THE PRESIDENTS 
 OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
If you would understand history, study men. 
 
 CHARLES KINGSLEY. 
 
From the paiutiug by Gilbert Stuart in the Boston Athena-urn 
 
THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 i 
 
 1789-1914 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE, CARL SCHURZ, ROBERT C. WINTHROP, 
 
 GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS, GEORGE BANCROFT, 
 
 JOHN HAY, AND MANY OTHERS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JAMES GRANT WILSON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 1914 
 
.,,11 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1914 
 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
PREFACE 
 
 MANY of the brief biographies of the twenty- 
 seven presidents of the United States contained in 
 these four volumes were written by distinguished 
 scholars and statesmen who were peculiarly fitted 
 by their training or contact with our chief magis 
 trates to render ample justice to their subjects, and 
 also to treat them with what Edmund Burke de 
 scribes as "the cold neutrality of an impartial 
 judge." A number of the sketches, particularly 
 of the presidents in our own time, were espe 
 cially prepared for this work; others were orig 
 inally written for "Appleton s Cyclopaedia of 
 American Biography." In some instances they 
 have been revised and enlarged for the present vol 
 umes. These seven-and-twenty articles contain a 
 complete record of the most important events in the 
 nation s history from the inauguration of our first 
 president to the close of 1913, a period of more 
 than one hundred and twenty-four years, and 
 including thirty-two administrations. The well- 
 known writers of these model biographies of our 
 chief magistrates are not responsible for the brief 
 notices of the ladies of the White House, for the 
 
 284476 
 
PREFACE 
 
 sketches of other persons connected with the fam 
 ilies of the presidents, for the bibliographies ac 
 companying their monographs, or for the selec 
 tion of the many illustrations, which it is be 
 lieved will enhance the interest and value of the 
 work. These have been added by the editor. 
 The portraits have been reproduced from the 
 best originals obtainable, and the interesting se 
 ries of facsimiles, with a few exceptions, were 
 taken from the editor s complete collection of let 
 ters written by the presidents, concerning some of 
 whom such as Washington, the elder Adams, Jef 
 ferson, Lincoln, and Grant it may safely be said, 
 "upon the adamant of their fame the stream of 
 time beats without injury." For those of John 
 Adams, James Monroe, Andrew Johnson, and Wil 
 liam McKinley the publishers are indebted to the 
 courtesy of other collectors, as those four exam 
 ples among the editor s manuscript letters of our 
 chief magistrates were not well adapted for use in 
 this work. 
 
 NEW YORK, October, 1913. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 By Robert C. Winthrop ... 1 
 
 JOHN ADAMS 
 
 By John Fiske 61 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 By James Parton 109 
 
 JAMES MADISON 
 
 By John Fiske 157 
 
 JAMES MONROE 
 
 By Daniel C. Oilman .... 193 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 By John Fiske 217 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 By John Fiske . 251 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the Boston Athe 
 naeum Frontispiece 
 
 Facing Page 
 FAC-SIMILE OF THE LAST PAGE OF LETTER FROM 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON TO JAMES MADISON. 30 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 From the painting, 1790, by John Trumbull, in the City Hall, 
 
 New York 38 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 Bust of the Statue by Houdon in the Capitol, Richmond, Va. 48 
 
 WASHINGTON S HOME AT MOUNT VERNON . . 58 
 
 JOHN ADAMS 
 
 From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, now in the possession 
 
 of his great-grandson 64 
 
 HOUSES AT BRAINTREE, MASS., IN WHICH JOHN 
 
 ADAMS AND HIS SON WERE BORN .... 74 
 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JUDGE 
 
 WILLIAM CRANCH 96 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 From the painting by Mather Brown. Owned by Henry 
 Adams, Washington, D. C 
 
 MONTICELLO, NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.; THE 
 
 HOME OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 Now owned by Hon. Jefferson M. Levy, New York . .128 
 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO 
 
 MRS. MARGARET HARRISON SMITH . . .144 
 
 JAMES MADISON 
 
 From the painting by Gilbert Stuart. Owned by T. Jefferson 
 
 Coolidge 160 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facing Page 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM JAMES MADISON TO 
 
 MRS. MARGARET HARRISON SMITH . . . 178 
 
 MONTPELIER, PIEDMONT, VA., THE HOME OF JAMES 
 
 MADISON 
 Now owned by Col. William Dupont 182 
 
 JAMES MONROE 
 
 From the painting by John Vanderlyn in the City Hall, New 
 York 196 
 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM JAMES MONROE TO THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA .... 206 
 
 OAK HILL, NEAR LEESBURG, VA., THE HOME OF 
 
 JAMES MONROE 
 Now owned by Mr. Henry Fairfax 210 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 From the painting by Edward Dalton Marchant in the N. Y. 
 
 Historical Society . 220 
 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 TO CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS 226 
 
 HOUSE AT QUINCY, MASS., IN WHICH THE TWO 
 PRESIDENTS, JOHN ADAMS AND JOHN QUINCY 
 ADAMS, LIVED 242 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 From the painting by Thomas Ball 254 
 
 FAC-SIMILE LETTER FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO 
 
 JAMES KNOX POLK 274 
 
 THE HERMITAGE, NEAR NASHVILLE, TENN., THE 
 
 HOME OF ANDREW JACKSON 304 
 
 PORTRAITS OF THE LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE 
 
 FROM 1789 TO 183T ..... End of Volume 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT C. WINTHROP 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON,, first president of the 
 United States, born at Pope s Creek, near Bridge s 
 Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 
 1732; died at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799. 
 Of his English ancestry various details are given in 
 more than one formal biography of him, and very 
 recently several questions of his genealogy have 
 been satisfactorily solved by Mr. Henry F. Waters, 
 Mr. Moncure D. Conway, and Mr. W. C. Ford, 
 which had eluded even the labors of the late Col. 
 J. L. Chester. It is perhaps too early to regard his 
 English ancestry as beyond all further question. 
 At all events, this memoir may well be allowed to 
 begin with his American history. 
 
 His earliest ancestor in this country was John 
 Washington, who had resided for some years at 
 South Cave, near the Humber, in the East Riding 
 of Yorkshire, England, and who came over to 
 Virginia, with his brother Lawrence, in 1657. 
 Purchasing lands in Westmoreland County and 
 establishing his residence at Pope s Creek, not far 
 from the Potomac, he became, in due course, an 
 extensive planter, a county magistrate, and a mem- 
 
 3 
 
4 LIVBS OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ber of the house of burgesses. He distinguished 
 himself, also, as colonel of the Virginia forces in 
 driving off a band of Seneca Indians who were 
 ravaging the neighboring settlements. In honor 
 of his public and private character, the parish in 
 which he resided was called Washington. In this 
 parish his grandson, Augustine, the second son of 
 Lawrence Washington, was born in 1694. By his 
 first wife Augustine had four children. Two of 
 them died young, but two sons, Lawrence and 
 Augustine, survived their mother, who died in 1728. 
 On March 6, 1730, the father was again married. 
 His second wife was Mary Ball, and George was 
 her first child. 
 
 If tradition is to be trusted, few sons ever had a 
 more lovely and devoted mother, and no mother a 
 more dutiful and affectionate son. Bereaved of her 
 husband, who died after a short illness in 1743, 
 when George was but eleven years of age, and with 
 four younger children to be cared for, she dis 
 charged the responsibilities thus sadly devolved 
 upon her with scrupulous fidelity and firmness. To 
 her we owe the precepts and example that governed 
 George s life. The excellent maxims, moral and 
 religious, which she found in her favorite manual 
 "Sir Matthew Hale s Contemplations"- - were im 
 pressed on his memory and on his heart, as she read 
 them aloud to her children ; and that little volume, 
 with the autograph inscription of Mary Washing- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 5 
 
 ton, was among the cherished treasures of his 
 library as long as he lived. To her, too, under God, 
 we owe especially the restraining influence and 
 authority that held him back, at the last moment, 
 as we shall see, from embarking on a line of life 
 that would have cut him off from the great career 
 that has rendered his name immortal. 
 
 Well did Dr. Sparks, in his careful and excellent 
 biography, speak of "the debt owed by mankind to 
 the mother of Washington." A pleasing conjec 
 tural picture, not without some weight of testimony, 
 has been adopted by Mr. Lossing in his "Mary and 
 Martha," representing her at the age of twenty- 
 three. She delighted in saying simply that "George 
 had always been a good son" ; and her own life was 
 fortunately prolonged until she had seen him more 
 than fulfil every hope of her heart. On his way 
 to his first inauguration as president of the United 
 States Washington came to bid his mother a last 
 farewell, just before her death. 
 
 That parting scene, however, was not at his birth 
 place. The primitive Virginia farm-house in which 
 he was born had long ceased to be the family resi 
 dence, and had gradually fallen into ruin. The 
 remains of a large kitchen-chimney were all that 
 could be identified of it in 1878, by a party of which 
 Secretary Evarts, General Sherman, and the late 
 Mr. Charles C. Perkins, of Boston, were three, who 
 visited the spot with a view to the erection of a 
 
6 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 memorial under the authority of congress. Not 
 long after the birth that has rendered this spot 
 forever memorable, Augustine Washington re 
 moved to an estate in Stafford County, on the east 
 side of the Rappahannock, opposite Fredericks- 
 burg, and resided there with his family during the 
 remaining years of his life. That was the scene of 
 George s early childhood. There he first went to 
 school, in an "old-field" school-house, with Hobby, 
 the sexton of the parish, for his first master. After 
 his father s death, however, he was sent back to 
 the old homestead at Pope s Creek, to live for a 
 while with his elder half-brother, Augustine, to 
 whom the Westmoreland estate had been left, and 
 who, on his marriage, had taken it for his residence. 
 There George had the advantage of at least a better 
 school than Hobby s, kept by a Mr. Williams. But 
 it taught him nothing except reading, writing and 
 arithmetic, with a little geometry and surveying. 
 For this last study he evinced a marked preference. 
 Many of his copy-books of that period have been 
 preserved, and they show no inconsiderable pro 
 ficiency in the surveyor s art, even before he finally 
 left school, toward the close of his sixteenth year. 
 One of those manuscript books, however, is of 
 a miscellaneous and peculiarly interesting character, 
 containing carefully prepared forms for business 
 papers ; a few selections or, it may be, original com 
 positions in rhyme; and a series of "Rules of Be- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 7 
 
 havior in Company and Conversation," most of 
 them translated from a French Book of "Max- 
 imes," discovered by Mr. Conway, of which the last 
 and most noteworthy one, not in the French series, 
 and which he may have added himself, must never 
 be omitted from the story of Washington s boy 
 hood: "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little 
 spark of celestial fire, Conscience/ All these 
 schoolboy manuscripts bear witness alike to his 
 extreme care in cultivating a neat, clear, and elegant 
 handwriting, and his name is sometimes written 
 almost as if in contemplation of the great instru 
 ments and state papers to which it was destined to 
 be the attesting signature. 
 
 Meantime he was training himself for vigorous 
 manhood by all sorts of robust exercise and athletic 
 sports. He played soldier, sometimes, with his 
 school-mates, always asserting the authority of 
 captain, and subjecting the little company to a rigid 
 discipline. Running, leaping, and wrestling were 
 among his favorite pastimes. He became a fearless 
 rider, too, and no horse is said to have been too fiery 
 for him. "Above all," as Irving well says, "his 
 inherent probity, and the principles of justice on 
 which he regulated his conduct, even at this early 
 period of his life, were soon appreciated by his 
 school-mates; he was referred to as an umpire in 
 their disputes, and his decisions were never re 
 versed." A crisis in Washington s life occurred 
 
8 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 before he left school. His eldest half-brother, 
 Lawrence, had already been an officer in the Eng 
 lish service, and was at the siege of Carthagena 
 under Admiral Vernon, for whom he formed a 
 great regard, and whose name he afterward gave 
 to his estate on the Potomac. Observing George s 
 military propensities, and thinking that the English 
 navy would afford him the most promising field 
 for future distinction, Lawrence obtained a mid 
 shipman s warrant for him in 1746, when he was 
 just fourteen years old, and George is said to have 
 been on the point of embarking on this English 
 naval service. The earnest remonstrance of his 
 mother was interposed, and the project reluctantly 
 abandoned. He thereupon resumed his studies, and 
 did not leave school till the autumn before his six 
 teenth year. Soon afterward he went to reside with 
 his brother Lawrence, who had married a Fairfax 
 of Belvoir, and had established himself at Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 Washington s education was now finished, so far 
 as schools and schoolmasters were concerned, and 
 he never enjoyed or sought the advantages of a 
 college. Indeed, only a month after he was sixteen 
 he entered on the active career of a surveyor of 
 lands, in the employment of William Fairfax, the 
 father of his brother s wife, and the manager of 
 the great estate of his cousin, Lord Fairfax. In 
 this work he voluntarily subjected himself to every 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 9 
 
 variety of hardship and personal danger. Those 
 Alleghany valleys and hills were then a wilderness, 
 where difficult obstructions were to be overcome, 
 severe exposures to be endured, and savage tribes 
 to be conciliated or encountered. For three succes 
 sive years he persevered undauntedly in this occupa 
 tion, having obtained a commission from the 
 president and master of William and Mary college 
 as a public surveyor for Culpeper County, which 
 entitled his surveys to a place in the county office, 
 where they were held in high esteem for complete 
 ness and accuracy. During these three years he 
 allowed himself but little relaxation, yet found 
 time in the winter months for an occasional visit to 
 his mother, and for aiding her in the management 
 of her affairs. 
 
 And now, at nineteen years of age, he received 
 an appointment as adjutant-general, with the rank 
 of major, to inspect and exercise the militia in one 
 of the districts into which Virginia was divided in 
 view of the French encroachments and the Indian 
 depredations with which the frontiers were 
 menaced. Before he had fairly entered on this 
 service, however, he was called to accompany his 
 brother Lawrence to the West Indies, on a voyage 
 for his brother s health, and was absent from home 
 for more than four months, during which he had 
 a severe attack of small-pox. His brother remained 
 longer, and returned at last only to die, leaving 
 
10 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 George as one of his executors, and involving him 
 in large responsibilities as well as in much personal 
 affliction. Meantime his appointment as adjutant- 
 general was renewed by Gov. Dinwiddie, and he 
 was assigned to the charge of one of the grand 
 military divisions of the colony. A wider field of 
 service was thus opened to Washington, on which 
 he entered with alacrity. 
 
 War between France and England was now 
 rapidly approaching, involving a conflict for the 
 possession of a large part of the American conti 
 nent. French posts were already established on 
 the banks of the Ohio, with a view of confining 
 the English colonies within the Alleghany moun 
 tains. Gov. Dinwiddie, under instructions from 
 the British ministry, resolved upon sending a 
 commissioner to the officer commanding the French 
 forces to inquire by what authority he was invading 
 the king s dominions, and to ascertain, if possible, 
 his further designs. Washington was selected for 
 this delicate and dangerous mission, after several 
 others had declined to undertake it. He accepted 
 it at once, and toward the end of November, 1753, 
 he set out from Williamsburg, without any military 
 escort, on a journey of nearly 600 miles a great 
 part of it over "lofty and rugged mountains and 
 through the heart of a wilderness." The perilous 
 incidents of this expedition cannot be recounted 
 here. His marvellous and providential escapes, at 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 11 
 
 one time from the violence of the savages, at 
 another from assassination by a treacherous guide, 
 at a third from being drowned in crossing the 
 Alleghany river on a raft, have been described in 
 all the accounts of his early manhood, substantially 
 from his own journal, published in London at the 
 time. He reached Williamsburg on his return on 
 January 16, 1754, and delivered to Gov. Dinwiddie 
 the reply of the French commander to his message 
 of inquiry. No more signal test could have been 
 afforded of Washington s various talents and char 
 acteristics, which this expedition served at once to 
 display and to develop. "From that moment," 
 says his biographer, Irving, "he was the rising hope 
 of Virginia." 
 
 He was then but just finishing his twenty-first 
 year, and immediately after his return he was 
 appointed to the chief command of a little body of 
 troops raised for meeting immediate exigencies; 
 but the military establishment was increased as soon 
 as the governor could convene the legislature of 
 Virginia, and Washington was appointed lieuten 
 ant-colonel of a regiment, with Joshua Fry, an 
 accomplished Oxford scholar, as his colonel. Upon 
 Washington at once devolved the duty of going 
 forward with such companies as were enlisted, and 
 the sudden death of Col. Fry soon left him in full 
 command of the expedition. The much-misrepre 
 sented skirmish with the French troops, resulting 
 
12 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 in the death of Jumonville, was followed, on July 
 3, 1754, by the battle of the Great Meadows, where 
 Washington held his ground, in Fort Necessity, 
 from eleven in the morning to eight at night, 
 against a great superiority of numbers, until the 
 French requested a parley. A capitulation ensued, 
 in every way honorable to Washington as it was 
 translated and read to him, but which proved, when 
 printed, to contain terms in the French language 
 which he never would have signed or admitted had 
 they not been suppressed or softened by the inter 
 preter.* 
 
 The course now adopted by Gov. Dinwiddie in 
 the reorganization of the Virginia troops, against 
 which Washington remonstrated, and which would 
 have reduced him to an inferior grade, led at once 
 to his resignation, and, after a brief visit to his 
 mother, he retired to Mount Vernon. He was soon 
 solicited by Gov. Sharpe, of Maryland, then the 
 commander-in-chief of the English forces, to re 
 sume his station, but under circumstances and upon 
 conditions incompatible with his self-respect. In 
 declining the invitation he used this memorable 
 language: "I shall have the consolation of know 
 ing that I have opened the way, when the smallness 
 of our numbers exposed us to the attacks of a 
 superior enemy; and that I have had the thanks 
 
 * See note at end of chapter xii., vol. i., of living s "Life of Wash 
 ington." 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 13 
 
 of my country for the services I have rendered." 
 But now Gen. Braddock was sent over from Eng 
 land with two regiments of regulars, and Wash 
 ington did not hesitate to accept an appointment 
 on his staff as a volunteer aide-de-camp. The 
 prudent counsels that he gave Braddock before he 
 set out on his ill-fated expedition, and often 
 repeated along the road, were not followed; but 
 Washington, notwithstanding a violent attack of 
 fever, was with him on the bloody field of the 
 Monongahela, behaving, as his fellow aide-de-camp, 
 Col. Orne, testified, "with the greatest courage and 
 resolution," witnessing at last Braddock s defeat 
 and death, and being the only mounted officer not 
 killed or disabled. "By the all-powerful dispen 
 sations of Providence," wrote he to his brother, "I 
 have been protected beyond all human probability 
 or expectation; for I had four bullets through my 
 coat, and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped 
 unhurt, although death was levelling my compan 
 ions on every side." It fell to him by a striking 
 coincidence the chaplain being wounded to read 
 the funeral service at the burial of Braddock at 
 the Great Meadows, the scene of his own capitula 
 tion the year before. In a sermon to one of the 
 companies organized under the impulse of Brad- 
 dock s defeat, and in view of the impending 
 dangers of the country, the Rev. Samuel Davies, 
 an eloquent and accomplished preacher, who, in 
 
14 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 1759, succeeded Jonathan Edwards as president of 
 Princeton college, after praising the zeal and 
 courage of the Virginia troops, added these 
 prophetic words: "As a remarkable instance of 
 this, I may point out to the public that heroic 
 youth, Col. Washington, whom I cannot but hope 
 Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a 
 manner for some important service to his country." 
 A force of 2,000 men having now been ordered 
 to be raised by the Virginia assembly, Washington 
 was appointed to the chief command and estab 
 lished his headquarters at Winchester. He broke 
 away from the perplexing cares of this place in 
 February, 1756, to make a hurried visit to Gov. 
 Shirley in Boston, where he settled successfully 
 with him, then the commander-in-chief of the Eng 
 lish forces on this continent, a vexatious question 
 of precedence between the provincial officers and 
 those appointed by the crown. On his return he 
 devoted himself to measures for the security of the 
 frontier. In the course of the following year he 
 was again the subject of a violent fever, which 
 prostrated him for several months. "My consti 
 tution," he wrote to a friend, "is much impaired, 
 and nothing can retrieve it but the greatest care 
 and the most circumspect course of life." Under 
 these circumstances he seriously contemplated again 
 resigning his command and retiring from all 
 further public business. But his favorite measure, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 15 
 
 the reduction of Fort Duquesne, was at length to 
 be undertaken, and, after much disappointment 
 and delay, Washington, on November 25, 1758, 
 was privileged to "march in and plant the British 
 flag on the yet smoking ruins" of that fort 
 henceforth to be known as Fort Pitt, in honor of 
 the great minister of England, afterward Lord 
 Chatham. 
 
 Meantime Washington had chanced to meet on 
 his way to Williamsburg, at the house of a hospi 
 table Virginian with whom he dined, a charming 
 widow, who at once won his heart. Most happily 
 he soon succeeded in winning hers also, and on 
 January 6, 1759, she became his wife. Martha 
 Custis, daughter of John Dandridge and widow of 
 John Parke Custis, was henceforth to be known 
 in history as Martha Washington. He had now 
 finally resigned his commission as a colonial officer, 
 and was preparing to enjoy something of the retire 
 ment of private life. But while he was still absent 
 on his last campaign he had been chosen a delegate 
 to the Virginia house of burgesses, and he had 
 hardly established himself at Mount Vernon, a few 
 months after his marriage, when he was summoned 
 to attend a session of that body at Williamsburg. 
 He was not allowed, however, to enter unobserved 
 on his civil career. No sooner did he make his 
 appearance than the Speaker, agreeably to a previ 
 ous vote of the house, presented their thanks to 
 
16 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 him, in the name of the colony, for the distinguished 
 military service he had rendered to his country, 
 accompanying the vote of thanks with expressions 
 of compliment and praise which greatly embar 
 rassed him. He attempted to make his acknowl 
 edgments, but stammered and trembled and "could 
 not give distinct utterance to a single syllable." 
 "Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the Speaker, 
 with infinite address; "your modesty equals your 
 valor, and that surpasses the power of any language 
 I possess." 
 
 Fourteen or fifteen years more elapsed before 
 the great struggle for American independence 
 began, and during all this time he continued to be 
 a member of the house of burgesses. He was 
 punctual in his attendance at all their sessions, which 
 were commonly at least two in a year, and took an 
 earnest interest in all that was said and done, but 
 "it is not known," says Sparks, "that he ever made 
 a set speech or entered into a stormy debate." He 
 had a passion for agricultural pursuits. He de 
 lighted in his quiet rural life at Mount Vernon 
 with his wife and her children he had none of his 
 own finding ample occupation in the management 
 of his farms, and abundant enjoyment in hunting 
 and fishing with the genial friends and relatives 
 in his neighborhood. He was a vestryman of two 
 parishes, regular in his attendance at one or the 
 other of the parochial churches, at Alexandria or 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 17 
 
 at Pohick, and both he and his wife were com 
 municants. Meantime he was always at the service 
 of his friends or the community for any aid or 
 counsel that he could render them. He was often 
 called on to be an arbitrator, and his judgment 
 and impartiality were never questioned. As a com 
 missioner for settling the military accounts of the 
 colony, after the treaty of peace of 1763, he spared 
 himself no labor in the execution of a most arduous 
 and complicated task. In a word, he was a good 
 citizen, an exemplary Christian, a devoted father, 
 a kind master to the slaves who had come to him by 
 inheritance or marriage, and was respected and 
 beloved by all. 
 
 At length, at forty-three years of age, he was 
 called upon to begin a career that closed only with 
 his life, during which he held the highest and most 
 responsible positions in war and in peace, and ren 
 dered inestimable services to his country and to 
 mankind. To follow that career in detail would 
 require nothing less than a history of the United 
 States for the next five-and-twenty years. Wash 
 ington was naturally of a cautious and conservative 
 cast, and by no means disposed for a rupture with 
 the mother country, if it could be avoided without 
 the sacrifice of rights and principles. But as the 
 various stages of British aggression succeeded each 
 other, beginning with the stamp-act, the repeal of 
 which he hailed with delight, and followed by the 
 
18 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tea tax and the Boston port bill, he became keenly 
 alive to the danger of submission, and was ready 
 to unite in measures of remonstrance, opposition, 
 and ultimately of resistance. When he heard at 
 Williamsburg, in August, 1773, of the sufferings 
 resulting from the port bill, he is said to have 
 exclaimed, impulsively: "I will raise a thousand 
 men, subsist them at my own expense, and march 
 with them, at their head, for the relief of Boston." 
 He little dreamed at that moment that within two 
 years he was destined to be hailed as the deliverer 
 of Boston from British occupation. 
 
 Washington accepted an election as a delegate 
 to the first Continental congress in 1774, and 
 went to the meeting at Philadelphia in Septem 
 ber of that year, in company with Patrick Henry 
 and Edmund Pendleton, who called for him at 
 Mount Vernon on horseback. That congress sat 
 in Carpenter s Hall with closed doors, but the 
 great papers that it prepared and issued form a 
 proud part of American history. Those were 
 the papers and that the congress of which Chatham 
 in the house of lords, in his memorable speech 
 on the removal of troops from Boston, January 
 20, 1775, said: "When your lordships look at the 
 papers transmitted to us from America, when 
 you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, 
 you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to 
 make it your own. For myself, I must declare 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 19 
 
 and avow that in all my reading and observation 
 and it has been my favorite study I have 
 read Thucydides, and have studied and admired 
 the master states of the world that for solidity of 
 reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of con 
 clusion, under such a complication of difficult 
 circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand 
 in preference to the general congress at Philadel 
 phia." The precise part taken by Washington 
 within the closed doors of Carpenter s Hall is no 
 where recorded, but the testimony of one of its 
 most distinguished members cannot be forgotten. 
 When Patrick Henry returned home from the 
 meeting, and was asked whom he considered the 
 greatest man in that congress, he replied: "If you 
 speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Caro 
 lina, is by far the greatest orator ; but if you speak 
 of solid information and sound judgment, Col. 
 Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on 
 that floor." It is an interesting tradition that, dur 
 ing the prayers with which Dr. Duche opened that 
 meeting at Carpenter s Hall on September 5, 1774, 
 while most of the other members were standing, 
 Washington was kneeling. 
 
 He was again a delegate to the Continental con 
 gress (the second) that assembled at Philadelphia 
 on May 10, 1775, by which, on the 15th of June, 
 on the motion of Thomas Johnson, a delegate of 
 Maryland, at the earnest instigation of John 
 
20 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Adams, of Massachusetts, he was unanimously 
 elected commander-in-chief of all the Continental 
 forces raised, or to be raised, for the defence of 
 American liberty. On the next morning he accepted 
 the appointment and expressed his deep and grate 
 ful sense of the high honor conferred upon him, 
 "but," added he, "lest some unlucky event should 
 happen, unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it 
 may be remembered by every gentleman in the 
 room that I this day declare, with the utmost sin 
 cerity, that I do not think myself equal to the 
 command I am honored with." "As to pay," he 
 continued, "I beg leave to assure the congress that, 
 as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted 
 me to accept this arduous employment, at the ex 
 pense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not 
 wish to make any profit of it. I will keep an exact 
 account of my expenses. Those I doubt not they 
 will discharge, and that is all I desire." "You may 
 believe me," he wrote to his wife at once, "when 
 I assure you, in the most solemn manner, that so 
 far from seeking this appointment, I have used 
 every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only 
 from my unwillingness to part with you and the 
 family, but from a consciousness of its being a 
 trust too great for my capacity." 
 
 Washington s commission was agreed to by con 
 gress on June 17, and on the 21st he set out 
 from Philadelphia on horseback to take command 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 21 
 
 of the American army encamped around Boston, 
 of which place the British forces were in possession. 
 The tidings of the battle of Bunker Hill reached 
 him at New York on the 25th, and the next day he 
 was in the saddle again on his way to Cambridge. 
 He arrived there on July 2, and established his 
 headquarters in the old Vassall (afterward Craigie) 
 mansion, which has recently been known as the 
 residence of the poet Longfellow. On July 3 
 he took formal command of the army, drawing his 
 sword under an ancient elm, which has of late years 
 been suitably inscribed. The American army num 
 bered about 17,000 men, but only 14,500 were fit 
 for duty. Coming hastily from different colonies, 
 they were without supplies of tents or clothing, and 
 there was not ammunition enough for nine car 
 tridges to a man. Washington s work in combining 
 and organizing this mass of raw troops was most 
 embarrassing and arduous. But he persevered 
 untiringly, and after a siege of eight months 
 succeeded in driving the British from Boston on 
 March 17, 1776. For this grand exploit congress 
 awarded him a splendid gold medal, which bore an 
 admirable likeness of him on one side, and on the 
 other side the inscription "Hostibus primo fugatis 
 Bostonium recuperatum." Copies of this medal in 
 silver and bronze have been multiplied, but the 
 original gold medal has found a fit place, within a 
 few years past, in the Boston Public Library. 
 
22 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 The way was now opened, and the scene of the 
 war was soon transferred to other parts of the 
 country. The day after the evacuation of Boston, 
 five regiments, with a battalion of riflemen and two 
 companies of artillery, were sent to New York. 
 But, as the British fleet was still in Nantasket road, 
 Washington did not venture to move more of his 
 army, or to go away himself, until the risk of a 
 return was over. On April 13 he reached New 
 York, and was soon summoned to Philadelphia for 
 a conference with congress. On his return to New 
 York, while he was anxiously awaiting an attack 
 by the British forces, the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence, signed on July 4, was transmitted to him. 
 The regiments were forthwith paraded, and the 
 Declaration was read at the head of the army. 
 "The General hopes," said he in the orders of the 
 day, "that this important event will serve as a fresh 
 incentive to every officer and soldier to act with 
 fidelity and courage, as knowing that now the peace 
 and safety of his country depend, under God, solely 
 on the success of our arms." He hailed the Declar 
 ation with delight, and had written to his brother, 
 from Philadelphia, that he was rejoiced at "the 
 noble act" of the Virginia convention, recommend 
 ing that such a declaration should be adopted. But 
 his little army, according to the returns of August 
 5 following, hardly numbered more than 20,000 
 men, of whom six or seven thousand were sick or 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 23 
 
 on furlough or otherwise absent, while the British 
 forces were at least 24,000, supported by a large 
 and thoroughly equipped fleet. 
 
 The battle of Long Island soon followed, with 
 disastrous results to the Americans, and the British 
 took possession of New York. Other reverses were 
 not long delayed, and the strategy of Washington 
 found its exhibition only in his skilful retreat from 
 Long Island and through the Jerseys. But he was 
 not disheartened, nor his confidence in ultimate suc 
 cess impaired. When asked what was to be done 
 if Philadelphia were taken, he replied: "We will 
 retreat beyond the Susquehanna, and thence, if 
 necessary, to the Alleghany mountains." His mas 
 terly movements on the Delaware were now 
 witnessed, which Frederick the Great is said to 
 have declared "the most brilliant achievements 
 recorded in military annals." "Many years later," 
 Mr. Lossing informs us in his interesting volume 
 on Mount Vernon and its associations, "the great 
 Frederick sent him a portrait of himself, accom 
 panied by the remarkable words: From the 
 oldest general in Europe to the greatest general 
 in the world! Meantime he had a vast work to 
 accomplish with entirely inadequate means. But 
 he went along with heroic fortitude, unswerving 
 constancy, and unsparing self-devotion, through all 
 the trials and sufferings of Monmouth and Brandy- 
 wine and Germantown and Valley Forge, until the 
 
24 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 grand consummation was at last reached at York- 
 town, on October 19, 1781. There, with the aid 
 of our generous and gallant allies, he achieved the 
 crowning victory of independence on the soil of his 
 beloved Virginia. 
 
 The details of this protracted contest must be 
 left to history, as well as the infamous cabal for 
 impeaching his ability and depriving him of his 
 command and the still more infamous treason of 
 Arnold, in September, 1780. Standing on the field 
 of Yorktown, to receive the surrender of Lord 
 Cornwallis and the British army, Washington was 
 at length rewarded for all the labors and sacrifices 
 and disappointments he had so bravely endured 
 since his first great victory in expelling the British 
 from Boston nearly seven years before. Massa 
 chusetts and Virginia were thus the scenes of his 
 proudest successes, as they had been foremost in 
 bringing to a test the great issue of American 
 independence and American liberty. The glorious 
 consummation was at last accomplished. But two 
 years more were to elapse before the treaty of peace 
 was signed and the war with England ended; and 
 during that period Washington was to give most 
 signal illustration of his disinterested patriotism 
 and of his political wisdom and foresight. 
 
 Discontent had for some time been manifested 
 by officers and soldiers alike, owing to arrearages 
 of pay, and they were naturally increased by the 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 25 
 
 apprehension that the army would now be dis 
 banded without proper provision being made by 
 congress for meeting the just claims of the troops. 
 Not a few of the officers began to distrust the 
 efficiency of the government and of all republican 
 institutions. One of them, "a colonel of the army, 
 of a highly respectable character and somewhat 
 advanced in life," whose name is given by Irving 
 as Lewis Nicola, was put forward to communicate 
 these sentiments to Washington, and he even dared 
 to suggest for him the title of King. Washington s 
 reply, dated Newburgh, May 22, 1782, expressed 
 the indignation and "abhorrence" with which he had 
 received such a suggestion, and rebuked the writer 
 with severity. "I am at a loss to conceive," wrote 
 he, "what part of my conduct could have given 
 encouragement to an address which to me seems 
 big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my 
 country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge 
 of myself, you could not have found a person to 
 whom your schemes are more disagreeable. . . . 
 Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard 
 for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, 
 or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from 
 your mind, and never communicate, from yourself 
 or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature." 
 Nothing more was ever heard of making Wash 
 ington a king. He had sufficiently shown his scorn 
 for such an overture. 
 
26 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 The apprehensions of the army, however, were 
 by no means quieted. A memorial on the subject 
 of their pay was prepared and transmitted to con 
 gress in December, 1782, but the resolutions that 
 congress adopted did not satisfy their expectations. 
 A meeting of officers was arranged, and anonymous 
 addresses, commonly known as the Newburgh ad 
 dresses, were issued, to rouse the army to resent 
 ment. Washington insisted on attending the 
 meeting, and delivered an impressive address. Gen. 
 Gates was in the chair, and Washington began 
 by apologizing for having come. After reading 
 the first paragraph of what he had prepared, he 
 begged the indulgence of those present while he 
 paused to put on his spectacles, saying, casually, 
 but most touchingly, that "he had grown gray in 
 the service of his country, and now found himself 
 growing blind." He then proceeded to read a most 
 forcible and noble paper, in which, after acknowl 
 edging the just claims of the army on the govern 
 ment and assuring them that those claims would 
 not be disregarded, he conjured them "to express 
 their utmost horror and detestation of the man who 
 wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn 
 the liberties of our country, and who wickedly at 
 tempts to open the floodgates of civil discord and 
 deluge our rising empire in blood." 
 
 The original autograph of this ever-memorable 
 address, just as it came from Washington s own 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 27 
 
 pen, is in the archives of the Massachusetts His 
 torical Society, and a lithographed copy was pub 
 lished by them, together with the letters of eye 
 witnesses to the scene, as a contribution to the 
 centennial papers of 1876. Washington retired at 
 once from the meeting, but resolutions were forth 
 with unanimously adopted, on motion of Gen. 
 Knox seconded by Gen. Putnam, reciprocating 
 all his affectionate expressions, and concurring 
 entirely in the policy he had proposed. "Every 
 doubt was dispelled," says Maj. Shaw in his 
 journal, "and the tide of patriotism rolled again 
 in its wonted course." The treaty of peace was 
 signed in Paris on January 20, 1783. On April 
 17 following, a proclamation by congress was 
 received by Washington for the cessation of hos 
 tilities. On April 19, the anniversary of the shed 
 ding of the first blood at Lexington, which com 
 pleted the eighth year of the war, the cessation was 
 proclaimed at the head of every regiment of the 
 army, after which, said Washington s general 
 orders, "the chaplains of the several brigades will 
 render thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies, 
 particularly for his overruling the wrath of man 
 to his own glory, and causing the rage of war to 
 cease among the nations." 
 
 On the following 8th of June, in view of the 
 dissolution of the army, Washington addressed a 
 letter to the governors of the several states a letter 
 
28 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 full of golden maxims and consummate wisdom. 
 "The great object," he began, "for which I had 
 the honor to hold an appointment in the service of 
 my country being accomplished, I am now prepar 
 ing to return to that domestic retirement which, it 
 is well known, I left with the greatest reluctance 
 a retirement for which I have never ceased to 
 sigh through a long and painful absence, and in 
 which, remote from the noise and trouble of the 
 world, I meditate to pass the remainder of my life 
 in a state of undisturbed repose." Then, after 
 remarking that "this is the favorable moment for 
 giving such a tone to the Federal government as 
 will enable it to answer the ends of its institution," 
 he proceeded to set forth and enlarge upon the four 
 things that he conceived to be essential to the well- 
 being, or even the existence, of the United States 
 as an independent power: "First, an indissoluble 
 union of the states under one federal head; second, 
 a sacred regard to public justice; third, the adop 
 tion of a proper peace establishment; and, fourth, 
 the prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposi 
 tion among the people of the United States which 
 will induce them to forget their local prejudices 
 and policies, to make those mutual concessions 
 which are requisite to the general prosperity, and, 
 in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advan 
 tages to the interest of the community. These are 
 the pillars," said Washington, "on which the glori- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 29 
 
 ous fabric of our independency and national char 
 acter must rest." 
 
 Washington took final leave of the army in 
 general orders of November 2, in accordance with 
 a proclamation by congress of October 18. He 
 accompanied Gov. Clinton in a formal entry into 
 New York, after its evacuation by the British, on 
 November 25. On December 4, after taking affec 
 tionate leave of his principal officers at Fraunce s 
 tavern, he set off for Annapolis, and there, on 
 December 23, 1783, he presented himself to "the 
 United States in congress assembled," and resigned 
 the commission that he had received on June 17, 
 1775. "Having now finished," said he, "the work 
 assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of 
 action, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this 
 august body, under whose orders I have long acted, 
 I here offer my commission, and take my leave of 
 all the employments of public life." "You retire," 
 replied the president of congress, "from the theatre 
 of action with the blessings of your fellow-citizens ; 
 but the glory of your virtues will not terminate with 
 your military command : it will continue to animate 
 remotest ages." The very next morning, as we 
 are informed by Irving, Washington departed 
 from Annapolis, and "hastened to his beloved 
 Mount Vernon, where he arrived the same day, on 
 Christmas eve, in a frame of mind suited to enjoy 
 the sacred and genial festival." 
 
30 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Once more, at the close of the fifty-second year 
 of his age, Washington was permitted to resume 
 his favorite occupations of a farmer and planter, 
 and to devote himself personally to his crops and 
 cattle. Indeed, throughout his whole military cam 
 paign, he had kept himself informed of what was 
 going on in the way of agriculture at Mount Ver- 
 non, and had given careful directions as to the 
 cultivation of his lands. His correspondence now 
 engrossed not a little of his time, and he was 
 frequently cheered by the visits of his friends. 
 Lafayette was among his most welcome guests, 
 and passed a fortnight with him, to his great de 
 light. Afterward Washington made a visit to his 
 lands on the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, travelling 
 on horseback, with his friend and physician, Dr. 
 Craik, nearly seven hundred miles, through a wild, 
 mountainous country, and devising schemes of 
 internal navigation for the advantage of Virginia 
 and Maryland. His passion for hunting, also, was 
 revived, and Lafayette and others of the French 
 officers sent him out fine hounds from their kennels. 
 
 But the condition of his country was never 
 absent from his thoughts, and the insufficiency of 
 the existing confederation weighed heavily on his 
 mind. In one of his letters he writes: "The con 
 federation appears to me little more than a shadow 
 without the substance, and congress a migratory 
 body." In another letter he says: "I have ever 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 31 
 
 been a friend to adequate powers in congress, with 
 out which it is evident to me we shall never establish 
 a national character. . . . We are either a united 
 people under one head and for federal purposes, 
 or we are thirteen independent sovereignties, eter 
 nally counteracting each other." In another letter, 
 to John Jay, he uses still more emphatic language : 
 "I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation 
 without lodging somewhere a power which will 
 pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner 
 as the authority of the state governments extends 
 over the several states. . . . Retired as I am from 
 the world, I frankly acknowledge I can not feel 
 myself an unconcerned spectator. Yet, having 
 happily assisted in bringing the ship into port, and 
 having been fairly discharged, it is not my business 
 to embark again on the sea of troubles." 
 
 Meantime the insurrection in Massachusetts, 
 commonly known as "Shays s rebellion," added 
 greatly to his anxiety and even anguish of mind. 
 In a letter to Madison of November 6, 1786, he 
 exclaimed : "No morn ever dawned more favorably 
 than ours did, and no day was ever more clouded 
 than the present. . . . We are fast verging to 
 anarchy and confusion." Soon afterward he 
 poured out the bitterness of his soul to his old aide- 
 de-camp, Gen. Humphreys, in still stronger terms : 
 "What, gracious God! is man, that there should be 
 such inconsistency and perfidiousness in his con- 
 
32 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 duct? It was but the other day that we were 
 shedding our blood to obtain the constitutions under 
 which we now live constitutions of our own 
 choice and making and now we are unsheathing 
 the sword to overturn them." He was thus in full 
 sympathy with the efforts of his friends to confer 
 new and greater powers on the Federal Govern 
 ment, and he yielded to their earnest solicitations 
 in consenting to be named at the head of the Vir 
 ginia delegates to the convention in Philadelphia 
 on May 14, 1787. Of that ever-memorable conven 
 tion he was unanimously elected president, and on 
 the following 17th of September he had the 
 supreme satisfaction of addressing a letter to con 
 gress announcing the adoption of the constitution 
 of the United States, which had been signed on that 
 day. "In all our deliberations on this subject," he 
 said in that letter, "we kept steadily in our view that 
 which appears to us the greatest interest of every 
 true American the consolidation of our Union 
 in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, 
 and perhaps our national existence." 
 
 This constitution having passed the ordeal of 
 congress and been ratified and adopted by the 
 people, through the conventions of the states, noth 
 ing remained but to organize the government in 
 conformity with its provisions. As early as July 
 2, 1788, congress had been notified that the neces 
 sary approval of nine states had been obtained, but 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 33 
 
 not until September 13 was a day appointed for 
 the choice of electors of president. That day was 
 the first Wednesday of the following January, 
 while the beginning of proceedings under the new 
 constitution was postponed until the first Wednes 
 day of March, which chanced in that year to be 
 the 4th of March. Not, however, until April 1 
 was there a quorum for business in the house of 
 representatives, and not until April 6 was the senate 
 organized. On that day, in the presence of the 
 two houses, the votes for president and vice-presi 
 dent were opened and counted, when Washington, 
 having received every vote from the ten states that 
 took part in the election, was declared president of 
 the United States. On April 14 he received at 
 Mount Vernon the official announcement of his 
 election, and on the morning of the 16th he set out 
 for New York. "Reluctant," as he said, "in the 
 evening of life to exchange a peaceful abode for 
 an ocean of difficulties," he bravely added: "Be 
 the voyage long or short, although I may be 
 deserted by all men, integrity and firmness shall 
 never forsake me." Well does Bancroft exclaim, 
 after recounting these details in his "History of 
 the Constitution": "But for him the country could 
 not have achieved its independence; but for him it 
 could not have formed its Union ; and now but for 
 him it could not set the government in successful 
 motion." 
 
34 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Reaching New York on the 23d, after a contin 
 uous triumphal journey through Alexandria, Bal 
 timore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Trenton, 
 he was welcomed by the two houses of congress, 
 by the governor of the state, the magistrates of the 
 city, and by great masses of the people. The city 
 was illuminated in his honor. But he proceeded 
 on foot from the barge that had brought him across 
 the bay to the house of the president of the late 
 confederation, which had been appointed for his 
 residence. John Adams had been installed in the 
 chair of the senate, as vice-president of the United 
 States, on April 21, but congress could not get 
 ready for the inauguration of the president until 
 the 30th. On that day the oath of office was admin 
 istered to Washington by Robert R. Livingston, 
 chancellor of the state of New York, in the pres 
 ence of the two houses of congress, on a balcony 
 in front of the hall in which congress held its 
 sittings, where a statue has recently been placed. 
 Washington then retired to the senate-chamber and 
 delivered his inaugural address. "It would be 
 peculiarly improper to omit," said he, "in this first 
 official act, my fervent supplications to that 
 Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who 
 presides in the councils of nations, and whose 
 providential aids can supply every human defect- 
 that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties 
 and happiness of the people of the United States 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 35 
 
 a government instituted by themselves. . . . No 
 people can be bound to acknowledge the invisible 
 hand which conducts the affairs of man more than 
 the people of the United States. Every step by 
 which they have advanced to the character of an 
 independent nation seems to have been distin 
 guished by some token of providential agency. . . . 
 These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, 
 have forced themselves too strongly on my mind 
 to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, 
 in thinking that there are none under the influence 
 of which the proceedings of a new and free govern 
 ment can more auspiciously commence." In accord 
 ance with those sentiments, at the close of the 
 ceremony, Washington and both branches of con 
 gress were escorted to St. Paul s chapel, at the 
 corner of Broadway and Fulton street, where the 
 chaplain of the senate read prayers suited to the 
 occasion, after which they all attended the president 
 to his mansion near Franklin square. 
 
 Thus began the administration of Washington, 
 as first president of the United States, on April 
 30, 1789. This is a date never to be forgotten 
 in American history, and it would be most happy 
 if the 30th of April could be substituted for the 
 4th of March as the inauguration-day of the second 
 century of our constitutional existence. It would 
 add two months to the too short second session of 
 congress, give a probability of propitious weather 
 
36 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 for the ceremony, and be a perpetual commemora 
 tion of the day on which Washington entered upon 
 his great office, and our national government was 
 practically organized. An amendment to the con 
 stitution making this change has several times been 
 formally proposed and has passed the U. S. senate, 
 but has failed of adoption in the house of represen 
 tatives. From first to last, Washington s influence 
 in conciliating all differences of opinion in regard 
 to the rightful interpretation and execution of the 
 new constitution was most effective. The recently 
 printed journal of William Maclay, a senator from 
 Pennsylvania in the 1st congress, says, in allusion 
 to some early controversies: "The president s 
 amiable deportment, however, smoothes and sweet 
 ens everything." Count Moustier, the French 
 minister, in writing home to his government, five 
 weeks after the inauguration, says: "The opinion 
 of Gen. Washington was of such weight that it 
 alone contributed more than any other measure 
 to cause the present constitution to be adopted. 
 The extreme confidence in his patriotism, his in 
 tegrity, and his intelligence forms to-day its 
 principal support. . . . All is hushed in presence 
 of the trust of the people in the saviour of the 
 country." 
 
