BY EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M. AUTHOR OF "The People's Standard History of
the United States," "The Eclectic Primary History of the United States,"
Etc.
with supplementary essay by G. MERCER ADAM Late Editor of "Self-Culture"
Magazine, Etc., Etc.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TOGETHER WITH ANECDOTES,
CHARACTERISTICS, AND CHRONOLOGY
No golden eagle, warm from the stamping press of the mint, is more
sharply impressed with its image and superscription than was the
formative period of our government by the genius and personality of
Thomas Jefferson.
Standing on the threshold of the nineteenth century, no one who
attempted to peer down the shadowy vista, saw more clearly than he the
possibilities, the perils, the pitfalls and the achievements that were
within the grasp of the Nation. None was inspired by purer patriotism.
None was more sagacious, wise and prudent, and none understood his
countrymen better.
By birth an aristocrat, by nature he was a democrat. The most learned
man that ever sat in the president's chair, his tastes were the simple
ones of a farmer. Surrounded by the pomp and ceremony of Washington and
Adams' courts, his dress was homely. He despised titles, and preferred
severe plainness of speech and the sober garb of the Quakers.
"What is the date of your birth, Mr. President?" asked an admirer.
"Of what possible concern is that to you?" queried the President in
turn.
"We wish to give it fitting celebration."
"For that reason, I decline to enlighten you; nothing could be more
distasteful to me than what you propose, and, when you address me, I
shall be obliged if you will omit the 'Mr.'"
If we can imagine Washington doing so undignified a thing as did
President Lincoln, when he first met our present Secretary of State,
(John Sherman) and compared their respective heights by standing back to
back, a sheet of paper resting on the crowns of Washington and Jefferson
would have lain horizontal and been six feet two inches from the earth,
but the one was magnificent in physique, of massive frame and prodigious
strength,--the other was thin, wiry, bony, active, but with muscles of
steel, while both were as straight as the proverbial Indian arrow.
Jefferson's hair was of sandy color, his cheeks ruddy, his eyes of a
light hazel, his features angular, but glowing with intelligence and
neither could lay any claim to the gift of oratory.
Washington lacked literary ability, while in the hand of Jefferson, the
pen was as masterful as the sword in the clutch of Saladin or Godfrey of
Bouillon. Washington had only a common school education, while Jefferson
was a classical scholar and could express his thoughts in excellent
Italian, Spanish and French, and both were masters of their temper.
Jefferson was an excellent violinist, a skilled mathematician and a
profound scholar. Add to all these his spotless integrity and honor,
his statesmanship, and his well curbed but aggressive patriotism, and he
embodied within himself all the attributes of an ideal president of the
United States.
In the colonial times, Virginia was the South and Massachusetts the
North. The other colonies were only appendages. The New York Dutchman
dozed over his beer and pipe, and when the other New England settlements
saw the Narragansetts bearing down upon them with upraised tomahawks,
they ran for cover and yelled to Massachusetts to save them.
Clayborne fired popguns at Lord Baltimore, and the Catholic and
Protestant Marylanders enacted Toleration Acts, and then chased one
another over the border, with some of the fugitives running all the way
to the Carolinas, where the settlers were perspiring over their efforts
in installing new governors and thrusting them out again, in the hope
that a half-fledged statesman would turn up sometime or other in the
shuffle.
What a roystering set those Cavaliers were! Fond of horse racing, cock
fighting, gambling and drinking, the soul of hospitality, quick to
take offense, and quicker to forgive,--duellists as brave as Spartans,
chivalric, proud of honor, their province, their blood and their
families, they envied only one being in the world and that was he who
could establish his claim to the possession of a strain from the veins
of the dusky daughter of Powhatan--Pocahontas.
Could such people succeed as pioneers of the wilderness?
Into the snowy wastes of New England plunged the Pilgrims to blaze a
path for civilization in the New World. They were perfect pioneers
down to the minutest detail. Sturdy, grimly resolute, painfully honest,
industrious, patient, moral and seeing God's hand in every affliction,
they smothered their groans while writhing in the pangs of starvation
and gasped in husky whispers: "He doeth all things well; praise to his
name!" Such people could not fail in their work.
And yet of the first ten presidents, New England furnished only the
two Adamses, while Virginia gave to the nation, Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe and then tapered off with Tyler.
In the War for the Union, the ten most prominent leaders were Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Farragut, Porter, Lee, Stonewall Jackson,
J. E. Johnston and Longstreet. Of these, four were the products of
Virginia, while none came from New England, nor did she produce a real,
military leader throughout the civil war, though she poured out treasure
like water and sent as brave soldiers to the field as ever kept step
to the drum beat, while in oratory, statesmanship and humanitarian
achievement, her sons have been leaders from the foundation of the
Republic.
