THE FEDERALISTS AND THE REPUBLICANS.
A. D. 1794 TO 1800.
1. In the last days of the eighteenth century men became more
and more plainly divided into two political parties. Thomas
Jefferson, of Virginia, a man of decided genius and consummate
ability, was the leader of those who maintained that the
government of the United States should be strictly limited to
the powers expressly granted in the Federal Constitution and
prohibited from the use of any of those reserved to the
individual States.
2. Alexander Hamilton, of New York, another very able and
patriotic statesman, took an entirely different view. He did
not consider the people capable of ruling the country, and
wished to subordinate the State governments to Federal
authority. The "Federalists" were those who followed his views,
while the "Republicans" were no less strenuous in upholding Mr.
Jefferson and his policy.
3. The Superior Courts of this State, after the resignation of
Judge Iredell, were held, as in old provincial times, at the six
favored villages, by Judges Samuel Ashe, Samuel Spencer and John
Taylor. In the year 1794, Judge Spencer came to his death in a
singular manner. He was in extreme old age, and had suffered
with a long and wasting illness. One warm evening he was
carried out and laid upon the grass, beneath a tree in his
yard. While lying there the red flannel of his shirt infuriated
a large turkey-gobbler, which attacked him with great violence.
When Judge Spencer's feeble cries attracted attention, he had
been so injured that he soon after died of nervous exhaustion.
4. In accordance with the law of 1790, the provisions of the
Constitution of 1776 were first seen in process of fulfillment
when the trustees, after mature deliberation, selected Chapel
Hill, in Orange county, as the site of the State University.
Here, upon one of a long range of great hills traversing that
region, they secured several hundred acres on the crest of a
noble elevation that overlooks the surrounding country.
5. In 1793 the cornerstone of the East Building was laid for the
University at Chapel Hill. Colonel Davie, as Grand Master of the
Masons in the State, officiated; as did also Rev. Dr. McCorkle,
who delivered an eloquent address to the citizens who had
assembled from all parts of the State to do honor to the occasion.
1795.
6. In 1795, the buildings and faculty having been made ready,
the institution was regularly opened for the reception of
students. The Rev. David Kerr and Samuel A. Holmes constituted
the faculty, and Hinton James, of Wilmington, was the first
student to arrive. Thus began an institution of learning in
which distinguished men were to be prepared for usefulness in
almost every honorable employment among civilized men.
7. Tennessee had been conveyed to the general government soon
after the ratification of the United States Constitution, North
Carolina reserving to herself the right to locate land warrants
in a certain portion. During the administration of Governor
Ashe, who had succeeded Alexander Martin, many and extensive
frauds in land warrants were concocted by James Glasgow,
Secretary of State, Martin Armstrong, John Armstrong and
Stokeley Donnelson.
1797.
8. Immense tracts of land were located under fictitious
boundaries, and not only the Continental soldiers, but also the
States and the United States were thus swindled by these
officers, who had been long honored and trusted in North
Carolina.
9. Courts were ordered to be held by the General Assembly for
the trial of these distinguished culprits; and in 1799 they were
convicted and punished by heavy fines and the loss of their
offices. Judge John Haywood resigned his place on the bench,
and instead of trying, defended the malefactors, one of whom
paid him one thousand dollars as a fee for his services. * A few
years before a similar scene had occurred when Benjamin McCulloh
was convicted at Warrenton and punished for like offences.
*North Carolina had honored James Glasgow by giving his name to
one of the counties of the State, but in consequence of his
disgrace the name of Glasgow county was stricken from the list,
and the county named in honor of General Nathaniel Greene.
10. The excitement between Republicans and Federalists grew in
intensity. John Adams had succeeded General Washington as
President, and he was one of the most violent of the Federal
party. French agents and apologists became more offensive in
their demands for American aid. President Adams procured the
passage of laws by Congress that startled and confounded many
good citizens.
11. These "Alien and Sedition Acts" armed Federal authorities
with the power to seize and send out of the country, without
trial, any foreigner who might, become offensive to them; also
to indict in the District or Circuit Courts of the United States
any writer or publisher whom the grand juries might charge with
libel.
1798-99.
12. Virginia and Kentucky thereupon hastened to pass the famous
resolutions of 1798-99, according to which the Federal
Constitution is simply a covenant between the States as States,
and "each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well
of infraction as of the mode and measure of redress," and to put
the battle in array for another great struggle as to the
respective powers of the States and the Union. President Adams
and the Federalists were overwhelmingly beaten in the contest of
1800, and the Republican party went into possession of all the
offices by which State and Federal powers were to be defined.
13. A much greater portion of the wisest and most experienced
statesmen had been ranked, until this time, with the
Federalists, but that creed soon grew into such disfavor that
few politicians could be found to do it reverence. And this, it
may be safely asserted, has been the experience of the American
people whenever the majority of them has differed from the
learned few. The masses have been, in almost every instance,
wiser than those who thus sought to control their views.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was observed towards the latter days of the eighteenth
century? Who was one of the political leaders? What views did
Mr. Jefferson hold?
2. Who was the leader of the other great political party? What
was Mr. Hamilton's policy?
3. What is said of the Superior Courts and the Judges?
Describe the singular manner of Judge Spencer's death.
4. What is said of the University? When was its seat selected, and where?
5. When was the cornerstone of the East Building laid? Who officiated?
Who delivered the address?
6. When was the University regularly opened? Who constituted the
faculty? Who was the first student to enter?
What have been the labors of this institution?
7. What land frauds were perpetrated in 1795?
Who were the guilty persons?
8. What was the nature of these frauds?
9. Give some account of the trial of these offenders.
10. What was the condition of affairs throughout the
United States at this period?
11. What was the effect of the "Alien and Sedition Laws"?
12. What was done by Virginia and Kentucky?
What were the resolutions of 1798-99?
What party came into power in 1800?
13. What is said of the "Federalists"?