 Washington had to confront not a few of the 
 same perplexities that all his successors have ex 
 perienced in a still greater degree in regard to 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 37 
 
 appointments to office. But at the earliest moment 
 he adopted rules and principles on this subject 
 which might well be commended to presidents and 
 governors in later days. In a letter to his friend 
 James Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, bearing date 
 May 9, 1789, less than six weeks after his inaugur 
 ation, he used language that might fitly serve as 
 an introduction to the civil-service reform manual 
 of the present hour. "No part of my duty," he 
 says, "will be more delicate, and in many instances 
 more unpleasing, than that of nominating or 
 appointing persons to office. It will undoubtedly 
 often happen that there will be several candidates 
 for the same office, whose pretensions, ability, and 
 integrity may be nearly equal, and who will come 
 forward so equally supported in every respect as 
 almost to require the aid of supernatural intuition 
 to fix upon the right. I shall, however, in all events, 
 have the satisfaction to reflect that I entered upon 
 my administration unconfined by a single engage 
 ment, uninfluenced by any ties of blood or friend 
 ship, and with the best intentions and fullest deter 
 mination to nominate to office those persons only 
 who, upon every consideration, were the most 
 deserving, and who would probably execute their 
 several functions to the interest and credit of the 
 American Union, if such characters could be found 
 by my exploring every avenue of information 
 
38 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 respecting their merits and pretensions that it was 
 in my power to obtain." 
 
 Appointing Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, as 
 his secretary of state; Alexander Hamilton, of 
 New York, as his secretary of the treasury; and 
 Henry Knox, of Massachusetts, as his secretary 
 of war, he gave clear indication at the outset that 
 no sectional interests or prejudices were to control 
 or shape his policy. Under Jefferson, the foreign 
 affairs of the country were administered with great 
 discretion and ability. Under Hamilton, the 
 financial affairs of the country were extricated 
 from the confusion and chaos into which they had 
 fallen, and the national credit was established on 
 a firm basis. The preamble of the very first 
 revenue bill, signed by Washington on July 4, 
 1789, was a notable expression of the views enter 
 tained in regard to the powers and duties of the 
 new government in the regulation of trade and 
 the laying and collecting of taxes: "Whereas, it 
 is necessary for the support of government, for the 
 discharge of the debts of the United States, and 
 the encouragement and protection of manufactur 
 ers, that duties be laid on goods, wares, and 
 merchandise imported, Be it enacted, etc." The 
 incorporation of a national bank and kindred 
 measures of the highest interest soon followed. 
 The supreme court of the United States was organ 
 ized with John Jay as its first chief justice. Impor- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 From the painting, 1790, by John Trunibull in the City Hall, New York 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 39 
 
 tant amendments to the constitution were framed 
 and recommended to the states for adoption, and 
 congress continued in session till the close of 
 September. 
 
 But in the course of the summer Washington 
 had a severe illness, and for some days his life was 
 thought to be in danger. Confined to his bed for 
 six weeks, it was more than twelve weeks before he 
 was restored. With a view to the re-establishment 
 of his health, as well as for seeing the country, he 
 then set off on a tour to the eastern states, and 
 visited Boston, Portsmouth, New T Haven, and other 
 places. He was welcomed everywhere with un 
 bounded enthusiasm. No "royal progress" in any 
 country ever equalled this tour in its demonstra 
 tions of veneration and affection. A similar tour 
 with the same manifestations was made by him 
 in the southern states the next year. As the four 
 years of his first term drew to an end, he was 
 seriously inclined to withdraw from further public 
 service, but Jefferson and Hamilton alike, with all 
 their respective followers, while they differed 
 widely on so many other matters, were of one mind 
 in earnestly remonstrating against Washington s 
 retirement. "The confidence of the whole country," 
 wrote Jefferson, "is centred in you. . . . North 
 and south will hang together if they have you to 
 hang on." "It is clear," wrote Hamilton, "that 
 if you continue in office nothing materially mis- 
 
40 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 chievous is to be apprehended; if you quit, much 
 is to be dreaded. ... I trust, and I pray God, 
 that you will determine to make a further sacrifice 
 of your tranquillity and happiness to the public 
 good." Washington could not find it in his heart to 
 resist such appeals, and allowed himself to be again 
 a candidate. He was chosen unanimously by the 
 electors, and took the oath of office again on March 
 4, 1793. 
 
 He had just entered on this second term of the 
 presidency when the news reached him that France 
 had declared war against England and Holland. 
 He lost no time in announcing his purpose to main 
 tain a strict neutrality toward the belligerent 
 powers, and this policy was unanimously sustained 
 by his cabinet. His famous proclamation of neu 
 trality was accordingly issued on April 22, and 
 soon became the subject of violent partisan con 
 troversy throughout the Union. It gave occasion 
 to the masterly essays of Hamilton and Madison, 
 under the signatures of "Pacificus" and "Helvi- 
 dius," and contributed more than anything else, 
 perhaps, to the original formation of the Federal 
 and Republican parties. The wisdom of Wash 
 ington was abundantly justified by the progress of 
 events, but he did not escape the assaults of parti 
 san bitterness. Mr. Jay, still chief justice, was 
 sent to England as minister early in 1794, and his 
 memorable treaty added fuel to the flame. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 41 
 
 Meantime a tax on distilled spirts had encoun 
 tered much opposition in various parts of the 
 country, and in August, 1794, was forcibly resisted 
 and defied by a large body of armed insurgents in 
 the western counties of Pennsylvania. Washington 
 issued a proclamation calling out the militia of the 
 neighboring states, and left home to cross the 
 mountains and lead the troops in person. But the 
 insurrection happily succumbed at his approach, 
 and his presence became unnecessary. The arro 
 gant and offensive conduct of the French minister, 
 M. Genet, irreconcilable dissensions in the cabinet, 
 and renewed agitations and popular discontents 
 growing out of the Jay treaty, gave Washington 
 no little trouble in these latter years of his admin 
 istration, and he looked forward with eagerness 
 to a release from official cares. Having made up 
 his mind unchangeably to decline another election 
 as president, he thought it fit to announce that 
 decision in the most formal manner. He had con 
 sulted Madison at the close of his first term in 
 regard to an address declining a second election. 
 He now sought the advice and counsel of Alex 
 ander Hamilton, no longer a member of the cabinet, 
 and the farewell address was prepared and pub 
 lished nearly six months before his official term had 
 expired. That immortal paper has often been 
 printed with the date of September 17, 1796, and 
 special interest has been expressed in the coinci- 
 
42 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 dence of the date of the address with the date of 
 the adoption of the constitution of the United 
 States. But, as a matter of fact, the address bears 
 date September 19, 1796, as may be seen in the 
 autograph original now in the Public library, New 
 York. Mr. James Lenox purchased that precious 
 original from the family of the printer Claypoole, 
 by whom it was published in Philadelphia, and to 
 whom the manuscript, wholly in Washington s 
 handwriting, with all its interlineations, corrections, 
 and erasures, was given by Washington himself. 
 On the following 4th of March, Washington 
 was present at the inauguration of his successor, 
 John Adams, and soon afterward went with his 
 family to Mount Vernon, to resume his agricul 
 tural occupations. Serious difficulties with France 
 were soon developed, and war became imminent. 
 A provisional army was authorized by congress to 
 meet the exigency, and all eyes were again turned 
 toward Washington as its leader. President 
 Adams wrote to him: "We must have your 
 name, if you will permit us to use it. There will 
 be more efficacy in it than in many an army." 
 Hamilton urged him to make "this further, this 
 very great sacrifice." And thus, on July 3, 1798, 
 Washington, yielding to the entreaty of friends 
 and a sense of duty to his country, was once more 
 commissioned as "Lieutenant- General and Com 
 mander-in-chief of all the armies raised, or to be 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 43 
 
 raised, in the United States." The organization 
 and arrangement of this new army now engrossed 
 his attention. Deeply impressed with the great 
 responsibility that had been thrust upon him, and 
 having selected Alexander Hamilton as his chief 
 of staff, to the serious disappointment of his old 
 friend Gen. Knox, he entered at once into the 
 minutest details of the preparation for war, with 
 all the energy and zeal of his earlier and more 
 vigorous days. 
 
 Most happily this war with our late gallant ally 
 was averted. Washington, however, did not live 
 to receive the assurance of a result that he so 
 earnestly desired. Riding over his farms, on 
 December 12, to give directions to the managers 
 of his estate, he was overtaken by showers of rain 
 and sleet, and returned home wet and chilled. The 
 next day he suffered from a hoarse, sore throat, 
 followed by an ague at night. His old physician 
 and surgeon, Dr. Craik, who had been with him 
 in peace and in war, was summoned from Alex 
 andria the next morning, and two other physicians 
 were called into consultation during the day. At 
 four o clock in the afternoon he requested his wife, 
 who was constantly at his bedside, to bring him two 
 papers from his study, one of which he gave back 
 to her as his will. At six o clock he said to the three 
 physicians around him: "I feel myself going; I 
 thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to 
 
44 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 take no more trouble about me." He had previ 
 ously said to Dr. Craik: "I die hard, but I am 
 not afraid to go." About ten o clock he succeeded 
 with difficulty in giving some directions about his 
 funeral to Mr. Lear, his secretary, and on Mr. 
 Lear s assuring him that he was understood, he 
 uttered his last words: "It is well." And thus, 
 between ten and eleven o clock on Saturday night, 
 December 14, 1799, the end came, and his spirit 
 returned to God who gave it. 
 
 The funeral took place on the 18th. Such troops 
 as were in the neighborhood formed the escort of 
 the little procession; the general s favorite horse 
 was led behind the bier, the Freemasons performed 
 their ceremonies, the Rev. Thomas Davis read the 
 service and made a brief address, a schooner lying 
 in the Potomac fired minute-guns, the relatives and 
 friends within reach, including Lord Fairfax and 
 the corporation of Alexandria, were in attendance, 
 and the body was deposited in the vault at Mount 
 Vernon. At Mount Vernon it has remained to 
 this day. Virginia would never consent to its re 
 moval to the stately vault prepared for it beneath 
 the capitol at Washington. Congress was in ses 
 sion at Philadelphia, and the startling news of 
 Washington s death only reached there on the day 
 of his funeral. The next morning John Marshall, 
 then a representative from Virginia, afterward for 
 thirty- four years chief justice of the supreme court 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 45 
 
 of the United States, announced the death in the 
 house of representatives, concluding a short but 
 admirable tribute to his illustrious friend with 
 resolutions prepared by General Henry Lee, which 
 contained the grand words that have ever since been 
 associated with Washington: "First in war, first 
 in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citi 
 zens." Gen. Lee pronounced a eulogy, by order 
 of both houses of congress, on December 26, in 
 which he changed the last word of his own famous 
 phrase to "countrymen," and it is so given in the 
 eulogy as published by congress. 
 
 Meantime congress adopted a resolution recom 
 mending to the people of the United States to 
 assemble on the following February 22, in such 
 manner as should be convenient, to testify publicly 
 by eulogies, orations, and discourses, or by public 
 prayers, their grief for the death of George Wash 
 ington. In conformity with this recommendation, 
 eulogies or sermons were delivered, or exercises of 
 some sort held, in almost every city, town, village, 
 or hamlet, throughout the land. Such was the first 
 observance of Washington s birthday; thence 
 forth to be a national holiday. But not in our own 
 land only was his death commemorated. Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, then first consul, announced it to the 
 army of France, and ordered all the standards and 
 flags throughout the republic to be bound with 
 crape for ten days, during which a funeral oration 
 
46 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 was pronounced in presence of the first consul and 
 all the civil and military authorities, in what is 
 now the Hotel des Invalides. More striking still 
 is the fact, mentioned by Jared Sparks, that the 
 British fleet, consisting of nearly sixty ships of 
 the line, which was lying at Torbay, England, 
 under the command of Lord Bridport, lowered 
 their flags half-mast on hearing the intelligence 
 of Washington s death. 
 
 In later years the tributes to the memory of 
 Washington have been such as no other man of 
 modern or even of ancient history has commanded. 
 He has sometimes been compared, after the man 
 ner of Plutarch, with Epaminondas or Timoleon, 
 or Alfred the Great of England. But an eminent 
 living English historian has recently and justly 
 said that the place of Washington in the history 
 of mankind "is well-nigh without a fellow." In 
 deed, the general judgment of the world has given 
 ready assent to the carefully weighed, twice re 
 peated declaration of Lord Brougham: "It will 
 be the duty of the historian and sage in all ages 
 to let no occasion pass of commemorating this 
 illustrious man; and, until time shall be no more, 
 will a test of the progress which our race has made 
 in wisdom and virtue be derived from the venera 
 tion paid to the immortal name of Washington!" 
 Modest, disinterested, generous, just, of clean 
 hands and a pure heart, self-denying and self- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 47 
 
 sacrificing 1 , seeking nothing for himself, declining 
 all remuneration beyond the reimbursement of his 
 outlays, scrupulous to a farthing in keeping his 
 accounts, of spotless integrity, scorning gifts, 
 charitable to the needy, forgiving injuries and in 
 justice, fearless, heroic with a prudence ever 
 governing his impulses and a wisdom ever guiding 
 his valor, true to his friends, true to his whole coun 
 try, true to himself, fearing God, believing in 
 Christ, no stranger to private devotion or public 
 worship, or to the holiest offices of the church to 
 which he belonged, but ever gratefully recognizing 
 a divine aid and direction in all that he attempted 
 and in all that he accomplished what epithet, 
 what attribute, could be added to that consummate 
 character to commend it as an example above all 
 other characters in merely human history? 
 
 Washington s most important original papers 
 were bequeathed to his favorite nephew, Bushrod 
 Washington, and were committed by him to Chief- 
 Justice John Marshall, by whom an elaborate life, 
 in five volumes, was published in 1804. Abridged 
 editions of this great work, have been published 
 more recently. "The Writings of Washington," 
 with a life, were published by Jared Sparks (12 
 vols., Boston, 1834- 7). A new edition of Wash 
 ington s complete works in 14 vols., edited by 
 Worthington C. Ford, containing many letters 
 and papers now published for the first time, 
 
48 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 has recently been completed (New York, 1888- 
 93). Biographies have also been published by 
 Mason L. Weems, David Ramsay, James K. 
 Paulding, Charles W. Upham, Joel T. Headley, 
 Caroline M. Kirkland, and Edward Everett Hale. 
 Benson J. Lossing made an interesting con 
 tribution to the illustration of the same theme by 
 his "Mount Vernon and its Associations" in 1859. 
 Meanwhile the genius of Washington Irving has 
 illuminated the whole story of Washington s life, 
 public and private, and thrown around it the 
 charms of exquisite style and lucid narrative (5 
 vols., New York, 1855- 9). An abridgment and 
 revision of Irving s work, by John Fiske (New 
 York, 1888), and "General Washington," by 
 Bradley T. Johnston (1894), have recently ap 
 peared. A sketch was prepared by Edward 
 Everett, at the request of Lord Macaulay, for the 
 eighth edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" 
 (1853-1860), which was afterward published in a 
 separate volume. To Edward Everett, too, be 
 longs the principal credit of having saved Mount 
 Vernon from the auctioneer s hammer, and secured 
 its preservation, under the auspices of the Ladies 
 Mount Vernon Association, as a place of pil 
 grimage. He wrote fifty-two articles for the New 
 York "Ledger," and delivered his lecture on 
 Washington many times, contributing the proceeds 
 to the Mount Vernon fund. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 Bust of the Slutue by Iluuilon in the Capitol, Richmond, Va. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 49 
 
 The marble statue in the capitol at Richmond, 
 Va., by the French sculptor Houdon, from life, 
 must be named first among the standard likenesses 
 of Washington. Excellent portraits of him by 
 John Trumbull, by both the Peales, and by Gilbert 
 Stuart, are to be seen in many public galleries. 
 Stuart s head leaves nothing to be desired in the 
 way of dignity and grandeur. Among the numer 
 ous monuments that have been erected to his 
 memory may be mentioned the noble column in 
 Baltimore; the colossal statue in the Capitol 
 grounds at Washington, by Horatio Greenough; 
 the splendid group in Richmond, surmounted by 
 an equestrian statue, by Thomas Crawford; the 
 marble statue in the Massachusetts state-house, by 
 Sir Francis Chantrey; the equestrian statue in the 
 Boston public garden by Thomas Ball; the eques 
 trian statue in Union square, New York, by Henry 
 K. Brown; and, lastly, the matchless obelisk at 
 Washington, of which the corner-stone was laid 
 in 1848, upon which the cap-stone was placed, at 
 the height of 555 feet, in 1884, and which was 
 dedicated by congress on February 21, 1885, as 
 Washington s birthday that year fell on Sunday. 
 The engraving, which appears as a frontispiece to 
 this volume, is from Stuart s original in the Boston 
 Athengeum. The vignette of Mrs. Washington 
 given among the portraits of the wives of presi- 
 
50 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 dents is from the painting by the same distinguished 
 artist. 
 
 His wife, MARTHA,, born in New Kent County, 
 Va., in May, 1732; died at Mount Vernon, Va., 
 May 22, 1802, was the daughter of Col. John 
 Dandridge, a planter in New Kent County. 
 Martha was fairly educated by private tutors, and 
 became an expert performer on the spinet. She 
 was introduced to the vice-regal court, during the 
 administration of Sir William Gooch, at fifteen 
 years of age, and in June, 1749, married Daniel 
 Parke Custis, a wealthy planter, with whom she 
 removed to his residence, the White House, on 
 Pamunkey river. They had four children, two of 
 whom died in infancy, and in 1757 Mr. Custis also 
 died, leaving his widow one of the wealthiest 
 women in Virginia. About a year after her hus 
 band s death she met Col. Washington, who was 
 visiting at the house of Maj. William Chamber- 
 layne, where she too was a guest. In May, 1758, 
 they became engaged, but the marriage was de 
 layed by Col. Washington s northern campaign, 
 and it was not till January, 1759, that it was 
 solemnized, at St. Peter s church, New Kent 
 County, the Rev. John Mossum performing the 
 ceremony. The wedding was one of the most bril 
 liant that had ever been seen in a church in Vir 
 ginia. The bridegroom wore a suit of blue cloth, 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 51 
 
 the coat lined with red silk, and ornamented with 
 silver trimmings; his waistcoat was embroidered 
 white satin, his knee-buckles were of gold, and his 
 hair was powdered. The bride was attired in a 
 white satin quilted petticoat, a heavily corded white 
 silk over-dress, diamond buckles, and pearl orna 
 ments. The governor, many members of the legis 
 lature, British officers, and the neighboring gentry 
 were present in full court dress. Washington s 
 body-servant, Bishop, a tall negro, to whom he was 
 much attached and who had accompanied him on 
 all his military campaigns, stood in the porch, 
 clothed in the scarlet uniform of a soldier of the 
 royal army in the time of George II. The bride 
 and her three attendants drove back to the White 
 House in a coach drawn by six horses led by 
 liveried postilions, Col. Washington and an escort 
 of cavaliers riding by its side. Mrs. Washington s 
 life at Mount Vernon for the subsequent seventeen 
 years partook much of the style of the English 
 aristocracy. She was a thorough housekeeper, and 
 entertained constantly. Her daughter, Martha 
 Parke Custis, who died in the seventeenth year of 
 her age, was known as the "dark lady," on account 
 of her brunette complexion, and was greatly loved 
 by the neighboring poor, to whom she frequently 
 ministered. On her well preserved portrait, painted 
 by Charles Wilson Peale, is inscribed "A Virginia 
 Beauty." 
 
52 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Mrs. Washington ardently sympathized with her 
 husband in his patriotic measures. To a kins 
 woman, who deprecated what she called "his folly," 
 Mrs. Washington wrote in 1774: "Yes, I foresee 
 consequences dark days, domestic happiness sus 
 pended, social enjoyments abandoned, and eternal 
 separations on earth possible. But my mind is 
 made up, my heart is in the cause. George is right ; 
 he is always right. God has promised to protect 
 the righteous, and I will trust him." Patrick 
 Henry and Edmund Pendleton spent a day and 
 night at Mount Vernon in August, 1774, on their 
 way to congress. Pendleton afterward wrote to 
 a friend: "Mrs. Washington talked like a Spartan 
 to her son on his going to battle. *I hope you will 
 all stand firm, she said; I know George will. 
 After her husband became commander-in-chief she 
 was burdened with many cares. He visited Mount 
 Vernon only twice during the war. She joined him 
 at Cambridge, Mass., in 1775, subsequently accom 
 panying Gen. Washington to New York and 
 Philadelphia, and whenever it was possible joined 
 him in camp. During the winter at Valley Forge 
 she suffered every privation in common with the 
 officers, and "was busy from morning till night 
 providing comforts for the sick soldiers." Al 
 though previous to the war she had paid much 
 attention to her attire, as became her wealth and 
 station, while it continued she dressed only in gar- 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 53 
 
 ments that were spun and woven by her servants 
 at Mount Vernon. At a ball in New Jersey that 
 was given in her honor she wore one of these simple 
 gowns and a white kerchief, "as an example of 
 economy to the women of the Revolution." Her 
 last surviving child, John Parke Custis, died in 
 November, 1781, leaving four children. The two 
 younger, Eleanor Parke Custis and George Wash 
 ington Parke Custis, Gen. Washington at once 
 adopted. After Mrs. Washington left headquar 
 ters at Newburgh in 1782, she did not again return 
 to camp life. She was residing at Mount Vernon 
 at the time Washington was chosen president of 
 the United States. When she assumed the duties 
 of mistress of the executive mansion in New York 
 she was fifty-seven years old, but still retained 
 traces of beauty, and bore herself with great per 
 sonal dignity. She instituted levees, that she ever 
 afterward continued, on Friday evening of each 
 week from eight to nine o clock. "None were 
 admitted but those who had a right of entrance 
 by official station or established character," and 
 full dress was required. During the second term 
 of the president they resided in Philadelphia, where 
 their public receptions were conducted as those 
 in New York had been. An English gentleman, 
 describing her at her own table in 1794, says: 
 "Mrs. Washington struck me as being older than 
 the president. She was extremely simple in dress, 
 
54 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 and wore her gray hair turned up under a very 
 plain cap." She greatly disliked official life, and 
 rejoiced when her husband refused a third term 
 in 1796. She resided at Mount Vernon during 
 the remainder of her life, occupied with her 
 domestic duties, of which she was fond, and in 
 entertaining the numerous guests that visited 
 her husband. She survived him two and a half 
 years. Before her death she destroyed her entire 
 correspondence with Gen. Washington. "Thus," 
 says her grandson and biographer, George Wash 
 ington Parke Custis, "proving her love for him, 
 for she would not permit that the confidence they 
 had shared together should be made public." See 
 "Memoirs of the Mother and Wife of Washing 
 ton," by Margaret C. Conkling (Auburn, N. Y., 
 1851), "Mary and Martha," by Benson J. Lossing 
 (New York, 1887), "The Story of Mary Wash 
 ington," by Marion Harland (Boston, 1892), and 
 "Martha Washington," by Anne Hollingsworth 
 Wharton (New York, 1897). 
 
 His adopted son, GEORGE WASHINGTON PARKE 
 CUSTIS, author, born at Mount Airy, Md., April 
 30, 1781; died at Arlington House, Fairfax 
 County, Virginia, October 10, 1857. His father, 
 Col. John Parke Custis, the son of Mrs. Washing 
 ton by her first husband, was aide-de-camp to 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 55 
 
 Washington at the siege of Yorktown, and died 
 November 5, 1781, aged twenty-eight. The son 
 had his early home at Mount Vernon, pursued his 
 classical studies at St. John s College and at 
 Princeton, and remained a member of Washing 
 ton s family until the death of Mrs. Washington 
 in 1802, when he built Arlington House on an 
 estate of 1,000 acres near Washington, which he 
 had inherited from his father. After the death in 
 1852 of his sister, Eleanor Parke Ctistis, wife of 
 Major Lawrence Lewis, he was the sole surviving 
 member of Washington s family, and his residence 
 was for many years a favorite resort, owing to the 
 interesting relics of that family which it contained. 
 Mr. Custis married in early life Mary Lee Fitz- 
 hugh, of Virginia, and left a daughter, who mar 
 ried Robert E. Lee. The Arlington estate was 
 confiscated during the civil war, and is now held 
 as national property and is the site of a national 
 soldiers cemetery. Mr. Custis was in his early 
 days an eloquent and effective speaker. He wrote 
 orations and plays, and during his latter years 
 executed a number of large paintings of Revo 
 lutionary battles. His "Recollections of Wash 
 ington," originally contributed to the "National 
 Intelligencer," was published in book-form, with a 
 memoir by his daughter and numerous notes by 
 Benson J. Lossing (New York, 1860). 
 
56 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Washington s brother-in-law, FIELDING LEWIS, 
 patriot, born in Spottsylvania County, Va., in 1726; 
 died in Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 1781. 
 He was the proprietor of half the town of Fred 
 ericksburg, Va., of which he was the first mayor, 
 and of much of the adjoining territory, and dur 
 ing the Revolution he was an ardent patriot, super 
 intending a large manufactory of arms in that 
 neighborhood; the site of this establishment is still 
 known as "Gunny Green." He was a magistrate 
 and a member of the Virginia legislature for many 
 years. He married Elizabeth, sister of George 
 Washington, and built for her a mansion that is 
 still standing, called Kenmore House, which was 
 handsomely constructed and ornamented with carv 
 ings that were brought from England for the 
 purpose. His wife was majestic in person and 
 lovely in mental and moral attributes. Later in 
 life she so much resembled her brother George that, 
 by putting on his long military coat and his hat, 
 she could easily have been mistaken for the gen 
 eral. Mary, the mother of Washington, died on 
 Mr. Lewis s farm and is buried there. Of their 
 sons, GEORGE was a captain in Washington s life 
 guard, ROBERT one of his private secretaries, and 
 ANDREW was aide to Gen. Daniel Morgan in sup 
 pressing the whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania. 
 Another son, LAWRENCE, was Washington s 
 favorite nephew. 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 57 
 
 His wife, ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS, born at 
 Abingdon, Fairfax County, Va., in March, 1779; 
 died at Audley, Clarke County, Va., July 15, 1852, 
 was the daughter of John Parke Custis, the son 
 of Martha Washington. At the death of her 
 father, in 1781, she, with her brother George, was 
 adopted by Gen. Washington, and lived at Mount 
 Vernon. Eleanor was regarded as the most bril 
 liant and beautiful young woman of her day, the 
 pride of her grandmother, and the favorite of 
 Washington, who was the playmate of her child 
 hood and the confidant of her girlhood. However 
 abstracted, she could always command his atten 
 tion, and he would put aside the most important 
 matter to attend to her demands. She was accom 
 plished in drawing, and a good musician. Wash 
 ington presented her with a harpsichord at the cost 
 of a thousand dollars. Irving relates an anecdote 
 that illustrates their relations: "She was romantic, 
 and fond of wandering in the moonlight alone in 
 the woods. Mrs. Washington thought this unsafe, 
 and forced from her a promise that she would not 
 visit the woods again unaccompanied, but she was 
 brought one evening into the drawing-room where 
 her grandmother, seated in her arm-chair, began 
 in the presence of the general a severe reproof. 
 Poor Nellie was reminded of her promise, and 
 taxed with her delinquency. She admitted her 
 fault and essayed no excuse, moving to retire from 
 
58 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the room. She was just closing the door when she 
 overheard Washington attempting in a low voice 
 to intercede in her behalf. My dear, he observed, 
 I would say no more perhaps she was not alone. 
 His intercession stopped Miss Nellie in her retreat. 
 She reopened the door and advanced up to the gen 
 eral with a firm step. Sir, said she, you brought 
 me up to speak the truth, and, when I told grand 
 mamma I was alone, I hope you believe I was 
 alone. Washington made one of his most mag 
 nanimous bows. My child, he replied, I beg your 
 pardon. In February, 1799, she married his 
 nephew, Lawrence Lewis, the son of his sister 
 Elizabeth. Young Lewis, after Washington s re 
 tirement from public life, had resided at Mount 
 Vernon, and after their marriage they continued 
 there till the death of Mrs. Washington in May, 
 1802. 
 
 Their grandson, EDWARD PARKE CUSTIS LEWIS, 
 diplomatist, born in Audley, Clarke County, Va., 
 February 7, 1837; died in Hoboken, N. J., Septem 
 ber 3, 1892. He was educated at the tTniversity 
 of Virginia, and studied law, but subsequently 
 became a planter. He served throughout the War 
 of the Rebellion in the Confederate army, rising 
 to the rank of colonel, and for fifteen months was 
 a prisoner of war. He settled in Hoboken, in 
 1875, having previously married Mrs. Mary Gar- 
 nett, eldest daughter of Edwin A. Stevens, of New 
 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 59 
 
 Jersey, and widow of Muscoe R. H. Garnett, 
 Member of Congress from Virginia, served in the 
 New Jersey legislature in 1877, was a delegate to 
 the Democratic national convention in 1880, and in 
 1885 was appointed by President Cleveland United 
 States minister to Portugal. 
 
JOHN ADAMS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
JOHN ADAMS 
 
 JOHN ADAMS,, second president of the United 
 States, born in that part of the town of Braintree, 
 Mass., which has since been set off as the town of 
 Quincy, October 31, 1735; died there, July 4, 1826. 
 His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, received a 
 grant of about 40 acres of land in Braintree in 
 1636, and soon afterward emigrated from Devon 
 shire, England, with his eight sons. John Adams, 
 the subject of this sketch, was the eldest son of 
 John Adams and Susanna Boylston, daughter of 
 Peter Boylston, of Brookline. His father, one of 
 the selectmen of Braintree and a deacon of the 
 church, was a thrifty farmer, and at his death in 
 1760 his estate was appraised at 1,330 9s. 6d., 
 which in those days might have been regarded as 
 a moderate competence. It was the custom of the 
 family to send the eldest son to college, and accord 
 ingly John was graduated at Harvard in 1755. 
 Previous to 1773 the graduates of Harvard were 
 arranged in lists, not alphabetically or in order 
 of merit, but according to the social standing of 
 their parents. In a class of twenty- four members 
 John thus stood fourteenth. One of his classmates 
 
 63 
 
64 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 was John Wentworth, afterward royal governor 
 of New Hampshire, and then of Nova Scotia. 
 After taking his degree and while waiting to make 
 his choice of a profession, Adams took charge of 
 the grammar school at Worcester. It was the year 
 of Braddock s defeat, when the smouldering fires 
 of a century of rivalry between France and Eng 
 land broke out in a blaze of war which was forever 
 to settle the question of the primacy of the Eng 
 lish race in the modern world. Adams took an 
 intense interest in the struggle, and predicted that 
 if we could only drive out "these turbulent Gallics," 
 our numbers would in another century exceed those 
 of the British, and all Europe would be unable to 
 subdue us. 
 
 In sending him to college his family seem to 
 have hoped that he would become a clergyman ; but 
 he soon found himself too much of a free thinker 
 to feel at home in the pulpit of that day. When 
 accused of Arminianism, he cheerfully admitted 
 the charge. Later in life he was sometimes called 
 a Unitarian, but of dogmatic Christianity he seems 
 to have had as little as Franklin or Jefferson. 
 "Where do we find," he asks, u a precept in the 
 gospel requiring ecclesiastical synods, convocations, 
 councils, decrees, creeds, confessions, oaths, sub 
 scriptions, and whole cart-loads of other trumpery 
 that we find religion encumbered with in these 
 days?" In this mood he turned from the ministry 
 
From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, now in the possession of his great-grandson 
 
JOHN ADAMS 65 
 
 and began the study of law at Worcester. There 
 was then a strong prejudice against lawyers in New 
 England, but the profession throve lustily never 
 theless, so litigious were the people. In 1758 
 Adams began the practice of his profession in Suf 
 folk County, having his residence in Braintree. In 
 1764 he was married to Abigail Smith, of Wey- 
 mouth, a lady of social position higher than his 
 own and endowed with most rare and admirable 
 qualities of head and heart. In this same year 
 the agitation over the proposed stamp act was be 
 gun, and on the burning questions raised by this 
 ill-considered measure Adams had already taken 
 sides. When James Otis in 1761 delivered his 
 memorable argument against writs of assistance, 
 John Adams was present in the court-room, and 
 the fiery eloquence of Otis wrought a wonderful 
 effect upon him. As his son afterward said, "it 
 was like the oath of Hamilcar administered to Han 
 nibal." In his old age John Adams wrote, with 
 reference to this scene, "Every man of an immense 
 crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as 
 I did, ready to take arms against writs of assist 
 ance. Then and there was the first scene of the 
 first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of 
 Great Britain. Then and there the child Inde 
 pendence was born." 
 
 When the stamp act was passed, in 1765, Adams 
 took a prominent part in a town-meeting at Brain- 
 
66 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tree, where he presented resolutions which were 
 adopted word for word by more than forty towns 
 in Massachusetts. The people refused to make 
 use of stamps, and the business of the inferior 
 courts was carried on without them, judges and 
 lawyers agreeing to connive at the absence of the 
 stamps. In the supreme court, however, where 
 Thomas Hutchinson was chief justice, the judges 
 refused to transact any business without stamps. 
 This threatened serious interruption to business, 
 and the town of Boston addressed a memorial 
 to the governor and council, praying that the 
 supreme court might overlook the absence of 
 stamps. John Adams was unexpectedly chosen, 
 along with Jeremiah Gridley and James Otis, as 
 counsel for the town, to argue the case in favor 
 of the memorial. Adams delivered the opening 
 argument, and took the decisive ground that the 
 stamp act was ipso facto null and void, since it 
 was a measure of taxation which the people of the 
 colony had taken no share in passing. No such 
 measure, he declared, could be held as binding in 
 America, and parliament had no right to tax the 
 colonies. The governor and council refused to act 
 in the matter, but presently the repeal of the stamp 
 act put an end to the disturbance for a while. 
 About this time -Mr. Adams began writing articles 
 for the Boston "Gazette." Four of these articles, 
 dealing with the constitutional, rights of the people 
 
JOHN ADAMS 67 
 
 of New England, were afterward republished 
 under the somewhat curious title of "An Essay 
 on the Canon and Federal Law." After ten years 
 of practice, Mr. Adams s business had become quite 
 extensive, and in 1768 he moved into Boston. The 
 attorney-general of Massachusetts, Jonathan 
 Sewall, now offered him the lucrative office of 
 advocate-general in the court of admiralty. This 
 was intended to operate as an indirect bribe by put 
 ting Mr. Adams into a position in which he could 
 not feel free to oppose the policy of the crown; 
 such insidious methods were systematically pur 
 sued by Gov. Bernard, and after him by Hutchin- 
 son. But Mr. Adams was too wary to swallow the 
 bait, and he stubbornly refused the pressing offer. 
 In 1770 came the first in the series of great acts 
 that made Mr. Adams s career illustrious. In the 
 midst of the terrible excitement aroused by the 
 "Boston Massacre" he served as counsel for Capt. 
 Preston and his seven soldiers when they were tried 
 for murder. His friend and kinsman, Josiah 
 Quincy, assisted him in this invidious task. The 
 trial was judiciously postponed for seven months 
 until the popular fury had abated. Preston and 
 five soldiers were acquitted; the other two soldiers 
 were found guilty of manslaughter, and were bar 
 barously branded on the hand with a hot iron. The 
 verdict seems to have been strictly just according 
 to the evidence presented. For his services to his 
 
68 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 eight clients Mr. Adams received a fee of nineteen 
 guineas, but never got so much as a word of thanks 
 from the churlish Preston. An ordinary American 
 politician would have shrunk from the task of de 
 fending these men, for fear of losing favor with 
 the people. The course pursued by Mr. Adams 
 showed great moral courage; and the people of 
 Boston proved themselves able to appreciate true 
 manliness by electing him as representative to the 
 legislature. This was in June, 1770, after he had 
 undertaken the case of the soldiers, but before the 
 trial. Mr. Adams now speedily became the prin 
 cipal legal adviser of the patriot party, and among 
 its foremost leaders was only less conspicuous than 
 Samuel Adams, Hancock, and Warren. In all 
 matters of legal controversy between these leaders 
 and Gov. Hutchinson his advice proved invaluable. 
 During the next two years there was something 
 of a lull in the political excitement; Mr. Adams 
 resigned his place in the legislature and moved his 
 residence to Braintree, still keeping his office in 
 Boston. 
 
 In the summer of 1772 the British government 
 ventured upon an act that went further than any 
 thing which had yet occurred toward driving the 
 colonies into rebellion. It was ordered that all the 
 Massachusetts judges holding their places during 
 the king s pleasure should henceforth have their 
 salaries paid by the crown and not by the colony. 
 
JOHN ADAMS 69 
 
 This act, which aimed directly at the independence 
 of the judiciary, aroused intense indignation, not 
 only in Massachusetts, but in the other colonies, 
 which felt their liberties threatened by such a 
 measure. It called forth from Mr. Adams a series 
 of powerful articles, which have been republished 
 in the 3d volume of his collected works. About 
 this time he was chosen member of the council, but 
 the choice was negatived by Gov. Hutchinson. 
 The five acts of parliament in April, 1774, includ 
 ing the regulating act and the Boston port bill, 
 led to the calling of the first continental congress, 
 to which Mr. Adams was chosen as one of the five 
 delegates from Massachusetts. The resolutions 
 passed by this congress on the subject of colonial 
 rights were drafted by him, and his diary and let 
 ters contain a vivid account of some of the pro 
 ceedings. On his return to Braintree he was chosen 
 a member of the revolutionary provincial congress 
 of Massachusetts, then assembled at Concord. This 
 revolutionary body had already seized the revenues 
 of the colony, appointed a committee of safety, 
 and begun to organize an army and collect arms 
 and ammunition. During the following winter the 
 views of the loyalist party were set forth with great 
 ability and eloquence in a series of newspaper 
 articles by Daniel Leonard, under the signature of 
 "Massachusettensis." He was answered most 
 effectively by Mr. Adams, whose articles, signed 
 
70 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 "Novanglus," appeared weekly in the Boston 
 "Gazette" until the battle of Lexington. The last 
 of these articles, which was actually in type in that 
 wild week, was not published. The series, which 
 has been reprinted in the 4th volume of Mr. 
 Adams s works, contains a valuable review of the 
 policy of Bernard and Hutchinson, and a power 
 ful statement of the rights of the colonies. 
 
 In the second continental congress, which assem 
 bled May 10, Mr. Adams played a very important 
 part. Of all the delegates present he was probably 
 the only one, except his cousin, Samuel Adams, 
 who was convinced that matters had gone too far 
 for any reconciliation with the mother country, and 
 that there was no use in sending any more petitions 
 to the king. As there was a strong prejudice 
 against Massachusetts on the part of the middle 
 and southern colonies, it was desirable that her dele 
 gates should avoid all appearance of undue haste 
 in precipitating an armed conflict. Nevertheless, 
 the circumstances under which an army of 16,000 
 New England men had been gathered to besiege 
 the British in Boston were such as to make it seem 
 advisable for the congress to adopt it as a conti 
 nental army; and here John Adams did the second 
 notable deed of his career. He proposed Washing 
 ton for the chief command of this army, and thus, 
 by putting Virginia in the foreground, succeeded 
 in committing that great colony to a course of 
 
JOHN ADAMS 71 
 
 action calculated to end in independence. This 
 move not only put the army in charge of the only 
 commander capable of winning independence for 
 the American people in the field, but its political 
 importance was great and obvious. Afterward in 
 some dark moments of the revolutionary war, Mr. 
 Adams seems almost to have regretted his part in 
 this selection of a commander. He understood 
 little or nothing of military affairs, and was in 
 capable of appreciating General Washington s 
 transcendent ability. The results of the war, how 
 ever, justified in every respect his action in the 
 second continental congress. 
 
 During the summer recess taken by congress, 
 Mr. Adams sat as a member of the Massachusetts 
 council, which declared the office of governor 
 vacant and assumed executive authority. Under 
 the new provisional government of Massachusetts, 
 Mr. Adams was made chief justice, but never took 
 his seat, as continental affairs more pressingly de 
 manded his attention. He was always loquacious, 
 often too ready to express his opinions, whether 
 with tongue or pen, and this trait got him more 
 than once into trouble, especially as he was inclined 
 to be sharp and censorious. For John Dickinson, 
 the leader of the moderate and temporizing party 
 in congress, who had just prevailed upon that body 
 to send another petition to the king, he seems to 
 have entertained at this time no very high regard, 
 
72 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 and he gave vent to some contemptuous expressions 
 in a confidential letter, which was captured by the 
 British and published. This led to a quarrel with 
 Dickinson, and made Mr. Adams very unpopular 
 in Philadelphia. When congress reassembled in 
 the autumn, Mr. Adams, as member of a commit 
 tee for fitting out cruisers, drew up a body of regu 
 lations, which came to form the basis of the 
 American naval code. The royal governor, Sir 
 John Wentworth, fled from New Hampshire about 
 this time, and the people sought the advice of 
 congress as to the form of government which it 
 should seem most advisable to adopt. Similar 
 applications presently came from South Carolina 
 and Virginia. Mr. Adams prevailed upon congress 
 to recommend to these colonies to form for them 
 selves new governments based entirely upon popu 
 lar suffrage ; and about the same time he published 
 a pamphlet entitled " Thoughts on Government, 
 Applicable to the Present State of the American 
 Colonies." 
 
 By the spring of 1776 the popular feeling had 
 become so strongly inclined toward independence 
 that, on May 15, Mr. Adams was able to carry 
 through congress a resolution that all the colonies 
 should be invited to form independent govern 
 ments. In the preamble to this resolution it was 
 declared that the American people could no longer 
 conscientiously take oath to support any govern- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 73 
 
 ment deriving its authority from the crown; all 
 such governments must now be suppressed, since 
 the king had withdrawn his protection from the 
 inhabitants of the united colonies. Like the famous 
 preamble to Townshend s act of 1767, this Adams 
 preamble contained within itself the gist of the 
 whole matter. To adopt it was to cross the Rubi 
 con, and it gave rise to a hot debate in congress. 
 Against the opposition of most of the delegates 
 from the middle states the resolution was finally 
 carried; "and now," exclaimed Mr. Adams, "the 
 Gordian knot is cut." Events came quickly to 
 maturity. On June 7 the declaration of independ 
 ence was moved by Richard Henry Lee, of Vir 
 ginia, and seconded by John Adams. The motion 
 was allowed to lie on the table for three weeks, in 
 order to hear from the colonies of Connecticut, 
 New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela 
 ware, Maryland, and New York, which had not 
 yet declared their position with regard to independ 
 ence. Meanwhile three committees were appointed, 
 one on a declaration of independence, a second on 
 confederation, and a third on foreign relations ; and 
 Mr. Adams was a member of the first and third of 
 these committees. On July 1 Mr. Lee s motion 
 was taken up by congress sitting as a committee 
 of the whole ; and, as Mr. Lee was absent, the task 
 of defending it devolved upon Mr. Adams, who, 
 as usual, was opposed by Dickinson. Adams s 
 
74 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 speech on that occasion was probably the finest he 
 ever delivered. Jefferson called him "the colossus 
 of that debate"; and indeed his labors in bringing 
 about the declaration of independence must be con 
 sidered as the third signal event of his career. 
 
 On June 12 congress established a board of war 
 and ordnance, with Mr. Adams for its chairman, 
 and he discharged the arduous duties of this office 
 until after the surrender of Burgoyne. After the 
 battle of Long Island, Lord Howe sent the cap 
 tured Gen. Sullivan to Philadelphia, soliciting a 
 conference with some of the members of the 
 congress. Adams opposed the conference, and 
 with characteristic petulance alluded to the unfor 
 tunate Sullivan as a decoy duck who had much bet 
 ter have been shot in the battle than sent on such a 
 business. Congress, however, consented to the con 
 ference, and Adams was chosen as a commissioner, 
 along with Franklin and Rutledge. Toward the 
 end of the year 1777 Mr. Adams was appointed to 
 supersede Silas Deane as commissioner to France. 
 He sailed February 12, 1778, in the frigate "Bos 
 ton," and after a stormy passage, in which he ran 
 no little risk of capture by British cruisers, he 
 landed at Bordeaux, and reached Paris on April 8. 
 Long before his arrival the alliance with France 
 had been consummated. He found a wretched 
 state of things in Paris, our three commissioners 
 there at loggerheads, one of them dabbling in the 
 
JOHN ADAMS 75 
 
 British funds and making a fortune by privateer 
 ing, while the public accounts were kept in the 
 laxest manner. All sorts of agents were drawing 
 bills upon the United States, and commanders of 
 war vessels were setting up their claims for ex 
 penses and supplies that had never been ordered. 
 
 Mr. Adams, whose habits of business were ex 
 tremely strict and methodical, was shocked at this 
 confusion, and he took hold of the matter with 
 such vigor as to put an end to it. He also recom 
 mended that the representation of the United 
 States at the French court should be intrusted to 
 a single minister instead of three commissioners. 
 As a result of this advice, Franklin was retained 
 at Paris, Arthur Lee was sent to Madrid, and 
 Adams, being left without any instructions, re 
 turned to America, reaching Boston August 2, 
 1779. He came home with a curious theory of the 
 decadence of Great Britain, which he had learned 
 in France, and which serves well to illustrate the 
 mood in which France had undertaken to assist 
 the United States. England, he said, "loses every 
 day her consideration, and runs toward her ruin. 
 Her riches, in which her power consisted, she has 
 lost with us and never can regain. She resembles 
 the melancholy spectacle of a great, wide-spreading 
 tree that has been girdled at the root." Such 
 absurd notions were quite commonly entertained 
 at that time on the continent of Europe, and such 
 
76 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 calamities were seriously dreaded by many English 
 men in the event of the success of the Americans. 
 
