Chapter CDLXIX: Section 4: And be it further enacted, That this act shall (1)

continue and be in force until the third day of March, one
thousand eight hundred and one, and no longer: Provided that
the expiration of the act shall not prevent or defeat a
prosecution and punishment of any offence against the law,
during the time it shall be in force. Approved July 14, 1798."

"There has been a general effort on the part of biographers to
clear their respective heroes from all responsibility for
these ill-fated measures. The truth is, that they had the full
support of the congressmen and senators who passed, them, of
the President who signed them, and of all the leaders in the
States, who almost all believed in them; and they also met
with very general acceptance by the party in the North.
Hamilton went as far in the direction of sustaining the
principle of these laws as any one. He had too acute a mind to
believe with many of the staunch Federalist divines of New
England, that Jefferson and Madison were Marats and
Robespierres, and that their followers were Jacobins who, when
they came to power, were ready for the overthrow of religion
and society, and were prepared to set up a guillotine and pour
out blood in the waste places of the federal city. But he did
believe, and so wrote to Washington, after the appearance of
the X. Y. Z. letters that there was a party in the country
ready to 'new model' the constitution on French principles, to
form an offensive and defensive alliance with France, and make
the United States a French province. He felt, in short, that
there was a party in America ready for confiscation and social
confusion. A year later, in 1799, he wrote to Dayton, the
speaker of the national House of Representatives, a long
letter in which he set forth very clearly the policy which he
felt ought to be pursued.
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He wished to give strength to the government, and increase
centralization by every means, by an extension of the national
judiciary, a liberal system of internal improvements, an
increased and abundant revenue, an enlargement of the army and
navy, permanence in the laws for the volunteer army, extension
of the powers of the general government, subdivision of the
States as soon as practicable, and finally a strong sedition
law, and the power to banish aliens. This was what was termed
at that day a 'strong and spirited' policy; it would now be
called repressive, but by whatever name it is designated, it
was the policy of Hamilton, and is characteristic of both his
talents and temperament. Except as to the subdivision of
States, it was carried out pretty thoroughly in all its main
features by the Federalists. The alien and sedition laws,
although resisted in Congress, did not much affect public
opinion at the elections which immediately ensued, and the
Federalists came into the next Congress with a large
majority."

_Henry Cabot Lodge,
Alexander Hamilton,
chapter 9._

"The different portions of the country were affected according
to the dominant political opinion. Where the Federalists were
strong political feeling bore them headlong into prosecutions
under the new powers. In the Republican States a sense of
injury and danger went hand in hand, and the question of the
hour was how to repel the threatening destruction. Mr.
Jefferson did not fail to see that the great opportunity for
his party had come. His keen political sagacity detected in an
instant the fatal mistake the administration had made, and he
began at once to look about him for the best means to turn his
opponents' mistake to his own advantage. Naturally he felt
some delicacy in appearing too forward in assailing a
government of which he himself was the second in office.
Nevertheless he lent himself willingly to the task of
organizing, in a quiet way, a systematic assault upon these
laws of Congress, and at once opened a correspondence
calculated to elicit the best judgment of his coadjutors and
gradually drew out a programme of action. Virginia was by no
means unanimous in reprobating these laws. She had a large and
influential body of Federalists. … But the influence of
Jefferson was paramount and the result of Jeffersonian
principles soon appeared on every hand. Meetings were held in
many of the counties upon their county court days at which
were adopted addresses or series of resolutions condemning or
praying for the repeal of these laws. … New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania sent petitions of appeal to Congress. … But
it was in Kentucky that the greatest resistance was evoked.
The feeling in that State was, indeed, little short of frenzy,
and a singular unanimity was displayed even in the most
extreme acts and sentiments. This grew out of no passing
passion. It was based upon the most vigorous elements in her
character as a people. Kentucky was at this time somewhat
apart from the rest of the Union. … Her complaints, just and
unjust, had been many, but hitherto she had not gained the
nation's ear. But the time was now ripe for her to assert
herself."

