It was in the midst of the diplomatic contest for the Floridas that
James Monroe was for the second time elected to the Presidency, with
singularly little display of partisanship. This time all the electoral
votes but one were cast for him. Of all the Presidents only George
Washington has received a unanimous vote; and to Monroe, therefore,
belongs the distinction of standing second to the Father of his Country
in the vote of electors. The single vote which Monroe failed to get fell
to his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. It is a circumstance of
some interest that the father of the Secretary, old John Adams, so far
forgot his Federalist antecedents that he served as Republican elector
in Massachusetts and cast his vote for James Monroe. Never since
parties emerged in the second administration of Washington had such
extraordinary unanimity prevailed.
Across this scene of political harmony, however, the Missouri
controversy cast the specter-like shadow of slavery. For the moment,
and often in after years, it seemed inevitable that parties would spring
into new vigor following sectional lines. All patriots were genuinely
alarmed. "This momentous question," wrote Jefferson, "like a fire bell
in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at
once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment.
But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence."
What Jefferson termed a reprieve was the settlement of the Missouri
question by the compromise of 1820. To the demands of the South that
Missouri should be admitted into the Union as a slave State, with the
constitution of her choice, the North yielded, on condition that the
rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36 degrees 30' should be forever
free. Henceforth slaveholders might enter Missouri and the rest of the
old province of Louisiana below her southern boundary line, but beyond
this line, into the greater Northwest, they might not take their human
chattels. To this act of settlement President Monroe gave his assent,
for he believed that further controversy would shake the Union to its
very foundations. With the angry criminations and recriminations of
North and South ringing in his ears, Jefferson had little faith in
the permanency of such a settlement. "A geographical line," said he,
"coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived
and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated;
and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper." And Madison,
usually optimistic about the future of his beloved country, indulged
only the gloomiest forebodings about slavery. Both the ex-Presidents
took what comfort they could in projects of emancipation and
deportation. Jefferson would have had slaveholders yield up slaves born
after a certain date to the guardianship of the State, which would then
provide for their removal to Santo Domingo at a proper age. Madison took
heart at the prospect opened up by the Colonization Society which he
trusted would eventually end "this dreadful calamity" of human slavery.
Fortunately for their peace of mind, neither lived to see these frail
hopes dashed to pieces.
Signs were not wanting that statesmen of the Virginia school were not to
be leaders in the new era which was dawning. On several occasions both
Madison and Monroe had shown themselves out of touch with the newer
currents of national life. Their point of view was that of the epoch
which began with the French Revolution and ended with the overthrow of
Napoleon and the pacification of Europe. Inevitably foreign affairs had
absorbed their best thought. To maintain national independence against
foreign aggression had been their constant purpose, whether the menace
came from Napoleon's designs upon Louisiana, or from British disregard
of neutral rights, or from Spanish helplessness on the frontiers of her
Empire. But now, with political and commercial independence assured,
a new direction was imparted to national endeavor. America made a
volte-face and turned to the setting sun.
During the second quarter of the nineteenth century every ounce
of national vitality went into the conquest and settlement of the
Mississippi Valley. Once more at peace with the world, Americans set
themselves to the solution of the problems which grew out of this
vast migration from the Atlantic seaboard to the interior. These were
problems of territorial organization, of distribution of public lands,
of inland trade, of highways and waterways, of revenue and appropriation
problems that focused in the offices of the Secretaries of the Treasury
and of War. And lurking behind all was the specter of slavery and
sectionalism.
To impatient homeseekers who crossed the Alleghanies, it never occurred
to question the competence of the Federal Government to meet all their
wants. That the Government at Washington should construct and maintain
highways, improve and facilitate the navigation of inland waterways,
seemed a most reasonable expectation. What else was government for?