 Immediately on reaching home Mr. Adams was 
 chosen delegate from Braintree to the convention 
 for framing a new constitution for Massachusetts; 
 but before the work of the convention was finished 
 he was appointed commissioner to treat for peace 
 with Great Britain, and sailed for France in the 
 same French frigate in which he had come home. 
 But Lord North s government was not ready to 
 make peace, and, moreover, Count Vergennes con 
 trived to prevent Adams from making any official 
 communication to Great Britain of the extent of 
 his powers. During Adams s stay in Paris a 
 mutual dislike and distrust grew up between him 
 self and Vergennes. The latter feared that if 
 negotiations were to begin between the British gov 
 ernment and the United States, they might lead 
 to a reconciliation and reunion of the two branches 
 of the English race, and thus ward off that de 
 cadence of England for which France was so 
 eagerly hoping. 
 
 On the other hand, Adams quite correctly be 
 lieved that it was the intention of Vergennes to 
 sacrifice the interests of the Americans, especially 
 as concerned with the Newfoundland fisheries and 
 the territory between the Alleghanies and the Mis 
 sissippi, in favor of Spain, with which country 
 France was then in close alliance. Americans must 
 
JOHN ADAMS 77 
 
 always owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Adams for 
 the clear-sightedness with which he thus read the 
 designs of Vergennes and estimated at its true 
 value the purely selfish intervention of France in 
 behalf of the United States. This clearness of 
 insight was soon to bear good fruit in the manage 
 ment of the treaty of 1783. For the present, 
 Adams found himself uncomfortable in Paris, as 
 his too ready tongue wrought unpleasantness both 
 with Vergennes and with Franklin, who was too 
 much under the French minister s influence. On 
 his first arrival in Paris society there had been 
 greatly excited about him, as it was supposed that 
 he was "the famous Mr. Adams" who had ordered 
 the British troops out of Boston in March, 1770, 
 and had thrown down the glove of defiance to 
 George III. on the great day of the Boston tea- 
 party. When he explained that he was only a 
 cousin of that grand and picturesque personage, 
 he found that fashionable society thenceforth took 
 less interest in him. 
 
 In the summer of 1780 Mr. Adams was charged 
 by congress with the business of negotiating a 
 Dutch loan. In order to give the good people of 
 Holland some correct ideas as to American affairs, 
 he published a number of articles in the Leyden 
 "Gazette" and in a magazine entitled "La politique 
 hollandaise" ; also "Twenty-six Letters upon Inter 
 esting Subjects respecting the Revolution in 
 
78 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 America," now reprinted in the 7th volume of 
 his works. Soon after Adams s arrival in Holland, 
 England declared war against the Dutch, osten 
 sibly because of a proposed treaty of commerce 
 with the United States in which the burgomaster 
 of Amsterdam was implicated with Henry Laurens, 
 but really because Holland had joined the league 
 headed by the empress Catharine of Russia, de 
 signed to protect the commerce of neutral nations 
 and known as the armed neutrality. Laurens had 
 been sent out by congress as minister to Holland; 
 but, as he had been captured by a British cruiser 
 and taken to the tower of London, Mr. Adams was 
 appointed minister in his place. His first duty was 
 to sign, as representing the United States, the 
 articles of the armed neutrality. Before he had 
 got any further, indeed before he had been recog 
 nized as minister by the Dutch government, he was 
 called back to Paris, in July, 1781, in order to be 
 ready to enter upon negotiations for peace with 
 the British government. Russia and Austria had 
 volunteered their services as mediators between 
 George III. and the Americans; but Lord North s 
 government rejected the offer, so that Mr. Adams 
 had his journey for nothing, and presently went 
 back to Holland. His first and most arduous task 
 was to persuade the Dutch government to recog 
 nize him as minister from the independent United 
 States. In this he was covertly opposed by Ver- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 79 
 
 gennes, who wished the Americans to feel ex 
 clusively dependent upon France, and to have no 
 other friendships or alliances. From first to last 
 the aid extended by France to the Americans in 
 the revolutionary war was purely selfish. That 
 despotic government wished no good to a people 
 struggling to preserve the immemorial principles 
 of English liberty, and the policy of Vergennes 
 was to extend just enough aid to us to enable us 
 to prolong the war, so that colonies and mother 
 country might alike be weakened. When he pre 
 tended to be the disinterested friend of the Ameri 
 cans, he professed to be under the influence of senti 
 ments that he did not really feel; and he thus suc 
 ceeded in winning from congress a confidence to 
 which he was in no wise entitled. But he could not 
 hoodwink John Adams, who wrote home that the 
 duke de la Vauguyon, the French ambassador at 
 The Hague, was doing everything in his power to 
 obstruct the progress of the negotiations; and in 
 this, Adams correctly inferred, he was acting under 
 secret instructions from Vergennes. As a diplo 
 matist Adams was in a certain sense Napoleonic; 
 he introduced new and strange methods of war 
 fare, which disconcerted the perfidious intriguers 
 of the old school, of which Vergennes and Talley 
 rand were typical examples. Instead of beating 
 about the bush and seeking to foil trickery by 
 trickery (a business in which the wily Frenchman 
 
80 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 would doubtless have proved more than his match) , 
 he went straight to the duke de la Vauguyon and 
 bluntly told him that he saw plainly what he was 
 up to and that it was of no use, since "no advice 
 of his or of the count de Vergennes, nor even a 
 requisition from the king, should restrain me." 
 The duke saw that Adams meant exactly what he 
 said, and, finding that it was useless to oppose the 
 negotiations, "fell in with me, in order to give the 
 air of French influence" to them. Events worked 
 steadily and rapidly in Adams s favor. The 
 plunder of St. Eustatius early in 1781 had raised 
 the wrath of the Dutch against Great Britain to 
 fever heat. 
 
 In November came tidings of the surrender of 
 Lord Cornwallis. By this time Adams had pub 
 lished so many articles as to have given the Dutch 
 some idea as to what sort of people the Americans 
 were. He had some months before presented a 
 petition to the states general, asking them to recog 
 nize him as minister from an independent nation. 
 With his wonted boldness he now demanded a plain 
 and unambiguous answer to this petition, and fol 
 lowed up the demand by visiting the representa 
 tives of the several cities in person and arguing his 
 case. As the reward of this persistent energy, Mr. 
 Adams had the pleasure of seeing the independence 
 of the United States formally recognized by Hol 
 land on April 19, 1782. This success was vigor- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 81 
 
 ously followed up. A Dutch loan of $2,000,000 
 was soon negotiated, and on October 7 a treaty 
 of amity and commerce, the second which was rati 
 fied with the United States as an independent 
 nation, was signed at The Hague. This work in 
 Holland was the fourth signal event in John 
 Adams s career, and, in view of the many obstacles 
 overcome, he was himself in the habit of referring 
 to it as the greatest triumph of his life. "One 
 thing, thank God! is certain," he wrote; "I have 
 planted the American standard at The Hague. 
 There let it wave and fly in triumph over Sir 
 Joseph Yorke and British pride. I shall look down 
 upon the flag-staff with pleasure from the other 
 world." 
 
 Mr. Adams had hardly time to finish this work 
 when his presence was required in Paris. Negotia 
 tions for peace with Great Britain had begun some 
 time before in conversations between Franklin and 
 Richard Oswald, a gentleman whom Lord Shel- 
 burne had sent to Paris for the purpose. One 
 British ministry had already been wrecked through 
 these negotiations, and affairs had dragged along 
 slowly amid endless difficulties.. The situation was 
 one of the most complicated in the history of 
 diplomacy. France was in alliance at once with 
 Spain and with the United States, and her treaty 
 obligations to the one were in some respects incon 
 sistent with her treaty obligations to the other. 
 
82 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 The feeling of Spain toward the United States 
 was intensely hostile, and the French government 
 was much more in sympathy with the former than 
 with the latter. On the other hand, the new British 
 government w is not ill-disposed toward the Ameri 
 cans, and was extremely ready to make liberal con 
 cessions to them for the sake of thwarting the 
 schemes of France. In the background stood 
 George III., surly and irreconcilable, hoping that 
 the negotiations would fail; and amid these diffi 
 culties they doubtless would have failed had not 
 all the parties by this time had a surfeit of blood 
 shed. 
 
 The designs of the French government were first 
 suspected by John Jay, soon after his arrival in 
 Paris. He found that Vergennes was sending a 
 secret emissary to Lord Shelburne under an 
 assumed name; he ascertained that the right of the 
 United States to the Mississippi valley was to be 
 denied; and he got hold of a despatch from Mar- 
 bois, the French secretary of legation at Phila 
 delphia, to Vergennes, opposing the American 
 claim to the Newfoundland fisheries. As soon as 
 Jay learned these facts he proceeded, without the 
 knowledge of Franklin, to take steps toward a 
 separate negotiation between Great Britain and the 
 United States. When Adams arrived in Paris, 
 October 26, he coincided with Jay s views, and the 
 two together overruled Franklin. Mr. Adams s be- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 83 
 
 havior at this time was quite characteristic. It is 
 said that he left Vergennes to learn of his arrival 
 through the newspapers. It was certainly some 
 time before he called upon him, and he took 
 occasion, besides, to express his opinions about re 
 publics and monarchies in terms that courtly 
 Frenchman thought very rude. Adams agreed 
 with Jay that Vergennes should be kept as far as 
 possible in the dark until everything was completed, 
 and so the negotiation with Great Britain went on 
 separately. The annals of modern diplomacy have 
 afforded few stranger spectacles. With the indis 
 pensable aid of France we had just got the better 
 of England in fight, and now we proceeded 
 amicably to divide territory and commercial privi 
 leges with the enemy, and to make arrangements 
 in which our not too friendly ally was virtually 
 ignored. In this way the United States secured 
 the Mississippi Valley, and a share in the New 
 foundland fisheries, not as a privilege but as a right, 
 the latter result being mainly due to the persistence 
 of Mr. Adams. The point upon which the British 
 Commissioners most strongly insisted was the com 
 pensation of the American loyalists for the hard 
 ships they had suffered during the war; but this 
 the American commissioners resolutely refused. 
 The most they could be prevailed upon to allow was 
 the insertion in the treaty of a clause to the effect 
 that congress should recommend to the several state 
 
84 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 governments to reconsider their laws against the 
 tories and to give these unfortunate persons a 
 chance to recover their property. 
 
 In the treaty, as finally arranged, all the disputed 
 points were settled in favor of the Americans ; and, 
 the United States being thus virtually detached 
 from the alliance, the British government was 
 enabled to turn a deaf ear to the demands of 
 France and Spain for the surrender of Gibraltar. 
 Vergennes was outgeneralled at every turn. On 
 the part of the Americans the treaty of 1783 de 
 serves to be ranked as one of the most brilliant 
 triumphs of modern diplomacy. Its success was 
 about equally due to Adams and to Jay, whose 
 courage in the affair was equal to their skill, for 
 they took it upon themselves to disregard the ex 
 plicit instructions of congress. Ever since March, 
 1781, Vergennes had been intriguing with congress 
 through his minister at Philadelphia, the chevalier 
 de la Luzerne. First he had tried to get Mr. 
 Adams recalled to America. Failing in this, he 
 had played his part with such dexterous persistence 
 as to prevail upon congress to send most pusillani 
 mous instructions to its peace commissioners. They 
 were instructed to undertake nothing whatever in 
 the negotiations without the knowledge and con 
 currence of "the ministers of our generous ally, 
 the king of France," that is to say, of the count de 
 Vergennes ; and they were to govern themselves en- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 85 
 
 tirely by his advice and opinion. Franklin would 
 have followed these instructions; Adams and Jay 
 deliberately disobeyed them, and earned the grati 
 tude of their countrymen for all coming time. For 
 Adams s share in this grand achievement it must 
 certainly be cited as the fifth signal event in his 
 career. 
 
 By this time he had become excessively home 
 sick, and as soon as the treaty was arranged he 
 asked leave to resign his commissions and return to 
 America. He declared he would rather be "cart 
 ing street-dust and marsh-mud" than waiting 
 where he was. But business would not let him go. 
 In September, 1783, he was commissioned, along 
 with Franklin and Jay, to negotiate a commercial 
 treaty with Great Britain. A sudden and violent 
 fever prostrated him for several weeks, after which 
 he visited London and Bath. Before he had fully 
 recovered his health he learned that his presence was 
 required in Holland. In those days, when we lived 
 under the articles of confederation, and congress 
 found it impossible to raise money enough to meet 
 its current expenses, it was by no means unusual 
 for the superintendent of finance to draw upon our 
 foreign ministers and then sell the drafts for cash. 
 This was done again and again, when there was not 
 the smallest ground for supposing that the minister 
 upon whom the draft was made would have any 
 funds wherewith to meet it. It was part of his 
 
86 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 duty as envoy to go and beg the money. Early in 
 the winter Mr. Adams learned that drafts upon 
 him had been presented to his bankers in Amster 
 dam to the amount of more than a million florins. 
 Less than half a million florins were on hand to 
 meet these demands, and, unless something were 
 done at once, the greater part of this paper would 
 go back to America protested. Mr. Adams lost not 
 a moment in starting for Holland, but he was de 
 layed by a succession of terrible storms on the 
 German ocean, and it was only after fifty-four 
 days of difficulty and danger that he reached 
 Amsterdam. The bankers had contrived to keep 
 the drafts from going to protest, but news of the 
 bickerings between the thirteen states had reached 
 Holland. It was believed that the new nation was 
 going to pieces, and the regency of Amsterdam 
 had no money to lend it. The promise of the 
 American government was not regarded as valid 
 security for a sum equivalent to about $300,000. 
 Adams was obliged to apply to professional 
 usurers, from whom, after more humiliating per 
 plexity, he succeeded in obtaining a loan at exorbi 
 tant interest. In the meantime he had been ap 
 pointed commissioner, along with Franklin and 
 Jefferson, for the general purpose of negotiating 
 commercial treaties with foreign powers. As his 
 return to America was thus indefinitely postponed, 
 he sent for his wife, with their only daughter and 
 
JOHN ADAMS 87 
 
 youngest son, to come and join him in France, 
 where the two elder sons were already with him. 
 In the summer of 1784 the family was thus re 
 united, and began housekeeping at Auteuil, near 
 Paris. 
 
 A treaty was successfully negotiated with 
 Prussia, but, before it was ready to be signed, Mr. 
 Adams was appointed minister to the court of St. 
 James, and arrived in London in May, 1785. He 
 was at first politely received by George III., upon 
 whom his bluff and fearless dignity of manner 
 made a considerable impression. His stay in Eng 
 land was, however, far from pleasant. The king 
 came to treat him with coldness, sometimes with 
 rudeness, and the royal example was followed by 
 fashionable society. The American government 
 was losing credit at home and abroad. It was 
 unable to fulfill its treaty engagements as to the 
 payment of private debts due to British creditors, 
 and as to the protection of the loyalists. The 
 British government, in retaliation, refused to sur 
 render the western posts of Ogdensburg, Oswego, 
 Niagara, Erie, Sandusky, Detroit, and Mackinaw, 
 which by the treaty were to be promptly given up 
 to the United States. Still more, it refused to 
 make any treaty of commerce with the United 
 States, and neglected to send any minister to rep 
 resent Great Britain in this country. It was gen 
 erally supposed in Europe that the American gov- 
 
88 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 eminent would presently come to an end in general 
 anarchy and bloodshed; and it was believed by 
 George III. and the narrow-minded politicians, 
 such as Lord Sheffield, upon whose cooperation he 
 relied, that, if sufficient obstacles could be thrown 
 in the way of American commerce to cause serious 
 distress in this country, the United States would 
 repent of their independence and come straggling 
 back, one after another, to their old allegiance. 
 Under such circumstances it was impossible for 
 Mr. Adams to accomplish much as minister in Eng 
 land. During his stay there he wrote his "Defence 
 of the American Constitutions," a work which 
 afterward subjected him at home to ridiculous 
 charges of monarchical and anti-republican sym 
 pathies. The object of the book was to set forth 
 the advantages of a division of the powers of gov 
 ernment, and especially of the legislative body, as 
 opposed to the scheme of a single legislative cham 
 ber, which was advocated by many writers on the 
 continent of Europe. The argument is encum 
 bered by needlessly long and sometimes hardly rele 
 vant discussions on the history of the Italian 
 republics. 
 
 Finding the British government utterly stub 
 born and impracticable, Mr. Adams asked to be 
 recalled, and his request was granted in February, 
 1788. For the "patriotism, perseverance, integrity, 
 and diligence" displayed in his ten years of service 
 
JOHN ADAMS 89 
 
 abroad he received the public thanks of congress. 
 He had no sooner reached home than he was elected 
 a delegate from Massachusetts to the moribund 
 continental congress, but that body expired before 
 he had taken his seat in it. During the summer 
 the ratification of the new constitution was so far 
 completed that it could be put into operation, and 
 public attention was absorbed in the work of 
 organizing the new government. As Washington 
 was unanimously selected for the office of presi 
 dent, it was natural that the vice-president should 
 be taken from Massachusetts. The candidates for 
 the presidency and vice-presidency were voted for 
 without any separate specification, the second office 
 falling to the candidate who obtained the second 
 highest number of votes in the electoral college. 
 Of the 69 electoral votes, all were registered for 
 Washington, 34 for John Adams, who stood 
 second on the list ; the other 35 votes were scattered 
 among a number of candidates. Adams was some 
 what chagrined at this marked preference shown 
 for Washington. His chief foible was enormous 
 personal vanity, besides which he was much better 
 fitted by temperament and training to appreciate 
 the kind of work that he had himself done than the 
 military work by which Washington had won inde 
 pendence for the United States. He never could 
 quite understand how or why the services rendered 
 
90 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 by Washington were so much more important than 
 his own. 
 
 The office of vice-president was then more highly 
 esteemed than it afterward came to be, but it was 
 hardly suited to a man of Mr. Adams s vigorous 
 and aggressive temper. In one respect, however, 
 he performed a more important part while holding 
 that office than any of his successors. In the earlier 
 sessions of the senate there was hot debate over the 
 vigorous measures by which Washington s adminis 
 tration was seeking to reestablish American credit 
 and enlist the conservative interests of the wealthier 
 citizens in behalf of the stability of the govern 
 ment. These measures were for the most part 
 opposed by the persons who were rapidly becom 
 ing organized under Jefferson s leadership into the 
 republican party, the opposition being mainly due 
 to dread of the possible evil consequences that 
 might flow from too great an increase of power in 
 the federal government. In these debates the 
 senate was very evenly divided, and Mr. Adams, 
 as presiding officer of that body, was often enabled 
 to decide the question by his casting vote. In the 
 first congress he gave as many as twenty casting 
 votes upon questions of most vital importance to 
 the whole subsequent history of the American 
 people, and on all these occasions he supported 
 President Washington s policy. 
 
 During Washington s administration grew up 
 
JOHN ADAMS 91 
 
 the division into the two great parties which have 
 remained to this day in American politics the one 
 known as federalist, afterward as whig, then as 
 republican; the other known at first as republican 
 and afterward as democratic. John Adams was 
 by his mental and moral constitution a federalist. 
 He believed in strong government. To the 
 opposite party he seemed much less a democrat 
 than an aristocrat. In one of his essays he pro 
 voked great popular wrath by using the phrase "the 
 well-born." He knew very well that in point of 
 hereditary capacity and advantages men are not 
 equal and never will be. His notion of democratic 
 equality meant that all men should have equal 
 rights in the eye of the law. There was nothing 
 of the communist or leveller about him. He be 
 lieved in the rightful existence of a governing class, 
 which ought to be kept at the head of affairs ; and 
 he was supposed, probably with some truth, to have 
 a predilection for etiquette, titles, gentlemen-in- 
 waiting, and such things. Such views did not make 
 him an aristocrat in the true sense of the word, for 
 in nowise did he believe that the right to a place 
 in the governing class should be heritable; it was 
 something to be won by personal merit, and should 
 not be withheld by any artificial enactments from 
 the lowliest of men, to whom the chance of an illus 
 trious career ought to be just as much open as to 
 "the well-born." 
 
92 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 At the same time John Adams differed from 
 Jefferson and from his cousin, Samuel Adams, in 
 distrusting the masses. All the federalist leaders 
 shared this feeling more or less, and it presently 
 became the chief source of weakness to the party. 
 The disagreement between John Adams and 
 Jefferson was first brought into prominence by the 
 breaking out of the French revolution. Mr. 
 Adams expected little or no good from this move 
 ment, which was like the American movement in 
 no respect whatever except in being called a revo 
 lution. He set forth his views on this subject in 
 his "Discourses on Davila," which were published 
 in a Philadelphia newspaper. Taking as his text 
 Davila s history of the civil wars in France in the 
 16th century, he argued powerfully that a pure 
 democracy was not the best form of government, 
 but that a certain mixture of the aristocratic and 
 monarchical elements was necessary to the perma 
 nent maintenance of free government. Such a 
 mixture really exists in the constitution of the 
 United States, and, in the opinion of many able 
 thinkers, constitutes its peculiar excellence and the 
 best guarantee of its stability. These views gave 
 great umbrage to the extreme democrats, and in 
 the election of 1792 they set up George Clinton, 
 of New York, as a rival candidate for the vice- 
 presidency; but when the votes were counted 
 Adams had 77, Clinton 50, Jefferson 4, and Aaron 
 
JOHN ADAMS 93 
 
 Burr 1. During this administration Adams, by his 
 casting vote, defeated the attempt of the repub 
 licans to balk Jay s mission to England in advance 
 by a resolution entirely prohibiting trade with that 
 country. For a time Adams quite forgot his 
 jealousy of Washington in admiration for the 
 heroic strength of purpose with which he pursued 
 his policy of neutrality amid the furious efforts 
 of political partisans to drag the United States 
 into a rash and desperate armed struggle in sup 
 port either of France or of England. 
 
 In 1796, as Washington refused to serve for a 
 third term, John Adams seemed clearly marked out 
 as federalist candidate for the succession. Hamil 
 ton and Jay were in a certain sense his rivals ; but 
 Jay was for the moment unpopular because of the 
 famous treaty that he had lately negotiated with 
 England, and Hamilton, although the ablest man 
 in the federalist party, was still not so conspicuous 
 in the eyes of the masses of voters as Adams, who 
 besides was surer than any one else of the indis 
 pensable New England vote. Having decided 
 upon Adams as first candidate, it seemed desirable 
 to take the other from a southern state, and the 
 choice fell upon Thomas Pinckney, of South Caro 
 lina, a younger brother of Charles Cotesworth 
 Pinckney. Hamilton now began to scheme against 
 Mr. Adams in a manner not at all to his credit. 
 He had always been jealous of Adams because of 
 
94 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 his stubborn and independent character, which 
 made it impossible for him to be subservient to a 
 leader. There was not room enough in one political 
 party for two such positive and aggressive charac 
 ters. Already in the election of 1788 Hamilton 
 had contrived to diminish Adams s vote by persuad 
 ing some electors of the possible danger of a unani 
 mous and therefore equal vote for him and Wash 
 ington. Such advice could not have been candid, 
 for there was never the smallest possibility of a 
 unanimous vote for Mr. Adams. Now in 1796 he 
 resorted to a similar stratagem. The federalists 
 were likely to win the election, but had not many 
 votes to spare; the contest was evidently going to 
 be close. Hamilton accordingly urged the fed 
 eralist electors, especially in New England, to cast 
 all their votes alike for Adams and Pinckney, lest 
 the loss of a single vote by either one should give 
 the victory to Jefferson, upon whom the opposite 
 party was clearly united. Should Adams and 
 Pinckney receive an exactly equal number of votes, 
 it would remain for a federalist congress to decide 
 which should be president. 
 
 The result of the election showed 71 votes for 
 John Adams, 68 for Jefferson, 59 for Pinckney, 
 30 for Burr, 15 for Samuel Adams, and the rest 
 scattering. Two electors obstinately persisted in 
 voting for Washington. When it appeared that 
 Adams had only three more votes than Jefferson, 
 
JOHN ADAMS 95 
 
 who secured the second place instead of Pinckney, 
 it seemed on the surface as if Hamilton s advice 
 had been sound. But from the outset it had been 
 clear (and no one knew it better than Hamilton) 
 that several southern federalists would withhold 
 their votes from Adams in order to give the presi 
 dency to Pinckney, always supposing that the New 
 England electors could be depended upon to vote 
 equally for both. The purpose of Hamilton s 
 advice was to make Pinckney president and Adams 
 vice-president, in opposition to the wishes of their 
 party. This purpose was suspected in New Eng 
 land, and while some of the southern federalists 
 voted for Pinckney and Jefferson, eighteen New 
 Englanders, in voting for Adams, withheld their 
 votes from Pinckney. The result was the election 
 of a federalist president with a republican vice- 
 president. In case of the death, disability, or re 
 moval of the president, the administration would 
 fall into the hands of the opposite party. Clearly 
 a mode of election that presented such temptations 
 to intrigue, and left so much to accident, was 
 vicious and could not last long. These proceedings 
 gave rise to a violent feud between John Adams 
 and Alexander Hamilton, which ended in break 
 ing up the federalist party, and has left a legacy 
 of bitter feelings to the many descendants of those 
 two illustrious men. 
 
 The presidency of John Adams was stormy. 
 
96 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 We were entering upon that period when our party 
 strife was determined rather by foreign than by 
 American political issues, when England and 
 France, engaged in a warfare of Titans, took every 
 occasion to browbeat and insult us because we were 
 supposed to be too feeble to resent such treatment. 
 The revolutionary government of France had 
 claimed that, in accordance with our treaty with 
 that country, we were bound to support her against 
 Great Britain, at least so far as concerned the de 
 fence of the French West Indies. The republican 
 party went almost far enough in their sympathy 
 with the French to concede these claims, which, if 
 admitted by our government, would immediately 
 have got us into war with England. On the other 
 hand, the hatred felt toward France by the extreme 
 federalists was so bitter that any insult from that 
 power was enough to incline them to advocate war 
 against her and in behalf of England. Washing 
 ton, in defiance of all popular clamor, adhered to 
 a policy of strict neutrality, and in this he was 
 resolutely followed by Adams. The American 
 government was thus obliged carefully and with 
 infinite difficulty to steer between Scylla and 
 Charybdis until the overthrow of Napoleon and our 
 naval victories over England in 1812-14 put an 
 end to this humiliating state of things. Under 
 Washington s administration Gouverneur Morris 
 had been for some time minister to France, but he 
 
fa (H4</ /*. 
 
 4 
 
 [Foe-simile letter from John Adams to Judge William Cranch] 
 
JOHN ADAMS 97 
 
 was greatly disliked by the anarchical group that 
 then misruled that country. 
 
 To avoid giving offence to the French republic, 
 Washington had recalled Morris and sent James 
 Monroe in his place, with instructions to try to 
 reconcile the French to Jay s mission to England. 
 Instead of doing this, Monroe encouraged the 
 French to hope that Jay s treaty would not be 
 ratified, and Washington accordingly recalled him 
 and sent Cotesworth Pinckney in his place. En 
 raged at the ratification of Jay s treaty, the French 
 government not only gave a brilliant ovation, to 
 Monroe, but refused to receive Pinckney, ind 
 would not even allow him to stay in Paris. At the 
 same time, decrees were passed discriminating 
 against American commerce. Mr. Adams was no 
 sooner inaugurated as president than he called an 
 extra session of congress, to consider how war with 
 France should be avoided. It was decided to 
 send a special commission to France, consisting 
 of Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and 
 Elbridge Gerry. The directory would not acknowl 
 edge these commissioners and treat with them 
 openly ; but Talleyrand, who was then secretary for 
 foreign affairs, sent some of his creatures to 
 intrigue with them behind the scenes. It was pro 
 posed that the envoys should pay large sums of 
 money to Talleyrand and two or three of the 
 directors, as bribes, for dealing politely with the 
 
98 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 United States and refraining from locking up 
 American ships and stealing American goods. 
 When the envoys scornfully rejected this proposal, 
 a new decree was forthwith issued against Ameri 
 can commerce. The envoys drew up an indignant 
 remonstrance which Gerry hesitated to sign. 
 Wearied with their fruitless efforts, Marshall and 
 Pinckney left Paris. But, as Gerry was a repub 
 lican, Talleyrand thought it worth while to per 
 suade him to stay, hoping that he might prove 
 more compliant than his colleagues. 
 
 In March, 1798, Mr. Adams announced to 
 congress the failure of the mission, and advised 
 that the preparations already begun should be kept 
 up in view of the war that now seemed almost 
 inevitable. A furious debate ensued, which was 
 interrupted by a motion from the federalist side, 
 calling on the president for full copies of the 
 despatches. Nothing could have suited Mr. Adams 
 better. He immediately sent in copies complete in 
 everything except that the letters X., Y., and Z. 
 were substituted for the names of Talleyrand s 
 emissaries. Hence these papers have ever since 
 been known as the "X. Y. Z. despatches." On 
 April 8 the senate voted to publish these despatches, 
 and they aroused great excitement both in Europe 
 and in America. The British government scattered 
 them broadcast over Europe, to stir up indignation 
 against France. In America a great storm of 
 
JOHN ADAMS 99 
 
 wrath seemed for the moment to have wrecked the 
 republican party. Those who were not converted 
 to federalism were for the moment silenced. From 
 all quarters came up the war-cry, "Millions- for 
 defence; not one cent for tribute." A few excel 
 lent frigates were built, the nucleus of the gallant 
 little navy that was by and by to win such triumphs 
 over England. An army was raised, and Washing 
 ton was placed in command, with the rank of lieu 
 tenant-general. Gerry was recalled from France, 
 and the press roundly berated him for showing less 
 firmness than his colleagues, though indeed he had 
 not done anything dishonorable. During this ex 
 citement the song of "Hail Columbia" was pub 
 lished and became popular. On July 4 the effigy 
 of Talleyrand, who had once been bishop of Autun, 
 was arrayed in a surplice and burned at the stake. 
 The president was authorized to issue letters of 
 marque and reprisal, and for a time war with 
 France actually existed, though it was never 
 declared. 
 
 In February, 1799, Capt. Truxtun, in the frigate 
 "Constellation," defeated and captured the French 
 frigate "L Insurgente" near the island of St. 
 Christopher. In February, 1800, the same gallant 
 officer in a desperate battle destroyed the frigate 
 "La Vengeance," which was much his superior in 
 strength of armament. When the directory found 
 that their silly and infamous policy was likely to 
 
100 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 drive the United States into alliance with Great 
 Britain, they began to change their tactics. Talley 
 rand tried to crawl out by disavowing his emissaries 
 X. Y. Z., and pretending that the American envoys 
 had been imposed upon by irresponsible adven 
 turers. He made overtures to Vans Murray, the 
 American minister at The Hague, tending toward 
 reconciliation. Mr. Adams, while sharing the 
 federalist indignation at the behavior of France, 
 was too clear-headed not to see that the only safe 
 policy for the United States was one of strict 
 neutrality. He was resolutely determined to avoid 
 war if possible, and to meet France half-way the 
 moment she should show symptoms of a return to 
 reason. His cabinet were so far under Hamilton s 
 influence that he could not rely upon them ; indeed, 
 he had good reason to suspect them of working 
 against him. Accordingly, without consulting his 
 cabinet, on February 18, 1799, he sent to the senate 
 the nomination of Vans Murray as minister to 
 France. This bold step precipitated the quarrel 
 between Mr. Adams and his party, and during the 
 year it grew fiercer and fiercer. He joined Ells 
 worth, of Connecticut, and Davie, of North Caro 
 lina, to Vans Murray as commissioners, and awaited 
 the assurance of Talleyrand that they would be 
 properly received at Paris. On receiving this 
 assurance, though it was couched in rather insolent 
 language by the bafflecl Frenchman, the commis- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 101 
 
 sioners sailed November 5. On reaching Paris, 
 they found the directory overturned by Napoleon, 
 with whom as first consul they succeeded in adjust 
 ing the difficulties. This French mission completed 
 the split in the federalist party, and made Mr. 
 Adams s re-election impossible. The quarrel with 
 the Hamiltonians had been further embittered by 
 Adams s foolish attempt to prevent Hamilton s 
 obtaining the rank of senior major-general, for 
 which Washington had designated him, and it rose 
 to fever-heat in the spring of 1800, when Mr. 
 Adams dismissed his cabinet and selected a new one. 
 Another affair contributed largely to the down 
 fall of the federalist party. In 1798, during the 
 height of the popular fury against France, the 
 federalists in congress presumed too much upon 
 their strength, and passed the famous alien and 
 sedition acts. By the first of these acts, aliens were 
 rendered liable to summary banishment from the 
 United States at the sole discretion of the presi 
 dent; and any alien who should venture to return 
 from such banishment was liable to imprisonment 
 at hard labor for life. By the sedition act, any 
 scandalous or malicious writing against the presi 
 dent or either house of congress was liable to be 
 dealt with in the United States courts and punished 
 by fine and imprisonment. This act contravened 
 the constitutional amendment that forbids all in 
 fringement of freedom of speech and of the press, 
 
102 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 and both acts aroused more widespread indigna 
 tion than any others that have ever passed in 
 congress. They called forth from the southern re 
 publicans the famous Kentucky and Virginia reso 
 lutions of 1798- 99, which assert, though in 
 language open to some latitude of interpretation, 
 the right of a state to "nullify" or impede the 
 execution of a law deemed unconstitutional. 
 
 In the election of 1800 the federalist votes were 
 given to John Adams and Cotesworth Pinckney, 
 and the republican votes to Jefferson and Burr. 
 The count showed 65 votes for Adams, 64 for 
 Pinckney, and 1 for Jay, while Jefferson and Burr 
 had each 73, and the election was thus thrown into 
 the house of representatives. Mr. Adams took no 
 part in the intrigues that followed. His last con 
 siderable public act, in appointing John Marshall 
 to the chief justiceship of the United States, turned 
 out to be of inestimable value to the country, and 
 was a worthy end to a great public career. Very 
 different, and quite unworthy of such a man as 
 John Adams, was the silly and puerile fit of rage 
 in which he got up before daybreak of March 4 
 and started in his coach for Massachusetts, instead 
 of waiting to see the inauguration of his success 
 ful rival. On several occasions John Adams s 
 career shows us striking examples of the demoraliz 
 ing effects of stupendous personal vanity, but on 
 no occasion more strikingly than this. He went 
 
JOHN ADAMS 103 
 
 home with a feeling that he had been disgraced by 
 his failure to secure a re-election. Yet in estimat 
 ing his character we must not forget that in his 
 resolute insistence upon the French mission of 1799 
 he did not stop for a moment to weigh the probable 
 effect of his action upon his chances for election. 
 He acted as a true patriot, ready to sacrifice him 
 self for the welfare of his country, never regretted 
 the act, and always maintained that it was the most 
 meritorious of his life. "I desire," he said, "no 
 other inscription over my grave-stone than this: 
 Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the 
 responsibility of the peace with France in the year 
 1800." He was entirely right, as all disinterested 
 writers now agree. 
 
 After so long and brilliant a career, he now 
 passed a quarter of a century in his home at Quincy 
 (as that part of Braintree was now called) in 
 peaceful and happy seclusion, devoting himself 
 to literary work relating to the history of his times. 
 In 1820 the aged statesman was chosen delegate 
 to the convention for revising the constitution of 
 Massachusetts, and labored unsuccessfully to obtain 
 an acknowledgment of the equal rights, political 
 and religious, of others than so-called Christians. 
 His friendship with Jefferson, which had been 
 broken off by their political differences, was re 
 sumed in his old age, and an interesting correspond 
 ence was kept up between the two. As a writer of 
 
104 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 English, John Adams in many respects surpassed 
 all his American contemporaries ; his style was crisp, 
 pungent, and vivacious. In person he was of 
 middle height, vigorous, florid, and somewhat cor 
 pulent, quite like the typical John Bull. He was 
 always truthful and outspoken, often vehement and 
 brusque. Vanity and loquacity, as he freely ad 
 mitted, were his chief foibles. Without being quar 
 relsome, he had little or none of the tact that avoids 
 quarrels ; but he harbored no malice, and his anger, 
 though violent, was short-lived. Among American 
 public men there has been none more upright and 
 honorable. He lived to see his son president of the 
 United States, and died on the fiftieth anniversary 
 of the declaration of independence and in the 
 ninety-first year of his age. His last words were, 
 "Thomas Jefferson still survives." But, by a re 
 markable coincidence, Jefferson had died a few 
 hours earlier the same day. See "Life and Works 
 of John Adams," by Charles Francis Adams (10 
 vols., Boston, 1850- 56) ; "Life of John Adams," 
 by J. Q. and C. F. Adams (2 vols., Philadelphia, 
 1871) ; and "John Adams," by J. T. Morse, Jr. 
 (Boston, 1885). 
 
 The full-page portrait that accompanies this 
 biography is copied from a painting by Gilbert 
 Stuart, which was executed while Mr. Adams was 
 president, and is now in the possession of a great- 
 grandson. 
 
JOHN ADAMS 105 
 
 ABIGAIL ADAMS (SMITH), wife of John Adams, 
 born in Weymouth, Mass., November 23, 1744; 
 died in Quincy, Mass., October 28, 1818. Her 
 father, the Rev. William Smith, was for more than 
 forty years minister of the Congregational church 
 in Weymouth. Her mother, Elizabeth Quincy, 
 was a great-great-granddaughter of the eminent 
 Puritan divine, Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, 
 and great-grandniece of the Rev. John Norton, of 
 Boston. She was among the most remarkable 
 women of the revolutionary period. Her educa 
 tion, so far as books were concerned, was but scanty. 
 Of delicate and nervous organization, she was so 
 frequently ill during childhood and youth that she 
 was never sent to any school; but her loss in this 
 respect was not so great as might appear ; for, while 
 the New England clergymen at that time were 
 usually men of great learning, the education of 
 their daughters seldom went further than writing 
 or arithmetic, with now and then a smattering of 
 what passed current as music. In the course of her 
 long life she became extensively acquainted with 
 the best English literature, and she wrote in a terse, 
 vigorous, and often elegant style. Her case may 
 well be cited by those who protest against the exag 
 gerated value commonly ascribed to the routine of 
 a school education. Her early years were spent in 
 seclusion, but among people of learning and polit 
 ical sagacity. On October 25, 1764, she was mar- 
 
106 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ried to John Adams, then a young lawyer practis 
 ing in Boston, and for the next ten years her life 
 was quiet and happy, though she shared the intense 
 interest of her husband in the fierce disputes that 
 were so soon to culminate in war. During this 
 period she became the mother of a daughter and 
 three sons. Ten years of doubt and anxiety fol 
 lowed during which Mrs. Adams was left at home 
 in Braintree, while her husband was absent, first as 
 a delegate to the Continental Congress, afterward 
 on diplomatic business in Europe. In the zeal and 
 determination with which John Adams urged on 
 the declaration of independence he was stanchly 
 supported by his brave wife, a circumstance that 
 used sometimes to be jocosely alleged in explana 
 tion of his superiority in boldness to John Dickin 
 son, the women of whose household were per 
 petually conjuring up visions of the headsman s 
 block. In 1784 Mrs. Adams joined her husband 
 in France, and early in the following year she 
 accompanied him to London. With the recent loss 
 of the American colonies rankling in the minds 
 of George III. and his queen, it was hardly to be 
 expected that much courtesy would be shown to the 
 first minister from the United States or to his wife. 
 Mrs. Adams was treated with rudeness, which she 
 seems to have remembered vindictively. "Humilia 
 tion for Charlotte," she wrote some years later, "is 
 no sorrow for me." From 1789 to 1801 her resi- 
 
JOHN ADAMS 107 
 
 dence was at the seat of our federal government. 
 The remainder of her life was passed in Braintree 
 (in the part called Quincy), and her lively interest 
 in public affairs was kept up till the day of her 
 death. Mrs. Adams was a woman of sunny dis 
 position, and great keenness and sagacity. Her 
 letters are extremely valuable for the light they 
 throw upon the life of the times. See "Familiar 
 Letters of John Adams and his Wife, Abigail 
 Adams, during the Revolution/* with a memoir by 
 Charles Francis Adams (New York, 1876). 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES PARTON 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON,, third president of the 
 United States, born in Shadwell, Albemarle 
 County, Virginia, April 2, 1743; died at Monti- 
 cello, in the same county, July 4, 1826. His father 
 was Peter Jefferson, who, with the aid of thirty 
 slaves, tilled a tobacco and wheat farm of 1,900 
 acres; a man physically strong, a good mathemati 
 cian, skilled in surveying, fond of standard litera 
 ture, and in politics a British Whig. Like his 
 fathers before him, Peter Jefferson was a justice 
 of the peace, a vestryman of his parish, and a mem 
 ber of the colonial legislature. The first of the 
 Virginia Jeffersons, who were of Welsh extraction, 
 was a member of the Virginia legislature of 1619, 
 noted as the first legislative body ever convened on 
 the western continent. Peter married in 1738 
 Jane, daughter of Isham Randolph, a wealthy 
 and conspicuous member of the family of that 
 name. Of their ten children, Thomas was the third, 
 born in a plain, spacious farm-house, traces of 
 which still exist. He inherited a full measure of 
 his father s bodily strength and stature, both hav 
 ing been esteemed in their prime the strongest men 
 
 111 
 
112 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 of their county. He inherited also his father s 
 inclination to liberal politics, his taste for litera 
 ture, and his aptitude for mathematics. Peter 
 Jefferson died in 1757, when his son Thomas was 
 fourteen years of age. On his death-bed he left 
 an injunction that the education of his son, already 
 well advanced in a preparatory school, should be 
 completed at the College of William and Mary, a 
 circumstance which his son always remembered with 
 gratitude, saying that, if he had to choose between 
 the education and the estate his father left him, he 
 would choose the education. His schoolmates re 
 ported that at school he was noted for good scholar 
 ship, industry, and shyness. Without leaving his 
 father s land he could shoot turkeys, deer, foxes, 
 and other game. His father in his last hours had 
 specially charged his mother not to permit him to 
 neglect the exercise requisite for health and 
 strength; but the admonition was scarcely neces 
 sary, for the youth was a keen hunter and had been 
 taught by his father to swim his horse over the 
 Rivanna, a tributary of the James, which flowed 
 by the estate. 
 
 The Jeffersons were a musical family; the girls 
 sang the songs of the time, and Thomas, practising 
 the violin assiduously from boyhood, became an 
 excellent performer. At seventeen, when he 
 entered the College of William and Mary, he was 
 tall, raw-boned, freckled, and sandy-haired, with 
 
From the painting by Mather Brown, owned by Heiiry Adams, Washington, D< C. 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 113 
 
 large feet and hands, thick wrists, and prominent 
 cheek-bones and chin. His comrades described him 
 as far from handsome, a fresh, healthy-looking 
 youth, very erect, agile, and strong, with something 
 of rusticity in his air and demeanor. The college 
 was not then efficient nor well equipped, but there 
 was one true educator connected with it, Dr. Wil 
 liam Small, of Scotland, professor of mathematics. 
 Jefferson gratefully remembered him as an ardent 
 student of science, who possessed a happy talent 
 for communicating knowledge, a man of agreeable 
 manners and enlightened mind. He goes so far 
 as to say in his autobiography that his coming 
 under the influence of Dr. Small "probably fixed 
 the destinies of my life." The learned and genial 
 professor became attached to his receptive pupil, 
 made him the daily companion of his walks, and 
 gave him those views of the connection of the 
 sciences and of the system of things of which man 
 is a part which then prevailed in the advanced scien 
 tific circles of Europe. Prof. Small was a friend 
 of the poet Erasmus Darwin, progenitor of an 
 illustrious line of learned men. Jefferson was a 
 hard student in college, and at times forgot his 
 father s dying injunction as to exercise. He kept 
 horses at Williamsburg, but as his love of knowl 
 edge increased his rides became shorter and less 
 frequent, and even his beloved violin was neglected. 
 There was a time, as he remembered, when he 
 
LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 studied fifteen hours a day. Once a week the 
 lieutenant-governor, Francis Fauquier, had a 
 musical party at the "palace/ to which the guests, 
 in the good old style of that century, brought their 
 instruments. Jefferson was always present at these 
 parties with his violin, and participated in the con 
 cert, the governor himself being also a performer. 
 From Fauquier, a man of the world of the period, 
 he learned much of the social, political, and par 
 liamentary life of the Old World. George Wythe, 
 afterward chancellor, was then a young lawyer of 
 Williamsburg. He was one of the highly gifted 
 men that frequented the governor s table, and con 
 tributed especially to the forming of Jefferson s 
 mind. 
 
 On his graduation, Jefferson entered upon the 
 study of law, under the guidance of George Wythe. 
 As his father s estate was charged with the main 
 tenance of a large family, a profession was neces 
 sary to the student, and he entered upon his prepa 
 ration for the bar with all his energy and resolu 
 tion. On coming of age, in April, 1764, he 
 assumed the management of the estate, and was 
 appointed to two of his father s offices justice of 
 the peace and vestryman. He gave much attention 
 to the cultivation of his lands, and remained always 
 an attentive, zealous, and improving farmer. He 
 attached importance all his life to the fact that his 
 legal training was based upon the works of Lord 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 115 
 
 Coke, of whom he said that "a sounder Whig never 
 wrote, nor one of prof ounder learning in the ortho 
 dox doctrines of the British constitution, or in what 
 were called British liberties." It was his settled 
 conviction that the early drill of the colonial law 
 yers in "Coke upon Lyttleton" prepared them for 
 the part they took in resisting the unconstitutional 
 acts of the British government. Lawyers formed 
 by Coke, he would say, were all good Whigs; but 
 from the time that Blackstone became the leading 
 text-book "the profession began to slide into 
 Toryism." His own study of Coke led him to ex 
 tend his researches into the origins of British law, 
 and led him also to the rejection of the maxim of 
 Sir Matthew Hale, that Christianity is parcel of 
 the laws of England. His youthful treatise on this 
 complex and difficult point shows us at once the 
 minuteness and the extent of his legal studies. 
 