_E. D. Warfield,
The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798,
chapter 1._

The famous Kentucky Resolutions, substantially drafted by
Jefferson, as he acknowledged fifteen years afterwards, but
introduced in the Legislature of Kentucky by John
Breckenridge, on the 8th of November, 1798, were adopted by
that body, in the lower branch on the 10th and in the upper on
the 13th. Approved by the Governor on the 16th, they were
immediately printed and copies officially sent to every other
state and to members of Congress. They were as follows:

"I. Resolved, that the several states composing the United
States of America, are not united on the principle of
unlimited submission to their General Government; but that by
compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the
United States and of amendments thereto, they constituted a
General Government for special purposes, delegated to that
Government certain definite powers, reserving each state to
itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self
Government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes
undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and
are of no force: That to this compact each state acceded as a
state, and is an integral party, its co-states forming as to
itself, the other party: That the Government created by this
compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the
extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would
have made its discretion, and not the constitution, the
measure of its powers; but that as in all other cases of
compact among parties having no common judge, each party has
an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as
of the mode and measure of redress.

II. Resolved, that the Constitution of the United States
having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason,
counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United
States, piracies and felonies committed on the High Seas, and
offences against the laws of nations, and no other crimes
whatever, and it being true as a general principle, and one of
the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, 'that
the powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved
to the states respectively, or to the people,' therefore also
the same act of Congress passed on the 14th day of July, 1798,
and entitled 'An act in addition to the act entitled an act
for the punishment of certain crimes against the United
States;' as also the act passed by them on the 27th of June,
1798, entitled 'An act to punish frauds committed on the Bank
of the United States' (and all other their acts which assume
to create, define, or punish crimes other than those
enumerated in the constitution) are altogether void and of no
force, and that the power to create, define, and punish such
other crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and
exclusively to the respective states, each within its own
Territory.

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III. Resolved, that it is true as a general principle, and is
also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the
Constitution that 'the powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the
people;' and that no power over the freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to
the states, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right
remain, and were reserved to the states, or to the people:
That thus was manifested their determination to retain to
themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of
speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening
their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be
separated from their use, should be tolerated, rather than the
use be destroyed; and thus also they guarded against all
abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious
opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right
of protecting the same, as this state by a Law passed on the
general demand of its Citizens, had already protected them
from all human restraint or interference; and that in addition
to this general principle and express declaration, another and
more special provision has been made by one of the amendments
to the Constitution which expressly declares that 'Congress
shall make no law respecting an Establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press,' thereby guarding in the
same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of
religion, of speech, and of the press, insomuch, that whatever
violates either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the
others, and that libels, falsehoods, and defamation, equally
with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the
cognizance of federal tribunals. That therefore the act of the
Congress of the United States passed on the 14th day of July,
1798, entitled 'An act in addition to the act for the
punishment of certain crimes against the United States,' which
does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is
altogether void and of no effect.

IV. Resolved, that alien friends are under the jurisdiction
and protection of the laws of the state wherein they are; that
no power over them has been delegated to the United States,
nor prohibited to the individual states distinct from their
power over citizens; and it being true as a general principle,
and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also
declared, that 'the powers not delegated to the United States
by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states are
reserved to the states respectively or to the people,' the act
of the Congress of the United States passed on the 22d day of
June, 1798, entitled 'An act concerning aliens,' which assumes
power over alien friends not delegated by the Constitution, is
not law, but is altogether void and of no force.

V. Resolved, that in addition to the general principle as well
as the express declaration, that powers not delegated are
reserved, another and more special provision inserted in the
Constitution from abundant caution has declared, 'that the
migration or importation of such persons as any of the states
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808.' That this
Commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends
described as the subject of the said act concerning aliens;
that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a
provision against all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be
nugatory; that to remove them when migrated is equivalent to a
prohibition of their migration, and is therefore contrary to
the said provision of the Constitution, and void.

VI. Resolved, that the imprisonment of a person under the
protection of the Laws of this Commonwealth on his failure to
obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the
United States, as is undertaken by the said act entitled 'An
act concerning aliens,' is contrary to the Constitution, one
amendment to which has provided, that 'no person shall be
deprived of liberty without due process of law,' and that
another having provided 'that in all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by an
impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him,
to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defence,' the same act undertaking to authorize the President
to remove a person out of the United States who is under the
protection of the Law, on his own suspicion, without
accusation, without jury, without public trial, without
confrontation of the witnesses against him, without having
witnesses in his favour, without defence, without counsel, is
contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution, is
therefore not law but utterly void and of no force. That
transferring the power of judging any person who is under the
protection of the laws, from the Courts to the President of
the United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning
Aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which
provides, that 'the judicial power of the United States shall
be vested in Courts, the Judges of which shall hold their
offices during good behaviour,' and that the said act is void
for that reason also; and it is further to be noted, that this
transfer of Judiciary powers is to that magistrate of the
General Government who already possesses all the Executive,
and a qualified negative in all the Legislative power.

