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STATE
I
EDWARD HOWARD GRJ
RJU
LINCOLN ROOM
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY
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AMERICAN
STATESMEN
An Interpretation of
Our History and Heritage
BY
EDWARD HOWARD GRIGGS
ORCHARD HILL PRESS
croton-on-hudson
New York
1927
Copyright, 1927, by
EDWARD HOWARD GRIGGS
Printed in U. 8. A.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction 5
I. Washington : The First American 10
II. Franklin : The Practical American ... 66
III. Jefferson: The Democratic American . . . .118
IV. Hamilton, and the Making of our Government 175
V. Lee : The American Warrior ...... 235
VI. Lincoln : The Prophetic American .... 287
Book List 348
Index 356
INTRODUCTION
THIS generation of Americans faces a world of
new and perplexing problems. Certain of these
come from the mere expansion of the country
in territory and population, with the unparalleled
multiplication of machinery. Others result from the
changed methods of industrial production, and the
consequent drawing apart of different groups of the
population in mutual antagonism. Still others are a
direct heritage from the world war, which changed
the whole plane of our international relations. The
answer we give to many of these problems will be the
permanent answer, for our whole future.
Our forefathers, one and all, believed that America
was to be, not only a land of freedom and opportu-
nity, for those who had the good fortune to dwell
here, but as well a sort of beacon light to the nations
of the earth. They were convinced that our experi-
ment would challenge the liberal party all over the
world, be followed by similar developments every-
where, until all nations should rise to democracy.
Were these hopes vain dreams, or were they great
challenging ideas that demand our following and fur-
therance at the present hour?
"Americanism" is on countless lips; but used often
merely to express the user's prejudice and hate,
5
6 AMERICAN STATESMEN
toward other groups, equally American. What is
Americanism? What does the American spirit
mean? What is the moral leadership to which Amer-
ica is called, among the nations of the earth? There
is no way to answer these questions justly, except
by returning to our history and reinterpreting the
heritage from our brief but noble past.
That is the purpose of these studies, portraying
six outstanding leaders in our history, and seeking,
through them, to interpret our heritage and show the
challenge it carries for us today.
Washington is our first American. Patient, gen-
erous and enduring, in the face of malicious enmities
and apparently hopeless conditions, never despairing,
he led the loosely associated colonies through the Rev-
olution to victory. Twice unanimously chosen Presi-
dent of the infant nation, his absolute integrity
and selfless leadership carried the precarious Union
through its initial dangers, gave it strength and per-
manence, and eliminated forever the possibility of a
return to the monarchical system of the old world.
Second only to Washington's service was that of
Franklin in making victory possible in the Revolu-
tion. The wisest and shrewdest diplomat our country
has yet produced, impervious to bribes and unchanged
in conduct by either flattering honors or malicious at-
tacks, protected in spirit by his abundant humor, and
through it and his wisdom steering many an appar-
ently hopeless situation through to successful issue,
he won and held the sympathy and help of France.
INTRODUCTION 7
Discoverer and inventor, master of virile English
style, humorist and moralist, he is our prototype of
the self-made practical American.
Jefferson, father of American religious freedom,
a Virginia gentleman, fighting consistently and suc-
cessfully every form of aristocratic privilege in Vir-
ginia, a slave-holder, hating the institution of slav-
ery, was the most many-sided and variously cultivated
of all the fathers of our country. He wrote the char-
ter of human liberties; formulated for all time the
philosophy of demopracy; and, as a practical states-
man, disregarded his own views of the Constitution,
and gave the nation that vast Western empire which
assured the progress and greatness he visioned with
wide imagination. Recognizing that education is the
lever of democracy, he early advocated a complete
system of state education, and crowned his lifework
by establishing the University of Virginia.
While others initiated our institutions and formu-
lated the Constitution, it was Hamilton who, more
than all others, gave the Federal government vitality,
strength and permanence. One of the truly great
statesmen of all ages, a wise and far-sighted econo-
mist, the most trenchant political thinker and writer
America has produced, untiringly fighting for the
principles in which he believed, achieving his amazing
victories by sheer force of intellect, Hamilton's trag-
ically terminated career is one of the most brilliant
in our history and fruitful in all that makes America
strong and great today.
8 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Perhaps no other American has been so universally
and devotedly loved by his own people as Robert Ed-
ward Lee. A true Virginia gentleman, incarnating
the beautiful chivalry of its old aristocratic life ; with
all of its virtues and none of its vices ; opposing sec-
tional hatreds and bitterly regretting the rift in the
Union, Lee obeyed his conscience and made the only
choice he could make. Holding Washington as his
example and ideal, Lee hoped to achieve for his State
and section the liberty and complete self-determina-
tion Washington had won for the, Colonies in relation
to the mother land. The greatest military genius
America has produced, winner of Napoleonic victo-
ries, against seemingly impossible odds, heroic and
magnanimous in defeat, as in victory, Lee devoted
his closing years to healing the scars of the fratricidal
conflict and educating the youth of his beloved State
to be citizens of our America.
Lincoln, child of the forest, born of the poorest of
the poor nomadic families of the frontier; gaunt
backwoodsman, splitting rails and winning wrestling
matches ; with utter native integrity of character, in-
dustriously self-taught; the melancholy sombreness
of his spirit tempered and sweetened by a marvelous
wealth of humor; Lincoln slowly matured in self-
mastery and climbed step by step, till the Nation in
its most tragic crisis gave him its highest office and
heaviest burden. Misunderstood, calumniated by
slave-holder and Abolitionist alike, plotted against
by fellow- servants of his cause, unhating, unshaken,
INTRODUCTION 9
unhastened, Lincoln held the balance true, slowly
emerged the consecrated defender of "the white man's
charter of liberties," the recreator of the Union, in
character and spirit the prophet of that democracy
America is sometime to be.
With such a constellation in our spiritual heritage,
may we not be humble and proud of our America, and
should we not waken and consecrate ourselves to
carry on and out the greatest, most daring and most
hopeful experiment in democracy mankind has at-
tempted?
WASHINGTON: THE FIRST AMERICAN
T
IODAY, more than ever, we are awed by the
marvel of America. Leaping forward, with diz-
zying rapidity, in business organization, inven-
tion and applied science, wealth and power; attain-
ing a dazzling height in international leadership, yet
seeking to use her power wholly for comity and
From the initial peace ; watch-towers of commerce rising innumerably
Continent, °onward, m ner countless cities ; possessing more than half of
America the ^he newer equipments of civilization, in use over the
growing marvel ^ *
of the world. whole world; great, swift-growing Colossus, grossly
sensual, but far-dreaming and high-visioned, brooded
over by vast ideals : America is the bewildering mar-
vel of mankind.
The wonder began with the initial discovery and
Effect of suddenly early settlement of America. Never before had a
continent tcTthe whole new continent suddenly been added to the
known world. knowledge and imagination of the world, with the
opportunity to transplant already highly developed
civilization, to exploit its virgin resources.
Several nations were concerned in the early settle-
Nations taking ment. Spain came, largely exploring, but with set-
settiement of tlements in the South and claims to vast territory.
The French were also chiefly explorers ; but settling
in Canada, they extended those long lines of posts,
10
GEORGE WASHINGTON 11
down through the middle wilderness, trading with the
Indians to the benefit of both races. It was, however, ^ s e se sS?g S the
the English, with the Scotch and Irish, and in lesser fXnYzatton,
measure the Dutch and Germans, who came to live
permanently in the new world : building their homes,
tilling their farms, extending their hamlets ever fur-
ther inland. At the time Washington was born
(1732) there were some 600,000 English-speaking set-
tlers in the colonies scattered up and down the At-
lantic coast.
Virginia particularly attracted the English, espe-
cially those of the lesser nobility. The temperate Reasons why
. Virginia
climate, fertile soil, early introduction of negro slav- particularly
ery, making possible something of the aristocratic English.
life they had known in England, and the wide de-
mand for the staple products, tobacco and the cereals :
all made Virginia alluring to the English.
Washington's great-grandfather and the latter's
brother came over about 1656, apparently to escape
the Cromwell regime, since they were of the lesser
nobility and devoted to the King and Crown. The waThtngtol
great-grandfather was a vigorous type of man, a suc-
cessful Indian fighter, winning from the Indians the
name "Conotocarius" or "Devourer of Villages" in
consequence. His grandson, Augustine, extended his
land holdings, became interested in iron mines to the The family of
. . fl i n i ii- Washington's
west, was twice married, having four children by his father.
first wife and six by the second ; George Washington
being the eldest of the second brood, born at Wake-
12 AMERICAN STATESMEN
field, Westmoreland County, Virginia, February
22nd, 1732.
Washington's mother, Mary Ball, was a forceful,
Washington's commanding personality. She seems to have had for
relation a to her! her eldest son a strong affection, but rather of the
possessive, demanding type; and as the years went
by, she apparently grew increasingly querulous and
complaining. While Washington fulfilled his duties
toward her with scrupulous fidelity and generosity,
there could have been little opportunity for great ten-
derness in the relationship. His letters to her suffi-
ciently evidence this.
When Washington was a lad of eleven his father
Consequences to died; and this changed his whole outlook on life. Vir-
Washington of his °
father's early ginia had taken over the British laws on primogeni-
ture and entail, so that estates passed regularly to the
eldest son. Washington's older half-brothers had
both been sent to school in England; and he doubt-
less would have followed had his father lived. It is
true, one farm was left jointly to Washington and
his mother ; but she retained it, and he seems to have
had no income from it during her long life-time.
Thus, while welcome in his mother's home and those
dosfng lt h sixtefn. of his half -brothers, Washington was practically
thrown upon his own resources at the age of eleven.
The result was meager schooling, closing definitely
at sixteen. Washington was strong in mathematics,
poor in language work, of which he had very little,
and particularly weak in spelling and grammar;
GEORGE WASHINGTON 13
which doubtless will comfort many a young student
of the present time.
With this limited schooling, Washington was re-
markably well educated: please note the distinction Excellent
between the two terms. His education came from ^nffoid 1 fr ° m
his many-sided and incessant activities. Early he de- activities.
veloped his interest in hunting and fishing, and he
practiced those vigorous out-door activities, at every
opportunity, all his life. Then came his work as sur-
veyor, Indian fighting, with numerous expeditions Sources of
through the wilderness, his career as military leader
and statesman, and his life-long successful activity
as farmer and business man.
Then, too, as a Viriginia aristocrat, Washington
had constant association with the most cultivated men
and women of the colony; and he studied their con-
versation, endeavoring to improve his own speech and
written expression. Moreover, while never a rapid
or wide reader, Washington was a thoughtful and character of
? -n-ii Washington's
earnest one; and he read solid literature. Early he limited reading.
had access to Lord Fairfax's good library. Later,
we find him ordering books from England. Those
lists make interesting reading: treatises on govern-
ment, agriculture, solid histories : such were the books
he read through the years.
Washington was always sensitive regarding the
defects in his schooling; and it is one of the pathetic
facts of his biography, which helps to make him more
human, that late in life, after he had led the country
through the Revolution and been twice President of
14
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Mount Vernon:
Washington's
home from the
age of sixteen.
The valuable
friendship with
Lord Fairfax.
the infant nation, knowing that his writings would
be published and read, he began going over the letters
and other documents, written in young manhood, and
carefully correcting them in grammar, spelling and
style !
At sixteen, he went definitely to live at the home
of his half-brother, Lawrence, who had inherited the
large estate which he renamed Mount Vernon, in
honor of Admiral Vernon, under whom he had served
in the war between England and Spain. The adjoin-
ing estate, Belvoir, was occupied by a younger mem-
ber of the Fairfax family, agent for his family's great
land holdings in the new world. Lawrence had mar-
ried a daughter of this household, thus uniting the
two families.
About the time Washington went to live at Mount
Vernon, there came over from England, Lord Fair-
fax, head of the family, a sixty-year-old, cultivated,
worldly, disappointed English nobleman, to look after
his estates; and he went to live at Belvoir. At once
a warm attachment developed between the sixty years
old British nobleman and the sixteen years old George
Washington. The two hunted and fished together;
Washington had his first wide contact with books in
Lord Fairfax's excellent library; and the nobleman
was so impressed with the young Washington that he
commissioned him to Gross the Blue Ridge mountains
and survey Lord Fairfax's great land holdings, ex-
tending up the Shenandoah valley and beyond.
At sixteen, Washington was already six feet tall:
GEORGE WASHINGTON 15
a spare young giant. He ultimately became six feet
two inches in height, with a large frame and enormous
hands and feet. His gloves were usually made to
order : those on the market not being large enough. Washington's sizd
He wore regularly shoes size eleven and military boots institution?
of thirteen; and his wrists and ankles were so large
as everywhere to attract comment. He had the phys-
ical strength that went with this large organism. One
of the stories that has come down to us, told by a com-
rade of the Revolution, is that Washington's military
tent with its poles, required two men to lift it into the
wagon for transportation; but that Washington
could seize it with one hand and throw it, poles and
all, into the wagon.
At sixteen, then, Washington and a young Fairfax
crossed the Blue Ridge, had weeks of adventure in
the wilderness ; but did the surveying so satisfactorily
that Lord Fairfax was greatly pleased, crossed the Experiences in
Blue Ridge and built himself a hunting lodge, which LordFafrfax.
he occupied as a residence for a time, and secured for
Washington appointment as public surveyor. More-
over, I am told by persons living in that part of Vir-
ginia, that deeds for land today, in all that section, go
back to the lines run by George Washington, at the
age of sixteen: a signal illustration of the thorough-
ness and faithfulness with which Washington did all
the work assigned to him.
From sixteen to nineteen, Washington worked as
public surveyor, saving his money and buying land. Work as public
When he was nineteen, his brother Lawrence found
16
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The visit to the
West Indies.
Inheritance of
Mount Vernon.
himself afflicted with tuberculosis ; and decided to go
to the West Indies in the hope of a cure, taking his
younger half-brother with him. They knew little
about handling tuberculosis in those days; he possi-
bly could have gone nowhere worse ; but he chose the
West Indies.
It was Washington's first opportunity for a look
out on the big world ; for the West Indies were well
in advance of the mainland in cultivation. Here,
Washington saw his first play upon the stage and
heard his first theater music. Immediately upon ar-
rival, the Washington brothers were invited to dine
with Major Clarke. Washington says that he was
reluctant to accept, as there was small-pox in the Ma-
jor's family. In those days, however, a little thing
such as small-pox could not stand in the way of social
etiquette ; so the Washington brothers accepted, din-
ing repeatedly at Major Clarke's, and Washington
promptly took the small-pox. Though speedily re-
covering, he was pockmarked, in consequence, for life.
Returning, Lawrence was no better; and indeed,
he died a few months later, when George was twenty.
He had formed such respect, as well as affection, for
his younger brother that he left Washington guardian
of Lawrence's young daughter; with the provision
that, if she died, Washington was to inherit Mount
Vernon. That death following shortly after, Wash-
ing did inherit Mount Vernon; and it became the
foundation of his large fortune.
Lawrence, moreover, having served in war, had
GEORGE WASHINGTON 17
brought to Mount Vernon Adjutant Muse of the
Virginia army and Jacob van Braam, a Dutch soldier
of fortune. It was from the latter that Washington
had his first training in sword-play and instruction Washington's
in military science. Lawrence had further secured trLmn^and 7
his brother's appointment on the Virginia staff, with associations.
the rank of Major. As a result, Washington, at
twenty-one, was commissioned by the Governor of
Virginia to proceed to the headwaters of the Ohio
and warn the French commander that the French
were intruding on British and Virginia rights.
The situation is easily understood : the French had
extended that long line of trading posts, from Can-
ada through the middle wilderness. Since their trade Situation of the
British spttlprs
with the Indians was profitable to both races and they i n relation to the
did not dispossess the Indians of their lands, the In- f n r |i^ s . an• it -iir»-ii iTi ^ e Boston
i using to buy the tea, a band of masked men boarded "Tea Party."
the British ships in Boston harbor, and threw the
* Washington, in Letter to Bryan Fairfax, Mt. Vernon, July 20, 1774
Writings, Vol. II, pp. 422-424.
34
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Call for a union
of the Colonies.
Washington's
most eloquent
speech.
The first
Continental
Congress.
boxes of taxed tea into the water. This was direct
violation of law; and early in 1774 Britain closed the
Port of Boston and sent troops over to occupy the
City.
Virginia joined with Massachusetts in calling for
a union of the Colonies. Representatives from all
counties of Virginia met at Williamsburg, August
1st, 1774, to choose delegates for a Continental Con-
gress. It was here that Washington made what was
described as, "The most eloquent speech ever made."