Thomas Jefferson was born in Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va., April
2,1743. His father was the owner of thirty slaves and of a wheat and
tobacco farm of nearly two thousand acres. There were ten children,
Thomas being the third. His father was considered the strongest man
physically in the county, and the son grew to be like him in that
respect, but the elder died while the younger was a boy.
Entering William and Mary College, Thomas was shy, but his ability
quickly drew attention to him. He was an irrestrainable student,
sometimes studying twelve and fourteen hours out of the twenty-four. He
acquired the strength to stand this terrific strain by his exercise
of body. His father warned his wife just before his death not to allow
their son to neglect this necessity, but the warning was superfluous.
The youth was a keen hunter, a fine horseman and as fond as Washington
of out door sports.
He was seventeen years old when he entered college and was one of
the "gawkiest" students. He was tall, growing fast, raw-boned, with
prominent chin and cheek bones, big hands and feet, sandy-haired and
freckled. His mind broadened and expanded fast under the tutelage of Dr.
William Small, a Scotchman and the professor of mathematics, who made
young Jefferson his companion in his walks, and showed an interest in
the talented youth, which the latter gratefully remembered throughout
life.
Jefferson was by choice a farmer and never lost interest in the
management of his estate. One day, while a student at law, he wandered
into the legislature and was thrilled by the glowing speech of Patrick
Henry who replied to an interruption:
"If this be treason, make the most of it."
He became a lawyer in his twenty-fourth year, and was successful from
the first, his practice soon growing to nearly five hundred cases
annually, which yielded an income that would be a godsend to the
majority of lawyers in these days.
Ere long, the mutterings of the coming Revolution drew Jefferson aside
into the service of his country.
At the age of twenty-six (May 11, 1769), he took his seat in the House
of Burgesses, of which Washington was a member. On the threshold of his
public career, he made the resolution which was not once violated during
his life, "never to engage, while in public office, in any kind of
enterprise for the improvement of my fortune, nor to wear any other
character than that of a farmer." Thus, during his career of nearly half
a century, he was impartial in his consideration of questions of public
interest.
His first important speech was in favor of the repeal of the law that
compelled a master when he freed his slaves to send them out of the
colony. The measure was overwhelmingly defeated, and its mover denounced
as an enemy of his country.
It was about this time that Jefferson became interested in Mrs. Martha
Wayles Skelton, a childless widow, beautiful and accomplished and a
daughter of John Wayles, a prominent member of the Williamsburg bar. She
was under twenty years of age, when she lost her first husband, rather
tall, with luxuriant auburn hair and an exceedingly graceful manner.
She had many suitors, but showed no haste to lay aside her weeds. The
aspirants indeed were so numerous that she might well hesitate whom to
choose, and more than one was hopeful of winning the prize.
It so happened that one evening, two of the gentlemen called at the same
time at her father's house. They were friends, and were about to pass
from the hall into the drawing-room, when they paused at the sound of
music. Some one was playing a violin with exquisite skill, accompanied
by the harpsicord, and a lady and gentleman were singing.
There was no mistaking the violinist, for there was only one in the
neighborhood capable of so artistic work, while Mrs. Skelton had no
superior as a player upon the harpsicord, the fashionable instrument of
those days. Besides, it was easy to identify the rich, musical voice of
Jefferson and the sweet tones of the young widow.
The gentlemen looked significantly at each other. Their feelings were
the same.
"We are wasting our time," said one; "we may as well go home."
They quietly donned their hats and departed, leaving the ground to him
who had manifestly already pre-empted it.
On New Year's day, 1772, Jefferson and Mrs. Skelton were married and
no union was more happy. His affection was tender and romantic and they
were devoted lovers throughout her life. Her health and wishes were his
first consideration, and he resolved to accept no post or honor that
would involve their separation, while she proved one of the truest
wives with which any man was ever blessed of heaven. The death of his
father-in-law doubled Jefferson's estate, a year after his marriage. His
life as a gentleman farmer was an ideal one, and it is said that as a
result of experimentation, Jefferson domesticated nearly every tree and
shrub, native and foreign, that was able to stand the Virginia winters.
Jefferson's commanding ability, however, speedily thrust him into the
stirring incidents that opened the Revolution. In September, 1774, his
"Draught of Instructions" for Virginia's delegation to the congress in
Philadelphia was presented. The convention refused to adopt his radical
views, but they were published in a pamphlet and copies were send to
England, where Edmund Burke had it republished with emendations of his
own.
Great Britain viewed the paper as the extreme of insolence and punished
the author by adding his name to the list of proscriptions enrolled in a
bill of attainder.
Jefferson was present as a member of the convention, which met in the
parish church at Richmond, in March, 1775, to consider the course that
Virginia should take in the impending crisis. It was at that meeting
that Patrick Henry electrified his hearers with the thrilling words:
"Gentlemen may cry, 'Peace, peace!' but there is no peace! The war has
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to
our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the
field. Why stand we here idle? What is it the gentlemen wish? What would
they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take, but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY, Or GIVE ME
DEATH!"