VII. Resolved, that the construction applied by the General
Government (as is evinced by sundry of their proceedings) to
those parts of the Constitution of the United States which
delegate to Congress a power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
imposts, and excises; to pay the debts, and provide for the
common defence, and general welfare of the United States, and
to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution
in the Government of the United States, or any department
thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits prescribed
to their power by the Constitution—That words meant by that
instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of the
limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to
give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken, as to
destroy the whole residue of the instrument: That the
proceedings of the General Government under colour of these
articles, will be a fit and necessary subject for revisal and
correction at a time of greater tranquility, while those
specified in the preceding resolutions call for immediate
redress.

VIII. Resolved, that the preceding Resolutions be transmitted
to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this
Commonwealth, who are hereby enjoined to present the same to
their respective Houses, and to use the best endeavours to
procure at the next session of Congress, a repeal of the
aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts.

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IX. Resolved lastly, that the Governor of this Commonwealth
be, and is hereby authorised and requested to communicate the
preceding Resolutions to the Legislatures of the several
States, to assure them that this Commonwealth considers Union
for specified National purposes, and particularly for those
specified in their late Federal compact, to be friendly to the
peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the states: that
faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and
meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the
several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation:
that it does also believe, that to take from the states all
the powers of self government, and transfer them to a general
and consolidated Government, without regard to the special
delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that
compact, is not for the peace, happiness, or prosperity of
these states: And that therefore, this Commonwealth is
determined, as it doubts not its Co-states are, tamely to
submit to undelegated and consequently unlimited powers in no
man or body of men on earth: that if the acts before specified
should stand, these conclusions would flow from them; that the
General Government may place any act they think proper on the
list of crimes and punish it themselves, whether enumerated or
not enumerated by the Constitution as cognizable by them: that
they may transfer its cognizance to the President or any other
person, who may himself be the accuser, counsel, judge, and
jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, his order the
sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole
record of the transaction: that a very numerous and valuable
description of the inhabitants of these states, being by this
precedent reduced as outlaws to the absolute dominion of one
man and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept away from
us all, no rampart now remains against the passions and the
power of a majority of Congress, to protect from a like
exportation or other more grievous punishment the minority of
the same body, the Legislatures, Judges, Governors, and
Counsellors of the states, nor their other peaceable
inhabitants who may venture to reclaim the constitutional
rights and liberties of the states and people, or who for
other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the views or
marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought
dangerous to his or their elections or other interests public
or personal: that the friendless alien has indeed been
selected as the safest subject of a first experiment: but the
citizen will soon follow, or rather has already followed; for
already has a Sedition Act marked him as its prey: that these
and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested on
the threshold, may tend to drive these states into revolution
and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against Republican
Governments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be
believed that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron:
that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the
men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our
rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism:
free government is founded in jealousy and not in confidence;
it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited
Constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust
with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the
limits to which and no further our confidence may go; and let
the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and Sedition
Acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing
limits to the Government it created, and whether we should be
wise in destroying those limits? Let him say what the
Government is if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our
choice have conferred on the President, and the President of
our choice has assented to and accepted over the friendly
strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our Country and its laws
had pledged hospitality and protection: that the men of our
choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the
President than the solid rights of innocence, the claims of
justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms and
subsistence of law and justice. In questions of power then let
no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from
mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this
Commonwealth does therefore call on its Co-states for an
expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning Aliens,
and for the punishment of certain crimes hereinbefore
specified, plainly declaring whether these acts are or are not
authorized by the Federal Compact? And it doubts not that
their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment
unaltered to limited Government, whether general or
particular, and that the rights and liberties of their
Co-states will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked
on a common bottom with their own: That they will concur with
this Commonwealth, in considering the said acts so palpably
against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised
declaration, that the compact is not meant to be the measure
of the powers of the General Government, but that it will
proceed in the exercise over these states of all powers
whatsoever: That they will view this as seizing the rights of
the states and consolidating them in the hands of the General
Government with a power assumed to bind the states (not merely
in cases made federal) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws
made, not with their consent, but by others against their
consent: That this would be to surrender the form of
Government we have chosen, and to live under one deriving its
powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that
the Co-states recurring to their natural right in cases not
made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void and of
no force, and will each unite with this Commonwealth in
requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress."