But these proposed activities did not seem so obviously legitimate to
Presidents of the Virginia Dynasty; not so readily could they waive
constitutional scruples. Madison felt impelled to veto a bill for
constructing roads and canals and improving waterways because he could
find nowhere in the Constitution any specific authority for the Federal
Government to embark on a policy of internal improvements. His last
message to Congress set forth his objections in detail and was designed
to be his farewell address. He would rally his party once more around
the good old Jeffersonian doctrines. Monroe felt similar doubts when he
was presented with a bill to authorize the collection of tolls on the
new Cumberland Road. In a veto message of prodigious length he, too,
harked back to the original Republican principle of strict construction
of the Constitution. The leadership which the Virginians thus refused to
take fell soon to men of more resolute character who would not let the
dead hand of legalism stand between them and their hearts' desires.
It is one of the ironies of American history that the settlement of
the Mississippi Valley and of the Gulf plains brought acute pecuniary
distress to the three great Virginians who had bent all their energies
to acquire these vast domains.. The lure of virgin soil drew men and
women in ever increasing numbers from the seaboard States. Farms that
had once sufficed were cast recklessly on the market to bring what they
would, while their owners staked their claims on new soil at a dollar
and a quarter an acre. Depreciation of land values necessarily followed
in States like Virginia; and the three ex-Presidents soon found
themselves landpoor. In common with other planters, they had invested
their surplus capital in land, only to find themselves unable to market
their crops in the trying days of the Embargo and NonIntercourse Acts.
They had suffered heavy losses from the British blockade during the war,
and they had not fully recovered from these reverses when the general
fall of prices came in 1819. Believing that they were facing only a
temporary condition, they met their difficulties by financial expedients
which in the end could only add to their burdens.
A general reluctance to change their manner of life and to practice an
intensive agriculture with diversified crops contributed, no doubt, to
the general depression of planters in the Old Dominion. Jefferson at
Monticello, Madison at Montpelier, and to a lesser extent Monroe at Oak
Hill, maintained their old establishments and still dispensed a lavish
Southern hospitality, which indeed they could hardly avoid. A former
President is forever condemned to be a public character. All kept open
house for their friends, and none could bring himself to close his door
to strangers, even when curiosity was the sole motive for intrusion.
Sorely it must have tried the soul of Mrs. Randolph to find
accommodations at Monticello for fifty uninvited and unexpected guests.
Mrs. Margaret Bayard Smith, who has left lively descriptions of life at
Montpelier, was once one of twenty-three guests. When a friend commented
on the circumstance that no less than nine strange horses were feeding
in the stables at Montpelier, Madison remarked somewhat grimly that he
was delighted with the society of the owners but could not confess to
the same enthusiasm at the presence of their horses.
Both Jefferson and Madison were victims of the indiscretion of others.
Madison was obliged to pay the debts of a son of Mrs. Madison by her
first marriage and became so financially embarrassed that he was forced
to ask President Biddle of the Bank of the United States for a long loan
of six thousand dollars--only to suffer the humiliation of a refusal.
He had then to part with some of his lands at a great sacrifice, but
he retained Montpelier and continued to reside there, though in reduced
circumstances, until his death in 1836. At about the same time Jefferson
received what he called his coup de grace. He had endorsed a note of
twenty thousand dollars for Governor Wilson C. Nicholas and upon his
becoming insolvent was held to the full amount of the note. His only
assets were his lands which would bring only a fifth of their former
price. To sell on these ruinous terms was to impoverish himself and
his family. His distress was pathetic. In desperation he applied to the
Legislature for permission to sell his property by lottery; but he was
spared this last humiliation by the timely aid of friends, who
started popular subscriptions to relieve his distress. Monroe was less
fortunate, for he was obliged to sell Oak Hill and to leave Old Virginia
forever. He died in New York City on the Fourth of July, 1831.
