Eighty years of union, being a short history of the United States, 1783-1865

Front matter

Being a Short History of the United States 1783-1865

By

JAMES SCHOULER

Chapter I. Introductory

PAGE

§ I. The Thirteen Confederate States, 1783-87.— § II. The Constitutional Convention, May 14-September 17, 1787. — § III. A More Perfect Union, 1787-1789.

The United States of America in 1783 (I, 1-5) 1

Hamilton and Madison as reformers (I, 26-32) 4

Origin of our political parties (I, 53-60) 9

Struggle of Federalists and Anti-Federalists (I, 60-69) 12

Chapter II. First Administration Of George Washington

§ I. Period of First Congress. March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. — § II. Period of Second Congress. March 4, 1791- March 3, 1793.

Washington's inauguration at New York (I, 84-89) 14

The First Congress; ceremonials, etc. (I, 117, 118) 20

Appointments and executive rules (I, 1 19-124) 22

Washington as President; his character (I, 1 18-139) 25

Franklin and the Quaker memorial (I, 160-165) 35

Executive intercourse with the Senate (I, 179, 180) 35

New party movements and leaders (I, 219, 220) 36 vi CONTENTS

Chapter III. Page

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

§ I. Period of Third Congress. March 4, 1793-March 3, 1795. — § II. Period of Fourth Congress. March 4, 1795- March 3, 1797.

Immigration and the pioneer life (I, 239-245) 39

Philadelphia as capital; yellow fever (I, 250-255).. 45

Politics affected by European war (I, 259, 260) 50

Jefferson and Hamilton leave cabinet (I, 270-274) 50

Jay's treaty with England (I, 308-311) 52

Speech of Fisher Ames (I, 328, 329) 54

Washington's Farewell Address (I, 345, 346) 57

Chapter IV. Administration Of John Adams

§ I. Period of Fifth Congress. March 4, 1797-March 3, 1799. — § II. Period of Sixth Congress. March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801.

Adams inaugurated President (I, 354-356) 59

Naturalization, Alien and Sedition acts (I, 410-413) 62

Kentucky and Virginia resolutions (I, 434, 435) 64

Party cabals ; death of Washington (I, 462-464) 66

Washington City the capital (I, 487-490) 68

Tie of Jefferson and Burr; House elects President (I, 490-

494) °9

Adams's administration reviewed (I, 505-512) 71

Downfall of Federalist party (I, 512-514) 79

Chapter V. First Administration Of Thomas Jefferson

§ I. Period of Seventh Congress. March 4, 1801-March 3. 1803.— § II. Period of Eighth Congress. March 4, 1803- March 3, 1805.

Jefferson's inauguration (II, 1-5) 83

Appointments to office ; cabinet (II, 6-15) 86

Federalists in retirement (II, 32, 33) 89

The Louisiana purchase (II, 52-58) °o

Duel and death of Hamilton (II, 70-74) 92

CONTENTS vii

PAGE

Secretaries Madison and Gallatin (II, 78-80) 96

Territories and the Indians (II, 85) 98

Jefferson at the White House (II, 90-94) 09

Chapter VI. Second Administration Of Thomas Jefferson

§ I. Period of Ninth Congress. March 4, 1805-March 3,1807. — § II. Period of Tenth Congress. March 4, 1807-March 3. 1809.

British impressment and search (II, 115-118) 104

Burr's conspiracy and trial (II, 133-138) 106

Abolition of foreign slave trade (II, 145-147) 108'

Napoleon and Great Britain (II, 174-176) 109

Decrees against neutral nations (II, 176) in

President Jefferson's embargo (II, 180-183) I 12

Failure of embargo (II, 197, 108, 217) 115

Retirement of Jefferson (II, 222-225) 117

Jefferson's character (II, 225-228) 120

Jefferson's friendships (II, 228, 229) 125

Chapter VII. The United States Of America In 1809

New influence of Republic (II, 230) 127

State constitutional systems (II, 235-237) 127

Veto power and bill of rights (II, 239-241) 130

Agriculture and manufactures (II, 242-248) 132

American commerce and speculation (II, 248, 249) 133

Opportunities of the Jefferson era (II, 309) 135

Chapter VIII. First Administration Of James Madison

§ I. Period of Eleventh Congress. March 4, 1809-March 3, 181 1. — § II. Period of Twelfth Congress. March 4, 1811-March 3, 1813.

