[1] A graceful compliment from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Adams whose
competitor he had been in the election, for the President and Vice
President were not then voted for separately but the person having the
highest number of votes became President, and the next highest the Vice
President; and in this election there was only a difference of three
votes between the two highest on the list.
[2] The sensibility which was manifested when General Washington
entered, did not surpass the cheerfulness which overspread his own
countenance, nor the heartfelt pleasure with which he saw another
invested with the power and authorities that had so long been exercised
by himself.--_Marshall._
[3] In this early day, the parliamentary rule was enforced against any
reference in one House to what was done in the other.
[4] Valued by a speaker in this debate at £5000 sterling, and afterwards
given to the Washington College, Lexington, Va.
[5] Afterwards General and President. This was his first appearance in
the national councils--and characteristically--defending with his voice
those Western settlers whose defence, with the sword, was afterwards the
foundation of his national fame and political elevation.
[6] This is the true ground on which the United States becomes liable to
a State for its expenses in suppressing or repulsing Indian hostilities.
It turns upon the idea of an actual invasion, or such imminent danger of
it as not to admit of delay: then the contingency happens in which the
State may engage in war, and all the acts of Congress, and the
Government orders give way before a constitutional right. Tennessee,
like other new countries in the United States, was settled without law,
and against law. Its early settlers not only had no protection from the
Federal Government, but were under legal disabilities to pursue the
enemy. This arose from the policy of the Government to preserve peace on
the frontiers by restraining the advance of settlements, and curbing the
disposition of the people to war. The history of all the new
settlements, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is the same: people go
without law, and against law; and when they can neither be stopped by
the Government, nor driven back by the Indians, then the Government
gives them protection.
[7] The committee reported in favor of paying the brigade of General
Sevier, (300 infantry and two troops of horse,) amounting to the sum of
$22,816 and 25 cents--a very small sum for a remote expedition into the
country of a formidable Indian tribe, and so efficiently conducted as to
secure tranquillity to the frontier. It deserves to be remembered for
its promptitude, efficiency and cheapness.
[8] The solution of the enigma was, that those who voted against taxing
slaves were opposed to any direct tax whatever, and the members from the
slave States who supported the tax, did so because the taxation of lands
and slaves went together in the slave States--the people were used to
the association--and to omit slaves in the direct tax would be unjust
and unpopular, as sparing the rich and making the tax fall heavier upon
persons of less property.
[9] Yeas and nays not taken.
[10] The great naval powers of Europe show themselves sensible of this,
by proposing to the United States to abolish privateering.
[11] The whole expense of procuring peace from Algiers, and forbearance
to prey upon our citizens and commerce, and to redeem the captives, was
then about one million of dollars; and the alternative was between
paying that amount and carrying on war against her. War preparations had
begun, and six frigates had been authorized to be built. A war with
Algiers, then a formidable power, (and of course with the rest of the
Barbary States,) was a very serious undertaking to the United States at
that time--the cost great and certain--the issue uncertain. The greatest
powers of Europe paid tribute to these barbaric pirates: it was no
disgrace to the infant United States to do the same: and the redemption
of the captives was a further inducement, founded in humanity: so that
the price of peace became a question of economy.
[12] She was compensated accordingly.
[13] The resolution offered by Mr. Harper contemplated an official
interposition in behalf of Lafayette--a grave proceeding, which
President Washington had well considered beforehand, and maturely
decided against. But unofficially he had been exerting himself to
procure the release, or to mitigate the fate of the illustrious captive.
A confidential person had been sent to Berlin to solicit his discharge,
his first captivity being in Prussia; but before the arrival of the
messenger the well-guarded prisoner had been turned over to the Emperor
of Germany. Mr. Thomas Pinckney, the American Minister in London, had
been instructed to make known the wishes of the President to the
Austrian Minister at that place, and the British Ministry had been
solicited to take an interest in the application: but all in vain. As a
last attempt, and at the moment of ceasing to be President, he addressed
a private letter to the Emperor of Austria, couched in noble and feeling
terms, in which he solicited that Lafayette might be allowed to come to
the United States. The letter said: "I forbear to enlarge upon this
delicate subject. Permit me only to submit to your majesty's
consideration, whether his long imprisonment, and the confiscation of
his estate, and the indigence and dispersion of his family, and the
painful anxieties incident to all these circumstances, do not form an
assemblage of sufferings which recommend him to the mediation of
humanity? Allow me, sir, on this occasion to be its organ; and to
entreat that he may be permitted to come to this country on such
conditions, and under such restrictions as your majesty may deem it
expedient to prescribe." This touching appeal remained without effect;
and the romantic effort of Dr. Bollman having failed to save Lafayette,
after snatching him from the dungeon of Olmutz, it remained for the
glittering sword of the conqueror of Italy to command what the noble
letter of Washington failed to obtain. After the Treaty of _Campo
Formio_, an aid-de-camp of the then young General Buonaparte proceeded
to Vienna--asked the release of Lafayette--and obtained it. The Emperor,
Francis the Second, might have appeared more gracefully in the
transaction, if he had yielded the release to the letter of Washington.