The latter years of Jefferson's life were cheered by the renewal of his
old friendship with John Adams, now in retirement at Quincy. Full of
pleasant reminiscence are the letters which passed between them, and
full too of allusions to the passing show. Neither had lost all interest
in politics, but both viewed events with the quiet contemplation of
old men. Jefferson was absorbed to the end in his last great hobby, the
university that was slowly taking bodily form four miles away across the
valley from Monticello. When bodily infirmities would not permit him to
ride so far, he would watch the workmen through a telescope mounted on
one of the terraces. "Crippled wrists and fingers make writing slow and
laborious," he wrote to Adams. "But while writing to you, I lose the
sense of these things in the recollection of ancient times, when youth
and health made happiness out of everything. I forget for a while
the hoary winter of age, when we can think of nothing but how to keep
ourselves warm, and how to get rid of our heavy hours until the friendly
hand of death shall rid us of all at once. Against this tedium vitae,
however, I am fortunately mounted on a hobby, which, indeed, I should
have better managed some thirty or forty years ago; but whose easy amble
is still sufficient to give exercise and amusement to an octogenary
rider. This is the establishment of a University." Alluding to certain
published letters which revived old controversies, he begged his old
friend not to allow his peace of mind to be shaken. "It would be strange
indeed, if, at our years, we were to go back an age to hunt up imaginary
or forgotten facts, to disturb the repose of affections so sweetening to
the evening of our lives."
As the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
approached, Jefferson and Adams were besought to take part in the
celebration which was to be held in Philadelphia. The infirmities of age
rested too heavily upon them to permit their journeying so far; but they
consecrated the day anew with their lives. At noon, on the Fourth of
July, 1826, while the Liberty Bell was again sounding its old message to
the people of Philadelphia, the soul of Thomas Jefferson passed on; and
a few hours later John Adams entered into rest, with the name of his old
friend upon his lips.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
GENERAL WORKS
Five well-known historians have written comprehensive works on the
period covered by the administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe:
John B. McMaster has stressed the social and economic aspects in "A
History of the People of the United States;" James Schouler has dwelt
upon the political and constitutional problems in his "History of the
United States of America under the Constitution;" Woodrow Wilson has
written a "History of the American People" which indeed is less a
history than a brilliant essay on history; Hermann von Holst has
construed the "Constitutional and Political History of the United States
"in terms of the slavery controversy; and Edward Channing has brought
forward his painstaking "History of the United States," touching many
phases of national life, to the close of the second war with England. To
these general histories should be added "The American Nation," edited by
Albert Bushnell Hart, three volumes of which span the administrations of
the three Virginians: E. Channing's "The Jeffersonian System" (1906); K.
C. Babcock's "The Rise of American Nationality" (1906); F. J. Turner's
"Rise of the New West" (1906).
CHAPTER I
No historian can approach this epoch without doing homage to Henry
Adams, whose "History of the United States," 9 vols. (1889-1891), is at
once a literary performance of extraordinary merit and a treasure-house
of information. Skillfully woven into the text is documentary material
from foreign archives which Adams, at great expense, had transcribed and
translated. Intimate accounts of Washington and its society may be found
in the following books: G. Gibbs, "Memoirs of the Administrations of
Washington and John Adams", 2 vols. (1846); Mrs. Margaret Bayard Smith,
"The First Forty Years of Washington Society" (1906); Anne H. Wharton,
"Social Life in the Early Republic" (1902). "The Life of Thomas
Jefferson," 3 vols. (1858), by Henry S. Randall is rich in authentic
information about the life of the great Virginia statesman but it is
marred by excessive hero-worship. Interesting side-lights on Jefferson
and his entourage are shed by his granddaughter, Sarah N. Randolph, in a
volume called "Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson" (1871).
CHAPTER II
The problems of patronage that beset President Jefferson are set forth
by Gaillard Hunt in "Office-seeking during Jefferson's Administration,"
in the "American Historical Review," vol. III, p. 271, and by Carl R.
Fish in "The Civil Service and the Patronage" (1905). There is no better
way to enter sympathetically into Jefferson's mental world than to read
his correspondence. The best edition of his writings is that by Paul
Leicester Ford. Henry Adams has collected the "Writings of Albert
Gallatin," 3 vols. (1879), and has written an admirable "Life of Albert
Gallatin" (1879). Gaillard Hunt has written a short "Life of James
Madison" (1902), and has edited his "Writings," 9 vols. (1900-1910). The
Federalist attitude toward the Administration is reflected in the "Works
of Fisher Ames," 2 vols. (1857). The intense hostility of New England
Federalists appears also in such books as Theodore Dwight's "The
Character of Thomas Jefferson, as exhibited in His Own Writings" (1839).
