Chapter X: Candidate for Congress (2)

Both Republican and Federalist leaders had seen to it that nothing was left undone which might bring victory to their respective candidates. The two political parties had been carefully "drilled to move together in a body." Each party had a business committee which attended to every practical detail of the election. Not a voter was overlooked. "Sick men were taken in their beds to the polls; the halt, the lame, and the blind were hunted up and every mode of conveyance was mustered into service." Time and again the vote was a tie. No sooner did one freeholder announce his preference for Marshall than another gave his suffrage to Clopton.

"A barrel of whisky with the head knocked in," free for everybody, stood beneath a tree; and "the majority took it straight," runs a narrative of a witness of the scene. So hot became the contest that fist-fights were frequent. During the afternoon, knock-down and drag-out affrays became so general that the county justices had hard work to quell the raging partisans. Throughout the day the shouting and huzzaing rose in volume as the whiskey sank in the barrel. At times the uproar was "perfectly deafening; men were shaking fists at each other, rolling up their sleeves, cursing and swearing.... Some became wild with agitation." When a tie was broken by a new voter shouting that he was for Marshall or for Clopton, insults were hurled at his devoted head.

"You, sir, ought to have your mouth smashed," cried an enraged Republican when Thomas Rutherford voted for Marshall; and smashing of mouths, blacking of eyes, and breaking of heads there were in plenty. "The crowd rolled to and fro like a surging wave."[931] Never before and seldom, if ever, since, in the history of Virginia, was any election so fiercely contested. When this "democratic" struggle was over, it was found that Marshall had been elected by the slender majority of 108.[932]

Washington was overjoyed at the Federalist success. He had ridden ten miles to vote for General Lee, who was elected;[933] but he took a special delight in Marshall's victory. He hastened to write his political protégé: "With infinite pleasure I received the news of your Election. For the honor of the District I wish the majority had been greater; but let us be content, and hope, as the tide is turning, the current will soon run strong in your favor."[934]

Toward the end of the campaign, for the purpose of throwing into the contest Washington's personal influence, Marshall's enthusiastic friends had published the fact of Marshall's refusal to accept the various offices which had been tendered him by Washington. They had drawn a long bow, though very slightly, and stated positively that Marshall could have been Secretary of State.[935] Marshall hastened to apologize:--

"Few of the unpleasant occurrences" of the campaign "have given me more real chagrin than this. To make a parade of proffered offices is a vanity which I trust I do not possess; but to boast of one never in my power would argue a littleness of mind at which I ought to blush." Marshall tells Washington that the person who published the report "never received it directly or indirectly from me." If he had known "that such a publication was designed" he "would certainly have suppressed it." It was inspired "unquestionably ... by a wish to serve me," says Marshall, "and by resentment at the various malignant calumnies which have been so profusely bestowed on me."[936]

Washington quickly reassured Marshall: "I am sorry to find that the publication you allude to should have given you a moment's disquietude. I can assure you it made no impression on my mind, of the tendency apprehended by you."[937]

As soon as all the election returns were in, Marshall reported to Washington that the defeat of two of the Federalist candidates for Congress was unexpected and "has reduced us to eight in the legislature of the Union"; that the Republicans maintained their "majority in the house of Delegates," which "means an antifederal senator and governor," and that "the baneful influence of a legislature hostile perhaps to the Union--or if not so--to all its measures will be kept up."[938]

Marshall's campaign attracted the attention of the whole country, and the news of his success deeply interested both Federalists and Republicans. Pickering, after writing King of the Federalist success in New York City, declared that "the other domestic intelligence, still more important, is, that Genl. Marshall is elected a member of Congress for his district."[939]

Speaker Sedgwick also informed King of Marshall's election. "General Marshall you know is a member of the House of Representatives. His talents, his character and the situation he has been in, will combine to give him an influence, which will be further aided by the scene which he immediately represents. He may and probably will give a tone to the federal politics South of the Susquehannah. I well know the respect he entertains for you and for your opinions."[940]

But the Federalist leaders were none too sure of their Virginia congressional recruit. He was entirely too independent to suit the party organization. His campaign statement on the Alien and Sedition Laws angered and troubled them when it was made; and, now that Marshall was elected, his opinion on this, to the Federalists, vital subject, his admitted power of mind and character, and his weighty influence over the Southern wing of the Federalists caused serious apprehension among the party's Northern leaders. Sedgwick advises King to write Marshall on the subject of party regularity.