 While he was a student of law, he was an eye 
 witness of those memorable scenes in the Virginia 
 legislature which followed the passage of the 
 stamp-act. He was present as a spectator in the 
 house when Patrick Henry read his five resolutions, 
 written upon a blank leaf torn from a "Coke upon 
 Lyttleton," enunciating the principle that English 
 men living in America had all the rights of Eng 
 lishmen living in England, the chief of which was 
 that they could only be taxed by their own repre 
 sentatives. When he was an old man, seated at 
 
116 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 his table at Monticello, he loved to speak of that 
 great day, and to describe the thrill and ecstasy 
 of the. moment when the wonderful orator, inter 
 rupted by cries of "Treason," uttered the well- 
 known words of defiance: "If this be treason, 
 make the most of it!" Early in 1767, about his 
 twenty- fourth birthday, Jefferson was admitted to 
 the bar of Virginia, and entered at once upon the 
 practice of his profession. Connected through his 
 father with the yeomen of the western counties, and 
 through his mother with the wealthier planters of 
 the eastern, he had not long to wait for business. 
 His first account-book, which still exists, shows that 
 in the first year of his practice he was employed in 
 sixty-eight cases before the general court of the 
 province, besides county and office business. He 
 was an accurate, painstaking, and laborious prac 
 titioner, and his business increased until he was 
 employed in nearly five hundred cases in a single 
 year, which yielded an average profit of about one 
 pound sterling each. He was not a fluent nor a 
 forcible speaker, and his voice soon became husky 
 as he proceeded; but James Madison, who heard 
 him try a cause, reports that he acquitted himself 
 well, and spoke fluently enough for his purpose. 
 He loved the erudition of the law, and attached 
 great importance to the laws of a country as the 
 best source of its history. It was he who suggested 
 and promoted the collection of Virginia laws known 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 117 
 
 as "Henning s Statutes at Large," to which he con 
 tributed the most rare and valuable part of the 
 contents. He practised law for nearly eight years, 
 until the Revolutionary contest summoned him to 
 other labors. 
 
 His public life began May 11, 1769, when he 
 took his seat as a member of the Virginia house 
 of burgesses, Washington being also a member. 
 Jefferson was then twenty-six years old. On be 
 coming a public man he made a resolution "never 
 to engage, while in public office, in any kind of 
 enterprise for the improvement of my fortune, nor 
 to wear any other character than that of a farmer." 
 At the close of his public career of nearly half a 
 century he could say that he had kept this resolu 
 tion, and he often found the benefit of it in being 
 able to consider public questions free from the bias 
 of self-interest. This session of the burgesses was 
 short. On the third day were introduced the 
 famous four resolutions, to the effect that the 
 colonies could not be lawfully taxed by a body in 
 which they were not represented, and that they 
 might concur, cooperate, and practically unite in 
 seeking a redress of grievances. On the fifth day 
 of the session the royal governor, Lord Botetourt, 
 dissolved the house ; but the members speedily reas 
 sembled in the great room of the Raleigh tavern, 
 where similar resolutions, with others more pointed, 
 were passed. The decency and firmness of these 
 
118 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 proceedings had their effect. Before many months 
 had passed the governor summoned the assembly 
 and greeted them with the news that parliament 
 had abandoned the system of taxing the colonies 
 a delusive statement, which he, however, fully be 
 lieved himself authorized to make. Amid the joy 
 too brief of this supposed change of policy, 
 Jefferson made his first important speech in the 
 house, in which he advocated the repeal of the law 
 that obliged a master who wished to free his slaves 
 to send them out of the colony. The motion was 
 promptly rejected, and the mover, Mr. Bland, was 
 denounced as an enemy to his country. 
 
 On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married Mrs. 
 Martha Skelton, a beautiful and childless young 
 widow, daughter of John Wayles, a lawyer in large 
 practice at the Williamsburg bar. His new house 
 at Monticello was then just habitable, and he took 
 his wife home to it a few days after the ceremony. 
 Next year the death of his wife s father brought 
 them a great increase of fortune 40,000 acres of 
 land and 135 slaves, which, when the encumbrances 
 were discharged, doubled Jefferson s estate. He 
 was now a fortunate man indeed; opulent in his 
 circumstances, happily married, and soon a father. 
 We see him busied in the most pleasing kinds of 
 agriculture, laying out gardens, introducing new 
 products, arranging his farms, completing and 
 furnishing his house, and making every effort to 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 119 
 
 convert his little mountain, covered with primeval 
 forest, into an agreeable and accessible park. 
 After numerous experiments he domesticated 
 almost every tree and shrub, native and foreign, 
 that could survive the severe Virginia winter. 
 
 The contest with the king was soon renewed, 
 and the decisive year, 1774, opened. It found 
 Thomas Jefferson a thriving and busy young law 
 yer and farmer, not known beyond Virginia; but 
 when it closed he was a person of note among the 
 patriots of America, and was proscribed in Eng 
 land. It was he who prepared the "Draught of 
 Instructions" for Virginia s Delegation to the 
 Congress which met at Philadelphia in September. 
 That congress, he thought, should unite in a solemn 
 address to the king; but they should speak to him 
 in a frank and manly way, informing him, as the 
 chief magistrate of an empire governed by many 
 legislatures, that one of those legislatures namely, 
 the British parliament had encroached upon the 
 rights of thirteen others. They were also to say 
 to the king that he was no more than the chief 
 officer of the people, appointed by the laws and 
 circumscribed with definite powers. He also spoke, 
 in this very radical draught, of "the late deposition 
 of his majesty, King Charles, by the Common 
 wealth of England" as a thing obviously right. 
 He maintained that the parliament of Virginia had 
 as much right to pass laws for the government of 
 
120 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the people of England as the British legislature 
 had to pass laws for the government of the people 
 of Virginia. "Can any one reason be assigned," 
 he asked, "why a hundred and sixty thousand 
 electors in the island of Great Britain should give 
 law to four millions in the states of America?" 
 The draught, indeed, was so radical on every point 
 that it seemed to the ruling British mind of that 
 day mere insolent burlesque. It was written, how 
 ever, by Jefferson in the most modest and earnest 
 spirit, showing that, at the age of thirty-one, his 
 radical opinions were fully formed, and their ex 
 pression was wholly unqualified by a knowledge of 
 the world beyond the sea. This draught, though 
 not accepted by the convention, was published in a 
 pamphlet, copies of which were sent to England, 
 where Edmund Burke caused it to be republished 
 with emendations and additions of his own. It 
 procured for the author, to use his own language, 
 "the honor of having his name inserted in a long 
 list of proscriptions enrolled in a bill of attainder." 
 The whole truth of the controversy was given in 
 this pamphlet, without any politic reserves. 
 
 In March, 1775, Jefferson, who had been kept 
 at Monticello for some time by illness, was in Rich 
 mond as a member of the convention which assem 
 bled in the parish church of St. John to consider 
 what course Virginia should take in the crisis. It 
 was as a member of this body that Patrick Henry, 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 121 
 
 to an audience of 150 persons, spoke the prophetic 
 words in solemn tones as the key to the enigma: 
 "We must fight! The next gale that sweeps from 
 the north will bring to our ears the clash of re 
 sounding arms." These sentences, spoken -twenty- 
 seven days before the affair of Lexington, con 
 vinced the convention, and it was agreed that Vir 
 ginia should arm. A committee of thirteen was 
 appointed to arrange a plan, among the members 
 of which were Patrick Henry, George Washing 
 ton, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, the 
 speaker, Edmund Pendleton, and Thomas Jeffer 
 son. The plan they agreed upon was this: The 
 populous counties to raise and drill infantry com 
 panies; the other counties horsemen, and both to 
 wear the hunting shirt, which Col. Washington told 
 them was the best field uniform he knew of. The 
 last act of this convention was to appoint that, in 
 case a vacancy should occur in the delegation of 
 Virginia to congress, Thomas Jefferson should 
 supply the place. A vacancy occurred, and on 
 June 20, 1775, the day on which Washington re 
 ceived his commission as commander-in-chief, Jef 
 ferson reached Philadelphia, and took his seat the 
 next morning in congress. Before the sun set that 
 day congress received news of the stirring battle 
 of Bunker Hill. 
 
 Jefferson was an earnest, diligent, and useful 
 member of the congress. John Adams, his fellow- 
 
122 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 member, describes him as "so prompt, frank, ex 
 plicit, and decisive upon committees and in con 
 versation that he soon seized upon my heart." His 
 readiness in composition, his profound knowledge 
 of British law, and his innate love of freedom and 
 justice gave him solid standing in the body. On 
 his return to Virginia he was re-elected by a 
 majority that placed him third in the list of seven 
 members. After ten days vacation at home, where 
 he then had a house undergoing enlargement, and 
 a household of thirty- four whites and eighty-three 
 blacks, with farms in three counties to superintend, 
 he returned to congress to take his part in the 
 events that led to the complete and formal separa 
 tion of the colonies from the mother-country. In 
 May, 1776, the news reached congress that the Vir 
 ginia convention were unanimous for independence, 
 and on June 7 Richard Henry Lee obeyed the 
 instructions of the Virginia legislature by moving 
 that independence should be declared. On June 10 
 a committee of five was appointed to prepare a 
 draught of the Declaration Jefferson, Franklin, 
 John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. 
 Livingston. Mr. Jefferson, being the chairman of 
 the committee, was naturally asked to write the 
 document. He then lived near what is now the 
 corner of Market and Seventh streets. The paper 
 was written in a room of the second floor, upon a 
 little writing-desk three inches high, of his own 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 123 
 
 contriving, which still exists. Congress subjected 
 this draught to a severe and prolonged revision, 
 making many suppressions, additions, and altera 
 tions, most of which were improvements. One 
 passage was suppressed in which he gave ex 
 pression to the wounded feelings of the American 
 people in being so unworthily treated by brethren 
 and fellow-citizens. The document was debated in 
 congress on July 2, 3, and 4. Thursday, the 4th, 
 was a warm day, and the members in the afternoon 
 became weary and impatient with the long strain 
 upon their nerves. Jefferson used to relate with 
 much merriment that the final vote upon the 
 Declaration was hastened by swarms of flies, which 
 came from a neighboring stable, and added to the 
 discomfort of the members. A few days after 
 ward he was one of a committee to devise a seal for 
 the new-born power. Among their suggestions 
 (and this was the only one accepted by congress) 
 was the best legend ever appropriated, E pluribus 
 unum, a phrase that had served as a motto on the 
 cover of the "Gentleman s Magazine" for many 
 years. It was originally borrowed from a humor 
 ous poem of Virgil s. 
 
 Having thus linked his name imperishably with 
 the birthday of the nation, Jefferson resigned his 
 seat in congress, on the ground that the health of 
 his wife and the condition of his household made 
 his presence in Virginia indispensable. He had also 
 
124 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 been again elected a member of the Virginia legis 
 lature, and his heart was set upon the work of purg 
 ing the statute-books of unsuitable laws, and bring 
 ing up Virginia to the level of the Declaration. 
 He had formed a high conception of the excellence 
 of the New England governments, and wished to 
 introduce into his native state the local institutions 
 that had enabled those states to act with such 
 efficiency during the war. After some stay at home 
 he entered upon this work at Williamsburg, where, 
 October 8, 1776, a messenger from congress in 
 formed him that he had been elected joint commis 
 sioner, with Franklin and Deane, to represent the 
 United States at Paris. After three days of con 
 sideration, he resisted the temptation to go abroad, 
 feeling that his obligations to his family and his 
 state made it his duty to remain at home. In re 
 organizing Virginia, Jefferson and his friends 
 struck first at the system of entail, which, after 
 three weeks earnest debate, was totally destroyed, 
 so that all property in Virginia was held in fee 
 simple and could be sold for debt. He next at 
 tempted, by a short and simple enactment, to 
 abolish the connection between church and state. 
 He was able to accomplish but a small portion of 
 this reform at that session, but the work was begun, 
 and nine years later the law drawn by Jefferson, 
 entitled "An Act for establishing Religious Free 
 dom," completed the severance. This triumph of 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 125 
 
 equal rights over ancient prejudices and restriction 
 Jefferson always regarded as one of his most im 
 portant contributions to the happiness of his coun 
 try. Some of his utterances on this subject have 
 passed into familiar proverbs: "Government has 
 nothing to do with opinion," "Compulsion makes 
 hypocrites, not converts," "It is error alone which 
 needs the support of government; truth can stand 
 by itself." 
 
 It was he who drew the bill for establishing 
 courts of law in the state, and for prescribing their 
 powers and methods. It was he also who caused 
 the removal of the capital to Richmond. He car 
 ried the bill extirpating the principle of primogeni 
 ture. It was the committee of which he was chair 
 man that abolished the cruel penalties of the ancient 
 code, and he made a most earnest attempt to estab 
 lish a system of public education in the state. Dur 
 ing two years he and his colleagues, Hamilton, 
 Wythe, Mason and Francis Lightfoot Lee, toiled 
 at the reconstruction of Virginia law, during which 
 they accomplished all that was then possible, be 
 sides proposing many measures that were passed 
 at a later day. He could write to Dr. Franklin in 
 1777 that the people of Virginia had "laid aside the 
 monarchical and taken up the republican govern 
 ment with as much ease as would have attended 
 their throwing off an old and putting on a new 
 suit of clothes." It was Jefferson and his friends 
 
126 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 who wrought this salutary change, and they were 
 able to effect it because, during the first three years 
 of the war, Virginia was almost exempt from dis 
 turbance. In the spring of 1779, when Burgoyne s 
 army, as prisoners of war, were encamped near 
 Monticello, Jefferson was assiduous in friendly 
 attentions both to the British and the Hessians, 
 throwing open his house and grounds to them, and 
 arranging many agreeable concerts for their enter 
 tainment. A British captain, himself a good 
 violinist, who played duets with Jefferson at this 
 time, told the late Gen. John A. Dix, of New York, 
 that Thomas Jefferson was the best amateur he had 
 ever heard. 
 
 In January, 1779, the Virginia legislature elected 
 Jefferson governor of the state, to succeed Patrick 
 Henry, whose third term ended on June 1. The 
 two years of his governorship proved to be the 
 severest trial of his life. With slender and fast 
 diminishing resources, he had to keep up the Vir 
 ginia regiments in the army of Washington, and 
 at the same time to send all possible supplies to the 
 support of Gen. Gates in his southern campaign. 
 The western Indians were a source of constant 
 solicitude, and they were held in check by that brave 
 and energetic neighbor of Gov. Jefferson, George 
 Rogers Clarke. The British and Hessian prisoners 
 also had to be supplied and guarded. In the midst 
 of his first anxieties he began the reorganization 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 127 
 
 that he had long desired of the College of William 
 and Mary. Soon, however, his attention was wholly 
 absorbed by the events of the war. On August 16, 
 1780, occurred the disastrous defeat of Gates at 
 Camden, which destroyed in a day all that Jeffer 
 son had toiled to accumulate in warlike material 
 during eight agonizing weeks. On the last day of 
 1780, Arnold s fleet of twenty-seven sail anchored 
 in Chesapeake bay, and Arnold, with nine hundred 
 men, penetrated as far as Richmond; but Jeffer 
 son had acted with so much promptitude, and was 
 so ably seconded by the county militia, that the 
 traitor held Richmond but twenty-three hours, and 
 escaped total destruction only through a timely 
 change in the wind, which bore him down the river 
 with extraordinary swiftness. In five days from 
 the first summons twenty-five hundred militia were 
 in pursuit of Arnold, and hundreds more were com 
 ing in every hour. For eighty- four hours Gov. 
 Jefferson was almost continuously in the saddle; 
 and for many months after Arnold s first repulse, 
 not only the governor, but all that Virginia had 
 left of manhood, resources, and credit were ab 
 sorbed in the contest. 
 
 Four times in the spring of 1781 the legislature 
 of Virginia was obliged to adjourn and fly before 
 the approach or the threat of an enemy. Monti- 
 cello was captured by a troop of horse, and Jeffer 
 son himself narrowly escaped. Cornwallis lived for 
 
128 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ten days in the governor s house at Elk Hill, a hun 
 dred miles down the James, where he destroyed all 
 the growing crops, burned the barns, carried off 
 the horses, killed the colts, and took away twenty- 
 seven slaves. During the public disasters of that 
 time there was the usual disposition among a por 
 tion of the people to cast the blame upon the ad 
 ministration, and Jefferson himself was of the 
 opinion that, in such a desperate crisis, it was best 
 that the civil and the military power should be 
 intrusted to the same hand. He therefore declined 
 a re-election to a third term, and induced his friends 
 to support Gen. Thomas Nelson, commander-in- 
 chief of the militia, who was elected. The capture 
 of Cornwallis in November, 1781, atoned for all 
 the previous suffering and disaster. A month later 
 Jefferson rose in his place in the legislature and 
 declared his readiness to answer any charges that 
 might be brought against his administration of the 
 government ; but no one responded. After a pause, 
 a member offered a resolution thanking him for 
 his impartial, upright, and attentive discharge of 
 his duty, which was passed without a dissenting 
 voice. 
 
 On September 6, 1782, Jefferson s wife died, to 
 his unspeakable and lasting sorrow, leaving three 
 daughters, the youngest four months old. Dur 
 ing the stupor caused by this event he was elected 
 by a unanimous vote of congress, and, as Madison 
 
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 H ^ 
 
 W * 
 
 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 129 
 
 reports, "without a single adverse remark," pleni 
 potentiary to France, to treat for peace. He gladly 
 accepted; but, before he sailed, the joyful news 
 came that preliminaries of peace had been agreed 
 to, and he returned to Monticello. In June, 1783, 
 he was elected to congress, and in November took 
 his seat at Annapolis. Here, as chairman of a com 
 mittee on the currency, he assisted to give us the 
 decimal currency now in use. The happy idea orig 
 inated with Gouverneur Morris, of New York, but 
 with details too cumbrous for common use. Jef 
 ferson proposed our present system of dollars and 
 cents, with dimes, half-dimes, and a great gold 
 coin of ten dollars, with subdivisions, such as we 
 have now. Jefferson strongly desired also to 
 apply the decimal system to all measures. When 
 he travelled he carried with him an odometer, which 
 divided the miles into hundredths, which he called 
 cents. "I find," said he, "that every one compre 
 hends a distance readily when stated to him in miles 
 and cents; so he would in feet and cents, pounds 
 and cents." 
 
 On May 7, 1784, congress elected Jefferson for 
 a third time plenipotentiary to France, to join 
 Franklin and Adams in negotiating commercial 
 treaties with foreign powers. On July 5 he sailed 
 from Boston upon his mission and thirty-two days 
 later took up his abode in Paris. On May 2, 1785, 
 he received from Mr. Jay his commission appoint- 
 
130 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ing him sole minister plenipotentiary to the king of 
 France for three years from March 10, 1785. 
 "You replace Dr. Franklin," said the Count de 
 Vergennes to him, when he announced his appoint 
 ment. Jefferson replied: "I succeed; no one can 
 replace him." The impression that France made 
 upon Jefferson s mind was painful in the extreme. 
 While enjoying the treasures of art that Paris pre 
 sented, and particularly its music, fond of the 
 people, too, relishing their amiable manners, their 
 habits and tastes, he was nevertheless appalled at 
 the cruel oppression of the ancient system of gov 
 ernment. "The people," said he, "are ground to 
 powder by the vices of the form of government," 
 and he wrote to Madison that government by 
 hereditary rulers was a "government of wolves over 
 sheep, or kites over pigeons." Beaumarchais s 
 "Marriage of Figaro" was in its first run when 
 Jefferson settled in Paris, and the universal topic 
 of conversation was the defects of the established 
 regime. Upon the whole, he enjoyed and assidu 
 ously improved his five years residence in Europe. 
 His official labors were arduous and constant. 
 He strove, though in vain, to procure the release 
 of American captives in Algiers without paying 
 the enormous ransom demanded by the dey. With 
 little more success, he endeavored to break into the 
 French protective system, which kept from the 
 kingdom the cheap food that America could supply, 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 131 
 
 and for want of which the people were perishing 
 and the monarchy was in peril. He kept the 
 American colleges advised of the new inventions, 
 discoveries, and books of Europe. He was par 
 ticularly zealous in sending home seeds, roots, and 
 nuts for trial in American soil. During his journey 
 to Italy he procured a quantity of the choicest rice 
 for the planters of South Carolina, and he sup 
 plied Buff on with American skins, skeletons, horns, 
 and similar objects for his collection. In Paris he 
 published his "Notes on Virginia," both in French 
 and English, a work full of information concern 
 ing its main subject, and at the same time sur 
 charged with the republican sentiment then so 
 grateful to the people of France. In 1786, when 
 at length the Virginia legislature passed his "Act 
 for Freedom of Religion," he had copies of it 
 printed for distribution, and it was received with 
 rapture by the advanced Liberals. It was his cus 
 tom while travelling in France to enter the houses 
 of the peasants and converse with them upon their 
 affairs and condition. He would contrive to sit 
 upon the bed, in order to ascertain what it was made 
 of, and get a look into the boiling pot, to see what 
 was to be the family dinner. He strongly advised 
 Lafayette to do the same, saying: "You must 
 ferret the people out of their hovels as I have done, 
 look into their kettles, eat their bread, loll on their 
 beds, on pretence of resting yourself, but in fact 
 
132 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 to find if they are soft." His letters are full of 
 this subject. He returns again and again to the 
 frightful inequalities of condition, the vulgarity 
 and incapacity of the hereditary rulers, and the 
 hopeless destiny of nineteen twentieths of the 
 people. His compassion for the people of France 
 was the more intense from his strong appreciation 
 of their excellent qualities. 
 
 Having received a leave of absence for six 
 months, he returned with his daughter to Virginia, 
 landing at Norfolk, November 18, 1789. His re 
 ception was most cordial. The legislature ap 
 pointed a committee of thirteen, with Patrick 
 Henry at their head, to congratulate him on his 
 return, and on the day of his landing he read in a 
 newspaper that President Washington, in settling 
 the new government, had assigned to Thomas Jef 
 ferson the office of secretary of state. "I made 
 light of it," he wrote soon afterward, "supposing 
 I had only to say no, and there would be an end 
 of it." On receiving the official notification of his 
 appointment, he told the president that he pre* 
 f erred to retain the office he held. "But," he added, 
 "it is not for an individual to choose his post. You 
 are to marshal us as may be best for the public 
 good." He finally accepted the appointment, and 
 after witnessing at Monticello, February 23, 1790, 
 the marriage of his eldest daughter, Martha, to 
 Thodnas Mann Randolph, he began his journey to 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 133 
 
 New York. During his absence in France, his 
 youngest daughter, Lucy, had died, leaving him 
 Martha and Maria. On Sunday, March 21, 1790, 
 he reached New York, to enter upon the duties of 
 his new office. He hired a house at No. 57 Maiden 
 Lane, the city then containing a population of 
 35,000. His colleagues in the cabinet were Alexan 
 der Hamilton, secretary of the treasury; Henry 
 Knox, secretary of war; and Edmund Randolph, 
 attorney-general. Jefferson s salary was only 
 $3,500, and that of the other three members of the 
 cabinet but $3,000, a compensation that proved 
 painfully inadequate. 
 
 He soon found himself ill at ease in his place. 
 He had left Paris when the fall of the Bastile was 
 a recent event, and when the revolutionary move 
 ment still promised to hopeful spirits the greatest 
 good to France and to Europe. He had been con 
 sulted at every stage of its progress by Lafayette 
 and the other Republican leaders, with whom he 
 was in the deepest sympathy. He left his native 
 land a Whig of the Revolution; he returned to it 
 a Republican-Democrat. In his reply to the con 
 gratulations of his old constituents, he had spoken 
 of the "sufficiency of human reason for the care 
 of human affairs." He declared "the will of the 
 majority to be the natural law of every society, 
 and the only sure guardian of the rights of man." 
 He added these important words, which contain 
 
134 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the most material article of his political creed: 
 "Perhaps even this may sometimes err; but its 
 errors are honest, solitary, and short-lived. Let 
 us, then, forever bow down to the general reason 
 of society. We are safe with that, even in its 
 deviations, for it soon returns again to the right 
 way." To other addresses of welcome he replied 
 in a similar tone. He brought to New York a 
 settled conviction that the republican is the only 
 form of government that is not robbery and 
 violence organized. Feeling thus, he was grieved 
 and astonished to find a distrust of republican gov 
 ernment prevalent in society, and to hear a prefer 
 ence for the monarchical form frequently ex 
 pressed. In the cabinet itself, where Hamilton 
 dominated and Knox echoed his opinions, the re 
 public was accepted rather as a temporary ex 
 pedient than as a final good. 
 
 Jefferson and Hamilton, representing diverse 
 and incompatible tendencies, soon found themselves 
 in ill-accord, and their discussions in the cabinet 
 became vehement. They differed in some degree 
 upon almost every measure of the administration, 
 and on several of the most vital their differences 
 became passionate and distressing. In May, 1791, 
 by openly accepting and eulogizing Thomas Paine s 
 "Rights of Man," a spirited reply to Burke s "Re 
 flections on the Revolution in France," Jefferson 
 placed himself at the head of the Republican party 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 135 
 
 in the United States. The difference between the 
 two chief members of the cabinet rapidly developed 
 into a personal antipathy, and both of them 
 ardently desired to withdraw. Both, however, 
 could have borne these disagreeable dissensions, and 
 we see in their later letters that the real cause of 
 their longing to resign was the insufficiency of their 
 salaries. Jefferson s estate, much diminished by 
 the war, was of little profit to him in the absence 
 of the master s eye. Gen. Washington, who did 
 equal justice to the merits of both these able men, 
 used all his influence and tact to induce them to 
 remain, and, yielding to the president s persuasions, 
 both made an honest attempt at external agreement. 
 But in truth their feelings, as well as their opinions, 
 were naturally irreconcilable. Their attitude to 
 ward the French revolution proves this. Hamilton 
 continually and openly expressed an undiscriminat- 
 ing abhorrence of it, while Jefferson deliberately 
 wrote that if the movement "had isolated half the 
 earth," the evil would have been less than the con 
 tinuance of the ancient system. Writing to an old 
 friend he went farther even than this: "Were there 
 but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, 
 and left free, it would be better than as it now is." 
 On every point of difficulty created by the French 
 revolution the disagreement between the two secre 
 taries was extreme. On other subjects there was 
 little real accord, and it was a happy moment for 
 
136 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 both when, on January 1, 1794, President Wash 
 ington accepted Jefferson s resignation. He left 
 office at a fortunate time for his reputation, since 
 his correspondence with the English plenipoten 
 tiary, George Hammond, and the French pleni 
 potentiary, Edmond Genet, had just been pub 
 lished in a large pamphlet. Jefferson s letters to 
 those gentlemen were so moderate, so just, and so 
 conciliatory as to extort the approval of his op 
 ponents. Chief-Justice Marshall, an extreme 
 Federalist, remarks, in his "Life of Washington," 
 that this correspondence lessened the hostility of 
 Jefferson s opponents without diminishing the at 
 tachment of his friends. Five days after his re 
 lease from office he set out for home, having been 
 secretary of state three years and ten months. 
 
 All his interest in the cultivation of the soil now 
 returned to him, and he supposed his public life 
 ended forever. In September, 1794, after the re 
 tirement of Hamilton from the cabinet, Washing 
 ton invited Jefferson to go abroad as special envoy 
 to Spain; but he declined, declaring that "no cir 
 cumstances would evermore tempt him to engage in 
 anything public." Nevertheless, in 1796, Wash 
 ington having refused to serve a third term in the 
 presidency, he allowed his name to be used as that 
 of a candidate for the succession. The contest 
 was embittered by the unpopularity of the Jay 
 treaty with Great Britain. Jefferson had desired 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 137 
 
 the rejection of the treaty, and he remained al 
 ways of the opinion that by its rejection the gov 
 ernment of the United States might at length have 
 secured "a respect for our neutral rights" with 
 out a war. Jefferson had a narrow escape from 
 being elected to the presidency in 1796. John 
 Adams received seventy-one electoral votes, and 
 Jefferson sixty-eight, a result that, as the law 
 then stood, gave him the vice-presidency. In view 
 of the duties about to devolve upon him, he 
 began to prepare, chiefly for his own guidance 
 in the chair of the senate, his "Manual of Par 
 liamentary Practice," a code that still sub 
 stantially governs all our deliberative bodies. He 
 deeply felt the importance of such rules, believing 
 that when strictly enforced they operated as a 
 check on the majority, and gave "shelter and pro 
 tection to the minority against the attempts of 
 power." 
 
 Jefferson much enjoyed the office of vice- 
 president, partly from the interest he took in the 
 art of legislation and partly because his presidency 
 of the Philosophical society brought him into agree 
 able relations with the most able minds of the coun 
 try. He took no part whatever in the administra 
 tion of the government, as Mr. Adams ceased to 
 consult him on political measures almost immediate 
 ly after his inauguration. The administration of 
 Adams, so turbulent and eventful, inflamed party 
 
138 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 spirit to an extreme degree. The reactionary pol 
 icy of Hamilton and his friends had full scope, 
 as is shown by the passage of the alien and sedi 
 tion laws, and by the warlike preparations against 
 France. During the first three years Jefferson en 
 deavored in various ways to influence the public 
 mind, and thus to neutralize in some degree the 
 active and aggressive spirit of Hamilton. He was 
 clearly of opinion that the alien and sedition laws 
 were not merely unconstitutional, but were so sub 
 versive of fundamental human rights as to justify 
 a nullification of them. The Kentucky resolutions 
 of 1798, in which his abhorrence of those laws was 
 expressed, were originally drawn by him at the re 
 quest of James Madison and Col. W. C. Nicholas. 
 "These gentlemen," Jefferson once wrote, "pressed 
 me strongly to sketch resolutions against the con 
 stitutionality of those laws." In consequence he 
 drew and delivered them to Col. Nicholas, who in 
 troduced them into the legislature of Kentucky, 
 and kept the secret of their authorship. These res 
 olutions, read in the light of the events of 1798, 
 will not now be disapproved by any person of re 
 publican convictions; they remain, and will long 
 remain, one of the most interesting and valuable 
 contributions to the science of free government. It 
 is fortunate that this commentary upon the alien 
 and sedition laws was written by a man so firm and 
 so moderate, who possessed at once the erudition, 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 139 
 
 wisdom, and the feeling that the subject demanded. 
 Happily the presidential election of 1800 freed 
 the country from those laws without a convulsion. 
 Through the unskilful politics of Hamilton and 
 the adroit management of the New York election 
 by Aaron Burr, Mr. Adams was defeated for re 
 election, the electoral vote resulting thus: Jeffer 
 son, 73; Burr, 73; Adams, 65; Charles C. Pinck- 
 ney, 64 ; Jay, i. This strange result threw the elec 
 tion into the house of representatives, where the 
 Federalists endeavored to elect Burr to the first 
 office an unworthy intrigue, which Hamilton hon 
 orably opposed. After a period of excitement, 
 which seemed at times fraught with peril to the 
 Union, the election was decided as the people meant 
 it should be: Thomas Jefferson became president 
 of the United States and Aaron Burr vice-presi 
 dent. The inauguration was celebrated through 
 out the country as a national holiday; soldiers 
 paraded, church-bells rang, orations were delivered, 
 and in some of the newspapers the Declaration of 
 Independence was printed at length. Jefferson s 
 first thought on coming to the presidency was to 
 assuage the violence of party spirit, and he com 
 posed his fine inaugural address with that view. 
 He reminded his fellow-citizens that a difference 
 of opinion is not a difference of principle. "We 
 are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If 
 there be any among us who would wish to dissolve 
 
140 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 this Union or to change its republican form, let 
 them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety 
 with which error of opinion may be tolerated where 
 reason is left free to combat it." He may have 
 had Hamilton in mind in writing this sentence, and, 
 in truth, his inaugural was the briefest and 
 strongest summary he could pen of his argument 
 against Hamilton when both were in Washington s 
 cabinet. "Some honest men," said he, "fear that 
 a republican government cannot be strong that 
 this government is not strong enough. I believe 
 this, on the contrary, the strongest on earth. I 
 believe it is the only one where every man, at the 
 call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the 
 law, and would meet invasions of the public order 
 as his own personal concern." 
 
 Among the first acts of President Jefferson was 
 his pardoning every man who was in durance under 
 the sedition law, which he said he considered to be 
 "a nullity as absolute and palpable as if congress 
 had ordered us to fall down and worship a golden 
 image." To the chief victims of the alien law, 
 such as Kosciuszko and Volney, he addressed 
 friendly, consoling letters. Dr. Priestley, menaced 
 with expulsion under the alien law, he invited to 
 the White House. He wrote a noble letter to the 
 venerable Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, who 
 had been avoided and insulted during the recent 
 contest. He gave Thomas Paine, outlawed in 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 141 
 
 England and living on sufferance in Paris, a 
 passage home in a national ship. He appointed as 
 his cabinet James Madison, secretary of state; 
 Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury; Henry 
 Dearborn, secretary of war; Robert Smith, secre 
 tary of the navy; Gideon Granger, postmaster- 
 general; Levi Lincoln, attorney-general all of 
 whom were men of liberal education. With his 
 cabinet he lived during the whole of his two terms 
 in perfect harmony, and at the end he declared that 
 if he had to choose again he would select the same 
 individuals. With regard to appointments and re 
 movals the new president found himself in an em 
 barrassing position, as all our presidents have done. 
 Most of the offices were held by Federalists, and 
 many of his own partisans expected removals 
 enough to establish an equality. Jefferson re 
 sisted the demand. He made a few removals for 
 strong and obvious reasons ; but he acted uniformly 
 on the principle that a difference of politics was 
 not a reason for the removal of a competent and 
 faithful subordinate. The few removals that he 
 made were either for official misconduct, or, to use 
 his own language, "active and bitter opposition to 
 the order of things which the public will has estab 
 lished." He abolished at once the weekly levee at 
 the White House, as well as the custom of 
 precedence that had been copied from the court 
 etiquette of Europe. When congress assembled 
 
142 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 he sent them a message, instead of delivering to 
 them a speech, which had the effect of preventing, 
 as he remarked, "the bloody conflict to which the 
 making an answer would have committed them." 
 He abolished also all the usages that savored of 
 royalty, such as the conveyance of ministers in 
 national vessels, the celebration of his own birth 
 day by a public ball, the appointment of fasts and 
 thanksgiving-days, the making of public tours and 
 official visits. He refused to receive, while travel 
 ling, any mark of attention that would not have 
 been paid to him as a private citizen, his object 
 being both to republicanize and secularize the gov 
 ernment completely. He declined also to use the 
 pardoning power unless the judges who had tried 
 the criminal signed the petition. He refused also 
 to notice in any way the abuse of hostile news 
 papers, desiring, as he said, to give the world a 
 proof that "an administration which has nothing 
 to conceal from the press has nothing to fear 
 from it." 
 
 A few of the acts of Mr. Jefferson s administra 
 tion, which includes a great part of the history of 
 the United States for eight years, stand out boldly 
 and brilliantly. That navy which had been created 
 by the previous administration against France 
 Jefferson at once reduced by putting all but six 
 of its vessels out of commission. He despatched 
 four of the remaining six to the Mediterranean to 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 143 
 
 overawe the Barbary pirates, who had been prey 
 ing upon American commerce for twenty years; 
 and Decatur and his heroic comrades executed their 
 task with a gallantry and success which the Ameri 
 can people have not forgotten. The purchase of 
 Louisiana was a happy result of the president s 
 tact and promptitude in availing himself of a 
 golden chance. Bonaparte, in pursuit of his early 
 policy of undoing the work of the seven-years war, 
 had acquired the vast unknown territory west of 
 the Mississippi, then vaguely called Louisiana. 
 This policy he had avowed, and he was preparing 
 an expedition to hold New Orleans and settle the 
 adjacent country. At the same time, the people 
 of Kentucky, who, through the obstinate folly of 
 the Spanish governor, were practically denied 
 access to the ocean, were inflamed with discontent. 
 At this juncture, in the spring of 1803, hostilities 
 were renewed between France and England, which 
 compelled Bonaparte to abandon the expedition 
 which was ready to sail, and he determined to raise 
 money by selling Louisiana to the United States. 
 At the happiest possible moment for a successful 
 negotiation, Mr. Jefferson s special envoy, James 
 Monroe, arrived in Paris, charged with full powers, 
 and alive to the new and pressing importance of 
 the transfer, and a few hours of friendly parley 
 ing sufficed to secure to the United States this 
 superb domain, one of the most valuable on the 
 
144 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 face of the globe. Bonaparte demanded fifty mil 
 lions of francs. Marbois, his negotiator, asked a 
 hundred millions, but dropped to sixty, with the 
 condition that the United States should assume all 
 just claims upon the territory. Thus, for the trivial 
 sum of little more than $15,000,000, the United 
 States secured the most important acquisition of 
 territory that was ever made by purchase. Both 
 parties were satisfied with the bargain. "This ac 
 cession," said the first consul, "strengthens forever 
 the power of the United States, and I have just 
 given to England a maritime rival that will sooner 
 or later humble her pride." 
 
 The popularity of the administration soon be 
 came such that the opposition was reduced to insig 
 nificance, and the president was re-elected by a 
 greatly increased majority. In the house of rep 
 resentatives the Federalists shrank at length to a 
 little band of twenty-seven, and in the senate to 
 five. Jefferson seriously feared that there would 
 not be sufficient opposition to furnish the close and 
 ceaseless criticism that the public good required. 
 His second term was less peaceful and less for 
 tunate. During the long contest between Bona 
 parte and the allied powers the infractions of 
 neutral rights were so frequent and so exasperat 
 ing that perhaps Jefferson alone, aided by his fine 
 temper and detestation of war, could have kept 
 the infant republic out of the brawl. When the 
 
v 
 
 I 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 145 
 
 English ship "Leopard," within hearing of Old 
 Point Comfort, poured broadsides into the Ameri 
 can frigate "Chesapeake," all unprepared and un 
 suspecting, killing three men and wounding 
 eighteen, parties ceased to exist in the United 
 States, and every voice that was audible clamored 
 for bloody reprisals. "I had only to open my 
 hand," wrote Jefferson once, "and let havoc loose." 
 There was a period in 1807 when he expected war 
 both with Spain and Great Britain, and his con 
 fidential correspondence with Madison shows that 
 he meant to make the contest self-compensating. 
 He meditated a scheme for removing the Spanish 
 flag to a more comfortable distance by the annex 
 ation of Florida, Mexico, and Cuba, and thus 
 obtaining late redress for twenty-five years of 
 intrigue and injury. A partial reparation by Great 
 Britain postponed the contest. Yet the offences 
 were repeated; no American ship was safe from 
 violation, and no American sailor from impress 
 ment. This state of things induced Jefferson to 
 recommend congress to suspend commercial inter 
 course with the belligerents, his object being "to 
 introduce between nations another umpire than 
 arms." The embargo of 1807, which continued to 
 the end of his second term, imposed upon the com 
 mercial states a test too severe for human nature 
 patiently to endure. It was frequently violated, 
 and did not accomplish the object proposed. To 
 
146 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the end of his life Jefferson was of opinion that, 
 if the whole people had risen to the height of his 
 endeavor, if the merchants had strictly observed 
 the embargo, and the educated class given it a cor 
 dial support, it would have saved the country the 
 second war of 1812, and extorted, what that war 
 did not give us, a formal and explicit concession of 
 neutral rights. 
 
 On March 4, 1809, after a nearly continuous 
 public service of forty years, Jefferson retired to 
 private life, so seriously impoverished that he was 
 not sure of being allowed to leave Washington 
 without arrest by his creditors. The embargo, by 
 preventing the exportation of tobacco, had reduced 
 his private income two thirds, and, in the peculiar 
 circumstances of Washington, his official salary 
 was insufficient. "Since I have become sensible of 
 this deficit," he wrote, "I have been under an agony 
 of mortification." A timely loan from a Richmond 
 bank relieved him temporarily from his distress, 
 but he remained to the end of his days more or less 
 embarrassed in his circumstances. Leaving the 
 presidency in the hands of James Madison, with 
 whom he was in the most complete sympathy and 
 with whom he continued to be in active correspond 
 ence, he was still a power in the nation. Madison 
 and Monroe were his neighbors and friends, and 
 both of them administered the government on prin 
 ciples that he cordially approved. As has been 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 147 
 
 frequently remarked, they were three men and 
 one system. On retiring to Monticello in 1809, 
 Jefferson was sixty-six years of age, and had 
 seventeen years to live. His daughter Martha and 
 her husband resided with him, they and their 
 numerous brood of children, six daughters and five 
 sons, to whom was now added Francis Eppes, the 
 son of his daughter Maria, who had died in 1804. 
 Surrounded thus by children and grandchildren, he 
 spent the leisure of his declining years in endeavor 
 ing to establish in Virginia a system of education 
 to embrace all the children of his native state. In 
 this he was most zealously and ably assisted by his 
 friend, Joseph C. Cabell, a member of the Vir 
 ginia senate. What he planned in the study, Cabell 
 supported in the legislature ; and then in turn Jef 
 ferson would advocate Cabell s bill by one of his 
 ingenious and exhaustive letters, which would go 
 the rounds of the Virginia press. The correspond 
 ence of these two patriots on the subject of edu 
 cation in Virginia was afterward published in an 
 octavo of 528 pages, a noble monument to the 
 character of both. Jefferson appealed to every 
 motive, including self-interest, urging his scheme 
 upon the voter as a "provision for his family to 
 the remotest posterity." 
 
 He did not live long enough to see his system 
 of common schools established in Virginia, but the 
 university, which was to crown that system, a dar- 
 
148 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ling dream of his heart for forty years, he beheld 
 in successful operation. His friend Cabell, with 
 infinite difficulty, induced the legislature to expend 
 $300,000 in the work of construction, and to ap 
 propriate $15,000 a year toward the support of 
 the institution. Jefferson personally superintended 
 every detail of the construction. He engaged 
 workmen, bought bricks, and selected the trees to 
 be felled for timber. In March, 1825, the institu 
 tion was opened with forty students, a number 
 which was increased to 177 at the beginning of the 
 second year. The institution has continued its 
 beneficent work to the present day, and still bears 
 the imprint of Jefferson s mind. It has no presi 
 dent, except that one of the professors is elected 
 chairman of the faculty. The university bestows 
 no rewards and no honors, and attendance upon all 
 religious services is voluntary. His intention was 
 to hold every student to his responsibility as a man 
 and a citizen, and to permit him to enjoy all the 
 liberty of other citizens in the same community. 
 
 Toward the close of his life Jefferson became 
 distressingly embarrassed in his circumstances. In 
 
 1814 he sold his library to congress for $23,000 
 
 about one fourth of its value. A few years after 
 ward he endorsed a twenty-thousand dollar note for 
 a friend and neighbor whom he could not refuse, 
 and who soon became bankrupt. This loss, which 
 added $1,200 a year to his expenses, completed his 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 149 
 
 ruin, and he was in danger of being compelled to 
 surrender Monticello and seek shelter for his last 
 days in another abode. Philip Hone, mayor of 
 New York, raised for him, in 1826, $8,500, to which 
 Philadelphia added $5,000 and Baltimore $3,000. 
 He was deeply touched by the spontaneous gener 
 osity of his countrymen. "No cent of this," he 
 wrote, "is wrung from the tax-payer. It is the 
 pure and unsolicited offering of love." He retained 
 his health nearly to his last days, and had the hap 
 piness of living to the fiftieth anniversary of the 
 Declaration of Independence. He died at twenty 
 minutes to one p. M., July 4, 1826. John Adams 
 died a few hours later on the same day, saying just 
 before he breathed his last, "Thomas Jefferson still 
 lives." He was buried in his own grave-yard at 
 Monticello, beneath a stone upon which was en 
 graved an inscription prepared by his own hand: 
 "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the 
 Declaration of American Independence, of the 
 Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and 
 Father of the University of Virginia." He died 
 solvent, for the sale of his estate discharged his 
 debts to the uttermost farthing. His daughter 
 and her children lost their home and had no means 
 of support. Their circumstances becoming known, 
 the legislature of South Carolina and Virginia each 
 voted her a gift of $10,000, which gave peace and 
 dignity to the remainder of her life. She died in 
 
150 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 1836, aged sixty-three, leaving numerous descend 
 ants. 
 
 The writings of Thomas Jefferson were pub^ 
 lished by order of Congress in 1853, under the 
 editorial supervision of Henry A. Washington, 9 
 vols., 8vo (Washington, D. C., 1853). This pub 
 lication, which leaves much to be desired by the 
 student of American history, includes his auto 
 biography, treatises, essays, selections from his cor 
 respondence, official reports, messages, and ad 
 dresses. Two score years later Prof. Washington s 
 work was superseded by "The Writings of Thomas 
 Jefferson, comprising his Public Papers and his 
 Private Correspondence including Numerous Let 
 ters and Documents, now for the First Time 
 Printed," edited by Paul L. Ford, 10 vols., 8vo 
 (New York, 1894- 99). Another edition of his 
 works in 20 vols., edited by Andrew A. Lipscomb, 
 was issued by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial 
 Association of the United States (Washington, 
 D. C., 1904-5). The most extensive biography of 
 Jefferson is that of Henry S. Randall (3 vols., 
 New York, 1858) . See also the excellent work of 
 Prof. George Tucker, of the University of Vir 
 ginia, "The Life of Thomas Jefferson" (2 vols., 
 Philadelphia and London, 1837) ; "The Life of 
 Thomas Jefferson," by James Parton (Boston, 
 1874); and "Thomas Jefferson," by John T. 
 Morse, Jr., "American Statesmen" series (Bos- 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 151 
 
 ton, 1883). A work of singular interest is 
 "The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson," by 
 his great-granddaughter, Sarah N. Randolph 
 (New York, 1871) . Jefferson s "Manual of Par 
 liamentary Practice" has been repeatedly repub- 
 lished; the Washington edition of 1871 is among 
 the most recent. Consult also the "Memoirs, Cor 
 respondence, and Miscellanies of Thomas Jeffer 
 son," by Thomas J. Randolph (4 vols., Boston, 
 1830), and the "History of the United States, by 
 Henry Adams, Vols. I to IV, Jefferson s Adminis 
 tration, 1801-1809" (New York, 1889, 1890). 
 The lovers of detail must not overlook "Jefferson 
 at Monticello," compiled by Rev. Hamilton W. 
 Pierson, D. D., of Kentucky, from conversations 
 with Edmund Bacon, who was for twenty years 
 Jefferson s steward and overseer. The correspond 
 ence between Jefferson and Cabell upon education 
 in Virginia is very rare. 
 