It is so brief it can be quoted entire. Washington
stood up and said:
"I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my
own expense, and march myself at their head for the
relief of Boston".*
That was his "most eloquent speech": a man of
deeds, rather than words; but able to use words truly
like bullets, when he wished to use them.
Washington was chosen, with Patrick Henry and
others, a delegate to the first Continental Congress,
which began sitting in Philadelphia, September,
1774. It drew up a Declaration of Colonial Rights,
its Addresses to the King and People of Great Brit-
ain; and the delegates returned home. Washington
spent the next months raising and drilling troops:
he knew that war was coming.
Early in 1775, a Convention was held at Rich-
mond, to choose delegates for a second Continental
* Ford, The True George Washington, p. 268.
GEORGE WASHINGTON 35
Congress. Washington was present and heard Pat-
rick Henry's most flaming speech. Again chosen a The sectmd
delegate, he went to Philadelphia, arriving in early Con g ress -
May. Lexington had already been fought. Wash-
ington's first act was to call on the already aged Ben-
jamin Franklin. He then went to the Congress;
and it was John Adams, of Massachusetts, who re-
alizing that Boston was the storm-center, and that
something must be done to win the full support of
the Southern Colonies, urged the appointment of
Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Ameri- Washington
can forces. Congress accepted the proposal and ap- chosen
° x x x x Commander- in-
pointed him. Washington was very modest about Chief. Attitude
accepting: he wished a better man had been chosen;
but, appointed, he would accept, on condition that he
receive no pay for his services, but only a reimburse-
ment of such funds as he might expend in the cause.
He hastened across the country toward Boston,
arriving at Cambridge, July 2nd, 1775. Bunker Hill
had already been fought. When Washington learned
of the battle, he asked, "Did they fight?"; and when Bunker mil:
t i • "Did they fight?"
told that they did fight, that those raw minute men
stood up and drove the British regulars back, time
after time, until exhausted ammunition compelled
retreat, Washington breathed a sigh of relief. He
was sure now that, however long and bloody the
struggle might be, the end was to be complete inde-
pendence.
So on July 3rd, 1775, traditionally under the Old
Elm, on Cambridge Common, Washington took com-
36
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Taking command.
Character of the
"Army of the
Revolution."
Delays and
preparations.
Dorchester
Heights.
Evacuation of
Boston, March
17th, 1770.
mand of the "Army of the Revolution." The phrase
sounds big ; but think what that army was : raw min-
ute men, volunteering for one month, two months,
at most three months. When the month or two was
up, they went home to till their farms, look after their
families, while other men came up, volunteering for
the next month or two. Imagine making an army out
of stuff like that! They -had splendid courage, but
no discipline; and then, they elected their officers.
Now, you can do that in politics, with considerable
cost, but you cannot do it in war. Then, too, they
had no powder! If the British had not been so dila-
tory, they could have wiped out or scattered Wash-
ington's little army before it was sufficiently equipped
to fight.
Emissaries were sent through the Colonies. What
powder there was, was gathered together; powder
mills were established. The few guns, captured by
Ethan Allan, at Ticonderoga, were hurried across
the country to Boston: it was eight months before
Washington felt strong enough to make the first
move. In March, 1776, he was ready. On the night
of the 4th, he started a cannonade to deceive the
British; swiftly moved his troops up to Dorchester
Heights ; during the dark hours, entrenchments were
hastily constructed; and the next morning Lord
Howe found Washington's guns frowning over the
city of Boston. Futile efforts were made to dislodge
the Americans. Lord Howe realized that he was
GEORGE WASHINGTON 37
trapped ; and on March 17th, took ship with his army
and sailed away.
It has always interested me that the evacuation of
Boston occurred on St. Patrick's Day. Evacuation
Day is, as you know, a State Holiday in Massachu-
setts; and Boston, as everyone is aware, has a large
Irish population. The resulting joint celebration of
Evacuation Day and St. Patrick's Day in Boston, is
something long to be remembered. One really won-
ders, sometimes, whether certain of those celebrating
do not actually believe that St. Patrick drove the
British out of Boston, as he drove the snakes out of
Ireland !
Well, Lord Howe had sailed away. It was Wash-
ington's problem to guess whither; and he guessed
rightly: New York: that was to be the next point
of attack. So Washington hurried across the coun-
try, his army following; but Washington went on,
from New York to Philadelphia, to urge his views of
the struggle on the Continental Congress.
Washington, our first American, was already think-
ing in terms of a great, united and independent Amer- Washington's view
ica. Understand, most men did not think that way its significance.
at the time. John Adams and Samuel Adams: yes;
Thomas Jefferson, the young stripling Hamilton,
some delegates of the Continental Congress: yes;
but most men, even patriots, were thinking, "We
will get rid of these iniquitous taxes, and quit." That
was particularly the attitude of the well to do. You
know, Wealth doesn't like war, anyway, unless it is
38
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Attitude of
wealth toward
the war.
The Declaration
of Independence.
The battle of
Long Island.
unduly profiting by it : there is too much interference
with business. Moreover, the idea of a republic had
not yet come to general consciousness. There was
wide devotion to the King and Crown. So the com-
mon attitude was, we will fight to get these unjust
taxes removed and our rights as English freemen re-
stored, and stop. Not so George Washington: he
was convinced that the struggle must be fought
through to complete independence. ^
He and those who thought with him urged their
views on the Continental Congress, to final success;
and the Declaration of Independence was adopted
by the delegates and signed ; traditionally, on the late
afternoon of July 4th, 1776. It was the charter of
American liberties, the birth right of the infant na-
tion. Five days later, Washington read it to his
troops on Long Island, amid great enthusiasm.
Lord Howe had landed 30,000 troops on Long
Island, well trained and equipped to the minute.
Washington had, perhaps, 20,000 poorly trained, in-
adequately equipped, a fourth of them unfit for serv-
ice. He had to risk a battle. Why? Because he
was not only military leader, but head of the Ameri-
can cause, and was compelled to consider other than
purely military factors. The battle was required to
strengthen the American morale, and awaken the
people to the fact that a war was on. So Washing-
ton risked the Battle of Long Island, in September;
and was completely defeated; his whole army being
left in danger of destruction.
GEORGE WASHINGTON 39
Fortunately, there followed a night of dense fog.
Washington commandeered every boat in the bay; d 1790.
ucation, with the suggestion of a national university.
Recognizing America's unique problem and oppor-
tunity, Washington was strongly convinced that,
while maintaining friendly intercourse and commerce Washington's view
with all nations, we should scrupulously avoid entan- reiiti^ atiX>nal
glement in European politics, with their vicious bal-
ance of power alliances. When the difficulty over
the vexing Genet affair arose, Washington issued his
great Neutrality Proclamation, laying, for all time, Proclamation.
the basis of our foreign policy.
Washington earnestly wished to retire from the
presidency at the conclusion of his first term ; but his
feeling that his work was unfinished, with the uni- unanimous^
versal demand that he continue, led him to serve for reelectlon -
a second term. The unanimous re-election naturally
pleased him, and indicated the attitude of the people
toward him.
With all the popular devotion to Washington,
there developed, nevertheless, increasing opposition The gradual
to the rapidly growing power of the federal govern- ^partyVf" 1
ment. This took shape in a more and more organ- °pp<> sltl o n -
ized party, with opposing political tenets, rallying to
itself, also, those who wished to continue a fast alliance
with France, and thus resented the President's for-
60
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Virulent attacks
upon Washington.
Attitude toward
political parties.
Washington's view
of the danger in
the Political
Party Spirit.
The style in the
Farewell Address
reminds that
Hamilton
formulated it;
and the views
expressed are his,
as well as
Washington's.
eign policy. The result was increasing attacks upon
Federalist leaders, including even Washington, and
finally focussing upon him. The malicious venom of
certain of these attacks would do credit to the yel-
lowest character-assassinating journalist of the pres-
ent hour.
Washington was bitterly hurt by these attacks, and
they wakened in him alarm for the Nation's future.
He dreaded political party spirit as a menace, of
which he solemnly warned the people in his great
Farewell Address:
"I have already intimated to you the danger of Par-
ties in the State, with particular reference to the found-
ing of them on Geographical discriminations. Let me
now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you
in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects
of the Spirit of Party, generally.
This Spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the
human mind. It exists under different shapes in all
Governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or re-
pressed ; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in
its greatest frankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and
enfeeble the Public administration. It agitates the
community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,
kindles the animosity of one part against another, fo-
ments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the
doors to foreign influence and corruption, which finds
GEORGE WASHINGTON 61
a facilitated access to the Government itself through the
channels of party passions."*
Steadfastly, Washington refused to be regarded
as leader of a party, serving as President of all the
people, with single-minded devotion to the welfare of
the Nation as a whole. The amazing fact of his ca- Washington a
- ,, realist, devoid of
reer as statesman is that, realist as he was, shrewdly opportunism, and
. i • .1 i ••! '• • consistently
grasping things as they are, he was without a trace obedient to ideals.
of shallow political opportunism, holding to princi-
ples with inflexible integrity.
He waved aside the urging for a third term, per-
emptorily refusing to consider it; thus founding
l-l j. j«j.« i» i j. i £> t> 'j ±. Decisive refusal of
the tradition of only two terms lor any one President: a third term.
a tradition never subsequently successfully chal-
lenged. (/4to)
His Farewell Address to the American People, on
finally leaving public life, was his second and greater
"Legacy", a legacy of thoughtful wisdom and solemn Washington's
• wot 4-u • m. i j greater le - ac y to
warning. With the passage on party spirit, already the Nation.
quoted, perhaps the gravest counsel, in the light of
the great conflict, which was afterwards to develop,
concerned the Union. His words are almost a fore-
cast of the Civil War:
"The Unity of Government which constitutes you one
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for View of importance
it is a main Pillar in the Edifice of your real independ- of the Union;
ence; the support of your tranquillity at home; your preserve it.
peace abroad ; of your safety ; of your prosperity in
* Washington, in his Farewell Address.- Writings, Vol. XIII, pp.
301-304.
62
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Almost a prophesy
of the situation
Lincoln faced.
Late years at
Mount Vernon.
The swarm of
guests.
every shape ; of that very Liberty, which you so highly
prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different
causes, and from different quarters, much pains will be
taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds
the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in your
political fortress against which the batteries of internal
and external enemies will be most constantly and ac-
tively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed,
it is of infinite moment that you should properly esti-
mate the immense value of your national Union to your
collective and individual happiness ; that you should
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment
to it: accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it
as of the Palladium of your political safety and pros-
perity; watching for its preservation with jealous anx-
iety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a
suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and in-
dignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every at-
tempt to alienate any portion of our Country from the
rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link to-
gether the various parts."*
Retiring again to the life of a country gentleman,
at Mount Vernon, Washington was now the foremost
man in America, indeed in the world. In conse-
quence, his home was thronged with guests from all
over the land and Europe, as well. He himself de-
scribed the house as rather like a public inn, than a
private dwelling. This condition, indeed, had devel-
oped increasingly from the close of the Revolution.
Writing his Mother, in the winter before the Consti-
287.
Washington, in Farewell Address; Writings, Vol. XIII, pp. 286,
GEORGE WASHINGTON
63
tutional Convention, a letter that also throws interest-
ing light on his relation to her, Washington said :
"My house is at your service, and I would press you
most sincerely and devoutly to accept it, but I am sure,
and candor requires me to say, it will never answer your
purposes in any shape whatever. For in truth it may be
compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any
strangers who are going from north to south, or from
south to north, do not spend a day or two at it. This
would, were you to be an inhabitant of it, oblige you to
do one of 3 things : 1st, to be always dressing to appear
in company ; 2nd, to come into the room in a dishabille,
or 3rd, to be as it were a prisoner in your own chamber.
The first you'ld not like; indeed, for a person at your
time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2nd, I
should not like, because those who resort here are, as I
observed before, strangers and people of the first dis-
tinction. And the 3rd, more than probably, would not
be pleasing to either of us."*
The increasing throng of visitors was generously
welcomed, and entertained, as of old, with stately hos-
pitality.
He was once more to be called from his retirement,
however. When the threat of war with France came,
over the XYZ Letters, President Adams appointed
Washington Commander-in-Chief to raise an army;
but the war scare blew over, and Washington re-
turned home.
In December, 1799, he had just finished his plans
for the completion of Mount Vernon; and went out
Letter describing
Washington's
household and
showing his
relation to his
Mother.
The brief late
period of service
as Commander-
in-Chief.
* Washington in a letter to his Mother, Mt. Vernon, Feb. 15, 1787:
Writings, Vol. XI, pp. 116, 117.
64
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Circumstances
of Washington's
last illness and
death.
Summary of the
character of
Washington.
to ride over his estate, as was his daily custom. A cold
winter rain came on, and he returned chilled and wet
to the skin ; went to bed ill, and grew rapidly worse.
He seems to have suffered from a particularly ma-
lignant form of laryngitis, which produces death by
suffocation, as malignant croup sometimes does with
children. We relieve that disease today by tempo-
rarily opening the wind-pipe; but probably not more
than two or three physicians, in America, knew that
difficult operation, at the time. The Doctors came;
they bled him, taking away more than a quart of the
precious blood he needed to fight the disease: they
meant well; and so on December 14th, 1799, at the
age of 67, Washington died, probably in much agony,
practically strangled to death.
A great man, of many-sided activity, Washington
evidenced the same balance, strong native intelligence
and straight-forward achievement in every field.
With utter integrity of character and unerring judg-
ment of men, Washington's grasp of realities was
equalled by his consistent devotion to ideas. A hearty
eater and regular, temperate drinker, all his life, of
impressive stature, phenomenal strength and endur-
ing vigor, always with an eye for a handsome woman,
loving the out-door sports of hunting, fishing and
riding, Washington had all the natural passions
strong in him, but well controlled. No lay figure,
bronze or marble statue or graven image, but a vig-
orous, life-loving human being, Washington had,
from the beginning, the vision of a great, united and
GEORGE WASHINGTON 65
independent America; and served that vision with
unfaltering fidelity and selfless devotion to the day of ^f^o^
his death. Our first American, he well deserved the fir8t American.
eulogy of Light Horse Harry Lee, his beloved young
comrade of the Revolution, who, invited by Congress
to give the Memorial Address, spoke in it those me-
morable words, oft quoted, but which still define our
conception of Washington, as indeed, "First in War,
first in Peace, and first in the hearts of his country-
men,"
II
FRANKLIN: THE PRACTICAL
AMERICAN
Franklin's part in
making victory-
possible in the
Revolution.
Friendship of
Washington and
Franklin.
Franklin's bequest
to Washington.
The long period
of history covered
by Franklin's life.
WASHINGTON led the country victoriously
through the many trials of the Revolution,
and inaugurated the Nation, serving his two
terms as first President. Next to Washington, it
was Benjamin Franklin who made success possible
in the War for Independence, by winning and hold-
ing the sympathy and help of France. Entirely self-
educated and self-made, the most many-sided in
activity of all our great men, Franklin stands as the
type of the practical American, for our whole history.
The life-long friendship of Washington and
Franklin is charmingly revealed in a paragraph of
Franklin's Last Will. It reads:
"My fine crab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head
curiously wrought in the form of the Cap of Liberty,
1 give to my friend, and the friend of mankind, Gen-
eral Washington. If it were a sceptre, he has merited
it, and would become it."*
Since Franklin was twenty-six years older than
Washington, his life goes back much further into
the Colonial period; but living to the age of eighty-
Franklin, in his Last Will: Complete Works, Vol. X, pp. 226, 227
66
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 67
four, and dying only nine years before Washington,
his career covered the whole period of the Revolution,
into the time of Washington's first administration.
The contrast in background of life and early en-
vironment, between the two great leaders, is impress-
ive: Washington, the Virginia aristocrat, early a Contrasting
° , i i i inheritance of
large landed proprietor and slave owner; Franklin, Washington and
reared in humblest circumstances, descended, as the
name indicates, from sturdy English freeholders, who
had occupied the same thirty acres of land, in Eng-
land, for three hundred consecutive years, the eldest Ancestry f
son, for many generations, traditionally becoming a Franklin.
blacksmith.
Franklin's father, Josiah, came over from Eng-
land about 1685, with his wife and three children,
settling in Boston. Four more children were born,
during the next four years; and then the wife died.
Six months later, Josiah Franklin married again.
His second wife was Abiah Folger, daughter, Frank-
lin says, of one of the first settlers in New England,
a surveyor, who wrote verses, loved books, and was famTiy. Franklm ' 1
a liberal in thought. By his second marriage, Josiah
Franklin had ten more children, making seventeen
in all. The colonies were in great need of popula-
tion, in those days, and Josiah Franklin seems to
have been a thoroughly patriotic citizen. Franklin
was the fifteenth child and tenth son of his father,
born in Milk Street, Boston, just opposite the Old
South Church, January 17th, 1706. He outlived
all his family, except one sister, and was the only
68
AMERICAN STATESMEN
one of his tribe to attain distinction, achieved through
his own unaided efforts. Franklin, throughout his
life and in his bequests was most generous in assist-
ing financially his numerous relatives, especially the
surviving sister.