[14] The close of the Fourth Congress terminates the presidency of
General Washington, and presents, a proper point for a retrospective
view of the working of the Government for the first eight years of its
existence. Such a view is full of instruction, and deserves to be taken;
and first of the finances. Moderate expenses, and moderate taxes were
the characteristics of this branch of the service. The support of the
Government, called the Civil List, and comprehending every object of
civil expenditure, was, for the year 1796, (the last of Washington's
administration,) $530,392, and the duties on imports about five millions
of dollars--or nearly ten times as much as the support of the Government
required--leaving nearly nine-tenths to go to the public debt, the
preservation of peace with the Indian tribes, defence of the frontiers,
protection of commerce in the Mediterranean; and other extraordinary
objects. This amount was produced by moderate duties--the _ad valorems_,
10, 12-1/2, 15 and 20 per centum--and mainly produced by the two first
rates, the two latter chiefly applying to objects of luxury not used by
the general mass. Thus: The amount of imports subject to the 10 and the
12-1/2 rates was $28,267,000, while those subject to 15 were $7,850,000;
and those subject to 20 per centum only the third of one million. The
average of the whole was about 13 per centum. The specific duties were
on the same moderate scale; and the cost of collecting the whole was
3.73 per cent. The interest on the public debt was three millions and a
quarter; the Military Department, $1,300,000; Naval Department,
$440,000; tribute to the Barbary powers, veiled under the name of
foreign intercourse expense, was $300,000; while the regular diplomatic
intercourse was only about $40,000. The whole expenditure of the
Government was about 5-1/2 millions: its whole revenue something
more--the excise on distilled spirits producing some $400,000. Thus,
order and economy were established in the finances. Abroad peace had
been maintained. The proclamation of neutrality, unanimously agreed upon
in the Cabinet, saved the United States from the calamity of being
involved in the wars of the French Revolution. The commercial treaty
with Great Britain stopped the depredations which the British had
commenced upon American vessels carrying provisions to France, and
obtained indemnity for depredations already committed. With Spain the
serious question of the free navigation of the Mississippi was settled;
and, in addition to the right of navigation, a place of deposit for
American produce and merchandise was obtained at New Orleans--the right
to be absolute for three years, and afterwards until an equivalent place
should be provided. (It was the subsequent violation of this right of
deposit which led to the acquisition of all Louisiana.) Safety to the
persons and property of American citizens in the Mediterranean Sea had
been obtained, according to the means usual at that time, and upon terms
to be endured until strong enough to do better. The formidable Indian
war in the North-west, and the troublesome hostilities in the
South-west, had been terminated, and peace given to the young
communities on the Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers which, commencing
without authority, were laying the foundations of future great States. A
domestic insurrection (that of Western Pennsylvania) had been quelled,
and happily without bloodshed--the exhibition of a large force, with
Washington at its head, being sufficient to forbid resistance, and a
wise humanity sparing all punishment. The new Government was solidly
established, and amidst difficulties which might have been insuperable
under any other President. Public credit, which had sunk so low under
the Confederation, had risen to a high standard under the new
Government; and a general commercial and agricultural prosperity
pervaded the land.
[15] This was an extra session, called in the early months of Mr. Adams'
administration, for the causes stated in his Message to the two Houses.
[16] The following is the speech referred to, Barras being the President
of the Directory who addressed it to Mr. Monroe:
"Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America: By
presenting to-day your letters of recall to the Executive Directory, you
give to Europe a very strange spectacle.
"France, rich in her liberty, surrounded by a train of victories, strong
in the esteem of her allies, will not abase herself by calculating the
consequences of the condescension of the American Government to the
suggestions of her former tyrants; moreover, the French Republic hopes
that the successors of Columbus, Ramhiph, and Penn, always proud of
their liberty, will never forget that they owe it to France. They will
weigh, in their wisdom, the magnanimous benevolence of the French people
with the crafty caresses of certain perfidious persons who meditate
bringing them back to their former slavery. Assure the good American
people, sir, that, like them, we adore liberty; that they will always
have our esteem; and that they will find in the French people republican
generosity, which knows how to grant peace, as it does to cause its
sovereignty to be respected. As to you, Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary,
you have combated for principles; you have known the true interests of
your country: depart with our regret. In you we give up the
representative to America, and retain the remembrance of the citizen
whose personal qualities did honor to that title."
[17] This is a view of those depredations which has been lost sight of.
Their injuries are now considered as falling exclusively upon the
merchants: it was then agreed that they fell upon the community, the
merchant indemnifying himself by insurances and increased profits.
[18] And is still so carried on.
[19] Taxed in Great Britain, with the privilege of commutation for a
gross sum.
[20] This sum which amounted to one third of the amount of the notes and
disposits, was a general rule for regulating the quantity of cash kept
to answer their current demands.
[21] This taxation of bank notes presents the ready mode of regulating
the paper currency of the States, and suppressing the mischief of small
notes which are a constant source of depredation upon the laboring part
of the community, a constant source of crime in the making and passing
counterfeit paper, and the constant expeller of the constitutional
currency. These small notes were hardly known at the time of this tax,
which was so readily imposed, and therefore were taxed lightest: now
they are a general circulation, and the most profitable part of a bank's
issues; and, therefore, should be taxed highest, both on the principle
of being most profitable to the banks and most injurious to the
community.
