The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)

This was the accepted American view at the time Marshall wrote his protest; and it continued to be such until the War of 1812. Coxe's book is packed closely with citations and statistics sustaining his position.

1161

Secretary of State to King, June 14, 1799; King, iii, 47; and see King to Secretary of State, July 15, 1799; ib., 58-59; and King to Grenville, Oct. 7, 1799; ib., 115-21.

1162

This complete paper is in Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 486-90.

1163

At one place the word "distinctly" is used and at another the word "directly," in the American State Papers (ii, 487 and 488). The word "directly" is correct, the word "distinctly" being a misprint. This is an example of the inaccuracies of these official volumes, which must be used with careful scrutiny.

1164

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 488.

1165

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 490.

1166

Infra, 524.

1167

While political parties, as such, did not appear until the close of Washington's first Administration, the Federalist Party of 1800 was made up, for the most part, of substantially the same men and interests that forced the adoption of the Constitution and originated all the policies and measures, foreign and domestic, of the first three Administrations.

1168

Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 404.

1169

During this period, the word "Democrat" was used by the Federalists as a term of extreme condemnation, even more opprobrious than the word "Jacobin." For many years most Republicans hotly resented the appellation of "Democrat."

1170

Marshall to Otis, Aug. 5, 1800; Otis MSS.

1171

For a vivid review of factional causes of the Federalists' decline see Sedgwick to King, Sept. 26, 1800; King, iii, 307-10; and Ames to King, Sept. 24, 1800; ib., 304.

1172

"The Public mind is puzzled and fretted. People don't know what to think of measures or men; they are mad because they are in the dark." (Goodrich to Wolcott, July 28, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 394.)

1173

Ames to Hamilton, Aug. 26, 1800; Works: Ames, i, 280.

1174

Hamilton to Sedgwick, May 4, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 371.

1175

Same to same, May 10, 1800; ib., 375.

1176

"In our untoward situation we should do as well with Jefferson for President and Mr. Pinckney Vice President as with anything we can now expect. Such an issue of the election, if fairly produced, is the only one that will keep the Federal Party together." (Cabot to Wolcott, Oct. 5, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 295.)

"If Mr. Adams should be reëlected, I fear our constitution would be more injured by his unruly passions, antipathies, & jealousy, than by the whimsies of Jefferson." (Carroll to McHenry, Nov. 4, 1800; Steiner, 473.)

"He [Adams] has palsied the sinews of the party, and" another four years of his administration "would give it its death wound." (Bayard to Hamilton, Aug. 18, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 457.)

1177

McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 347. According to the caucus custom, two candidates were named for President, one of whom was understood really to stand for Vice-President, the Constitution at that time not providing for a separate vote for the latter officer.

1178

"You may rely upon my co-operation in every reasonable measure for effecting the election of General Pinckney." (Wolcott to Hamilton, July 7, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 447-48.)

"The affairs of this government will not only be ruined but … the disgrace will attach to the federal party if they permit the re-election of Mr. Adams." (Ib.) "In Massachusetts almost all the leaders of the first class are dissatisfied with Mr. Adams and enter heartily into the policy of supporting General Pinckney." (Hamilton to Bayard, Aug. 6, ib., 452 (also in Works: Lodge, x, 384); and see Jefferson to Butler, Aug. 11, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 138.)

1179

Hamilton to Carroll, July 1, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 378; and see Hamilton to Bayard, Aug. 6, 1800; ib., 384.

1180

Sedgwick to Hamilton, May 7, 1800, quoting "our friend D.[ayton] who is not perfectly right" (Works: Hamilton, vi, 437; and see Cabot to Hamilton, Aug. 10, 1800; ib., 454; also Cabot to Wolcott, July 20, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 282.)