"I have brought this subject to your mind, that you may decide on the propriety of a communication of your sentiments to him, which you may do in season to be useful. Should he, which, indeed, I do not expect, conform his political conduct generally, to what seems indicated by his public declaration relative to the alien & sedition acts, it would have been better that his insignificant predecessor should have been reëlected. There never has been an instance where the commencement of a political career was so important as is that of General Marshall."[941]

Apprehension and uncertainty as to Marshall's course in the House was in the minds of even the Federalist leaders who were out of the country. The American Minister at The Hague was as much troubled about Marshall as were the Federalist politicians at home: "If M[arshall]'s silly declaration on the _inexpediency_ of the Sedition law does not entangle him he may be very useful."[942] But Murray was uneasy: "Marshall, I fear, comes in on middle ground, and when a man plays the amiable in a body like that [House of Representatives] he cannot be counted [on], but he will vote generally right. I was amiable the first session! It cannot last."[943]

Jefferson, of course, was much depressed by the Federalist congressional victories, which he felt "are extremely to be regretted." He was especially irritated by Marshall's election: It "marks a taint in that part of the State which I had not expected." He was venomous toward Henry for having helped Marshall: "His [Henry's] apostacy, must be unaccountable to those who do not know all the recesses of his heart."[944]

A week later, however, Jefferson decided that the Federalist success did not mean a permanent Republican reverse. Spoils and corruption, he concluded, were the real cause of the Federalist gain. "The Virginia congressional elections have astonished every one," he informs Tench Coxe. "This result has proceeded from accidental combinations of circumstances, & not from an unfavorable change of sentiment.... We are not incorruptible; on the contrary, corruption is making sensible tho' silent progress. Offices are as acceptable here as elsewhere, & whenever a man has cast a longing on them, a rottenness begins in his conduct."[945]

Jefferson, with settled and burning hatred, now puts his branding-iron on Henry: "As to the effect of his name among the people, I have found it crumble like a dried leaf the moment they become satisfied of his apostacy."[946]

During the weeks which immediately followed his election, Marshall was busy reporting to Washington on the best men to be appointed as officers in the provisional army; and his letters to the Commander-in-Chief show a wide and careful acquaintance with Virginians of military training, and a delicate judgment of their qualities.[947]

By now the hated Sedition Law was justifying the political hydrophobia which it had excited among the Republicans.[948] All over the country men were being indicted and convicted for wholly justifiable political criticisms,--some of them trivial and even amusing,--as well as for false and slanderous attacks on public officers. President Adams himself had begun to urge these prosecutions. He was particularly bitter against the "Aurora," the Republican organ, which, according to Adams, contained an "uninterrupted stream of slander on the American government."[949] He thought that the editor ought to be expelled from the country.[950]

All this was more fuel to the Republican furnace. Wicked and outrageous as were some of these prosecutions, they were not so extravagant as the horrors which Republican politicians declared that the Sedition Laws would bring to every fireside.

During the summer after his election Marshall visited his father in Kentucky. Thomas Marshall was ill, and his son's toilsome journey was solely for the purpose of comforting him; but Jefferson could see in it nothing but a political mission. He writes to Wilson Cary Nicholas to prepare an answer to the States that had opposed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions; but, says Jefferson, "As to the preparing anything [myself] I must decline it, to avoid suspicions (which were pretty strong in some quarters on the last occasion) [the Kentucky Resolutions].... The visit of the apostle Marshall[951] to Kentucky, excite[s] anxiety. However, we doubt not that his poisons will be effectually counter-worked."[952]

Jefferson's suspicions were groundless. Marshall did not even sound public opinion on the subject. On his return to Richmond he writes the Secretary of State, who was the most active politician of Adams's Cabinet, and to whom Marshall freely opened his mind on politics, that "a visit to an aged & rever'd Father" prevented an earlier answer to a letter from Pickering; and, although Marshall has much to say, not one word is written of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. He is obsessed with the French question and of the advantage the French "party in America" may secure by the impression that France was not really hostile. "This will enable her [France's] party in America to attack from very advantageous ground the government of the United States."[953]

Now came the public circumstance that made the schism in the Federalist Party an open and remorseless feud. The President's militant declaration, that he would "never send another minister to France without assurances that he will [would] be received, respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent people,"[954] was perfectly attuned to the warlike spirit of the hour. The country rang with approval. The Federalist politicians were exultant.

Thereupon the resourceful Talleyrand wrote the Secretary of the French Legation at The Hague to intimate to Murray, the American Minister, that the French Directory would now receive a minister from the United States.[955] Murray hastened the news to Adams.[956] It was a frail assurance, indirect, irregular, unacknowledged to the world; and from men who had insulted us and who would not hesitate to repudiate Murray's statement if their purposes so required. Yet the President grasped by the forelock this possibility for peace, and, against the emphatic protest of his Cabinet, suddenly sent a second commission to try again for that adjustment which Marshall and his associates had failed to secure. It was the wisest and most unpopular act of Adams's troubled Administration.