[22] This equilibrium was soon destroyed. The merchants soon got rid of
the stamp tax; but the farmers still bear a salt tax.
[23] This extra session having been called on account of expected
hostilities with the French Republic, the labors of Congress were
consequently limited to the two objects of defence and
revenue--preparation for defence, and providing the additional revenue
which the defence required. Both objects were accomplished. The three
frigates--Constitution, Constellation and United States, which
afterwards earned themselves a place in history--were finished and
manned. A detachment of 80,000 militia was authorized. A stamp duty was
imposed--a loan authorized--and the salt tax increased: the latter as a
temporary measure, and with an express clause against continuance,
without which it could not have passed, and in contravention of which it
was continued. Defence was the great object of the session: invasion the
danger: and its repulse by sea and land the remedy. Preparation against
invasion was, at that time, a proper policy: the progress of science,
and of the arts of peace, has superseded such policy in our day. The
electric telegraph, and the steam car, have opened a new era in
defensive war. Accumulated masses of volunteers, summoned by electricity
and transported by steam, rushed upon the invaded point and giving
incessant attacks with fresh arrivals, would exterminate any invading
force; and give the cheap, effective and extemporaneous defence which
the exigency required.
[24] An illustrious mission, nationally composed of the most eminent
citizens, three in number, and taken from different parts of the Union,
and from both political parties: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, from South
Carolina; John Marshall, from Virginia; Elbridge Gerry, from
Massachusetts--the two first federal; Mr. Gerry, republican.
[25] Mr. Gallatin is not accurately reported. The exception extended to
all the officers of the Federal Government, and for as long a time as
their duties required them to remain in the States, and to all others
for the period of six months.
[26] In a subsequent part of this same debate, Mr. Macon retracted this
censure upon the Quakers, as being too general.
[27] Acts of limitation have been found necessary in all countries, and
in all sorts of claims, to quiet demands, bring things to settlement,
and to protect the fair dealer from stale demands, after time and
accidents have deprived him of the means of invalidating them. Necessary
in the transactions of individuals, they become still more so in the
transactions of the Government. Its officers are constantly changing,
and the knowledge of transactions continually being lost, and the
representatives of the Government without the personal interest which
stimulates inquiry and invigorates defence. The Government becomes
helpless against claims, even the most unjustifiable, after the lapse of
some years; and, without the protection of a statute of limitations, is
subject to continual impositions. This was well known to the conductors
of our Revolution, and the founders of our Federal Government; and they
took care, as they believed, to provide against a danger which they knew
to be imminent. Equally solicitous to pay every valid claim, and to
avoid the payment of unjust ones, they began even during the war to call
upon all claimants to present their demands--to furnish abstracts when
the case was not ready to be proved up. These calls were redoubled at
the conclusion of peace, were repeated during the existence of the
confederation, and reiterated at the formation of the new Government
under the constitution. They took the form of law, and barred the claims
which were not presented within limited times. The final bar was seven
years after the new Government went into operation. The committee, of
which Mr. Gallatin was chairman, made an enumeration of these different
statutes, and reported in favor of their observance--a report in which
the House concurred, and to which Congress then conformed its action.
These statutes, and the reasons in which they were founded, seem to have
been since forgotten; and stale claims let in upon the Treasury without
restraint, and proved without difficulty, which no call could bring
forth at the time they were supposed to have originated. It is
instructive to look over the list of these statutes, and see the reasons
in which they were founded, and the efforts made to call in all valid
claims, and the attention paid to them fifty years ago, and the
disregard since.
[28] Upon the request of General Washington the Count de Grasse remained
in the Chesapeake beyond the time which his instructions allowed,
risking all the penalties of insubordination, and by so doing did what
was indispensable to the capture of Lord Cornwallis.
[29] This was the first debate on the prohibition of Slavery in a
Territory which took place under the Federal Constitution, and it is to
be observed that the constitutional power of Congress to make the
prohibition, was not questioned by any speaker. Expedient objections
only were urged.
[30] The speaker here alludes to the paper called "the second treaty of
Pilnitz," which he declares to be a forgery. The first treaty of Pilnitz
was a mere conditional agreement between the Emperor and the King of
Prussia, that if either of them should be attacked by France, they would
unite to repel the attack. This treaty they avowed; and when, on the
acceptance of the new Constitution by the King of France, better
prospects of a peaceable conduct on the part of that nation were
entertained, they suspended this treaty by a formal declaration.
[31] Thus, by a close vote, the Naval Department was created; and, as
the proceedings show, by a party vote--the Republicans of that day being
against a Navy.