The father had developed a small soap and candle
making business in Boston. He conversed well, sang,
and played the violin, for his own pleasure and, we
trust, that of his family. With the large brood of
children, the household, if humble, must have been a
Meager schooling, happy one. Franklin's schooling was most meager:
a scant two years ; and then, at ten, he had to go to
work in his father's shop, to help out the family.
He was, however, a natural student, from the be-
ginning. He says he could not remember when he
learned to read, it was earlier than his earliest recol-
lection. By the age of twelve, he was reading every
book he could get his hands upon. His first book
Franklin a born was Pity™ 171 ' 8 Progress : interesting, how many of
student. His early our great men started with that. It so impressed him
reading. .
that he saved his pennies and bought all of Bunyon's
writings. Having absorbed these, he traded them for
Burton's Historical Collections, a more pretentious
work. From his father's few books, he had Plutarch's
Lives, De Foe's Essay Upon Projects and Cotton
Mather's Essays to Do Good. This last, he says,
deeply influenced his character.
For a half century of Franklin's long life we have
a fascinating record in his Autobiography. The
larger part was written during his third stay in
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
69
England, at the age of sixty-five; it was continued
during his residence in France, at seventy-eight; and
the concluding pages were written at eighty-two,
after his return to Philadelphia. It is thus a typical
autobiography, written late and telling the major life-
story. It is, further, one of the really great auto-
biographies, in which the style is the man. To give
the color of that style, let me quote a portion of the
opening passage. It is addressed to his son, William :
"Dear Son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining
any little anecdotes of my ancestors . . . Imagining
it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circum-
stances of my life, many of which you are yet unac-
quainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's
uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement,
I sit down to write them for you. To which I have
besides some other inducements. Having emerged from
the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred,
to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation
in the world, and having gone so far through life with a
considerable share of felicity, the conducing means I
made use of, which with the blessing of God so well suc-
ceeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may find
some of them suitable to their own situations, and there-
fore fit to be imitated.
That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me
sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I
should have no objection to a repetition of the same life
from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors
have in a second edition to correct some faults of the
first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, change
some sinister accidents and events of it for others more
favorable. But though this were denied, I should still
His Autobiography
as the great text
for Franklin's life.
Opening
passage of the
Autobiography.
-■
70
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Franklin's vital
style as character-
istic of the man.
Buoyant,
optimistic
temperament.
Franklin's
abundant humor,
an important
element in his life
equipment.
Significance of
Franklin's vanity.
accept the offer. Since such a repetition is not to be
expected, the next thing like living one's life over again
seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that
recollection as durable as possible by putting it down
in writing.
Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in
old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past
actions."*
Note the virile style, with full, balanced sentences:
contrasting with the poor little choppy sentences, and
phrases used as sentences, in much of our current
writing; the apparent aim of which is to enable the
tired business man to read without thinking. Frank-
lin's vigorous writing challenges thought and stimu-
lates reflection.
One is also impressed with the warm, optimistic
love of life. He would gladly live his life over again:
O, eliminating some painful chapters, if permitted;
but even without that privilege, he would live it again.
With this quality is the abundant sense of humor,
the saving grace in Franklin's character: without it,
he might easily have become a moral prig or a relig-
ious fanatic. Humor, which is the other side of ethical
good taste, gave Franklin his sanity and balance, his
instinctive sense of things in right relation.
In the passage quoted, note further the element of
personal vanity. Yes, Franklin had that character-
istic; and doubtless it helped him over many hard
* Franklin, opening passage of his Autobiography, written at sixty-
five, while in England: Complete Works, Vol. I, pp. 29, 30.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
71
That does his brother, as
printer.
places in the road; but he never allowed it to inter-
fere with his devoted service of his country's cause.
Franklin did not like the soap and candle business.
Early developing skill and liking for swimming and
boating, Franklin wanted to go to sea ; but his father
forbade that. Recognizing his bookish tastes, the fa-
ther wished to make him a minister of religion; but
there was not money enough for the requisite educa-
tion. So, as the nearest approach to a bookish career, Apprenticed to
the father decided on the printer's trade
not seem to be a very close approximation to a liter-
ary life ; but it was the best the father could do. Thus,
at twelve, Franklin was apprenticed to his brother,
James, who was ten years older, and who had returned
from England the year before, with a press and types,
and set up a printing business in Boston. The brother
was to feed, clothe and house him; Franklin's labor
was to be his brother's till twenty-one, though he was
to receive journeyman's wages the last year. Rather
hard conditions, one would think, for a boy's start in apprenticeship
life ! One wonders sometimes what boys of these days
would do were they compelled to submit to such con-
ditions. We have lately been considering passing an
amendment to the Constitution, giving an absentee
body, that recently has rather discredited itself, the
national Congress, the right to prohibit all labor of
young people under eighteen : rather a dangerous au-
thority to concede to such a body ! Certainly, if young
persons do not learn to work hard before they are
eighteen, they will never learn in this life ; and strong,
Conditions of the
72
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Struggles for
education.
Admirable use of
the Spectator
Papers in
acquiring an
English style.
efficient character undoubtedly developed under the
hard conditions of those earlier days.
Franklin now had wider access to books. He made
the acquaintance of a book-stall keeper, and got the
privilege of borrowing a book just as the shop closed
at night, on condition of returning it exactly at the
opening hour in the morning. Thus he frequently
read most of the night to finish a book in time for its
required return. At this time, he still felt that he
ought to go to church, and his father was insistent that
he should; but Franklin says he really did not have
time ; for Sundays, the noon hours and evenings were
his only times to read.
He came upon a volume of the Spectator Papers,
the third, and at that early age was already able to
recognize its worth in thought and excellence of style.
Franklin saw in this book an opportunity to improve
his own use of English. So he would take one of the
Spectator Papers; jot down hints of what it contained;
wait until he had forgotten the original, and then
write out an essay of his own from his notes. This
he compared with the original, correcting the faults
he discovered. He found his vocabulary meager, and
thought he might have had a wider use of words had
he continued his early begun habit of writing verses.
Therefore he turned some of the essays into verse;
and, after a time, converted them into prose again,
and then made a fresh comparison with the original.
Naturally, he discovered many faults; but occasion-
ally, he modestly says, he thought he had improved
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 73
somewhat upon the original ; and this encouraged him
to hope that he "might possibly in time come to be a
tolerable English writer," of which he was "extremely
ambitious." He fully achieved his hope, as we see.
The whole passage, in the Autobiography, is recom-
mended to any young student who wishes to improve
his mastery of English.
At sixteen, Franklin was converted to Vegetarian-
ism, chiefly on moral grounds, through a book that Vegetarianism
he read. Discovering that a frugal vegetarian diet Franklins devotion
was quiet inexpensive, Franklin proposed to his ° 8 u 7 '
brother to give him one half of the money his food
cost ; and he would board himself. The brother, glad
to save half the expense, of course accepted. Frank-
lin took the one half, and boarded himself on one half
of that amount, using the remaining quarter of the
food expense to buy books. Surely, this is a supreme
illustration of his devotion to study!
He now mastered Arithmetic and Navigation,
Locke's great treatise on the Human Understanding, development of
the Art of Thinking by the Port Royal authors, Xen- * n Eighteenth
i o J J > Century mind.
ophon's Memorabilia of Socrates, Shaftsbury and
Collins. He had now become a religious skeptic:
going through, as you see, the typical development
of an active Eighteenth Century mind. It was a
rather dry emancipation, with nothing of that spirit-
ual warmth of mysticism that marked the parallel
clarification of the Nineteenth Century, as led by
Emerson in America and Carlyle in England ; but it
was a vital intellectual emancipation, none the less.
74
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The New England
Courant.
Early journalistic
efforts.
Circumstances
of Franklin's
escape from his.
apprenticeship :
"the first great
erratum."
Meantime, his brother had started a newspaper,
the New England Courant, the fourth to be published
in America. Franklin, who had the journalistic in-
stinct, was deeply interested in this venture. Believ-
ing that he could write as good an article as some of
those appearing in the paper, Franklin tried his hand,
and slipped an unsigned one under the door of the
printing office by night. It was found the next morn-
ing, printed, and approved warmly by certain intel-
lectual gentlemen. Franklin repeated the experi-
ment several times; and finding his anonymous arti-
cles all acceptable, modestly acknowledged author-
ship. The brother was furious: jealous of the su-
perior intellectual ability of the ten years younger
lad. The result was various beatings, and Franklin's
appeal to his father; who sided with him, but with-
out relieving the situation, to any extent.
An article, criticising the authorities, caused the
brother to be thrown into jail: there was little free
speech, in the Colonies, in those days. During the
period of his brother's confinement, Franklin had to
edit the newspaper. He continued "to give rubs to
the authorities", but so skillfully that he escaped his
brother's fate. At the end of a month, the brother
was released, on condition that he cease publishing
his newspaper. Well, he did not wish to give it up,
as it was one of his best assets ; so he adopted the de-
vice of issuing it under his brother Benjamin's name.
To do this, he had to free Franklin publicly from his
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 75
indenture papers; but he compelled the signing se-
cretly of fresh papers.
Franklin saw his opportunity. He knew his
brother would not dare tell, since he was striving, by
a trick, to get around the order of the authorities.
So Franklin simply took French leave: left his
brother's establishment. He says this was "one of
the first great errata" of his life. There were many
others, as we shall see.
The brother prevented Franklin's getting another The flight to
printing job in Boston; so he sold some of his books ew York *
for funds, secretly took ship, and sailed away to New
York.
During the voyage there was a big haul of codfish.
Now Franklin, being a Bostonian, greatly liked cod-
fish; but there was the obstacle of his vegetarian
principles! When the larger fish were opened, how-
ever, he discovered that each had smaller fish in its
belly. So he argued that, if the lamer fish ate the The saving humor
t. i • ?-. i » -i . of Franklin.
little ones, it could not be so wrong for him to eat the
larger ones, and dined heartily and joyously. The
incident shows well the saving humor in Franklin's
character: without it he might indeed easily have be-
come a moral prig or a religious fanatic. Some of
us could narrate chapters of our own youthful experi-
ence, similar to this of Franklin's, where we, too, were
saved from attacks of moral measles by an abundant
sense of humor.
Arriving in New York, Franklin was kindly
treated; but there was no job for him there, and he
76
AMERICAN STATESMEN
the journey and
arrival.
was advised to go on to Philadelphia. It was a con-
cr r ^m^es P of a ' siderable journey, from New York to Philadelphia,
in those days. Franklin went by boat to Amboy, New
Jersey; thence on foot to Burlington, being drenched
with rain on the way. Some kindly persons took him
in over night. The next morning he was taken into
a rowboat, landed at the foot of Market Street, in
Philadelphia.
His chest had gone around by sea; his pockets were
stuffed with dirty clothes, and he was bedraggled
from the trip. With one Dutch dollar left in his
pocket, he started up Market Street, dropped into a
bake shop and bought three rolls. Rolls turned out
to be long loaves in Philadelphia. Having purchased
them, Franklin did not wish to lose his money; so
with one roll under each arm, and vigorously munch-
ing the third, held in both hands, he wandered on up
Market Street, passing the home of the Read family,
with Deborah, the daughter, standing at the door,
convulsed with laughter at the comical appearance
Franklin made, little dreaming she was to marry him
later on. Tired with the long trip, Franklin dropped
into a Quaker Meeting House; and went soundly to
sleep. He seems to imply that it was a very good
place to sleep !
The important point about Franklin is that he al-
ways lights on his feet. No matter what exigencies
came, he met them, in every instance, with the shrewd-
ness and self confidence of the practical American.
He quickly found work in the printing office of one
Deborah Read's
first view of
Franklin.
The practical
American.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 77
Keimer, a religious fanatic. He early found lodging
with the Read family; and while he had little spare printing
time, he used what was available in the pleasant rec- establisnment -
reation of courting the buxom daughter. His indus-
try and thrift attracted the favorable notice of cer-
tain influential men, in particular the Governor of the
Colony, Sir William Keith. He said that Franklin
was too fine a young man to be working for someone
else; that he should go to Boston and get his father
to put up the money, and start an independent print-
ing office. The Governor would give him the govern-
ment printing and see that all went well.
Franklin joyfully took the advice; and with a
strong letter from the Governor to his father, sailed The visit to
i -r» • • iiii Boston.
around to Boston, surprising his family, who had been
in entire ignorance of his whereabouts during the in-
tervening seven months. They greeted him with open
arms, all except the brother, whose establishment
Franklin had abandoned. That brother never for-
gave him. When, however, Franklin made his pro-
posal to his father, the latter threw up his hands:
what, give a seventeen year old boy money to start in
business independently? No, indeed, besides, he had
no such money! So Franklin cheerfully said good-
bye, and took ship back for Philadelphia.
Here, Franklin resumed his work in Keimer 's shop ;
but the Governor, on learning that the father had The Governor's
refused to furnish the money, offered to advance it, P leasantI T-
urging Franklin not to give up the plan, but to make
his preparations to go to England for press and type.
78 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Franklin arranged for passage, for himself and his
friend, Ralph; but no money was forthcoming.
Broaching the matter to the Governor, Franklin was
assured all would be right, to take ship and there
would be letters arranging everything. Franklin and
Ralph got aboard, with some anxiety ; well out to sea,
Raipl° to g Engiand. tne ma ^ ^ag was opened, and there was nothing for
Franklin! The Governor seems to have been a typ-
ical politician, promising anything and everything to
anybody, and fulfilling little or nothing.
Franklin thus landed in England, at eighteen,
Arriving stranded, stranded, as far as his plans for a printing outfit were
n mg wor concerned ; but again the practical American lights
on his feet. He quickly got himself a job in a Lon-
don printing office. His friend, Ralph, either could
not or would not find work; and Franklin had to
support both, until a fortunate quarrel relieved him
of the further necessity. The funds advanced to
Ralph and expended for him were never repaid, how-
ever.
After arrival in England, Franklin wrote one let-
ter to Miss Read, and then just stopped writing.
This, he says, was another of his great errata. He
later found a better place in Watts's large printing
establishment. The other men employed thought
The "Water- they must drink, at frequent intervals, the heavy Eng-
American." •,.,-. * in.i« i i
lish ale, to be strong enough lor their work; yet
Franklin, who drank only water, was, to their aston-
ishment, able to carry up a case of type in each hand,
while the beer drinkers could carry but one. "The
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 79
Water- American' ' they called him: interesting, how
far back that particular tendency goes in our history!
Franklin had the strong instinct for social uplift
that marks the better type of practical American ; social uplift,
and converted others of the young men to his water-
Americanism, so that they, too, began saving their
money, instead of spending it all on beer.
Late in his stay in England, Franklin, through a
remarkable swimming feat, attracted the attention of
certain gentlemen, who promised him their sons as p^j^^i
pupils, if he would remain and open a swimming
school. He probably could have made a good deal
of money, had he accepted ; but he wanted to get back
home, so at twenty, he sailed for Philadelphia.
Arriving, he found his old flame, Deborah Read, in
a sad situation. When Franklin's letters stopped,
her mother, who disapproved of his courtship any- Deborah Re«S.°
way, because of his small earnings, had urged her into
marriage with a potter, Rogers. It was shortly re-
ported that he already had a wife, elsewhere, so De-
borah Read refused to live with him. Then, he accu-
mulated many debts. In those days they had the
pleasant custom of imprisoning a man for debt: ap-
parently to make it impossible for him ever to pay it.
Therefore, Rogers fled to the West Indies, to escape
imprisonment, leaving poor Deborah Read neither
wife nor widow. Franklin found her in this distress-
ing situation. He was very sorry for her; but went With K eimer
cheerfully about his business, and after a brief period again>
80
AMERICAN STATESMEN
At twenty-four
Franklin
independently
in the printing
business,
Franklin's
newspaper.
in another line, to work again with his old employer,
Keimer.
Franklin received such high wages that he sus-
pected Keimer was using him to train the young men,
and then intended to get rid of him. To forestall this,
Franklin and a young friend, Meredith, got the lat-
ter's father to advance the money, and set up an
independent printing business. Meredith proving
rather idle and given to drink, after a year or two,
Franklin succeeded in borrowing enough money from
two other friends to buy his partner out and continue
alone.