In the month following this declaration from Kentucky, on the
21st of December, Virginia affirmed substantially the same
threatening doctrine, more temperately and cautiously set
forth in resolutions drawn by Madison as follows:

"Resolved, that the General Assembly of Virginia doth
unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend
the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of
this state against every aggression, either foreign or
domestic, and that they will support the government of the
United States in all measures warranted by the former.

That this Assembly most solemnly declares a warm attachment to
the union of the states, to maintain which, it pledges all its
powers; and that for this end it is their duty to watch over
and oppose every infraction of those principles which
constitute the only basis of that union, because a faithful
observance of them can alone secure its existence, and the
public happiness.

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That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare
that it views the powers of the Federal Government, as
resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties;
as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument
constituting that compact; as no farther valid than they are
authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact, and that
in case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of
other powers not granted by the said compact, the states who
are parties thereto have the right, and are in duty bound to
interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for
maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities,
rights and liberties appertaining to them.

That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret
that a spirit has in sundry instances, been manifested by the
Federal Government, to enlarge its powers by forced
constructions of the constitutional charter which defines
them; and that indications have appeared of a design to
expound certain general phrases (which having been copied from
the very limited grant of powers in the former articles of
confederation were the less liable to be misconstrued), so as
to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular
enumeration, which necessarily explains and limits the general
phrases; and so as to consolidate the states by degrees into
one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable
consequence of which would be to transform the present
republican system of the United States into an absolute, or at
best a mixed monarchy. That the General Assembly doth
particularly protest against the palpable and alarming
infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the
'Alien and Sedition Acts,' passed at the last session of
Congress, the first of which exercises a power nowhere
delegated to the Federal Government; and which by uniting
legislative and judicial powers to those of executive,
subverts the general principles of free government, as well as
the particular organization and positive provisions of the
federal constitution: and the other of which acts, exercises
in like manner a power not delegated by the constitution, but
on the contrary expressly and positively forbidden by one of
the amendments thereto; a power which more than any other
ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levelled
against the right of freely examining public characters and
measures, and of free communication among the people thereon,
which has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian
of every other right.

That this state having by its convention which ratified the
federal constitution, expressly declared, 'that among other
essential rights, the liberty of conscience and of the press
cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained or modified by any
authority of the United States,' and from its extreme anxiety
to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry
or ambition, having with other states recommended an amendment
for that purpose, which amendment was in due time annexed to
the constitution, it would mark a reproachful inconsistency
and criminal degeneracy, if an indifference were now shown to
the most palpable violation of one of the rights thus declared
and secured, and to the establishment of a precedent which may
be fatal to the other.

That the good people of this commonwealth having ever felt and
continuing to feel the most sincere affection to their
brethren of the other states, the truest anxiety for
establishing and perpetuating the union of all, and the most
scrupulous fidelity to that constitution which is the pledge
of mutual friendship, and the instrument of mutual happiness:
The General Assembly doth solemnly appeal to the like
dispositions of the other states, in confidence that they will
concur with this commonwealth in declaring, as it does hereby
declare, that the acts aforesaid are unconstitutional, and
that the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each
for cooperating with this state, in maintaining unimpaired the
authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the states
respectively, or to the people. That the Governor be desired
to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to the
executive authority of each of the other states, with a
request, that the same may be communicated to the legislature
thereof.

And that a copy be furnished to each of the Senators and
Representatives, representing this state in the Congress of
the United States."