[32] The allusion was to Mr. Liston, the British Minister, accused of
complicity with Senator Blount, of Tennessee, in a scheme to send an
expedition against the Spanish province of West Florida, in breach of
our neutrality, Great Britain and Spain being then at war, and the
United States at peace with both. Mr. Blount was expelled the Senate for
his part in that affair, but it was only the beginning of the
enterprises which ended twenty years afterwards in adding both East and
West Florida to the United States. These provinces were geographically
appurtenant to the American Union, and their possession essential to its
political system. The desire for their acquisition was natural, and
efforts to obtain them incessant, until the acquisition was made.
[33] The call was made with a view to the final vote on the Provisional
Army Bill, and the way in which the absentees were accounted for--one
sick and the rest on leave--was highly creditable to the members.
[34] Whereas, armed vessels sailing under authority, or pretence of
authority, from the Republic of France, have committed depredations on
the commerce of the United States, and have recently captured the
vessels and property of citizens thereof, on and near the coast, in
violation of the law of nations, and treaties between the United States
and the French nation: Therefore,
_Be it enacted, &c._, That it shall be lawful for the President of the
United States, and he is hereby authorized, to instruct and direct the
commanders of the armed vessels belonging to the United States, to
seize, take, and bring into any port of the United States, to be
proceeded against according to the laws of nations, any such armed
vessel which shall have committed, or which shall be found hovering on
the coasts of the United States, for the purpose of committing
depredations on the vessels belonging to citizens thereof; and, also, to
retake any ship or vessel, of any citizen or citizens of the United
States, which may have been captured by any such armed vessel.
[35] At this period it was the custom of Congress to have the funerals
of members in the morning or evening, before the meeting, or after the
adjournment of the Houses.
[36] I allude to my painful residence here, as a political cipher.
[37] The general consent with which this answer was voted was honorable
to the House, and advantageous to the character of the country. Besides
depredations on our commerce, there was, at that time, a course of
studied indignities to the United States from the French Government,
then having the form of a Directory, of which _Barras_ was President,
and Talleyrand Foreign Secretary. These indignities were marked and
systematic; of which the speech of _Barras_ to Mr. Monroe when he had
his take-leave audience--the refusal to receive his successor, General
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and insolent threat to commit him to the
police as a mere foreigner in Paris--the subsequent refusal to receive
both himself and Judge Marshall, sending them out of the country, and
endeavoring to divide the embassy--intriguing to extort a bribe, and to
obtain a loan in violation of our neutrality--and not only proclaiming
but acting on the assumption that we were a divided people, (French and
British,) and that a devotion to one or the other of these powers, and
not a sentiment of American nationality, was the sole rule of our
policy. The unanimity of the answer to the President's Speech was a
proper reply to all this outrage and insult. And the re-echoed
declaration of protection "_to the sacred rights of embassy_," was not
only just in itself, and called for by the occasion, but was due to the
personal characters, the dignity and decorum of the two repulsed
Ministers, (Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall,) as well as to their official
station and the nation they represented.
[38] Then in a state of successful revolt against France, but her
independence not acknowledged.
[39] A strong expression, but justified by what had been seen in St.
Domingo.
[40] This whole debate abounds with valuable information on the
condition of the French West Indies--political, commercial and
historical--during the period of the French Revolution. Toussaint,
Santhonax, Polverel, Victor Hugues, Hedouville, Rigaud, Deforneaux, were
household words fifty years ago; and words of portent in their day, and
giving shape to events of present import--though hardly known now.
[41] The House was in Committee of the Whole, but still the speakers
were held to the point, and hence the force and brevity, and instructive
character of these early debates.
[42] It was not the custom then to adjourn the Houses to attend the
funeral of a member. The burial took place before, or after, the day's
session.
[43] In our service the time has been stated at much less--at every
eight or ten years.
[44] The following extract from the celebrated report and resolutions of
the General Assembly of Virginia, in the year 1799, speak the sentiments
of the democratic party of that day on the subject of a Navy: "With
respect to the Navy, it may be proper to remind you that whatever may be
the proposed object, or whatever may be the prospect of temporary
advantages resulting therefrom, it is demonstrated by the experience of
all nations who have ventured far into naval policy, that such prospect
is ultimately delusive; and that a navy has ever in practice been known
more as an instrument of power, a source of expense, and an occasion of
collisions and wars with other nations, than as an instrument of
defence, of economy, or of protection to commerce." And among the
resolutions then adopted, she instructs her Representatives and requests
her Senators as follows: "To prevent any augmentation of the navy, and
to promote any proposition for reducing it within the narrowest limits
compatible with the protection of the sea-coasts, ports and harbors of
the United States, and of consequence a proportionate reduction of the
taxes."
[45] These assurances were given by the same Directory, and through the
same Minister of Foreign Affairs, (Talleyrand,) who had refused to
receive Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall; and, on receiving these
assurances, another extraordinary mission of three eminent citizens was
appointed to proceed to Paris. They were: Oliver Ellsworth, Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; William Richardson
Davie, late Governor of the State of North Carolina; and William Vans
Murray, U. S. Minister Resident at the Hague. Before they arrived at
Paris, the Revolution of the 18th _Brumaire_ had occurred--the
Directorial Government overturned, the Consulate established, and
Buonaparte at the head of affairs. He retained Talleyrand in the Foreign
Ministry, and that astute and supple character conformed as readily to
the policy of the First Consul, (peace with the United States,) as he
had complied with the contrary policy of the Directory.