Within the following month occurred the battle of Lexington.
Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry were members of the committee
appointed to arrange a plan for preparing Virginia to act her part in
the struggle. When Washington, June, 20, 1775, received his commission
as commander-in-chief of the American army, Jefferson succeeded to the
vacancy thus created, and the next day took his seat in congress.
A few hours later came the news of the battle of Bunker Hill.
Jefferson was an influential member of the body from the first. John
Adams said of him: "he was so prompt, frank, explicit and decisive upon
committees that he soon seized upon every heart." Virginia promptly
re-elected him and the part he took in draughting the Declaration of
Independence is known to every school boy.
His associates on the committee were Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman
and Robert R. Livingston. It was by their request that he prepared the
document (see fac-simile, page 49,) done on the second floor of a small
building, on the corner of Market and Seventh Streets. The house and the
little desk, constructed by Jefferson himself, are carefully preserved.
The paper was warmly debated and revised in congress on the 2nd, 3rd and
4th of July, 1776. The weather was oppressively hot, and on the last
day an exasperating but providential invasion of the hall by a swarm
of flies hurried the signing of the document. Some days afterward, the
committee of which Jefferson was a member provided as a motto of the new
seal, that perfect legend,--E Pluribus Unum.
The facts connected with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence
must always be of profound interest. The public are inclined to think
that our Magna Charta was accepted and signed with unbounded enthusiasm
and that scarcely any opposition to it appeared, but the contrary was
the fact.
While Jefferson was the author of the instrument, John Adams, more than
any one man or half a dozen men brought about its adoption. When the
question was afterward asked him, whether every member of congress
cordially approved it, he replied, "Majorities were constantly against
it. For many days the majority depended on Mr. Hewes of North Carolina.
While a member one day was reading documents to prove that public
opinion was in favor of the measure, Mr. Hewes suddenly started upright,
and lifting up both hands to heaven, as if in a trance, cried out:
'It is done, and I will abide by it.'
I would give more for a perfect painting of the terror and horror of
the faces of the old majority at that moment than for the best piece of
Raphael."
Jefferson has given a synopsis of the arguments for and against the
adoption of the Declaration. It will be remembered that the hope of
the colonies or new States, even after the war had continued for a
considerable time, was not so much independence as to extort justice
from Great Britain.
Had this been granted, the separation would have been deferred and when
it came, as come it must, probably would have been peaceable. At the
same time, there was a strenuous, aggressive minority who was insistent
from the first for a complete severance of the ties binding us to the
mother country.
The debate in congress showed that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina were not ready to take the
irrevocable step, but it was evident that they were fast approaching
that mood, and the wise leaders tarried in order to take them in their
company.
In the vote of July 1, the Pennsylvania and South Carolina delegates
still opposed, while those from New York did the same, contrary to their
own convictions but in obedience to home instructions, which later were
changed.
The signs of unanimity became unmistakable on the Second, and two days
later, as every one knows, the adoption of the Declaration took place,
though it was not until the Second of August that all the members,
excepting John Dickinson had signed.
Five years passed before the Articles of Confederation were formally
adopted by the states, by which time it had become clear that they must
totally fail of their purpose, for each state decided for itself whether
to respond to the demands of congress. The poison of nullification thus
infused into the body politic at its birth bore baleful fruit in the
years that followed.
On six separate occasions, there were overt acts on the part of the
States.
The first occurred in 1798, when Virginia and Kentucky passed
nullification resolutions.
The second was the attempt of New England in 1803 to form a northern
confederacy, comprising five New England States, and New York and New
Jersey. The third was Aaron Burr's wild scheme in the Southwest.
The fourth, the resolution of the New England States to withhold
cooperation in the War of 1812.
The fifth, the nullification acts of South Carolina in 1832.
The sixth and last, the effort of eleven states to form the Southern
Confederacy. This brought the burning issue to a head and settled the
question for the ages to come.
It seems incredible in these times that the country submitted for a
month to the intolerable Alien and Sedition acts. Should any congressman
propose their reenactment to-day, he would be looked upon as a crank
and be laughed out of court. They were enacted when Jefferson was Vice
President and were the creation of the brilliant Alexander Hamilton,
whose belief was in a monarchy rather than a republic.
The Sedition act made it a felony punishable with a fine of $5000 and
five years imprisonment for persons to combine in order to impede the
operation of any law of the United States, or to intimidate persons from
taking Federal office, or to commit or advise a riot or insurrection or
unlawful assembly.
It declared further that the writing or publishing of any scandalous,
malicious or false statement against the president or either house of
congress should be punishable by a fine of $2000 and imprisonment for
two years.
It will be noted that this law precluded all free discussion of an act
of congress, or the conduct of the president.
In other words, it was meant to be the death blow to freedom of speech.