The leading Federalist politicians were enraged. Indeed, "the whole [Federalist] party were prodigiously alarmed."[957] They thought it a national humiliation. What! said they, kiss the hand that had slapped our face! "The new embassy ... disgusts most men here," reported Ames from New England.[958] Cabot confirmed Ames's doleful message--"Surprise, indignation, grief, & disgust followed each other in swift succession in the breasts of the true friends of our country," he advised King.[959]

The Federalist leaders really wanted war with France, most of them as a matter of patriotism; some, undoubtedly, because war would insure party success in the approaching presidential election. Upon his return Marshall had prophesied formal declaration of hostilities from the Republic of France, when news of the dispatches reached Europe; and the war Federalists were sorely disappointed at the failure of his prediction. "Genl. Marshall unfortunately held the decided opinion that France would DECLARE war when the Dispatches should appear; and T. Sewell with other good men were so strongly impressed with the advantage of such a declaration by them that they could not be persuaded to relinquish the belief in it--I was astonished that they should have attributed to the French such miserable policy." So wrote the able and balanced Cabot.[960] That France refused to adopt "such miserable policy" as Marshall had expected was sufficiently exasperating to the war Federalists; but to meet that country three fourths of the way on the road to peace was intolerable.

"The end [peace] being a bad one all means are unwise and indefensible" was the ultra-Federalist belief.[961] Adams's second mission was, they said, party surrender to the Republicans; it was "a policy that threatens ... to revive the Jacobin faction in our bosom."[962] Federalist members of Congress threatened to resign. "I have sacrificed as much as most men ... to support this Govt. and root out Democracy, & French principles, but ... I feel it to be lost and worse ... I can & will resign if all must be given up to France," cried the enraged Tracy.[963]

These "enemies of government" had said all along that things could be arranged with France; that the X. Y. Z. disclosures were merely a Federalist plot; and that the army was a wicked and needless expense. What answer could the Federalists make to these Republican charges now? Adams's new French mission, the Federalist chieftains declared, was "a measure to _make_ dangers, and to nullify resources; to make the navy without object; the army an object of popular terror."[964]

And the presidential election was coming on! To hold the situation just as it was might mean Federalist victory. Suppose events did develop a formal declaration of war with France? That would make Federalist success more certain. The country would not turn out a party in charge of the Government when cannon were roaring. Even more important, an open and avowed conflict with the "bloody Republic" would, reasoned the Federalist leaders, check the miasmic growth of French revolutionary ideas among the people.

In short, a declaration of war with France would do everything which the Federalists wished and hoped for. "Peace [with France] ... is not desired as it should not be"[965] was their opinion of the statesmanship demanded by the times. And now Adams, without one word to the men who reluctantly had made him President,[966] had not only prevented a rupture which would have accomplished every Federalist purpose, but had delivered his party into the hands of the "Jacobins." He had robbed the Federalists of their supreme campaign "issue." "Peace with France, they think an evil and holding out the hope of it another, as it tends to chill the public fervor";[967] and the "public fervor" surely needed no further reduction of temperature, for Federalist health.

If Adams did not wish for a formal declaration of war, at least he might have let things alone. But now! "Government will be weakened by the friends it loses and betrayed by those it will gain. It will lose ... the friendship of the sense, and worth, and property of the United States, and get in exchange the prejudice, vice, and bankruptcy of the nation,"[968] wrote Ames to Pickering. "In Resistance alone there is safety,"[969] was Cabot's opinion. "The Jacobin influence is rising, and has been ever since the mission to France was determined on; ... if a Treaty be made with France their [Republican] ascendancy will be sure";[970] and, after that, the deluge.

The Federalist leaders felt that, even without a declaration of hostilities by Congress, they might make shift to win the approaching election. For on the sea we already were waging war on France, while formally at peace with her. Our newborn navy was taking French privateers, defeating French men-of-war, and retaliating with pike, cutlass, and broadside for the piratical French outrages upon American commerce.[971] As things stood, it was certain that this would continue until after the election, and with each glorious victory of a Truxton or a Hull, National pride and popular enthusiasm would mount higher and grow stronger. So the Federalist politicians thought that "the only negotiation compatible with our honor or our safety is that begun by Truxton in the capture of the L'Insurgente."[972]

Priceless campaign ammunition was this for the Federalist political guns. Early in the year the bilious but keen-eyed watchman on the ramparts of New England Federalism had noted the appearance of "a little patriotism, and the capture of the _Insurgente_ cherishes it."[973] And now Adams's second mission might spoil everything. "The Jacobins will rise in consequence of this blunder,"[974] was the doleful prophecy. Indeed, it was already in fulfillment even with the utterance: "Already the Jacobins raise their disgraced heads from the mire of contempt!"[975] The "country gentlemen" were the hands as the business interests were the brain and heart of the Federalist Party; "the President destroyed their influence, and ... left them prostrate before their vindictive adversaries."[976]

