THE ELECTIONS OF 1800 AND 1801

83

the ten states lying to the north replied unfavorably to the constitutional interpretation presented by Virginia and Kentucky, the latter state, November 22, 1799, passed a new resolution setting forth the theory that in case of an infraction of the federal compact by the national government: "Nullification by those sovereignties [the states], of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy." In Virginia John Randolph of Roanoke, John Taylor of Caroline, and others contemplated the possibility of separation from the Union, and urged that the state prepare herself for self-defense. Jefferson did not give countenance to violent action, however. Solemnly to voice a protest was all that he desired, at any rate for the present; he had confidence that under the normal conditions of peace his principles were those of a majority of the people, and he confidently expected that the election would establish his principles.

While Jefferson directed party policy, the Republican Aaron Burr. candidate for the vice presidency, Aaron Burr of New York, applied himself with equal skill to the manipulation of politics in that pivotal state. He secured and published Hamilton's letter condemning Adams; he organized and combined all the elements in any way dissatisfied with the Federalist administration, and finally succeeded in carrying the new state legislature which would choose the presidential electors.

of 1800 and 1801.

The election throughout the country resulted in the choice The election of seventy-three Republican electors to sixty-five Federalist. This assured the defeat of the Federalists, but it did not determine who would be the next President. Jefferson and Burr received an equal vote, and the election was therefore thrown into the House of Representatives, - the House which was elected in 1798-99 and in which the Federalists retained the majority. It therefore fell to them to choose between their two opponents. The majority preferred Burr;

The achieve. ments of the Federalists.

Causes of Federalist defeat.

young, brilliant, fascinating, an opportunist devoid of political principle, he might, they felt, by care and skill be made in effect a Federalist President. Burr, however, refused to commit himself by promises, and Hamilton, long the rival of Burr in law as of Jefferson in politics, urged that it would be safer to choose Jefferson, who would, though an enemy, be timid and conciliatory, rather than Burr, whom he believed to be entirely untrustworthy. Hamilton's advice was finally taken, and on February 17, 1801, by the thirtysixth ballot, Jefferson was elected President.

The Federalists, in their twelve years of power, had given the country so good a government that the Constitution was universally accepted as a success, and there was contest only over its interpretation. They had established many supplementary practices or conventions so well devised as to last until our own day. They had preserved the neutrality of the country in the great struggles that were desolating Europe, in spite of threats and lures and internal divisions, and in so doing had laid the foundations of our foreign policy. Finally, one of the last acts of Adams was to appoint to the position of Chief Justice, John Marshall, who, in a series of decisions extending through thirty-five years, was to embody permanently in the law of the land the constitutional principles of moderate Federalism.

The Federalists lost power because they were out of sympathy with a majority of the people. The leadership of the party came from the financial and commercial classes, whereas agriculture was the predominant interest of the country. They stood for national centralization, whereas the spirit of local independence was still more vital than that of nationality. The country had not yet grown together into a real economic unit, nor had it been fused into one by an enduring national patriotism. The Federalists, moreover, were firm believers in the subordination of the masses, while the spirit of democracy and the confidence of the people in

themselves were growing daily stronger. The work of the Federalists in organizing and establishing the central government proved of permanent value, but the people now preferred to give the administration of it to men more in sympathy with their interests and ideals.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

For the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, etc., American His- Sources. tory Leaflets, no. 15. Ames, H. V., State Documents on Federal Relations, 15-26. Johnston, A., Readings on American Constitutional History, 228-236. Macdonald, W., Select Documents, 148.

accounts.

Adams, C. F., John Adams, II, ch. X. Allen, G. W., Our Historical Naval War with France. Bassett, Federalist System, 204-252. French war. Schouler, J., United States, I, ch. IV.

Adams, H., A. Gallatin, 189–266. Adams, H., John Randolph, Political ch. II. Anderson, F. M., Contemporary Opinion of Kentucky and contest. Virginia Resolutions (Am. Hist. Review, V, 45-63, 225-244). Bassett, Federalist System, 252–276. Holst, H. von, United States, I, ch. IV. Hunt, G., J. Madison, 259-271. Story, J., Commentaries, secs. 158, 1288, 1289, 1885, 1886.

The inaugu

ration.

CHAPTER VII

JEFFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY

ON March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated. It was the first occasion on which a President took office at Washington, although the government had moved there the year before. The city had but a small population, scattered here and there over the great area laid out by l'Enfant, the French engineer, and the public buildings were unfinished. The occasion was stripped of the pomp and dignity with which the Federalists had surrounded such functions, and Jefferson walked from his boarding house to the Capitol, instead of riding in a coach. Natural as such an act was to him, it was probably not without the design of typifying the overthrow of what he considered the aristocratic party and the incoming of democracy. Significant as is the triumph of Jefferson, however, his election did not mark so much the incoming of new principles as a return of those of the Revolution. The strong government reaction of the Federalist period had accomplished its task of reëstabthe Revolu- lishing order, but had grown irksome to the majority of the people, who now turned to the men who had held their confidence during the Revolutionary struggle, and to younger men of like mind. Jefferson himself had held office almost continuously, but is remembered chiefly for his work during the Revolution and as President. Many states, like the nation, sought veterans. In the state elections of 1799 and 1800, Thomas McKean became governor of Pennsylvania, and George Clinton of New York; and later Republican victories made John Langdon governor of New Hampshire,

The return to

the men and principles of

tion.