But bad as it was, the Alien act, which congress passed at the same
session, 1798, was ten fold worse.
There had been much unrest caused by the intermeddling of foreigners in
the States, and it was now decided that the president might drive out
of the country any alien he chose thus to banish, and to do it without
assigning any reason therefor. It was not necessary even to sue or to
bring charges; if an alien receiving such notice from the president
refused to obey, he could be imprisoned for three years.
President Adams afterward declared that he did not approve of this stern
measure which was the work of Hamilton, and boasted that it was not
enforced by him in a single instance.
Nevertheless, the Sedition act was enforced to a farcical degree.
When President Adams was passing through Newark, N. J., he was saluted
by the firing of cannon. One of the cannoneers, who was strongly opposed
to him, expressed the wish that he might be struck by some of the
wadding. For this remark, he was arrested and compelled to pay a fine of
one hundred dollars.
Editor Frothingham printed his belief that Hamilton wished to buy the
Aurora for the purpose of suppressing it. For expressing that opinion
he was fined and imprisoned. Thomas Cooper made the remark that in 1797
President Adams was "hardly in the infancy of political mistakes," and
these mild words cost him $400 and kept him in prison for six months.
It is hard to believe that the following proceedings took place within
the present hundred years in the United States of America, and yet they
did.
In the case against Callender, Judge Chase denounced the accused to the
jurors and forbade the marshals to place any one not a Federalist on the
jury. The lawyers who defended Callender were threatened with corporal
punishment.
In Otsego, N. Y., Judge Peck obtained signers to a petition for the
repeal of the obnoxious acts. For such action he was indicted and taken
to New York city for trial.
That was the sacred right of petition with a vengeance.
Matthew Lyon, while canvassing his district in Vermont for re-election
to congress, charged the president in one of his speeches with
"unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation and a selfish
avarice," certainly mild expressions compared with what are heard in
these times, but because of their utterance, Mr. Lyon spent four months
in jail and paid a fine of $1000.
When he had served out his term and been re-elected, a strong effort was
made to prevent his taking his seat. It failed and in 1840, his fine was
returned to him with interest.
It can well be understood that the passage and enforcement of such
iniquitous measures caused alarm and indignation throughout the country.
Edward Livingston declared that they would "disgrace Gothic barbarism."
Jefferson's soul was stirred with the profoundest indignation. Under his
inspiration, the Virginia assembly adopted resolutions calling on the
state to nullify within its limits the enforcement of the Sedition act.
The Alien and Sedition laws were declared unconstitutional, and the
sister States were invited to unite in resisting them, "in order to
maintain unimpaired the authorities, rights and liberties reserved to
the States respectively or to the people."
These views were not only those of Jefferson, but of Patrick Henry,
George Mason and nearly all leading Virginians.
Kentucky, the child of her loins, seconded the action of Virginia, urged
thereto by Jefferson who moulded her resolutions.
The revolt against the measures was so widespread that the Alien act was
repealed in 1800, and the Sedition act in the following year.
Having been essentially Federal measures, they were buried in the same
grave with the Federal party.
Having rendered these invaluable services, Jefferson resigned his seat
in congress, on account of the illness of his wife and the urgent need
of his presence at home. Moreover, he had been elected a member of the
legislature of his State and was anxious to purge its statute books of a
number of objectionable laws.
He had hardly entered upon the work, when he was notified of his
appointment as a joint commissioner with Franklin and Deane as
representatives of the United States in France. After reflection, he
declined the appointment, believing his duty at home was more important.
That such was the fact was proven by his success in securing the repeal
of the system of entail, thus allowing all property in the State to be
held in fee simple, and by the abolishment of the connection between
church and state. The latter required years in order to effect complete
success, but it was reached at last.
How forceful were many of the expressions he employed during that
contest, such as: "Compulsion makes hypocrites, not converts;" "Truth
stands by itself; error alone needs the support of government."
Jefferson's committee abolished the frightful penalties of the ancient
code; he set on foot the movement for the improvement of public
education; he drew the bill for the establishment of courts of law in
the State, and prescribing their methods and powers; he destroyed the
principle of primogeniture, and brought about the removal of the capital
from Williamsburg to Richmond.
Jefferson succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of the State, at the
opening of the year 1779. The two years were marked by incessant trial
and the severest labor, for the war had reached Virginia soil and the
State was desolated.
More than once the legislature was obliged to flee before the enemy;
Gates was crushed at Camden; Arnold the traitor scourged Richmond with
his raiders; Monticello itself was captured by cavalry, and Jefferson
escaped only by a hair's breadth. His estate was trampled over, his
horses stolen, his barns burned, his crops destroyed and many of his
slaves run off.
He declined a third election, and in the autumn of 1782, to his
inconsolable sorrow, his wife died, leaving three daughters, the
youngest a babe.
In the following November, he took his seat in congress at Annapolis,
and during that session he proposed and caused the adoption of our
present system of decimal currency.