Franklin B. Dexter has set forth the facts relating to Abraham Bishop,
that arch-rebel against the standing order in Connecticut, in the
"Proceedings" of the Massachusetts Historical Society, March, 1906.
CHAPTER III
The larger histories of the American navy by Maclay, Spears, and Clark
describe the war with Tripoli, but by far the best account is G.
W. Allen's "Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs" (1905), which may be
supplemented by C. O. Paullin's "Commodore John Rodgers" (1910). T.
Harris's "Life and Services of Commodore William Bainbridge" (1837)
contains much interesting information about service in the Mediterranean
and the career of this gallant commander. C. H. Lincoln has edited "The
Hull-Eaton Correspondence during the Expedition against Tripoli 1804-5"
for the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. XXI
(1911). The treaties and conventions with the Barbary States are
contained in "Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols
and Agreements between the United States of America and Other Powers,"
compiled by W. M. Malloy, 3 vols. (1910-1913).
CHAPTER IV
Even after the lapse of many years, Henry Adams's account of the
purchase of Louisiana remains the best: Volumes I and II of his "History
of the United States." J. A. Robertson in his "Louisiana under the Rule
of Spain, France, and the United States," 1785-1807, 2 vols. (1911),
has brought together a mass of documents relating to the province and
territory. Barbe-Marbois, "Histoire de la Louisiana et de la Cession"
(1829), which is now accessible in translation, is the main source
of information for the French side of the negotiations. Frederick J.
Turner, in a series of articles contributed to the "American Historical
Review" (vols. II, III, VII, VIII, X), has pointed out the significance
of the diplomatic contest for the Mississippi Valley. Louis Pelzer has
written on the "Economic Factors in the Acquisition of Louisiana" in the
"Proceedings" of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, vol. VI
(1913). There is no adequate biography of either Monroe or Livingston.
T. L. Stoddard has written on "The French Revolution in San Domingo"
(1914).
CHAPTER V
The vexed question of the boundaries of Louisiana is elucidated by Henry
Adams in volumes II and III of his "History of the United States." Among
the more recent studies should be mentioned the articles contributed by
Isaac J. Cox to volumes VI and X of the "Quarterly" of the Texas State
Historical Association, and an article entitled "Was Texas Included in
the Louisiana Purchase?" by John R. Ficklen in the "Publications" of the
Southern History Association, vol. V. In the first two chapters of his
"History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase" (1914),
T. M. Marshall has given a resume of the boundary question. Jefferson
brought together the information which he possessed in "An Examination
into the boundaries of Louisiana," which was first published in 1803
and which has been reprinted by the American Philosophical Society
in "Documents relating to the Purchase and Exploration of Louisiana"
(1904). I. J. Cox has made an important contribution by his book on "The
Early Exploration of Louisiana" (1906). The constitutional questions
involved in the purchase and organization of Louisiana are reviewed at
length by E. S. Brown in "The Constitutional History of the Louisiana
Purchase, 1803-1812" (1920).
CHAPTER VI
The most painstaking account of Burr's expedition is W. F. McCaleb's
"The Aaron Burr Conspiracy" (1903) which differs from Henry Adams's
version in making James Wilkinson rather than Burr the heavy villain
in the plot. Wilkinson's own account of the affair, which is thoroughly
untrustworthy, is contained in his "Memoirs of My Own Times," 3 vols.
(1816). The treasonable intrigues of Wilkinson are proved beyond doubt
by the investigations of W. R. Shepherd, "Wilkinson and the Beginnings
of the Spanish Conspiracy," in vol. IX of "The American Historical
Review," and of I. J. Cox, "General Wilkinson and His Later Intrigues
with the Spaniards," in vol. XIX of "The American Historical Review."
James Parton's "Life and Times of Aaron Burr" (1858) is a biography of
surpassing interest but must be corrected at many points by the works
already cited. William Coleman's "Collection of the Facts and the
Documents relative to the Death of Major-General Alexander Hamilton"
(1804) contains the details of the great tragedy. The Federalist
intrigues with Burr are traced by Henry Adams and more recently by S. E.
Morison in the "Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis," 2 vols. (1913).
