[16] Act of March 3, 1817.
[17] Democratic Review, xii. 641.
[18] Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means.
CHAPTER VII[ToC]
IN THE CABINET
The general principles which Mr. Jefferson proposed to apply in his conduct of the government were not principles of organization but of administration. The establishments devised by Hamilton, in accordance with or in development of the provisions of the Constitution, were organic. The new policy was essentially restrictive and economic. The military and naval establishments were to be kept at their lowest possible limit. The Treasury Department was to be conducted on strictly business principles. The debt was to be reduced and finally paid by a fixed annual appropriation. The revenue was to be raised by imposts on importation and tonnage, and by direct taxation, if necessary. The public land system was to be developed. A scheme of internal improvements by land and water highways was to be devised. All these purposes except the last had been declared by the opposition during the last part of Washington's second term and during Adams's presidency, and had been lucidly expounded by Madison, Gallatin, Giles, Nicholas, and others of the Republican leaders. On all these subjects Mr. Gallatin was in accord with his chief. Only upon the bank question were they at issue. Mr. Jefferson detested or feared the aristocracy of money, while Gallatin, with a clearer insight into commercial and financial questions, recognized that in a young country where capital was limited, and specie in still greater disproportion to the increasing demands of trade, a well-ordered, well-managed money institution was an enormous advantage, if not an imperative necessity to the government and the people.
Peace was necessary to the success of this general policy of internal progress, but peace was not to be had for the asking. It was not till half a century later that the power of the western continent as a food-producing country was fully felt by Europe, and peace with the United States became almost a condition of existence to millions in the old world, while this country became independent, in fact as in name, to the fullest meaning of the word. Peace was not menaced during Jefferson's first administration, for the Federalists had left no legacy of diplomatic discord to embarrass their successors. The divisions of opinion were on home affairs. The Republican party was the first opposition which had reached power since the formation of the government. The Federalists had not hesitated to confine the patronage of the executive to men of their own way of thinking. The Republicans had attacked that principle. There were men even in the ranks of Jefferson's administration who scouted the idea that the President of the United States could become “the President of a party.” But practice and principle are not always in accord, even in administrations of sentimental purity, and the pressure for office was as great in 1800 as it has ever since been on the arrival of a new party to power. Beyond all other departments of government, the Treasury depends for its proper service upon business capacity and a knowledge of the principles of accounting and office routine. Mr. Gallatin was well aware of the difficulties his predecessors had encountered in finding and retaining competent examining and auditing clerks. As there was no reason to suppose that all this talent was to be found in the ranks of the Republican party, and his common sense pointed out the folly of limiting the market of supply, he early (July 25, 1801) prepared a circular to collectors, in which he informed them “that the door of office was no longer to be shut against any man because of his political opinions, but that integrity and capacity suitable to the station were to be the only qualifications required; and further, the President, considering freedom of opinion or freedom of suffrage at public elections imprescriptible rights of citizens, would regard any exercise of official influence to sustain or control the same rights in others as injurious to the public administration and practically destructive of the fundamental principles of a republican Constitution.” But Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison opposed this simple declaration of a principle which has since been the base of every attempt at reform in the civil service. Mr. Jefferson answered that after one half of the subordinates were exchanged, talents and worth might alone be inquired into in the case of new vacancies. This was a miserable shuffling policy which defeated itself. For a Federalist to retain office when such a discrimination was applied was of itself a degradation. Mr. Jefferson here threw away and forever lost the power to establish the true system, and fixed the curse of patronage upon American administration. The true principle may be stated in the form of an axiom. Administrations should rely for continuation upon measures, not on patronage. Gallatin yielded with reluctance to the spirit of persecution which he did not hesitate to say disgraced the Republican cause, and sank them to a level with their predecessors. Notwithstanding his aversion, he was compelled to follow the policy of the cabinet. Its first result was to divide the Republican party, and to alienate Burr, whose recommendation of Matthew L. Davis for the naval office at New York was disregarded. Had the new administration declined to make removals except for cause, such a dispute would have been avoided. As it was, the friends of Burr considered the refusal as a declaration of war. Appointments became immediately a part of the machinery of Republican administration, as it had been part of that of their predecessors, and each was carefully weighed and considered in its reference to party quite as much as to public service.
Already looking forward to the next presidential election, Gallatin was anxious for an agreement upon Jefferson's successor, and even before the meeting of the first Congress of his term he advised the President on this point, and he also proposed the division of every State into election districts by a general constitutional provision.
Jefferson submitted the draft of his annual messages to the head of each department, and invited their comments. Gallatin was minute in his observations, and it is interesting to note the peculiar precision and caution of his character in the nice criticisms of language and style, sometimes declaratory, sometimes non-committal, but always and obviously reasonable, and often presenting a brief argument for the change proposed. In these days of woman's rights it is curious to read “Th. J. to Mr. Gallatin. The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I.”