In May, 1784, he was again elected plenipotentiary to France to assist
Franklin and Adams in negotiating commercial treaties with foreign
nations. He arrived in Paris in July, and in May, succeeding, became
sole plenipotentiary to the king of France for three years from March
10, 1785.
Jefferson's residence in France produced a profound impression upon
him and had much to do in crystallizing his ideas of the true form of
government.
That country was groveling under the heel of one of the most hideous
systems that the baseness of man ever conceived. Who has not read of
the nobleman who, when his coachman ran over a child and crushed out its
life, was only concerned lest its blood should soil his carriage, or of
the poor peasants who were compelled to beat the bogs all night long,
to prevent the frogs from croaking and thereby disturbing the slumber of
their lordly masters? The condition of no people could be more horrible,
than that of the lower classes in France previous to the uprising, with
its excesses that horrified the world.
Jefferson enjoyed the music, the art and the culture of the gay capital,
but could never shake off the oppression caused by the misery of the
people.
"They are ground to powder," he said, "by the vices of the form of
government which is one of wolves over sheep, or kites over pigeons."
He took many journeys through the country and made it a practice to
enter the houses of the peasants and talk with them upon their affairs
and manner of living. He often did this, using his eyes at the same
time with the utmost assiduity. All that he learned deepened the
sad impression he had formed, and he saw with unerring prevision the
appalling retribution that was at hand.
But Jefferson was not the officer to forget or neglect his duties to his
own government, during the five years spent in France.
Algiers, one of the pestilent Barbary States, held a number of American
captives which she refused to release except upon the payment of a large
ransom. It had been the custom for years for the powerful Christian
nations to pay those savages to let their ships alone, because it was
cheaper to do so than to maintain a fleet to fight them. Jefferson
strove to bring about a union of several nations with his own, for the
purpose of pounding some sense into the heads of the barbarians and
compelling them to behave themselves.
One reason why he did not succeed was because our own country had no
navy with which to perform her part in the compact.
France, with that idiotic blindness which ruled her in those fearful
days, maintained a protective system which prevented America from
sending cheap food to starving people, nor was Jefferson able to effect
more than a slight change in the pernicious law. One thing done by him
made him popular with the masses. His "Notes on Virginia" was published
both in French and English. Like everything that emanated from his
master hand, it was well conceived and full of information. In addition,
it glowed with republican sentiment and delighted the people. He was
in Paris when his State legislature enacted the act for which he had
so strenuously worked, establishing the freedom of religion. He had
numerous copies of it printed in French and distributed. It struck
another popular chord and received the ardent praise of the advanced
Liberals.
Jefferson was too deeply interested in educational work to forget it
among any surroundings. All new discoveries, inventions and scientific
books were brought to the knowledge of the colleges in the United
States, and he collected a vast quantity of seeds, roots and nuts for
transplanting in American soil.
It need hardly be said that his loved Monticello was not forgotten, and,
as stated elsewhere, he grew about everything of that nature that would
stand the rigor of the Virginia winters. No office or honor could take
away Jefferson's pride as a cultivator of the soil.
Returning to Virginia on leave of absence, in the autumn of 1789, he
was welcomed with official honors and the cordial respect of his fellow
citizens. On the same day he learned of his appointment by Washington as
his Secretary of State.
He would have preferred to return to his former post, but yielded to the
wishes of the first president, and, arriving in New York in March, 1790,
entered at once upon the duties of his office.
In the cabinet Jefferson immediately collided with the brilliant
Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury.
The two could no more agree than oil and water.
Jefferson was an intense republican-democrat, and was shocked and
disgusted to find himself in an atmosphere of distrust of a republican
system of government, with an unmistakable leaning toward monarchical
methods. This feeling prevailed not only in society, but showed itself
among the political leaders.
Jefferson's political creed may be summed up in his own words:
"The will of the majority is the natural law of every society and the
only sure guardian of the rights of man; though this may err, yet its
errors are honest, solitary and short-lived. We are safe with that, even
in its deviations, for it soon returns again to the right way."
Hamilton believed in a strong, centralized government, and on nearly
every measure that came before the cabinet, these intellectual giants
wrangled. Their quarrels were so sharp that Washington was often
distressed. He respected both too deeply to be willing to lose either,
but it required all his tact and mastering influence to hold them in
check. Each found the other so intolerable, that he wished to resign
that he might be freed from meeting him.
Hamilton abhorred the French revolution, with its terrifying excesses,
and Jefferson declared that no horror equalled that of France's old
system of government.
Finally Jefferson could stand it no longer and withdrew from the cabinet
January 1, 1794.
An equally potent cause for his resignation was the meagreness of his
salary of $3500. It was wholly insufficient and his estate was going to
ruin. He yearned to return to his beloved pursuit, that of a farmer.