Republican party trusted (II, 331-333) x 3^

Repeal of non-intercourse with offer (II, 336, 337) 137 viii CONTENTS

PAGE

Napoleon accepts; Great Britain refuses (II, 339"34i) 137

Twelfth Congress and spirited leaders (II, 37*) x 39

Clay for Speaker; Calhoun's speech (II, 372-379) *39

Leaders prevail with Madison (II, 387, 388) 143

War against Great Britain (II, 395) • • • x 44

Orders of Council tardily suspended; Clay's speech (II, 414-

416) 145

Chapter IX. Second Administration Of James Madison

§ I. Period of Thirteenth Congress. March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815. — § II. Period of Fourteenth Congress. March 4, 1815-March 3, 1817.

The Hartford Convention (II, 473-476) 147

News of peace with victory (II, 476-491) 149

America's final divorce from Europe (II, 492) 149

Results of war ; lessons taught (II, 501, 502) 150

Monroe chosen President (II, 510-512) 153

Overtures to reconciliation; Monroe and Jackson (II, 512,

Madison's career reviewed (II, 513-516) 154

Chapter X. First Administration Of James Monroe

§ I. Period of Fifteenth Congress. March 4, 1817-March 3, 1819.— § II. Period of Sixteenth Congress. March 4, 1819-March 3, 1821.

Monroe's inauguration (III, 1-3) 157

New policy and opportunities (III, 1-6) 159

Monroe and Washington (III, 7) 162

Eastern tour ; era of good feeling (III, 8-16) 164

Clay and Crawford ; Clay in opposition (III, 17-20, 34) 166

Spanish- American revolution (III, 25, 26) 169

Decay of parties; new symptoms (III, 43-47) 171

Internal improvements (III, 54, 55) 173

Jackson's popularity (III, 61-64, 84) 174

CONTENTS ix

PAGE

Jackson and Jefferson (III, 65, 66) 177

The Seminole war (III, 84) 177

A national sentiment; Florida, etc. (Ill, 107-109) 178

Financial distress of 1819-20 (III, 120, 121) 180

Foreign relations ; Spain (III, 121, 122) 181

American slavery reviewed (III, 134-137) 182

Southern planting interests (III, 145-147) 185

The Missouri controversy (III, 147-170) 187

Compromise of North and South (III, 171-173) 187

CHAPTER XL

SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MONROE.

§ I. Period of Seventeenth Congress. March 4, 1821-March

3, 1823. — § II. Period of Eighteenth Congress. March

Character of Monroe (III, 202-206) 190

Appearance and manners (III, 206-208) 193

Washington City in 1821 (III, 212-214) 195

Social life at the capital (III, 215) 198

Calhoun a national leader (III, 261-266) 201

Plans of Holy Alliance (III, 286, 287) 203

Monroe's famous message (III, 287-289) 204

The Monroe doctrine (III, 288-291) 205

Clay and Webster as leaders (III, 298, 299) 207

Webster's oratory (III, 299-302) 208

Lafayette's visit; Monroe's peaceful retirement (III, 334, 335) 211

Chapter XII. Administration Of John Quincy Adams

§ I. Period of Nineteenth Congress. March 4, 1825-March 3, 1827. — § II. Period of Twentieth Congress. March 4, 1827-March 3, 1829.

Era of good feeling ends (III, 336, 337) 214

Calhoun and John Randolph (III, 369, 370) 215

Adams's administration reviewed (III, 398-407) 216, 218

The two Adamses compared (III, 398, 399) 217

CONTENTS

PAGE

Chapter XIII. First Administration Of Andrew Jackson

§ I. Period of Twenty-first Congress. March 4, 1829-March 3, 1831.— § II. The United States in 1831.— § III. Period of Twenty-second Congress. March 4, 183 1 -March 3, 1833.

