The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)

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.

1253

Bayard to Hamilton, March 8, 1801; Works: Hamilton, vi, 524.

1254

Tracy to McHenry, Jan. 15, 1801; Steiner, 488-99; and see Bayard to Andrew Bayard, Jan. 26, 1801; supra.

1255

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

1256

Wolcott to Hamilton, Dec. 25, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 498.

1257

See Chief Justice Ellsworth's statement of the conservative opinion of Jefferson. (Brown: Ellsworth, 324-25.)

1258

Jefferson to Mazzei, April 24, 1796; Works: Ford, viii, 237-41. The letter as published in America, although it had undergone three translations (from English into Italian, from Italian into French, and from French into English again), does not materially differ from Jefferson's original.

It greatly angered the Federalist leaders. Jefferson calls the Federalists "an Anglican, monarchical & aristocratical party." The Republicans had "the landed interests and men of talent"; the Federalists had "the Executive, the Judiciary," the office-holders and office-seekers – "all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty, British merchants & Americans trading on British capital, speculators & holders in the banks & public funds, a contrivance invented for the purposes of corruption," etc.

Jefferson thus refers to Washington: "It would give you a fever were I to name to you the apostates who have gone over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field & Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by the whore England." It was this insult to Washington which Marshall resented most bitterly.

Jefferson must have known that Mazzei would probably publish this letter. Writing at Paris, in 1788, of Mazzei's appointment by the French King as "intelligencer," Jefferson said: "The danger is that he will overact his part." (Jefferson to Madison, July 31, 1788; Works: Ford, v, 425.)

The Republicans frankly defended the Mazzei letter; both its facts and "predictions" were correct, said the Aurora, which found scarcely "a line in it which does not contain something to admire for elegance of expression, striking fact, and profound and accurate penetration." (Aurora, May 26, 1800.)

1259

Marshall to Hamilton, January 1, 1801; Works: Hamilton, vi, 501-03.

1260

Following is a list of the annual salaries of different officers: —

(Annals, 1st Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 2233-38.)

1261

At the very beginning of the movement in his favor, Burr refused to encourage it. "Every man who knows me ought to know that I disclaim all competition. Be assured that the Federalist party can entertain no wish for such a change… My friends would dishonor my views and insult my feelings by a suspicion that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting the wishes and expectations of the United States. And I now constitute you my proxy to declare these sentiments if the occasion shall require." (Burr to Smith, Dec. 16, 1800; Washington Federalist, Dec. 31, 1800.)

1262

Pickering to King, Jan. 5, 1801; King, iii, 366.

1263

See Aurora, Jan. 21, 1801.

1264

"Lucius," of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Washington Federalist, Jan. 21, 25, and Feb. 6, 1801.

The following extracts from the first of these articles reveal the temper and beliefs of the Federalists: "Burr never penned a declaration of independence; … but he … has engraved that declaration in capitals with the point of his sword: It is yet legible on the walls of Quebeck. He has fought for that independency, for which Mr. Jefferson only wrote. He has gallantly exposed his life in support of that declaration and for the protection of its penn-man. He has been liberal of his blood, while Mr. Jefferson has only hazarded his ink…

"He never shrank from the post of danger. He is equally fitted for service in the field and in the public counsels: He has been tried in both: in the one we have seen him an able and distinguished Senator; – in the other a brave and gallant officer…

"Mr. Jefferson is better qualified to give the description of a butterfly's wing or to write an essay on the bones of the Mammouth; … but Mr. Burr … in … knowledge … necessary to form the great and enlightened statesman, is much superior to Mr. Jefferson…

"Mr. Burr is not … consecrated to the French; … nor has he unquenchable hatred to … Great Britain. Unlike the penn-man of the declaration he feels the full force of the expression, 'in war enemies, in peace friends'… Mr. Burr … will only consult national honor and national happiness, having no improper passions to gratify.

"Mr. Burr is … a friend of the Constitution … a friend of the commercial interests … the firm and decided friend of the navy … the Eastern States have had a President and Vice President; So have the Southern. It is proper that the middle states should also be respected…

"Mr. Burr has never procured or encouraged those infamous Calumnies against those who have filled the Executive departments … which we long have witnessed: Nor have those polluted Sinks, the Aurora, the Argus, the Press, the Richmond Examiner, and the like, poured forth their impure and fœtid streams at the influence of Mr. Burr, or to subserve his vanity or his ambition.