The request by Washington to act as special envoy to Spain did not tempt
him, but he allowed his name to be put forward as a candidate for the
presidency in 1796. John Adams received 71 votes and Jefferson 68, which
in accordance with the law at that time made him vice-president.
President Adams ignored him in all political matters, and Jefferson
found the chair of presiding officer of the senate congenial. He
presided with dignity and great acceptability, and his "Manual of
Parliamentary Practice" is still the accepted authority in nearly all of
our deliberative bodies.
The presidential election of 1800 will always retain its place among the
most memorable in our history.
The Federalists had controlled the national government for twelve years,
or ever since its organization, and they were determined to prevent the
elevation of Jefferson, the founder of the new Republican party. The
Federal nominees were John Adams for president and Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney for vice-president, while the Republican vote was divided
between Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
A favorite warning on the part of those who see their ideas threatened
with overthrow is that our country is "trembling on the verge of
revolution." How many times in the past twenty-five, ten and five years
have ranting men and women proclaimed from the housetops that we were
"on the verge of revolution?" According to these wild pessimists the
revolution is always at hand, but somehow or other it fails to arrive.
The probabilities are that it has been permanently side-tracked.
During the campaign of 1800, Hamilton sounded the trumpet of alarm, when
he declared in response to a toast:
"If Mr. Pinckney is not elected, a revolution will be the consequence,
and within four years I will lose my head or be the leader of a
triumphant army."
The Federalist clergy joined in denouncing Jefferson on the ground that
he was an atheist. The Federalists said what they chose, but when the
Republicans grew too careless they were fined and imprisoned under the
Sedition law.
The exciting canvas established one fact: there was no man in the United
States so devotedly loved and so fiercely hated as Thomas Jefferson. New
York had twelve electoral votes, and because of the Alien and Sedition
laws she withheld them from Adams and cast them upon the Republican side.
It may not be generally known that it was because of this fact that New
York gained its name of the "Empire State."
The presidential vote was: Jefferson, 73; Burr, 73; John Adams, 65;
C. C. Pinckney, 64; Jay, 1. There being a tie between the leading
candidates, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives,
which assembled on the 11th of February, 1801, to make choice between
Burr and Jefferson.
It is to the credit of Hamilton that, knowing the debased character of
Burr, he used his utmost influence against him.
A great snow storm descended upon the little town of Washington and the
excitement became intense. On the first ballot, eight States voted for
Jefferson and six for Burr, while Maryland and Vermont were equally
divided. All the Federalists voted for Burr with the single exception of
Huger of South Carolina, not because of any love for Burr, but because
he did not hate him as much as he did Jefferson.
Mr. Nicholson of Maryland was too ill to leave his bed. Without his
vote, his State would have been given to Burr, but with it, the result
in Maryland would be a tie.
It was a time when illness had to give way to the stern necessity of the
case, and the invalid was wrapped up and brought on his bed through
the driving snow storm and placed in one of the committee rooms of the
house, with his wife at his side, administering medicines and stimulants
night and day. On each vote the ballot box was brought to the bed side
and his feeble hand deposited the powerful bit of paper.
Day after day, the balloting went on until thirty-five ballots had been
cast.
By that time, it was clear that no break could be made in the Jefferson
columns and it was impossible to elect Burr. When the thirty-sixth
ballot was cast, the Federalists of Maryland, Delaware and South
Carolina threw blanks and the Federalists of Vermont stayed away,
leaving their Republican brothers to vote those States for Jefferson. By
this slender chance did the republic escape a calamity, and secure the
election of Jefferson for president with Burr for vice-president.
The inauguration of the third president was made a national holiday
throughout the country. The church bells were rung, the military
paraded, joyous orations were delivered, and many of the newspapers
printed in full the Declaration of Independence.
The closeness of the election resulted in a change in the electoral law
by which the president and vice-president must of necessity belong to
the same political party.
Jefferson had every reason to feel proud of his triumph, but one of the
finest traits of his character was his magnanimity.
The irascible Adams made an exhibition of himself on the 4th of March,
when in a fit of rage, he rose before day-light and set out in his coach
for Massachusetts, refusing to wait and take part in the inauguration
of his successor. With the mellowness of growing years, he realized the
silliness of the act, and he and Jefferson became fully reconciled and
kept up an affectionate correspondence to the end of their lives.
Jefferson did all he could to soothe the violent party feeling that had
been roused during the election. This spirit ran like a golden thread
through his first excellently conceived inaugural. He reminded his
fellow citizens that while they differed in opinion, there was no
difference in principle, and put forth the following happy thought:
"We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among
us, who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican
form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which
error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat
it."
There can be little doubt that he had Hamilton in mind when he answered,
as follows, in his own forceful way the radical views of that gifted
statesman.
"Some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong,
that this government is not strong enough. I believe this, on the
contrary, is the strongest government on earth. I believe it is the only
one where every man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard
of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own
personal concern."
