Jefferson In Power - The Death Struggle Of The Federalists (Paperback)

JEFF E R S I N P O WE R The Death Struggle of the Federalists CLAUDE G. BOWERS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - BOSTON GTt t EtorretUr flrea 1936 COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY CLAUDE G. BOWERS . RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS - PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. Preface t HE eight dramatic years of Jeffersons two Administrations JL marked the consolidation of the triumph of democracy after the ten-year struggle I have described in Jefferson and Hamilton Since some distinguished historians have written bitterly partisan interpretations of this period, out of the fullness of their fierce hate of Jefferson, it can scarcely be amiss, or in bad taste, for one who is frankly partial to Jeffersonian principles and policies to tell the story of these two Administrations as he finds it written luminously in the record. It was a lusty period, by no means so sedate as is the popular impression a period of marching mobs, of rebellions more brazen than that of Shays, of backstairs gossip and back-room intrigues, of whispering campaigns and political assassinations. The fighting was continuous, always bitter, often brilliant, and by no means confined to the reasonably dignified polemics of politicians. Men of light and leading occasionally engaged in common tavern brawls, many deliberated in House and Senate with guns in their pockets, and statesmen crept from their homes and boarding-houses in the chilly dawn to face one another on the field of honor at Bladensburg. Again Hamilton, in the shining armor of his genius, rides right gallantly upon the scene. In some ways he has changed under the skies, so gray to him, ofJeffersonian domination. But that which will impress us most about him will be his pathetic isolation. We shall find him frequently at odds with the Federalist leaders, who will continue to pay him lip service while utterly ignoring his advice. He cannot share their treasonable attitude on the acqui sition of Louisiana he will not join them in their bitter battle against a new and necessary constitutional amendment. He will vi PREFACE stand four square against the secession movements to which the most impressive portion of his party will give adherence. He will refuse to join them in their conspiracy to raise Aaron Burr to gubernatorial honors, and he will pay the penalty of his opposition with his life. Midway of our story, this Homeric figure will pass to history. No Federalist ever after was to wear his mantle or to wield his mighty sword. The most scintillating of the congressional leaders of the party were as insects crawling on the earth, compared with Jefferson. The real leadership of the Federalists passed to John Marshall, a consummate, constant, and bitterly partisan politi cian, who fought with far-seeing cunning from behind the pro tecting shield of the Supreme Court. These were, on the whole, eight remarkably brilliant years, though the anti-Jefferson historians are careful to convey no such impression. They were years of unprecedented prosperity. The industrial life of the nation developed rapidly. The management of the finances was brilliantly successful. There was a complete absence of scandal in administration. The federal judiciary was purged of the indecencies that were destroying faith in its im partiality, integrity, or justice, though the partisan historian hassmugly called this purgation an attack on the courts. The acquisition, without the shedding of a drop of blood, of an em pire, from which many of the richest commonwealths of the nation have been carved, was a memorable and immortal triumph. And we shall follow, in a more sympathetic manner than has been fashionable among the sword-rattlers of the ivory tower, Jeffersons superb effort, in the utter collapse of all international law, to find, in economic pressure, a civilized substitute for the savagery of war...