 The portraits of Jefferson, which were as numer 
 ous in his own time as those of a reigning monarch 
 usually are, may well baffle the inquirer who would 
 know the express image of his face and person. 
 They differ greatly from one another, as in truth 
 he changed remarkably in appearance as he ad 
 vanced in life, being in youth raw-boned, freckled, 
 and somewhat ungainly, in early manhood better 
 looking, and in later life becoming almost hand 
 some in friendly eyes. The portrait by Rem- 
 
152 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 brandt Peale, taken in 1803, which now hangs in 
 the library of the New York historical society, is 
 perhaps the most pleasing of the later pictures of 
 him now accessible. The portrait by Mather 
 Brown, painted for John Adams in 1786, and en 
 graved for this work, has the merit of presenting 
 him in the prime of his years. Daniel Webster s 
 minute description of his countenance and figure 
 at fourscore was not accepted by Mr. Jefferson s 
 grandchildren as conveying the true impression of 
 the man. "Never in my life," wrote one of them, 
 "did I see his countenance distorted by a single bad 
 passion or unworthy feeling. I have seen the ex 
 pression of suffering, bodily and mental, of grief, 
 pain, sadness, just indignation, disappointment, 
 disagreeable surprise, and displeasure, but never of 
 anger, impatience, peevishness, discontent, to say 
 nothing of worse or more ignoble emotions. To 
 the contrary, it was impossible to look on his face 
 without being struck with its benevolent, intelligent, 
 cheerful, and placid expression. It was at once 
 intellectual, good, kind, and pleasant, whilst his tall, 
 spare figure spoke of health, activity, and that 
 helpfulness, that power and will, never to trouble 
 another for what he could do himself, which 
 marked his character." 
 
 In April, 1913, a noble building was completed 
 in honor of Jefferson by the State of Missouri in 
 Forest Park, St. Louis, at a cost of almost half a 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 153 
 
 million dollars, and containing, in its central hall, a 
 colossal seated statue of our third president. It was 
 dedicated as a memorial of the Louisiana Purchase 
 on the last day of April. On May 1, the Missouri 
 Historical Society, now occupying the building, 
 also held a dedication meeting, the chief feature of 
 which was an address by James Grant Wilson, of 
 New York, whose subject was "Two Makers of 
 American History Lincoln and Grant." 
 
 His wife, MARTHA WAYLES, born in Charles 
 City County, Va., October 19, 1748; died at Monti- 
 cello, near Charlottesville, Va., September 6, 1782, 
 was the daughter of John Wayles, a wealthy law 
 yer, from whom she inherited a large property. 
 Her first husband, Bathurst Skelton, died before 
 she was twenty years of age, and Mr. Jefferson 
 was one of her many suitors. She is described as 
 very beautiful, a little above middle height, auburn- 
 haired, and of a dignified carriage. She was well 
 educated for her day, and a constant reader. 
 Previous to her second marriage, while her mind 
 seemed still undecided as to which of her many 
 lovers would be accepted, two of them met acci 
 dentally in the hall of her father s house. They 
 were about to enter the drawing-room when the 
 sound of music caught their ear. The voices of 
 Jefferson and Mrs. Skelton, accompanied by her 
 harpsichord and his violin, were recognized, and the 
 
154 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 disconcerted lovers, after exchanging a glance, 
 took their hats and departed. She married Mr. 
 Jefferson in 1772. He retained a romantic devo 
 tion for her throughout his life, and because of 
 her failing health refused foreign appointments in 
 1776, and again in 1781, having promised that he 
 would accept no public office that would involve 
 their separation. For four months previous to her 
 death he was never out of calling, and he was in 
 sensible for several hours after that event. Two 
 of their children died in infancy, Martha, Mary, 
 and Lucy Elizabeth surviving, the latter dying in 
 early girlhood. 
 
 MARTHA, born at Monticello in September, 1772 ; 
 died in Albemarle County, Va., September 27, 
 1836, after the death of her mother accompanied 
 her father to Europe in 1784 and remained several 
 years in a convent, until her desire to adopt a re 
 ligious life induced her father to remove her from 
 the school. In the autumn of the same year (1789) 
 she married her cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, 
 afterward governor of Virginia, and, being en 
 grossed with the cares of her large family, passed 
 only a portion of her time in the White House, 
 which she visited with her husband and children in 
 1802, with her sister in 1803, and during the winter 
 of 1805- 6. After the retirement of Mr. Jeffer 
 son she devoted much of her life to his declining 
 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 155 
 
 years. He describes her as the "cherished com 
 panion of his youth and the nurse of his old age," 
 and shortly before his death remarked that the "last 
 pang of life was parting with her." After the 
 business reverses and the death of her father and 
 husband, she contemplated establishing a school, 
 but was relieved from the necessity by a donation 
 of $10,000 each from South Carolina and Virginia. 
 She left a large family of sons and daughters, 
 whom she carefully educated. 
 
 There is no known portrait of Mrs. Jefferson. 
 Her sister, MARY, born at Monticello, August 1, 
 1778; died in Albemarle County, Va., April 17, 
 1804, was also educated in the convent at Panthe- 
 mont, France, and is described, in a letter of Mrs. 
 Abigail Adams, "as one of the most beautiful and 
 remarkable children she had ever known." She 
 married her cousin, John Wayles Eppes, early in 
 life, but was prevented by delicate health from the 
 enjoyment of social life. She spent the second 
 winter of Mr. Jefferson s first term with her sister 
 as mistress of the White House. She left two chil 
 dren, one of whom, Francis, survived. Jefferson s 
 last surviving granddaughter, Mrs. Septima Ran 
 dolph Meikleham, died in Washington, D. C., on 
 September 16, 1887. See "The Domestic Life of 
 Thomas Jefferson," by Miss Sarah N. Randolph 
 (New York, 1871). 
 
JAMES MADISON 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
JAMES MADISON 
 
 JAMES MADISON,, fourth president of the United 
 States, born in Port Conway, Va., March 16, 1751; 
 died at Montpelier, Orange County, Va., June 28, 
 1836. His earliest paternal ancestor in Virginia 
 seems to have been John Madison, who, in 1653, 
 took out a patent for land between the North and 
 York rivers on Chesapeake bay. There was a Capt. 
 Isaac Madison in Virginia in 1623- 5, but his re 
 lationship to John Madison is matter of doubt. 
 John s son, named also John, was father of Am 
 brose Madison, who married, August 24, 1721, 
 Frances, daughter of James Taylor, of Orange 
 County, Va. Frances had four brothers, one of 
 whom, Zachary, was grandfather of Zachary Tay 
 lor, twelfth president of the United States. The 
 eldest child of Ambrose and Frances was James 
 Madison, born March 27, 1723, who married, Sep 
 tember 15, 1749, Nelly Conway, of Port Conway. 
 The eldest child of James and Nelly was James, 
 the subject of this biography, who was the first of 
 twelve children. His ancestors, as he says him 
 self in a note furnished to Dr. Lyman C. Draper 
 in 1834, "were not among the most wealthy/of the 
 
 159 
 
160 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 country, but in independent and comfortable cir 
 cumstances." James s education was begun at an 
 excellent school kept by a Scotchman named 
 Donald Robertson, and his studies, preparatory for 
 college, were completed at home under the care of 
 the Rev. Thomas Martin, clergyman of the parish. 
 He was graduated at Princeton in 1772, and re 
 mained there another year, devoting himself to the 
 study of Hebrew. 
 
 On returning home, he occupied himself with his 
 tory, law, and theology, while teaching his brothers 
 and sisters. Of the details of his youthful studies 
 little is known, but his industry must have been 
 very great; for, in spite of the early age at which 
 he became absorbed in the duties of public life, 
 the range and solidity of his acquirements were 
 extraordinary. For minute and thorough knowl 
 edge of ancient and modern history and of consti 
 tutional law he was unequalled among the Ameri 
 cans of the Revolutionary period; only Hamilton, 
 and perhaps Ellsworth and Marshall, approached 
 him in this regard. For precocity of mental de 
 velopment he resembled Hamilton and the younger 
 Pitt, and, like Washington, he was distinguished 
 in youth for soundness of judgment, keenness of 
 perception, and rare capacity for work. Along 
 with these admirable qualities, his lofty integrity 
 and his warm interest in public affairs were well 
 known to the people of Orange, so that when, in 
 
Prom the painting by Gilbert Stuart, owned by T. Jefferson Ccolidge 
 
JAMES MADISON 161 
 
 the autumn of 1774, it was thought necessary to 
 appoint a committee of safety, Madison was its 
 youngest member. Early in 1776 he was chosen 
 a delegate to the State convention, which met at 
 Williamsburg in May. The first business of the 
 convention was to instruct the Virginia delegation 
 in the Continental congress with regard to an im 
 mediate declaration of independence. 
 
 Next came the work of making a constitution 
 for the state, and Madison was one of the special 
 committee appointed to deal with this problem. 
 Here one of his first acts was highly characteristic. 
 Religious liberty was a matter that strongly en 
 listed his feelings. When it was proposed that, 
 under the new constitution, "all men should enjoy 
 the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, 
 according to the dictates of conscience," Madison 
 pointed out that this provision did not go to the 
 root of the matter. The free exercise of religion, 
 according to the dictates of conscience, is some 
 thing which every man may demand as a right, not 
 something for which he must ask as a privilege. 
 To grant to the state the power of tolerating is 
 implicitly to grant to it the power of prohibiting, 
 whereas Madison would deny to it any jurisdiction 
 whatever in the matter of religion. The clause in 
 the bill of rights, as finally adopted at his sug 
 gestion, accordingly declares that "all men are 
 equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, 
 
162 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 according to the dictates of conscience." The inci 
 dent illustrates not only Madison s liberality of 
 spirit, but also his precision and forethought in so 
 drawing up an instrument as to make it mean all 
 that it was intended to mean. In his later career 
 these qualities were especially brilliant and useful. 
 Madison was elected a member of the first legis 
 lature under the new state constitution, but he 
 failed of re-election because he refused to solicit 
 votes or to furnish whiskey for thirsty voters. The 
 new legislature then elected him a member of the 
 governor s council, and in 1780 he was sent as dele 
 gate to the Continental congress. 
 
 The high consideration in which he was held 
 showed itself in the number of important commit 
 tees to which he was appointed. As chairman of 
 a committee for drawing up instructions for John 
 Jay, then minister at the court of Madrid, he in 
 sisted that, in making a treaty with Spain, our 
 right to the free navigation of the Mississippi river 
 should on no account be surrendered. Mr. Jay was 
 instructed accordingly, but toward the end of 1780 
 the pressure of the war upon the southern states 
 increased the desire for an alliance with Spain to 
 such a point that they seemed ready to purchase it 
 at any price. Virginia, therefore, proposed that the 
 surrender of our rights upon the Mississippi should 
 be offered to Spain as the condition of an offensive 
 and defensive alliance. Such a proposal was no 
 
JAMES MADISON 163 
 
 doubt ill-advised. Since Spain was already, on her 
 own account and to the best of her ability, waging 
 war upon Great Britain in the West Indies and 
 Florida, to say nothing of Gibraltar, it is doubtful 
 if she could have done much more for the United 
 States, even if we had offered her the whole Mis 
 sissippi valley. The offer of a permanent and in 
 valuable right in exchange for a temporary and 
 questionable advantage seemed to Mr. Madison 
 very unwise ; but as it was then generally held that 
 in such matters representatives must be bound by 
 the wishes of their constituents, he yielded, though 
 under protest. But hardly had the fresh instruc 
 tions been despatched to Mr. Jay when the over 
 throw of Cornwallis again turned the scale, and 
 Spain was informed that, as concerned the Missis 
 sippi question, congress was immovable. The fore 
 sight and sound judgment shown by Mr. Madison 
 in this discussion added much to his reputation. 
 
 His next prominent action related to the impost 
 law proposed in 1783. This was, in some respects, 
 the most important question of the day. The chief 
 source of the weakness of the United States dur 
 ing the Revolutionary war had been the impossi 
 bility of raising money by means of Federal tax 
 ation. As long as money could be raised only 
 through requisitions upon the state governments, 
 and the different states could not be brought to 
 agree upon any method of enforcing the requisi- 
 
164 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tions, the state governments were sure to prove 
 delinquent. Finding it impossible to obtain money 
 for carrying on the war, congress had resorted to 
 the issue of large quantities of inconvertible paper, 
 with the natural results. There had been a rapid 
 inflation of values, followed by sudden bankruptcy 
 and the prostration of national credit. In 1783 
 it had become difficult to obtain foreign loans, and 
 at home the government could not raise nearly 
 enough money to defray its current expenses. To 
 remedy the evil a tariff of five per cent, upon 
 sundry imports, with a specific duty upon others, 
 was proposed in congress and offered to the sev 
 eral states for approval. To weaken as much as 
 possible the objections to such a law, its operation 
 was limited to twenty-five years. Even in this mild 
 form, however, it was impossible to persuade the 
 several states to submit to Federal taxation. Vir 
 ginia at first assented to the impost law, but after 
 ward revoked her action. On this occasion Mr. 
 Madison, feeling that the very existence of the 
 nation was at stake, refused to be controlled by 
 the action of his constituents. He persisted in 
 urging the necessity of such an impost law, and 
 eventually had the satisfaction of seeing Virginia 
 adopt his view of the matter. 
 
 The discussion of the impost law in congress re 
 vealed the antagonism that existed between the 
 slave-states and those states which had emancipated 
 
JAMES MADISON 165 
 
 their slaves. In endeavoring to apportion equitably 
 the quotas of revenue to be required of the sev 
 eral states, it was observed that, if taxation were 
 to be distributed according to population, it made 
 a great difference whether or not slaves were to 
 be counted as population. If slaves were to be 
 counted, the southern states would have to pay more 
 than their equitable share into the treasury of the 
 general government; if slaves were not to be 
 counted, it was argued at the north that they would 
 be paying less than their equitable share. Conse 
 quently at that time the northern states were in 
 clined to maintain that the slaves were population, 
 while the south preferred to regard them as chat 
 tels. The question was settled by a compromise 
 that was proposed by Mr. Madison; according to 
 this arrangement the slaves were rated as popula 
 tion, but in such wise that five of them were counted 
 as three persons. 
 
 In 1784 Mr. Madison was again elected to the 
 Virginia legislature, an office then scarcely inferior 
 in dignity, and superior in influence, to that of dele 
 gate to the Continental congress. His efforts were 
 steadfastly devoted to the preparation and ad 
 vocacy of measures that were calculated to increase 
 the strength of the Federal government. He sup 
 ported the proposed amendment to the articles of 
 confederation, giving to congress control over the 
 foreign trade of the states; and, pending the 
 
166 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 adoption of such a measure, he secured in that body 
 the passage of a port bill restricting the entry of 
 foreign ships to certain specified ports. The pur 
 pose of this was to^ facilitate the collection of reve 
 nue, but it was partially defeated in its operation 
 by successive amendments increasing the number of 
 ports. While the weakness of the general govern 
 ment and the need for strengthening it were daily 
 growing more apparent, the question of religious 
 liberty was the subject of earnest discussion in the 
 Virginia legislature. An attempt was made to lay 
 a tax upon all the people of that state "for the 
 support of teachers of the Christian religion." At 
 first Madison was almost the only one to see clearly 
 the serious danger lurking in such a tax; that it 
 would be likely to erect a state church and curtail 
 men s freedom of belief and worship. 
 
 Mr. Madison s position here well illustrated the 
 remark that intelligent persistence is capable of 
 making one person a majority. His energetic op 
 position resulted at first in postponing the measure. 
 Then he wrote a "Memorial and Remonstrance," 
 setting forth its dangerous character with wonder 
 ful clearness and cogency. He sent this paper all 
 over the state for signatures, and in the course of a 
 twelvemonth had so educated the people that, in 
 the election of 1785, the question of religious free 
 dom was made a test question, and in the ensuing 
 session the dangerous bill was defeated, and in 
 
JAMES MADISON 167 
 
 place thereof it was enacted "that no man shall be 
 compelled to frequent or support any religious 
 worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall 
 be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in 
 his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on 
 account of his religious opinions or belief; but that 
 all men shall be free to profess and, by argument, 
 maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and 
 that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or 
 affect their civil capacities." In thus abolishing 
 religious tests Virginia came to the front among 
 all the American states, as Massachusetts had come 
 to the front in the abolition of negro slavery. 
 Nearly all the states still imposed religious tests 
 upon civil office-holders, from simply declaring a 
 general belief in the infallibleness of the Bible, to 
 accepting the doctrine of the Trinity. Madison s 
 "Religious Freedom Act" was translated into 
 French and Italian, and was widely read and com 
 mented upon in Europe. In our own history it 
 set a most valuable precedent for other states to 
 follow. 
 
 The attitude of Mr. Madison with regard to 
 paper money was also very important. The sev 
 eral states had then the power of issuing promis 
 sory notes and making them a legal tender, and 
 many of them shamefully abused this power. The 
 year 1786 witnessed perhaps the most virulent craze 
 for paper money that has ever attacked the Ameri- 
 
168 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 can people. In Virginia the masterly reasoning 
 and the resolute attitude of a few great political 
 leaders saved the state from yielding to the de 
 lusion, and among these leaders Mr. Madison was 
 foremost. But his most important work in the 
 Virginia legislature was that which led directly to 
 the Annapolis convention, and thus ultimately to 
 the framing of the constitution of the United 
 States. The source from which such vast results 
 were to flow was the necessity of an agreement be 
 tween Maryland and Virginia with regard to the 
 navigation of the Potomac river, and the collec 
 tion of duties at ports on its banks. Commissioners 
 appointed by the two states to discuss this question 
 met early in 1785 and recommended that a uniform 
 tariff should be adopted and enforced upon both 
 banks. But a further question, also closely con 
 nected with the navigation of the Potomac, now 
 came up for discussion. The tide of westward 
 migration had for some time been pouring over the 
 Alleghanies, and, owing to complications with the 
 Spanish power in the Mississippi valley, there was 
 some danger that the United States might not be 
 able to keep its hold upon the new settlements. It 
 was necessary to strengthen the commercial ties 
 between east and west, and to this end the Potomac 
 company was formed for the purpose of improv 
 ing the navigation of the upper waters of the 
 Potomac and connecting them by good roads and 
 
JAMES MADISON 169 
 
 canals with the upper waters of the Ohio at Pitts- 
 burg an enterprise which, in due course of time, 
 resulted in the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. 
 
 The first president of the Potomac company was 
 George Washington, who well understood that the 
 undertaking was quite as important in its political 
 as in its commercial bearings. At the same time 
 it was proposed to connect the Potomac and Dela 
 ware rivers with a canal, and a company was 
 organized for this purpose. This made it desirable 
 that the four states Virginia, Maryland, Dela 
 ware, and Pennsylvania should agree upon the 
 laws for regulating interstate traffic through this 
 system of water-ways. But from this it was but a 
 short step to the conclusion that, since the whole 
 commercial system of the United States confess 
 edly needed overhauling, it might perhaps be as 
 w T ell for all the thirteen states to hold a convention 
 for considering the matter. ( When such a sug 
 gestion was communicated from the legislature of 
 Maryland to that of Virginia, it afforded Mr. 
 Madison the opportunity for which he had been 
 eagerly waiting. Some time before he had pre 
 pared a resolution for the appointment of commis 
 sioners to confer with commissioners from the other 
 states concerning the trade of the country and the 
 advisableriess of intrusting its regulation to the 
 Federal government^ This resolution Mr. Madi 
 son left to be offered to the assembly by some one 
 
170 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 less conspicuously identified with federalist opin 
 ions than himself; and it was accordingly presented 
 by Mr. Tyler, father of the future president of 
 that name. The motion was unfavorably received 
 and was laid upon the table, but when the message 
 came from Maryland, the matter was reconsidered 
 and the resolution passed. Annapolis was selected 
 as the place for the convention, which assembled on 
 September 11, 1786. Only five states Virginia, 
 Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New 
 York were represented at the meeting. Mary 
 land, which had first suggested the convention, had 
 seen the appointed time arrive without even taking 
 the trouble to select commissioners. As the repre 
 sentation was so inadequate, the convention thought 
 it best to defer action, and accordingly adjourned 
 after adopting an address to the states, which was 
 prepared by Alexander Hamilton. The address 
 incorporated a suggestion from New Jersey, which 
 indefinitely enlarged the business to be treated by 
 such convention; it was to deal not only with the 
 regulation of commerce, but with "other important 
 matters." 
 
 Acting upon this cautious hint, the address 
 recommended the calling of a second convention, 
 to be held at Philadelphia on the second Monday 
 of May, 1787. Mr. Madison was one of the com 
 missioners at Annapolis, and was very soon ap 
 pointed a delegate to the new convention, along 
 
JAMES MADISON 171 
 
 with Washington, Randolph, Mason, and others. 
 The avowed purpose of the new convention was to 
 "devise such provisions as shall appear necessary to 
 render the constitution of the Federal government 
 adequate to the exigencies of the Union, and to re 
 port to congress such an act as, when agreed to by 
 them and confirmed by the legislatures of every 
 state, would effectually provide for the same." 
 The report of the Annapolis commissioners was 
 brought before congress in October, in the hope 
 that congress would earnestly recommend to the 
 several states the course of action therein suggested. 
 At first the objections to the plan prevailed in 
 congress, but the events of the winter went far 
 toward persuading men in all parts of the country 
 that the only hope of escaping anarchy lay in a 
 thorough revision of the imperfect scheme of gov 
 ernment under which we were then living. The 
 paper-money craze in so many of the states, the 
 violent proceedings in the Rhode Island legislature, 
 the riots in Vermont and New Hampshire, the 
 Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, the dispute with 
 Spain about the navigation of the Mississippi, and 
 the consequent imminent danger of separation be 
 tween north and south, had all come together; and 
 now the last ounce was laid upon the camel s back 
 in the failure of the impost amendment. In Feb 
 ruary, 1787, just as Mr. Madison, who had been 
 chosen a delegate to congress, arrived in New York, 
 
172 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the legislature of that state refused its assent to 
 the amendment, which was thus defeated. Thus, 
 only three months before the time designated for 
 the meeting of the Philadelphia convention, 
 congress was decisively informed that it would not 
 be allowed to take any effectual measures for rais 
 ing a revenue. This accumulation of difficulties 
 made congress more ready to listen to the argu 
 ments of Mr. Madison, and presently congress 
 itself proposed a convention at Philadelphia iden 
 tical with the one recommended by the Annapolis 
 commissioners, and thus in its own way sanctioned 
 their action. 
 
 The assembling of the convention at Phila 
 delphia was an event to which Mr. Madison, by 
 persistent energy and skill, had contributed more 
 than any other man in the country, with the possible 
 exception of Alexander Hamilton. For the noble 
 political structure reared by the convention it was 
 Madison that furnished the basis. Before the con 
 vention met he laid before his colleagues of the 
 iVirginia delegation the outlines of the scheme that 
 was presented to the convention as the "Virginia 
 plan." Of the delegates, Edmund Randolph was 
 then governor of Virginia, and it was he that pre 
 sented the plan, and made the opening speech in 
 defence of it, but its chief author was Madison. 
 This "Virginia plan" struck directly at the root of 
 the evils from which our Federal government had 
 
JAMES MADISON 173 
 
 suffered under the articles of confederation. The 
 weakness of that government had consisted in the 
 fact that it operated only upon states and not upon 
 individuals. Only states, not individuals, were rep 
 resented in the Continental congress, which accord 
 ingly resembled a European congress rather than 
 an English parliament. The delegates to the Con 
 tinental congress were more like envoys from 
 sovereign states than like members of a legislative 
 body. They might deliberate and advise, but had 
 no means of enforcing their will upon the several 
 state governments; and hence they could neither 
 raise a revenue nor preserve order. In forming the 
 new government, this fundamental difficulty was 
 met first by the creation of a legislative body repre 
 senting population instead of states, and secondly 
 by the creation of a Federal executive and a Fed 
 eral judiciary. 
 
 Thus arose that peculiar state of things so 
 familiar to Americans, but so strange to Europeans 
 that they find it hard to comprehend it: the state 
 of things in which every individual lives under two 
 complete and well-rounded systems of laws the 
 state law and the Federal law each with its legis 
 lature, its executive, and its judiciary, moving one 
 within the other. It was one of the longest reaches 
 of constructive statesmanship ever known in the 
 world, and the credit of it is due to Madison more 
 than to any other one man. To him we chiefly; 
 
174 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 owe the luminous conception of the two co-existing 
 and harmonious spheres of government, although 
 the constitution, as actually framed, was the result 
 of skilful compromises by which the Virginia plan 
 was modified and improved in many important 
 points. In its original shape that plan went further 
 toward national consolidation than the constitution 
 as adopted. It contemplated a national legislature 
 to be composed of two houses, but both the upper 
 and the lower house were to represent population 
 instead of states. Here it encountered fierce oppo 
 sition from the smaller states, under the lead of 
 New Jersey, until the matter was settled by the 
 famous Connecticut compromise, according to 
 which the upper house was to represent states, while 
 the lower house represented population. Madison s 
 original scheme, moreover, would have allowed the 
 national legislature to set aside at discretion such 
 state laws as it might deem unconstitutional. It 
 seems strange to find Madison, who afterward 
 drafted the Virginia resolutions of 1798, now sug 
 gesting and defending a provision so destructive of 
 state rights. It shows how strongly he was in 
 fluenced at the time by the desire to put an end to 
 the prevailing anarchy. The discussion of this mat 
 ter in the convention, as we read it to-day, brings 
 out in a very strong light the excellence of the ar 
 rangement finally adopted, by which the constitu 
 tionality of state laws is left to be determined 
 
JAMES MADISON 175 
 
 through the decisions of the Federal supreme 
 court. 
 
 In all the discussions in the Federal convention 
 Mr. Madison naturally took a leading part. Be 
 sides the work of cardinal importance which he 
 achieved as principal author of the Virginia plan, 
 especial mention must be made of the famous com 
 promise that adjusted the distribution of repre 
 sentatives between the northern and the southern 
 states. We have seen that in the congress of 1783, 
 when it was a question of taxation, the south was 
 inclined to regard slaves as chattels, while the north 
 preferred to regard them as population. Now, 
 when it had come to be a question of the apportion 
 ment of representation, the case was reversed: it 
 was the south that wished to count slaves as popu 
 lation, while the north insisted that they should be 
 classed as chattels. Here Mr. Madison proposed 
 the same compromise that had succeeded in congress 
 four years before; and Mr. Rutledge, of South 
 Carolina, who had supported him on the former 
 occasion, could hardly do otherwise than come again 
 to his side. It was agreed that in counting popu 
 lation, whether for direct taxation or for repre 
 sentation in the lower house of congress, five slaves 
 should be reckoned as three individuals. In the 
 history of the formation of our Federal Union this 
 compromise was of cardinal importance. With 
 out it the Union would undoubtedly have gone to 
 
176 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 pieces at the outset, and it was for this reason that 
 the northern abolitionists, Gouverneur Morris and 
 Rufus King, joined with Washington and Madi 
 son and with the pro-slavery Pinckneys in subscrib 
 ing to it. Some of the evils resulting from this 
 compromise have led historians, writing from the 
 abolitionist point of view, to condemn it utterly. 
 Nothing can be clearer, however, than that, in order 
 to secure the adoption of the constitution, it was 
 absolutely necessary to satisfy South Carolina. 
 This was proved by the course of events in 1788, 
 when there was a strong party in Virginia in favor 
 of a separate confederacy of southern states. By 
 South Carolina s prompt ratification of the consti 
 tution this scheme was completely defeated, and a 
 most formidable obstacle to the formation of a 
 more perfect union was removed. Of all the com 
 promises in American history, this of the so-called 
 "three-fifths rule" was probably the most impor 
 tant: until the beginning of the civil war there was 
 hardly a political movement of any consequence 
 not affected by it. 
 
 Mr. Madison s services in connection with the 
 founding of our Federal government were thus, 
 up to this point, of the most transcendent kind. 
 We have seen that he played a leading part in the 
 difficult work of getting a convention to assemble; 
 the merit of this he shares with other eminent men, 
 and notably with Washington and Hamilton. , 
 
JAMES MADISON 177 
 
 Then, he was chief author of the most fundamental 
 features in the constitution, those which trans 
 formed our government from a loose confederacy 
 of states into a Federal nation; and to him is due 
 the principal credit for the compromise that made 
 the adoption of the constitution possible for all the 
 states. After the adjournment of the convention 
 his services did not cease. Among those whose in 
 fluence in bringing about the ratification of the 
 constitution was felt all over the country, he shares 
 with Hamilton the foremost place. The "Fed 
 eralist," their joint production, is probably the 
 greatest treatise on political science that has ever 
 appeared in the world, at once the most practical 
 and the most profound. The evenness with which 
 the merits of this work are shared between Madison 
 and Hamilton is well illustrated by the fact that 
 it is not always easy to distinguish between the two, 
 so that there has been considerable controversy as 
 to the number of papers contributed by each. Ac 
 cording to Madison s own memorandum, he was the 
 author of twenty-nine of the papers, while fifty-one 
 were written by Hamilton, and five by Jay. The 
 question is not of great importance. Very prob 
 ably Mr. Madison would have had a larger share 
 in the work had he not been obliged, in March, 
 1788, to return to Virginia, in order to take part 
 in the State convention for deciding upon the ratifi 
 cation .of the constitution. 
 
ITS LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 The opposition in Virginia was strong and well 
 organized, and had for leaders such eminent 
 patriots as Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee. 
 The debates in the convention lasted nearly a 
 month, and for a considerable part of this time 
 the outlook was not promising. The discussion was 
 conducted mainly between Madison and Henry, the 
 former being chiefly assisted by Marshall, Wythe, 
 Randolph, Pendleton, and Henry Lee, the latter 
 by Mason, Monroe, Harrison, and Tyler. To Mr. 
 Madison, more than to any one else, it was due that 
 the constitution was at length ratified, while the 
 narrowness of the majority 89 to 79 bore wit 
 ness to the severity of the contest. It did not ap 
 pear that the people of Virginia were even yet con 
 vinced by the arguments that had prevailed in the 
 convention. The assembly that met in the follow 
 ing October showed a heavy majority of anti- 
 Federalists, and under Henry s leadership it called 
 upon congress for a second National convention to 
 reconsider the work done by the first. Senators 
 were now to be chosen for the first U. S. senate, 
 and Henry, in naming Richard Henry Lee and 
 William Grayson, both anti-Federalists, as the two 
 men who ought to be chosen, took pains to mention 
 James Madison as the one man who on no account 
 whatever ought to be elected senator. Henry was 
 successful in carrying this point. The next thing 
 was to keep Mr. Madison out of congress, and 
 
. * 
 
 . I 03 
 
 [ Foe -simile letter from James Madison to Mrs. Margaret Harrison Smith ] 
 
JAMES MADISON 179 
 
 Henry s friends sought to accomplish this by means 
 of the device afterward known as "gerrymander 
 ing"; but the attempt failed, and Madison was 
 elected to the first national house of representatives. 
 His great knowledge, and the part he had played 
 in building up the framework of the government, 
 made him from the outset the leading member of 
 the house. His first motion was one for raising a 
 revenue by tariff and tonnage duties. He offered 
 the resolution for creating the executive depart 
 ments of foreign affairs, of the treasury, and of 
 war. He proposed twelve amendments to the con 
 stitution, in order to meet the objection, urged in 
 many quarters, that that instrument did not con 
 tain a bill of rights. The first ten of these amend 
 ments were adopted and became part of the consti 
 tution in the year 1791. 
 
 The first division of political parties under the 
 constitution began to show itself in the debates 
 upon Hamilton s financial measures as secretary of 
 the treasury, and in this division we see Madison 
 acting as leader of the opposition. By many 
 writers this has been regarded as indicating a 
 radical change of attitude on his part, and sundry 
 explanations have been offered to account for the 
 presumed inconsistency. He has been supposed to 
 have succumbed to the personal influence of Jeffer 
 son, and to have yielded his own convictions to the 
 desires and prejudices of his constituents. Such 
 
180 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 explanations are hardly borne out by what we know 
 of Mr. Madison s career up to this point; and, 
 moreover, they are uncalled for. If we consider 
 carefully the circumstances of the time, the pre 
 sumed inconsistency in his conduct disappears. The 
 new Republican party, of which he soon became 
 one of the leaders, was something quite different 
 in its attitude from the anti-Federalist party of 
 1787- 90. There was ample room in it for men 
 who in these critical years had been stanch Fed 
 eralists, and as time passed this came to be more 
 and more the case, until after a quarter of a cen 
 tury the entire Federalist party, with the excep 
 tion of a few inflexible men in New England, had 
 been absorbed by the Republican party. In 1790, 
 since the Federal constitution had been actually 
 adopted, and was going into operation, and since 
 the extent of power that it granted to the general 
 government must be gradually tested by the dis 
 cussion of specific measures, it followed that the 
 only natural and healthful division of parties must 
 be the division between strict and loose construc- 
 tionists. 
 
 It was to be expected that anti-Federalists would 
 become strict constructionists, and so most of them 
 did, though examples were not wanting of such 
 men swinging to the opposite extreme of politics, 
 and advocating an extension of the powers of the 
 Federal government. But there was no reason in 
 
JAMES MADISON 181 
 
 the world why a Federalist of 1787- 90 must there 
 after, in order to preserve his consistency, become a 
 loose obstructionist. It was entirely consistent for 
 a statesman to advocate the adoption of the consti 
 tution, while convinced that the powers specifically 
 granted therein to the general government were 
 ample, and that great care should be taken not to 
 add indefinitely to such powers through rash and 
 loose methods of interpretation. Not only is such 
 an attitude perfectly reasonable in itself, but it is, 
 in particular, the one that a principal author of the 
 constitution would have been very likely to take; 
 and no doubt it was just this attitude that Mr. 
 Madison took in the early sessions of congress. 
 The occasions on which he assumed it were, more 
 over, eminently proper, and afford an admirable 
 illustration of the difference in temper and mental 
 habit between himself and Hamilton. The latter 
 had always more faith in the heroic treatment of 
 political questions than Madison. The restoration 
 of American credit in 1790 was a task that de 
 manded heroic measures, and it was fortunate that 
 we had such a man as Hamilton to undertake it. 
 But undoubtedly the assumption of state debts by 
 the Federal government, however admirably it met 
 the emergency of the moment, was such a measure 
 as might easily create a dangerous precedent, and 
 there was certainly nothing strange or inconsistent 
 in Madison s opposition to it. A similar explana- 
 
182 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tion will cover his opposition to Hamilton s national 
 bank ; and indeed, with the considerations here given 
 as a clew, there is little or nothing in Mr. Madison s 
 career in congress that is not thoroughly intelli 
 gible. At the time, however, the Federalists, disap 
 pointed at losing a man of so much power, mis 
 understood his acts and misrepresented his motives, 
 and the old friendship between him and Hamilton 
 gave way to mutual distrust and dislike. Mr. 
 Madison sympathized with the French revolu 
 tionists, though he did not go so far in this direc 
 tion as Jefferson. In the debates upon Jay s treaty 
 with Great Britain he led the opposition, and sup 
 ported the resolution asking President Washing 
 ton to submit to the house of representatives copies 
 of the papers relating to the negotiations. The 
 resolution was passed, but Washington refused on 
 the ground that the making of treaties was 
 intrusted by the constitution to the president and 
 the senate, and that the lower house was not en 
 titled to meddle with their work. 
 
 At the close of Washington s second administra 
 tion Mr. Madison retired for a brief season from 
 public life. During this difficult period the coun 
 try had been fortunate in having, as leader of the 
 opposition in congress, a man so wise in counsel, 
 so temperate in spirit, and so courteous in de 
 meanor. Whatever else might be said of Madison s 
 conduct in opposition, it could never be called 
 
JAMES MADISON 183 
 
 factious; it was calm, generous, and disinterested. 
 About two years before the close of his career in 
 congress he married Mrs. Dolly Payne Todd, a 
 beautiful widow, much younger than himself; and 
 about this time he seems to have built the house at 
 Montpelier, which was to be his home during his 
 later years. But retirement from public life, in 
 any real sense of the phrase, was not yet possible 
 for such a man. The wrath of the French govern 
 ment over Jay s treaty led to depredations upon 
 American shipping, to the sending of commis 
 sioners to Paris, and to the blackmailing attempts 
 of Talleyrand, as shown up in the X. Y. Z. 
 despatches. In the fierce outbursts of indignation 
 that in America greeted these disclosures, in the 
 sudden desire for war with France, which went so 
 far as to vent itself in actual fighting on the sea, 
 though war was never declared, the Federalist 
 party believed itself to be so strong that it pro 
 ceeded at once to make one of the greatest blunders 
 ever made by a political party, in passing the alien 
 and sedition acts. This high-handed legislation 
 caused a sudden revulsion of feeling in favor of the 
 Republicans, and called forth vigorous remon 
 strance. Party feeling has, perhaps, never in this 
 country been so bitter, except just before the civil 
 war. 
 
 A series of resolutions, drawn up by Mr. Madi 
 son, was adopted in 1798 by the legislature of Vir- 
 
184 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 ginia, while a similar series, still more pronounced, 
 drawn up by Mr. Jefferson, was adopted in the 
 same year by the legislature of Kentucky. The 
 Virginia resolutions asserted with truth that, in 
 adopting the Federal constitution, the states had 
 surrendered only a limited portion of their powers ; 
 and went on to declare that, whenever the Federal 
 government should exceed its constitutional au 
 thority, it was the business of the state governments 
 to interfere and pronounce such action unconstitu 
 tional. Accordingly, Virginia declared the alien 
 and sedition laws unconstitutional, and invited the 
 other states to join in the declaration. Not meet 
 ing with a favorable response, Virginia renewed 
 these resolutions the next year. There was noth 
 ing necessarily seditious, or tending toward seces 
 sion, in the Virginia resolutions; but the attitude 
 assumed in them was uncalled for on the part of 
 any state, inasmuch as there existed, in the Federal 
 supreme court, a tribunal competent to decide upon 
 the constitutionality of acts of congress. The Ken 
 tucky resolutions went further. They declared that 
 our Federal constitution was a compact, to which 
 the several states were the one party and the Fed 
 eral government was the other, and each party must 
 decide for itself as to when the compact was in 
 fringed, and as to the proper remedy to be adopted. 
 When the resolutions were repeated in 1799, a 
 clause was added, which went still further and men- 
 
JAMES MADISON 185 
 
 tioned "nullification" as the suitable remedy, and 
 one that any state might employ. In the Virginia 
 resolutions there was neither mention nor intention 
 of nullification as a remedy. Mr. Madison lived to 
 witness South Carolina s attempt at nullification 
 in 1832, and in a very able paper, written in the 
 last year of his life, he conclusively refuted the 
 idea that his resolutions of 1798 afforded any 
 justification for such an attempt, and showed that 
 what they really contemplated was a protest on 
 the part of all the state governments in common. 
 Doubtless such a remedy was clumsy and imprac 
 ticable, and the suggestion of it does not deserve 
 to be ranked along with Mr. Madison s best work 
 in constructive statesmanship; but it certainly con 
 tained no logical basis for what its author unspar 
 ingly denounced as the "twin heresies" of nullifica 
 tion and secession. 
 
 In 1799 Mr. Madison was again elected a mem 
 ber of the Virginia assembly, and in 1801, at Mr. 
 Jefferson s urgent desire, he became secretary of 
 state. In accepting this appointment, he entered 
 upon a new career, in many respects different from 
 that which he had hitherto followed. His work as 
 a constructive statesman, which was so great as to 
 place him in the foremost rank among the men 
 that have built up nations, was by this time sub 
 stantially completed. During the next few years 
 the constitutional questions that had hitherto occu- 
 
186 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 pied him played a part subordinate to that played 
 by questions of foreign policy, and in this new 
 sphere Mr. Madison was not, by nature or training, 
 fitted to exercise such a controlling influence as he 
 had formerly brought to bear in the framing of our 
 Federal government. As secretary of state, he was 
 an able lieutenant to Mr. Jefferson, but his genius 
 was not that of an executive officer so much as that 
 of a lawgiver. He brought his great historical and 
 legal learning to bear in a paper entitled, "An Ex 
 amination of the British Doctrine which subjects 
 to Capture a Neutral Trade not open in the Time 
 of Peace." But the troubled period that followed 
 the rupture of the treaty of Amiens was not one 
 in which legal arguments, however masterly, 
 counted for much in bringing angry and insolent 
 combatants to terms. In the gigantic struggle be 
 tween England and Napoleon the commerce of the 
 United States was ground to pieces as between the 
 upper and the nether millstone, and in some 
 respects there is no chapter in American history 
 more painful for an American citizen to read. The 
 outrageous affair of the "Leopard" and the 
 "Chesapeake" was but the most flagrant of a series 
 of wrongs and insults, against which Jefferson s 
 embargo was doubtless an absurd and feeble pro 
 test, but perhaps at the same time pardonable as 
 the only weapon left us in that period of national 
 weakness. 
 
JAMES MADISON 187 
 
 Affairs were drawing slowly toward some kind 
 of crisis when, at the expiration of Jefferson s 
 second term, Mr. Madison was elected president 
 of the United States by 122 electoral votes against 
 47 for Cotesworth Pinckney, and 6 for George 
 Clinton, who received 113 votes for the vice-presi 
 dency, and was elected to that office. The oppo 
 sition of the New England states to the embargo 
 had by this time brought about its repeal, and the 
 substitution for it of the act declaring non-inter 
 course with England and France. By this time 
 many of the most intelligent Federalists, includ 
 ing John Quincy Adams, had gone over to the Re 
 publicans. In 1810 congress repealed the non- 
 intercourse act, which, as a measure of intimida 
 tion, had proved ineffectual. Congress now sought 
 to use the threat of non-intercourse as a kind of 
 bribe, and informed England and France that if 
 either nation would repeal its obnoxious edicts, the 
 non-intercourse act would be revived against the 
 other. Napoleon took prompt advantage of this, 
 and informed Mr. Madison s government that he 
 had revoked his Berlin and Milan decrees as far 
 as American ships were concerned; but at the same 
 time he gave secret orders by which the decrees 
 were to be practically enforced as harshly as ever. 
 The lie served its purpose, and congress revived 
 the non-intercourse act as against Great Britain 
 alone. In 1811 hostilities began on sea and land, 
 
188 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 in the affair of Tippecanoe and of the "President" 
 and "Little Belt." The growing desire for war 
 was shown in the choice of Henry Clay for speaker 
 of the house of representatives, and Mr. Madison 
 was nominated for a second term, on condition of 
 adopting the war policy. On June 18, 1812, war 
 was declared, and before the autumn election a 
 series of remarkable naval victories had made it 
 popular. Mr. Madison was re-elected by 128 
 electoral votes against 89 for DeWitt Clinton, of 
 New York. The one absorbing event, which filled 
 the greater part of his second term, was the war 
 with Great Britain, which was marked by some 
 brilliant victories and some grave disasters, includ 
 ing the capture of Washington by British troops, 
 and the flight of the government from the national 
 capital. Whatever opinion may be held as to the 
 character of the war and its results, there is a gen 
 eral agreement that its management, on the part 
 of the United States, was feeble. Mr. Madison 
 was essentially a man of peace, and as the manager 
 of a great war he was conspicuously out of his ele 
 ment. The history of that war plays a great part 
 in the biographies of the military and naval heroes 
 that figured in it ; it is a cardinal event in the career 
 of Andrew Jackson or Isaac Hull. In the biog 
 raphy of Madison it is an episode which may be 
 passed over briefly. The greatest part of his career 
 was finished before he held the highest offices; his 
 
JAMES MADISON 189 
 
 renown will rest chiefly or entirely upon what he 
 did before the beginning of the 19th century. 
 
 After the close of his second term in 1817, Mr. 
 Madison retired to his estate at Montpelier, where 
 he spent nearly twenty happy years with books and 
 friends. This sweet and tranquil old age he had 
 well earned by services to his fellow-creatures such 
 as it is given to but few men to render. Among 
 the founders of our nation, his place is beside 
 that of Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and 
 Marshall; but his part was peculiar. He was pre 
 eminently the scholar, the profound, constructive 
 thinker, and his limitations were such as belong to 
 that character. He was modest, quiet, and reserved 
 in manner, small in stature, neat and refined, cour 
 teous and amiable. In rough party strife there 
 were many who could for the moment outshine him. 
 He was not the sort of hero for whom people throw 
 up their caps and shout themselves hoarse, like 
 Andrew Jackson, for example; but his work was 
 of a kind that will be powerful for good in the 
 world long after the work of the men of Jackson s 
 type shall have been forgotten. The full-page por 
 trait of Madison in this chapter is from a painting 
 by Gilbert Stuart. 
 
 A satisfactory biography of Madison is still to 
 be desired. His interesting account of the Federal 
 convention is published in Elliot s "Debates on the 
 State Conventions" (4 vols., 8vo, Philadelphia, 
 
190 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 1861). See also the "Madison Papers" (3 vols., 
 Washington, 1840), and the "History of the 
 United States by Henry Adams. Vols. V to IX, 
 Madison s Administration, 1809-1817" (New York, 
 1890, 1891). A complete edition of his writings, 
 edited by Gaillard Hunt, in 9 octavo volumes, ap 
 peared in New York in 1900-1910. For biog 
 raphies there is the cumbrous work of William C. 
 Rives (3 vols., Boston, 1859- 68), and the sketch 
 by Sydney Howard Gay in the "American States 
 men" series (Boston, 1884). 
 
 His wife, DOROTHY PAYNE,, born in North Caro 
 lina, May 20, 1772; died in Washington, D. C., 
 July 12, 1849, was a granddaughter of John 
 Payne, an English gentleman who migrated to Vir 
 ginia early in the 18th century. He married Anna 
 Fleming, granddaughter of Sir Thomas Fleming, 
 one of the early settlers of Jamestown. His son, 
 the second John Payne, Dorothy s father, married 
 Mary Coles, first cousin to Patrick Henry. 
 Dorothy was brought up as a Quaker, and at the 
 age of nineteen married John Todd, a Pennsyl 
 vania lawyer and member of the Society of Friends. 
 Mr. Todd died in the dreadful yellow-fever pes 
 tilence at Philadelphia in 1793. Some time in 
 1794 Mrs. Todd met Mr. Madison, and in Septem 
 ber of that year they were married, to the delight 
 of President Washington and his wife, who felt a 
 
JAMES MADISON 191 
 
 keen interest in both. Their married life of forty- 
 two years was one of unclouded happiness. Mrs. 
 Madison was a lady of extraordinary beauty and 
 rare accomplishments. Her "Memoirs and Let 
 ters" (Boston, 1887) make a very interesting book. 
 