1181

Knox to Adams, March 5, 1799; Works: Adams, viii, 626-27. Knox had held higher rank than Hamilton in the Revolutionary War and Adams had tried to place him above Hamilton in the provisional army in 1798. But upon the demand of Washington Knox was given an inferior rank and indignantly declined to serve. (Hildreth, v, 242-44. And see Washington to Knox, July 16, 1798; Writings: Ford, xiv, 43-46.) Thereafter he became the enemy of Hamilton and the ardent supporter of Adams.

1182

Wolcott to Ames, Dec. 29, 1799; Gibbs, ii, 315.

1183

Hamilton to Adams, Aug. 1, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 382, and see 390; Ames to Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 396; Wolcott to Ames, Dec. 29, 1799; ib., 315.

The public discussion of Adams's charge of a "British faction" against his party enemies began with the publication of a foolish letter he had written to Coxe, in May of 1792, insinuating that Pinckney's appointment to the British Court had been secured by "much British influence." (Adams to Coxe, May, 1792; Gibbs, ii, 424.) The President gave vitality to the gossip by talking of the Hamiltonian Federalists as a "British faction." He should have charged it publicly and formally or else kept perfectly silent. He did neither, and thus only enraged his foe within the party without getting the advantage of an open and aggressive attack. (See Steiner, footnote 3, to 468.)

1184

Phelps to Wolcott, July 15, 1800; relating Noah Webster's endorsement of Adams's opinions; Gibbs, ii, 380.

1185

Ames to Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 396.

1186

In the summer of 1800, Jefferson dined with the President. Adams was utterly unreserved to the Republican leader. After dinner, General Henry Lee, also a guest, remonstrated with the President, who responded that "he believed Mr. Jefferson never had the ambition, or desire to aspire to any higher distinction than to be his [Adams's] first Lieutenant." (Lee to Pickering, 1802; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.; also partly quoted in Gibbs, ii, 366; and see Ames to Wolcott, June 12, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 368; and to King, Sept. 24, 1800; King, iii, 304.)

1187

Ames to Pickering, Nov. 5, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 261.

1188

Ames to Gore, Nov. 10, 1799; ib., 265.

1189

Ames to Gore, Nov. 10, 1799; Ames, i, 268.

1190

Cabot to Wolcott, June 14, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 274.

1191

Jefferson to Granger, Aug. 13, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 138-41; and see Jefferson to Gerry, January 26, 1799; ib., 17-19.

1192

"The Jacobins and the half federalists are ripe for attacking the permanent force, as expensive, and unnecessary, and dangerous to liberty." (Ames to Pickering, Oct. 19, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 258.)

1193

"In my lengthy journey through this State [Pennsylvania] I have seen many, very many Irishmen and with very few exceptions, they are United Irishmen, Free Masons, and the most God-provoking Democrats on this side of Hell," who, "with the joy and ferocity of the damned, are enjoying the mortification of the few remaining honest men and Federalists, and exalting their own hopes of preferment, and that of their friends, in proportion as they dismiss the fears of the gallows… The Democrats are, without doubt, increasing." (Uriah Tracy to Wolcott, Aug. 7, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 399.)

1194

Huntington to Wolcott, Aug. 6, 1800; ib., 398.

1195

Ames to Wolcott, June 12, 1800; ib., 369.

1196

McHenry to Wolcott, July 22, 1800; Steiner, 462. "Your very wise political correspondents will tell you anything sooner than the truth. For not one of them will look for anything but profound reasons of state at the bottom of the odd superstructure of parties here. There is nothing of the kind at the bottom." (Ames to King, Aug. 19, 1800; King, iii, 294.)

1197

The Republicans were making much political capital out of the second mission. They had "saved the country from war," they said, by forcing Adams to send the envoys: "What a roaring and bellowing did this excite among all the hungry gang that panted for blood only to obtain pelf in every part of the country." (Aurora, March 4, 1800.)

1198

Goodrich to Wolcott, Aug. 26, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 412.

1199

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 325.

1200

Republican success in the approaching election.