It was characteristic of Jefferson's nobility that one of his first
efforts was to undo, so far as he could, the mischief effected by the
detested Sedition law. Every man who was in durance because of its
operation was pardoned, and he looked upon the law as "a nullity as
obsolete and palpable, as if congress had ordered us to fall down and
worship a golden image."
He addressed friendly and affectionate letters to Kosciusko and others,
and invited them to be his guests at the White House. Samuel Adams of
Massachusetts had been shamefully abused during the canvas, but he felt
fully compensated by the touching letter from the president. Thomas
Paine was suffering almost the pangs of starvation in Paris, and
Jefferson paid his passage home. Everywhere that it was possible for
Jefferson to extend the helping hand he did so with a delicacy and
a tact, that won him multitudes of friends and stamped him as one of
nature's noblemen.
The new president selected an able cabinet, consisting of James Madison,
Secretary of State; Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury; Henry
Dearborn, Secretary of War; Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy; Gideon
Granger, Postmaster-general; Levi Lincoln, Attorney General. This
household proved a veritable "happy family," all working together in
harmony throughout the two terms, and Jefferson declared that if he had
his work to do over again, he would select the same advisers without
exception.
Although the policy, "to the victors belong the spoils," had not
been formulated at that time, its spirit quickened the body politic.
Jefferson's supporters expected him to turn out a part at least of the
Federalists, who held nearly all the offices, but he refused, on the
principle that a competent and honest office holder should not be
removed because of his political opinions. When he, therefore, made a
removal, it was as a rule, for other and sufficient reasons.
But he did not hesitate to show his dislike of the ceremony that
prevailed around him. He stopped the weekly levee at the White House,
and the system of precedence in force at the present time; also the
appointment of fast and thanksgiving days. He dressed with severe
simplicity and would not permit any attention to be paid him as
president which would be refused him as a private citizen. In some
respects, it must be conceded that this remarkable man carried his views
to an extreme point.
The story, however, that he rode his horse alone to the capitol,
and, tying him to the fence, entered the building, unattended, lacks
confirmation.
Jefferson was re-elected in 1804, by a vote of 162 to 14 for Pinckney,
who carried only two States out of the seventeen.
The administrations of Jefferson were marked not only by many important
national events, but were accompanied by great changes in the people
themselves. Before and for some years after the Revolution, the majority
were content to leave the task of thinking, speaking and acting to
the representatives, first of the crown and then to their influential
neighbors. The property qualification abridged the right to vote, but
the active, hustling nature of the Americans now began to assert itself.
The universal custom of wearing wigs and queues was given up and men cut
their own hair short and insisted that every free man should have the
right to vote.
Jefferson was the founder and head of the new order of things, and
of the republican party, soon to take the name of democratic, which
controlled all the country with the exception of New England.
Our commerce increased enormously, for the leading nations of Europe
were warring with one another; money came in fast and most of the
national debt was paid.
Louisiana with an area exceeding all the rest of the United States, was
bought from France in 1803, for $15,000,000, and from the territory
were afterward carved the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Oklahoma, the Indian Territory
and most of the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and Wyoming.
The upper Missouri River and the Columbia River country to the Pacific
Ocean were explored in 1804-6, by Lewis and Clarke, the first party of
white men to cross the continent north of Mexico. Ohio was admitted to
the Union in 1802. Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont made her maiden trip
from New York to Albany in 1807. The first boatload of anthracite coal
was shipped to Philadelphia, and it was a long time before the people
knew what to do with it.
The Tripolitan Pirates were snuffed out (1801-1805). The blight of the
Embargo Act settled upon our commerce in 1807, in which year the
opening gun of the War of 1812 was fired when the Leopard outraged the
Chesapeake.
The Embargo Act was a grievous mistake of Jefferson, though its purpose
was commendable. Under the plea of securing our ships against capture,
its real object was to deprive England and France of the commodities
which could be secured only in the United States. This measure might
have been endurable for an agricultural people, but it could not be
borne by a commercial and manufacturing one, like New England, whose
goods must find their market abroad. Under the Embargo Act, the New
England ships were rotting and crumbling to pieces at her wharves. It
was not long before she became restless. The measure was first endorsed
by the Massachusetts legislature, but the next session denounced it.
Early in 1809, congress passed an act allowing the use of the army and
navy to enforce the embargo and make seizures.
The Boston papers printed the act in mourning and, meetings were called
to memorialize the legislature. That body took strong ground, justifying
the course of Great Britain, demanding of congress that it should repeal
the embargo and declare war against France. Moreover, the enforcement
act was declared "not legally binding," and resistance to it was urged.
This was as clear a case of nullification as that of South Carolina in
1832.
Connecticut was as hot-headed as Massachusetts.
John Quincy Adams has stated that at that time the "Essex Junto" agreed
upon a New England convention to consider the expediency of secession.