The Republicans were overjoyed. Adams had reversed himself, eaten his own words, confessed the hypocrisy of the "infamous X. Y. Z. plot." "This renders their [Federalists'] efforts for war desperate, & silences all further denials of the sincerity of the French government," gleefully wrote Jefferson.[977]

Marshall alone of the commanding Federalists, approved Adams's action. "I presume it will afford you satisfaction to know that a measure which excited so much agitation here, has met the approbation of so good a judge as Mr. Marshall," Lee reported to the President.[978] Marshall's support cheered the harried Chief Executive. "Esteeming very highly the opinion and character of your friend General Marshall, I thank you for inclosing his letter," responded Adams.[979]

The President had done still worse. Auctioneer John Fries, a militia captain, had headed an armed mob in resistance to the National officers who were levying the National direct tax on the houses and lands of the farmers of eastern Pennsylvania. He had been finally taken prisoner, tried, and convicted of sedition and treason, and sentenced to death. Against the unanimous written advice of his Cabinet, formally tendered,[980] the President pardoned the "traitor" and "his fellow criminals."[981] And this clemency was granted at the plea of McKean, the arch-"Jacobin" of Pennsylvania,[982] without even consulting the judges of the courts in which they were twice tried and convicted.[983]

What was this, asked the Federalist leaders in dazed and angry amazement! Paralyze the arm of the law! Unloose the fingers of outraged authority from the guilty throat which Justice had clutched! What was to become of "law and order" when the Nation's head thus sanctioned resistance to both?[984] In his charge to the Federal Grand Jury, April 11, 1799, Justice Iredell declared that if "traitors" are not punished "anarchy will ride triumphant and all lovers of order, decency, truth & justice will be trampled under foot."[985]

How, now, could the Federalists repel Republican assaults on this direct tax? How, now, could they reply to the Republican attacks upon the army to support which the tax was provided! In pardoning Fries, Adams had admitted everything which the hated Jefferson had said against both tax and army.[986] If Adams was right in pardoning Fries, then Washington was wrong in suppressing the Whiskey Rebellion. The whole Federalist system was abandoned.[987] The very roots of the Federalist philosophy of government and administration were torn from their none too firm hold upon the scanty soil which Federalist statesmen had laboriously gathered for their nourishment. And why had Adams done this? Because, said the Federalist politicians, it was popular in Pennsylvania;[988] that was the President's motive--the same that moved him to send the new mission to France.[989]

Bending under heavy burdens of state, harassed by the politicians, Adams was enduring a private pain sharper than his public cares. His wife, the incomparable Abigail, was in Massachusetts and seriously ill. The President had left her to meet his Cabinet and dispatch the second mission to France. That done, he hastened back to the bedside of his sick wife. But the politicians made no allowances. Adams's absence "from the seat of government ... is a source of much disgust," chronicles the ardent Troup. "It ... has the air of an abdication."[990] A month later he records that the President "still continues at Braintree,[991] and the government, like Pope's wounded snake, drags its slow length along."[992]

Such was the condition of the country and the state of political parties when Marshall took his seat in Congress. For the Federalists, the House was a very "cave of the winds," with confusion, uncertainty, suspicion, anger, and all the disintegrating passions blowing this way and that. But the Republicans were a compact, disciplined, determined body full of spirit and purpose.

FOOTNOTES:

[856] Marshall to Paulding, April 4, 1835; _Lippincott's Magazine_ (1868), ii, 624-25.

[857] Washington to Bushrod Washington, Aug. 27, 1798; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, 75.

[858] _Ib._ In September, 1797, when Marshall was absent on the X. Y. Z. mission, Washington received a letter from one "John Langhorne" of Albemarle County. Worded with skillful cunning, it was designed to draw from the retired President imprudent expressions that could be used against him and the Federalists. It praised him, denounced his detractors, and begged him to disregard their assaults. (Langhorne to Washington, Sept. 25, 1797; _Writings_: Sparks, xi, 501.) Washington answered vaguely. (Washington to Langhorne, Oct. 15, 1797; _Writings_: Ford, xiii, 428-30.) John Nicholas discovered that the Langhorne letter had been posted at Charlottesville; that no person of that name lived in the vicinity; and that Washington's answer was called for at the Charlottesville post-office (where Jefferson posted and received letters) by a person closely connected with the master of Monticello. It was suspected, therefore, that Jefferson was the author of the fictitious letter. The mystery caused Washington much worry and has never been cleared up. (See Washington to Nicholas, Nov. 30, 1797; _ib._, footnote to 429-30; to Bushrod Washington, March 8, 1798; _ib._, 448; to Nicholas, March 8, 1798; _ib._, 449-50.) It is not known what advice Marshall gave Washington when the latter asked for his opinion; but from his lifelong conduct in such matters and his strong repugnance to personal disputes, it is probable that Marshall advised that the matter be dropped.