1201

Marshall to Adams, July 21, 1800; Adams MSS.

1202

Marshall to Hamilton, Aug. 23, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 460.

1203

A Republican victory.

1204

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 25, 1800; Adams MSS.

1205

Adams to Marshall, Sept. 4 and 5, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 80-82.

1206

Marshall to Adams, Sept. 17, 1800; Adams MSS. The "retrograde steps" to which Marshall refers were the modification of the French arrêts and decrees concerning attacks on our commerce.

1207

Marshall to Tinsley, Sept. 13, 1800; MS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

1208

Marshall, ii, 438.

1209

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 342 et seq.

1210

Gunn to Hamilton, Dec. 18, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 492; and Rutledge to Hamilton, Jan. 10, 1801; ib., 511; Ames to Gore, Nov. 10, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 265.

1211

Hamilton to Sedgwick, Dec. 22, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 397; also, to Morris, Dec. 24, 1800; ib., 398.

1212

Marshall to Hamilton, Jan. 1, 1801; Works: Hamilton, vi, 502-03; and see Brown: Ellsworth, 314-15. The principal American demand was compensation for the immense spoliation of American commerce by the French. The treaty not only failed to grant this, but provided that we should restore the French ships captured by American vessels during our two years' maritime war with France, which, though formally undeclared, was vigorous and successful. "One part of the treaty abandons all our rights, and the other part makes us the dupes of France in the game she means to play against the maritime power of England… We lose our honor, by restoring the ships we have taken, and by so doing, perhaps, make an implicit acknowledgment of the injustice of our hostile operations." (Rutledge to Hamilton, Jan. 10, 1801; Works: Hamilton, vi, 511.)

1213

Bayard to Andrew Bayard, Jan. 26, 1801; Bayard Papers: Donnan, 121.

1214

Gallatin to his wife, Feb. 5, 1801; Adams: Gallatin, 259.

1215

Ib., 254.

1216

Ames to Gore, Dec. 29, 1800; reviewing political events of the year; Works: Ames, i, 286-87.

1217

Hamilton to Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 383; and Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 400.

1218

Hamilton to Wolcott, Sept. 26, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 389 (also in Gibbs, ii, 422); and see same to same, Aug. 3, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 883.

1219

Troup to King, Oct. 1, 1800; King, iii, 315.

1220

Aurora, May 20, 1800.

1221

Sedgwick to King, Sept. 26, 1800; King, iii, 309.

1222

Ames to Hamilton, Aug. 26, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 463; also Cabot to Hamilton, Aug. 21, 1800; ib., 458; and Aug. 23, 1800; ib., 460 (also in Lodge: Cabot, 284-88); and to Wolcott, Aug. 23, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 288-89.

The local politicians were loyal to the President; Ames bitterly complains of "the small talk among the small politicians, about disrespect to the President, &c., &c." (Ames to Pickering, Nov. 23, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 272.)

1223

Hamilton to Adams, Aug. 1, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 382; and same to same, Oct. 1, 1800; ib., 390. Wolcott supplied most of the material and revised Hamilton's manuscript. (Wolcott to Hamilton, Oct. 1, 2, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 470-71.) For entire attack see Hamilton: "Public Conduct and Character of John Adams"; Works: vii, 687-726 (also in Works: Lodge, vii, 309-65.)

1224

Parton: Burr, 256-57; Davis: Burr, ii, 65 et seq.

1225

"This pamphlet has done more mischief to the parties concerned than all the labors of the Aurora!" (Duane to Collot; Parton: Burr, 258.)

1226

"Our friends … lamented the publication… Not a man … but condemns it… Our enemies are universally in triumph… His [Hamilton's] usefulness hereafter will be greatly lessened." (Troup to King, Nov. 9, 1800; King, iii, 331.) "All … blame … Mr. Hamilton." (Carroll to McHenry, Nov. 4, 1800; Steiner, 476.)