In later years, after Calhoun and his school had pushed these
doctrines to their logical conclusion, Madison shrank from the
result, and endeavored to disown the apparent meaning of what
Jefferson had written and he had seemed to endorse in 1798. He
denounced Nullification and Secession as "twin heresies," and
denied that they were contained or implied in the resolutions
of 1798—either those adopted in Kentucky or the responsive
ones written by himself for the legislature of Virginia. The
Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 were followed in 1799 by another
series, in which the right of a sovereign State to nullify
obnoxious laws of the Federal Government was no longer
asserted by implication, but was put into plain terms—as
follows: "That the principle and construction, contended for
by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general
government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers
delegated to it, stop not short of despotism,—since the
discretion of those who administer the government, and not the
Constitution, would be the measure of their powers: That the
several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and
independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the
infraction; and, That a nullification, by those sovereignties,
of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument,
is the rightful remedy." It was Mr. Madison's desire to cast
on these resolutions of 1799, with which Jefferson had nothing
to do, the odium of the nullification doctrine, and to remove
the stigma from the resolutions of 1798, in which the word
"nullification" makes no appearance; "neither that," pleaded
Madison, "nor any equivalent term." But, when Madison made
this plea, in 1830, "it was not then generally known, whether
Mr. Madison knew it or not, that one of the resolutions and
part of another which Jefferson wrote to be offered in the
Kentucky legislature in 1798 were omitted by Mr. Nicholas [to
whom Mr. Jefferson had entrusted them], and that therein was
the assertion … 'where powers are assumed which have not been
delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy.'
{3323}
The next year, when additional resolutions were offered by Mr.
Breckenridge, this idea in similar, though not in precisely the
same language, was presented [as quoted above]. … In 1832,
this fact, on the authority of Jefferson's grandson and
executor, was made public; and further, that another
declaration of Mr. Jefferson's in the resolution not used was
an exhortation to the co-States, 'that each will take measures
of its own for providing that neither these acts nor any
others of the general government, not plainly and
intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be
exercised within their respective territories.'"

_S. H. Gay,
James Madison,
chapter 15._

"The publication of the Kentucky resolutions … was instantly
followed by a new crop of remonstrances and petitions from the
people. … Memorials by scores came in from each State, and the
signatures appended to some were as many as sixteen hundred.
Those from Pennsylvania alone bore over eighteen thousand
names. … Such memorials as reached the House were sent to a
committee, who, late in February, reported. … The report
closed with three resolutions, and these were: that it was not
in the interest of the public good to repeal either the Alien
Law, or the Sedition Law, or any of the laws respecting the
army, the navy, or the revenue of the United States. On the
twenty-fifth of February, the House being in Committee of the
Whole, the three resolutions were taken up one by one.
Gallatin spoke long and well against the first; but it was
carried. Mr. Nicholas spoke at greater length against
agree·ing to the second. But the Federalists had made up their
minds to accept the report, and, as Nicholas went on, treated
him with great disrespect. They assembled in groups about the
House, laughed, coughed, and talked at the top of their
voices; nor would the Speaker command order in the room. When
Nicholas finished, shouts of 'Question! Question!' rose from
all sides. A member from North Carolina hoped the question
would not be taken. The hour was late. Other members had
something to say. An hour or two on the morrow might well be
spent in discussion. He moved the committee should rise. … The
motion to rise was lost, the question on the second resolution
was carried, the question on the third resolution was carried,
then the committee rose. The House then agreed to the action
of the committee on each of the three resolutions. The Federal
party was now at the height of its prosperity and power. It
controlled the Senate. It controlled the House. Outwardly it
was great and powerful, but within that dispute had begun
which, in a few short months, drove Pickering and M'Henry from
the Cabinet, split the party in twain, and gave to the country
the strange spectacle of staunch and earnest Federalists
wrangling and contending and overwhelming each other with
abuse."

_J. B. McMaster,
A History of the United States,
chapter 11 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_H. S. Randall,
Life of Jefferson,
volume 2, chapter 8._

_J. Madison,
Works,
volume 4, pages 95-110, and 506-555._

_T. Jefferson,
Works,
volume 7, page 229;
and volume 9, pages 464-471._

_H. von Holst,
Constitutional and Political History of the United States,
volume 1, page 148._

_J. T. Morse,
Life of Hamilton,
volume 2, chapter 6._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1800.
The convention with France and the French Spoliation Claims
incident to it.