The young men wanted to start a newspaper; but
Keimer, to forestall them, started one, which he en-
titled, The Universal Instructor in all the Arts and
Sciences and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Its leading
article was a reprint of a regular installment of Cham-
bers Dictionary, just then being issued in England:
not very exciting reading. As a result, after nine
months, he had but ninety subscribers ; and was glad to
sell out to Franklin, in the Autumn of 1729, when
Franklin was twenty-three. Thus Franklin had his
newspaper, which he quickly made the best in the
colonies. He dropped the heavy part of the title, and
called it simply The Pennsylvania Gazette. It was a
small affair: one sheet folded, a foot and a half by a
foot in size; but it was a typical modern newspaper,
containing news items, leading articles, advertise-
ments, anecdotes, broad jokes, poems by the poet-
laureate and humorous pieces. Indeed, Franklin was
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 81
the first "Columnist," and the best we have had. Some
of those humorous pieces, signed with amusing pseu-
donyms and dealing with local satire of the time, are
fresh and delightful reading today.
Meantime, with his constant desire for self-im-
provement, Franklin had formed the "Junto", a club mutual self-
of young men, meeting one evening a week. Each im P rovement -
member, in turn, was to propose some question in
Morals, Politics or Natural Philosophy. Then the
whole group was to discuss the subject freely and
vigorously, with direct contradiction prohibited, on
penalty of a fine. The whole plan was admirable,
as an instrument of education.
Since books were scarce, Franklin suggested that
the members bring those they possessed to the com-
mon meeting place, so that all could have the benefit
of all the books owned by the group. The plan was
tried, but did not work very well, and the members
took their books home. Then Franklin decided on a starting the
more ambitious plan, to start a Subscription Library. L?brary? tion
He had already learned that one should not say "I
am starting something", since people would suspect
one is seeking to make something out of it. So he
went about saying that a number of gentlemen were
thinking of starting a Subscription Library, and if
those approached would like to come in, it would be
possible to make room for them. The result was a
large number of subscribers and a flourishing library,
one of the first in the colonies. Others followed ; and
Franklin says :
82 AMERICAN STATESMEN
"These libraries have improved the general conversa-
tion of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and
farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other
countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree
to the stand so generally made throughout the Colonies
in defense of their privileges."*
The founding of this Library Franklin calls his
"first project of a public nature."
As we have seen, Franklin had passed through a
period of typical Eighteenth Century religious skep-
ticism. Lacking the religious sanction and with strong
natural passions, in spite of his sobriety and industry,
of Franklin. Franklin had fallen into certain vices of conduct. His
statement in the Autobiography is very frank, as to
the indiscretions into which "that hard-to-be-con-
trolled passion of youth" had led him. Now he wished
to straighten up his life in every way ; and he thought
the first step was to get married. Rather a prosaic
basis, on which to found the greatest of life relation-
ships; but Franklin had the limitations, as well as
the excellence, of the practical American.
He looked about for an available young woman;
and the nearest at hand was a relative of the Godfrey
family, with whom Franklin boarded at the time. He
straightway began courting her, and she seems to
The practical nave Deen quite willing ; but Franklin asked as dowry,
American seeking ^vith the young woman, enough money to pay off the
debt on his printing business: a matter of a hundred
pounds — five hundred dollars — quite a sum of money
Franklin, Autobiography, Complete Works, Vol. I, pp. 159, 160.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 83
for those days. The Godfreys said they had no such
amount of money. Franklin modestly suggested that
they mortgage the house and raise it! In conse-
quence, he was forbidden the house. Franklin says
he was not sure whether they really wanted him to
stay away, or hoped he would elope and marry the
girl, without the dowry; but he was too shrewd a
practical American to be caught that way. Making
overtures in other places, he found the printing busi-
ness regarded as a poor one, and that he could not
expect a dowry, unless with a wife not otherwise
agreeable. In this situation, and rather ashamed of
his treatment of her, anyway, he returned to his old
flame, Deborah Read, living in the deplorable cir-
cumstances already cited.
There were many obstacles now in the way of mar-
riage with her: Franklin even feared he might be
held for her absconding husband's debts ; but they marST^-with ° f
"ventured over all these difficulties", and he "took Deborah Head.
her to wife, September 1st, 1730". It is difficult to
see how the union could have been other than a com-
mon law marriage, since Deborah Read's first mar-
riage had not been legally proved invalid, nor Rog-
ers's death confirmed.
His wife was an admirable helpmeet to Franklin.
She was a careful and thrifty housekeeper, and aided Mrg< Franklin's
in keeping shop. They took on a line of stationery, ^dustr^
soap and groceries; imported, printed and sold books.
After a time, Franklin opened branch establishments
in other colonies. With his wife's full cooperation
84
AMERICAN STATESMEN
How luxury
entered the family.
Charming light
on Franklin's
domestic life.
Mrs. Franklin's
two children.
Attacks on
Washington
by Benjamin
Franklin Bache.
and their joint frugality, they were steadily growing
affluent.
With all their thrift, Franklin says luxury did slip
into the household; and he narrates its entrance so
charmingly that the passage is quoted:
"My breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no
tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthern porringer
with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter
families, and make a progress, in spite of principle: be-
ing called one morning to breakfast, I found it in a
China bowl, with a spoon of silver; they had been
bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and
had cost her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty-
shillings, for which she had no other excuse or apology
to make, but that she thought her husband deserved a
silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his
neighbors."*
Mrs. Franklin was an excellent mother to her two
children. The promising boy died in childhood, of
smallpox, to the father's deep and lasting grief.
Franklin urges parents to be sure to have their chil-
dren early inoculated : the terrible device, used before
vaccination was developed, to forestall the scourge.
The daughter grew up to womanhood, married and
had children; and it is one of the ironies of history
that it was her son who wrote attacks on Washington
in the Aurora newspaper.
Not long after his marriage, Franklin's son, Wil-
liam, was brought into the family, and reared with
the other children. The British Government after-
* Franklin, Autobiography, Complete Works, Vol. I, p. 171.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 85
wards made William royal Governor of New Jersey,
probably in an effort to bribe Franklin to the British wnnam^Made
cause. This action did not influence Franklin, but Governor of Ne *
' Jersey.
it made William a Tory for life; and the result was
a break between father and son, patched up after the
Revolution, but with never again the old friendli-
ness.
The looser aspects of Franklin's early personal life
caused bitter criticism and attacks upon him, in Phil- Later bitter
adelphia when he had become famous. Also, Phila- Frankiin's^ife.
delphia Society never accepted Mrs. Franklin, which
doubtless troubled the good lady not at all: she was
as little interested in Philadelphia polite society as
it was in her.
With warm and lasting affection on both sides, the
relation of Franklin and his wife was wholly a bio-
logical, domestic and business union, the wife sharing Franklin's °
in no degree her husband's rapidly developing intel- domestlc llfe -
lectual life. In their numerous letters, exchanged
during Franklin's long absences abroad, each ad-
dresses the other as "My Dear Child". Franklin sends
her gifts of clothing, china, silver and other house-
hold articles. The following is a characteristic let-
ter, written from London, to his wife, shortly after
Franklin had helped in securing the repeal of the
Stamp Act:
"London, 6 April, 1766.
"My Dear Child : — As the Stamp Act is at length re-
pealed, I am willing you should have a new gown, which
you may suppose I did not send sooner, as I knew you
86 AMERICAN STATESMEN
would not like to be finer than your neighbors, unless
in a gown of your own spinning. Had the trade between
the two countries totally ceased, it was a comfort to me
to recollect that I had once been clothed from head to
foot in woolen and linen of my wife's manufacture,
that I never was prouder of any dress in my life, and
that she and her daughter might do it again if it was
necessary. I told the Parliament that it was my opin-
ion, before the old clothes of the Americans were worn
out, they might have new ones of their own making. I
have sent you a fine piece of Pompadour satin, fourteen
yards, cost eleven shillings a yard; a silk negligee and
petticoat of brocaded lutestring for my dear Sally, with
ktter a o^Franklin two dozen g loves > four bottles of lavender water, and
to his wife. two little reels. The reels are to screw on the edge of
the table, when she would wind silk or thread. The skein
is to be put over them, and winds better than if held in
two hands. There is also a gimcrack corkscrew, which
you must get some brother gimcrack to show you the
use of. In the chest is a parcel of books for my friend
Mr. Coleman, and another for cousin Colbert. Pray did
he receive those I sent him before? I send you also a
box with three fine cheeses. Perhaps a bit of them may
be left when I come home. Mrs. Stevenson has been
very diligent and serviceable in getting these things to-
gether for you, and presents her best respects, as does
her daughter, to both you and Sally. There are two
boxes included in your bill of lading for Billy.
"There are some droll prints in the box, which were
given me by the painter, and being sent when I was not
at home, were packed up without my knowledge. I
think he was wrong to put in Lord Bute, who had noth-
ing to do with the Stamp Act. But it is the fashion to
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
87
abuse the nobleman, as the author of all mischief. Love
to Sally and all friends. I am, my dear Debby, your af-
fectionate husband,
"B. Franklin."*
Mrs. Franklin's letters deal only with the children,
neighborhood gossip, household affairs. Her force-
ful personality is evident in the vigorous freedom with
which she expresses herself; but she was all but illit-
erate, and is the original phonetic speller. She had
evidently heard an occasional long word from her
learned husband's lips, and she uses it correctly, with
shrewd native intelligence; but the spelling is so de-
lightfully spontaneous that one has often to read the
word several times, to be sure what it is intended to be.
The following is one of her characteristic letters;
written shortly after receiving news of Franklin's ar-
rival for his third stay in England :
"As I have but very little time to write as the rodes
is so very bad I shall only to joyne with you in
senser thanks to god for your presevevoashon and Safe
a rivel o what reson have you and I to be thankful for
maney meney (?) we have reseved.
"Billey and his wife is in town they came to the rases
lodged at Mr. Galloway but Spente yisterday at our
house and Mr. William's Brother we was att diner I sed
I had not aney thing but vitels for I cold not get aney
thing for a deserte but who knows but I may treet you
with sum thing from Ingland and as we was at tabel
Mr. Sumain (?) Came and sed the poste had gone by
with the letters that the packit had brought so I had the
pleshuer of treeting quite grand indeed and our littel
* Franklin, Letter to his wife from London, April 6th, 1766: Com-
plete Works, Vol. Ill, pp. 457-459.
Character of
Mrs. Franklin's
letters to her
husband.
A characteristic
letter of April
7th, 1765.
88 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Company as cherful and hapey as oney in the world none
excepted o my dear hough hapey am I to hear that you
air safe and well hough dus your armes doe was John
of servis to you is your Cold quite gon o I long to know
the partic (?) hear I must levef of Salley not up as she
was at the Assembly last night with her Sister and I
have spook to more than twenty sense I wrote the above.
jfc afe ji£ Aji ii£
"aur one famely is well and sendes Duty I am told that
my old naber Mrs. Emson is to be in London my love to
her and give her a kis from me adoe my Dear child and
take caire of youre selef for maneys sake as well as your
one.
"I am your a feckshonet wife
"April 7', 1765. D. Franklin."*
To consider a more formal example of Mrs. Frank-
lin's correspondence, read the following brief letter
of introduction, given to Dr. Bond's son, for presen-
tation to Franklin in London. It is certainly brief
and effective, and must have been delivered by the
bearer with much satisfaction :
"My Dear Child— The bairer of this is the Son of
Dr. Phinis Bond his only son and a worthey young man
he is a going to studey the Law he desired a line to you
A delightful letter j k e ii eve y OU have such a number of worthey young Jen-
of introduction, J . ,
written by Mrs. telmen as ever wente to gather I hope to give you plesh-
Frankhn in 1770. uer ^ Q gee suc \ i a nU mbe of fine youthes from your one
countrey which will be an Honour to thar parentes and
Countrey.
I am my Dear child your ffeckshonot wife
Ocktober ye 11, 1770. D. Franklin."!
* Deborah Franklin, Letter to her husband, April 7, 1765: Franklin,
Complete Works, Vol. Ill, pp. 375, 376.
f Deborah Franklin, Letter to her husband, October 11th, 1770:
Franklin, Complete Works, Vol. IV. pp. 369, 370.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 89
With all the biological validity, domestic warmth
and business cooperation of Franklin's married life, S^ 6 p^ctkaT 11 ° f
it is characteristic of him, as the practical American American -
in limitation as well as excellence, that there is no
high spiritual relationship, in either love or friendship,
during his entire life.
Now married, the head of a family, his business
rapidly prospering, Franklin wished to complete the
straightening up of his personal character and life.
So he "Conceived the bold and arduous project of
arriving at moral perfection": no less! As a prac-
tical American, he planned the pursuit systematically
and thoroughly. He made a list of all the virtues,
in which he thought he particularly needed discipline, pursuit of moral
There were twelve ; a Quaker friend suggested a thir- P erfectlon>
teenth, Humility : Franklin probably would not have
thought of that, had his Quaker friend not suggested
it. He procured and ruled a blank book, with spaces
for grading his conduct in each virtue, by the week.
Under each virtue, he placed an appropriate motto.
The first virtue, in which he conceived the need of
discipline, was Temperance; and under it the coun- Franklin's
sel "Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.' , virtues. 6
Then, he thought himself too much given to garrulous
talk. The second virtue was, therefore, Silence ; with
the legend, "Speak not but what may benefit others
or yourself; avoid trifling conversation." Next was
Order: a virtue Franklin never was able to acquire.
Then followed: Resolution, Frugality, Industry,
Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquil-
90
AMERICAN STATESMEN
virtues chosen.
Plan for acquiring
the several virtues.
lity, Chastity, and finally, Humility, with the motto,
"Imitate Jesus and Socrates": a high endeavor!
Please note that, with the exception of Humility,
mce of the an d possibly Tranquillity, there is no high spiritual
virtue among these. They are all, as Franklin inter-
preted them, the prudential virtues, that concern suc-
cess in the practical conduct of life. Franklin real-
ized that it would be difficult to attempt to practise
all thirteen virtues at the same time. So he decided
to focus on one virtue each week; which gave him,
of course, considerable latitude with reference to the
other twelve. The first week he practised Temper-
ance, hoping it would become sufficiently a habit to
carry over into the second week, when he centered on
Silence. Similarly, he trusted that Temperance and
Silence would last into the third week, when he en-
deavored to learn Order; and so on, through the list.
Thirteen virtues, thirteen weeks; four times thir-
teen is fifty- two: he would have four systematic
courses in the virtues each year. He made an "Order
of the Day", with prescribed hours for rising, work-
ing, reading, conversing, retiring. He remade a Lit-
urgy, earlier written, with a prayer to "Powerful
Goodness", as he now called the Divine Being.
The discipline went bravely forward ; but Franklin
had particular difficulty with "Order" ; he never could
learn to keep his papers and surroundings with neat-
ness. After some time, he began to wonder whether
moral perfection was really intended for human na-
ture. He says he was reminded of an incident oc-
The four courses
in virtue each
year.
Special difficulty
with "Order."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN • 91
curring in his neighborhood; which may be con-
densed as follows: a man, going to purchase an ax, sp eckied ax. e
found it sharp on the edge, but otherwise rusty. The
seller said, "you turn the grindstone, and I will
quickly brighten it up for you." So he pressed the
ax on hard, until the one turning said, "Well, I guess
that will about do." "O no", said the other, "See, it
is ail speckled." The purchaser replied, "O well, I
like it better speckled".
Franklin says it was this way with the pursuit of
moral perfection: he began to wonder whether, after Humor again
L ° saving Franklin
all, a few faults were not desirable, to keep one hu- from the fate of
man. Again, it was the saving grace of humor, which
kept Franklin from becoming a moral pharisee.
The one permanent result, from his discipline in
the virtues, which Franklin emphasizes, concerned ? ve r p 7 n 7oni pride
Humility. He states that his natural tendency was to
be dogmatic and over-bearing in expressing his opin-
ions. He carefully and successfully schooled himself
to correct this fault. The valuable life-consequence
is stated in the following passage, closing that portion
of the Autobiography written in France at seventy
eight :
"The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions
procur'd them a readier reception and less contradic- portion^ °the ^
tions : I had less mortification when I was found to be in Autobiography
,i j T •! -i.j .,i ,r , written in France,
the wrong, and I more easily prevaird with others to in 1784 s t a tinp-
give up their mistakes and join with me when I hap- one important
t , i • ,i • -i , result of the
pened to be m the right. course in virtue>
"And this mode, which I at first put on with some
violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy,
92
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The Almanac in
colonial life.
Franklin's want
of a Philomath.
Creation of Poor
Richard.
and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years
past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression es-
cape me. And to this habit (after my character of in-
tegrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so
much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed
new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much
influence in public councils when I became a member;
for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to
much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct
in language, and yet I generally carried my points.