Some Federalist politicians, however, observed Hamilton's wishes. For example: "You must at all events secure to the Genr. [Pinckney] a majority in Cong., it may there be done with safety, his success depends on the accomplishment of this measure. You know a friend of ours who can arrange this necessary business with the utmost perfect suavity." (Dickinson to McHenry, Oct. 7, 1800; Steiner, 471.)

Again Dickinson writes of "the absolute necessity of obtaining a majority (if it should only be by a single vote) in Cong. to favor the man who interests us most" and hopes "Hamilton's publication … will produce the desired effect." (Oct. 31, 1800; ib., 472.)

1227

Washington Federalist, Nov. 29, 1800.

1228

For instance see the Aurora's editorial on women in the army, January 14, 1800; and see titles of imaginary books editorially suggested for use by the various Federalist leaders, especially Hamilton, Harper, and Gouverneur Morris, in ib., May 10, 1800. On August 21 it described some Federalist leaders as "completely bankrupt of character as well as fortune."

Although it did not equal the extravagance of the Republican newspapers, the Federalist press was also violent. See, for instance, a satirical poem "by an Hibernian and an Alien" in the Alexandria Advertiser, reprinted in the Washington Federalist of February 12, 1801, of which the last verse runs: —

"With J[effer]son, greatest of men,Our President next we will dash on.Republican marriages then,And drowning boats will be in fashion.Co-alitions, tri-color we'll form'Twixt white Men, Mulattos, and Negroes.The banks of the treasury we'll storm —Oh! how we'll squeeze the old Quakers,Philosophy is a fine thing!"

The familiar campaign arguments were, of course, incessantly reiterated as: "The Government" cost only "five million dollars … before the British treaty"; now it costs "fifteen millions. Therefore every man who paid one dollar taxes then pays three dollars now." (Aurora, Oct. 30, 1800.)

1229

Ames to Pickering, Nov. 5, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 264.

1230

Ames to Dwight, March 19, 1801; ib., 294.

1231

Webster to Wolcott, June 23, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 374.

1232

The Washington Federalist, Jan. 12, 1801, charged that, in Virginia, public money was used at the election and that a resolution to inquire into its expenditures was defeated in the Legislature.

1233

Charles Pinckney to Jefferson, Oct. 12, 1800; Amer. Hist. Rev., iv, 117. For election arguments and methods see McMaster, ii, 499 et seq.

1234

Adams to Marshall, Sept. 27, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 85; and see Graydon, footnote to 362.

1235

Adams to Marshall, Sept. 30, 1800; Adams MSS.

1236

Marshall to Adams, without date; Adams MSS.

1237

Adams MSS. Marshall wrote two speeches for Adams. Both are in Marshall's handwriting. The President selected and delivered the one which appears in Adams's Works and in Richardson. The undelivered speech was the better, although it was written before the French treaty arrived, and was not applicable to the state of our relations with France when Congress convened. Marshall also wrote for Adams the two brief separate addresses to the Senate and the House. (Ib.)

1238

The original manuscripts of these speeches, in Marshall's handwriting, are in the Adams MSS. They are notable only as an evidence of Adams's confidence in Marshall at this, the most irritating period of his life.

1239

Beard: Econ. O. J. D., chap. xiii.

1240

When it was certain that Adams had been defeated, "Solon," in the Washington Federalist of Jan. 9, 1801, thus eulogized him: —

"The die is cast!.. Our beloved Adams will now close his bright career… Immortal sage! May thy counsels continue to be our saving Angel! Retire and receive … the … blessings of all good men…

"Sons of faction [party]! demagogues and high priests of anarchy, now have you cause to triumph. Despots and tyrants! now may you safely pronounce 'ingratitude is the common vice of all republics. Envy and neglect are the only reward of superior merit. Calumny, persecution and banishment are the laurels of the hoary patriot.'…

"… We have to contend … for national existence. Magistrates and rulers, be firm… Our constitution is our last fortress. Let us entrench it against every innovation. When this falls, our country is lost forever."