[859] Paulding: _Washington_, ii, 191-92.

[860] Marshall to Paulding, _supra._

[861] Marshall to Paulding, _supra._ This letter was in answer to one from Paulding asking Marshall for the facts as to Washington's part in inducing Marshall to run for Congress.

[862] Pickering to Marshall, Sept. 20, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

[863] _Ib._

[864] Adams to Pickering, Sept. 14, 1798; _Works_: Adams, viii, 595.

[865] Adams to Pickering, Sept. 26, 1798; _Works_: Adams, viii, 597.

[866] Adams to Rush, June 25, 1807; _Old Family Letters_, 152.

[867] Wood, 260. Wood's book was "suppressed" by Aaron Burr, who bought the plates and printer's rights. It consists of dull attacks on prominent Federalists. Jefferson's friends charged that Burr suppressed it because of his friendship for the Federalist leaders. (See Cheetham's letters to Jefferson, Dec. 29, 1801, Jan. 30, 1802, _Proceedings_, Mass. Hist. Soc. (April and May, 1907) 51-58.) Soon afterward Jefferson began his warfare on Burr.

[868] Marshall to Pickering, Oct. 15, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc. This campaign was unusually acrimonious everywhere. "This Electioneering is worse than the Devil." (Smith to Bayard, Aug. 2, 1798; _Bayard Papers_: Donnan, 69.)

[869] See Statutes at Large, 566, 570, 577, for Alien Acts of June 18, June 25, and July 6, and _ib._, 196, for Sedition Law of July 14, 1798.

[870] This section was not made a campaign issue by the Republicans.

[871] Jefferson to Madison, May 10, 1798; _Works_: Ford, viii, 417; and to Monroe, May 21, 1798; _ib._, 423. Jefferson's first harsh word was to Madison, June 7, 1798; _ib._, 434.

[872] Hamilton to Wolcott, June 29, 1798; _Works_: Lodge, x, 295.

[873] Madison to Jefferson, May 20, 1798; _Writings_: Hunt, vi, 320.

[874] For the Federalists' justification of the Alien and Sedition Laws see Gibbs, ii, 78 _et seq._

[875] As a matter of fact, the anger of Republican leaders was chiefly caused by their belief that the Alien and Sedition Laws were aimed at the Republican Party as such, and this, indeed, was true.

[876] Jefferson to S. T. Mason, Oct. 11, 1798; _Works_: Ford, viii, 450.

[877] Washington to Spotswood, Nov. 22, 1798; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, 121-22.

[878] Washington to Murray, Dec. 26, 1798; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, 132.

[879] Washington to Bushrod Washington, Dec. 31, 1798; _ib._, 135-36. Judge Addison's charge was an able if intemperate interpretation of the Sedition Law. The Republican newspapers assailed and ridiculed this very effectively in the presidential campaign of 1800. "Alexander Addison has published in a volume a number of his _charges_ to juries--and _precious_ charges they are--brimstone and saltpetre, assifoetida and train oil." (_Aurora_, Dec. 6, 1800. See Chief Justice Ellsworth's comments upon Judge Addison's charge in Flanders, ii, 193.)

[880] Marshall to Pickering, Aug. 11, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

[881] Oct. 11, 1798. The questions of "Freeholder" were, undoubtedly, written with Marshall's knowledge. Indeed a careful study of them leads one to suspect that he wrote or suggested them himself.

[882] The _Times and Virginia Advertiser_, Alexandria, Virginia, October 11, 1798. This paper, however, does not give "Freeholder's" questions. The _Columbian Centinel_, Boston, October 20, 1798, prints both questions and answers, but makes several errors in the latter. The correct version is given in Appendix III, _infra_, where "Freeholder's" questions and Marshall's answers appear in full.

[883] Ames to Gore, Dec. 18, 1798; _Works_: Ames, i, 245-47.

[884] Sedgwick to Pickering, Oct. 23, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

[885] _Columbian Centinel_ (Boston), Oct. 24, 1798.

[886] Cabot to King, April 26, 1799; King, iii, 9.

[887] This was not true. The Fairfax embarrassment, alone, caused Marshall to go to France in 1797.

[888] Pickering to Sedgwick, Nov. 6, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

[889] Murray to J. Q. Adams, March 22, 1799; _Letters_: Ford, 530. Murray had been a member of Congress and a minor Federalist politician. By "us" he means the extreme Federalist politicians.

