Small preface is needed for the testimony of Jefferson, whose life
belongs to the history of his country. He was born 2d April, 1743, and
died 4th July, 1826.
Contemporary and rival of Adams, the author of the Declaration of
Independence surpassed the other in sympathetic comprehension of
the Rights of Man, as the other surpassed him in the prophetic
spirit. Jefferson’s words picturing Slavery were unequalled in the
prolonged discussion of that terrible subject, and his two Inaugural
Addresses are masterpieces of political truth. But with clearer eye
Adams foresaw the future grandeur of the Republic, and dwelt on its
ravishing light and glory. The vision of our country coextensive
and coincident with the North American Continent was never beheld
by Jefferson. While recognizing that our principles of government,
traversing the Rocky Mountains, would smile upon the Pacific coast,
his sight did not embrace the distant communities there as parts of
a common country. This is apparent in a letter to John Jacob Astor,
24th May, 1812, where, referring to the commencement of a settlement
by the latter on Columbia River, and declaring the gratification with
which he looked forward to the time when its descendants should have
spread through the whole length of that coast, he adds, “covering it
with free and independent Americans, _unconnected with us but by the
ties of blood and interest_, and employing, like us, the rights of
self-government.”[621] In another letter to Mr. Astor, 9th November,
1813, he characterizes the settlement as “the germ of a great, free,
and _independent empire on that side of our continent_,”[622] thus
carefully announcing political dissociation.
But Jefferson has not been alone in blindness to the mighty
capabilities of the Republic, inspired by his own Declaration of
Independence. Daniel Webster, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, as late as
7th November, 1845, pronounced that the Pacific coast could not be
governed from Europe, or from the Atlantic side of the Continent; and
he pressed the absurdity of anything different:--
“Where is Oregon? On the shores of the Pacific, three thousand
miles from us, and twice as far from England. Who is to
settle it? Americans mainly; some settlers undoubtedly from
England; but all Anglo-Saxons; all, men educated in notions of
independent government, and all self-dependent. And now let me
ask if there be any sensible man in the whole United States who
will say for a moment, that, when fifty or a hundred thousand
persons of this description shall find themselves on the shores
of the Pacific Ocean, they will long consent to be under the
rule either of the American Congress or the British Parliament.
They will raise a standard for themselves, and they ought to do
it.”[623]
Such a precise and strenuous protest from such a quarter mitigates
the distrust of Jefferson. But after the acquisition of California
the orator said, “I willingly admit, my apprehensions have not been
realized.”[624]
On the permanence of the National Union, and its influence throughout
the world, Jefferson prophesied thus, in a letter to Lafayette, 14th
February, 1815:--
“The cement of this Union is in the heart-blood of every
American. I do not believe there is on earth a government
established on so immovable a basis. Let them in any State,
even in Massachusetts itself, raise the standard of separation,
and its citizens will rise in mass and do justice themselves on
their own incendiaries.”[625]
Unhappily the Rebellion shows that he counted too much on the
patriotism of the States against “their own incendiaries.” In the same
hopeful spirit he wrote to Edward Livingston, the eminent jurist, 4th
April, 1824:--
“You have many years yet to come of vigorous activity, and I
confidently trust they will be employed in cherishing every
measure which may foster our brotherly union and perpetuate a
constitution of government _destined to be the primitive and
precious model of what is to change the condition of man over
the globe_.”[626]
In these latter words he takes his place on the platform of John Adams,
and sees the world changed by our example. But again he is anxious
about the Union. In another letter to Livingston, 25th March, 1825,
after saying of the National Constitution, that “it is a compact of
many independent powers, every single one of which claims an equal
right to understand it and to require its observance,” he prophesies:--
“However strong the cord of compact may be, there is a point of
tension at which it will break.”[627]
Thus, in venerable years, while watching with anxiety the fortunes of
the Union, the patriarch did not fail to see the new order of ages
instituted by the American Government.