"If Mr. Burr is elected, the Federalists have nothing to fear… The vile calumniators … of all who have … supported our government, and the foreign incendiaries, who, having no interest in Heaven, have called Hell to their assistance, … from Mr. Burr have nothing to hope…

"Mr. Burr can be raised to the Presidency without any insult to the feelings of the Federalists, the friends of Government; … without an insult to the Memory of our Washington; for it was not by Mr. Burr, nor was it by his friends, nor to serve him that the great, the good, the immortal Washington was charged with having, by his name, given a sanction to corruption, with being meanly jealous of the fame of even that contemptible wretch Tom Paine, with being an unprincipled Hypocrite and with being a foul murderer! a murderer under circumstances of such peculiar atrocity as to shock with horror the merciless savages, and to cause them indignantly to fly from his blood polluted banner!"

1265

"John Marshall … is the reputed author of a great part of the [rubbish] in the Washington Federalist." (Scots Correspondent [Callender] in Richmond Examiner, Feb. 24, 1801.) There is no proof of Callender's assertion; but some of the matter appearing in the Washington Federalist is characteristic of Marshall's style and opinions. See, for instance, the editorial on the prosecution of Theodore Dwight, denouncing "party spirit" (Washington Federalist, March 1, 1801). The Aurora of March 26, 1801, denounced "John Marshall's Federal Gazette at Washington."

1266

Monroe to Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1801; Monroe's Writings: Hamilton, iii, 256. An article signed "Horatius" in the Washington Federalist of Jan. 6, 1801, stated this position with great ability. The argument is able and convincing; and it is so perfectly in Marshall's method of reasoning and peculiar style of expression that his authorship would appear to be reasonably certain.

"Horatius's" opinion concluded that the power of Congress "is completely adequate … to provide by law for the vacancy that may happen by the removal of both President and Vice President on the 3d of March next, and the non-election of a successor in the manner prescribed by the constitution."

1267

Monroe to Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1801; Monroe's Writings: Hamilton, iii, 256.

1268

Jefferson to Madison, Dec. 26, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 161-62.

1269

"Hortensius" to John Marshall, Secretary of State, in the Richmond Examiner; reprinted in the Aurora, Feb. 9, 1801. George Hay, the writer of this letter, was a lawyer in Richmond. Jefferson appointed him United States Attorney for the District of Virginia, and, as such, he conducted the prosecution of Aaron Burr for treason before John Marshall, who, as Chief Justice of the United States, presided at the trial. (See vol. iii of this work.)

Marshall was again attacked in two open letters, signed "Lucius," in the Richmond Examiner, Feb. 10, 13, 1801. His reported opinion, said "Lucius," alarmed "the active friends of freedom"; Marshall was "the Idol of his party" and knew the influence of his views: unless he publicly disclaimed the one now attributed to him, "Lucius" proposed to "unveil" Marshall's "motives" and "expose" him "uncovered to the sight of the people" – his "depravity shall excite their odium," etc. "Lucius's" attacks ended with Jefferson's election.

1270

The paper criticized "the intemperate counsel of a certain would be attorney-general of the United States (George Hay, Esq. of the antient dominion) … under the signature of Hortensius, and addressed to General Marshall, in consequence of a lie fabricated against him relative to an opinion said to have been given by him upon the late presidential election, which the honorable attorney knew to be a lie as well as we did, but was fearful of being forgot, and despaired of getting a better opportunity to shew himself!!!" (Washington Federalist, Feb. 12, 1801.)

1271

Jefferson to Monroe, Feb. 15, 1801; Works: Ford, ix, 178-79; and see Jefferson to McKean, March 9, 1801; ib., 206.

1272

Jefferson to Madison, Feb. 18, 1801; ib., 182.

1273

Monroe to Hoomes, Feb. 14, 1801; Monroe's Writings: Hamilton, iii, 259; and Monroe to Nicholas, Feb. 18, 1801; ib., 260.

1274

For these incidents and reports see Gallatin to his wife, May 8, 1801; Adams: Gallatin, 249.