Jackson inaugurated ; the people's day (III, 451-453) 228

Spoils of office (III. 453-460) 230

Calhoun and the nullifiers (III, 482) 232

The Hayne and Webster debate (III, 482-486) 234

Liberty and union (III, 486) 237

The Union in 1831 (III, 507) 238

American character (III, 512-514) 238

American manners ( IV, 4, 5 ) 243

American methods in business (IV, 5-8) 245

Growth of the West (IV, 27, 28) 247

Calhoun's disappointed ambition (IV, 36-39) 250

High and low tariffs (IV, 55-58) 251

A new campaign ; party names changing (IV, 72-77) 253

Tariff nullification in 1833 (IV, 98, 99, 108) 255

Calhoun in the Senate (IV, 109-111) 257

Chapter XIV. Second Administration Of Andrew Jackson

§ I. Period of Twenty-third Congress. March 4, 1833- March 3, 1835. — § H. Period of Twenty-fourth Congress. March 4, 1835-March 3, 1837.

Jackson's zenith of popularity (IV, 112-115) 261

Errors of his second term (IV, 115) 264

Jackson's eastern tour (IV, 119-121) 265

Modes of travel ; stage, canal, etc. (IV, 124) 267

Era of the railway (IV, 125-127) 268

John Quincy Adams in the House (IV, 185-188) 270

Whig party formed; Whigs and Democrats (IV, 191-196) . . 273

New public disorders (IV, 201, 202) 278

Garrison and the Abolitionists (IV, 210-213) 279

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

Taney succeeds Marshall ; the Supreme Court (IV, 232, 233) . 282

Jackson's administration reviewed (IV, 265-272) 283

Character of Jackson (IV, 268-272) 286

Jackson and Jefferson contrasted (IV, 272, 273) 291

Chapter XV. Administration Of Martin Van Buren

§ I. Period of Twenty-fifth Congress. March 4, 1837-March

3, 1839. — § II. Period of Twenty-sixth Congress. March

Disaster and the independent treasury (IV, 283, 284) 293

Alliance of Seward, Weed and Greeley (IV, 331-334) .... 295 Van Buren's defeat ; his character (IV, 349-352) 297

Chapter XVI. Administration Of William Henry Harrison

Period of Twenty-seventh Congress. March 4, 1841- April 4, 1841.

Early death of Harrison (IV, 364-366) 301

Chapter XVII. Administration Of John Tyler

§ I. Period of Twenty-seventh Congress. April 4, 1841- March 3, 1843.— § II. Period of Twenty-eighth Congress. March 4, 1843-March 3, 1845.

Succession of Vice-President (IV, 367, 368) 304

Tyler's past record (IV, 370-372) 304

Fugitive slaves and State collision (IV, 427, 428) 307

Single-term theory; Tyler's apostasy (IV, 431, 432) 308

Tyler's annexation scheme (IV, 440) 310

Conventions and the electric telegraph (IV, 469, 470) 311

Texas annexation in Congress (IV, 486, 487) 312

Tyler takes the responsibility (IV, 487, 488) 313

Tyler's character (IV, 491-494) 314 xii CONTENTS

PAGE

Chapter XVIII. Administration Of James Knox Polk

§ I. Period of Twenty-ninth Congress. March 4, 1845- March 3, 1847.— § II. The Mexican War. May, 1846- September, 1847. — § III. Period of Thirtieth Congress. March 4, 1847-March 3, 1849.

Polk as Chief Executive (IV, 496-498) 317

The Oregon settlement (IV, 514) 320

Polk's low-tariff policy (IV, 514-516) 320

Texas annexation and the Mexican War (IV, 518, 519) 322

War; the railway, telegraph and post-office (IV, 549, 550) . . 324

Generals Scott and Taylor (V, 3-8) 325

Conquest and the Wilmot proviso (V, 66-70) 331

Lincoln and Davis in Congress (V, 76-79) 334

Death of Adams at the Capitol (V, 88-90) 337

Spoliation of Mexico (V, 123, 124) 339

Polk's character and death (V, 125-127) 340

Chapter XIX. Administration Of Zachary Taylor

Period of Thirty-first Congress. March 4, 1849-July 9, 1850.

Our new Pacific acquisition (V, 129, 130) 343

California gold and a new free State (V, 152) 345

Slavery's dismay ; portents of disunion (V, 154) 346

The Senate speeches of March, 1850 (V, 170-172) 347

Seward's "higher law"; Calhoun dies (V, 171) 349

Taylor and the Senate plan (V, 189) 349

Taylor's sudden death (V, 189, 190) 349

Chapter XX. Administration Of Millard Fillmore

§ I. Period of Thirty-first Congress. July 9, 1850-March 3, 1851. — § II. Period of Thirty-second Congress. March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853.