JAMES MONROE 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL C. GILMAN 
 
JAMES MONROE 
 
 JAMES MONROE, fifth president of the United 
 States, born in Westmoreland County, Va., April 
 28, 1758; died in New York City, July 4, 1831. 
 Although the attempts to trace his pedigree have 
 not been successful, it appears certain that the 
 Monroe family came to Virginia as early as 1650, 
 and that they were of Scottish origin. James Mon 
 roe s father was Spence Monroe, and his mother 
 was Eliza, sister of Judge Joseph Jones, twice a 
 delegate from Virginia to the Continental congress. 
 The boyhood of the future president was passed in 
 his native county, a neighborhood famous for early 
 manifestations of patriotic fervor. His earliest 
 recollections must have been associated with public 
 remonstrances against the stamp-act (in 1766), 
 and with the reception (in 1769) of a portrait of 
 Lord Chatham, which was sent to the gentlemen 
 of Westmoreland, from London, by one of their 
 correspondents, Edmund Jennings, of Lincoln s 
 Inn. To the College of William and Mary, then 
 rich and prosperous, James Monroe was sent; but 
 soon after his student life began it was interrupted 
 by the Revolutionary war. Three members of the 
 
 195 
 
196 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 faculty and twenty-five or thirty students, Monroe 
 among them, entered the military service. He 
 joined the army in 1776 at the headquarters of 
 Washington in New York, as a lieutenant in the 
 3d Virginia regiment under Col. Hugh Mercer. 
 He was with the troops at Harlem, at White 
 Plains, and at Trenton, where, in leading the ad 
 vance guard, he was wounded in the shoulder. 
 During 1777- 8 he served as a volunteer aide, with 
 the rank of major, on the staff of the Earl of Stir 
 ling, and took part in the battles of the Brandy- 
 wine, Germantown, and Monmouth. After these 
 services he was commended by Washington for a 
 commission in the state troops of Virginia, but 
 without success. He formed the acquaintance of 
 Gov. Jeff erson, and was sent by him as a military 
 commissioner to collect information in regard to 
 the condition and prospects of the southern army. 
 He thus attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel; 
 but his services in the field were completely inter 
 rupted, to his disappointment and chagrin. 
 
 His uncle, Judge Jones, at all times a trusted 
 and intimate counsellor, then wrote to him: "You 
 do well to cultivate the friendship of Mr. Jefferson 
 . . . and while you continue to deserve his esteem 
 he will not withdraw his countenance." The future 
 proved the sagacity of this advice, for Monroe s 
 intimacy with Jefferson, which was then estab 
 lished, continued through life, and was the key to 
 
From the puiuling by John Vanderlyn in the City Hall, New York 
 
JAMES MONROE 197 
 
 his early advancement, and perhaps his ultimate 
 success. The civil life of Monroe began on his 
 election in 1782 to a seat in the assembly of Vir 
 ginia, and his appointment as a member of the 
 executive council. He was next a delegate to the 
 4th, 5th and 6th congresses of the confederation, 
 where, notwithstanding his youth, he was active 
 and influential. Bancroft says of him that, when 
 Jefferson embarked for France, Monroe remained 
 "not the ablest but the most conspicuous repre 
 sentative of Virginia on the floor of congress. He 
 sought the friendship of nearly every leading 
 statesman of his commonwealth, and every one 
 seemed glad to call him a friend." On March 1, 
 1784, the Virginia delegates presented to congress 
 a deed that ceded to the United States Virginia s 
 claim to the northwest territory, and soon afterward 
 Jefferson presented his memorable plan for the 
 temporary government of all the western posses 
 sions of the United States from the southern bound 
 ary (lat. 31 N.) to the Lake of the Woods. From 
 that time until its settlement by the ordinance of 
 July 13, 1787, this question was of paramount im 
 portance. Twice within a few months Monroe 
 crossed the Alleghanies for the purpose of becom 
 ing acquainted with the actual condition of the 
 country. One of the fruits of his western observa 
 tions was a memoir, written in 1786, to prove the 
 rights of the people of the west to the free naviga- 
 
198 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tion of the Mississippi. Toward the close of 1784 
 Monroe was selected as one of nine judges to de 
 cide the boundary dispute between Massachusetts 
 and New York. He resigned this place in May, 
 1786, in consequence of an acrimonious controversy 
 in which he became involved. Both the states that 
 were at difference with each other were at variance 
 with Monroe in respect to the right to navigate the 
 Mississippi, and he thought himself thus debarred 
 from being acceptable as an umpire to either of the 
 contending parties to whom he owed his appoint 
 ment. 
 
 In the congress of 1785 Monroe was interested 
 in the regulation of commerce by the confederation, 
 and he certainly desired to secure that result; but 
 he was also jealous of the rights of the southern 
 states, and afraid that their interests would be over 
 balanced by those of the north. His policy was 
 therefore timid and dilatory. A report upon the 
 subject by the committee, of which he was chair 
 man, was presented to congress March 28, 1785, 
 and led to a long discussion, but nothing came of 
 it. The weakness of the confederacy grew more 
 and more obvious, and the country was drifting 
 toward a stronger government. But the measures 
 proposed by Monroe were not entirely abortive. 
 Says John Q. Adams: "They led first to the par 
 tial convention of delegates from five states at An 
 napolis in September, 1786, and then to the general 
 
JAMES MONROE 199 
 
 convention at Philadelphia in 1787, which prepared 
 and proposed the constitution of the United States. 
 Whoever contributed to that event is justly entitled 
 to the gratitude of the present age as a public bene 
 factor, and among them the name of Monroe should 
 be conspicuously enrolled." 
 
 According to the principle of rotation then in 
 force, Monroe s congressional service expired in 
 1786, at the end of a three years term. He then 
 intended to make his home in Fredericksburg, and 
 to practise law, though he said he should be happy 
 to keep clear of the bar if possible. But it was not 
 long before he was again called into public life. 
 He was chosen at once a delegate to the assembly, 
 and soon afterward became a member of the Virgin 
 ia convention to consider the ratification of the pro 
 posed constitution of the United States, which as 
 sembled at Richmond in 1788. In this convention 
 the friends of the new constitution were led by 
 James Madison, John Marshall, and Edmund 
 Randolph. Patrick Henry was their opponent, 
 and James Monroe was by his side in company with 
 William Grayson and George Mason. 
 
 In one of his speeches, Monroe made an elaborate 
 historical argument, based on the experience of 
 Greece, Germany, Switzerland, and New England, 
 against too firm consolidations, and he predicted 
 conflict between the state and national authorities, 
 and the possibility that a president once elected 
 
200 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 might be elected for life. In another speech he en 
 deavored to show that the rights of the western 
 territory would be less secure under the new con 
 stitutions than they were under the confederation. 
 He finally assented to the ratification on condition 
 that certain amendments should be adopted. As 
 late as 1816 he recurred to the fears of a monarchy, 
 which he had entertained in 1788, and endeavored 
 to show that they were not unreasonable. Under 
 the new constitution the first choice of Virginia for 
 senators fell upon Richard Henry Lee and William 
 Grayson. The latter died soon afterward, and 
 Monroe was selected by the legislature to fill the 
 vacant place. He took his seat in the senate De 
 cember 6, 1790, and held the office until May, 1794, 
 when he was sent as envoy to France. Among the 
 Anti-Federalists he took a prominent stand, and 
 was one of the most determined opponents of the 
 administration of Washington. To Hamilton he 
 was especially hostile. The appointment of Gou- 
 verneur Morris to be minister to France, and of 
 John Jay to be minister to England, seemed to him 
 most objectionable. Indeed, he met all the Fed 
 eralist attempts to organize a strong and efficient 
 government with incredulity or with adverse criti 
 cism. It was therefore a great surprise to him, as 
 well as to the public, that, while still a senator, he 
 was designated the successor of Morris as minister 
 to France. 
 
JAMES MONROE 201 
 
 For this difficult place he was not the first choice 
 of the president, nor the second ; but he was known 
 to be favorably disposed toward the French govern 
 ment, and it was thought that he might lead to the 
 establishment of friendly relations with that power, 
 and, besides, there is no room to doubt that Wash 
 ington desired, as John Quincy Adams has said, 
 to hold the balance between the parties at home by 
 appointing Jay, the Federalist, to the English mis 
 sion, and Monroe, the Republican, to the French 
 mission. It was the intent of the United States 
 to avoid a collision with any foreign power, but 
 neutrality was in danger of being considered an 
 offense by either France or England at any mo 
 ment. Monroe arrived in Paris just after the fall 
 of Robespierre, and in the excitement of the day he 
 did not at once receive recognition from the commit 
 tee of public safety. He therefore sent a letter to 
 the president of the convention, and arrangements 
 were made for his official reception August 15, 1794. 
 At that time he addressed the convention in terms 
 of great cordiality but his enthusiasm led him be 
 yond his discretion. He transcended the authority 
 that had been given to him, and when his report 
 reached the government at home Randolph sent him 
 a despatch, "in the frankness of friendship, "criticis 
 ing severely the course that the plenipotentiary had 
 pursued. A little later the secretary took a more 
 conciliatory tone, and Monroe believed he never 
 
202 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 would have spoken so severely if all the despatches 
 from Paris had reached the United States in due 
 order. The residence of Monroe in France was a 
 period of anxious responsibility, during which he 
 did not succeed in recovering the confidence of the 
 authorities at home. 
 
 When Pickering succeeded Randolph in the de 
 partment of state, Monroe was informed that he 
 was superseded by the appointment of Charles C. 
 Pinckney. The letter of recall was dated August 
 22, 1796. On his return he published a pamphlet of 
 500 pages, entitled "A View of the Conduct of the 
 Executive" (Philadelphia, 1797) , in which he print 
 ed his instructions, correspondence with the French 
 and United States governments, speeches, and let 
 ters received from American residents in Paris. 
 This publication made a great stir. Washington, 
 who had then retired from public life, appears to 
 have remained quiet under the provocation, but he 
 wrote upon his copy of the "View" animadver 
 sions that have since been published. Party feeling, 
 already excited, became fiercer when Monroe s book 
 appeared, and personalities that have now lost their 
 force were freely uttered on both sides. Under 
 these circumstances Monroe became the hero of the 
 Anti-Federalists, and was at once elected governor 
 of Virginia. He held the office from 1799 till 1802. 
 The most noteworthy occurrence during his admin 
 istration was the suppression of a servile insurrec- 
 
JAMES MONROE 203 
 
 tion by which the city of Richmond was threatened. 
 Monroe s star continued in the ascendant. After 
 Thomas Jefferson s election to the presidency in 
 1801, an opportunity occurred for returning Mr. 
 Monroe to the French mission, from which he had 
 been recalled a few years previously. There were 
 many reasons for believing that the United States 
 could secure possession of the territory beyond the 
 Mississippi belonging to France. The American 
 minister in Paris, Robert R. Livingston, had al 
 ready opened the negotiations, and Monroe was 
 sent as an additional plenipotentiary to second, with 
 his enthusiasm and energy, the effort that had been 
 begun. By their joint efforts it came to pass that 
 in the spring of 1803 a treaty was signed by which 
 France gave up to the United States for a pe 
 cuniary consideration the vast region then known 
 as Louisiana. Livingston remarked to the pleni 
 potentiaries after the treaty was signed: "We have 
 lived long, but this is the noblest work of our lives." 
 The story of the negotiations that terminated in 
 this sale is full of romance. Bonaparte, Talley 
 rand, and Marbois were the representatives of 
 France ; Jefferson, Livingston, and Monroe guided 
 the interests of the United States. The French 
 were in need of money and the Americans could 
 afford to pay well for the control of the entrance 
 to the Mississippi. England stood ready to seize 
 the coveted prize. The moment was opportune ; the 
 
204 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 negotiators on both sides were eager for the trans 
 fer. It did not take long to agree upon the con 
 sideration of 80,000,000 francs as the purchase- 
 money, and the assent of Bonaparte was secured. 
 "I have given to England," he said, exultingly, "a 
 maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her 
 pride." It is evident that the history of the United 
 States has been largely influenced by this trans 
 action, which virtually extended the national 
 domain from the mouth of the Mississippi river to 
 the mouth of the Columbia. Monroe went from 
 Paris to London, where he was accredited to the 
 court of St. James, and subsequently went to 
 Spain in order to negotiate for the cession of 
 Florida to the United States. But he was not suc 
 cessful in this, and returned to London, where, with 
 the aid of William Pinkney, who was sent to re- 
 enforce his efforts, he concluded a treaty with 
 Great Britain after long negotiations frequently 
 interrupted. This treaty failed to meet the ex 
 pectations of the United States in two important 
 particulars it made no provisions against the im 
 pressment of seamen, and it secured no indemnity 
 for loss that Americans had incurred in the seizure 
 of their goods and vessels. Jefferson was so dis 
 satisfied that he would not send the treaty to the 
 senate. Monroe returned home in 1807 and at once 
 drew up an elaborate defence of his political con 
 duct. Matters were evidently drifting toward war 
 
JAMES MONROE 205 
 
 between Great Britain and the United States. 
 Again the disappointed and discredited diplomatist 
 received a token of popular approbation. He was 
 for the third time elected to the assembly, and in 
 1811 was chosen for the second time governor of 
 Virginia. He remained in this office but a short 
 time, for he was soon called by Madison to the 
 office of secretary of state. He held the portfolio 
 during the next six years, from 1811 to 1817. In 
 1814- 15 he also acted as secretary of war. While 
 he was a member of the cabinet of Madison, hos 
 tilities were begun between the United States and 
 England. The public buildings in Washington 
 were burned, and it was only by the most strenu 
 ous measures that the progress of the British was 
 interrupted. Monroe gained much popularity by 
 the measures that he took for the protection of the 
 capital, and for the enthusiasm with which he prose 
 cuted the war measures of the government. 
 
 Monroe had now held almost every important 
 station except that of president to which a politi 
 cian could aspire. He had served in the legislature 
 of Virginia, in the Continental congress, and in 
 the senate of the United States. He had been a 
 member of the convention that considered the rati 
 fication of the constitution, twice he had served as 
 governor, twice he had been sent abroad as a min 
 ister, and he had been accredited to three great 
 powers. He had left two places in the cabinet of 
 
206 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Madison. With the traditions of those days, which 
 regarded experience in political affairs a qualifica 
 tion for an exalted station, it was most natural that 
 Monroe should become a candidate for the presi 
 dency. Eight years previously his fitness for the 
 office had been often discussed. Now, in 1816, at 
 ~ the age of fifty-nine years, almost exactly the age 
 \jj- at which Jefferson and Madison attained the same 
 position, he was elected president of the United 
 States, receiving 183 votes in the electoral college 
 against 34 that were given for Rufus King, the 
 candidate of the Federalists. He continued in this 
 office until 1825. His second election in 1821 was 
 made with almost complete unanimity, but one 
 electoral vote being given against him. Daniel T. 
 Tompkins was vice-president during both presiden 
 tial terms. John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, 
 William H. Crawford, and William Wirt were 
 members of the cabinet during his entire adminis 
 tration. The principal subjects that engaged the 
 attention of the president were the defences of the 
 Atlantic seaboard, the promotion of internal im 
 provements, the conduct of the Seminole war, the 
 acquisition of Florida, the Missouri compromise, 
 and the resistance to foreign interference in Ameri 
 can affairs, formulated in a declaration that is 
 called the "Monroe doctrine." 
 
 Two social events marked the beginning and the 
 end of his administration: first, his ceremonious 
 
JAMES MONROE 207 
 
 visit to the principal cities of the north and south; 
 and, second, the national reception of the Marquis 
 de Lafayette, who came to this country as the 
 nation s guest. The purchase of the Floridas was 
 brought to a successful issue, February 22, 1819, 
 by a treaty with Spain, concluded at Washington, 
 and thus the control of the entire Atlantic and Gulf 
 seaboard, from the St. Croix to the Sabine, was 
 secured to the United States. Monroe s influence 
 in the controversies that preceded the Missouri com 
 promise does not appear to have been very strong. 
 He showed none of the boldness which Jeff erson 
 would have exhibited under similar circumstances. 
 He took more interest in guiding the national 
 policy with respect to internal improvements and 
 the defence of the seaboard. He vetoed the Cum 
 berland road bill, May 4, 1822, on the ground that 
 congress had no right to execute a system of in 
 ternal improvement ; but he held that if such powers 
 could be secured by constitutional amendment good 
 results would follow. Even then he held that the 
 general government should undertake only works 
 of national significance, and should leave all minor 
 improvements to the separate states. 
 
 There is no measure with which the name of 
 Monroe is connected so important as his enuncia 
 tion of the "Monroe doctrine." The words of this 
 famous utterance constitute two paragraphs in the 
 president s message of December 2, 1823. In the 
 
208 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 first of these paragraphs he declares that the gov 
 ernments of Russia and Great Britain have been 
 informed that the American continents henceforth 
 are not to be considered subjects for future col 
 onization by any European powers. In the second 
 paragraph he says that the United States would 
 consider any attempt on the part of the European 
 powers to extend their system to any portion of 
 this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and 
 safety. He goes further, and says that, if the gov 
 ernments established in North and South America 
 who have declared their independence of European 
 control should be interfered with by any European 
 power, this interference would be regarded as the 
 manifestation of an unfriendly disposition to the 
 United States. These utterances were addressed 
 especially to Spain and Portugal. They undoubt 
 edly expressed the dominant sentiments of the 
 people of the United States at the time they were 
 uttered, and, moreover, they embodied a doctrine 
 which had been vaguely held in the days of Wash 
 ington, and from that time to the administration 
 of Monroe had been more and more clearly avowed. 
 It has received the approval of successive adminis 
 trations and of the foremost publicists and states 
 men. The peace and prosperity of America have 
 been greatly promoted by the declaration, almost 
 universally assented to, that European states are 
 not to gain new dominion in America. For con- 
 
JAMES MONROE 209 
 
 venience of reference the two passages of the 
 message are here quoted: 
 
 "At the proposal of the Russian imperial gov 
 ernment, made through the minister of the emperor 
 residing here, full power and instructions have been 
 transmitted to the minister of the United States at 
 St. Petersburg to arrange, by amicable negotia 
 tion, the respective rights and interests of the two 
 nations on the northwest coast of this continent. 
 A similar proposal has been made by his imperial 
 majesty to the government of Great Britain, which 
 has likewise been acceded to. The government of 
 the United States has been desirous, by this friendly 
 proceeding, of manifesting the great value which 
 they have invariably attached to the friendship of 
 the emperor, and their solicitude to cultivate the 
 best understanding with his government. In the 
 discussions to which this interest has given rise, and 
 in the arrangements by which they may terminate, 
 the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, 
 as a principle in which the rights and interests of 
 the United States are involved, that the American 
 continents, by the free and independent condition 
 which they have assumed and maintain, are hence 
 forth not to be considered as subjects for future 
 colonization by any European power. . . . We 
 owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable 
 relations existing between the United States and 
 those powers, to declare that we should consider 
 
210 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 any attempt on their part to extend their system 
 to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to 
 our peace and safety. With the existing colonies 
 or dependencies of any European power we have 
 not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with 
 the governments who have declared their independ 
 ence and maintained it, and whose independence 
 we have, on great consideration and on just princi 
 ples, acknowledged, we could not view any inter 
 position for the purpose of oppressing them, or 
 controlling in any other manner their destiny, by 
 any European power, in any other light than as the 
 manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward 
 the United States." 
 
 At the close of Monroe s second term as presi 
 dent he retired to private life, and during the seven 
 years that remained to him resided part of the time 
 at Oak Hill, Loudon County, Va., and part of the 
 time in the city of New York. The illustration ac 
 companying this biography is a picture of Oak 
 Hill. He accepted the office of regent in the 
 University of Virginia in 1826 with Jefferson 
 and Madison. He was asked to serve on the elec 
 toral ticket of Virginia in 1828, but declined on 
 the ground that an ex-president should not be 
 a party-leader. He consented to act as a local 
 magistrate, however, and to become a member of 
 the Virginia constitutional convention. The ad 
 ministration of Monroe has often been designated 
 
JAMES MONROE 211 
 
 as the "era of good feeling." Schouler, the his 
 torian, has found this heading on an article that 
 appeared in the Boston "Centinel" of July 12, 
 1817. 
 
 It is, on the whole, a suitable phrase to indicate 
 the state of political affairs that succeeded to the 
 troublesome period of organization and preceded 
 the fearful strains of threatened disruption and of 
 civil war. One idea is consistently represented by 
 Monroe from the beginning to the end of his pub 
 lic life the idea that America is for Americans, 
 that the territory of the United States is to be pro 
 tected and enlarged, and that foreign intervention 
 will never be permitted. In his early youth Mon 
 roe enlisted for the defence of American inde 
 pendence. He was one of the first to perceive the 
 importance of free navigation upon the Missis 
 sippi ; he negotiated with France and Spain for the 
 acquisition of Louisiana and Florida; he gave a 
 vigorous impulse to the second war with Great 
 Britain in defence of our maritime rights when the 
 rights of a neutral power were endangered; and 
 he enunciated a dictum against foreign interference 
 which has now the force of international law. 
 Judged by the high stations he was called upon to 
 fill, his career was brilliant ; but the writings he has 
 left in state papers and correspondence are inferior 
 to those of Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and 
 others of his contemporaries. He is rather to be 
 
212 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 honored as an upright and patriotic citizen who 
 served his party with fidelity and never con 
 descended to low and unworthy measures. He de 
 served well of the country, which he served faith 
 fully during his career. After his retirement from 
 the office of president he urged upon the govern 
 ment the judgment of unsettled claims which he 
 presented for outlays made during his prolonged 
 political services abroad, and for which he had 
 never received adequate remuneration. During the 
 advance of old age his time was largely occupied 
 in correspondence, and he undertook to write a 
 philosophical history of the origin of free govern 
 ments, which was published long after his decease. 
 While attending congress, Monroe married, in 
 1786, a daughter of Lawrence Kortright, of New 
 York. One of his two daughters, Eliza, married 
 George Hay, of Virginia, and the other, Maria, 
 married Samuel L. Gouverneur, of New York. 
 
 A large number of manuscripts, including drafts 
 of state papers, letters addressed to Monroe, and 
 letters from him, have been preserved. Most of 
 these have been purchased by congress and are pre 
 served in the archives of the state department; 
 others are still held by his descendants. Schouler, 
 in his "History of the United States," has made 
 use of this material to advantage, particularly in 
 his account of the administrations of Madison and 
 Monroe, which he has treated in detail. Bancroft, 
 
JAMES MONROE 213 
 
 in his "History of the Constitution," draws largely 
 upon the Monroe papers, many of which he prints 
 for the first time. The eulogy of John Quincy 
 Adams (Boston, 1831) and his diary afford the 
 best contemporary view of Monroe s characteristics 
 as a statesman. Jefferson, Madison, Webster, Cal- 
 houn, and Colonel Benton have each left their ap 
 preciative estimates of his character. 
 
 The remains of James Monroe were buried in 
 Marble cemetery, Second street, between First and 
 Second avenues, New York, but in 1858 were taken 
 to Richmond, Va., and there reinterred on April 
 28 in Hollywood Cemetery. See Samuel P. 
 Waldo s "Tour of James Monroe through the 
 Northern and Eastern States, with a Sketch of 
 his Life" (Hartford, 1819) ; "Life of James Mon 
 roe, with a Notice of his Administration," by John 
 Quincy Adams (Buffalo, 1850) ; "Concise History 
 of the Monroe Doctrine," by George F. Tucker 
 (Boston, 1885) ; and Daniel C. Gilman s life of 
 Monroe, in the "American Statesmen" series (Bos 
 ton, 1883) . In this volume is an appendix by J. F. 
 Jameson, which gives a list of writings pertaining 
 to Monroe s career and to the Monroe doctrine. 
 His writings in 7 vols., edited by S. M. Hamilton, 
 were published in New York in 1898-1903. Presi 
 dent Monroe s portrait by Gilbert Stuart is in the 
 possession of Thomas J. Coolidge, of Massa- 
 
214 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 chusetts, late American minister to France, and 
 that by John Vanderlyn, which is reproduced in 
 this chapter, is in the City-hall New York. 
 
 His wife, ELIZABETH KORTRIGHT, born in New 
 York City in 1768; died in London County, Va., 
 in 1830, was the daughter of Lawrence Kortright, 
 a captain in the British army. She married James 
 Monroe in 1786, accompanied him in his missions 
 abroad in 1794 and 1803, and while he was U. S. 
 minister to France she effected the release of 
 Madame de Lafayette, who was confined in the 
 prison of La Force, hourly expecting to be exe 
 cuted. On the accession of her husband to the 
 presidency Mrs. Monroe became the mistress of 
 the White House; but she mingled little in society 
 on account of her delicate health. She is described 
 by a contemporary writer as "an elegant and 
 accomplished woman, with a dignity of manner 
 that peculiarly fitted her for the station." The 
 vignette, which appears in the group at the end of 
 this volume, is copied from the only portrait that 
 was ever made of Mrs. Monroe, and was executed 
 in Paris in 1796. 
 
 His nephew, JAMES, soldier, born in Albemarle 
 County, Va., September 10, 1799; died in Orange, 
 N. J., September 7, 1870, was a son of the presi 
 dent s elder brother, Andrew. He was graduated 
 at the U. S. military academy in 1815, assigned to 
 
JAMES MONROE 215 
 
 the artillery corps, and served in the war with 
 Algiers, in which he was wounded while directing 
 part of the quarter-deck guns of the "Guerriere" 
 in an action with the "Mashouda" off Cape de 
 Gata, Spain. He was aide to Gen. Winfield Scott 
 in 1817- 22, became 1st lieutenant of the 4th 
 artillery on the reorganization of the army in 1821, 
 and served on garrison and commissary duty till 
 1832, when he was again appointed Gen. Scott s 
 aide on the Black Hawk expedition, but did not 
 reach the seat of war, owing to illness. He re 
 signed his commission on September 30, 1832, and 
 entered politics, becoming an alderman of New 
 York City in 1833, and president of the board in 
 1834. In 1836 he declined the appointment of aide 
 to Gov. William L. Marcy. He was in congress 
 in 1839- 41, and was chosen again in 1846, but his 
 seat was contested, and congress ordered a new 
 election, at which he refused to be a candidate. 
 During the Mexican war he was active in urging 
 the retention in command of Gen. Scott. In 
 1850- 2 he was in the New York legislature, and 
 in 1852 was an earnest supporter of his old chief 
 for the presidency. After the death of his wife 
 in that year he retired from politics, and spent much 
 of his time at the Union club, of which he was one 
 of the earliest and most popular members. Just 
 before the civil war he visited Richmond, and, by 
 
216 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 public speeches and private effort, tried to prevent 
 the secession of Virginia, and in the struggle that 
 followed he remained a firm supporter of the 
 National government. He much resembled his 
 uncle in personal appearance. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, sixth president of the 
 United States, born in Braintree, Mass., July 11, 
 1767; died in Washington, D. C., February 23, 
 1848. He was named for his mother s grandfather, 
 John Quincy. In his eleventh year he accompanied 
 his father to France, and was sent to school near 
 Paris, where his proficiency in the French language 
 and other studies soon became conspicuous. In the 
 following year he returned to America, and back 
 again to France with his father, whom, in August, 
 1780, he accompanied to Holland. After a few 
 months at school in Amsterdam, he entered the 
 university of Leyden. Two years afterward John 
 Adams s secretary of legation, Francis Dana, was 
 appointed minister to Russia, and the boy accom 
 panied him as private secretary. After a stay of 
 fourteen months, as Catharine s government re 
 fused to recognize Mr. Dana as minister, young 
 Adams left St. Petersburg and travelled alone 
 through Sweden, Denmark, and northern Germany 
 to France, spending six months in the journey. 
 Arriving in Paris, he found his father busy with 
 the negotiation of the treaty of peace between 
 
 219 
 
220 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Great Britain and the United States, and was im 
 mediately set to work as secretary, and aided in 
 drafting the papers that "dispersed all possible 
 doubt of the independence of his country." In 
 1785, when his father was appointed minister to 
 England, he decided not to stay with him in Lon 
 don, but to return at once to Massachusetts in 
 order to complete his education at Harvard col 
 lege. For an American career he believed an 
 American education to be best fitted. Consider 
 ing the immediate sacrifice of pleasure involved, it 
 was a remarkably wise decision in a lad of eighteen. 
 But Adams s character was already fully formed; 
 he was what he remained throughout his life, a 
 Puritan of the sternest and most uncompromising 
 sort, who seemed to take a grim enjoyment in the 
 performance of duty, especially when disagreeable. 
 Returning home, he was graduated at Harvard 
 college in 1788, and then studied law in the office 
 of Theophilus Parsons, afterward chief justice of 
 Massachusetts. In 1791 he was admitted to the 
 Suffolk bar, and began the practice of law, the 
 tedium of which he relieved by writing occasional 
 articles for the papers. Under the signature of 
 "Publicola" he criticised some positions taken by 
 Thomas Paine in his "Rights of Man"; and these 
 articles, when republished in England, were gen 
 erally attributed to his father. In a further series 
 of papers, signed "Marcellus," he defended Wash- 
 
JOHN QTJINCY ADAMS 221 
 
 ington s policy of neutrality; and in a third series, 
 signed "Columbus," he discussed the extraordinary 
 behavior of Citizen Genet, whom the Jacobins had 
 sent over to browbeat the Americans into joining 
 France in hurling defiance at the world. These 
 writings made him so conspicuous that in 1794 
 Washington appointed him minister to Holland, 
 and two years later made an appointment trans 
 ferring him to Portugal. Before he had started 
 for the latter country his father became president 
 of the United States, and asked Washington s 
 advice as to the propriety of promoting his own 
 son by sending him to Berlin. Washington in 
 strong terms recommended the promotion, declar 
 ing that in his opinion the young man would prove 
 to be the ablest diplomat in the American service. 
 In the fall of 1797 Mr. Adams accordingly took 
 up his residence at the capital of Prussia. Shortly 
 before this he had married Miss Louisa Johnson, a 
 niece of Thomas Johnson, of Maryland. During 
 his residence at Berlin Mr. Adams translated Wie- 
 land s "Oberon" into English. In 1798 he was 
 commissioned to make a commercial treaty with 
 Sweden. In 1800 he made a journey through 
 Silesia, and wrote an account of it, which was pub 
 lished in London and afterward translated into 
 German and French. When Jefferson became 
 president, Mr. Adams s mission terminated. He 
 resumed the practice of law in Boston, but in 1802 
 
222 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 was elected to the Massachusetts senate, and next 
 year was chosen to the senate of the United States 
 instead of Timothy Pickering. 
 
 The Federalist party was then rent in twain by 
 the feud between the partisans of John Adams and 
 those of Hamilton, and the reception of the 
 younger Adams in the senate was far from flat 
 tering. Affairs grew worse when, at the next 
 vacancy, Pickering was chosen to be his uncon 
 genial colleague. Mr. Adams was grossly and re 
 peatedly insulted. Any motion he might make was 
 sure to be rejected by the combined votes of repub 
 licans and Hamiltonians, though frequently the 
 same motion, made soon afterward by somebody 
 else, would be carried by a large majority. A com 
 mittee of which he was a member would make and 
 send in its report without even notifying him of its 
 time and place of meeting. At first Mr. Adams 
 was subjected to such treatment merely because he 
 was the son of his father; but presently he rendered 
 himself more and more amenable to it by manifest 
 ing the same independence of party ties that had 
 made his father so unpopular. Independence in 
 politics has always been characteristic of the Adams 
 family, and in none has this been more strongly 
 marked than in John Quincy Adams. His first 
 serious difference with the federalist party was 
 occasioned by his qualified approval of Jefferson s 
 purchase of Louisiana, a measure that was bitterly 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 223 
 
 opposed and fiercely censured by nearly all the 
 Federalists, because it was feared it would add too 
 much strength to the south. 
 
 A much more serious difference arose somewhat 
 later, on the question of the embargo. Questions 
 of foreign rather than of domestic policy then 
 furnished the burning subjects of contention in 
 the United States. Our neutral commerce on the 
 high seas, which had risen to very considerable pro 
 portions, was plundered in turn by England and 
 by France, until its very existence was threatened. 
 In May, 1806, the British government declared the 
 northern coast of Europe, from Brest to the mouth 
 of the Elbe, to be blockaded. By the Russian 
 proclamation of 1780, which was then accepted by 
 all civilized nations except Great Britain, such 
 paper blockades were illegal; but British ships none 
 the less seized and confiscated American vessels 
 bound to any port on that coast. In November 
 Napoleon issued his Berlin decree making a paper 
 blockade of the whole British coast, whereupon 
 French cruisers began seizing and confiscating 
 American vessels on their way from British to 
 French ports. Two months later England issued 
 an order in council, forbidding neutrals to trade 
 between any of her enemy s ports; and this was 
 followed by orders decreeing fines or confiscation 
 to all neutral ships daring to violate the edict. In 
 December, 1807, Napoleon replied with the Milan 
 
224 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 decree, threatening to confiscate all ships bound to 
 England, or which should have paid a fine to the 
 British government or submitted to search at the 
 hands of a British commander. 
 
 All these decrees and orders were in flagrant 
 violation of international law, and for a time they 
 made the ocean a pandemonium of robbery and 
 murder. Their effect upon American commerce 
 was about the same as if both England and France 
 had declared war against the United States. Their 
 natural and proper effect upon the American peo 
 ple would have been seen in an immediate declara 
 tion of war against both England and France, save 
 that our military weakness was then too manifest 
 to make such a course anything but ridiculous. Be 
 tween the animus of the two bullies by whom we 
 were thus tormented there was little to choose ; but 
 in two respects England s capacity for injuring us 
 was the greater. In the first place, she had more 
 ships engaged in this highway robbery than France, 
 and stronger ones; in the second place, owing to 
 the difficulty of distinguishing between Americans 
 and Englishmen, she was able to add the crowning 
 wickedness of kidnapping American seamen. The 
 wrath of the Americans was thus turned more 
 against England than against France; and never 
 perhaps in the revolutionary war had it waxed 
 stronger than in the summer of 1807, when, in full 
 sight of the American coast, the "Leopard" fired 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 225 
 
 upon the "Chesapeake," killed and wounded several 
 of her crew, and violently carried away four of 
 them. For this outrage the commander of the 
 "Leopard" was promoted in the British service. 
 
 In spite of all these things, the hatred of the 
 federalists for France was so great that they were 
 ready to put up with insult added to injury rather 
 than attack the power that was warring against 
 Napoleon. So far did these feelings carry them 
 that Mr. John Lowell, a prominent federalist of 
 Boston, was actually heard to defend the action of 
 the "Leopard." Such pusillanimity incensed Mr. 
 Adams. "This was the cause," he afterward said, 
 "which alienated me from that day and forever 
 from the councils of the federal party." He tried 
 to persuade the federalists of Boston to hold a 
 meeting and pledge their support to the govern 
 ment in any measures, however serious, that it 
 might see fit to adopt in order to curb the insolence 
 of Great Britain. But these gentlemen were too 
 far blinded by party feeling to respond to the call ; 
 whereupon Mr. Adams attended a republican meet 
 ing, at w r hich he was put upon a committee to draft 
 and report such resolutions. Presently the fed 
 eralists bowed to the storm of popular feeling and 
 held their meeting, at which Mr. Adams was also 
 present and drafted resolutions. For his share in 
 the proceedings of the republicans it was threatened 
 that he should "have his head taken off for apos- 
 
226 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tasy." It was never of much use to threaten Mr. 
 Adams. An extra session of congress was called 
 in October to consider what was to be done. Mr. 
 Jefferson s government was averse to war, for 
 which the country was ill prepared, and it was 
 thought that somewhat milder measures might 
 harass England until she would submit to reason. 
 For a year and a half a non-importation act had 
 been in force; but it had proved no more effective 
 than the non-importation agreements of 1768 and 
 1774. Now an embargo was laid upon all the 
 shipping in American ports. The advantage of 
 such a measure was very doubtful; it was damag 
 ing ourselves in the hope of damaging the enemy. 
 The greatest damage fell upon the maritime states 
 of New England, and there the vials of federalist 
 wrath were poured forth with terrible fury upon 
 Mr. Jefferson and the embargo. But the full 
 measure of their ferocity was reserved for Mr. 
 Adams, who had actually been a member of the 
 committee that reported the bill, and had given it 
 his most earnest support. All the choicest epithets 
 of abuse were showered upon him; few men in our 
 history have been more fiercely berated and reviled. 
 His term of service in the senate was to expire on 
 March 3, 1809. In the preceding June the Massa 
 chusetts legislature chose Mr. Lloyd to succeed 
 him, a proceeding that was intended and accepted 
 as an insult. Mr. Adams instantly resigned, and 
 
ty fc^S&t 1, 
 
 <J 6 
 
 ^+uoJ& 
 
 v 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 [Foe-simile letter from John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams] 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 227 
 
 Mr. Lloyd was chosen to fill the remainder of his 
 term. In the course of the next month the repub 
 licans of his congressional district wished to elect 
 him to the house of representatives, but he refused. 
 In 1806 Mr. Adams had been appointed professor 
 of rhetoric and belles-lettres at Harvard college, 
 and in the intervals of his public duties had de 
 livered lectures there, which were published in 1810, 
 and for a time were held in esteem. 
 
 One of Mr. Madison s first acts on succeeding to 
 the presidency in 1809 was to nominate Mr. Adams 
 minister to Russia. Since Mr. Dana s failure to 
 secure recognition in 1782, the United States had 
 had no minister in that country, and the new mission 
 was now to be created. The senate at first de 
 clined to concur in creating the mission, but a few 
 months later the objectors yielded, and Mr. 
 Adams s nomination was confirmed. He was very 
 courteously received by Alexander L, and his four 
 years and a half in Russia passed very pleasantly. 
 His diary gives us a vivid account of the Napo 
 leonic invasion and its disastrous ending. In the 
 autumn of 1812 the czar offered his services as 
 mediator between the United States and Great 
 Britain. War had only been declared between these 
 powers three months before, but the American gov 
 ernment promptly accepted the proposal, and, in 
 the height of the popular enthusiasm over the naval 
 victories of Hull and Decatur, sent Messrs. Gal- 
 
228 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 latin and Bayard to St. Petersburg to act as com 
 missioners with Mr. Adams. The British govern 
 ment refused to accept the mediation of Russia, but 
 proposed instead an independent negotiation, to 
 which the United States agreed, and the commis 
 sioners were directed to meet at Ghent. Much 
 time was consumed in these arguments, while we 
 were defeating England again and again on the 
 sea, and suffering in return some humiliating re 
 verses on land, until at last the commissioners met 
 at Ghent, in August, 1814. Henry Clay and Jona 
 than Russell were added to the American commis 
 sion, while England was represented by Lord 
 Gambier, Dr. Adams, and Mr. Goulburn. After 
 four months of bitter wrangling, from which no 
 good result could have been expected, terms of 
 peace were suddenly agreed upon in December. 
 
 In warding off the British attempts to limit our 
 rights in the fisheries Mr. Adams played an impor 
 tant part, as his father had done in 1782. The war 
 had been a drawn game, neither side was decisively 
 victorious, and the treaty apparently left things 
 much as before. Nothing was explicitly done to 
 end the pretensions of England to the right of 
 search and the impressment of seamen, yet the 
 naval victories of the United States had taught the 
 British a lesson, and these pretensions were never 
 renewed. The treaty was a great disappointment 
 to the British people, who had hoped to obtain 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 229 
 
 some advantages, and Mr. Adams, for his share in 
 it, was reviled by the London press in a tone which 
 could not but be regarded as a compliment to his 
 powers. After the conclusion of the treaty he 
 visited Paris and witnessed the return of Napoleon 
 from Elba and the exciting events that followed 
 up to the eve of Waterloo. Here his wife and 
 children joined him, after a tedious journey from 
 St. Petersburg, not without distress and peril by 
 the way. By this time Mr. Adams had been ap 
 pointed commissioner, with Clay and Gallatin, to 
 negotiate a new commercial treaty with England. 
 This treaty was completed on July 13, 1815; but 
 already, on May 26, when Mr. Adams arrived in 
 London, he had received the news of his appoint 
 ment as minister to England. The series of double 
 coincidences in the Adams family between missions 
 to England and treaties with that power is curious. 
 First John Adams is minister, just after his share 
 in the treaty that concluded the revolutionary war, 
 then his son, just after the treaty that concluded 
 the war of 1812- 15, and then the grandson is 
 minister during the civil war and afterward takes 
 part in the treaty that disposed of the Alabama 
 question. 
 
 After an absence of eight years, John Quincy 
 Adams was called back to his native land to serve 
 as secretary of state under President Monroe. A 
 new era in American politics was dawning. The 
 
230 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 war which had just been concluded has sometimes 
 been called our second war of independence; cer 
 tainly the year 1815, which saw the end of the long 
 strife between France and England, marks an im 
 portant era in American history. Our politics 
 ceased to be concerned mainly with foreign affairs. 
 So suddenly were men s bones of political conten 
 tion taken away from them that Monroe s presi 
 dency is traditionally remembered as the "era of 
 good feeling." So far as political parties were 
 concerned, such an epithet is well applied; but as 
 between prominent individuals struggling covertly 
 to supplant one another, it was anything rather 
 than an era of good feeling. Mr. Adams s prin 
 cipal achievement as secretary of state was the 
 treaty with Spain, whereby Florida was ceded to 
 the United States in consideration of $5,000,000, 
 to be applied to the liquidation of outstanding 
 claims of American merchants against Spain. By 
 the same treaty the boundary between Louisiana 
 and Mexico was established as running along the 
 Sabine and Red rivers, the upper Arkansas, the 
 crest of the Rocky mountains, and the 42d parallel. 
 Mr. Adams defended the conduct of Gen. Jack 
 son in invading Spanish Florida and hanging 
 Arbuthnot and Ambrister. He supported the 
 policy of recognizing the independence of the re 
 volted colonies of Spanish America, and he was the 
 principal author of what is known as the "Monroe 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 231 
 
 Doctrine," that the American continent is no 
 longer open to colonization by European powers. 
 His official report on weights and measures showed 
 remarkable scientific knowledge. Toward the close 
 of Monroe s first term came up the first great 
 political question growing out of the purchase of 
 Louisiana: Should Missouri be admitted to the 
 union as a slave-state, and should slavery be allowed 
 or prohibited in the vast territory beyond? After 
 the Missouri compromise had passed through 
 congress, and been submitted to President Monroe 
 for his signature, two questions were laid before the 
 cabinet. First, had congress the constitutional 
 right to prohibit slavery in a territory? and, 
 secondly, in prohibiting slavery "forever" in the 
 territory north of Mason and Dixon s line, as pro 
 longed beyond the Mississippi river, did the Mis 
 souri bill refer to this district only so long as it 
 should remain under territorial government, or did 
 it apply to such states as might in future be formed 
 from it? To the first question the cabinet replied 
 unanimously in the affirmative. To the second 
 question Mr. Adams replied that the term "for 
 ever" really meant forever; but all his colleagues 
 replied that it only meant so long as the district 
 in question should remain under territorial govern 
 ment. Here for the first time we see Mr. Adams 
 taking that firm stand in opposition to slavery 
 which thereafter was to make him so famous. 
 
232 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Mr. Monroe s second term of office had scarcely 
 begun when the question of the succession came into 
 the foreground. The candidates were John Quincy 
 Adams, secretary of state; William H. Craw 
 ford, secretary of the treasury; John C. Calhoun, 
 secretary of war; and Henry Clay, speaker of the 
 house of representatives. Shortly before the elec 
 tion Gen. Jackson s strength began to loom up as 
 more formidable than the other competitors had 
 supposed. Jackson was then at the height of his 
 popularity as a military hero, Crawford was the 
 most dexterous political manager in the country. 
 Clay was perhaps the most persuasive orator. Far 
 superior to these three in intelligence and character, 
 Mr. Adams was in no sense a popular favorite. 
 His manners were stiff and disagreeable; he told 
 the truth bluntly, whether it hurt or not; and he 
 never took pains to conciliate any one. The best 
 of men in his domestic circle, outside of it he had 
 few warm friends, but he seemed to have a talent 
 for making enemies. When Edward Everett 
 asked him if he was "determined to do nothing 
 with a view to promote his future election to the 
 presidency as the successor of Mr. Monroe," he 
 replied that he "should do absolutely nothing," and 
 from this resolution he never swerved. He desired 
 the presidency as much as any one who was ever 
 chosen to that high office; but his nature was such 
 that unless it should come to him without scheming 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 233 
 
 of his own, and as the unsolicited expression of 
 popular trust in him, all its value would be lost. 
 Under the circumstances, it was a remarkable evi 
 dence of the respect felt for his lofty character and 
 distinguished services that he should have obtained 
 the presidency at all. The result of the election 
 showed 99 votes for Jackson, 84 for Adams, 41 for 
 Crawford, 37 for Clay. Mr. Calhoun, who had 
 withdrawn from the contest for the presidency, re 
 ceived 182 votes for the vice-presidency, and was 
 elected. The choice of the president was thrown 
 into the house of representatives, and Mr. Clay 
 now used his great influence in favor of Mr. 
 Adams, who was forthwith elected. When Adams 
 afterward made Clay his secretary of state, the 
 disappointed partisans of Jackson pretended that 
 there had been a bargain between the two, that 
 Adams had secured Clay s assistance by promising 
 him the first place in the cabinet, and thus, accord 
 ing to a usage that seemed to be establishing itself, 
 placing him in the line of succession for the next 
 presidency. The peppery John Randolph char 
 acterized this supposed bargain as "a coalition be 
 tween Blifil and Black George, the Puritan and 
 the Blackleg." There never was a particle of foun 
 dation for this reckless charge, and it has long 
 since been disproved. 
 
 During Monroe s administration the Federalist 
 party had become extinct. In the course of John 
 
234 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Quincy Adams s administration the new division 
 of parties into Whigs and Democrats began to 
 grow up, the Whigs favoring internal improve 
 ments, the national bank, and a high tariff on im 
 portations, while the Democrats opposed all such 
 measures on the ground that they were incom 
 patible with a strict construction of the constitu 
 tion. In its relation to such questions Mr. Adams s 
 administration was Whig, and thus arrayed against 
 itself not only all the southern planters, but also the 
 ship-owners of New England and the importers 
 of New York. But a new and powerful tendency 
 now came in to overwhelm such an administration 
 as that of Adams. The so-called "spoils system" 
 was already germinating, and the time had come 
 when it could be put into operation. Mr. Adams 
 would have nothing to say to such a system. He 
 would not reward the men who worked for him, and 
 he would not remove from office the men who most 
 vigorously opposed him. He stood on his merits, 
 asked no favors and granted none; and was, on 
 the whole, the most independent president we have 
 had since Washington. Jackson and his friends 
 promised their supporters a share in the govern 
 ment offices, in which a "clean sweep" was to be 
 made by turning out the present incumbents. The 
 result of the election of 1828 showed that for the 
 time Jackson s method was altogether the more 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 235 
 
 potent; since he obtained 178 electoral votes, 
 against 83 for Adams. 
 