"In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural
passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, strug-
gle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as
one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then
peep out and show itself ; you will see it, perhaps, often
in this history ; for, even if I could conceive that I had
compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of
my humility."*
Every printer had to publish his Almanac : it was
the Fade Mecum of colonial life, hanging from a nail
beside the open fire-place, in every settler's home. It
gave the phases of the sun, moon and tides, bits of
surviving Astrological prophesying, fragments of
prose and verse: it was everybody's Handbook. The
editor and compiler was given the impressive name of
"Philomath", mathematical scholar or lover of mathe-
matics. While Franklin lived with the Godfreys, Mr.
Godfrey served as his philomath ; after his break with
the family, he had none, and decided to be his own.
To this end he invented an imaginary character, Rich-
ard Saunders — "Poor Richard": possibly his remi-
* Franklin, Autobiography: Complete Works, Vol. I, pp. 188, 189.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 93
niscences of Sir Roger de Coverley in the old volume
of Spectator Papers, helped him here ; and for twenty
six years, from the age of twenty-seven to fifty-two, annual issues 1 of
Franklin edited his Almanac through Poor Richard. Iim an ^ c chard ' s
It is significant of Franklin's literary skill that this
purely fictitious character quickly became the best
known man in the colonies.
Franklin's problem was to sell his Almanac; and
he hit upon a brilliant, humorous device, to get a hear- The literary hoax
to ^Pll flif*
ing. The philomath of the chief rival Almanac was Almanac, carried
a certain Titan Leeds; and Franklin had Poor Rich- °? p^RkharSr
ard solemnly prophesy, as revealed by the stars, the for a period of
death of Titan Leeds, at a certain hour, of a certain
day, of the ensuing year. Titan Leeds was naturally
furious : he replied with an excited repudiation of his
announced death, upbraiding Richard Saunders for
his scurrilous trick. Everybody chuckled, dropped
by Franklin's shop, and bought his Almanac.
In the next year's issue, Richard Saunders gravely
states that he does not know just at what hour, of
what day, Titan Leeds died, but is quite sure that he
is dead; for Titan Leeds was his friend, and could
not possibly have written the vicious attack upon him,
appearing under Titan Leeds's name. Leeds shrieked
in response that he was not dead and didn't intend to
die, and it was all a dirty trick, anyway. Everybody
chuckled, dropped by Franklin's shop, and bought his
Almanac.
The following year, Poor Richard states that Titan
Leeds really is dead; but that his Ghost pretends to
94
AMERICAN STATESMEN
be living and to write Almanacs. Franklin closed the
hoax with a letter, purporting to be from Titan Leeds,
in the next world, to his friend, Richard Saunders, in
this. The result was that Poor Richard's Almanac
was brilliantly successful, selling ten thousand copies
a year.
This was due, further, to its real superiority and
Unique superiority unique originality: it was well worth buying! Even
Almanac. 1 " t° the conventional data, Franklin gave an amusing
turn. Note the delightful satire, not only on Astrol-
ogy, but on colonial pronunciation, in the following
typical forecast of the year as revealed by the stars:
A typical passage
of humorous
prophesy from the
Almanac of 1736.
"During the first visible eclipse Saturn is retrograde:
for which reason the crabs will go sidelong and the rope-
makers backward. Mercury will have his share in these
affairs, and so confound the speech of the people, that
when a Pennsylvanian would say Panther he shall say
Painter. When a New Yorker thinks to say This he
shall say Diss, and the people of New England and Cape
May will not be able to say Cow for their lives, but will
be forced to say Keow by a certain involuntary twist in
the root of their tongues. No Connecticut man nor
Marylander will be able to open his mouth this year but
Sir shall be the first or last syllable he pronounces, and
sometimes both. * * *
This year the stone-blind shall see but very little ; the
deaf shall hear but poorly ; and the dumb sha'n't speak
very plain. And it's much, if my Dame Bridget talks at
all this year. Whole flocks, herds, and droves of
sheep, swine and oxen, cocks and hens, ducks and drakes,
geese and ganders shall go to pot ; but the mortality
will not be altogether so great among cats, dogs, and
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 95
horses. As to old age, 't will be incurable this year, be-
cause of the years past. And towards the Fall some
people will be seized with an unaccountable inclination
to roast and eat their own ears : Should this be called
madness, Doctors? I think not. But the worst disease
of all will be a certain most horrid, dreadful, malignant,
catching, perverse and odious malady, almost epidemi-
cal, insomuch that many shall run mad upon it ; I quake
for very fear when I think on't : for I assure you very
few will escape this disease, which is called by the
learned Albromazar Lacko'mony."*
This delightful humor marked all features of the
Almanac. There were verses, original and repro- Various features
duced; jokes and stories, sometimes rather broad, but
which pleased the frontier audience; and Franklin
ransacked literature, ancient and modern, for maxims
and wise sayings. In fact, the quarter of a century of
Almanacs contains what is probably the greatest and
most comprehensive collection of proverbial wisdom The amazing
ever compiled. Some of these pungent sayings were, collectlon of .
r r ° J & ' proverbial wisdom.
of course, original with Franklin, but many more
were borrowed ; and his skill lay especially in the selec-
tion and redressing of them. To appreciate their
range, consider a few from the vast number:
"The proof of gold is fire; the proof of a woman, From Franklin's
t t , i ,> » ,, own experience,
gold ; the prool or a man, a woman. r
"There is no little enemy." Shrewd observa-
J m tion of life.
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
"Fish and visitors smell in three days." humor.
* Franklin, From Poor Richard's Almanac of 1736: Complete Works,
Vol. I, pp. 458, 459.
96
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Moral wisdom.
Social uplift.
True today as
when Franklin
printed it!
Among Franklin'
favorites.
Father Abraham'
speech and its
success over the
world.
Franklin as
teacher of the
virtues that have
characterized
American life.
"Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it."
"The noblest question in the world is, What good may
I do in it?"
"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage; half-
shut afterwards."
"Industry need not wish."
"The used key is always bright."
"Three removes are as bad as a fire."
"It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright."*
In the last issue of his Almanac, that for 1758,
Franklin created another imaginary character, Father
Abraham, portraying him as making a long speech at
a public auction, in which he quotes many of the best
maxims and proverbs Poor Richard had fathered
during the quarter of a century. This humorous Val-
edictory of Poor Richard caught the imagination of
the world. It was reprinted separately, translated
into French and some other languages, read all over
the world; and it helped to prepare the enthusiastic
welcome accorded Franklin, afterwards, in England
and France. It has been reprinted more than seventy
times in England, and more than fifty in France.
Through the pungent ethical wisdom of Poor
Richard's Almanac, with the influence of his own pic-
turesque personality, Franklin became really the
Schoolmaster of the Colonies, establishing the range
of virtues which to this day have ever characterized
the practical American, in ideal if not always in
practice.
* Franklin, Typical Proverbs from Poor Richard's Almanacs :
plete Works, Vol. I, pp. 443-456.
Com-
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 97
By the age of forty-two Franklin had become so
successful that he was able to retire from active busi- o/fSScS'b 8
ness, under a contract with his foreman, which was to D^nSs^*™™
pay him 1000 pounds, about $5000 a year, for the next forty-two.
eighteen years. This indicates how really affluent he
had already become. He had established branches of
his printing business in other colonies, shrewdly used
his carefully saved money in buying Philadelphia real
estate, and was now the successful, self-made, practi-
cal American. His own statement is that he retired
from active business for study, scientific research and Franklin's reasons
. J for retiring from
public service. Of these, the last became an unex- active business.
pectedly large and onerous element of the latter half
of his life.
Meantime, Franklin continued his studies. At this
period of his life, he mastered a good reading knowl- Language studies.
edge of French, then Italian and then Spanish; and,
at this point, discovered that he could read Latin,
without ever having studied it. That is, of course,
true: anyone who reads fluently those Romance
tongues can understand their common mother. Frank-
lin's remarks on practical teaching of the languages
are still instructive to the teacher of today.
Franklin's public service had begun long before
his retirement from active business ; and in it he shows
an interesting combination of entirely unselfish devo-
tion to the general welfare, with a frequent use of his
public services to advance his private interests. As
Clerk of the Assembly, he was able to secure the
official printing; and when elected a member, serving
98 AMERICAN STATESMEN
ten consecutive years, he got his son, William, ap-
pointed clerk, in order to retain the government print-
ing : the practical American ! He differed from Wash-
Amazing range ington in seeking the appointment of relatives to pub-
of iSf^SSi nc office, but never to sinecures, or to the detriment
puouc service*
of the service. He was Deputy Postmaster and later
Postmaster General. He organized a city Watch
and, at thirty, a volunteer Fire Company, which func-
tioned efficiently for fifty-five years. He founded the
long famous American Philosophical Society, which
was practically an outgrowth of the earlier Junto.
He established an Academy, for the youth of the
Colony, from which developed the University of
Pennsylvania. With Dr. Bond, he helped to found
the first Hospital in America.
Indefatigable in scientific investigation, Franklin's
interest was less in pure Science, than in discoveries
and inventions of immediate practical application. He
practical 11 scientist, invented, before leaving business, the Franklin Stove,
that still bears his name: that iron open fireplace,
economizing fuel, increasing heat and retaining the
free ventilation of the room.
Belief in the value Franklin was one of the early believers in fresh air,
of fresh air. . -n
at a time when most persons were still under the su-
perstition that night air was dangerous, and so kept
their windows tightly closed. John Adams quaintly
narrates an incident of a journey in 1776, when he
and Franklin had to sleep in one bed in a small room,
with no chimney. Adams wanted the window shut,
but Franklin prevailed upon him to open it wide and
inventions.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 99
jump into bed; then lectured him on the value of fresh
air, until Adams fell asleep under the argument.
Franklin did not patent his stove because he wished
the colonists to benefit by it ; but a British ironmonger
took out a patent on it, and made a fortune selling
Franklin's stove to the colonists.
Franklin invented an improved street lamp, and
brightened the streets of Philadelphia; introduced The wide range
,«,.,. . •-!. • jm of Franklin's
mineral fertilizers m agriculture; improved the con- practical
struction and draft of chimneys; made important
technical changes in ships, sails, cordage: there is
hardly a phase of practical life he did not touch help-
fully. He invented the "Armonica", an instrument
of musical glasses, playing upon it to his own delight,
and taking it to England with him. His Essay on
"The Peopling of Countries" contains at least the
germ of Malthus's epoch-making work. He resented
the bother of two sets of spectacles, for near and dis-
tant vision; so while in France, he had the lenses cut
in two, and half of each fitted in the frame ; and he had
invented bifocal glasses. He quaintly remarked that,
dining out, he could see his food better with the lower
lens, and the expression of persons across the table
with the upper, which helped him to understand their
French.
At forty-one he began his experiments with Elec-
tricity: he was fascinated with this marvel, ground
out of silk and glass; and early occupied with the
problem whether it was not identical with the age-old
terror of lightning. To his English correspondent,
100 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Collinson, he suggested a testing experiment! admir-
able, but rather hard on the experimenter : a man was
to stand on a high church tower, in a thunder storm,
Experiments in an d hold an iron rod pointed toward the clouds. It
Electricity. j s sa ^ -q^j. ^[ s experiment actually was carried out in
France, without killing the operator! At forty-four
Franklin announced his invention of the lightning
rod. At forty-six he sent Collinson a description of
his Kite experiment, which he is believed to have car-
ried out in June, 1752. A kite, with an iron tip, was
flown during a thunder storm; and Franklin, at the
other end of the cord, with an iron key in his hand,
felt the distinct shock, which proved the identity of
lightning and electricity.
It has recently been doubted whether Franklin
actually carried out his experiment, on the ground
that, if successful, it would have killed him. The argu-
ment seems silly ; for surely through his kite and key,
as under a tree struck by lightning, Franklin could
have experienced any degree of shock, from the slight-
est tingle to death. I have verified this, through avia-
tors in the government service, who tell me that, under
conditions analagous to Franklin's experiment, they
have experienced, during thunder storms, varying de-
grees of electric shock. Franklin definitely speaks,
moreover, in the Autobiography, of the "infinite pleas-
ure" he received in the success of an experiment "I
made soon after with a kite at Philadelphia."
At any rate, the world of the time believed that
Franklin carried out the experiment; and, with the
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 101
invention of the lightning rod, it caught the imagina-
tion of mankind: that Franklin had dared to seize How Franklin's
Jove's weapon, and that his invention had rendered it discoveries and
r 7 m inventions in
harmless! In France, particularly, the response was Electricity caught
enthusiastic. Later, when Franklin went to France, of the world,
cartoons were published and widely circulated, rep-
resenting Franklin seated on a throne, clutching the
lightning in one fist, a number of scepters in the other,
a group of dethroned monarchs rolling on the ground
at his feet, with, underneath, the French legend, read-
ing: "He seized lightning from Heaven and the
scepter from Tyrants." Such was the effect of Frank-
lin's discoveries in Electricity on the enthusiastic
French mind.
Like Washington, Franklin saw from the begin-
ning the necessity for a union of the Colonies ; and as ¥iT . 9t p 1 ** for a
& J . iTT- union of the
early as 1754, during the French and Indian War, he Colonies.
made the first of his two plans for that union.
When General Braddock planned his ill-fated ex-
pedition, he proposed to commandeer horses and
wagons from Pennsylvania. Franklin went to see Franklin's service
° ^ . . in the Braddock
General .Braddock, urging him not to do that, since campaign.
it would deeply offend the inhabitants, but rather to
lease the teams. The General asked how he was to get
them, and Franklin promised to raise them for him.
Franklin did get together a hundred and fifty teams
and wagons, advancing a thousand pounds of his own
money and giving his personal bond for their safe
return. When the expedition met its disaster, claims
were made upon Franklin amounting in all to twenty
102
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Franklin, a
devoted patriot.
The brief military
career.
Difficulties of
Pennsylvania
Colony as a
private grant.
thousand pounds, practically a hundred thousand dol-
lars; and he would have been completely ruined, had
the British government not finally paid the claims.
This clearly shows how devoted a patriot Franklin
was: with all his shrewdness in handling his own
affairs, cheerfully risking all his hard-won wealth in
the service of his country's cause.
The Governor appointed Franklin a Colonel of
militia, to defend the Northwest frontier of the Colony
against the Indians. Franklin raised 560 men;
marched to Bethlehem and Gnadenhut where stock-
ades were built: there was no actual Indian fighting;
but Franklin showed, in his brief period of military
service, the same practical efficiency, evident in every
task he undertook.
One characteristic incident of his short military ex-
perience deserves mention. The Chaplain came to the
Colonel and complained that he could not get the men
to attend Divine Service. Franklin intimated that he
did not wish to suggest anything that might seem dis-
respectful to religion; but inquired if the clergyman
had thought of issuing the daily rum ration immedi-
ately after the Service. The Chaplain had not; was
impressed with the idea, which he adopted ; and every
man attended thereafter!
Pennsylvania, as a private grant to William Penn,
had special difficulties to meet. The sons of William
Penn, who seem to have been quite unlike their father,
had inherited the Colony, and instructed the Govern-
or to refuse any tax bill that did not exempt the pro-
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 103
prietary estates from taxation. See how unfair that
was ! Great areas of land had, of course, been sold off
for farms, towns and cities; but vast tracts were still
in the proprietor's hands, made valuable, increasingly,
by the settlements of the Colony. The Assembly injustice of the
in i , i .11' , • , , Penn heirs toward
would prepare and pass a tax bill, to raise troops to the colony.
protect the Colony and pay other government ex-
penses ; and the Governor would promptly veto it, be-
cause taxing rightly the proprietary estates, with all
others. The only redress for the Assembly was to
refuse to pay the Governor's salary: an item insignifi-
cant in comparison. The whole struggle was merely a
flagrant instance of the age-old and age-long battle
with privilege.
During the French and Indian War, the Assembly
had to yield: the need for funds was too urgent; but
toward its close, Franklin was sent to England, as a
representative of the Colony, to seek to relieve the
situation. He remained in England five years, from J ranklin ' s happy
° J ' five years in
the age of fifty-one to fifty-six ; and they were among England.
the happiest years of his life. For the first time, he
could enjoy constantly the society of highly cultivated
men. His fame had preceded him, and he was wel-
comed by leaders of thought and civilization every-
where. He was given the degree of Doctor of Laws
by two of the Scotch and one of the English Universi-
ties ; both Yale and Harvard having previously given
him the A.M. degree.
He went to live, in London, at Mrs. Stevenson's,
and her house became a second home to him. He be-
104
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Travels and
contact with
scholars.
The third and
longest residence
in England.
Franklin as
representing the
Colonies to the
home Government.
came warmly attached to her lovely daughter, to whom
he wrote some of his most charming letters, and earn-
estly desired that his son, William, should marry Miss
Stevenson ; but was as unsuccessful as match-making
parents usually are. William, instead, presented
Franklin with an illegitimate grandson, William Tem-
ple Franklin; and shortly afterward married a West
Indian lady. The grandson was reared entirely by
Franklin; and was later his secretary at the embassy
in Paris.