Eulogy and the succession (V, 191, 192) 352

Fillmore accepts the Clay plan (V, 192) 353

CONTENTS xiii

PAGE

Compromise measures of 1850 (V, 204-208) 354

Anti-slavery sentiment coerced (V, 213, 214) 355

New attitude of parties (V, 242, 243) 356

Deaths of Clay and Webster (V, 245-248) 357

Democrats elect President; downfall of Whig party (V, 249) 359 Fillmore's administration reviewed (V, 257, 258) . . 360

Chapter XXI. Administration Of Franklin Pierce

§ I. Period of Thirty-third Congress. March 4, 1853-March

3, 1855. — § II. Period of Thirty-fourth Congress. March

Douglas and the Kansas-Nebraska bill; squatter sovereignty

Missouri Compromise of 1820 violated (V, 289-292) 364

The North aroused; new political fusion (V, 301-303) 367

Party movements; Know Nothings, etc. (V, 304, 305) 369

Fredom or slavery in Kansas (V, 315-321) 370

New Republican party at the North (V, 351-356) 372

Chapter XXII. Administration Of James Buchanan

§ I. Period of Thirty-fifth Congress. March 4, 1857-March

3, 1858.— § II. Period of Thirty-sixth Congress. March

National Democracy perverted (V, 371, 372) 374

Rebellion in Utah (V, 403, 404) 375

Douglas and Lincoln in Illinois (V, 411-413) 377

New territorial dogmas (V, 414) 380

The "irrepressible conflict" (V, 415) 381

Southern territorial demands ( V, 428-430) 382

John Brown's invasion (V, 443, 444) 385

Democratic schism; Republicans at Chicago (V, 457-459) .... 386

Lincoln nominated and elected President (V, 460) 389

President Buchanan falters (V, 472-474) 390 xiv CONTENTS

PAGE

Secession and a Southern Confederacy (V, 474, 475) 391

Approach of civil war (V, 507-511) 392

Washington a beleaguered city (V, 511, 512) 396

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER.

ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.*

Lincoln's administration reviewed : personal character (VI,

624-633) 398

Fame of Lincoln; his reconciling disposition (VI, 632, 633) . . 407

♦See foot-note on page 408.

INDEX 409

Chapter I. Introductory

§ I. The Thirteen Confederate States, 1783-87.— § II. The Constitutional Convention, May 14-September 17, 1787. — § III. A More Perfect Union, 1787- 1789.

AT the close of our Revolution the Union States of America comprised the same thirteen republics whose representatives, assembled at Independence Hall, had, in the name of the American people, so boldly flung defiance at George III. seven years earlier, declaring the united colonies absolved from all allegiance to the British crown. "Free and independent States," they were then proclaimed ; rightfully free and independent of the mother country, the king was after a long and stubborn contest compelled to acknowledge them. But meantime, they had, by mutual assent, advanced to the condition of a confederacy, intended to be perpetual, whose style, never since relinquished, was foreshown in their charter of independence.*

* As to the style, " United States of America," cf. Articles of Confederation, Art. 1 ; Constitution of United States, Preamble : Declaration of Independence, closing paragraph. These were the old thirteen Colonies or States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts (or Massachusetts Bay), of which at this time Maine constituted a district, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Though covering less than one-fourth of its present territorial space, the domain of the United States was at this period vast, and, as compared with European nations, magnificent; comprising an area, in fact, so great for experimenting in self-government that sagacious statesmen of the Old World prophesied with confidence a speedy failure. On the east and west the United States had natural boundaries, the Atlantic Ocean and the broad Mississippi. The chain of great lakes stood out like a bastion on the northern or British frontier, whose line, however, ran unevenly, and at the northeast and northwest corners promised occasion for further dispute. The southern boundary, fixed by the treaty of peace at parallel 30 , was the most uncertain and unsatisfactory of all ; for leaving out of view what the parties to that treaty might themselves have intended, the title of the neighboring possessions vested substantially in Spain, a stealthy foe to the United States, who had artfully kept out of the negotiations at Paris, and still guarded, as well as her decaying strength would permit, the mouth of the Mississippi and the Gulf coast.