"In the instructions to the American envoys in France they had
been directed to secure a claims commission, the abrogation of
the former treaties, and the abolition of the guarantee of
1778, as it was called, contained in Article XI. of the Treaty
of Alliance of that year, and covering 'the present
possessions of the Crown of France in America, as well as
those which it may acquire by the future treaty of peace.'
Upon none of these points were the envoys able to carry out
their instructions. In reference to claims, a distinction,
which was finally embodied in the treaty, was drawn by the
French government between two classes of claims: first, debts
due from the French government to American citizens for
supplies furnished, or prizes whose restoration had been
decreed by the courts; and secondly, indemnities for prizes
alleged to have been wrongfully condemned. The treaty provided
that the first class, known as debts, should be paid, but
excluded the second, or indemnity class. In reference to the
indemnity claims, and to the questions involved in the old
treaties, including, of course, the guarantee of 1778, as the
envoys were not able to come to an agreement, the treaty
declared that the negotiation was postponed. The Senate of the
United States expunged this latter article, inserting in its
place a clause providing for the duration of the present
convention; and this amendment was accepted by the French
government, with the proviso that both governments should
renounce the pretensions which were the object of the original
article. To this the Senate also agreed, and upon this basis
the convention was finally ratified. It thus appears that the
United States surrendered the claims of its citizens against
France for wrongful seizures, in return for the surrender by
France of whatever claim it might have had against the United
States for the latter's failure to fulfil the obligations
assumed in the earlier treaties [especially the guaranty of
the possessions of France in America, which was undertaken in
the treaty of 1778]. The United States, therefore, having
received a consideration for its refusal to prosecute the
claims of its citizens, thereby took the place, with respect
to the claimants, of the French government, and virtually
assumed the obligations of the latter. … The claims for
indemnity thus devolving upon the United States, known as the
French Spoliation Claims, have been from that day to this the
subject of frequent report and discussion in Congress, but
with no result until the passage of the act of January 20,
1885, referring them to the Court of Claims. At the present
time (1888) they are undergoing judicial examination before
that tribunal."

_J. R. Soley,
The Wars of the United States, 1789-1850
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 7, chapter 6; and editor's foot-note)._

ALSO IN:
_F. Wharton,
Digest of the International Law of the United States,
section 248 (volume 2, pages 714-728)._

_D. Webster,
Works,
volume 4, pages 152-178._

_T. H. Benton,
Thirty Years' View,
volume 1, chapters 117-120._

_W. H. Seward,
Works,
volume 1, pages 132-155._

_Report of Secretary of State
(United States Senate, Ex. Doc. no. 74 and 102,
49th Congress 1st session)._

Spoliations committed by the French in the Revolutionary and
Napoleonic wars subsequently to the year 1800, were
indemnified under the provisions of the treaty for the
Louisiana purchase (see LOUISIANA: A. D. 1798-1803); under the
treaty with Spain in 1819, and under a later treaty with
France which was negotiated in Andrew Jackson's most
imperative manner in 1831. These do not enter into what have
become historically specialized as the French Spoliation
Claims.

{3324}

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1800.
The Second Census.

Total population, 5,305,937, (an increase of slightly more
than 35 per cent. since 1790), classed and distributed as
follows:

North.

White. Free black. Slave. Connecticut. 244,721 5,330 951 Indiana. 4,577 163 135 Maine. 150,901 818 0 Massachusetts. 416,793 6,452 0 New Hampshire. 182,898 856 8 New Jersey. 195,125 4,402 12,422 New York. 556,039 10,374 20,343 Ohio. 45,028 337 0 Pennsylvania. 586,094 14,561 1,706 Rhode Island. 65,437 3,304 381 Vermont. 153,908 557 0 --- --- --- Total 2,601,521 47,154 35,946

South.

White. Free black. Slave. Delaware. 49,852 8,268 6,153 District of Columbia. 10,066 783 3,244 Georgia. 101,678 1,019 59,404 Kentucky. 179,871 741 40,343 Maryland. 216,326 19,587 105,635 Mississippi. 5,179 182 3,489 North Carolina. 337,764 7,043 133,296 South Carolina. 196,255 3,185 146,151 Tennessee. 91,709 309 13,584 Virginia. 514,280 20,124 345,796 --- --- --- Total 1,702,980 61,241 857,095

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1800-1801.
The Fourth Presidential Election
Inauguration of Jefferson.