The summers Franklin spent travelling, with his
son, in England, Scotland and on the Continent. Of
one such period in Scotland, when he had not only
enjoyed the beautiful out-door world, but met inti-
mately Hume, Robertson and other great scholars, he
said they were "six weeks of the densest happiness I
have met with in any part of my life."
Franklin's prestige was so great that by taking per-
sonally the responsibility that the Proprietors would
not be injured, he won the first round of the fight to
tax their estates. He came home in 1762; had two
busy years of public service; and was again sent to
England, in 1764, at the age of fifty-eight, on the
business of the Colony. After a time, he was made
official representative of Pennsylvania, at the home
Government; and later, Georgia, Massachusetts and
New Jersey made him their agent also. During this
ten years' stay in England, Franklin was thus in the
position of general representative of the Colonies to
the British Government.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 105
As before, Mrs. Franklin, who had terror at the
thought of a sea voyage, refused to accompany or
join him. At one time, Franklin would perhaps have
settled in England permanently, had his wife been
willing to come over. He went again to live at Mrs.
Stevenson's; and resumed his delightful intercourse
with intellectual leaders, continuing his own scientific
experiments.
Until Lexington, Franklin held to the belief that Franklin > s view
the King meant well, but was ill advised by bad min- of the colonial
^ * problem.
isters. He thought that the problem of the Colonies
was, therefore, to get the liberal statesmen into power
in England, rather than to break with the home land :
the view held by the majority of Americans, at the
time.
Using, unavailingly, all his energies to prevent the
passage of the Stamp Act, once enacted, Franklin ac- Accepting the
* . . Stamp Act and
cepted it, and assumed the Colonies would peacefully recommending
submit. Asked by the British Minister to suggest the at Philadelphia.
agent for Philadelphia, Franklin recommended his home! qUenCeS a
old friend, Hughes, who was forthwith appointed.
When the news reached the Colony, there was an up-
roar of indignation. Franklin was accused of treach-
ery; Hughes was compelled to resign and his house
menaced ; and there was even a threat to mob Frank-
lin's house. Mrs. Franklin was urged to flee into
New Jersey. She sent the daughter away; but de-
cisively refused to go, and stayed on guard. Fortu-
nately, the house was not attacked; so the good lady
106
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Franklin's
examination,
before the House
of Commons, on
the effects of the
Stamp Act.
Franklin's
shrewd wisdom
as diplomat. His
right view of his
relation to the
British
Government.
did not have to use even a rolling pin, which no doubht
she could have used most effectively.
The resistance to the Stamp Act, with the refusal
of the colonists to buy British made goods, led to an
agitation in England for the repeal of the Act. Par-
liament held an Examination into its effects; and
Franklin was asked by certain liberal statesmen to be
one of those examined. Franklin accepted, recogniz-
ing the unique opportunity to serve the American
cause. He was thoroughly prepared for the Exam-
ination ; and he made of it a masterpiece. It is useless
to quote briefly from it: one must read it as a whole,
to realize Franklin's adroit skill and far-reaching wis-
dom. There was nothing of his customary jesting:
the occasion was too serious. His replies were as
frank, as they were skillful, shrewdly developing all
the implications in the situation between England and
her colonies. His Examination strengthened the
American cause, helped to the repeal of the Act, and
did much to advance Franklin's own prestige and in-
fluence in England.
Regarding himself, rightly, not as a foreign am-
bassador, but as the representative of a part of the
Empire to the home Government, Franklin took lib-
erties that an ordinary ambassador would not dare to
take. He has been severely criticized for this, as lack-
ing in diplomatic tact and propriety. The criticism is
wholly unwarranted. Franklin's view of his mission
was exactly the correct one; and he did much to win
liberal opinion to the justice of the American cause.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
107
He even wrote political articles for the British
papers; for which a conventional ambassador would
be sent home at once. The articles were, of course,
unsigned; but their authorship was quickly recog-
nized. One of them was upon "Rules for Reducing a
Great Empire to a Small One." You see the point:
if England continued her policy, she would lose her
colonies. Another skit purported to be "An Edict of
the King of Prussia/' In it, Franklin made the King
of Prussia say that England had been colonized by
the Saxons, who were his subjects, therefore England
belonged to him. There followed restrictive edicts on
British manufactures and commerce, absurdly paral-
leling those Britain enforced over the American col-
onies. Franklin describes the excitement in a group
of British statesmen, on the appearance of the article,
their exclamations that the impudent Prussian King
would be over soon with an army, and then their
laughing recognition of his authorship and of the
"hit" that he had made.
Having been abroad so long, however, Franklin
failed to realize the extent and strength, in the col-
onies, of the growing demand for independence. One
of the liberal statesmen, warning him of this, to prove
that the repressive measures did not originate from
the British Government showed him some confidential
letters from Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts,
the Lieutenant Governor and others, describing the
rioting, and asking that troops be sent over to put
down the rebellion.
The newspaper
articles.
Franklin's
humorous articles
influencing public
opinion to the
American cause.
American
sentiment for
independence
outgrowing
Franklin.
Affair of the
Hutchinson
Letters.
108
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Franklin's effort
to conciliate
sentiment toward
Britain.
Consequences of
Franklin's action.
The arraignment
by Lord
Wedderburn
before the Privy
Council.
Franklin asked the loan of the letters, thinking
that, if the Massachusetts leaders knew what had been
written, their resentment toward Britain would be
mollified. The letters were lent to him, on condition
that they should not be copied nor allowed to get into
print. Franklin sent them over to the Boston leaders,
to be read and returned; and John Adams and John
Hancock read them to the Assembly and to others.
The Governor, Hutchinson, was a native of New Eng-
land ; and there developed intense indignation at what
was regarded as his treachery to the Colony. The let-
ters quickly got into print in Boston and were re-
printed in London. Franklin could not explain the
situation, without betraying his friend, the liberal
statesman, who had lent him the letters. The result
was a public scandal, culminating in a duel between
two prominent British statesmen. Franklin finally
came forward and took the responsibility for the pub-
lication of the letters, but, of course, without explana-
tion.
The consequence was that the Privy Council, to
have an opportunity to attack Franklin, officially con-
sidered the Massachusetts petition for the removal of
the Governor. At the sitting, Franklin was subjected
to one of the most scathing arraignments any man
ever received, at the hands of that master of sarcasm
and vituperation, Lord Wedderburn. Franklin, clad
in his red velvet suit, stood leaning against the mantel,
in motionless position : an expression of imperturbable
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
109
serenity upon his face. Some thought Franklin the
real victor in the ordeal.
His influence in England, however, was now at an
end. He was deprived of his Postmastership of the Return home to
Colonies; and was in danger of arrest. War was in j^artediy^the
sight anyway. A last futile attempt was made to struggle for
i-i t-i i t i -r» • • i tt t i independence,
bribe r ranklin to the .British cause. He lingered on,
in semi-hiding, for a time, got secretly on a ship, and
sailed for home, arriving May 5th, 1775. Lexington
had already been fought ; and from that event, Frank-
lin was convinced that no composition was possible,
and the struggle must be carried through to complete
independence.
His wife had died a few months before his return;
and from now on his married daughter kept house for
him. The day after his arrival, he was made a deputy
to the second Continental Congress. In it, he pre-
pared his second plan for a union of the Colonies,
used all his influence for a declaration of independ-
ence, and was heart and soul for the war. He was
made Postmaster General of the United Colonies;
served as member of the Pennsylvania legislature and
on the Committee of Public Safety, which carried on
the executive government of the Colony. He helped
to devise the obstructions to prevent the British ships
coming up the Delaware river; was at Boston, in the
Autumn, raising supplies for Washington's army;
and in the Winter, already seventy, he was sent, with
other commisioners to Canada, to try to bring Canada
in on the American side. The journey failed of its
Incessant and
varied services of
the American
cause.
110 AMERICAN STATESMEN
object, but nearly killed Franklin. Then, in Septem-
miss?on n to France, ber, 1776, he was appointed one of three special com-
at seventy. missioners, to go to France and seek to win her help
for the American cause. Franklin is reported to have
said: "I am old and good for nothing; but as the
storekeepers say of their remnants of cloth, I am but
a fag end, you may have me for what you please;"
but there was a dozen good years of work and service
in him yet.
Franklin, two years later, used again the "remnant"
idea, in a letter to David Hartley:
"Having nearly finished a long life, I set but little
value on what remains of it. Like a draper when one
chaffers with him for a remnant, I am ready to say:
As it is only the fag end, I will not differ with you about
it; take it for what you please."*
Silas Deane was already in France; Jefferson was
to accompany Franklin, but declined because of his
wife's illness, and Arthur Lee was chosen in his place.
Franklin secretly took ship on the Reprisal, evaded
the threatening British cruisers; and on the last stage
of the voyage, his ship captured two British merchant-
men, and sailed into port with those prizes, enough to
pay the expenses of the embassy for a long period of
time !
Franklin was welcomed in France with a universal
wefcom^to enthusiasm, accorded no other American. The French
Franklin. had read Father Abraham's speech from Poor Rich-
* Franklin, in letter to David Hartley, from Paris, in 1778: Complete
Works, Vol. VI, p. 169.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 111
ard's Almanac, they were dazzled by Franklin's dis-
coveries in Electricity, enthusiastic over his work as
statesman : he stood out, to them, sls the great man of
America. The result was he exercised an influence
no other man could have approximated, completely
overshadowing the other commissioners.
France was already assisting us, through a private
Company, not daring to do so openly, as that would The handicap of
have meant the war with Britain she was as yet un- jealousies and
willing to face. Congress, not understanding the situ-
ation, was not making fair return. Arthur Lee also
misunderstood; and, jealous anyway of Franklin's
overshadowing influence, wrote bitter letters to Con-
gress, accusing his fellow commissioners of treachery.
Deane came home, and was completely ruined, through
the attacks and misunderstanding. Franklin said,
"Spots of dirt thrown on my character I suffered
while fresh to remain; I did not choose to spread by
endeavoring to remove them, but relied on the vulgar
adage that they would all rub off when they were
dry" ; and they did.
John Adams was sent over to replace Deane; and
was scandalized to find Franklin's papers and Franklin and
. , pit John Adams.
accounts in their usual confused disorder, and Frank-
lin living, as guest, in the house of a French nobleman,
at Passy; but he recognized, nevertheless, Franklin's
complete integrity in devoted service of his country's
cause. John Adams was present, at the Academy of Meeting with
Voltaire.
Sciences, when Franklin and Voltaire met. The
crowd, not content with Anglo-Saxon handshaking,
112
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Success of
Franklin in the
French alliance.
Signing of the
treaty in
February, 1778.
Amazing services
as Ambassador.
Franklin, the chief
source of money
for the war.
insisted the two great men embrace French fashion,
kissing each other on both cheeks; which they did.
The delighted throng murmured, "How beautiful to
see Solon and Sophocles embrace!": Franklin being
Solon, and Voltaire, Sophocles, to the enthusiastic
French sentiment.
Burgoyne's surrender was the added increment, to
Franklin's great personal influence, which turned the
scale, and decided France to come in openly on the
American side. At the signing of the treaty of alli-
ance, February 6th, 1778, Franklin wore the old red
velvet suit, in which he had suffered Lord Wedder-
burn's arraignment: a characteristically whimsical
revenge !
Adams, on his return, advised Congress to leave
but one representative at Paris; so from 1779, for his
remaining six years in France, Franklin was sole
plenipotentiary. Relieved of the bickerings, he was
burdened with a vast range of services. He negotiated
the exchange of prisoners, served as court for prize
ships: he was, in fact, making international law, day
by day. He was, moreover, the chief source of money
for the war, skillfully negotiating those multiplied
loans from France, that made victory possible. Other
commissioners came over, appointed to various lands ;
could not get to their posts ; and Franklin had to find
money for them. Congress sent incessant drafts, for
which Franklin had to find funds, or suffer disgrace
and dishonor to his country. Finally, he wrote Con-
gress that it must cease drawing on him. Congress
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 113
promised; but went right on issuing the drafts, and
antedating them. Somehow, without forfeiting the
friendship of France, Franklin obtained the loans and
met them. This aspect of his service alone is phe-
nomenal, and proves him a great diplomat.
Amid these incessant labors, Franklin found time
to dine out, six nights a week, and entertain the im- charming 6 and
portant Americans in Paris on the seventh. Also, he flotations.
found leisure to carry on charming flirtations with
French ladies of the old regime. Madame Helvetius
was particularly devoted to him, embracing him pub-
licly and enthusiastically, whenever she met him at a
ball or festival, much to the scandal of puritanical
Mrs. John Adams; who wrote home that she had
never witnessed anything so vulgar; but Franklin
liked it ! Another of these love passages was with the
charming young matron, Madame Brillon, for whom
Franklin wrote certain of his most delightful little
Allegories and Essays. Even Countess d'Houdetot —
Rousseau's Countess d'Houdetot — gave a pompous
festival in his honor, greeting him with fulsome and
flattering verses. Franklin's vanity was tickled; but
he went right on serving the American cause, with un-
wearied fidelity. It may be said that these flirtations
went just as far as the ladies were willing; which, ap-
parently, was not very far, with the seventy-five years
old Franklin.
For the graver aspect of his personal life, consider
the following portion of a letter to Washington, writ-
ten in March, 1780, at a rather dark period of the
114
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Evidence of
friendship and
appreciation for
Washington.
View of America's
future. Franklin
never doubting
final victory in
the war for
independence.
war. It contains one of Franklin's expressions, fre-
quent in his letters of this period, of his feeling that his
life and work were nearly over; but is even more re-
markable for the closing enthusiastic prophesy of
America's recovery and progress, after the war:
"You would, on this side of the sea, enjoy the great
reputation you have acquired, pure and free from those
little shades that the jealousy and envy of a man's coun-
trymen and contemporaries are ever endeavoring to cast
over living merit. Here you would know and enjoy
what posterity will say of Washington. For a thousand
leagues have nearly the same effect with a thousand
years. The feeble voice of those grovelling passions can-
not extend so far either in time or distance. At present
I enjoy that pleasure for you; as I frequently hear the
old generals of this martial country, who study the
maps of America and mark upon them all your opera-
ions, speak with sincere approbation and great applause
of your conduct; and join in giving you the character
of one of the greatest captains of the age.
"I must soon quit this scene, but you may live to see
our country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly
after the war is over ; like a field of young Indian corn,
which long fair weather and sunshine had enfeebled and
discolored, and which in that weak state, by a thunder-
gust of violent wind, hail, and rain, seemed to be threat-
ened with absolute destruction; yet the storm being
past, it recovers fresh verdure, shoots up with double
vigor, and delights the eye, not of its owner only, but of
every observing traveller."*
Adams and Jay came over, to join Franklin in
* Franklin, in letter to Washington of March, 1780:
Vol. VII, pp. 26, 27.
Complete Works,
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 115
negotiating the peace with Britain of 1782. They
brought instructions from Congress that nothing was pJac^artfcies
to be done without consulting the French Minister; ^S^oth P i782
but insisted, over Franklin's protest, that these in-
structions must be disregarded and the peace privately
arranged. It was the protesting Franklin who had, „ 11# ,
° .,..,. nr» i i Franklin's part in
afterwards, the task of conciliating the justly offended the peace treaty.
French Minister, Vergennes; which he accomplished
successfully.
Franklin urged the other commissioners to demand
the cession of Canada, as over against compensation to Franklin's views
. . with reference to
lories. Adams and Jay, in the mood ol post-war Canada.
hatred, insisted that not a dollar of damages should
be paid a Tory; and Franklin was over-ruled. Had
he had his way, it is likely Britain would have yielded.
She had possessed Canada only since the French and
Indian War ; and it was Franklin who, at the close of
that War, had urged the British statesmen to ask the
cession of Canada from France, rather than the
Guadeloupe Islands. Canada was still largely French Wh Canada
in population, and its value not yet appreciated in remain ed a British
. . . . J Jr . . possession.
Britain. Thus, if Franklin had had his way, it is
probable that Canada would have been, from the be-
ginning of our nation, an integral part of the United
States of America. This is mentioned only to indicate
how far-visioned a statesman Franklin was.
Franklin's departure from France, in July, 1785,
was as triumphal as his reception nine years before. Return to
The King lent his royal litter to take Franklin to the Philadelphia at
° J seventy-nme.
sea-coast ; there were throngs of cheering populace all
116
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Delegate to the
Constitutional
Convention.
Franklin's
happy solution
of the worst
controversy of
the Convention.