W. H. Safford's "Blennerhassett Papers" (1861) and David Robertson's
"Reports of the Trials of Colonel Aaron Burr for Treason, and for a
Misdemeanor," 2 vols. (1808), brought to light many interesting facts
relating to the alleged conspiracy. The "Official Letter Books of W.
C. C. Claiborne, 1801-1816," 6 vols. (1917), contain material of great
value.
CHAPTER VII
The history of impressment has yet to be written, but J. R. Hutchinson's
"The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore" (1913) has shown clearly that the
baleful effects of the British practice were not felt solely by American
shipmasters. Admiral A. T. Mahan devoted a large part of his first
volume on "Sea Power in its relations to the War of 1812," 2 vols.
(1905), to the antecedents of the war. W. E. Lingelbach has made a
notable contribution to our understanding of the Essex case in his
article on "England and Neutral Trade" printed in "The Military
Historian and Economist," vol. II (1917). Of the contemporary pamphlets,
two are particularly illuminating:
James Stephen, "War in Disguise; or, the Frauds of the Neutral Flags"
(1805), presenting the English grievances, and "An Examination of the
British Doctrine, which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade, not open
in Time of Peace," prepared by the Department of State under Madison's
direction in 1805. Captain Basil Hall's "Voyages and Travels" (1895)
gives a vivid picture of life aboard a British frigate in American
waters. A graphic account of the Leopard-Chesapeake affair is given by
Henry Adams in Chapter I of his fourth volume.
CHAPTERS VIII AND IX
Besides the histories of Mahan and Adams, the reader will do well to
consult several biographies for information about peaceable coercion
in theory and practice. Among these may be mentioned Randall's "Life of
Thomas Jefferson," Adams's "Life of Albert Gallatin" and "John Randolph"
in the "American Statesmen Series," W. E. Dodd's "Life of Nathaniel
Macon" (1903), D. R. Anderson's "William Branch Giles" (1914), and J. B.
McMaster's "Life and Times of Stephen Girard," 2 vols. (1917). For
want of an adequate biography of Monroe, recourse must be taken to
the "Writings of James Monroe," 7 vols. (1898-1903), edited by S. M.
Hamilton. J. B. Moore's "Digest of International Law", 8 vols. (1906),
contains a mass of material bearing on the rights of neutrals and
the problems of neutral trade. The French decrees and the British
orders-in-council were submitted to Congress with a message by President
Jefferson on the 23d of December, 1808, and may be found in "American
State Papers, Foreign Relations," vol. III.
CHAPTER X
The relations of the United States and Spanish Florida are set forth in
many works, of which three only need be mentioned: H. B. Fuller, "The
Purchase of Florida" (1906), has devoted several chapters to the early
history of the Floridas, but so far as West Florida is concerned
his work is superseded by I. J. Cox's "The West Florida Controversy,
1789-1813" (1918). The first volume, "Diplomacy," of F. E. Chadwick's
"Relations of the United States and Spain," 3 vols. (1909-11), gives an
account of the several Florida controversies. Several books contribute
to an understanding of the temper of the young insurgents in the
Republican Party: Carl Schurz's "Henry Clay," 2 vols. (1887), W. M.
Meigs's "Life of John Caldwell Calhoun," 2 vols. (1917), M. P. Follett's
"The Speaker of the House of Representatives" (1896), and Henry Adams's
"John Randolph" (1882).
CHAPTER XI
The civil history of President Madison's second term of office may be
followed in Adams's "History of the United States," vols. VII, VIII,
and IX; in Hunt's "Life of James Madison;" in Adams's "Life of Albert
Gallatin;" and in such fragmentary records of men and events as are
found in the "Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison" (1886) and Mrs. M.
B. Smith's "The First Forty Years of Washington Society" (1906). The
history of New England Federalism may be traced in H. C. Lodge's "Life
and Letters of George Cabot" (1878); in Edmund Quincy's "Life of Josiah
Quincy of Massachusetts" (1867); in the "Life of Timothy Pickering," 4
vols. (1867-73); and in S. E. Morison's "Life and Letters of Harrison
Gray Otis," 2 vols. (1913). Theodore Dwight published his "History
of the Hartford Convention" in 1833. Henry Adams has collected the
"Documents relating to New England Federalism," 1800-1815 (1878). The
Federalist opposition to the war is reflected in such books as Mathew
Carey's "The Olive Branch; or, Faults on Both Sides" (1814) and William
Sullivan's "Familiar Letters on Public Characters" (1834).