[46] The allusions were to Mr. Jay and Mr. Ellsworth, appointed to
foreign embassies while chief Justices--the former by President
Washington, the latter by President John Adams.
[47] This was the famous Judiciary act, passed in the last days of Mr.
Adams' administration, and increasing the number of federal judges,
which gave so much dissatisfaction at the time, and which was repealed
in the beginning of Mr. Jefferson's administration.
[48] The prints referred to by Mr. Trumbull, in his letter to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, are, first, a representation of
the Battle of Quebec, and death of General Montgomery; second, the
Battle of Bunker's Hill--both elegant engravings. They are placed on the
right and left of the Speaker's chair, and are highly ornamental to the
Representatives' Chamber.
[49] This was a skilful movement, and a fair one. It shifted the _onus_
from the friends to the opponents of the President; and besides giving
them the advantage of the defensive, impeded the supporters of Mr.
Livingston's motion with preliminary and extrinsic questions from the
start. It was a great party question in its day, and before the people
chiefly turned upon the point that Robbins was an American citizen,
while in Congress that point was given up, and the debate turned upon
the legal right of the President to advise the judge to give up the man,
and especially to giving him up without trying his claim to American
citizenship. Though made, in the main, a party question, it was not
entirely so in the vote, many of the democracy voting with the federal
members in justification of Mr. Adams. It was in this debate that the
(afterwards) Chief Justice Marshall made the speech which gained him so
much fame.
[50] This speech is not reported.
[51] This speech is not reported.
[52] Not reported.
[53] Not reported.
[54] Son of Mr. James Jarvis, of New York, and midshipman on board the
Constellation in the engagement of the 1st of February, who was killed
by the falling of the mast.
[55] The First Meeting of Congress at Washington City.
[56] Citizen Talleyrand, retained under the Consulate as Minister of
Exterior Relations, was the organ of our Ministers' communications with
the First Consul, and his language and deportment on their arrival
present a fine contrast to what they were in the time of the Directory,
and of the X., Y., Z. subaltern intriguers. Thus, arriving in Paris on
the 2d of March, they notify the Citizen Minister of that fact on the
3d, and the same day receive this answer: "The information which you
have just communicated of your arrival at Paris, has given me real
satisfaction. If you will take the trouble to call upon me at half-past
twelve to-morrow, I will be exceedingly glad to have the honor of
receiving you." They called as requested, and were treated with all
courtesy; and, having expressed a desire to be presented to the First
Consul, they received the next day the evidence that he had attended to
their request and accomplished it, and giving the hour they were to be
"so obliging" as to attend in the Hall of the Ambassadors, in the Palace
of the Tuileries. And in notifying them that a commission was appointed
to treat with them, he expressed himself with amiable politeness, "to
remove a misunderstanding which comports as little with the interests as
with the sentiments of the two Governments."
[57] Subject to the disapproval of Congress, and to remain in force
until disapproved--this Territory being a copy in its Government of that
of the North-west under the Ordinance of the 13th July, 1787, except in
the anti-slavery clause.
[58] Nominated Secretary at War, May 7th, 1800. Nomination postponed on
the 9th of May. Appointed May 13th Secretary of State, appointed Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Jan. 27th, 1801. Died
1835.
[59] Twenty-two years afterwards this opinion was verified, and the
system abolished, after thirty years of injurious existence--so hard is
it to get rid of an evil establishment when it has once got foothold.
[60] This result was due, more than to any other, to General Hamilton,
as the majority of the federal party were strongly disposed to support
Colonel Burr--from doing which, they were impressively and successfully
counselled by him. He was personally well with Burr, and ill with
Jefferson, but took the public good, and not his own feelings, for his
guide. He said of them, and of his own duty between them: "If there be a
man in the world I ought to hate, it is Jefferson. With Burr I have
always been personally well. But the public good must be paramount to
every private consideration." The danger of Burr's election was
imminent, as appears from a letter of Bayard's to General Hamilton,
wherein he says: "I assure you, sir, there appears to be a strong
inclination in the Federal party to support Mr. Burr. The current has
already (January 7th) acquired considerable force, and is manifestly
increasing. The vote which the representation of a State enables me to
give would decide the question in favor of Mr. Jefferson. At present I
am by no means decided as to the object of preference. If the Federal
Party should take up Mr. Burr, I ought certainly to be impressed with
the most undoubting conviction before I separate myself from them." This
passage from a letter of Mr. Bayard, (who afterwards decided the
election,) shows the imminence of the danger of Burr's election; and the
answer to it, (with letters to other federal members,) shows that that
danger was averted by General Hamilton. In these letters he depicted
Burr as morally and politically a bad man, utterly unfit and unsafe to
be trusted with the Presidency, and in circumstances to make crime his
necessity as well as his inclination, and implored him to save the
country from the "_calamity_" of his election. The sting of these
letters, rankling in the bosom of Burr, produced the duel in which
General Hamilton afterwards lost his life. A singularly hard fate! to
die for serving his country, and that in the person of an enemy.