 The close of his career as president was marked 
 by an incident that increased the odium in which 
 Mr. Adams was held by so many of the old fed 
 eralist families of Boston. In the excitement of 
 the election the newspapers devoted to Jackson 
 swarmed with mischievous paragraphs designed to 
 injure Adams s reputation. Among other things 
 it was said that, in 1808, he had suspected some of 
 the federalist leaders of entertaining a scheme for 
 carrying New England out of the union, and, fear 
 ing that such a scheme would be promoted by hatred 
 of the embargo, and that in case of its success the 
 seceded states would almost inevitably be driven 
 into alliance with Great Britain, he communicated 
 his suspicions to President Jefferson and other 
 leading republicans. These tales, published by 
 unscrupulous newspapers twenty years after the 
 event, grossly distorted what Mr. Adams had 
 actually said and done; and thirteen eminent 
 Massachusetts federalists addressed to him an open 
 letter, demanding that he should bring in a bill of 
 particulars supported by evidence. Adams replied 
 by stating the substance of what he had really said, 
 but declining to mention names or to point out the 
 circumstances upon which his suspicion had been 
 based. In preserving this reticence he was actuated 
 mainly by unwillingness to stir up a furious con- 
 
236 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 troversy under circumstances in which it could do 
 no good. But his adversaries made the mistake of 
 attributing his forbearance to dread of ill conse 
 quences to himself a motive by which, it is safe 
 to say, Mr. Adams was never influenced on any 
 occasion whatever. So the thirteen gentlemen re 
 turned to the attack. Mr. Adams then wrote out 
 a full statement of the case, completely vindicating 
 himself, and bringing forward more than enough 
 evidence to justify any such suspicions as he had 
 entertained and guardedly stated. After finishing 
 this pamphlet he concluded not to issue it, but left 
 it among his papers. It has been published by 
 Prof. Henry Adams, in his "Documents relating 
 to New England Federalism," and is not only of 
 great historical importance, but is one of the finest 
 specimens of political writing to be found in the 
 English language. 
 
 Although now an ex-president, Mr. Adams did 
 not long remain in private life. The greatest part 
 of his career still lay before him. Owing to the 
 mysterious disappearance of William Morgan, who 
 had betrayed some of the secrets of the Masonic 
 order, there was in some of the northern states a 
 sudden and violent prejudice against the Free 
 masons and secret societies in general. An "anti- 
 mason party" was formed, and by its votes Mr. 
 Adams was, in 1831, elected to congress, where he 
 remained, representing the same district of Massa- 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 237 
 
 chusetts, until his death in 1848. He was shortly 
 afterward nominated by the anti-masons for the 
 governorship of Massachusetts, but was defeated 
 in the legislature, there being no choice by the peo 
 ple. In congress he occupied a perfectly independ 
 ent attitude. He was one of those who opposed 
 President Jackson s high-handed treatment of the 
 bank, but he supported the president in his firm 
 attitude toward the South Carolina nullifiers and 
 toward France. In 1835, as the French govern 
 ment delayed in paying over the indemnity of 
 $5,000,000 which had been agreed upon by the 
 treaty of 1831 for plunder of American shipping 
 in the Napoleonic wars, Jackson threatened, in case 
 payment should be any longer deferred, to issue 
 letters of marque and reprisal against French com 
 merce. This bold policy, which was successful in 
 obtaining the money, enlisted Mr. Adams s hearty 
 support. He defended Jackson as he had de 
 fended Jefferson on the occasion of the embargo; 
 and this time, as before, his course was disapproved 
 in Massachusetts, and he lost a seat in the U. S. 
 senate. He had been chosen to that office by the 
 state senate, but the lower house did not concur, 
 and before the question was decided the news of 
 his speech in favor of reprisals turned his sup 
 porters against him. He was thus left in the house 
 of representatives more independent of party ties 
 than ever, and was accordingly enabled to devote 
 
238 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 his energies to the aid of the abolitionists, who were 
 now beginning to appear conspicuously upon the 
 scene. 
 
 At that time it was impossible for the opponents 
 of slavery to effect much. The only way in which 
 they could get their case before congress was by 
 presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery in 
 the District of Columbia. Unwilling to receive 
 such petitions, or to allow any discussion on the 
 dreaded question, congress in 1836 enacted the 
 cowardly "gag rule," that "all petitions, memorials, 
 resolutions, or papers relating in any way or to 
 any extent whatsoever to the subject of slavery or 
 the abolition of slavery, shall, without being either 
 printed or referred, be laid upon the table; and 
 that no further action whatever shall be had 
 thereon." After the yeas and nays had been 
 ordered on this, when Mr. Adams s name was called 
 he rose and said: "I hold the resolution to be a 
 direct violation of the constitution of the United 
 States, the rules of this house, and the rights of 
 my constituents." The house sought to drown his 
 words with loud shrieks and yells of "Order!" 
 "Order!" but he raised his voice to a shout and 
 defiantly finished his sentence. The rule was 
 adopted by a vote of 117 to 68, but it did more 
 harm than good to the pro-slavery party. They 
 had put themselves in an untenable position, and 
 furnished Mr. Adams with a powerful weapon 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 239 
 
 which he used against them without mercy. As a 
 parliamentary debater he has had few if any 
 superiors; in knowledge and dexterity there was 
 no one in the house who could be compared with 
 him; he was always master of himself, even at the 
 white heat of anger to which he often rose; he was 
 terrible in invective, matchless at repartee, and in 
 sensible to fear. A single-handed fight against all 
 the slave-holders in the house was something upon 
 which he was always ready to enter, and he usually 
 came off with the last word. Though the vitu 
 perative vocabulary of the English language seemed 
 inadequate to express the hatred and loathing with 
 which the pro-slavery party regarded him, though 
 he was more than once threatened with assassina 
 tion, nevertheless his dauntless bearing and bound 
 less resources compelled the respect of his bitterest 
 opponents, and members from the south, with true 
 chivalry, sometimes confessed it. Every session he 
 returned to the assault upon the gag-rule, until the 
 disgraceful measure was rescinded in 1845. 
 
 This part of Mr. Adams s career consisted of a 
 vast number of small incidents, which make a very 
 interesting and instructive chapter in American 
 history, but can not well be epitomized. He came 
 to serve as the rallying-point in congress for the 
 ever-growing anti-slavery sentiment, and may be 
 regarded, in a certain sense, as the first founder of 
 the new republican party. He seems to have been 
 
240 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 the first to enunciate the doctrine upon which Mr. 
 Lincoln afterward rested his great proclamation 
 of emancipation. In a speech in congress in 1836 
 he said: "From the instant that your slave-holding 
 states become the theatre of war civil, servile, or 
 foreign from that instant the war powers of the 
 constitution extend to interference with the insti 
 tution of slavery in every way in which it can be 
 interfered with." As this principle was attacked 
 by the southern members, Mr. Adams from time to 
 time reiterated it, especially in his speech of April 
 14, 1842, on the question of war with England and 
 Mexico, when he said: "Whether the war be civil, 
 servile, or foreign, I lay this down as the law of 
 nations : I say that the military authority takes for 
 the time the place of all municipal institutions, 
 slavery among the rest. Under that state of things, 
 so far from its being true that the states where 
 slavery exists have the exclusive management of 
 the subject, not only the president of the United 
 States, but the commander of the army unquestion 
 ably has power to order the universal emancipation 
 of the slaves." 
 
 After the rescinding of the gag-rule Mr. Adams 
 spoke less frequently. In November, 1846, he sus 
 tained a shock of paralysis, which incapacitated him 
 for several weeks, and from the effect of which he 
 never altogether recovered. On February 21, 1848, 
 while he was sitting in the house of representatives, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 241 
 
 came the second shock. He was carried into the 
 speaker s room, where he lay two days, and died on 
 the 23d. His last words were: "This is the last of 
 earth; I am content." See "Life and Public Serv 
 ices of John Quincy Adams," by William H. Sew r - 
 ard (Auburn, 1849); "Life of John Quincy 
 Adams," by Josiah Quincy (Boston, 1858) ; 
 "Diary of John Quincy Adams," edited by Charles 
 F. Adams, 12 vols., 8vo (Philadelphia, 1874-7) ; 
 "John Quincy Adams," by John T. Morse, Jr. 
 (Boston, 1882) : and "Writings of John Quincy 
 Adams," edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford, 
 vols. 1 and 2, including the years 1779-1801, 8vo 
 (New York, 1913). Ten more volumes are to 
 follow. 
 
 [The full-page portrait of Mr. Adams in this 
 chapter, is from a picture by Marchant, in the pos 
 session of the New York Historical Society, The 
 Adams homestead at Quincy, in which the two 
 presidents lived, was the summer residence of 
 Charles Francis Adams, and is now (1913) occu 
 pied by his son, Brooks Adams.] 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS,, diplomatist, son of 
 John Quincy Adams, born in Boston, August 18, 
 1807; died there November 21, 1886. When two 
 years old he was taken by his father to St. Peters 
 burg, where he acquired German, French, and Rus 
 sian. Early in 1815 he travelled all the way from 
 
242 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 St. Petersburg to Paris with his mother by pri 
 vate carriage, a difficult journey at that juncture, 
 when the armies of the allies were returning, and 
 being temporarily disbanded, after the abdication 
 of Fontainebleau and immediately prior to Napo 
 leon s return from Elba. His father at this time 
 had just finished his service as one of the negotia 
 tors of the Treaty of Ghent, between the United 
 States and Great Britain. Immediately after that, 
 and during the "Hundred Days," he was ap 
 pointed Minister near the Court of St. James, and 
 the boy, accompanying his parents to England, 
 was, with his brothers, placed at a boarding school 
 not far from London. This was immediately sub 
 sequent to the war of 1812-1814, and the feeling be 
 tween British and Americans was more bitter than 
 ever before or, probably, since. Young Adams, a 
 boy of nine, was compelled, in company with his 
 two elder brothers, to accept the rough usage then 
 common in English boarding schools, and to sus 
 tain himself as best he might in any conflict, 
 whether of wits or pugilism, which confronted him. 
 The experience gave him an insight as respects 
 English methods and characteristics which, as a 
 diplomatist, stood him in good stead half a century 
 later. Two years afterward, in 1818, returning 
 with his parents to America, his father placed him 
 in the Boston Latin school; subsequently he was 
 graduated at Harvard college, class of 1825, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 243 
 
 shortly after his father s inauguration as president 
 of the United States. He spent two years in 
 Washington, and then, returning to Boston, 
 studied law in the office of Daniel Webster. He 
 was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1828 and the 
 next year married the youngest daughter of Peter 
 Chardon Brooks, whose elder daughters were the 
 wives of Edward Everett and Rev. Nathaniel L. 
 Frothingham. From 1841 to 1846 Mr. Adams 
 served in the Massachusetts legislature. He was 
 a member of the whig party, but, like others of his 
 vigorous and free-thinking family, he was ex 
 tremely independent in politics and inclined to 
 strike into new paths in advance of the public senti 
 ment. After 1836 he came to differ more and more 
 widely from the leaders of the whig party, with 
 whom he had hitherto acted. In 1848 the newly 
 organized free-soil party, consisting largely of 
 democrats, held its convention at Buffalo and nomi 
 nated Martin Van Buren for president and Charles 
 Francis Adams for vice-president. There was no 
 hope of electing these candidates, but this organi 
 zation developed, six years later, into the great re 
 publican party. In 1858 Mr. Adams was elected to 
 Congress by the republicans of the 3d district of 
 Massachusetts, and in 1860 he was reflected. 
 
 In the spring of 1861 President Lincoln ap 
 pointed him minister to England, a place which 
 both his father and his grandfather had filled be- 
 
244 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 fore him. It was an exceedingly difficult time for 
 an American representative. There was much 
 sympathy for the U. S. government on the part of 
 the workmen in the manufacturing districts and of 
 many of the liberal constituencies in Great Britain, 
 especially in Scotland; but, on the other hand, the 
 feeling of the governing classes and of polite so 
 ciety in London was either actively hostile or coldly 
 indifferent. Even those students of history and 
 politics who were most friendly to the Union side 
 failed to comprehend the true character of the 
 struggle as may be seen in reading the introduc 
 tion to Mr. E. A. Freeman s elaborate "History of 
 Federal Government from the Formation of the 
 Achaean League to the Disruption of the United 
 States" (London, 1862). Difficult and embarrass 
 ing questions arose in connection with the capture 
 of the confederate commissioners Mason and 
 Slidell, the negligence of the Palmerston-Russell 
 government in allowing the "Alabama" and other 
 confederate cruisers to sail from British ports to 
 prey upon American commerce, and the ever mani 
 fest desire of Napoleon III. to persuade Great 
 Britain to join him in an acknowledgment of the 
 independence of the confederacy. The duties of 
 this difficult diplomatic mission were discharged by 
 Mr. Adams with such consummate ability as to win 
 universal admiration. No more than his father or 
 grandfather did he belong to the school of crafty 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 245 
 
 and intriguing diplomats. He pursued his ends in 
 the way natural to him, firmly, if quietly, main 
 taining the cause of his country, and faithfully car 
 rying out his instructions. He early won the confi 
 dence of Earl Russell, then the British Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs, and the two maintained mu 
 tually respecting friendly relations, which proved 
 highly advantageous to the Union cause. When, 
 however, a direct issue, as in the case of the "Laird 
 Rams," (1863) presented itself, Mr. Adams 
 evinced unflinching firmness, making his famous 
 written announcement to the Foreign Secretary 
 that, in the contingency of the escape of the 
 "Rams," it would be "superfluous to point out to 
 your Lordship that this is war." The "Rams" 
 were detained. His opponent, Mr. Mason, the 
 Confederate commissioner, subsequently retired 
 from the field leaving Mr. Adams complete master 
 of it. Taken altogether his career in England 
 from 1861 to 1868 must be cited among the fore 
 most triumphs of American diplomacy. In 1872 
 it was attempted to nominate him for the presi 
 dency of the United States, as the candidate of the 
 liberal republicans, but Horace Greeley was selected 
 as the candidate in preference. He was elected in 
 1869 a member of the board of overseers of Har 
 vard university, and was for several years president 
 of the board. 
 
 In 1870 Mr. Adams was appointed the American 
 
246 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 member on the board of the Geneva Arbitration, 
 provided for in the Treat}- of Washington. 
 Largely through his attitude and action the arbi 
 tration proved a success, the "Alabama Claims," so- 
 called, being satisfactorily settled, and the rela 
 tions between Great Britain and the United States 
 thus placed upon a greatly improved and more 
 friendly basis. He had already edited (1844) the 
 familiar letters of his grandmother, Abigail 
 Adams, and later those of John Adams during the 
 War of Independence. The first of these publica 
 tions contained a memoir of Mrs. Adams. Subse 
 quently, in 1876, these letters, so far as they re 
 lated to the Revolutionary period, were republished 
 together, in a single volume. They take their place 
 by the side of the most valuable contemporary rec 
 ords relating to the struggle for American Inde 
 pendence. In 1850-53 Mr. Adams published the 
 writings, and wrote the life, of his grandfather, 
 President John Adams, in ten octavo volumes. 
 After his return from Geneva (1872) he published 
 the memoirs of his father, John Quincy Adams, in 
 twelve octavo volumes. During his life, Mr. 
 Adams delivered, and published, a number of ad 
 dresses, orations, and other papers, both critical and 
 political. (See Life of Mr. Adams, "American 
 Statesmen Series," by his son Charles Francis 
 Adams.) 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 247 
 
 JOHN QUINCY, lawyer, eldest son of Charles 
 Francis Adams, born in Boston, September 22, 
 1833. He was graduated at Harvard college in 
 1853, and admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1855. 
 During the civil war he was on Gov. Andrew s 
 staff. He was elected to the legislature by the 
 town of Quincy in 1866, but failed to secure a 
 reelection the following year because he had de 
 clared his approval of Andrew Johnson s policy of 
 reconstruction. In 1869 and 1870 he was again a 
 member of the legislature. In 1867 and 1871 he 
 was democratic candidate for governor of Massa 
 chusetts, and was defeated. In 1877 he was 
 chosen a member of the corporation of Harvard. 
 Mr. Adams died August 14, 1894. 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS,, lawyer, second son of Charles 
 Francis Adams, born in Boston, May 27, 1835. 
 He was graduated at Harvard in 1856, and ad 
 mitted to the bar in 1858. He served through 
 almost the whole of the civil war, being commis 
 sioned lieutenant of the First Massachusetts cav 
 alry in November, 1861, and resigning as colonel 
 of the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry (colored) , with 
 the brevet of brigadier-general, in July, 1865. In 
 1869 he was appointed a member of the board of 
 railroad commissioners of Massachusetts, and con 
 tinued in that office by successive reappointments 
 until 1879, when he retired. He was then selected 
 
248 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 as one of the board of arbitration for the executive 
 committee of eastern trunk lines and western rail 
 roads, and subsequently as sole arbitrator, which 
 position he resigned in June, 1884, when he became 
 president of the Union Pacific Railway Company. 
 He continued president of that company until No 
 vember, 1890. He then retired from all connection 
 with railroad matters, and has since devoted him 
 self to historical and literary pursuits. In 1882 
 he was elected a member of the board of overseers 
 of Harvard university, and reflected in 1888, 1895 
 and 1901. Since 1895 he has been president of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society. In connection 
 with his brother, Henry Adams, he prepared 
 "Chapters of Erie and other Essays" (Boston, 
 1871). He subsequently published a treatise en 
 titled "Railroads; their Origin and Problems" 
 (New York, 1878) ; a work on "Railroad Acci 
 dents" (1879) ; "Life of Richard H. Dana" (Bos 
 ton, 1890) ; "Three Episodes in Massachusetts 
 History" (1892); and "Massachusetts: Its His 
 torians and its History" (1893). He has also de 
 livered a number of occasional addresses at home 
 and abroad and been a frequent contributor to the 
 North American Review, The Forum, and the 
 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical So 
 ciety, in which last he has printed many mono 
 graphs on historical subjects. A collection of 
 these valuable essays, including one on General 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 249 
 
 Lee, was issued in a volume in 1911, entitled "Stu 
 dies Military and Diplomatic." For half a century 
 his father kept a diary and copies of his letters. 
 
 Mr. Adams has for a number of years been occu 
 pied with investigations naturally suggesting 
 themselves in connection with these papers, and in 
 the preparation of a more detailed biography of 
 his father; which, when published, will constitute 
 practically a history of the diplomacy of the war 
 of secession, and of the issues which then arose 
 between Great Britain and the United States. In 
 this work it is understood he will draw freely on 
 the papers of the elder Charles Francis Adams. 
 
 HENRY, author, another son of Charles Francis 
 Adams, born in Boston, February 16, 1838. He 
 was graduated at Harvard in 1858, and was his 
 father s private secretary in London from 1861 
 to 1868. From 1870 till 1877 he was assistant pro 
 fessor of history in Harvard college, and was one 
 of the ablest instructors the university has known 
 during the present generation, possessing to an 
 extraordinary degree the power of inciting his 
 pupils to original work. Subsequently discontinu 
 ing his connection with Harvard university, he 
 established himself in Washington, where he wrote, 
 and published, his History of the United States 
 (1801-1816) ; generally regarded as among the best 
 of American historical writings. During recent 
 
250 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 years he has lived in Washington in winter, passing 
 his summers in Paris. He has also published "Es 
 says in Anglo-Saxon Law" (Boston, 1876) ; "Doc 
 uments relating to New England Federalism, 
 1800-1815" (1877); "Life of Albert Gallatin" 
 (Philadelphia, 1879) ; "Writings of Albert Galla 
 tin," edited (3 vols., 1879); "John Randolph" 
 (Boston, 1882) ; "History of the United States 
 during the Administration of Jefferson and Madi 
 son," 9 vols. (New York, 1889-1891), and "His 
 torical Essays" (1891). 
 
 BROOKS, lawyer, youngest son of Charles Francis 
 Adams, born in Quincy, Mass., June 24, 1848, 
 graduated at Harvard university in 1870, and was 
 admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1873. He has pub 
 lished articles in the Atlantic Monthly and other 
 periodicals, and is the author of "The Emancipa 
 tion of Massachusetts" (Boston, 1886) ; "The Law 
 of Civilization and Decay" (1896); "America s 
 Economic Supremacy" (1900); "The New Em 
 pire" (1902), and "Railways as Public Agents" 
 (1910). 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN FISKE 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON, seventh president of the 
 United States, born in the Waxhaw settlement on 
 the border between North and South Carolina, 
 March 15, 1767; died at the Hermitage, near Nash 
 ville, Tenn., June 8, 1845. His father, Andrew 
 Jackson, came over from Carrickfergus, on the 
 north coast of Ireland, in 1765. His grandfather, 
 Hugh Jackson, had been a linen-draper. His 
 mother s name was Elizabeth Hutchinson, and her 
 family were linen-weavers. Andrew Jackson, the 
 father, died a few days before the birth of his son. 
 The log cabin in which the future president was 
 born was situated within a quarter of a mile of the 
 boundary between the two Carolinas, and the peo 
 ple of the neighborhood do not seem to have had a 
 clear idea as to which province it belonged. In a 
 letter of December 24, 1830, in the proclamation 
 addressed to the nullifiers, in 1832, and again in 
 his will, Gen. Jackson speaks of himself as a native 
 of South Carolina; but the evidence adduced by 
 Parton seems to show that the birthplace was north 
 of the border. Three weeks after the birth of her 
 son Mrs. Jackson moved to the house of her 
 
 253 
 
254 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Crawford, just over the border 
 in South Carolina, near the Waxhaw creek, and 
 there his early years were passed. His education, 
 obtained in an "old-field school," consisted of little 
 more than the "three R s," and even in that limited 
 sphere his attainments were but scanty. He never 
 learned, in the course of his life, to write English 
 correctly. His career as a fighter began early. In 
 the spring and early summer of 1780, after the 
 disastrous surrender of Lincoln s army at Charles 
 ton, the whole of South Carolina was overrun by 
 the British. On August 6 Jackson was present at 
 Hanging Rock when Sumter surprised and de 
 stroyed a British regiment. Two of his brothers, 
 as well as his mother, died from hardships sustained 
 in the war. In after years he could remember how 
 he had been carried as prisoner to Camden and 
 nearly starved there, and how a brutal officer had 
 cut him with a sword because he refused to clean his 
 boots ; these reminiscences kept alive his hatred for 
 the British, and doubtless gave unction to the tre 
 mendous blow dealt them at New Orleans. 
 
 In 1781, left quite alone in the world, he was 
 apprenticed for a while to a saddler. At one time 
 he is said to have done a little teaching in an "old- 
 field school." At the age of eighteen he entered 
 the law-office of Spruce McCay, in Salisbury. 
 While there he was said to have been "the most 
 roaring, rollicking, gamecocking, horse-racing, 
 
From the painting by Thomas Ball 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 255 
 
 card-playing, mischievous fellow" that had ever 
 been seen in that town. Many and plentiful were 
 the wild-oat crops sown at that time and in that 
 part of the country ; and in such sort of agriculture 
 young Jackson was much more proficient than in 
 the study of jurisprudence. He never had a legal 
 tone of mind, or any but the crudest knowledge 
 of law; but in that frontier society a small amount 
 of legal knowledge went a good way, and in 1788 
 he was appointed public prosecutor for the western 
 district of North Carolina, the district since erected 
 into the state of Tennessee. The emigrant wagon- 
 train in which Jackson journeyed to Nashville car 
 ried news of the ratification of the Federal consti 
 tution by the requisite two thirds of the states. He 
 seems soon to have found business enough. In the 
 April term of 1790, out of 192 cases on the dockets 
 of the county court at Nashville, Jackson was em 
 ployed as counsel in 42; in the year 1794, out of 
 397 cases he acted as counsel in 228; while at the 
 same time he was practising his profession in the 
 courts of other counties. The great number of 
 these cases is an indication of their trivial character. 
 As a general rule they were either actions growing 
 out of disputed land-claims or simple cases of 
 assault and battery. Court day was a great 
 occasion in that wild community, bringing crowds 
 of men into the county town to exchange gossip, 
 discuss politics, drink whiskey, and break heads. 
 
256 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 Probably each court day produced as many new 
 cases as it settled. 
 
 Amid such a turbulent population the public 
 prosecutor must needs be a man of nerve and re 
 source. It was a state of chronic riot, in which he 
 must be ever ready to court danger. Jackson 
 proved himself quite equal to the task of introduc 
 ing law and order in so far as it depended on him. 
 "Just inform Mr. Jackson," said Gov. Blount 
 when sundry malfeasances were reported to him; 
 "he will be sure to do his duty, and the offender 
 will be punished." Besides the lawlessness of the 
 white pioneer population, there was the enmity of 
 the Indians to be reckoned with. In the immediate 
 neighborhood of Nashville the Indians murdered, 
 on the average, one person every ten days. From 
 1788 till 1795 Jackson performed the journey of 
 nearly two hundred miles between Nashville and 
 Jonesboro twenty-two times ; and on these occasions 
 there were many alarms from Indians, which some 
 times grew into a forest campaign. In one of these 
 affairs, having nearly lost his life in an adventur 
 ous feat, Jackson made the characteristic remark: 
 "A miss is as good as a mile; you see how near I 
 can graze danger." It was this wild experience 
 that prepared the way for Jackson s eminence as 
 an Indian-fighter. In the autumn of 1794 the 
 Cherokees were so thoroughly punished by Gen. 
 Robertson s famous Nickajack expedition that 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 257 
 
 henceforth they thought it best to leave the Ten 
 nessee settlements in peace. With the rapid in 
 crease of the white population which soon followed, 
 the community became more prosperous and more 
 orderly. In the general prosperity Jackson had an 
 ample share, partly through the diligent practice 
 of his profession, partly through judicious pur 
 chases and sales of land. 
 
 With most men marriage is the most important 
 event of their life; in Jackson s career his marriage 
 was peculiarly important. Rachel Donelson was a 
 native of North Carolina, daughter of Col. John 
 Donelson, a Virginia surveyor in good circum 
 stances, who in 1780 migrated to the neighborhood 
 of Nashville in a very remarkable boat- journey of 
 2,000 miles down the Holston and Tennessee rivers 
 and up the Cumberland. During an expedition to 
 Kentucky some time afterward, the blooming 
 Rachel was wooed and won by Capt. Lewis 
 Robards. She was an active, sprightly, and inter 
 esting girl, the best horsewoman and best dancer 
 in that country; her husband seems to have been a 
 young man of tyrannical and unreasonably jealous 
 disposition. In Kentucky they lived with Mrs. 
 Robards, the husband s mother; and, as was com 
 mon in a new society where houses were too few 
 and far between, there were other boarders in the 
 family among them the late Judge Overton, of 
 Tennessee, and a Mr. Stone. Presently Robards 
 
258 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 made complaints against his wife, in which he 
 implicated Stone. According to Overton and the 
 elder Mrs. Robards, these complaints were un 
 reasonable and groundless, but the affair ended in 
 Robards sending his wife home to her mother in 
 Tennessee. This was in 1788. Col. Donelson had 
 been murdered, either by Indians or by white 
 desperadoes, and his widow, albeit in easy circum 
 stances, felt it desirable to keep boarders as a means 
 of protection against the Indians. To her house 
 came Andrew Jackson on his arrival at Nashville, 
 and thither about the same time came Overton, also 
 fresh from his law studies. These two young men 
 were boarded in the house and lodged in a cabin 
 hard by. At about the same time Robards became 
 reconciled with his wife, and, having bought land 
 in the neighborhood, came to dwell, for a while at 
 Mrs. Donelson s. Throughout life Jackson was 
 noted alike for spotless purity and for a romantic 
 and chivalrous respect for the female sex. In the 
 presence of women his manner was always dis 
 tinguished for grave and courtly politeness. This 
 involuntary homage to woman was one of the finest 
 and most winsome features in his character. 
 
 As unconsciously rendered to Mrs. Robards, it 
 was enough to revive the slumbering demon of 
 jealousy in her husband. According to Overton s 
 testimony, Jackson s conduct was irreproachable, 
 but there were high words between him and Ro- 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 259 
 
 bards, and, not wishing to make further trouble, 
 he changed his place of abode. After some months 
 Capt. Robards left his wife and went to Kentucky, 
 threatening by and by to return and "haunt her" 
 and make her miserable. In the autumn of 1790 
 rumors of his intended return frightened Mrs. 
 Robards, and determined her to visit some friends 
 at distant Natchez in order to avoid him. In pur 
 suance of this plan, with which the whole neigh 
 borhood seems to have concurred, she went down 
 the river in company with the venerable Col. Stark 
 and his family. As the Indians were just then on 
 the war-path, Jackson accompanied the party with 
 an armed escort, returning to Nashville as soon as 
 he had seen his friends safely deposited at Natchez. 
 While these things were going on, the proceedings 
 of Capt. Robards were characterized by a sort of 
 Machiavelian astuteness. In 1791 Kentucky was 
 still a part of Virginia, and, according to the code 
 of the Old Dominion, if a husband wished to obtain 
 a divorce on account of his wife s alleged unfaith 
 fulness, he must procure an act of the legislature 
 empowering him to bring the case before a jury, 
 and authorizing a divorce conditionally upon the 
 jury s finding a verdict of guilty. 
 
 Early in 1791 Robards obtained the preliminary 
 act of the legislature upon his declaration, then 
 false, that his wife had gone to live with Jackson. 
 Robards deferred further action for more than two 
 
260 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 years. Meanwhile it was reported and believed in 
 the west that a divorce had been granted, and, act 
 ing upon this report, Jackson, whose chivalrous 
 interest in Mrs. Robards s misfortunes had ripened 
 into sincere affection, went, in the summer of 1791, 
 to Natchez and married her there, and brought her 
 to his home at Nashville. In the autumn of 1793 
 Capt. Robards, on the strength of the facts that 
 undeniably existed since the act of the Virginia 
 legislature, brought his case into court and obtained 
 the verdict completing the divorce. On hearing of 
 this, to his great surprise, in December, Jackson 
 concluded that the best method of preventing 
 future cavil was to procure a new license and have 
 the marriage ceremony performed again; and this 
 was done in January. Jackson was certainly to 
 blame for not taking more care to ascertain the 
 import of the act of the Virginia legislature. By 
 a carelessness peculiarly striking in a lawyer, he 
 allowed his wife to be placed in a false position. 
 The irregularity of the marriage was indeed atoned 
 by forty years of honorable and happy wed 
 lock, ending only with Mrs. Jackson s death in De 
 cember, 1828; and no blame was attached to the 
 parties in Nashville, where the circumstances were 
 well known. But the story, half understood and 
 maliciously warped, grew into scandal as it was 
 passed about among Jackson s personal enemies or 
 political opponents ; and herein some of the bitterest 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 261 
 
 of his many quarrels had their source. His devo 
 tion to Mrs. Jackson was intense, and his pistol 
 was always ready for the rash man who should 
 dare to speak of her slightingly. 
 
 In January, 1796, we find Jackson sitting in the 
 convention assembled at Knoxville for making a 
 constitution for Tennessee, and tradition has it 
 that he proposed the name of the "Great Crooked 
 River" as the name for the new state. Among the 
 rules adopted by the convention, one is quaintly 
 significant: "He that digresseth from the subject 
 to fall on the person of any member shall be sup 
 pressed by the speaker." The admission of Ten 
 nessee to the Union was effected in June, 1796, in 
 spite of earnest opposition from the Federalists, and 
 in the autumn Jackson was chosen as the single 
 representative in congress. When the house had 
 assembled, he heard President Washington deliver 
 in person his last message to congress. He was 
 one of twelve who voted against the adoption of 
 the address to Washington in approval of his ad 
 ministration. Jackson s chief objections to Wash 
 ington s government were directed against two of 
 its most salutary and admirable acts the Jay 
 treaty with Great Britain, and Hamilton s financial 
 measures. His feeling toward the Jay treaty was 
 that of a man who could not bear to see anything 
 but blows dealt to Great Britain. His condemna 
 tion of Hamilton s policy was mingled with the not 
 
262 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 unreasonable feeling of distrust which he had 
 already begun to harbor against a national bank. 
 The year 1797 was a season of financial depression, 
 and the general paralysis of business was ascribed 
 no doubt too exclusively to the over-issue of notes 
 by the national bank. Jackson s antipathy to such 
 an institution would seem to have begun thus early 
 to show itself. Of his other votes in this congress, 
 one was for an appropriation to defray the expenses 
 of Sevier s expedition against the Cherokees, which 
 was carried; three others were eminently wise and 
 characteristic of the man: 1. For finishing the three 
 frigates then building and destined to such renown 
 -the "Constitution," "Constellation," and "United 
 States." 2. Against the further payment of black 
 mail to Algiers. 3. Against removing "the restric 
 tion which confined the expenditure of public money 
 to the specific objects for which each sum was ap 
 propriated." Another vote, silly in itself, was 
 characteristic of the representative from a rough 
 frontier community; it was against the presumed 
 extravagance of appropriating $14,000 to buy 
 furniture for the newly built White House. 
 
 Jackson s course was warmly approved by his 
 constituents, and in the following summer he was 
 chosen to fill a vacancy in the Federal senate. Of 
 his conduct as senator nothing is known beyond the 
 remark, made by Jefferson in 1824 to Daniel 
 Webster, that he had often, when presiding in the 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 263 
 
 senate, seen the passionate Jackson get up to speak 
 and then choke with rage so that he could not utter 
 a word. As Parton very happily suggests, one 
 need not wonder at this if one remembers what 
 was the subject chiefly before the senate during the 
 winter of 1797- 8. The outrageous insolence of the 
 French Directory was enough to arouse the wrath 
 of far tamer and less patriotic spirits than Jack 
 son s. Yet in a letter written at that time he seems 
 eager to see the British throne overturned by Bona 
 parte. In April, 1798, he resigned his seat in the 
 senate, and was appointed judge in the supreme 
 court of Tennessee. He retained this office for six 
 years, but nothing is known of his decisions, as the 
 practice of recording decisions began only with his 
 successor, Judge Overton. During this period he 
 was much harassed by business troubles arising 
 from the decline in the value of land consequent 
 upon the financial crisis of 1798. At length, in 
 1804, he resigned his judgeship in order to devote 
 his attention exclusively to his private affairs. He 
 paid up all his debts, and engaged extensively both 
 in planting and in trade. He was noted for fair 
 and honorable dealing, his credit was always excel 
 lent, and a note with his name on it was considered 
 as good as gold. He had a clear head for business, 
 and was never led astray by the delusions about 
 paper money by which American frontier com 
 munities have so often been infected. His plan- 
 
264 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tation was well managed, and his slaves kindly and 
 considerately treated. 
 
 But while genial and kind toward his inferiors, 
 he was among his fellow-citizens apt to be rough 
 and quarrelsome. In 1795 he fought a duel with 
 Avery, an opposing counsel, over some hasty words 
 that had passed in the court-room. Next year he 
 quarrelled with John Sevier, governor of Tennes 
 see, and came near shooting him "at sight." Sevier 
 had alluded to the circumstances of his marriage. 
 Ten years afterward, for a similar offence, though 
 complicated with other matters in the course of a 
 long and extremely silly quarrel, he fought a duel 
 with Charles Dickinson. The circumstances were 
 revolting, but showed Jackson s wonderful nerve 
 and rare skill in "grazing danger." Dickinson was 
 killed, and Jackson received a wound from the 
 effects of which he never recovered. In later years, 
 when he was a candidate for the presidency, the 
 number of his violent quarrels was variously reck 
 oned by his enemies at from a dozen to a hundred. 
 In 1805 Jackson was visited by Aaron Burr, who 
 was then preparing his mysterious southwestern 
 expedition. Burr seems to have wished, if possible, 
 to make use of Jackson s influence in raising troops, 
 but without indicating his purpose. In this he was 
 unsuccessful, but Jackson appears to have regarded 
 the charge of treason brought against Burr as ill- 
 founded. 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 265 
 
 At Richmond, while Burr s trial was going on, 
 Jackson made a speech attacking Jefferson. He 
 thus made himself obnoxious to Madison, then 
 secretary of state, and afterward, in 1808, he de 
 clared his preference for Monroe over Madison as 
 candidate for the presidency. He was known as 
 unfriendly to Madison s administration, but this did 
 not prevent him from offering his services, with 
 those of 2,500 men, as soon as war was declared 
 against Great Britain in 1812. Since 1801 he had 
 been commander-in-chief of the Tennessee militia, 
 but there had been no occasion for him to take the 
 field. Late in 1812, after the disasters in the north 
 west, it was feared that the British might make an 
 attempt upon New Orleans, and Jackson was 
 ordered down to Natchez, at the head of 2,000 men. 
 He went in high spirits, promising to plant the 
 American eagle upon the ramparts of Mobile, 
 Pensacola, and St. Augustine, if so directed. On 
 February 6, as it had become evident that the 
 British were not meditating a southward expedi 
 tion, the new secretary of war, Armstrong, sent 
 word to Jackson to disband his troops. This stupid 
 order reached the general at Natchez toward the 
 end of March and inflamed his wrath. He took 
 upon himself the responsibility of marching his 
 men home in a body, an act in which the govern 
 ment afterward acquiesced and reimbursed Jackson 
 for the expense involved. During this march Jack- 
 
266 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 son became the idol of his troops, and his sturdi- 
 ness won him the nickname of "Old Hickory," by 
 which he was affectionately known among his 
 friends and followers for the rest of his life. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival at Nashville there 
 occurred an affray between Jackson and Thomas 
 H. Benton, growing out of an unusually silly duel 
 in which Jackson had acted as second to the antago 
 nist of Benton s brother. In a tavern at Nashville, 
 Jackson undertook to horsewhip Benton, and in the 
 ensuing scuffle the latter was pitched down-stairs, 
 while Jackson got a bullet in his left shoulder which 
 he carried for more than twenty years. Jackson 
 and Benton had formerly been friends. After this 
 affair they did not meet again until 1823, when 
 both were in the U. S. senate. Their friendship was 
 then renewed. 
 
 The war with Great Britain was complicated with 
 an Indian war which could not in any case have 
 been avoided. The westward progress of the white 
 settlers toward the Mississippi river was gradually 
 driving the red man from his hunting-grounds; 
 and the celebrated Tecumseh had formed a scheme, 
 quite similar to that of Pontiac fifty years earlier, 
 of uniting all the tribes between Florida and the 
 Great Lakes in a grand attempt to drive back the 
 white men. This scheme was partially frustrated 
 in the autumn of 1811 while Tecumseh was preach 
 ing his crusade among the Cherokees, Creeks, and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 267 
 
 Seminoles. During his absence his brother, known 
 as the Prophet, attacked Gen. Harrison at Tippe- 
 canoe and was overwhelmingly defeated. The war 
 with Great Britain renewed Tecumseh s oppor 
 tunity, and his services to the enemy were extremely 
 valuable until his death in the battle of the Thames. 
 Tecumseh s principal ally in the south was a half- 
 breed Creek chieftain named Weathersford. On 
 the shore of Lake Tensaw, in the southern part of 
 what is now Alabama, was a stockaded fortress 
 known as Fort Minims. There many of the settlers 
 had taken refuge. On August 30, 1813, this 
 stronghold was surprised by Weathersford at the 
 head of 1,000 Creek warriors, and more than 400 
 men, women, and children were massacred. The 
 news of this dreadful affair aroused the people of 
 the southwest to vengeance. Men and money were 
 raised by the state of Tennessee, and, before he 
 had fully recovered from the wound received in the 
 Benton affray, Jackson took the field at the head 
 of 2,500 men. Now for the first time he had a 
 chance to show his wonderful military capacity, his 
 sleepless vigilance, untiring patience, and unrivalled 
 talent as a leader of men. The difficulties encoun 
 tered were formidable in the extreme. In that fron 
 tier wilderness the business of the commissariat was 
 naturally ill managed, and the men, who under the 
 most favorable circumstances had little idea of 
 military subordination, were part of the time 
 
268 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 mutinous from hunger. More than once Jackson 
 was obliged to use one half of his army to keep 
 the other half from disbanding. In view of these 
 difficulties, the celerity of his movements and the 
 force with which he struck the enemy were truly 
 marvellous. The Indians were defeated at Tal- 
 luschatches and Talladega. 
 
 At length, on March 27, 1814, having been re- 
 enforced by a regiment of U. S. infantry, Jackson 
 struck the decisive blow at Tohopeka, otherwise 
 known as the Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa 
 river. In this bloody battle no quarter was given, 
 and the strength of the Creek nation was finally 
 broken. Jackson pursued the remnant to their 
 place of refuge called the Holy Ground, upon 
 which the medicine-men had declared that no white 
 man could set foot and live. Such of the Creek 
 chieftains as had not fled to Florida now sur 
 rendered. The American soldiers were ready to 
 kill Weathersford in revenge for Fort Mimms; 
 but Jackson, who was by no means wanting in 
 magnanimity, spared his life and treated him so 
 well that henceforth he and his people remained 
 on good terms with the white men. Among the 
 officers who served under Jackson in this remark 
 able campaign were two who in later years played 
 an important part in the history of the southwest 
 Samuel Houston and David Crockett. The 
 Creek war was one of critical importance. It was 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 269 
 
 the last occasion on which the red men could put 
 forth sufficient power to embarrass the U. S. gov 
 ernment. More than any other single battle that 
 of Tohopeka marks the downfall of Indian power. 
 Its immediate effects upon the war with Great 
 Britain were very great. By destroying the only 
 hostile power within the southwestern territory it 
 made it possible to concentrate the military force of 
 the border states upon any point, however remote, 
 that might be threatened by the British. More 
 specifically, it made possible the great victory at 
 New Orleans. Throughout the whole of this cam 
 paign, in which Jackson showed such indomitable 
 energy, he was suffering from illness such as would 
 have kept any ordinary man groaning in bed, be 
 sides that for most of the time his left arm had 
 to be supported in a sling. The tremendous pluck 
 exhibited by William of Orange at Neerwinden, 
 and so justly celebrated by Macaulay, was no 
 greater than Jackson showed in Alabama. His 
 pluck was equalled by his thoroughness. Many 
 generals after victory are inclined to relax their 
 efforts. Not so Jackson, who followed up every 
 success with furious persistence, and whose admir 
 able maxim was that in war "until all is done, noth 
 ing is done." 
 
 On May 31, 1814, Jackson was made major- 
 general in the regular army, and was appointed to 
 command the Department of the South. It was 
 
270 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 then a matter of dispute whether Mobile belonged 
 to Spain or to the United States. In August, 
 Jackson occupied the town and made his head 
 quarters there. With the consent of Spain the 
 British used Florida as a base of operations and 
 established themselves at Pensacola. Jackson 
 wrote to Washington for permission to attack them 
 there; but the government was loth to sanction an 
 invasion of Spanish territory until the complicity 
 of Spain with our enemy should be proved beyond 
 cavil. The letter from Sec. Armstrong to this 
 effect did not reach Jackson. The capture of 
 Washington by the British prevented his receiv 
 ing orders and left him to act upon his own respon 
 sibility, a kind of situation from which he was 
 never known to flinch. 
 
 On September 14 the British advanced against 
 Mobile ; but in their attack upon the outwork, Fort 
 Bowyer, they met with a disastrous repulse. They 
 retreated to Pensacola, whither Jackson followed 
 them with 3,000 men. On November 7 he stormed 
 the town. His next move would have been against 
 Fort Barrancas, six miles distant at the mouth of 
 the harbor. By capturing this post he would have 
 entrapped the British fleet and might have forced 
 it to surrender; but the enemy forestalled him by 
 blowing up the fort and beating a precipitate re 
 treat. By thus driving the British from Florida 
 an act for which he was stupidly blamed by the 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 271 
 
 Federalist press Jackson now found himself free 
 to devote all his energies to the task of defending 
 New Orleans, and there, after an arduous journey, 
 he arrived on December 2. The British expedition 
 directed against that city was more formidable 
 than any other that we had to encounter during 
 that war. Its purpose was also more deadly. In 
 the north the British warfare had been directed 
 chiefly toward defending Canada and gaining such 
 a foothold upon our frontier as might be useful in 
 making terms at the end of the war. The burn 
 ing of Washington was intended chiefly for an 
 insult, and had but slight military significance ; but 
 the expedition against New Orleans was intended 
 to make a permanent conquest of the lower Mis 
 sissippi valley and to secure for Great Britain the 
 western bank of the river. The fall of Napoleon 
 had set free some of Wellington s finest troops for 
 service in America, and in December a force of 
 12,000 men, under command of Wellington s 
 brother-in-law, the gallant Sir Edward Pakenham, 
 was landed below New Orleans. To oppose these 
 veterans of the Spanish peninsula, Jackson had 
 6,000 of that sturdy race whose fathers had van 
 quished Ferguson at King s Mountain, and whose 
 children so nearly vanquished Grant at Shiloh. 
 