CHAPTER XII
The history of the negotiations at Ghent has been recounted by Mahan and
Henry Adams, and more recently by F. A. Updyke, "The Diplomacy of the
War of 1812" (1915). Aside from the "State Papers," the chief sources
of information are Adams's "Life of Gallatin" and "Writings of Gallatin"
the "Memoirs of John Quincy Adams," 12 vols. (1874-1877), and "Writings
of John Quincy Adams" 7 vols. (1913-), edited by W. C. Ford, the "Papers
of James A. Bayard, 1796-1815" (1915), edited by Elizabeth Donnan, the
"Correspondence, Despatches, and Other Papers, of Viscount Castlereagh,"
12 vols. (1851-53), and the "Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of
Wellington," 15 vols. (1858-78). The Proceedings of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, vol. XLVIII (1915), contain the instructions of
the British commissioners. "A Great Peace Maker, the Diary of James
Gallatin, Secretary to Albert Gallatin" (1914) records many interesting
boyish impressions of the commissioners and their labors at Ghent.
CHAPTER XIII
The want of a good biography of James Monroe is felt increasingly as one
enters upon the history of his administrations. Some personal items may
be gleaned from "A Narrative of a Tour of Observation Made during the
Summer of 1817" (1818); and many more may be found in the "Memoirs and
Writings" of John Quincy Adams. The works by Fuller and Chadwick already
cited deal with the negotiations leading to the acquisition of Florida.
The "Memoirs et Souvenirs" of Hyde de Neuville, 3 vols. (1893-4),
supplement the record which Adams left in his diary. J. S. Bassett's
"Life of Andrew Jackson," 2 vols. (1911), is far less entertaining than
James Parton's "Life of Andrew Jackson," 3 vols. (1860), but much more
reliable.
CHAPTER XIV
The problem of the recognition of the South American republics has been
put in its historical setting by F. L. Paxson in "The Independence of
the South American Republics" (1903). The relations of the United States
and Spain are described by F. E. Chadwick in the work already cited
and by J. H. Latane in "The United States and Latin America" (1920).
To these titles may be added J. M. Callahan's "Cuba and International
Relations" (1899). The studies of Worthington C. Ford have given John
Quincy Adams a much larger share in formulating the Monroe Doctrine than
earlier historians have accorded him. The origin of President Monroe's
message is traced by Mr. Ford in "Some Original Documents on the Genesis
of the Monroe Doctrine," in the "Proceedings" of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, 1902, and the subject is treated at greater length
by him in "The American Historical Review," vols. VII and VIII. The
later evolution and application of the Monroe Doctrine may be followed
in Herbert Kraus's "Die Monroedoktrin in ihren Beziehungen zur
Amerikanischen Diplomatie and zum Volkerrecht" (1913), a work which
should be made more accessible to American readers by translation.
CHAPTER XV
The subjects touched upon in this closing chapter are treated with great
skill by Frederick J. Turner in his "Rise of the New West" (1906). On
the slavery controversy, an article by J. A. Woodburn, "The Historical
Significance of the Missouri Compromise," in the "Report" of the
American Historical Association for 1893, and an article by F. H.
Hodder, "Side Lights on the Missouri Compromise," in the "Report" for
1909, may be read with profit. D. R. Dewey's "Financial History of the
United States" (1903) and F. W. Taussig's "Tariff History of the United
States" (revised edition, 1914) are standard manuals. Edward Stanwood's
"History of the Presidency," 2 vols. (1916), contains the statistics
of presidential elections. T. H. Benton's "Thirty Years' View; or,
A History of the Working of American Government, 1820-1850," 2 vols.
(1854-56), becomes an important source of information on congressional
matters. The latter years of Jefferson's life are described by Randall
and the closing years of John Adams's career by Charles Francis Adams.
End of Project Gutenberg's Jefferson and his Colleagues, by Allen Johnson