This election in the House of Representatives, protracted through four
days and to the 36th ballot, produced the most intense excitement
throughout the United States, and filled the minds of all good men with
alarm for the safety of the Union. The conclusion, however, showing ten
States to have voted for Mr. Jefferson, and only four for Mr. Burr,
shows that there were many members duly impressed with the solemnity of
the crisis, and patriotically coming forward to sacrifice private and
political feeling on the altar of public safety. The following detail of
the 36 ballotings, all alike but the last, appeared in the National
Intelligencer at the time, and shows the name and the vote of the
different members in this most arduous and eventful struggle.
[From the National Intelligencer, of Feb. 17 and 18, 1801.]
That the people may know how the votes of their Representatives have
been given, we present a statement:
_New Hampshire._--4 for Burr, viz: Mr. Foster, Mr. Sheafe, Mr. Tenney,
and Mr. Freeman.
_Massachusetts._--11 for Burr, viz: Mr. S. Lee, Mr. Otis, Mr. N. Read,
Mr. Shepard, Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Wadsworth, Mr. L. Williams, Mr. Bartlett,
Mr. Mattoon, Mr. J. Read, Mr. Sedgwick.
Three for Jefferson, viz: Mr. Bishop, Mr. Varnum, Mr. Lincoln.
_Rhode Island._--2 for Burr, viz: Mr. Champlin, and Mr. J. Brown.
_Connecticut._--7 for Burr, viz: Mr. C. Goodrich, Mr. E. Goodrich,
Griswold, Mr. Dana, Mr. J. Davenport, Mr. Edmond, Mr. J. C. Smith.
_Vermont._--1 for Jefferson, viz: Mr. Lyon.
One for Burr, viz: Mr. Morris.
_New York._--6 for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Bailey, Mr. Thompson, Mr.
Livingston, Mr. Elmendorph, Mr. Van Cortlandt, Mr. J. Smith.
Four for Mr. Burr, viz: Mr. Bird, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Platt.
_New Jersey._--3 for Jefferson, viz: Mr. Kitchell, Mr. Condit, Mr. Linn.
Two for Burr, viz: Mr. F. Davenport, Mr. Imlay.
_Pennsylvania._--9 for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Gregg, Mr.
Hanna, Mr. Leib, Mr. Smilie, Mr. Muhlenberg, Mr. Heister, Mr. Stewart,
Mr. R. Brown.
Four for Burr, viz: Mr. Waln, Mr. Kittera, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Woods.
_Delaware._--1 for Mr. Burr, viz: Mr. Bayard.
_Maryland._--4 for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. S. Smith, Mr. Dent, Mr.
Nicholson, Mr. Christie.
Four for Mr. Burr, viz: Mr. J. C. Thomas, Mr. Craik, Mr. Dennis, and Mr.
Baer.
_Virginia._--14 invariably for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Nicholas, Mr.
Clay, Mr. Cabell, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Eggleston, Mr. Goode, Mr. Gray, Mr.
Holmes, Mr. Jackson, Mr. New, Mr. Randolph, Mr. A. Trigg, Mr. J. Trigg,
Mr. Tazewell.
Five for Mr. Burr on the same ballots, (two of whom on the first ballot
voted for Mr. Jefferson,) viz: Mr. Evans, Mr. H. Lee, Mr. Page, Mr.
Parker, Mr. Powell.
_North Carolina._--6 invariably for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Alston, Mr.
Macon, Mr. Stanford, Mr. Stone, Mr. R. Williams, Mr. Spaight.
Four for Burr on some ballots, (3 of whom on the first ballot voted for
Mr. Jefferson,) viz: Mr. Henderson, Mr. Hill, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Grove.
_South Carolina._--Mr. Sumter being sick has not attended, but will
attend, at every hazard, the moment his vote can be of any avail. The
individual votes of the Representatives of this State are not accurately
known, but it is generally believed that Mr. Huger votes for Mr.
Jefferson; and Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Pinckney, and Mr. Harper, vote for Mr.
Burr. Mr. Nott's vote is doubtful. He has gone home.
_Georgia._--1 for Jefferson, viz: Mr. Taliaferro--Mr. Jones, who is
dead, would have voted the same way.
_Kentucky._--2 for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Davis and Mr. Fowler.
_Tennessee._--1 for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Mr. Claiborne.
On Saturday last a memorial was presented to John Chew Thomas,
representative in Congress for this District, from a respectable number
of his constituents, recommending him to vote for Thomas Jefferson, and
declaring that at least two-thirds of his constituents were in favor of
the election of Mr. Jefferson.
The memorial was signed by the most respectable Federal gentlemen of the
City of Washington.
<tb>
[From the National Intelligencer, of Feb. 18.]
On Tuesday at 12 o'clock the 35th ballot was taken; the result the same
with that of the preceding ballots.
At one o'clock the 36th ballot was taken which issued in the election of
Thomas Jefferson.
On this ballot there were,
Ten States for Mr. Jefferson, viz: Vermont, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and
Tennessee.