"Adams, whom Dr. Franklin aptly described as 'always an honest
man, often a wise one, but sometimes and in some things
absolutely out of his senses,' was approaching the end of his
term as President, and public attention was absorbed in the
task of choosing a successor. … At the time of Adams's
election, a sectional feeling, destined in the future to work
so much evil, had already been developed; and he in
consequence received from States south of the Potomac but two
electoral votes. New York had given him her twelve, yet the
entire majority over his competitor was but three in all the
colleges. The national parties were not unequally matched in
the State; and it was evident that, could its vote be diverted
to Jefferson in the next contest, his victory would be
assured. Hence, strenuous efforts were made to accomplish this
end, and for months society was like a seething caldron. The
trouble with France had, for the moment, swelled the numbers
of the Federalists, and closed up their ranks; but the
capricious course of the President, and the violent disruption
of the cabinet, rent them asunder, never to be re-united. …
During the French excitement, it seemed almost certain that,
after the local election, they would have a majority in the
new Legislature, and thus retain for their candidate the
electoral vote of New York. This pleasing prospect was soon
obscured. When its people found Mr. Adams sternly enforcing
the Sedition Law, and exercising the power it conferred in an
unfeeling manner upon one of their most esteemed citizens
[Judge Peck], they turned with disgust from a party which they
held responsible for its enactment, as well as for this
violent procedure. The permanent ascendency which the
Republicans seemed to have acquired in the metropolis had been
wrested from them, in the spring of 1799, by the unpopularity
of a scheme of Burr's, already conspicuous in the State as an
unscrupulous political tactician. He had been a member of the
assembly the preceding year, and, under the pretence of
supplying pure and wholesome water, obtained a charter which
enabled the corporators to engage in banking. In consequence
of the feeling this aroused, he did not dare present himself
again as a candidate, but, with great tact and unwearied
efforts, succeeded in healing divisions in his party, and
nominating a delegation for the assembly, which embraced the
Republicans most eminent for wealth, station, or family
influence. Governor Clinton headed the list. … The result
followed which Burr had anticipated. The Federal majority of
the last year was overcome, and New York City secured by the
Republicans, giving them control of the State. Adams
subsequently received but four electoral votes south of
Maryland, and Jefferson became his successor. Burr, to whose
untiring exertions this great victory was due, was thereby
inducted into the office of Vice-President. At that time, the
Legislature appointed the electors for the State; and the
Republicans, then anticipating a defeat, had at a previous
session advocated that, for the future, these should be chosen
directly by the people in separate districts, hoping thus to
secure a sufficient number to elect their Presidential
candidate. The Federalists, thinking their supremacy in the
assembly assured, refused to support the plan. Now, however,
when it became known that their adversaries had gained a
majority in the Legislature on which would devolve the duty of
choosing the electors, Hamilton addressed a letter to Governor
Jay, suggesting that the present body, whose term would not
expire before July, should be again convened, in order to pass
a measure which, when before proposed by the Republicans, had
been denounced as unconstitutional. Jay had too much regard
for principle to entertain the idea. After his death, the
letter was found among his papers, endorsed, 'Proposing a
measure for party purposes which I think it would not become
me to adopt.' It is related that a noted French duellist, when
required to forgive his enemies before receiving absolution,
exclaimed, My enemies? I have none. I have killed them all!
Mr. Jefferson might have responded in the same manner, the
morrow after the Presidential election. To the one party, the
result seemed like the breaking up of an ice gorge—the
harbinger of spring. To the other it appeared as an avalanche
of French principles, destructive alike of religion and
established government. Both were at fault. President
Jefferson was quite as unable to destroy the work of his
predecessors as he was to depart from their policy of
neutrality. The Sedition and Alien Laws soon expired by
limitation; but the great measures of the former
administrations were too wise, and had struck their roots too
deep into the national sentiment, to be suddenly overturned."

_W. Whitelock,
Life and Times of John Jay,
chapter 22._

{3325}

In the Electoral College, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr,
both Democratic Republicans, received an equal number of votes
(73), and the election was carried into the House of
Representatives, where Jefferson was chosen President and Burr
Vice President. "Adams, stung to the heart by the election of
Jefferson, refused to witness the hateful spectacle of his
successor's inauguration. He spent his last hours in filling
up vacancies to place patronage out of Jefferson's reach; then
he departed, the old order in his person giving place with a
frown and a shudder to the new. Adams did not hate monarchy,
he thought that for England it was good. In the eyes of
Jefferson monarchy was the incarnate spirit of evil and to rid
mankind of it by example was the mission of the American
Republic. Every vestige of the half monarchical state which
Washington had retained was now banished from the President's
mansion and life. No more coaches-and-six, no more court
dress, no more levees. Although Jefferson did not, as legend
says, ride to his inauguration and tie his horse to the fence,
he was inaugurated with as little ceremony as possible. He
received an ambassador in slippers down at the heel, and in
the arrangement of his dinner parties was so defiant of the
rules of etiquette as to breed trouble in the diplomatic
circle. Yet with all his outward simplicity the Virginian
magnate and man of letters, though he might be a Republican,
could not in himself be a true embodiment of democracy. He was
the friend of the people, but not one of them. … The desired
day had come when the philosopher was to govern. The words of
the address which Jefferson, unlike the demagogic sons of
thunder in the present day, read in a very low voice, are the
expression by its great master and archetype of the republican
idea which has hitherto reigned supreme in the mind of the
American people. These words are monumental, 'Equal and exact
justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious
or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all
nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the
State governments in all their rights, as the most competent
administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest
bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies, the preservation
of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour,
as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a
jealous care of the right of election by the People; a mild
and safe correction of abuses which are lopped by the sword of
revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute
acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital
principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to
force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism;
a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for
the first movements in war, till regulars may relieve them;
the supremacy of the civil over the military authority;
economy in the public expense, that labour may be lightly
burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred
preservation of the public faith; encouragement of
agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid, the diffusion of
information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of
public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and
freedom of person under the protection of the "habeas corpus,"
and trial by jurors impartially selected;—these principles
form the bright constellation which has gone before us and
guided our steps through an age of revolution and
reformation.' Jefferson's wand was the pen. Yet he is
strangely apt to fall into mixed metaphors and even into
platitudes. This address has not escaped criticism."