Fortunately for our infant confederacy, the present sparseness of population on these long frontiers favored a postponement of controversies, which the law of human increase must eventually have determined in her own favor. Of the extensive jurisdiction possessed by virtue of her own sovereignty, and that of individual States, much was a wilderness, given over to the bear and bison and their red pursuer ; woods and canebrakes marked the sites of cities since illustrious. Log-forts and trading-posts were the precursors of civilization on the northwestern frontier; and Great Britain's delay in surrendering them according to the terms of the

BOUNDARIES AND POPULATION 3

treaty, for which one and another pretext was assigned, proved a serious hindrance to the settlement of that region. South of the Ohio River a movement from Virginia and the States adjacent, into what was called the Kentucky country, had already begun. But nearly the whole population of the United States was at that time confined to the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains. Commercial traffic kept the inhabitants close to the sea and its immediate tributaries. New York State, west of the Schenectady cornfields, remained an Indian country, the home of the once warlike Five Nations. The American Union was in effect an Atlantic confederacy; every State bordered upon that ocean or its tide-waters, whose eastern waves washed Europe; and to the Americans of 1783 who turned westward, the blue Alleghanies seemed as remote as did the Pillars of Hercules to the ancients.

The total population of the United States in 1783 may be estimated at somewhat less than three and a half million souls, or only one-eleventh of the number of inhabitants shown by the census of 1870. This population appears to have been distributed in three nearly equal portions : New England holding one-third ; another belonging to the Middle States, namely, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware ; while the Southern States took the residue. Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania were the most populous States of the confederacy; Georgia and Rhode Island the least.

Not all of these three and a half millions, scarcely more, probably, than four-fifths of them, could be reckoned as free inhabitants. Allowing for some fifty thousand free persons of color scattered through the country, there must have been at this period no less than six hundred thousand men, women, and children, held in servitude to white masters, and utterly denied the exercise of political rights. They were of African origin ; and so conspicuous a part in colonizing the New World had been borne by this traffic with the dark continent, that American slavery, unlike that familiar in the records of ancient history, came to exist purely as a race institution; as the subjection, not of debtors or vanquished enemies, but of an alien, uncouth-looking people, whom the Caucasian could hardly regard without mirth and contempt, even when moved to compassion for their wrongs. Such a slavery is the hardest of all to eradicate from a community ; for the oppressed must win genuine respect before the oppressor will admit him to full companionship and social equality, and slow must be that opportunity.

The resistless logic of one burning sentence, seared into the American mind for nearly a century, has, more than all else that was ever written or spoken, wrought the downfall of slave institutions in the United States. That sentence, the statement of truths "self-evident" in the Declaration of Independence, found its way into one State constitution after another. It has been for successive generations a bosom text; and incorporated moreover into the charters of Spanish- American republics as yet less favored, it serves everywhere as an inspiration to struggling humanity.

Two young men now appear upon the scene, whose six years of united labor did more for establishing our present constitutional union than the work of any other ten Americans, Washington, perhaps, excepted, in whom both confided, and whose prodigious personal in-

HAMILTON AND MADISON 5

fluence was discreetly used to promote their ends. These were Alexander Hamilton, of New York, and James Madison, of Virginia; each representing a powerful State averse to Federal aggrandizement, which must nevertheless he won over ; and both at the threshold of a great national career.

The younger, and undoubtedly the more brilliant of the two, was Hamilton, a man of slight figure but strongly impressive presence, erect in bearing, singularly self-possessed, having the air of a Caesar. His face was a handsome one, such as dangerously captivates women, and beamed with intelligence; he had an eye piercing and expressive, a firm-set mouth which betokened promptness and decision of character, an open and fearless countenance. His was one of those rare minds whence leap ideas clad in full armor. He would not only unfold a plan of his own so as to present the strongest arguments for its adoption, but anticipate every objection and counterplan which others would be likely to urge against it. His talent as an administrator was remarkable ; neither principle nor detail escaped him; he conceived and executed with equal facility. This mind of marvellous fertility, this self-confidence which inspired by its audacity, were the endowments of a youth as yet scarcely turned of twenty-five. But this prodigy, the idol of aristocratic circles in New York, and a recognized leader of the American bar, was weighted in the race for public honors, as precocious men are apt to be, by his own excess of confidence, his impetuosity, and the disposition to force rather than inculcate the measures upon which he had set his heart. He had not great tact, but set his foot contemptuously to work the treadles of slower minds. Hence Hamilton devised better than he could bring to pass, and, wounding the pride of rivals whose co-operation was indispensable to success, he got unhorsed when he should have been spurring on. His political following was always strong, but he suffered that of his opponents to become stronger, which proved his own bad generalship.