The characteristic
closing witticism
of Franklin's
public life.
along the route. He came home to his house on
Market Street, Philadelphia, to live there surrounded
by children and grandchildren. There was a mul-
berry tree in the back yard, under which he could sit
and meditate, read or dream over his full memories.
His days of public service were not over, however.
On his return, he was made President of the govern-
ing Council of Pennsylvania, holding the office for
three years. At eighty-one, he was chosen a member
of the Constitutional Convention, which met, in Phil-
adelphia, in 1787. He did not attempt to speak from
the floor, but wrote his speeches, and they were read
by his Pennsylvania colleague ; and are thus the only
ones, of the Convention, which have come down to us
just as given. It was, moreover, Franklin, always the
conciliator, who settled the worst controversy of the
wrangling Convention. The small States feared be-
ing swamped by the larger ones, if they went into an
indissoluble Union. It was Franklin who suggested
that, in the House, representation should be by popu-
lation, and in the Senate, by States; and that is why,
to this day, little Delaware, Rhode Island or Mary-
land has its two Senators, side by side with great New
York, Pennsylvania or Illinois.
Behind the Presiding Officer of the Convention,
Washington, was a picture of the sun. When the long
Convention drew to its end, Franklin turned to a
colleague, and said that he had always been puzzled
by that picture of the sun, not knowing whether it
was the rising or the setting sun; but now that the
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 117
Constitution was adopted and signed, he was sure it
was the Rising Sun of the nation's future. With this
happy and pregnant witticism, Franklin's public life
appropriately closes. He lingered on, for a few years
of failing health, afflicted by a complication of dis-
eases, and died, April 17th, 1790, eighty-four years Death at the age
old. ° " g y "° Ur '
Of vigorous and enduring physical constitution and
strong natural passions, entirely self educated and
self made, most many-sided in ceaseless activities, sci- Franklin.
entist, moralist, journalist, business man, inventor,
humorist and philosopher, the greatest diplomat
America has so far produced, schoolmaster of the
colonists, establishing the type of virtue that has char-
acterized us ever since, in ideal if not in conduct,
Franklin is one of the most picturesque figures in our
history and, in virtues and faults, the type, for all
time, of the Practical American: one of the really
great men in all our past.
Ill
Significance of
Jefferson and
Hamilton in our
history.
I
nies.
JEFFERSON: THE DEMOCRATIC
AMERICAN
N WASHINGTON and Franklin, we have
studied the great struggle for independence, and
the making of a nation out of the scattered colo-
In Jefferson and Hamilton, we turn to leaders
of high importance in the Revolution, but whose
careers culminated in the first phases of development
of the new Government, and in whom came the initial
cleavage of political philosophy, which was to divide
the Nation for more than a half-century and cul-
minate in the Civil War.
Born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia,
April 13th, 1743, Jefferson was eleven years younger
than Washington, and thirty-seven years jyounger
than Franklin, who was, indeed, the patriarch of the
Revolution. On his father's side, Jefferson was of
Welsh descent. According to the tradition Jefferson
gives in his fragmentary Autobiography , the an-
cestor came from near Mt. Snowdon, in Wales, in
the earliest days of the Virginia Colony. Jefferson's
liberal convictions father, Peter Jefferson, surveyor, engineer, burgess,
father. 6 was a man of great energy and remarkable stature and
strength. The tradition was that he could lift a hogs-
head of tobacco, with each hand, at the same time,
118
Ancestry of
Jefferson.
The forceful
personality and
THOMAS JEFFERSON 119
while other men found it difficult to lift one with both
hands. He was a liberal in politics and religion, in
contrast to his aristocratic neighbors; and with lim-
ited schooling, had read thoughtfully and somewhat
widely. Though dying when his son, Thomas, was a
boy of fourteen, the son's intellectual development
was so precocious that he was already deeply influ- fa^r™ Vinfons
enced by his father's opinions. Through life, he re- on Jefferson,
tained deep reverence for his father's memory; and
his father was the first strong influence, determining
Jefferson's life-long liberalism in politics and religion.
Peter Jefferson went West from the more settled Peter Jefferson's
. . , Tin* «ii estate on the
portion of Virginia, a hundred miles into the wilder- Rivanna.
ness, bought a thousand acres of land, on the banks
of the Rivanna, and built himself a temporary cabin.
He returned and married Jane Randolph, of the great
Scotch Randolph family, that had become eminent
and powerful in Virginia; and took his bride west, Jefferson's
to his new home. There was no site on his thousand
acres, which he considered entirely satisfactory for a
permanent dwelling ; so he bought one from his dear-
est friend and nearest neighbor, William Randolph,
for "the largest bowl of punch"; and on it erected the
home he called Shadwell. It was here Thomas Jef- shadweii.
ferson was born: the third child and first son of his
father.
Jefferson differed from others of our great states- Jefferson's
. i t tt thorough school-
men in having an excellent schooling. He was rag. Entering
thoroughly prepared for college ; and entered William Mary a coiiege
and Mary, at the Colonial Capital, Williamsburg, at at seventeen -
120 AMERICAN STATESMEN
the age of seventeen. A natural student and scholar,
and € nf s in London. It is noteworthy,
what a list of eminent leaders has come from that little
college: members of the Revolutionary Committees,
of the Continental Congress, Presidents of the United
States, Judges of the first Courts.
Jefferson's remarkable early development is evident
in the fact that he was welcomed as the fourth in an
unusual group of men, who dined together two or
three times a week. The leader was the worldly and
cultivated Governor, Fauquier. The others were
Wythe, leader of the Virginia Bar, and Dr. Small,
the chief liberal scholar in Virginia, and the second
great influence in liberalizing Jefferson's opinions.
That these eminent men welcomed the young collegian
as dinner companion is a signal tribute to Jefferson's
cultivation and conversation. At this time, Jefferson
Was rather a dandy in dress, and a lover of fine riding
horses, which he had kept with scrupulous cleanness.
Of Dr. Small's influence upon him, Jefferson says:
THOMAS JEFFERSON
121
Jefferson's
statement of
Dr. Small's
influence upon
him.
"Dr. William Small of Scotland, was then Professor
of Mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful
branches of science, with a happy talent of communica-
tion, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged
and liberal mind. He, most happily for me, became soon
attached to me, and made me his daily companion when
not engaged in the school ; and from his conversation I
got my first views of the expansion of science, and of
the system of things in which we are placed. Fortu-
nately, the philosophical chair became vacant soon after
my arrival at college, and he was appointed to fill it
per interim: and he was the first who ever gave, in that
college, regular lectures in Ethics, Rhetoric and Belles
Lettres. He returned to Europe in 1762, having previ-
ously filled up the measure of his goodness to me, by pro-
curing for me, from his most intimate friend, George
Wythe, a reception as a student of law, under his direc-
tion, and introduced me to the acquaintance and famil-
iar table of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man who had
ever filled that office."*
Leaving college at nineteen, Jefferson spent five
years studying law with Wythe, the above mentioned studying law.
leading lawyer in Virginia; and at twenty-four, was
admitted to practice. He was immediately successful.
During his first year he had sixty-eight cases: an al-
most unequalled record for a young lawyer. The point
is, the Virginia aristocrats were in constant litigation
over land and boundaries ; and Jefferson seems to have
been the favorite young lawyer, to whom they gave
their cases. He was wholly an office lawyer: a defect
in the throat prevented his ever speaking in public,
* Jefferson, Autobiography : Writings, Vol. I, pp. 3, 4,
122
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The successful
seven years of
law practice.
Service as
Burgess.
Summary of
the Rights of
America.
even in a Court room. This should be remembered,
with reference to his later career. During his seven
years of law practice, Jefferson practically doubled
his large inherited property; and he was now one of
the richest young men in Virginia. At thirty- two,
Jefferson transferred his remaining cases to his friend,
Edmund Randolph, to serve in the activities of the
Revolution, and never practised law again.
Meantime, from 1769 to 1774, he had served every
year as burgess, together with Washington. In 1774,
he was elected to the Convention to plan the union of
the Colonies ; and sent a series of resolutions. These
were not adopted, as they were in advance of public
opinion of the time, but were printed in a pamphlet,
entitled A Summary View of the Rights of America,
and widely read throughout the Colonies. That pam-
phlet makes interesting reading today. In it, Jef-
ferson held that the British colonization of America
was exactly parallel to the Saxon settlement of Eng-
land: Franklin's idea in his Edict of the King of
Prussia. Of the American colonists he said, "For
themselves they fought, for themselves they con-
quered, and for themselves alone they have the right
to hold." He denied all right on the part of Britain
to restrict the trade and manufactures of the Colonies,
and claimed for them entire freedom of self-govern-
ment. You will recognize that these principles, while
in advance of the hour, were just those, for which the
colonists fought through the Revolution; evidencing
THOMAS JEFFERSON 123
how far-visioned Jefferson was, as political phi-
losopher.
It was during his period of law practice, at Wil-
liamsburg, that Jefferson's personal life was perma- Jefferson's
nently established. Like Washington, Jefferson had Sarth^skliton
early shown a warm interest in the opposite sex.
There had been a number of youthful love affairs. At
Williamsburg, however, one of Jefferson's legal asso-
ciates was John Wayles, possessed of a very beautiful
estate, on the edge of town, "The Forest", and, more
important, of a lovely daughter, a young widow with-
out children, Martha Skelton, belle of the neighbor-
hood, well educated, accomplished in music. Jefferson,
all his life, was a lover of music. Early, he procured an
unusual violin, under peculiar circumstances, carried it
everywhere with him — to Paris, to the Capital, as
President — and played upon it, to his own satisfac-
tion. Well, there were duets at the Forest; from the
musical companionship, there developed a warm, ten-
der love relationship ; and on New Year's Day, 1772,
as Jefferson approached the age of twenty-nine, he
and Martha Skelton were married. She was then
twenty- three years old. A few days later, he started
with his bride, on the hundred mile drive to "Monti-
cello", the home he had begun building two years
before.
Monticello — little mountain — as the Italian name
indicates, rises, an almost perfect cone, about six hun- Monticello.
dred feet above the surrounding countryside, sloping
down to the banks of the Rivanna, with marvellous
124
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The mansion.
Jefferson, his
own architect.
Monticello, a
world in itself.
views, over the rolling hills, to the majestic line of the
Blue Ridge. On the summit of the little mountain,
Jefferson had his mansion half-erected; living with
his bride, for a time, in a small brick building, after-
wards part of the slave quarters ; and then moving into
the still unfinished great house. It was, indeed, thirty-
two years, from its beginning, before Monticello was
finally completed.
Jefferson was his own architect. A devoted student
of architecture and lover of the Classic type, he
planned the stately home on Greek lines. The Por-
tico rose the full height of the structure, with majestic
Doric columns. The west rooms also rose to the
roof; but in the interior, Jefferson used the lighter
and more graceful Ionic style. It was the finest man-
sion in that part of Virginia, and in majestic simplic-
ity and dignity, one of the most satisfying dwellings
ever erected on American soil. Here Jefferson enter-
tained, with more than the generous Southern hos-
pitality. The dinners and wines of Monticello were
famous.
Even more than Mount Vernon under Washing-
ton, Monticello was a little world in itself. It had to
be, for it was further away from the more settled por-
tion of Virginia. Jefferson was opposed to slavery,
more bitterly even than Washington. There are many
passages, in his various writings, expressing his view
of the institution. The following is a typical para-
graph, from the Notes on Virginia :
THOMAS JEFFERSON
125
"There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the
manners of our people produced by the existence of slav-
ery among us. The whole commerce between master
and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous
passions, and most unremitting despotism on the one
part, and degrading submission on the other. Our chil-
dren see this and learn to imitate it. * * * With the
morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed.
For in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself
who can make another labor for him. This is so true,
that of the proprietors of slaves a very small propor-
tion indeed are ever seen to labor. And can the liberties
of a nation be thought secure when we have removed
their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the
people that these liberties are of the gift of God? that
they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed,
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is
just; that his justice cannot sleep forever."*
With that attitude toward it, Jefferson, like Wash-
ington and other intelligent men born into the insti-
tution of slavery, accepted it and did the best he could
with it. Among his slaves, were artisans of all kinds.
The bricks for Monticello were made on the estate.
The nails for the mansion were wrought by slaves:
indeed, the sale of wrought nails was one of the
sources of income for the estate.
At the time of his marriage, Jefferson had about
five thousand acres of land. The death of his wife's
father, the following year, brought him forty thou-
sand more acres and a hundred and thirty-five more
slaves. This again practically doubled his property.
Jefferson's views
of slavery.
The only fault
in limiting the
statement to a
warm climate!
No Abolitionist
ever stated the
case more
impressively.
Life at
Monticello.
The large
inheritance from
John Wayles and
its consequences.
* Jefferson, Notes on Virginia: Writings, Vol. II, pp. 225-227.
126
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Character of
Jefferson as
husband and
father.
In his father-in-law's lands was the Natural Bridge
of Virginia, about eighty miles from Monticello. Jef-
ferson loved that beautiful phenomenon; dreamed of
building a hermitage there, where he could retire, for
study and meditation ; but that plan was never carried
out.
This inheritance from his wife's father was not an
unmixed blessing, for the lands were heavily mort-
gaged; and in the end Jefferson paid the mortgage
practically three times over: having to pay it with
British gold in London, and collect the money in the
depreciating Continental currency. This was one of
the causes of the collapse of Jefferson's financial for-
tunes, later on.
Jefferson's marriage, the result of a warm and ten-
der love-affair, remained a beautiful love-affair
through the ten years of his wife's life. He was a
devoted husband and a tender father to his children.
There were six, only two daughters surviving in-
fancy. These two grew to maturity and married ; the
younger dying early, while the elder lived through a
long life-time and was the mother of eleven children.
Jefferson's letters to his daughters are tender in af-
fection and wise in kindly counsel. It is interesting
that the democratic Jefferson was anxious, above all,
that his daughters should have the manners of culti-
vated gentlewomen.
The tradition is that when Jefferson's wife was
dying, in September, 1782, she held up her fingers to
the number of the children she was leaving behind,
THOMAS JEFFERSON - 127
and said she could not bear to think of any other
woman being the mother of her children. Jefferson kept promise 7 to
promised his dying wife that he would never marry the dying Wlfe "
again; and kept the promise faithfully to the end.
There may have been other love-affairs — apparently
there were — but he never married again.
It is interesting that Jefferson was not the success-
ful farmer and business man that Washington was, _ a
° t Jefferson as
although he gave equally careful attention to details farmer and
of management. It is true that the ravaging of his
estates during the Revolution and the multiplied
paying of his father-in-law's mortgage contributed to
the later collapse of Jefferson's financial fortunes;
and then, through his wife's early death, there was no
Martha to supervise the estate during the long peri-
ods of absence, as in Washington's case. Beyond all
this, however, it must be admitted that Jefferson did
, . 1 Contrast with
not nave the practical business success of Washington. Washington.
Was it that Jefferson was more the idealist, dreamer,
experimenter, without that consistent grasp of objec-
tive facts, of things as they are, that was the dominant
characteristic of Washington's mind? Jefferson in-
troduced new varieties of plants, sending the seeds
widely through the Southern Colonies. He imported
improved breeds of domestic animals. He sought to
develop olive culture and improved rice culture, in Progressive
, . XT . . . measures in
the south. He carried out rotation of crops: a great agriculture.
advance in farming, at that time. In it all, he was
the progressive experimenter, in the interest of the
128
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson taking
his seat in the
second Continental
Congress, June
21st, 1775.
Drafting the
answers, both
of Virginia and
of the Congress,
to Lord North's
Propositions.
Virginia's
Resolutions of
Independence.
Jefferson
appointed to
draft the
Declaration of
Independence.
general welfare, rather than the consistently success-
ful business man.
Jefferson was a member of the Convention at Rich-
mond, to choose delegates to the second Continental
Congress. He heard Patrick Henry's most eloquent
speech; and was chosen an alternate delegate to the
Congress. As the one he was to replace could not
serve, Jefferson was sent to the Congress. He had
drawn up the Virginia answer to Lord North's Prop-
ositions, and took it with him to the Continental Con-
gress, which approved it. Though there were but two
members of the Congress younger than Jefferson, he
was asked to prepare the reply of the Congress to the
Propositions; which means that his remarkable liter-
ary gift was already widely recognized.
In May, 1776, the Virginia Assembly passed reso-
lutions of independence, and sent a copy of them, by
Richard Henry Lee, to the Continental Congress,
with the request that Congress take similar action.