[890] Marshall to Pickering, Oct. 22, 1798; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.

[891] Adams: _Gallatin_, 212.

[892] "Freeholder" had not asked Marshall what he thought of the constitutionality of these laws.

[893] Thompson: _The Letters of Curtius._ John Thompson of Petersburg was one of the most brilliant young men that even Virginia ever produced. See Adams: _Gallatin_, 212, 227. There is an interesting resemblance between the uncommon talents and fate of young John Thompson and those of Francis Walker Gilmer. Both were remarkably intellectual and learned; the characters of both were clean, fine, and high. Both were uncommonly handsome men. Neither of them had a strong physical constitution; and both died at a very early age. Had John Thompson and Francis Walker Gilmer lived, their names would have been added to that wonderful list of men that the Virginia of that period gave to the country.

The intellectual brilliancy and power, and the lofty character of Thompson and Gilmer, their feeble physical basis and their early passing seem like the last effort of that epochal human impulse which produced Henry, Madison, Mason, Jefferson, Marshall, and Washington.

[894] Taylor to Jefferson, June 25, 1798; as quoted in _Branch Historical Papers_, ii, 225. See entire letter, _ib._, 271-76.

[895] For an excellent treatment of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions see Von Holst: _Constitutional History of the United States_, i, chap. iv.

[896] Nicholas to Jefferson, Oct. 5, 1798; quoted by Channing in "Kentucky Resolutions of 1798"; _Amer. Hist. Rev._, xx, no. 2, Jan., 1915, 333-36.

[897] Writing nearly a quarter of a century later, Jefferson states that Nicholas, Breckenridge, and he conferred on the matter; that his draft of the "Kentucky Resolutions" was the result of this conference; and that he "strictly required" their "solemn assurance" that no one else should know that he was their author. (Jefferson to Breckenridge, Dec. 11, 1821; _Works_: Ford, viii, 459-60.)

Although this letter of Jefferson is positive and, in its particulars, detailed and specific, Professor Channing has demonstrated that Jefferson's memory was at fault; that no such conference took place; and that Jefferson sent the resolutions to Nicholas, who placed them in the hands of Breckenridge for introduction in the Kentucky Legislature; and that Breckenridge and Nicholas both thought that the former should not even see Jefferson, lest the real authorship of the resolutions be detected. (See "The Kentucky Resolutions": Channing, in _Amer. Hist. Rev._, xx, no. 2, Jan., 1915, 333-36.)

[898] See Jefferson's "Rough Draught" and "Fair Copy" of the Kentucky Resolutions; and the resolutions as the Kentucky Legislature passed them on Nov. 10, 1798; _Works_: Ford, viii, 458-79. See examination of Marshall's opinion in Marbury _vs._ Madison, vol. III of this work.

[899] Jefferson to Madison, Nov. 17, 1798; _Works_: Ford, viii, 457.

[900] _Writings_: Hunt, vi, 326-31.

[901] Davie to Iredell, June 17, 1799; quoting from a Virginia informant--very probably Marshall; McRee, ii, 577.

[902] Iredell to Mrs. Iredell; Jan. 24, 1799; McRee, ii, 543.

[903] Murray to J. Q. Adams, April 1, 1799; quoting Marshall to Sykes, Dec. 18, 1798; _Letters_: Ford, 534.

[904] _Writings_: Hunt, vi, 332-40.

[905] For Marshall's defense of the liberty of the press, quoted by Madison, see _supra_, chap. VIII.

[906] Address of the General Assembly to the People of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Journal, H.D. (Dec., 1798), 88-90.

[907] Sedgwick to Hamilton, Feb. 7, 1799; _Works_: Hamilton, vi, 392-93; and to King, March 20, 1799; King, ii, 581. And Murray to J. Q. Adams, April 5, 1799; _Letters_: Ford, 536.

[908] Address of the Minority: Journal, H.D. (Dec., 1798), 88-90. Also printed as a pamphlet. Richmond, 1798.

[909] Journal, H.D. (1799), 90.

[910] Callender: _Prospect Before Us_, 91.

[911] _Ib._, 112 _et seq._

[912] Sedgwick to King, March 20, 1799; King, ii, 581.

[913] Murray to J. Q. Adams, April 5, 1799; _Letters_: Ford, 536.

[914] Mordecai, 202; also Sedgwick to King, Nov. 15, 1799; King, iii, 147-48.

[915] Jefferson to Pendleton, Feb. 14, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 46; and to Madison, Jan. 30, 1799; _ib._, 31.

[916] Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, Feb. 27, 1799; _ib._, 62.

[917] Marshall to Washington, Jan. 8, 1799; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.