But more than this, Hamilton was not a stanch believer in republics or the American experiment. He was not American, but a Briton, transplanted and fed upon Plutarch. An alien, of obscure parentage in the British West Indies, and one of desultory training, he remained, except for the influence of his ancient heroes, British in temperament through life, an adapter of British institutions and methods, like a tailor who fits different coats from the same pattern. Equality, social or political, he did not relish, though he was a friend of negro emancipation. Popular government, our latter-day rule of public opinion, he never could and never wished to comprehend. He wished "good men," as he termed them, to rule; meaning the wealthy, the well-born, the socially eminent, like those among whom he moved in his adopted city. No aristocrat is more confirmed than one admitted into the charmed circle, whose own kindred are at a convenient distance; and Hamilton's claim to social recognition no Whig could dispute after Washington had taken him into his military family, and Schuyler given him a daughter in marriage. Self-reliance, self-confidence, with its usual attendant faults and virtues, sprang necessarily out of such a life; and the passion for fame had burned strongly in his boyish bosom before either a country or a cause could be discerned. Hamilton had a high sense of honor, certainly, an ambition which respected the verdict of history. His ideal of government was

HAMILTON AND MADISON 7

not, however, a high one ; for he believed that mankind were to be managed and cajoled by some magnanimous ruler. Crude suggestions like these pervaded his best schemes of^civil polity; giving an impression which careless conversations might have confirmed, that Hamilton was at heart a despiser of commonplace happiness, a hero-worshipper, and, theoretically at least, a British monarchist. And indeed there was that about him. which might perhaps have rendered him a dangerous man under European surroundings ; for, besides rating his military above his own civil qualities, Hamilton displayed self-will, a certain capriciousness of temper, an unquenchable thirst for glory and distinction, and a tendency to the false illusions of fatalism and the romance of manifest destiny. But Hamilton's ambition was noble, incapable at all events of mean intrigue for the sake of personal advancement; if ever fame's conqueror, he would have wished to be a generous one; and the dream of empire could only be fulfilled when the crisis demanded the man. That crisis never came; and for moving a world whose leverage was the average sense of the people, one of this temper could hope for little permanent opportunity.

A far different man was Madison ; six years Hamilton's senior, and yet a young leader for so crowded an hour. He, too, was of under-stature, and when starched up to his full dignity had not a little primness of aspect. His manners were reserved and shy, like one given to serious contemplation; the color of his cheeks came and went; strangers were impressed by him as by some plain gentleman farmer. But entering Congress young, Madison was not long in convincing his colleagues of his real sterling qualities, prominent among which were industry, method, patience, soundness of judgment, calmness of temper, and unimpeachable integrity. His leadership was all the more readily conceded by elders, none of whom were superiors, inasmuch as he was perceived to be a youth of singular modesty and discretion. Unlike Hamilton, Madison was a man of peace, whose sole ambition was directed to the pursuit of civil administration under American methods and by convincing other minds. American-born, the scion of an influential family in the Old Dominion, educated at Princeton College, — the nursery in that era of American statesmen, — a man of independent means, he was a product thoroughly indigenous; and having joined the new school of aristo-democrats in his native State to become a disciple and favorite of Jefferson, it is not strange that he devoted his talents to public life, nor that so doing, he was on the highroad to success. There was none of that personal magnetism in Madison such as warmed men's hearts to Hamilton or Jefferson, but neither did he repel, and the respect of his opponents he rarely lost. He had remarkable aptitude for avoiding personal quarrels. As a debater, Madison moved others by his lucid, dispassionate, judicial style of reasoning, not by a fiery appeal. His espousal of reform was directed to plucking the fruit as it ripened; he seemed, indeed, an umpire at this era. rather than a party-man, feeling, to use his favorite expression, for some middle ground. Mediocrity which forbears will win more in politics than a genius which irritates; but Madison, though a statesman of inferior fibre to Hamilton, was far above the average. The danger was, that a youth of such sobriety might effloresce into a tasteless and timid manhood.