Four States for Mr. Burr, viz: Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut,
and Massachusetts.
Two States voted by blank ballots, viz: Delaware and South Carolina.
In the instance of Vermont, Mr. Morris withdrew.
In that of South Carolina, Mr. Huger, who is understood previously
uniformly to have voted for Mr. Jefferson, also withdrew, from a spirit
of accommodation, which enabled South Carolina to give a blank vote.
And in the instance of Maryland, four votes were for Jefferson and four
blank.
[61] The administration of Mr. Adams fell upon difficult times, and
involved the necessity of measures always unpopular in themselves, and
never more so than at that time. The actual aggressions of France upon
our commerce, her threats of war, and insults to our ministers, required
preparations to be made for war; and these could not be made without
money, nor money be had without loans and taxes. Fifteen millions was
the required expenditure of the last year of his administration; a large
sum in that time, but almost the whole of which went to three objects;
the army, the navy, and the public debt. The support of the Government
remained at the moderate sum which it had previously presented; to wit,
$560,000. The duties still remained moderate--the _ad valorems_, 10,
12-1/2, 15 and 20 per centum; and the latter more nominal than real, as
it only fell upon a few articles of luxury, of which the importation was
only to the value of $430,000. The main levy fell upon the 10 and 12-1/2
per centum classes, of which to the value of 26-1/2 millions were
imported; of the 15 per centum class only 7-1/2 millions were imported;
and the average of the whole was 13 per centum and a fraction. The
specifics were increased, but not considerably; and the cost of
collecting the whole was 4-1/2 per centum. Direct taxes and loans made
up the remainder. The whole amount collected from duties was about 10
millions: to be precise, $10,126,213; that is to say, nearly twenty
times as much as the support of the Government (comprehending every
civil object) required. The administration of Mr. Adams, though
condemned for extravagance, was strictly economical in the support of
the Government, and in the collection of the revenue: the army and the
navy, those cormorant objects of expenditure, brought the demands for
money which injured the administration.
[62] This is the first instance of a _Message_ being sent to the two
Houses at the commencement of a session. Though veiled and commended by
temporary reasons, founded in the convenience of the members and placed
in the fore part of the letter, yet the concluding reasons (which are of
a general and permanent nature) disclose the true reasons for the
change--which was, to make it permanent: and permanent it has been. It
was one of Mr. Jefferson's reforms--the former way of assembling the two
Houses to hear an address in person from the President, returning an
answer to it, the two Houses going in form to present their answer, and
the intervention of repeated committees to arrange the details of these
ceremonious meetings, being considered too close an imitation of the
royal mode of opening a British Parliament. Some of the democratic
friends of Mr. Jefferson doubted whether this change was a reform, in
that part of it which dispensed with the answers to the President. Their
view of it was, that the answer to the Speech, or Message, afforded a
regular occasion for speaking to the state of the Union, and to all the
topics presented; which speaking, losing its regular vent, would
afterwards break out irregularly on the discussion of particular
measures, and to the interruption of the business on hand. Experience
has developed that irregularity, and another--that of speaking to the
Message on the motions to refer particular clauses of it to appropriate
committees, thereby delaying the reference; and, in one instance during
Mr. Fillmore's administration, preventing the reference during the
entire session.
[63] [From the National Intelligencer of Jan. 8, 1802.]
On Monday last the editor addressed a letter to the President of the
Senate, requesting permission to occupy a position in the lower area of
the Senate Chamber, for the purpose of taking with correctness the
debates and proceedings of that body.
It may be necessary to remark that heretofore no stenographer has been
admitted in this area; and the upper gallery, being open to the
admission of every one, and very remote from the floor of the House, has
prevented any attempt being made to take the debates, from the
impossibility of hearing distinctly from it.
The contents of the letter were submitted by the President to the
Senate; and a resolution agreed to, to the following effect: _Resolved_,
That any stenographer, desirous to take the debates of the Senate on
Legislative business, may be admitted for that purpose, at such place,
within the area of the Senate Chamber, as the President shall allot.
On Wednesday the editor had, accordingly, assigned to him a convenient
place in the lower area, from which he took notes of the proceedings of
the Senate On the adoption of the above resolution, which opens a new
door to public information, and which may be considered as the prelude
to a more genuine sympathy between the Senate and the people of the
United States, than may have heretofore subsisted, by rendering each
better acquainted with the other, we congratulate, without
qualification, every friend to the true principles of our republican
institutions.
[64] This motion gave rise to one of the most extended and earnest
debates which had occurred in Congress, involving the interests and
passions of party, as well as questions of high constitutional law and
of great public expediency; and was brought on in the approved
parliamentary form of a resolution to try the principle, unembarrassed
with the details of a new bill. The law proposed to be repealed, besides
adding sixteen new circuit judges at once to the federal bench, (making
38 in all,) was passed in the last days of an expiring administration,
and the appointments made in these last moments, and well confined to
one political party: so that many reasons conspired to make it
objectionable on one hand and desirable on the other, and to call forth
the strongest exertions both for, and against, the repeal.
[65] It was a party vote, and a close one, some changes of members
having changed the majority since the last session--then a bare majority
on the Federal side.