[918] Hamilton to Dayton, 1799; _Works_: Lodge, x, 330. The day of the month is not given, but it certainly was early in January. Mr. Lodge places it before a letter to Lafayette, dated Jan. 6, 1799.

[919] Hamilton to Sedgwick, Feb. 2, 1799; _Works_: Lodge, x, 340-42.

[920] This was probably true; it is thoroughly characteristic and fits in perfectly with his well-authenticated conduct after he became Chief Justice. (See vol. III of this work.)

[921] Callender: _Prospect Before Us_, 90 _et seq._

[922] See Hildreth, v, 104, 210, 214, 340, 453-55.

[923] Wood, 261-62. This canard is an example of the methods employed in political contests when American democracy was in its infancy.

[924] Marshall to his brother James M., April 3, 1799; MS. Marshall uses the word "faction" in the sense in which it was then employed. "Faction" and "party" were at that time used interchangeably; and both words were terms of reproach. (See _supra_, chap. II.) If stated in the vernacular of the present day, this doleful opinion of Marshall would read: "Nothing, I believe, more debases or pollutes the human mind than partisan politics."

[925] Jefferson to Pendleton, April 22, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 64-65.

[926] Henry to Blair, Jan. 8, 1799; Henry, ii, 591-94.

[927] Henry to Blair, Jan. 8, 1799; Henry, ii, 595.

[928] _Virginia Herald_ (Fredericksburg), March 5, 1799.

[929] This was true in most of the States at that period.

[930] This method of electing public officials was continued until the Civil War. (See John S. Wise's description of a congressional election in Virginia in 1855; Wise: _The End of An Era_, 55-56. And see Professor Schouler's treatment of this subject in his "Evolution of the American Voter"; _Amer. Hist. Rev._, ii, 665-74.)

[931] This account of election day in the Marshall-Clopton contest is from Munford, 208-10. For another fairly accurate but mild description of a congressional election in Virginia at this period, see Mary Johnston's novel, _Lewis Rand_, chap. iv.

[932] Henry, ii, 598.

[933] Randall, ii, 495.

[934] Washington to Marshall, May 5, 1799; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, 180.

[935] As a matter of fact, they were not far wrong. Marshall almost certainly would have been made Secretary of State if Washington had believed that he would accept the portfolio. (See _supra_, 147.) The assertion that the place actually had been offered to Marshall seems to have been the only error in this campaign story.

[936] Marshall to Washington, May 1, 1799; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, footnote to 180-81; also Flanders, ii, 389.

[937] Washington to Marshall, May 5, 1799; _Writings_: Ford, xiv, 180.

[938] Marshall to Washington, May 16, 1799; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.

[939] Pickering to King, May 4, 1799; King, iii, 13.

[940] Sedgwick to King, July 26, 1799; King, iii, 69.

[941] Sedgwick to King, July 26, 1799; King, iii, 69.

[942] Murray to J. Q. Adams, June 25, 1799; _Letters_: Ford, 566.

[943] Murray to J. Q. Adams, July 1, 1799; _ib._, 568.

[944] Jefferson to Stuart, May 14, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 67.

[945] Jefferson to Coxe, May 21, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 69-70.

[946] _Ib._, 70.

[947] For instances of these military letters, see Marshall to Washington, June 12, 1799; Washington MSS., Lib. Cong.

[948] See Morison, i, 156-57; also Hudson: _Journalism in the United States_, 160. Party newspapers and speakers to-day make statements, as a matter of course, in every political campaign much more violent than those for which editors and citizens were fined and imprisoned in 1799-1800. (See _ib._, 315; and see summary from the Republican point of view of these prosecutions in Randall, ii, 416-20.)

[949] Adams to Pickering, July 24, 1799; _Works_: Adams, ix, 3.

[950] Adams to Pickering, Aug. 1, 1799; _ib._, 5; and same to same. Aug. 3, 1799; _ib._, 7.

[951] Professor Washington, in his edition of Jefferson's _Writings_, leaves a blank after "apostle." Mr. Ford correctly prints Marshall's name as it is written in Jefferson's original manuscript copy of the letter.

[952] Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicholas, Sept. 5, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 79-81.

[953] Marshall to Pickering, Aug. 25, 1799; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc. Marshall had not yet grasped the deadly significance of Jefferson's States' Rights and Nullification maneuver.

[954] _Supra._

[955] Talleyrand to Pichon, Aug. 28, and Sept. 28; _Am. St. Prs._, ii, 241-42; Murray to Adams, Appendix of _Works_: Adams, viii. For familiar account of Pichon's conferences with Murray, see Murray's letters to J. Q. Adams, then U.S. Minister to Berlin, in _Letters_: Ford, 445, 473, 475-76; and to Pickering, _ib._, 464.