The complement of two such minds was most aus-

HAMILTON AND MADISON 9

picious for the country. The cause in which they now heartily conjoined, as never in later years, was that of procuring a federal government whose powers should be commensurate with the needs of the country. Their prominence at this date was favored by the singular dearth of famous popular leaders for the pregnant occasion. James Otis was dead. Patrick Henry's influence helped to swell State pride, and so did that of George Clinton. Hancock and Samuel Adams appeared lukewarm Unionists, better able to pull down than build up, and both were for the time in retirement. Jefferson and John Adams had diplomatic posts abroad. The aged Franklin, just returning from his famous mission at France to find himself elected chief executive of Pennsylvania under an ill-jointed constitution, had enough care in holding that distracted commonwealth together. Of all the patriots who had been foremost in the cause of independence, only John Jay and Robert Morris remained in the home service, and they in such routine employment as forbade the attempt of either to direct a popular movement. Washington himself, not unconscious of his surpassing influence, was too delicate and just a man to conduct a popular revolution whose most likely issue would be to place him at the head of affairs ; and, keeping in reserve, he left others to guide, particularly his two young friends, one of whom he was connected with by neighborly ties, and the other he loved like an own son. In private correspondence he avowed himself in favor of liberal amendments ; or, as a last resort, the convention.

We are now led to inquire briefly into the origin of political parties in the United States.

The two great subjects which most enlist, and at the same time distract, the passions and opinions of mankind, are religion and politics; and the more universal in church or state the concession of a right to think and act independently, the stronger becomes the tendency of the mass to separate into parties. Progress is the law of our being ; but the true direction of human progress is stated differently; and, whether to accomplish or check innovation, men combine under choice leaders and concert plans for influencing their fellow-men. In some wiser age, when truth triumphs, and passion puts out her torch, a general assimilation, or at least toleration of views is possible, but such an age history has never found. Nor is it certain that individualism and indifference are the elements of a perpect state of society, more than blind submission to an authority which refuses to be questioned.

Among ancient nations, the Athenian and Roman republics more especially, flourished political parties, whose best achievement was to advance the condition of the common people and give them a share in honors at first absorbed by a privileged class. Modern parties have a similar tendency. But while human nature is always the same, the conditions of the old and new civilization greatly differ. Political parties take their best scope where the general love of liberty is pure; where thought and action are free; and where political results may be worked out in a common subservience to law and order. After all, a party is but a political agency, an instrument of the people; and the agent or servant should not be above his master.

The first political fact of American history to confront us is that in each colony during the early period a controversy, waged between proprietaries and the

EARLY POLITICAL PARTIES n

body of settlers, ended in the transfer of fundamental authority from the former class to legislatures representing the latter. Those privileged to rule under the royal seal and mandate yielded, however reluctantly, to the demands of a popular rights party.

Political parties must, therefore, have contended on American soil in the earliest era of colonization; radically distinguished, perhaps, though not wholly unselfish, by the distrust of the one and the confidence of the other in man's capacity for self-government. One party set much by privilege, royalty, and the power to compel; the other was jealous of external authority, and its champions were in heart more nearly rebels against Great Britain than they cared to own. Religion tinctured these early onsets, which fortunately drew little blood ; but the friends of popular rights and religious freedom were by no means coincident.

After the accession of William and Mary, America was ruled with a stronger hand; the home policy being now to recall settlers to their allegiance, repress tendencies to popular rule in disregard of the royal charters, and keep the Colonies disunited. Less responsible for the course of their own affairs, the colonists now grew more observant of events abroad, of parliamentary statutes and orders in council. To the new generation American politics had become the mere reflex of what was passing in the world of London. Hence came the British party names, "Whig" and "Tory," into vogue among Americans, with, perhaps, this prime distinction, that the colonial Tory was a British subject to the core, through all colonial oppression, while the colonial Whig believed, with Locke, in deriving government from the common consent of the governed: that theory so cherished by our earlier colonists, and asserted, somewhat illogically, by Parliament itself for justifying the final expulsion of the Stuarts. Loyalty animated the one set, while the other ripened insensibly for independence.