Adams denounced the plotters so violently that the Massachusetts
legislature censured him by vote, upon which he resigned his seat in the
United States senate.
The Embargo Act was passed by congress, December 22, 1807, at the
instance of Jefferson, and repealed February 28, 1809, being succeeded
by the Non-Intercourse Act, which forbade French and British vessels to
enter American ports. It was mainly due to Jefferson's consummate tact
that war with Great Britain was averted after the Leopard and Chesapeake
affair, and he always maintained that had his views been honestly
carried out by the entire nation, we should have obtained all we
afterward fought for, without the firing of a hostile gun.
When on March 4, 1809, Jefferson withdrew forever from public life, he
was in danger of being arrested in Washington for debt. He was in great
distress, but a Richmond bank helped him for a time with a loan. He
returned to Monticello, where he lived with his only surviving daughter
Martha, her husband and numerous children, and with the children of his
daughter Maria, who had died in 1804.
He devoted hard labor and many years to the perfection of the common
school system in Virginia, and was so pleased with his establishment
of the college at Charlottesville, out of which grew the University
of Virginia, that he had engraved on his tombstone, "Father of the
University of Virginia," and was prouder of the fact than of being the
author of the Declaration of Independence.
Meanwhile, his lavish hospitality carried him lower and lower into
poverty. There was a continual procession of curious visitors to
Monticello, and old women poked their umbrellas through the window panes
to get a better view of the grand old man. Congress in 1814, paid
him $23,000 for his library which was not half its value. Some time
afterward a neighbor obtained his name as security on a note for $20,000
and left him to pay it all.
In the last year of his life, when almost on the verge of want, $16,500
was sent to him as a present from friends in New York, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, more than one-half being raised by Mayor Hone of New York.
Jefferson was moved to tears, and in expressing his gratitude said, he
was thankful that not a penny had been wrung from taxpayers.
In the serene sunset of life, the "Sage of Monticello" peacefully passed
away on the afternoon of July 4, 1826, and a few hours later, John
Adams, at his home in Quincy, Mass., breathed his last. A reverent hush
fell upon the country, at the thought of these two great men, one the
author of the Declaration of Independence and the other the man who
brought about its adoption, dying on the fiftieth anniversary of its
signing, and many saw a sacred significance in the fact.
Horace Greeley in referring to the co-incidence, said there was as
much probability of a bushel of type flung into the street arranging
themselves so as to print the Declaration of Independence, as there
was of Jefferson and Adams expiring on the fiftieth anniversary of the
adoption of that instrument; and yet one alternative of the contingency
happened and the other never can happen.
Jefferson's liberal views have caused him to be charged with infidelity.
He profoundly respected the moral character of Christ, but did not
believe in divine redemption through Christ's work. His dearest aim was
to bring down the aristocracy and elevate the masses.
He regarded slavery as a great moral and political evil, and in
referring to it said: "I tremble for my country when I remember that God
is just."
No more humane slave owner ever lived, and his servants regarded
him with almost idolatrous affection, while his love of justice, his
hospitality, his fairness to all and his winning personality disarmed
enmity and gave him many of his truest and warmest friends from among
his political opponents.
A peculiar fact connected with Jefferson is the difference among his
portraits. This is due to the varying periods at which they were made.
As we have stated, he was raw-boned, freckled and ungainly in his youth,
but showed a marked improvement in middle life. When he became old, many
esteemed him good looking, though it can hardly be claimed that he was
handsome.
When Jefferson was eighty years old, Daniel Webster wrote the following
description of the venerable "Sage of Monticello:"
"Never in my life did I see his countenance distorted by a single bad
passion or unworthy feeling. I have seen the expression of suffering,
bodily and mental, of grief, pain, sadness, disagreeable surprise and
displeasure, but never of anger, impatience, peevishness, discontent, to
say nothing of worse or more ignoble emotions. To the contrary, it was
impossible to look on his face without being struck with the
benevolent, intelligent, cheerful and placid expression. It was at once
intellectual, good, kind and pleasant, whilst his tall, spare figure
spoke of health, activity and that helpfulness, that power and will,
'never to trouble another for what he could do himself,' which marked
his character."
This sketch may well be closed with Jefferson's own words regarding life
and happiness.
"Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to be the
lot of one of his creatures in this world; but that He has very much
put it in our power the nearness of our approach to it, is what I have
steadfastly believed.
"The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet
with calamities and misfortunes, which may greatly afflict us; and
to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and
misfortunes should be one of the principal studies and endeavors of our
lives.
"The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the
Divine will, to consider that whatever does happen must happen, and that
by our uneasiness we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we
may add to its force after it has fallen.
"These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some
measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way, to bear up with
a tolerable degree of patience under this burden of life, and to proceed
with a pious and unshaken resignation till we arrive at our journey's
end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of Him who gave
it, and receive such reward as to Him shall seem proportionate to our
merits."