_Goldwin Smith,
The United States,
chapter 3._

"Jefferson had reached the presidential chair at a most
fortunate moment. … The prospect of a speedy peace in Europe
promised effectual and permanent relief from those serious
embarrassments to which, during war on the ocean, American
commerce was ever exposed from the aggressions of one or of
all the belligerents. The treasury was fuller, the revenue
more abundant than at any previous period. Commerce was
flourishing, and the pecuniary prosperity of the country very
great. All the responsibility of framing institutions, laying
taxes, find providing for debts, had fallen on the ousted
administration. Succeeding to the powers and the means of the
Federal government without sharing any of the unpopularity at
the expense of which they had been attained, and ambitious not
so much of a splendid as of a quiet and popular
administration, the new president seemed to have before him a
very plain and easy path. … To the offices of Secretary of
State, Secretary of the Treasury, and Attorney General, left
vacant by the resignation of the late incumbents, Jefferson
nominated James Madison, Henry Dearborn, and Levi Lincoln, the
latter an early leader of the opposition in Massachusetts. …
As the Senate stood at present, still containing, as it did,
of the members present a majority of Federalists, Jefferson
did not think proper to make any further nominations; but,
soon after the adjournment, he appointed as Secretary of the
Treasury Albert Gallatin, all along the financial member of
the opposition. … The Navy Department, after being refused by
Chancellor Livingston, was given to Robert Smith, brother of
the Baltimore member of Congress. Livingston, however, having
reached the age of sixty, and being obliged, under a
Constitutional provision, to vacate the chancellorship of New
York, consented to accept the embassy to France. … Habersham
was continued as post-master-general for some six months, …
but he presently gave way to Gideon Granger, a leader of the
Connecticut Republicans."

_R. Hildreth,
History of the United States, 2d series,
chapter 16 (volume 2, or volume 5 of whole work)._

"The first act of the new Cabinet was to reach a general
understanding in regard to the objects of the Administration.
These appear to have been two only in number: reduction of
debt and reduction of taxes, and the relation to be preserved
between them."

_H. Adams,
Life of Albert Gallatin,
page 276._

"Under President Jefferson, the heads of the great departments
of the government were changed, nor was there any just reason
to complain of this measure; as they formed a part of his
political council; and, as the chief executive officer of
government, he had a perfect right to select his confidential
friends and advisers. But when afterwards, and within a few
months, he removed able and upright men from offices of a
subordinate grade, his conduct was considered improper and
arbitrary, and as partaking somewhat of the 'right of
prerogative,' usually claimed and exercised by royal princes.
… In his inaugural address, Mr. Jefferson said, 'We have
gained little, if we encourage a political intolerance as
wicked as impolitic. We are all brethren of the same
principles; we are all republicans, and all federalists.'
{3326}
Yet in less than fifty days he removed fourteen federal
officers; without any allegation of unfaithfulness or
inefficiency: on the plea, indeed, that his predecessor had
removed two public officers on account of their political
opinions; and had appointed none to office in the government
but such as were of the same sentiments and views as the
administration. 'Few died, and none resigned,' he said; and
therefore, to equalize public offices between the two great
political parties, it was necessary, in his opinion, to remove
a part of those then employed, and to appoint others more
friendly to the new administration. For a very few of the
removals there might have been sufficient or justifiable
reasons offered; but in most instances the changes were made
merely for political opinions."

_A. Bradford,
History of the Federal Government, 1789-1839,
chapter 6._

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1801.
Appointment of John Marshall to be
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
His Constitutional decisions.