[66] A debate of great length and earnestness now took place in the
House on this repealing bill sent down from the Senate, and passed there
by a majority of only one. The two parties seemed to have staked
themselves upon it, not before the House, (where the issue was certain,)
but before the country, to the arbitrament of which the great appeal was
made. Above thirty members delivered elaborate speeches, of which but
small parts can be given in an abridgment--the less to be regretted, as
the staple of each was, of necessity, much the same--but varied,
enlivened and enforced by the peculiar talent, learning and ability of
different speakers. Their names were--for the repeal: John Bacon, of
Massachusetts; John Clopton, of Virginia; Thomas T. Davis, of Kentucky;
John Dawson, of Virginia; William B. Giles, of Virginia; Andrew Gregg,
of Pennsylvania; Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina; John Milledge, of
Georgia; Thomas Morris, of New York; Joseph H. Nicholson, of Maryland;
John Randolph, of Virginia; General Samuel Smith, of Maryland; Philip R.
Thompson, of Virginia; James Holland and Robert Williams, of North
Carolina.--Against the repeal: James A. Bayard, of Delaware; Manasseh
Cutter, of Massachusetts; Samuel W. Dana, of Connecticut; John Dennis,
of Maryland; Thomas Plater, of Maryland; William Eustis, of
Massachusetts; Calvin Goddard, of Connecticut; Roger Griswold, of
Connecticut; Seth Hastings, of Massachusetts; Joseph Hemphill, of
Pennsylvania; Archibald Henderson, of North Carolina; William H. Hill,
of North Carolina; Benjamin Huger, of South Carolina; Thomas Lowndes, of
South Carolina; John Rutledge, of South Carolina; John Stanley, of North
Carolina; Benjamin Tallmadge, of New York.
[67] The detail of the vote on the balloting shows this fact, so
creditable to South Carolina.
[68] This is the first authentic declaration that Mr. Jefferson's
opinion on slavery was an obstacle to his receiving the South Carolina
vote.
[69] A double movement was going on at the same time in relation to the
violation of the right of deposit at New Orleans: one by the
Administration, commencing with an embassy both to France and Spain to
negotiate for the desired places; the other by the opposition, who held
negotiation to be unworthy of the country in circumstances of such wrong
and insult, and preferred the immediate seizure of New Orleans. Mr.
Ross, a Pennsylvania Senator, from the west of the State, whose trade
went to New Orleans, was the leader of this forcible movement--in which
he was well sustained by the _feeling_ of the whole West. It was on Mr.
Ross's resolutions that this violation of the right of deposit at New
Orleans was publicly debated; and as it concerned the free navigation of
the Mississippi, it was called the "Mississippi question."
[70] This is the act which began the movement, which ended in the
purchase of Louisiana. At the time it was passed the views of no one
extended to the acquisition of that great province. The island on which
New Orleans stands, and the two Floridas, were the object. Even this
object was veiled by general expressions in relation to foreign
intercourse, but its true purpose was made known in a confidential
communication from the President to the House of Representatives, and by
it communicated to the Senate, when the bill was up for its concurrence.
Mr. Bayard and Mr. Nicholson were the committee that carried up the
bill, and delivered this message:
"_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
"We transmit you a bill, which has passed this House,
entitled "An act making further provision for the expenses
attending the intercourse between the United States and
foreign nations," and in which we request your concurrence.
This bill has been passed by us in order to enable the
President of the United States to commence, with more
effect, a negotiation with the French and Spanish
Governments, relative to the purchase of the island of New
Orleans, and the provinces of East and West Florida. The
nature and importance of the measures contemplated, have
induced us to act upon the subject with closed doors. You
will, of consequence, consider this communication as
confidential."
[71] This was spoken before the campaigns of Ulm, Austerlitz and Jena.
[72] The true reason for the non-circulation of gold was the erroneous
valuation of that coin, which was not corrected until thirty years
afterwards.
[73] This speech, delivered in the Virginia Convention which ratified
the Federal constitution, is the only full and perfect account of the
transaction to which it refers that has ever been published. It refers
to the design in the Congress of the confederation to give up the
navigation of the Mississippi for 25 or 30 years in return for some
commercial privileges from Spain--a design which Mr. Monroe was mainly
instrumental in defeating, and for which he deserved still higher
rewards than honor and gratitude. His reluctance to give the history of
this transaction arose from its secret nature, the Congress of the
confederation sitting upon it with closed doors, and the members being
under injunctions not to disclose what was done. Its essentiality to a
knowledge of the political history of the times must be apparent to all
who read it.
[74] The famous orator.
[75] See _ante_, under date of December 22.
[76] All the steps and proceedings which led to the acquisition of
Louisiana (and the same occurred in the acquisition of Florida) are
given in full, that it may be seen that this important negotiation,
which was to involve an appropriation of money, had its foundation laid
in the authority of the proper appropriating power--the House of
Representatives; to which the purse-strings of the Union were specially
confided.
[77] Above forty years afterwards, to wit, in 1846, the Virginia part of
the District was retroceded to that State.