masses were forced to the conclusion that the Federalists, as a party, were either unable to comprehend the principles of the republic, were distrustful of their political and moral force, were unwilling to develop them in the workings of the system, or were incapable of carrying them out in practice. History fails to decide which dilemma embarrassed them most. It only declares, what is enough for our present purposes, that from their previous demonstrations in the constitutional convention, their frequent declarations, in social circles and elsewhere, that this government was a "shilly shally" and "only a stepping-stone to something better," their habitual recourse to the exercise of the highest coercive power for the attainment of their ends, and lastly and especially, their flagrant attempt to smother the public voice when lifted against any of their extraordinary measures, they possessed characters marked, like that of George the Third, by so many of the acts which define tyrants, "that they were unfit to be he rulers of a free people."

CHAPTER II.

NOMINATION OF JEFFERSON FOR THE PRESIDENCY-THE PLATFORM-HIS ELECTION BY CONGRESS HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS-ITS CHARACTER THE GOVERNMENT PLACED ON THE REPUBLICAN TACK- JEFFERSON'S CONGRATULATIONS-LETTERS TO DICKINSON AND PRIESTLEY-HIS VIEWS OF THE CHURCH AND STATE POLICY-REFUGE OF FEDERALISM IN THE JUDICIARY HIS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS-HIS VIEWS OF THE ALIEN, SEDITION, AND NATURALIZATION LAWS-MEASURES OF HIS ADMINISTRATION-DEMONSTRATION OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY-PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA-FEDERALISTS OPPOSED TO ITS ADMISSION INTO THE UNION-PROSCRIPTIVE DOCTRINES REVIVED BUT OVERBORNE-POWER OF CONGRESS OVER THE TERRITORIES-POLICY IN RESPECT TO SLAVERY IN THE STATES-DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN-THE EMBARGO-THE MONROE AND PINCKNEY TREATY-ITS REJECTION BY JEFFERSON-THE NON-INTERCOURSE ACTTHE GENERAL RESULT OF THIS ADMINISTRATION.

We have now reached the point where the Republican party arose into ascendency in the country; where its principles which had before existed in unpracticed theories and maxims were clearly defined and enunciated; and where a distinct, liberal, and dispensable system of domestic and foreign policy, predicated upon them, was molded into form and carried into effect. Prior to the inauguration of the great apostle himself, Republicans had been able only to interpose the forces of argument and personal influence against the Federalists. They had not tested the value of their distinctive principles by their practical operation in the government. This ordeal was now to be passed.

In the year 1800, a congressional convention, composed of nine senators and thirty-seven representatives, was held

in the city of Philadelphia, to deliberate upon the condition of public affairs and to nominate candidates for the execu tive offices, to be supported against President Adams and Charles C. Pinckney, the candidates of the Federalists. The result of its action was the nomination of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, and the promulgation of the following republican sentiments-sentiments which may be also found embodied in a letter addressed by Mr. Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, under the date of January 26, 1799:

1. An inviolable preservation of the federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the states, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who, therefore, became its enemies.

2. Opposition to monarchising its features by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a transition, first, to a president and senate for life, and secondly, to an hereditary tenure of those offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle.

3. Preservation to the states of the powers not yielded by them to the Union, and to the legislature of the Union its constitutional share in the division of powers; and resistance, therefore, to existing movements for transferring all the powers of the states to the general government, and all of those of that government to the executive branch.

4. A rigorously frugal administration of the govern ment and the application of all the possible savings of the public revenue to the liquidation of the public debt; and resistance, therefore, to all measures looking to a multiplication of officers and salaries, merely to create parti. sans and to augment the public debt, on the principle of its being a public blessing.

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.

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5. Reliance for internal defense solely upon the militia, till actual invasion, and for such a naval force only, as may be sufficient to protect our coasts and harbors from depredations; and opposition, therefore, to the policy of a standing army in time of peace which may overawe the public sentiment, and to a navy, which, by its own expenses, and the wars in which it will implicate us, will grind us with public burdens and sink us under them.

6. Free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment.

7. Opposition to linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels of Europe, entering their fields of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty.

8. Freedom of religion and opposition to all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another.

9. Freedom of speech and of the press; and opposition, therefore, to all violations of the constitution to silence, by force, and not by reason, the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their public agents.

10. Liberal naturalization laws, under which the well disposed of all nations who may desire to embark their fortunes with us and share with us the public burdens may have that opportunity, under moderate restrictions for the development of honest intention, and severe ones to guard against the usurpation of our flag.

11. Encouragement of science and the arts in all their branches, to the end that the American people may perfect their independence of all foreign monopolies, institutions, and influences.

With this epitome of republicanism, as it was then developed, the foregoing nominations were submitted to the

people of the then sixteen United States for their approval. The canvass was spirited, earnest, and in some parts of the country acrimonious. All the measures of the Federalists were brought under public review. They were ably defended by their advocates, who anxiously and eloquently besought for them a public endorsement, and were no less anxiously and eloquently opposed by Republicans, who put them all in issue. Of the electors chosen by the people, being one hundred and thirtyeight in number, seventy-three were found to be Republicans, and sixty-five Federalists. This was hailed as a glorious triumph of truth over error-of the people over federal power.

During this exciting canvass there was a return to the Republican ranks of certain conservatives who had "stampeded" the year before, on account of a delusion which the Federalists had produced concerning the "philosophy" so often referred to in Mr. Jefferson's writings—a delusion which the latter asserted was for awing the human mind into a distrust of its own vision-a delusion that nothing could be discovered nor devised more perfect than what was established by their forefathers, and their effort to prefix to Republicans, on account of their sympathy with the oppressed of all nations, and among them the French, the sobriquet of "black." Having, in one brief year, learned that the outcry was merely a tub-plot, and having become sensible of the folly of their change, they availed themselves of the opportunity afforded by the publication of the foregoing platform, to resume their former party relations. "It was in virtue of this circumstance," says Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Colonel Monroe, that the Republicans gained a victory in 1800, which they could not have achieved the previous year."

But here occurred a singular and wholly unlooked for