This editorial, as well as all political matter appearing in the Washington Federalist during 1800-01, is important because of Marshall's reputed influence over that paper. (See infra, 541.)

At news of Jefferson's success the leading Federalist journal declared that some Republicans in Philadelphia "huzzaed until they were seized with lockjaw … and three hundred are now drunk beyond hope of recovery. Gin and whiskey are said to have risen in price 50 per cent since nine o'clock this morning. The bells have been ringing, guns firing, dogs barking, cats meuling, children crying, and jacobins getting drunk, ever since the news of Mr. Jefferson's election arrived in this city." (Gazette of the United States, Feb. 19, 1801.)

1241

At that time, the presidential electors did not vote for a Vice-President, but only for President. The person receiving the largest number of electoral votes became President and the one for whom the second largest number of votes were cast became Vice-President. When Jefferson and Burr each had seventy-three votes for President, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives.

Thus, although, in casting their ballots for electors, the people really voted for Jefferson for President and for Burr for Vice-President, the equal number of votes received by each created a situation where it was possible to defeat the will of the people. Indeed, as appears in the text, that result was almost accomplished. It was this constitutional defect that led to the Twelfth Amendment which places the election of President and Vice-President on its present basis. (See "The Fifth Wheel in our Government"; Beveridge: Century Magazine, December, 1909.)

1242

Jefferson to Burr, Dec. 15, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 155.

1243

"Jefferson & Burr have each 73 votes and … the Democrats are in a sweat." (Uriah Tracy to McHenry, Dec. 30, 1800; Steiner, 483.)

1244

Jefferson to Madison, Dec. 19, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 158.

1245

Jefferson to Breckenridge, Dec. 18, 1800; ib., 157.

1246

Hamilton to Wolcott, Dec. 16, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 392.

1247

See these letters in ib., 392 et seq.; and to Bayard, Jan. 16, 1801; ib., 412 (also in Works: Hamilton, vi, 419, but misplaced and misdated).

1248

Hindman to McHenry, Jan. 17, 1801; Steiner, 489-90; and see Carroll to Hamilton, April 18, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 434-35.

The Washington Federalist, even when the balloting was in progress, thus stimulated the members of its party in the House: "Unworthy will he be and consecrate his name to infamy, who … has hitherto opposed … Mr. Jefferson … and shall now meanly and inconsistently lend his aid to promote it [Jefferson's election]… Will they confer on Mr. Jefferson the Federal suffrage in reward for the calumnies he has indiscriminately cast upon the Federal character; or will they remunerate him … for the very honorable epithets of pander, to the whore of England, 'timid men, office hunters, monocrats, speculators and plunderers' which he has missed no opportunity to bestow upon them." (Washington Federalist, Feb. 12, 1801.)

1249

Hamilton to Wolcott, Dec. 17, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 395.

1250

Jefferson rightly attributed to Burr Republican success in the election. "He has certainly greatly merited of his country, & the Republicans in particular, to whose efforts his have given a chance of success." (Jefferson to Butler, Aug. 11, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 138.)

1251

Sedgwick to Hamilton, Jan. 10, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 511-14; Cabot to Hamilton, Aug. 10, 1800; ib., 453 (also in Lodge: Cabot, 284); Hindman to McHenry, Jan. 17, 1801; Steiner, 489-90; Morris to Hamilton, Jan. 5, 1801; Morris, ii, 398; and same to same, Jan. 26, 1801; ib., 402 (also in Works: Hamilton, vi, 503); Carroll to McHenry, Nov. 4, 1800; Steiner, 473-76; Rutledge to Hamilton, Jan. 10, 1801; Works: Hamilton, vi, 510.

1252

Bayard to Andrew Bayard, Jan. 26, 1801; Bayard Papers: Donnan, 121.