So close indeed is the bond between juridic and political history on the one hand, and the achievement of the great American orators on the other, that they can be sundered, as in the following pages, only for purposes of general reference. Since a political history of the United States from the year 1783 is not here expected, we must limit ourselves to brief notice of a few representative men, taken in something like chronological order, and mainly between the years 1800 and 1865. With the Civil War, or perhaps with the second inaugural address of President Lincoln, ended the golden age of national eloquence.
Precursors of the Nineteenth Century.—The careers of James Otis (1725–83), Samuel Adams (1722–1803), Josiah Quincy, Junior (1744–75), and Patrick Henry (1736–99), fall largely in the period covered by the pages from Tyler; and the orations and political writings of the Revolutionary Period itself do not come within the scope of the present sketch. Of course it is impossible to make a line of sharp division in the case of public men whom we instinctively couple with the earliest days of the Republic, but whose voices were heard to the verge of the next century, or even beyond. The “Farewell Address” of Washington to his countrymen in 1796, so long regarded with veneration, was, in spite of its conservative form, its Johnsonian balance, a document with matter for the coming age. However, it is clear that statesmen who were in their prime at the time of Washington’s death in 1799 more particularly require our attention.
Fisher Ames.—Among these is Fisher Ames (1758–1808). Admitted to Harvard at the age of twelve, after graduation he first engaged in teaching, then studied law, and entering politics, became a force among the Federalists. Long the victim of ill health, he nevertheless made his superior mental endowment felt in the counsels of the nation. His “Tomahawk Speech” (1796), on Jay’s treaty with Great Britain, contained passages of splendour on the fear of Indian massacres. For the eloquence of this speech he has been compared to Wilberforce, Brougham, Burke, Pitt, and Fox. He could not have resembled them all. Ames had a fastidious taste, was cautious and dignified in his utterances, and was not desirous of a cheap popularity. “To be the favourite of an ignorant multitude,” he observed, “a man must descend to their level.” Four years before he died, his health constrained him to decline the presidency of Harvard.
The Early Nineteenth Century.—The activity of Rufus King (1755–1827) and others continued somewhat later. This friend of Alexander Hamilton, and collaborator with him in the political essays signed “Camillus,” was in 1796 accorded the delicate function of Minister to England. In 1813 the Legislature of New York elected him to the United States Senate; here he won laurels for his speech on the destruction of Washington by the British. He returned to the Senate in 1820, and he was Minister to England again under President Adams.
John Marshall.—The name of John Marshall (1755–1835) we naturally associate with his momentous work of interpreting the Constitution. The dry light of his intellect and his lack of passion were more suited to purely legal exposition than to the eloquence of debate. When he went to Congress in 1798, the cogency of his argument was already known. It is sufficiently demonstrated by his speech in Robbins’ case (1800), a case that involved the international law governing murder committed upon the high seas by a citizen of one country sailing on the ship of another. Marshall’s uninspiring “Life of Washington” is valuable as a repository of plain fact.
Morris and De Witt.—Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816) was early famous for his eloquence. His thought was orderly, his style finished. Successful in the practice of law, and distinguished for his services during the Revolution, he became a zealous Federalist, entering the United States Senate in 1800. Here his most notable effort was his “Speech on the Judiciary” (1802). Clinton De Witt (1769–1828), who was Mayor of New York City most of the time between 1803 and 1815, was also in the Senate for two years, and opposed the redoubtable Morris on the question of navigation on the Mississippi. De Witt was a man of wide interests, being something of a scientist and historian; his practical sense recognised the value of inland waterways. He merits more attention than can here be given him.
Gore, Dexter, and Others.—The same is true of the following: Christopher Gore (1758–1829), who in 1814 reached the Senate, to remain three years, and who spoke on “The Prohibition of Certain Imports” (1814) and on “Direct Taxation” (1815); Samuel Dexter (1761–1816), Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury; James A. Bayard (1767–1815), lawyer, Senator, Commissioner at Ghent in 1814; William Branch Giles (1762–1840); Edward Livingston (1764–1836), jurist, diplomat, Secretary of State; John Sergeant (1779–1852), candidate for Vice-President on the Clay ticket of 1832; John J. Crittenden (1787–1863), lawyer and statesman; James Hillhouse (1789–1846), orator as well as poet.
William Pinkney.—Among the noteworthy orators during the first twenty years of the last century was William Pinkney (1764–1822). The son of a sympathiser with England, he was himself devoted to the cause of American freedom. His prominence in the affairs of Maryland ushered him into national concerns. He took part in the War of 1812, and was wounded. He was Attorney-General under Madison, but resigned for the sake of his private practice. He was made Minister to Russia in 1816; in 1820 he entered the United States Senate. A specimen of his eloquence may be seen in his argument before the Supreme Court (1815) in the case of the prize ship Nereide. Pinkney was fond of classical learning, and well versed in current literature. He prided himself on his accuracy in the use of English. This made him over-conscious in his style, so that his thought seems artificial. His death is said to have been partly caused by his labours in the preparation and delivery of an argument.
Quincy, Gallatin, and Emmet.—Josiah Quincy (1772–1864), son of Josiah Quincy of Revolutionary fame, was president of Harvard from 1829 to 1845. Besides his “History of Harvard University,” he was the author of many pamphlets and public addresses. “His career in Congress was distinguished chiefly for his opposition to the Embargo, to the War of 1812, and to the admission of Louisiana.” Albert Gallatin (1761–1849), leaving his birthplace, at Geneva, Switzerland, came to Boston in 1781, taught French in Harvard, went to Virginia, and there became the friend of Patrick Henry. He was sent to Congress in 1795, and thereafter entrusted with special missions to Holland and England. He was also Minister to France (1816), and Minister to England (1826). Gallatin’s intuitions were as quick and sure as his character was upright and urbane. His information, as in his speech (1796) on the earlier British treaty, was ample and exact. Among his innumerable services to the country of his adoption, not the least were his efforts on behalf of internal commerce and the improvement in methods of banking. Thomas Addis Emmet (1764–1827) was also a foreigner—a native of Cork. He studied medicine in Edinburgh, but turning to law, was admitted to practice in 1791 and settled at Dublin. For his share in the Irish insurrectionary movement he was imprisoned; after his release he emigrated to New York, where he became an eminent pleader. He had a “dignified but earnest attitude, forcible and unstudied gestures,” and a “powerful and expressive voice.” “No orator knew better how to enlist his hearers on the side of his client.”
Red Jacket and Tecumseh.—Foreign, likewise, although bred within our borders, was the eloquence of the Indians, Red Jacket and Tecumseh. Red Jacket was the nickname of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha (“He keeps them awake”), otherwise known as “the last of the Senecas.” He was a lover of peace, resisting entanglements, counselling the Indians neither to fight, nor yet to mingle, with the whites, dissuading them against the adoption of Christianity, settled in his ancestral reverence for “the Great Spirit.” His simple and direct language was full of sudden poetic energy. He died at a great age in 1830. Tecumseh (1770?-1812), in many things his opposite, was killed at the Battle of the Thames, where he fought with the English against the United States. A born leader was Tecumseh, magnificent in his proportions, noble in his bearing, fiery and magnetic. Prior to the War of 1812 he tried to enlist the Indians of the South and West in a general insurrection against the government. He went from tribe to tribe, reproaching them with their debasement through white civilisation, and abusing the Federal authority.