 After considerable preliminary manoeuvring and 
 skirmishing, Jackson intrenched himself in a strong 
 position near the Bienvenu and Chalmette planta- 
 
272 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 tions and awaited the approach of the enemy. On 
 January 8 Pakenham was unwise enough to try 
 to overwhelm him by a direct assault. In less than 
 half an hour the British were in full retreat, leav 
 ing 2,600 of their number killed and wounded. 
 Among the slain was Pakenham. The American 
 loss was eight killed and thirteen wounded. Never, 
 perhaps, in the history of the world has a battle 
 been fought between armies of civilized men with 
 so great a disparity of loss. It was also the most 
 complete and overwhelming defeat that any Eng 
 lish army has ever experienced. News travelled so 
 slowly then that this great victory, like the three 
 last naval victories of the war, occurred after peace 
 had been made by the commissioners at Ghent. 
 Nevertheless, no American can regret that the 
 battle was fought. The insolence and rapacity of 
 Great Britain had richly deserved such castigation. 
 Moreover, if she once gained a foothold in the 
 Mississippi valley, it might have taken an armed 
 force to dislodge her in spite of the treaty, for in 
 the matter of the western frontier posts after 
 1783 she had by no means acted in good faith. 
 Jackson s victory decided that henceforth the Mis 
 sissippi valley belonged indisputably to the people 
 of the United States. It was the recollection of 
 that victory, along with the exploits of Hull and 
 Decatur, Perry and McDonough, which caused 
 the Holy Alliance to look upon the Monroe 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 273 
 
 doctrine as something more than an idle threat. 
 All over the United States the immediate effect 
 of the news was electric, and it was enhanced by 
 the news of peace which arrived a few days later. 
 By this "almost incredible victory," as the Na 
 tional Intelligencer called it, the credit of the 
 American arms upon land was fully restored. Not 
 only did the administration glory in it, as was 
 natural, but the opposition lauded it for a differ 
 ent reason, as an example of what American mili 
 tary heroism could do in spite of inadequate sup 
 port from government. Thus praised by all 
 parties, Jackson, who before the Creek war had 
 been little known outside of Tennessee, became 
 at once the foremost man in the United States. 
 People in the north, while throwing up their hats 
 for him, were sometimes heard to ask: "Who is 
 this Gen. Jackson? To what state does he belong?" 
 Henceforth until the civil war he occupied the most 
 prominent place in the popular mind. 
 
 After his victory Jackson remained three months 
 in New Orleans, in some conflict with the civil au 
 thorities of the town, which he found it necessary 
 to hold under martial law. In April he returned 
 to Nashville, still retaining his military command 
 of the southwest. He soon became involved in a 
 quarrel with Mr. Crawford, the secretary of war, 
 who had undertaken to modify some provisions in 
 his treaty with the Creeks. Jackson was also justly 
 
274 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 incensed by the occasional issue of orders from the 
 war department directly to his subordinate officers; 
 such orders sometimes stupidly thwarted his plans. 
 The usual course for a commanding general thus 
 annoyed would be to make a private representation 
 to the government; but here, as ordinarily, while 
 quite right in his position, Jackson was violent and 
 overbearing in his methods. He published, April 
 22, 1817, an order forbidding his subordinate offi 
 cers to pay heed to any order from the war depart 
 ment unless issued through him. Mr. Calhoun, 
 who in October succeeded Crawford as secretary 
 of war, gracefully yielded the point; but the public 
 had meanwhile been somewhat scandalized by the 
 collision of authorities. In private conversation 
 Gen. Scott had alluded to Jackson s conduct as 
 savoring of mutiny. This led to an angry corre 
 spondence between the two generals, ending in a 
 challenge from Jackson, which Scott declined on 
 the ground that duelling is a wicked and unchris 
 tian custom. 
 
 Affairs in Florida now demanded attention. 
 That country had become a nest of outlaws, and 
 chaos reigned supreme there. Many of the de 
 feated Creeks had found a refuge in Florida, and 
 runaway negroes from the plantations of Georgia 
 and South Carolina were continually escaping 
 thither. During the late war British officers and 
 adventurers, acting on their own responsibility 
 
[Fac-aimile letter from Andrew Jackson to James Knox Polk] 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 275 
 
 upon this neutral soil, committed many acts which 
 their government would never have sanctioned. 
 They stirred up Indians and negroes to commit 
 atrocities on the United States frontier. The 
 Spanish government was at that time engaged in 
 warfare with its revolted colonies in South Amer 
 ica, and the coasts of Florida became a haunt for 
 contraband traders, privateers, and filibusters. 
 One adventurer would announce his intention to 
 make Florida a free republic; another would go 
 about committing robbery on his own account; a 
 third would set up an agency for kidnapping 
 negroes on speculation. The disorder was hideous. 
 On the Appalachicola river the British had built a 
 fort, arid amply stocked it with arms and ammuni 
 tion, to serve as a base of operations against the 
 United States. On the departure of the British 
 the fort was seized and held by negroes. This 
 alarmed the slave-owners of Georgia, and in July, 
 1816, United States troops, with permission from 
 the Spanish authorities, marched in and bombarded 
 the negro fort. A hot shot found its way into the 
 magazine, three hundred negroes were blown into 
 fragments, and the fort was demolished. In this 
 case the Spaniards were ready to leave to United 
 States troops a disagreeable work, for which their 
 own force was incompetent. Every day made it 
 plainer that Spain was quite unable to preserve 
 order in Florida, and for this reason the United 
 
276 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 States entered upon negotiations for the purchase 
 of that country. Meanwhile the turmoil increased. 
 White men were murdered by Indians, and United 
 States troops, under Col. Twiggs, captured and 
 burned a considerable Seminole village, known as 
 Fowltown. The Indians retorted by the massacre 
 of fifty people who were ascending the Appalachi- 
 cola river in boats; some of the victims were tor 
 tured with fire-brands. 
 
 Jackson was now ordered to the frontier. He 
 wrote at once to President Monroe: "Let it be sig 
 nified to me through any channel (say Mr. John 
 Rhea) that the possession of the Floridas would 
 be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days 
 it will be accomplished." Mr. Rhea was a repre 
 sentative from Tennessee, a confidential friend of 
 both Jackson and Monroe. The president was ill 
 when Jackson s letter reached him, and does not 
 seem to have given it due consideration. On re 
 ferring to it a year later he could not remember 
 that he had ever seen it before. Rhea, however, 
 seems to have written a letter to Jackson, telling 
 him that the president approved of his suggestion. 
 As to this point the united testimony of Jackson, 
 Rhea, and Judge Overton seems conclusive. 
 Afterward Mr. Monroe, through Rhea, seems to 
 have requested Jackson to burn this letter, and an 
 entry on the general s letter-book shows that it was 
 accordingly burned, April 12, 1819. There can 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 277 
 
 be no doubt that, whatever the president s intention 
 may have been, or how far it may have been cor 
 rectly interpreted by Rhea, the general honestly 
 considered himself authorized to take possession of 
 Florida on the ground that the Spanish govern 
 ment had shown itself incompetent to prevent the 
 denizens of that country from engaging in hos 
 tilities against the United States. Jackson acted 
 upon this belief with his accustomed promptness. 
 He raised troops in Tennessee and neighboring 
 states, invaded Florida in March, 1818, captured 
 St. Marks, and pushed on to the Seminole head 
 quarters on the Suwanee river. In less than three 
 months from this time he had overthrown the 
 Indians and brought order out of chaos. His 
 measures w r ere praised by his friends as vigorous, 
 while his enemies stigmatized them as high-handed. 
 In one instance his conduct was open to serious 
 question. 
 
 At St. Marks his troops captured an aged 
 Scotch trader and friend of the Indians, named 
 Alexander Arbuthnot; near Suwanee, some time 
 afterward, they seized Robert Ambrister, a young 
 English lieutenant of marines, nephew of the gov 
 ernor of New Providence. Jackson believed that 
 these men had incited the Indians to make war 
 upon the United States, and were now engaged 
 in aiding and abetting them in their hostilities. 
 They were tried by a court-martial at St. Marks. 
 
278 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 On very insufficient evidence Arbuthnot was found 
 guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Appearances 
 were somewhat more strongly against Ambrister. 
 He did not make it clear what his business was in 
 Florida, and threw himself upon the mercy of the 
 court, which at first condemned him to be shot, 
 but on further consideration commuted the sen 
 tence to fifty lashes and a year s imprisonment. 
 Jackson arbitrarily revived the first sentence, and 
 Ambrister was accordingly shot. A few minutes 
 afterward Arbuthnot was hanged from the yard- 
 arm of his own ship, declaring with his last breath 
 that his country would avenge him. In this 
 lamentable affair Jackson doubtless acted from a 
 sense of duty; as he himself said, "My God would 
 not have smiled on me, had I punished only the 
 poor ignorant savages, and spared the white men 
 who set them on." Here, as elsewhere, however, 
 when under the influence of strong feeling, he 
 showed himself utterly incapable of estimating evi 
 dence. The case against both the victims was so 
 weak that a fair-minded and prudent commander 
 would surely have pardoned them; while the inter 
 ference with the final sentence of the court, in 
 Ambrister s case, was an act that can hardly be 
 justified. Throughout life Jackson was perpet 
 ually acting with violent energy upon the strength 
 of opinions hastily formed and based upon inade 
 quate data. Fortunately, his instincts were apt to 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 279 
 
 be sound, and in many most important instances, 
 his violent action was highly beneficial to his coun 
 try; but a man of such temperament is liable to 
 make serious mistakes. 
 
 On his way home, hearing that some Indians had 
 sought refuge in Pensacola, Jackson captured the 
 town, turned out the Spanish governor, and left 
 a garrison of his own there. He had now virtually 
 conquered Florida, but he had moved too fast for 
 the government at Washington. He had gone 
 further, perhaps, than was permissible in trespass 
 ing upon neutral territory; and his summary exe 
 cution of two British subjects aroused furious 
 excitement in England. For a moment we seemed 
 on the verge of war with Great Britain and Spain 
 at once. Whatever authority President Monroe 
 may have intended, through the Rhea letter, to con 
 fer upon Jackson, he certainly felt that the general 
 had gone too far. With one exception, all his 
 cabinet agreed with him that it would be best to 
 disavow Jackson s acts and make reparation for 
 them. But John Quincy Adams, secretary of 
 state, felt equal to the task of dealing with the 
 two foreign powers, and upon his advice the ad 
 ministration decided to assume the responsibility 
 for what Jackson had done. Pensacola and St. 
 Marks were restored to Spain, and an order of 
 Jackson s for the seizing of St. Augustine was 
 countermanded by the president. But Adams rep- 
 
280 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 resented to Spain that the American general, in 
 his invasion of Florida, was virtually assisting the 
 Spanish government in maintaining order there; 
 and to Great Britain he justified the execution of 
 Arbuthnot and Ambrister on the ground that their 
 conduct had been such that they had forfeited their 
 allegiance and become virtual outlaws. Spain and 
 Great Britain accepted the explanations; had either 
 nation felt in the mood for war with the United 
 States, it might have been otherwise. 
 
 As soon as the administration had adopted Jack 
 son s measures, they were for that reason attacked 
 in Congress by Clay, and this was the beginning 
 of the bitter and lifelong feud between Jackson 
 and Clay. In 1819 the purchase of Florida from 
 Spain was effected, and in 1821 Jackson was ap 
 pointed governor of that territory. In 1823 he 
 was elected to the U. S. senate. Some of his 
 friends, under the lead of William B. Lewis, had 
 already conceived the idea of making him presi 
 dent. At first Gen. Jackson cast ridicule upon 
 the idea. "Do they suppose," said he, "that I am 
 such a d d fool as to think myself fit for presi 
 dent of the United States? No, sir, I know what 
 I am fit for. I can command a body of men in 
 a rough way, but I am not fit to be president." 
 Such is the anecdote told by H. M. Brackenridge, 
 who was Jackson s secretary in Florida. In 1821 
 the general felt old and weak, and had made up 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 281 
 
 his mind to spend his remaining days in peace on 
 his farm. Of personal ambition, as ordinarily 
 understood, Jackson had much less than many 
 other men. But he was, like most men, susceptible 
 to flattery, and the discovery of his immense popu 
 larity no doubt went far to persuade him that he 
 might do credit to himself as president. On July 
 20, 1822, he was nominated for that office by the 
 legislature of Tennessee. On February 22, 1824, 
 he was nominated by a Federalist convention at 
 Harrisburg, Pa., and on March 4 following by a 
 Republican convention at the same place. The 
 regular nominee of the congressional caucus was 
 William H. Crawford, of Georgia. The other 
 candidates were John Quincy Adams and Henry 
 Clay. There was a general agreement upon Cal- 
 houn for the vice-presidency. All the candidates 
 belonged to the Republican party, which had kept 
 the presidency since Jefferson s election in 1800. 
 The Federalists were hopelessly discredited by their 
 course in the war of 181 2 - 15. Of the four candi 
 dates Adams and Clay were loose constructionists, 
 while Crawford and Jackson were strict con 
 structionists, and in this difference was fore 
 shadowed a new division of parties. At the elec 
 tion in November, 1824, there were 99 electoral 
 votes for Jackson, 84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford, 
 and 37 for Clay. 
 
 As none of the candidates had a majority, it was 
 
282 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 left for the house of representatives to choose a 
 president from the three highest names on the list, 
 in accordance with the twelfth amendment to the 
 constitution. As Clay was thus rendered ineligible, 
 there was naturally some scheming among the 
 friends of the other candidates to secure his power 
 ful co-operation. Clay and his friends quite 
 naturally supported the other loose-constructionist 
 candidate, Adams, with the result that 13 states 
 voted for Adams, 7 for Jackson, and 4 for Craw 
 ford. Adams thus became president, and Jack 
 son s friends, in their disappointment, hungered for 
 a "grievance" upon which they might vent their 
 displeasure, and which might serve as a "rallying 
 cry" for the next campaign. Benton, who was 
 now one of Jackson s foremost supporters, went 
 so far as to maintain that, because Jackson had a 
 greater number of electoral votes than any other 
 candidate, the house was virtually "defying the will 
 of the people" in choosing any name but his. To 
 this it was easily answered that in any case our 
 electoral college, which was one of the most de 
 liberately framed devices of the constitution, gives 
 but a very indirect and partial expression of the 
 "will of the people"; and furthermore, if Benton s 
 argument was sound, why should the constitution 
 have provided for an election by congress, instead 
 of allowing a simple plurality in the college to de 
 cide the election? The extravagance of Benton s 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 283 
 
 objection, coming from so able a source, is an index 
 to the bitter disappointment of Jackson s followers. 
 The needed "grievance" was furnished when 
 Adams selected Clay as his secretary of state. 
 Many of Jackson s friends interpreted this ap 
 pointment as the result of a bargain whereby Clay 
 had made Adams president in consideration of 
 obtaining the first place in the cabinet, carrying 
 with it, according to the notion then prevalent, a 
 fair prospect of the succession to the presidency. 
 It was natural enough for the friends of a disap 
 pointed candidate to make such a charge. It was 
 to Benton s credit that he always scouted the idea 
 of a corrupt bargain between Adams and Clay. 
 Many people, however, believed it. In congress, 
 John Randolph s famous allusion to the "coalition 
 between Blifil and Black George the Puritan and 
 the blackleg" led to a duel between Randolph and 
 Clay, which served to impress the matter upon the 
 popular mind without enlightening it; the pistol 
 is of small value as an agent of enlightenment. 
 The charge was utterly without support and in 
 every way improbable. The excellence of the ap 
 pointment of Clay was beyond cavil, and the 
 sternly upright Adams was less influenced by what 
 people might think of his actions than any other 
 president since Washington. But the appointment 
 was no doubt ill-considered. It made it necessary 
 for Clay, in many a public speech, to defend him- 
 
284 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 self against the cruel imputation. To mention the 
 charge to Jackson, whose course in Florida had 
 been severely censured by Clay, was enough to 
 make him believe it; and he did so to his dying day. 
 It is not likely that the use made of this "griev 
 ance" had much to do with Jackson s victory in 
 1828. The causes at work lay far deeper. The 
 population west of the Alleghanies was now be 
 ginning to count for much in politics. Jackson 
 was our first western president, and his election 
 marks the rise of that section of our country. The 
 democratic tendency was moreover a growing one. 
 Heretofore our presidents had been men of aristo 
 cratic type, with advantages of wealth, or educa 
 tion, or social training. A stronger contrast to 
 them than Jackson afforded cannot well be 
 imagined. A man with less training in statesman 
 ship would have been hard to find. In his defects 
 he represented average humanity, while his excel 
 lencies were such as the most illiterate citizen could 
 appreciate. In such a man the ploughboy and the 
 blacksmith could feel that in some essential respects 
 they had for president one of their own sort. 
 Above all, he was the great military hero of the 
 day, and as such he came to the presidency as 
 naturally as Taylor and Grant in later days, as 
 naturally as his contemporary Wellington became 
 prime minister of England. A man far more 
 politic and complaisant than Adams could not have 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 285 
 
 won the election of 1828 against such odds. He 
 obtained 83 electoral votes against 178 for Jack 
 son. Calhoun was re-elected vice-president. Jack 
 son came to the presidency with a feeling that he 
 had at length succeeded in making good his claim 
 to a violated right, and he showed this feeling in 
 his refusal to call on his illustrious predecessor, 
 who he declared had got the presidency by bargain 
 and sale. 
 
 In Jackson s cabinet, as first constituted, Martin 
 Van Buren, of New York, was secretary of state; 
 Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, secretary of 
 the treasury; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, secre 
 tary of war; John Branch, of North Carolina, 
 secretary of the navy; John M. Berrien, of 
 Georgia, attorney-general; William T. Barry, of 
 Kentucky, postmaster-general. As compared with 
 earlier cabinets not merely with such men as 
 Hamilton, Madison, or Gallatin, but with Picker 
 ing, Wolcott, Monroe, or even Crawford these 
 were obscure names. The innovation in the per 
 sonal character of the cabinet was even more 
 marked than the innovation in the presidency. The 
 autocratic Jackson employed his secretaries as 
 clerks. His confidential advisers were a few inti 
 mate friends who held no important offices. These 
 men William B. Lewis, Amos Kendall, Duff 
 Green, and Isaac Hill came to be known as the 
 "kitchen cabinet." Lewis had had much to do with 
 
286 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 bringing Jackson forward as a candidate for the 
 presidency in 1821. Green and Hill were editors 
 of partisan newspapers. Kendall was a man of 
 considerable ability and many good qualities, but 
 a "machine politician" of the worst sort. He was 
 on many occasions the ruling spirit of the adminis 
 tration, and the cause of some of its most serious 
 mistakes. Jackson s career as president cannot be 
 fully understood without taking into account the 
 agency of Kendall; yet it is not always easy to 
 assign the character and extent of the influence 
 which he exerted. 
 
 A yet more notable innovation was Jackson s 
 treatment of the civil service. The earlier presi 
 dents had proceeded upon the theory that public 
 office is a public trust, and not a reward for 
 partisan services. They conducted the business of 
 government upon business principles, and as long 
 as a postmaster showed himself efficient in dis 
 tributing the mail they did not turn him out of 
 office because of his vote. Between April 30, 1789, 
 and March 4, 1829, the total number of removals 
 from office was seventy- four, and out of this num 
 ber five were defaulters. Between March 4, 1829, 
 and March 22, 1830, the number of changes made 
 in the civil service was about 2,000. This was the 
 inauguration upon a national scale of the so-called 
 "spoils system." The phrase originated with Wil 
 liam L. Marcy, of New York, who in a speech in 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 287 
 
 the senate in 1831 declared that "to the victors be 
 long the spoils." The system had been perfected 
 in the state politics of New York and Pennsyl 
 vania, and it was probably inevitable that it should 
 sooner or later be introduced into the sphere of 
 national politics. The way was prepared in 1820 
 by Crawford, when he succeeded in getting the 
 law passed that limits the tenure of office to four 
 years. This dangerous measure excited very little 
 discussion at the time. People could not under 
 stand the evil until taught by hard experience. 
 Jackson did not understand that he was laying the 
 foundations of a gigantic system of corruption, 
 which within a few years would develop into the 
 most serious of the dangers threatening the con 
 tinuance of American freedom. He was very 
 ready to believe ill of political opponents, and to 
 make generalizations from extremely inadequate 
 data. Democratic newspapers, while the campaign 
 frenzy was on them, were full of windy declama 
 tion about the wholesale corruption introduced into 
 all parts of the government by Adams and Clay. 
 Nothing was too bad for Jackson to believe of 
 these two men, and when the fourth auditor of the 
 treasury was found to be delinquent in his accounts 
 it was easy to suppose that many others were, in 
 one way or another, just as bad. In his wholesale 
 removals Jackson doubtless supposed he was doing 
 the country a service by "turning the rascals out." 
 
288 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 The immediate consequence of this demoralizing 
 policy was a struggle for control of the patronage 
 between Calhoun and Van Buren, who were rival 
 aspirants for the succession to the presidency. 
 
 A curious affair now came in to influence Jack 
 son s personal relations to these men. Early in 
 1829 Eaton, secretary of war, married a Mrs. 
 Timberlake, with whose reputation gossip had 
 been busy. It was said that he had shown her too 
 much attention during the lifetime of her first hus 
 band. Jackson was always slow to believe charges 
 against a woman. His own wife, who had been 
 outrageously maligned by the Whig newspapers 
 during the campaign, had lately died, and there was 
 just enough outward similarity between Eaton s 
 marriage and his own to make him take Mrs. 
 Eaton s part with more than his customary 
 vehemence. Mrs. Calhoun and the wives of the 
 secretaries would not recognize Mrs. Eaton. Mrs. 
 Donelson, wife of the president s nephew, and 
 mistress of ceremonies at the White House, took a 
 similar stand. Jackson scolded his secretaries and 
 sent Mrs. Donelson home to Tennessee; but all in 
 vain. He found that vanquishing Wellington s 
 veterans was a light task compared with that of 
 contending against the ladies in an affair of this 
 sort. Foremost among those who frowned Mrs. 
 Eaton out of society was Mrs. Calhoun. On the 
 other hand, Van Buren, a widower, found himself 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 289 
 
 able to be somewhat more complaisant, and accord 
 ingly rose in Jackson s esteem. The fires were 
 fanned by Lewis and Kendall, who saw in Van 
 Buren a more eligible ally than Calhoun. Pres 
 ently intelligence was obtained from Crawford, 
 who hated Calhoun, to the effect that the latter, as 
 a member of Monroe s cabinet, had disapproved 
 of Jackson s conduct in Florida. This was quite 
 true, but Calhoun had discreetly yielded his judg 
 ment to that of the cabinet led by Adams, and thus 
 had officially sanctioned Jackson s conduct. 
 
 These facts, as handled by Eaton and Lewis, 
 led Jackson to suspect Calhoun of treacherous 
 double-dealing, and the result was a quarrel which 
 broke up the cabinet. In order to get Calhoun s 
 friends Ingham, Branch, and Berrien out of 
 the cabinet, the other secretaries began by resign 
 ing. This device did not succeed, and the ousting 
 of the three secretaries entailed further quarrelling, 
 in the course of which the Eaton affair and the 
 Florida business were beaten threadbare in the 
 newspapers, and evoked sundry challenges to 
 deadly combat. In the spring and summer of 1831 
 the new cabinet was formed, consisting of Edward 
 Livingston, secretary of state; Louis McLane, 
 treasury; Lewis Cass, war; Levi Woodbury, navy; 
 Roger B. Taney, attorney-general; in post-office 
 no change. On Van Buren s resignation, Jackson 
 at once appointed him minister to England, but 
 
290 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 there was a warm dispute in the senate over his 
 confirmation, and it was defeated at length by the 
 casting-vote of Calhoun. This check only strength 
 ened Jackson s determination to have Van Buren 
 for his successor in the presidency. The progress 
 of this quarrel entailed a break in the "kitchen 
 cabinet," in which Duff Green, editor of the Tele 
 graph and friend of Calhoun, was thrown out. 
 His place was taken by Francis Preston Blair, of 
 Kentucky, a man of eminent ability and earnest 
 patriotism. To him and his sons, as energetic op 
 ponents of nullification and secession, our country 
 owes a debt of gratitude which can hardly be over 
 stated. Blair s indignant attitude toward nulli 
 fication brought him at once into earnest sympathy 
 with Jackson. In December, 1830, Blair began 
 publishing the Globe, the organ henceforth of 
 Jackson s party. For a period of ten years, until 
 the defeat of the Democrats in 1840, Blair and 
 Kendall were the ruling spirits in the administra 
 tion. Their policy was to re-elect Jackson to the 
 presidency in 1832, and make Van Buren his suc 
 cessor in 1836. 
 
 During Jackson s administration there came 
 about a new division of parties. The strict con- 
 structionists, opposing internal improvements, pro 
 tective tariff, and national banks, retained the name 
 of Democrats, which had long been applied to 
 members of the old Republican party. The term 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 291 
 
 Republican fell into disuse. The loose construc- 
 tionists, under the lead of Clay, took the name of 
 Whigs, as it suited their purpose to describe Jack 
 son as a kind of tyrant ; and they tried to discredit 
 their antagonists by calling them Tories, but the 
 device found little favor. On strict constructionist 
 grounds Jackson in 1829 vetoed the bill for a gov 
 ernment subscription to the stock of the Maysville 
 turnpike in Kentucky, and two other similar bills 
 he disposed of by a new method, which the Whigs 
 indignantly dubbed a "pocket veto." The struggle 
 over the tariff was especially important as bring 
 ing out a clear expression of the doctrine of nulli 
 fication on the part of South Carolina. Practically, 
 however, nullification was first attempted by 
 Georgia in the case of the disputes with the Chero 
 kee Indians. Under treaties with the Federal gov 
 ernment these Indians occupied lands that were 
 covered by the white people. Adams had made 
 himself very unpopular in Georgia by resolutely 
 defending the treaty rights of these Indians. Im 
 mediately upon Jackson s election, the state gov 
 ernment assumed jurisdiction over their lands, and 
 proceeded to legislate for them, passing laws that 
 discriminated against them. Disputes at once 
 arose, in the course of which Georgia twice refused 
 to obey the supreme court of the United States. 
 At the request of the governor of Georgia, Jackson 
 withdrew the Federal troops from the Cherokee 
 
292 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 country, and refused to enforce the rights that had 
 been guaranteed to the Indians by the United 
 States. His feelings toward Indians were those 
 of a frontier fighter, and he asked, with telling 
 force, whether an eastern state, such as New York, 
 would endure the nuisance of an independent In 
 dian state within her own boundaries. 
 
 In his sympathy with the people of Georgia on 
 the particular question at issue, he seemed to be 
 conniving at the dangerous principle of nullifica 
 tion. These events were carefully noted by the 
 politicians of South Carolina. The protectionist 
 policy, which since the peace of 1815 had been 
 growing in favor at the north, had culminated in 
 1828 in the so-called "tariff of abominations." 
 This tariff, the result of a wild helter-skelter 
 scramble of rival interests, deserved its name on 
 many accounts. It discriminated, with especial un 
 fairness, against the southern people, who were 
 very naturally and properly enraged by it. A new 
 tariff, passed in 1832, modified some of the most 
 objectionable features of the old one, but still failed 
 of justice to the southerners. Jackson was op 
 posed to the principle of protective tariffs, and 
 from his course with Georgia it might be argued 
 that he would not interfere with extreme measures 
 on the part of the south. During the whole of 
 Jackson s first term there was more or less vague 
 talk about nullification. The subject had a way 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 293 
 
 of obtruding itself upon all sorts of discussions, as 
 in the famous debates on Foote s resolutions, which 
 lasted over five months in 1830, and called forth 
 Webster s immortal speech in reply to Hayne. A 
 few weeks after this speech, at a public dinner in 
 commemoration of Jefferson s birthday, after 
 sundry regular toasts had seemed to indicate a drift 
 of sentiment in approval of nullification, Jackson 
 suddenly arose with a volunteer toast: "Our Fed 
 eral Union: it must be preserved." Calhoun was 
 prompt to reply with a toast and a speech in be 
 half of "Liberty, dearer than the Union," but the 
 nullifiers were greatly disappointed and chagrined. 
 In spite of this warning, South Carolina held a con 
 vention, November 19, 1832, and declared the 
 tariffs of 1828 and 1832 to be null and void in 
 South Carolina; all state officers and jurors were 
 required to take an oath of obedience to this edict ; 
 appeals to the Federal supreme court were pro 
 hibited under penalties; and the Federal govern 
 ment was warned that an attempt on its part to 
 enforce the revenue laws would immediately pro 
 voke South Carolina to secede from the Union. 
 
 The ordinance of nullification was to take effect 
 February 1, 1833, and preparations for war were 
 begun at once. On December 16 the president 
 issued a proclamation, in which he declared that he 
 should enforce the laws in spite of any and all re 
 sistance that might be made, and he showed that 
 
294 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 he was in earnest by forthwith sending Lieut. Far- 
 ragut with a naval force to Charleston harbor, and 
 ordering Gen. Scott to have troops ready to enter 
 South Carolina if necessary. In the proclamation, 
 which was written by Livingston, the president thus 
 defined his position: "I consider the power to annul 
 a law of the United States, assumed by one state, 
 incompatible with the existence of the Union, con 
 tradicted expressly by the letter of the constitution, 
 unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every 
 principle on which it was founded, and destructive 
 of the great object for which it was formed." Gov. 
 Hayne, of South Carolina, issued a counter- 
 proclamation, and a few days afterward Calhoun 
 resigned the vice-presidency, and was chosen to 
 succeed Hayne in the senate. Jackson s determined 
 attitude was approved by public opinion through 
 out the country. By the southern people generally 
 the action of South Carolina was regarded as pre 
 cipitate and unconstitutional. Even in that state 
 a Union convention met at Columbia, and an 
 nounced its intention of supporting the president. 
 In January, Calhoun declared in the senate that 
 his state was not hostile to the Union, and had not 
 meditated an armed resistance; a "peaceable seces 
 sion," to be accomplished by threats, was probably 
 the ultimatum really contemplated. In spite of 
 Jackson s warning, the nullifiers were surprised by 
 his unflinching attitude, and quite naturally re- 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 295 
 
 garded it as inconsistent with his treatment of 
 Georgia. When February 1 came the nullifiers de 
 ferred action. In the course of that month a bill 
 for enforcing the tariff passed both houses of 
 congress, and at the same time Clay s compromise 
 tariff was adopted, providing for the gradual re 
 duction of the duties until 1842, after which all 
 duties were to be kept at 20 per cent. This compro 
 mise enabled the nullifiers to claim a victory, and 
 retreat from their position with colors flying. 
 
 During the nullification controversy Jackson 
 kept up the attacks upon the United States bank 
 which he had begun in his first annual message to 
 congress in 1829. The charter of the bank would 
 expire in 1836, and Jackson was opposed to its 
 renewal. The grounds of his opposition were 
 partly sound, partly fanciful. There was a whole 
 some opposition to paper currency, combined with 
 great ignorance of the natural principles of money 
 and trade, as illustrated in a willingness to tolerate 
 the notes of local banks, according to the chaotic 
 system prevalent between Jackson s time and 
 Lincoln s. There was something of the dema 
 gogue s appeal to the prejudice that ignorant peo 
 ple are apt to cherish against capitalists and cor 
 porations, though Jackson cannot be accused of 
 demagogy in this regard, because he shared the 
 prejudice. Then there was good reason for be 
 lieving that the bank was in some respect misman- 
 
296 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 aged, and for fearing that a great financial insti 
 tution, so intimately related to the government, 
 might be made an engine of political corruption. 
 Furthermore, the correspondence between Sec. 
 Ingham and Nicholas Biddle, president of the 
 bank, in the summer of 1829, shows that some of 
 Jackson s friends wished to use the bank for 
 political purposes, and were enraged at Biddle s 
 determination in pursuing an independent course. 
 The occasion was duly improved by the "kitchen 
 cabinet" to fill Jackson s ears with stories tending 
 to show that the influence of the bank was secretly 
 exerted in favor of the opposite party. Jackson s 
 suggestions with reference to the bank in his first 
 message met with little favor, especially as he 
 coupled them with suggestions for the distribution 
 of the surplus revenue among the states. He re 
 turned to the attack in his two following messages, 
 until in 1832 the bank felt obliged in self-defence 
 to apply, somewhat prematurely, for a renewal of 
 its charter on the expiration of its term. Charges 
 brought against the bank by Democratic repre 
 sentatives were investigated by a committee, which 
 returned a majority report in favor of the bank. 
 A minority report sustained the charges. After 
 prolonged discussion, the bill to renew the charter 
 passed both houses, and on July 10, 1832, was 
 vetoed by the president. An attempt to pass the 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 297 
 
 bill over the veto failed of the requisite two-thirds 
 majority. 
 
 Circumstances had already given a flavor of per 
 sonal contest to Jackson s assaults upon the bank. 
 There was no man whom he hated so fiercely as 
 Clay, who was at the same time his chief political 
 rival. Clay made the mistake of forcing the bank 
 question into the foreground, in the belief that 
 it was an issue upon which he was likely to win in 
 the coming presidential campaign. Clay s move 
 ment was an invitation to the people to defeat 
 Jackson in order to save the bank; and this 
 naturally aroused all the combativeness in Jack 
 son s nature. His determined stand impressed 
 upon the popular imagination the picture of a 
 dauntless "tribune of the people" fighting against 
 the "monster monopoly." Clay unwisely attacked 
 the veto power of the president, and thus gave 
 Benton an opportunity to defend it by analogies 
 drawn from the veto power of the ancient Roman 
 tribune; which in point of fact it does not at all 
 resemble. The discussion helped Jackson more 
 than Clay. It was also a mistake on the part of 
 the Whig leader to risk the permanence of such an 
 institution as the U. S. bank upon the fortunes of 
 a presidential canvass. It dragged the bank into 
 politics in spite of itself, and, by thus affording 
 justification for the fears to which Jackson had 
 appealed, played directly into his hands. In this 
 
298 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 canvass all the candidates were for the first time 
 nominated in national conventions. There were 
 three conventions all held at Baltimore. In Sep 
 tember, 1831, the Anti-Masons nominated William 
 Wirt, of Virginia, in the hope of getting the 
 national Republicans or Whigs to unite with them ; 
 but the latter, in December, nominated Clay. In 
 the following March the Democrats nominated 
 Jackson, with Van Buren for vice-president. 
 
 During the year 1832 the action of congress and 
 president with regard to the bank charter was 
 virtually a part of the campaign. In the election 
 South Carolina voted for candidates of her own 
 John Floyd, of Virginia, and Henry Lee, of 
 Massachusetts. There were 219 electoral votes for 
 Jackson, 49 for Clay, 11 for Floyd, and 7 for 
 Wirt. Jackson interpreted this overwhelming vic 
 tory as a popular condemnation of the bank and 
 approval of all his actions as president. The en 
 thusiastic applause from all quarters which now 
 greeted his rebuke of the nullifiers served still 
 further to strengthen his belief in himself as a 
 "saviour of society" and champion of "the people." 
 Men were getting into a state of mind in which 
 questions of public policy were no longer argued 
 upon their merits, but all discussion was drowned 
 in cheers for Jackson. Such a state of things was 
 not calculated to check his natural vehemence and 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 299 
 
 disposition to override all obstacles in carrying his 
 point. 
 
 He now felt it to be his sacred duty to demolish 
 the bank. In his next message to congress he 
 created some alarm by expressing doubts as to the 
 bank s solvency and recommending an investiga 
 tion to see if the deposits of public money were 
 safe. In some parts of the country there were 
 indications of a run upon the branches of the bank. 
 The committee of ways and means investigated 
 the matter, and reported the bank as safe and 
 sound, but a minority report threw doubt upon 
 these conclusions, so that the public uneasiness was 
 not allayed. The conclusions of the members of 
 the committee, indeed, bore little reference to the 
 evidence before them, and were determined purely 
 by political partisanship. Jackson made up his 
 mind that the deposits must be removed from the 
 bank. The act of 1816, which created that insti 
 tution, provided that the public funds might be 
 removed from it by order of the secretary of the 
 treasury, who must, however, inform congress of 
 his reasons for the removal. As congress resolved, 
 by heavy majorities, that the deposits were safe in 
 the bank, the spring of 1833 was hardly a time 
 when a secretary of the treasury would feel himself 
 warranted, in accordance with the provisions of the 
 act, to order their removal. Sec. MsLane was ac 
 cordingly unwilling to issue such an order. In 
 
300 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 what followed, Jackson had the zealous co-opera 
 tion of Kendall and Blair. In May, McLane was 
 transferred to the state department, and was suc 
 ceeded in the treasury by William J. Duane, of 
 Pennsylvania. The new secretary, however, was 
 convinced that the removal was neither necessary 
 nor wise, and, in spite of the president s utmost 
 efforts, refused either to issue the order or to re 
 sign his office. In September, accordingly, Duane 
 was removed, and Roger B. Taney was appointed 
 in his place. Taney at once ordered that after 
 October 1 the public revenues should no longer be 
 deposited with the national bank, but with sundry 
 state banks, which soon came to be known as the 
 "pet banks." Jackson alleged, as one chief reason 
 for this proceeding, that, if the bank were to con 
 tinue to receive public revenues on deposit, it would 
 unscrupulously use them in buying up all the mem 
 bers of congress and thus securing an indefinite 
 renewal of its charter. This, he thought, would be 
 a death-blow to free government in America. His 
 action caused intense excitement and some com 
 mercial distress, and prepared the way for further 
 disturbance. 
 
 In the next session of the senate Clay introduced 
 a resolution of censure, which was carried after a 
 debate which lasted all winter. It contained a 
 declaration that the president had assumed "au 
 thority and power not conferred by the constitu- 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 301 
 
 tion and laws, but in derogation of both." Jack 
 son protested against the resolution, but the senate 
 refused to receive his protest. Many of his ap 
 pointments were rejected by the senate, especially 
 those of the directors of the bank, and of Taney 
 as secretary of the treasury. An attempt was 
 made to curtail the president s appointing power. 
 On the other hand, many of the president s friends 
 declaimed against the senate as an aristocratic insti 
 tution, which ought to be abolished. Benton was 
 Jackson s most powerful and steadfast ally in the 
 senate. Benton was determined that the resolution 
 of censure should be expunged from the records 
 of the senate, and his motion continued to be the 
 subject of acrimonious debate for two years. The 
 contest was carried into the state elections, and some 
 senators resigned in consequence of instructions 
 received from their state legislatures. At length, 
 on January 16, 1837, a few weeks before Jackson s 
 retirement from office, Benton s persistency 
 triumphed, and the resolution of censure was ex 
 punged. Meanwhile the consequence of the violent 
 method with which the finances had been handled 
 were rapidly developing. Many state banks, in 
 cluding not a few of the "wildcat" species, had 
 been formed, to supply the paper currency that was 
 supposed to be needed. The abundance of paper, 
 together with the rapid westward movement of 
 population, caused reckless speculation and an in- 
 
302 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 flation of values. Extensive purchases of public 
 lands were paid for in paper until the treasury 
 scented danger, and by the president s order in 
 July, 1836, the "specie circular" was issued, direct 
 ing that only gold or silver should be received for 
 public lands. This caused a demand for coin, 
 which none but the "pet banks" could hope to suc 
 ceed in meeting. But these banks were at the same 
 time crippled by orders to surrender, on the fol 
 lowing New Year s day, one fourth of the surplus 
 revenues deposited with them, as it was to be dis 
 tributed as a loan among the states. The "pet 
 banks" had regarded the deposits as capital to be 
 used in loans, and they were now suddenly obliged 
 to call in these loans. These events led to the great 
 panic of 1837, which not only scattered thousands 
 of private fortunes to the winds, but wrecked Van 
 Buren s administration and prepared the way for 
 the Whig victory of 1840. 
 
 In foreign affairs Jackson s administration won 
 great credit through its enforcement of the French 
 spoliation claims. European nations which had 
 claims for damages against France on account of 
 spoliations committed by French cruisers during 
 the Napoleonic wars had found no difficulty after 
 the peace of 1815 in obtaining payment; but the 
 claims of the United States had been superciliously 
 neglected. In 1831, after much fruitless negotia 
 tion, a treaty was made by which France agreed to 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 303 
 
 pay the United States $5,000,000 in six annual in 
 stalments. The first payment was due on February 
 2, 1833. A draft for the amount was presented 
 to the French minister of finance, and payment was 
 refused on the ground that no appropriation for 
 that purpose had been made by the chambers. 
 Louis Philippe brought the matter before the 
 chambers, but no appropriation was made. Jack 
 son was not the man to be trifled with in this way. 
 In his message of December, 1834, he gravely 
 recommended to congress that a law be passed 
 authorizing the capture of French vessels enough 
 to make up the amount due. The French govern 
 ment was enraged, and threatened war unless the 
 president should apologize not a hopeful sort of 
 demand to make of Andrew Jackson. Here Great 
 Britain interposed with good advice to France, 
 which led to the payment of the claim without 
 further delay. The effect of Jackson s attitude 
 was not lost upon European governments, while at 
 home the hurrahs for "Old Hickory" were louder 
 than ever. The days when foreign powers could 
 safely insult us were evidently gone by. 
 
 The period of Jackson s presidency was one of 
 the most remarkable in the history of the world, 
 and nowhere more remarkable than in the United 
 States. It was signalized by the introduction and 
 rapid development of railroads, of ocean naviga 
 tion through Ericsson s invention of the screw- 
 
304 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 propeller, of agricultural machines, anthracite coal, 
 and friction matches, of the modern type of daily 
 newspaper, of the beginnings of such cities as 
 Chicago, of the steady immigration from Europe, 
 of the rise of the Abolitionists and other reformers, 
 and of the blooming of American literature when 
 to the names of Bryant, Cooper, and Irving were 
 added those of Longfellow, Whittier, Prescott, 
 Holmes, and Hawthorne. The rapid expansion of 
 the country and the extensive changes in ideas and 
 modes of living brought to the surface much crude- 
 ness of thought and action. As the typical popular 
 hero of such a period, Andrew Jackson must 
 always remain one of the most picturesque and 
 interesting figures in American history. His 
 ignorance of the principles of statesmanship, the 
 crudeness of his methods, and the evils that have 
 followed from some of his measures are obvious 
 enough and have often been remarked upon. But 
 in having a president of this type and at such a 
 time we were fortunate in securing a man so sound 
 in most of his impulses, of such absolute probity, 
 truthfulness, and courage, and such unflinching 
 loyalty to the Union. Jackson s death, in the year 
 in which Texas was annexed to the United States, 
 marks in a certain sense the close of the political 
 era in which he had played so great a part. From 
 the year 1845 the Calhoun element in the Demo- 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 305 
 
 cratic parry became more and more dominant until 
 1860, while the elements more congenial with Jack 
 son and variously represented by Benton, Blair, 
 and Van Buren, went to form an important part 
 of the force of Republicans and War Democrats 
 that finally silenced the nullifiers and illustrated the 
 maxim that the Union must be preserved. 
 
 Jackson died at his home, "The Hermitage," 
 near Nashville. The principal biographies of him 
 are by James Parton (3 vols., New York, 1861) 
 and William G. Sumner (Boston, 1882) ; also 
 "General Jackson" (New York, 1892) , contributed 
 by James Parton to the "Great Commanders" 
 series. Other biographies are by John H. Eaton 
 (Philadelphia, 1817) ; P. A. Goodwin (Hartford, 
 1832) ; William Cobbett (New York, 1834) ; Amos 
 Kendall (1843) ; Oliver Dyer (New York, 1891). 
 For accounts of his administration, see in general, 
 Benton s "Thirty Years View," the memoirs of 
 John Q. Adams, the histories of the United States 
 by Schouler and Von Hoist, and the biographies of 
 Clay, Webster, Adams, Calhoun, Benton, and 
 Edward Livingston. See, also, Mayo s "Political 
 Sketches of Eight Years in Washington" (Balti 
 more, 1839) . The famous "Letters of Major Jack 
 Downing" (New York, 1834), a burlesque on 
 Jackson s administration, were wonderfully popu 
 lar in their day. 
 
306 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS 
 
 His wife, RACHEL (born in 1767; died at The 
 Hermitage, Tenn., December 22, 1828), was the 
 daughter of Col. John Donelson, a wealthy Vir 
 ginia surveyor, who owned extensive iron-works 
 in Pittsylvania County, Va., but sold them in 1779 
 and settled in French Salt Springs, where the city 
 of Nashville now stands. He kept an account of 
 his journey thither, entitled "Journal of a Voyage, 
 intended by God s Permission, in the Good Boat 
 Adventure, from Fort Patrick Henry, on Hol- 
 ston River, to the French Salt Springs, on Cum 
 berland River, kept by John Donelson." Subse 
 quently he removed to Kentucky, where he had 
 several land-claims, and, after his daughter s mar 
 riage to Capt. Lewis Robards, he returned to Ten 
 nessee, where he was murdered by unknown per 
 sons in the autumn of 1785. (For an account of 
 the peculiar circumstances of her marriage to Jack 
 son, see page 257.) Mrs. Jackson went to New 
 Orleans after the battle, and was presented by the 
 ladies of that city with a set of topaz jewelry. In 
 her portrait at The Hermitage, painted by Earle, 
 she wears the dress in which she appeared at the 
 ball that was given in New Orleans in honor of 
 her husband, and of which the vignette in this vol 
 ume is a copy. She went with Gen. Jackson to 
 Florida in 1821, to Washington and Charleston in 
 1824, and to New Orleans in 1828. For many 
 years she had suffered from an affection of the 
 
ANDREW JACKSON 307 
 
 heart, which was augmented by various reports 
 that were in circulation regarding her previous 
 career, and her death was hastened by overhearing 
 a magnified account of her experiences. She was 
 possessed of a kind and attractive manner, was 
 deeply religious and charitable, and adverse to 
 public life. Their niece, EMILY (born in Tennes 
 see; died there in December, 1836) , was the young 
 est daughter of Capt. John Donelson and the wife 
 of Andrew J. Donelson. She presided in the 
 White House during the administration of Presi 
 dent Jackson, who always spoke of her as "my 
 daughter." During the Eaton controversy she re 
 ceived Mrs. Eaton on public occasions, but refused 
 to recognize her socially. His daughter-in-law, 
 SARAH YORK,, the wife of his adopted son, Andrew 
 Jackson (born in 1806; died at The Hermitage, 
 Nashville, Tenn., August 23, 1887), also presided 
 at the White House during President Jackson s 
 administration. Her son, Andrew, was graduated 
 at the U. S. military academy in 1858, and served 
 in the Confederate army, in which he was colonel 
 of the First Regiment of Tennessee Artillery. 
 
PORTRAITS OF THE 
 LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE 
 
 FROM 1789 TO 1837 
 
 MARTHA WASHINGTON 
 
 ABIGAIL ADAMS 
 MARTHA RANDOLPH 
 
 DOLLY MADISON 
 
 ELIZABETH MONROE 
 
 LOUISA C. ADAMS 
 
 RACHEL JACKSON 
 
Mrs. George Washington. 
 
 After the painting IJT Gilbert Stuart. 
 
 Mrs. John Adams 
 
 Mrs. Thomas Mann Randolph. 
 
 Daughter of Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Mrs. James Madison. 
 
Mrs. James Monroe. 
 
 LfUr her only portrait, painted in PrJe, 179C. 
 
 Mrs. John Quincy Adams. 
 
 Mrs. Andrew Jackson. 
 
 After <he lainting \,j arle, at the Hermitage. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY