be left,
out of which to pay instalments on the public debt. In his first annual
message the President accordingly advised the reduction of the military
and naval forces, and also of the civil officers. Gallatin proceeded to
draw up a financial plan: the annual revenue was to be $10,800,000,
military expenses were to be cut down to $2,500,000, and the civil
expenses to about $1,000,000; the remainder, $7,300,000, was to be devoted
to the reduction of the debt.

[Sidenote: Success of the system.]

Neither part of this scheme worked precisely as had been expected. The
army indeed underwent what Jefferson called a "chaste reformation;" it was
cut down from 4,000 to 2,500 men, to the great discontent of the officers.
The number of vessels in commission was reduced from about twenty-five to
seven, and the construction of vessels on the stocks was stopped, so that
in 1802 less than $1,000,000 was spent on the navy. Nevertheless, the
civil and miscellaneous expenses of the government grew steadily. Under
the Federalist administration, the total expenditures in time of peace,
exclusive of interest, had never been more than $3,000,000; in 1802
Gallatin spent $3,700,000, and in 1809 $7,500,000. The debt was, however,
rapidly diminished, and in 1809 stood at only $45,000,000; nearly half of
the interest charge was thus cut off, and for the first time the
government found itself with more money than it knew how to use. The taxes
had been reduced by a million and a half, by striking off the unpopular
direct tax and excise; the loss was more than met by an unexpected
increase in the revenue from customs, which in 1808 stood at $16,000,000,

[Sidenote: Drawbacks.]

To reach this result Jefferson and Gallatin deliberately neglected to make
ordinary preparations against attack; fortifications were abandoned,
skilled officers dismissed, ships allowed to decay at the wharves or on
the stocks, and the accumulation of military material ceased. The only
offset to this neglect was the creation of a military school at West Point
in 1802, and the training gained by the naval wars against the Barbary
powers.

98. BARBARY WARS (1801-1806).

[Sidenote: The navy.]

The Peace Establishment Act of March 3, 1801, authorized the President to
sell all the vessels of the navy except thirteen frigates, of which only
six were to be kept in commission; and the number of naval officers was
reduced from five hundred to two hundred. "I shall really be chagrined,"
wrote Jefferson, "if the water in the Eastern Branch will not admit our
laying up the whole seven there in time of peace, because they would be
under the immediate eye of the department, and would require but one set
of plunderers to take care of them." Events were too much for Jefferson's
genial intention. Ever since the Middle Ages the petty Moorish powers on
the north coast of Africa had made piracy on the Mediterranean trade their
profession. In accordance with the custom of European nations, in 1787 the
United States had bought a treaty of immunity with Morocco, and later with
Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. Every payment to one of these nests of
pirates incited the others to make increased demands. In May, 1800, the
Pasha of Tripoli wrote to the President of the United States: "We could
wish that these your expressions were followed by deeds, and not by empty
words.... If only flattering words are meant, without performance, every
one will act as he finds convenient." Receiving no satisfaction, he
declared war upon the United States.

[Sidenote: The pirates subdued.]

One of the first acts of Jefferson's administration was, therefore, to
despatch a squadron to blockade Tripoli, and in 1802 he was obliged to
consent to a declaration of war by the United States. The frigates were
unsuitable, and in 1803 Congress resumed the hated Federalist policy of
building a navy. Four new vessels, of a small and handy type, were
constructed, and under Commodore Preble, Tripoli was compelled in 1805 to
make peace and to cease her depredations. The other Barbary powers were
cowed by this exhibition of spirit, and for some years our commerce was
undisturbed. The first result of the war was, therefore, that the corsairs
were humbled. A far greater advantage to the United States was the skill
in naval warfare gained by the officers of the navy. Thenceforward it was
impossible to think of shutting the navy up in the Eastern Branch of the
Potomac. Naval expenditures slowly increased, and seven years later the
good effect was seen in the War of 1812.

99. ANNEXATION OF LOUISIANA (1803).

[Sidenote: Jefferson's political principles.]

Jefferson came into power as a stickler for a limited government, confined
chiefly to foreign and commercial affairs. He now entered upon the most
brilliant episode of his administration,--the annexation of Louisiana; and
that transaction was carried out and defended upon precisely the grounds
of loose construction which he had so much contemned.

[Sidenote: Napoleon's colonial system.]

In 1763 France had two flourishing American colonies,--Louisiana and
Hayti, the western end of the island of San Domingo. The former province
was ceded to Spain (sec. 18); the latter, the centre of the French colonial
system, was nearly destroyed by a slave insurrection in 1791. When, in
1800, Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul and virtual dictator, he
formed a brilliant scheme of reviving the French colonial empire. The
first step was to recover Louisiana; the second was to make peace with
England, so as to stop the naval war and release the French resources; the
third step was to occupy, first Hayti, and then Louisiana. The three plans
were pursued with characteristic rapidity. In October, 1800, the secret
treaty of San Ildefonso was negotiated, by which Spain agreed to return
Louisiana to France, the condition being that Napoleon should create a
kingdom of Etruria for the son-in-law of the king of Spain. In 1802 the
Peace of Amiens was made with England.

[Sidenote: Toussaint Louverture.]

A combined French and Spanish squadron had already, October, 1801, carried
a great expedition to occupy the whole island of San Domingo, with secret
orders to re-establish slavery. Then came an unexpected check: the fleet
and the army of ten thousand experienced French troops were unable to
break down the resistance of Toussaint Louverture, a native black general
who aimed to be the Napoleon of the island. Toussaint was taken; but the
army was forced back into a few sea-ports, and almost swept away by
disease. The blacks were still masters of the island.

[Sidenote: Alarm of the United States.]

The next step was to have been the occupation of Louisiana. By this time,
April, 1802, the news of the cession reached the United States, and drew
from Jefferson a remarkable letter. "The day that France takes possession
of New Orleans," said he, "fixes the sentence which is to restrain her
forever within her low-water mark. From that moment we must marry
ourselves to the British fleet and nation." As though to justify this
outburst of anti-Gallican zeal on the part of the old friend of France,
the Spanish Intendant of Louisiana, Oct. 16, 1802, withdrew the so-called
"right of deposit" under which Americans on the upper Mississippi had been
able to send goods to the sea and to receive return cargoes without the
payment of Spanish duty. If the province were to pass to France with the
Mississippi closed, it seemed to Jefferson essential that we should obtain
West Florida, with the port of Mobile; and in January, 1803, James Monroe
was sent as special envoy to secure this cession. [Sidenote: Louisiana
treaty.]

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