[956] "Murray, I guess, wanted to make himself a greater man than he is by going to France," was Gallatin's shrewd opinion. Gallatin to his wife, March 1, 1799; Adams: _Gallatin_, 227-28.

[957] _Ib._

[958] Ames to Dwight, Feb. 27, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 252.

[959] Cabot to King, March 10, 1799; King, ii, 551.

[960] Cabot to King, Feb. 16, 1799; _ib._, 543.

[961] Ames to Pickering, March 12, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 253.

[962] Ames to Pickering, Oct. 19, 1799; _ib._, 257.

[963] Uriah Tracy to McHenry, Sept. 2, 1799; Steiner, 417.

[964] Ames to Pickering, Nov. 5, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 260-61.

[965] Ames to Pickering, March 12, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 254.

[966] "Men of principal influence in the Federal party ... began to entertain serious doubts about his [Adams's] fitness for the station, yet ... they thought it better to indulge their hopes than to listen to their fears, [and] ... determined to support Mr. Adams for the Chief Magistracy." ("Public Conduct, etc., John Adams"; Hamilton: _Works_: Lodge, vii, 318.)

[967] Ames to Dwight, Feb. 27, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 252.

[968] Ames to Pickering, Nov. 5, 1799; _ib._, 260.

[969] Cabot to King, March 10, 1799; King, ii, 552.

[970] Higginson to Pickering, April 16, 1800; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc., printed in _An. Rept._, Amer. Hist. Assn., 1896, i, 836.

[971] For an excellent summary of this important episode in our history see Allen: _Our Naval War with France_.

[972] Pickering to King, March 6, 1799; King, ii, 548-49.

[973] Ames to Pickering, March 12, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 254.

[974] Ames to Dwight, Oct. 20, 1799; _ib._, 259.

[975] Ames to Pickering, Oct. 19, 1799; _ib._, 257.

[976] Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 403.

[977] Jefferson to Pendleton, Feb. 19, 1799; _Works_: Ford, ix, 54.

[978] Lee to Adams, March 14, 1799; _Works_: Adams, viii, 628.

[979] Adams to Lee, March 29, 1799; _ib._, 629.

[980] Cabinet to President, Sept. 7, 1799; _Works_: Adams, ix, 21-23; and same to same, May 20, 1799; _ib._, 59-60.

[981] Adams to Lee, May 21, 1800; _ib._, 60. For account of Fries's Rebellion see McMaster, ii, 435-39. Also Hildreth, v, 313.

[982] Pickering to Cabot, June 15, 1800; Lodge: _Cabot_, 275.

[983] "Public Conduct, etc., John Adams"; Hamilton: _Works_: Lodge, vii, 351-55; and see Gibbs, ii, 360-62.

[984] See Hamilton's arraignment of the Fries pardon in "Public Conduct, etc., John Adams"; _Works_: Lodge, vii, 351-55.

[985] McRee, ii, 551.

[986] "The Aurora, in analyzing the reasons upon which Fries, Hainy, and Getman have been pardoned brings the President forward as, by this act, condemning: 1. The tax law which gave rise to the insurrection; 2. The conduct of the officers appointed to collect the tax; 3. The marshal; 4. The witnesses on the part of the United States; 5. The juries who tried the prisoners; 6. The court, both in their personal conduct and in their judicial decisions. In short, every individual who has had any part in passing the law--in endeavoring to execute it, or in bringing to just punishment those who have treasonably violated it." (_Gazette of the United States_, reviewing bitterly the comment of the Republican organ on Adams's pardon of Fries.)

[987] Many Federalists regretted that Fries was not executed by court-martial. "I suppose military execution was impracticable, but if some executions are not had, of the most notorious offenders--I shall regret the events of lenity in '94 & '99--as giving a fatal stroke to Government.... Undue mercy to villains, is cruelty to all the good & virtuous. Our people in this State are perfectly astonished, that cost must continually be incurred for insurrections in Pennsylvania for which they say they are taxed & yet no punishment is inflicted on the offenders. I am fatigued & mortified that our Govt. which is weak at best, would withhold any of its strength when all its energies should be doubled." (Uriah Tracy to McHenry, on Fries, May 6, 1799; Steiner, 436.) And "I am in fear that something will occur to release that fellow from merited Death." (Same to same, May 20, 1790; _ib._)

[988] "Public Conduct, etc., John Adams"; Hamilton: _Works_: Lodge, vii, 351-55.

[989] Ames to Pickering, Nov. 23, 1799; _Works_: Ames, i, 270.

[990] Troup to King, May 6, 1799; King, iii, 14.

[991] Adams's home, now Quincy, Massachusetts.

[992] Troup to King, June 5, 1799; King, iii, 34.