CHAPTER XV.
the administrations of jefferson, 1801–1809.
JEFFERSONIAN POLICY.
282. Jefferson’s Character and General Policy.—With the advent of the popular Jefferson as President, the aristocratic Federalists, especially those of New England, thought, as we have just seen, that anarchy would ensue. Jefferson was supposed to be an opponent of all social distinctions, of strong organized government, and even of religious institutions. As a matter of fact, he was a widely cultured country gentleman who had liberal political theories, a sympathy with the masses of the people, especially the agriculturists, and a profound belief in human capacity for progress. He was too suspicious, and he often lacked dignity; he had no great executive ability and preferred rather to manage than to command, but he understood the American people as perhaps no other man has done. Furthermore, he gave in his writings the most subtle and widely current exposition of general republican ideas that has ever been given. He corresponded with leading men throughout the country and by his letters molded public opinion. His accession to power, so far from overthrowing the government, gave it a popular support it could have received in no other way; and the successive elections of his pupils, Madison and Monroe, kept the South and West fairly in the Union until the central government became strong enough under Jackson to crush incipient efforts to divide the nation. None of these three Virginian Presidents was a commanding man, but all were influential, and their policies made for harmony. Hence the period of their administrations had an importance not at first perceived. They helped to hold the agricultural slave-holding South in line with the manufacturing and commercial North and East. They made mistakes, were embarrassed by foreign complications and domestic difficulties, and had to persuade instead of rule. But they represented both the Union and the section that was most masterful and restive of control, and thus their administrations formed a necessary stage in the nation’s evolution.
Albert Gallatin.
283. The Revolution of 1801.—Another point to be remembered about these Presidents is the fact that they were all representative of the educated upper classes, and yet were in full sympathy with the common people, who had just obtained political control of the country. If they had been demagogues or as ignorant of the principles of government as many of their supporters, they might indeed have precipitated the reign of anarchy the Federalists feared. On the contrary, they governed as well as their aristocratic opponents could have done, and so the Federalist party, which had succeeded so well in establishing the government, but had unwisely ignored the wishes of the people, sank into insignificance, without any serious detriment to the nation. The Revolution of 1801, as the Democratic-Republican victory has been called, was a beneficent one, chiefly because it took place under the direction and control of trained statesmen.
John Marshall.
284. Leading Public Men.—Jefferson made a good beginning by delivering a conciliatory inaugural address[[115]] and by not making a wholesale removal of Federalist officeholders. Where commissions had not been delivered to Adams’s late appointees, he withheld them, and he removed obnoxious partisans, but on the whole his attitude toward the civil service was fairly conservative. His Cabinet appointments were good, and throughout his two terms he had the cordial support of his subordinates. Madison, who was much under his influence, was a prudent and able statesman, and made a dignified Secretary of State. Albert Gallatin[[116]] of Pennsylvania, as Secretary of the Treasury, proved himself second only to Hamilton as a financier. Gallatin was by birth a Swiss, and is a striking example of what a foreign-born citizen of integrity and talents can accomplish in free America. The leading man in the House of Representatives was the Virginian, John Randolph of Roanoke, one of the most brilliant and interesting figures in our history. He was too independent and one-sided, however, to work long in harmony with the administration, and became in course of time the most bitter and effective of its opponents. Another Virginian, in the judiciary department, was a formidable opponent of Jefferson. This was John Marshall,[[117]] whom Adams, shortly before he left office, had made Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marshall was a Federalist, and in favor of giving the general government broader powers than Jefferson and his party thought either right or expedient. The President and the great jurist came often into conflict, as, for example, in the Burr trial (§ [290]); but on the whole the advantage rested with Marshall, since he remained in office until his death, in 1835, and since his decisions steadily helped to build up the power of the government.