After extended debate, the Virginia motion carried;
and Jefferson was appointed on the Committee to
prepare the Declaration. The other members of the
Committee requested Jefferson to draft it; and he
did so, spending eighteen days at the task. His draft,
approved by the members of the Committee, was bit-
terly attacked from some quarters in the Congress;
but with the elision of some passages, and a few
changes, mostly improvements, it was accepted by the
Congress, substantially as written by Jefferson, and
signed by the delegates, on the late afternoon of July
THOMAS JEFFERSON 129
4th, 1776. It was read publicly in Independence
Square, Philadelphia, at noon, on July 8th. That ^K**?
evening, the King's Coat of Arms was brought from ^ ong ^ es b s ' ? } nd
the State apartments and publicly burned. There delegates, July
were similar scenes throughout the colonies, the Dec- launching the
laration really launching the Revolution. evo u lon '
Jefferson thus became the author of the Nation's
birthright, the charter of our liberties. Lincoln loved
to call it, "The White Man's Charter of Freedom",
using the phrase until it became a political campaign
cry. To get more fully Lincoln's view of the Declara-
tion, note the passage in his letter to the Boston Com-
mittee, inviting him to the celebration of Jefferson's
birthday in 1859:
"All honor to Jefferson — to the man who, in the con-
crete pressure of a struggle for national independence
by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and ca- ^sfgnificanTe °of
pacity to introduce into a mere revolutionary document the Declaration,
an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times,
and so to embalm it there that today and in all coming
days it shall be a rebuke and a stumbling-block to the
very harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppres-
sion."*
Such was Lincoln's view of the Declaration of In-
dependence, as written by Thomas Jefferson, stated
during the year between Lincoln's candidacy for the
Senate and his election to the Presidency, under the
auspices of the political party born to fight the party
founded by Thomas Jefferson.
* Lincoln, in Letter to the Boston Committee, Springfield, Ills., April
6th, 1859: Writings Vol. V, p. 26.
130 AMERICAN STATESMEN
In the campaign of 1854, in his speech at Peoria,
Lincoln regarding i • ■ o j_ r\ i t • 111 • l
Jefferson as our replying to Senator Douglas, .Lincoln had said:
Tlitic1a ti lwdCT hed " Mr * Jefferson ~ the author of the Declaration of In-
dependence, and otherwise a chief factor in the Revolu-
tion — . . . who was, is, and perhaps will continue to
be, the most distinguished politician of our history." *
Lincoln's words on the Declaration are worth pon-
dering today, when so many half-formed scholars
significance of patronizingly dispose of the Declaration as a "tissue
Americ a an e iib°erties. of glittering generalities." Rightly understood, that
is just what it is: a fabric of resplendent general
ideas — 1 the only basis on which men can widely unite.
They can never agree on questions of special policy.
It is only such a program of large, permanently true
general conceptions that furnishes a sound basis of
union. Exactly the same criticism was made on Presi-
FoSteln* WilBon,s dent wilson ' s famous Fourteen Points; and they
Points as had just the same excellence, formulating a program
same c?iticism of shining general ideas, on which the struggling
the same ng nations could unite. Indeed, it is because President
th Cel D d% a t' Wilson was so faithful to the great ideas of Thomas
Jefferson, and applied them with such wisdom to
international relations, that History will doubtless
regard him as the outstanding American president
since Lincoln.
If Jefferson had done nothing else than write the
Declaration of Independence, his fame would have
been sufficiently established as the philosopher .of
democracy.
* Lincoln, in speech at Peoria, Ills., Oct. 16th, 1854: Writings, Vol.
II, p. 180.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 131
In October, 1776, Jefferson was appointed, with
Franklin and Silas Deane, as Commissioner to go to
France and seek to bring France in on the American
side. Because of his wife's illness, Jefferson declined Jefferson's
the appointment and went home to Virginia, where f^theTeVislon
he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature e * * h f Virginia
and appointed at the head of a Committee to revise
the Virginia statutes. As an independent common-
wealth, Virginia wished to reform its whole body of
legislation and take a fresh start. The other members
of the Committee did little work, so that the revision
was the labor of Jefferson. He had previously col-
lected the colonial statutes, during the period of his
law practice, and many of them had survived only
because of this.
This work of Jefferson's was far more important
than easily appears. Virginia was burdened with a
mass of ill advised legislation: some of it atrocious in
in character; other parts lifted over from England. „,. . ± .
r to Eliminating
She had, for instance, taken over the British laws on laws on
primogeniture and entail, with the result that a power- and entail.
ful landed aristocracy was rapidly growing up in
Virginia, similar to that in England. Jefferson's
first aim was to eliminate this whole body of legis-
lation fostering aristocracy, and substitute the princi-
ple of division of estates among all the children of
a family in each generation. This was carried the
same year, 1776, with the result of stopping largely
the growth of a landed aristocracy in Virginia, but
132
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Glaring injustice
and oppression
of the
Colonial laws
on religion.
with the further consequence that Jefferson had the
life-long hatred of many of the aristocrats.
Still more important was Jefferson's work in rela-
tion to the Virginia laws on religion. It is difficult
for anyone, not intimately familiar with colonial
history, to realize how atrocious many of those laws
were. Virginia, so largely settled by British aristo-
crats, had taken over the established Church of
England, and given it even more arbitrary authority
in the Colony. All persons, whatever their faith, were
compelled to pay tithes to the established Church.
Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Presbyterians were
forbidden to teach school or hold religious services, on
penalty of arrest and fine. Roman Catholics could
not teach school, hold religious services, own a horse,
carry a gun or give testimony in a court of law. Cele-
bration of the Mass was punishable by death. It was
a felony to deny the doctrine of the Trinity. A father
could be legally deprived of his children, if he did not
accept the tenets of the Church of England. For
treating a Church of England clergyman with dis-
respect (and under their habit of life in Virginia,
some of them perhaps deserved such treatment) the
offender was publicly whipped and compelled to ask
pardon in Church on three successive Sundays. For
failure to attend the exposition of the Catechism, one
was fined a week's provisions; for a second offense,
the same and whipping ; for a third offense, these two
punishments and imprisonment. All persons were
required to give an account of their faith to the Church
What is good
THOMAS JEFFERSON 133
of England Clergyman. If they refused, they were
publicly whipped. For a second refusal, the same
and public acknowledgement in Church. For a third
refusal, one was publicly whipped every day until one
did make acknowledgement in Church.
Now please note that you cannot make a bad law
respectable by enacting it. This is emphasized because
there is a fraction of our population, rather noisy at
present, insisting that, the moment a law gets on the
statute books, it thereby becomes venerable, and de- citizenship in
mands the respect as well as obedience of every citizen, unjust laws ?
That is distinctly not true. It is just as much the
duty of good citizenship to protest against unjust laws
and seek to have them abrogated, as it is to respect
and obey just laws. The chief advantage of enforc-
ing a bad law is to arouse public opinion to its swift
elimination. A law may be so bad that it is well
that it is not regularly enforced. It was a good
thing that these atrocious statutes on religion were
not always enforced in colonial Virginia. For in-
stance, was it not well that George Washington, who
was a liberal in religion, and of whom the Church of
England clergyman frequently complained to Mrs.
Washington, because of his neglect of certain of the
above observances, was not publicly whipped every
day, for failing to give an account of his conscience
to the Church of England clergyman?
Jefferson fought for the elimination of this whole
mass of wicked legislation. The fight lasted ten s^cesahii & g ht
years. At the end of that time, Jefferson's friends
134
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The great
Statute on
Religious
Freedom.
Jefferson, the
Father of
American
religious freedom.
in the legislature secured the repeal of all the old
laws on religion, and the substitution of Jefferson's
great statute on religious freedom. It is so brief that
the whole main item may be quoted :
"Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly ,
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 to maintain, their
opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall
in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capaci-
ties."*
This was not the earliest statute on religious free-
dom in America; but it is one of the simplest and
noblest ; and the great personal prestige of Jefferson
made it peculiarly influential in the national councils.
That we have a similar guaranty, in those first great
amendments to the Constitution, is due in large
measure to the influence of Jefferson. He thus de-
serves, more than any other individual, to be called
the Father of American religious liberty, of that
permanent separation of the State from all Church
establishments, with untrammeled freedom of belief,
speech and worship, guaranteed in the Nation's
charter.
Today, we witness a wide recrudescence of relig-
ious and racial prejudice and intolerance, with sinis-
* Jefferson, from the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, passed
by the Virginia Assembly, 1786: Writings, Vol. II, pp. 302, 303.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 135
ter renewed attempts to suppress by prohibitory leg-
• 1 , • ,i ,i in j' • e Significance of
lslation the open study and tree discussion of scien- j e ffersons's
tific facts and laws, under the absurd delusion that f^p^esent* 3
there can be a conflict between true religion and sci- d &y America.
ence, which is merely the faithful recording of real-
ity. This much may be said: whenever there is a
conflict between science and what calls itself religion,
it is never science that passes. The anti-evolution
laws of several States are an ugly symptom of our
reversion back well toward the spirit of the Spanish
Inquisition. In a time such as this, surely Jeffer-
son's great liberal ideas need reaffirmation and loyal
following, as never before in our history. Truly the
conduct of many who call upon his name and claim to
be his followers is in flagrant violation of the princi-
ples Jefferson taught.
The third item in Jefferson's revision of the Vir-
ginia statutes was education. He was one of the
earliest American statesmen to recognize the respon-
sibility of the State in the education of the citizen,
under democracy, and the first to see fully that re-
sponsibility. He planned a complete system of state
education for Virginia, crowned by a university, program on
tti»j. jij.1* i *iii iit • public education.
Unfortunately, this plan was rejected by the Legis-
lature. The only part of it Jefferson succeeded in
fighting through, in his late years, was the establish-
ment of the University of Virginia.
The fourth item in Jefferson's great program was The plan for ,
the elimination of slavery. The plan was, with the slavery". mg
stopping of further importation of slaves, to declare
136
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson
believing in
deportation, as
well as
emancipation.
Almost a
forecast of
the Civil War!
The one item
concerning
slavery that
carried.
free all born after a certain date, and deport them
at a proper age. It is interesting that Jefferson held
deportation to be as necessary as emancipation. His
own statement is:
"The principles of the amendment were agreed on,
that is to say, the freedom of all born after a certain
day, and deportation at a proper age. But it was found
that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition,
nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not
distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will
follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book
of fate, than that these people are to be free ; nor is it
less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live
in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion have
drawn indelible lines of distinction between them. It is
still in our power to direct the process of emancipation
and deportation, peaceably, and in such slow degree, as
that the evil will wear off insensibly, and their place be,
pari passu, filled up by free white laborers. If, on the
contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must
shudder at the prospect held up."*
It is noteworthy that Lincoln agreed with his mas-
ter, Jefferson, on the wisdom of deportation, as well
as emancipation.
The only element of this plan which carried was
the prohibition, in 1778, of the further importation
of slaves into Virginia.
The final feature of the program was the revision
of the penal system. The colonial laws contained
much that was barbarous and based literally on the
Jefferson, Autobiography .- Writings, Vol. I, pp. 72, 73.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
137
"eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth" principle.
Jefferson prepared a code, based on the more humane
European models, restricting capital punishment,
and aiming at the reformation of the offender. The
gradual adoption of this, ultimately eliminated the
mass of merely revengeful laws. This reform, alone,
justifies Jefferson's fame as the philosopher of de-
mocracy.
Jefferson summed up the significance of his revi-
sion of the Virginia laws in these words:
"I considered four of these bills, passed or reported,
as forming a system by which every fibre would be eradi-
cated of ancient or future aristocracy; and a founda-
tion laid for a government truly republican. The repeal
of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and
perpetuation of wealth, in select families, and preserve
the soil of the country from being daily more and more
absorbed in mort-main. The abolition of primogeni-
ture, and equal partition of inheritances, removed the
feudal and unnatural distinctions which made one mem-
ber of every f amily rich, and all the rest poor, substitut-
ing equal partition, the best of all Agrarian laws. The
restoration of the rights of conscience relieved the peo-
ple from taxation for the support of a religion not
theirs ; for the establishment was truly of the religion
of the rich, the dissenting sects being entirely composed
of the less wealthy people ; and these, by the bill for a
general education, would be qualified to understand
their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with in-
telligence their parts in self-government; and all this
would be effected, without the violation of a single nat-
ural right of any one individual citizen."*
* Jefferson, Autobiography : Writings, Vol. I, pp. 73, 74.
Significance of
Jefferson's
revision of
the penal
system,
Jefferson's own
view of the
aim and value
of his work
in revising
the Virginia
statutes.
The correlation
of different
elements in
Jefferson's
program of
democracy.
138
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson's two
terms as
Governor of
Virginia.
Ravaging of
Virginia by
the British.
The criticism
of Jefferson
and its effect
upon him.
The Notes
on Virginia.
During the darkest period of the War for Inde-
pendence, Jefferson served two terms as Governor
of Virginia. At this time, Virginia was overrun and
ravished by British troops, especially by those under
the command of Benedict Arnold, who behaved with
a cruelty only a traitor will show toward the people
he has betrayed. The legislature had to flee from
Richmond, which was ravaged, to Charlottesville, and
narrowly escaped capture. Jefferson, himself, just
avoided capture, by fleeing from Monticello, as the
British were coming up the hill. The beautiful man-
sion was fortunately spared by the British command-
er, Tarleton> but Jefferson's other estates were rav-
aged and the buildings burned; which was a further
cause for the later ruin of his financial fortunes.
Jefferson was severely criticized for not having
taken, as Governor, stronger and more efficient meas-
ures for resisting the British invasion. The Legisla-
ture, in 1782, passed a resolution exonerating him;
but he regarded the attacks as wholly unjust, and his
bitterness over them lasted to the end of his days.
It was at this period of his life that Jefferson wrote
his Notes on Virginia. The book was written pri-
marily to inform one of his friends, a French noble-
man, of the conditions and life in the new world. Jef-
ferson modestly printed it in a private edition of two
hundred copies. One of these got translated into
garbled French and published abroad. To protect
himself, Jefferson published a complete edition in
London. He need not have been so modest about the
THOMAS JEFFERSON
139
work; for it is truly a great book. It not only gave
a general review of Virginia, in her then vast terri-
tory, of the topography, mineral wealth, fauna and
flora, slaves and Indians, institutions and laws, but
contains as well much of his social and political phi-
losophy, with passages of literary beauty and wisdom
which are delightful reading today. Jefferson col-
lected and analyzed his material with the instincts
and labor at once of the scholar, the literary man and
the philosopher. The Notes on Virginia did much
to advance his fame, at home and abroad, and to pre-
pare the way for his warm welcome in France.
In 1783, Jefferson was again a member of the Con-
tinental Congress. He was at the head of the Com-
mittee to consider the treaty of peace. His report
on a Monetary System gave the basis for our present
currency, though Gouverneur Morris first advocated
the decimal system. More important still was Jeffer-
son's service in formulating the plan of government
for the Northwest Territory. Virginia's claim to that
vast region extending from the Ohio to Wisconsin,
and including the present states of Ohio, Indiana,
Michigan and Illinois, was ceded to Congress and
Jefferson presented the deed. His plan for govern-
ment provided that slavery should cease in the terri-
tory after 1800. Defeated at first, this measure car-
ried in 1787; slavery being thus prohibited by law,
in the Northwest Territory after 1800; and that made
Union victory possible in the Civil War. Jefferson's
original bill further provided that slavery should be
Remarkable
character of
Jefferson's
work.
Advancing
reputation as
a man of
letters.
Services in
the Continental
Congress of 1783.
Significance
of Jefferson's
bill forbidding
slavery in
the Northwest
Territory.
140
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The happy
five years
in France,
1784-1789.
Jefferson as
diplomat.
Associations
with Paris
society.
prohibited, from the same date, in the southwest ter-
ritory. This was permanently rejected by the Con-
gress : had it carried, there would have been no Civil
War. This is mentioned to indicate how f ar-visioned
a statesman Jefferson was, with reference to the great-
est issue that was afterwards to divide the Nation.
In 1784, at forty-one, Jefferson was again asked
to go to France, as associate with Franklin and John
Adams, to negotiate commercial treaties with Euro-
pean powers. His wife had died in the meantime:
there was nothing now to hold him to Monticello,
and he accepted. After a year, he was made succes-
sor to Franklin as Minister to France. He remained
in France five years, among the happiest of his life.
He was welcomed with an enthusiasm, second only to
that accorded Franklin. His fame as statesman had
preceded him ; the French had read his Notes on Vir-
ginia. His wit, cultivated conversation, aristocratic
manners and quick mastery of a fluent speaking of
the French tongue made him a welcome member of
that brilliant, worldly circle, gathered at the Court
of the last King Louis and Marie Antoinette. He
took an elegant establishment in Paris and enter-
tained with easy hospitality, finding his chief difficulty
in living on his nine thousand dollars salary, with the
reduced revenues of his Virginia estates, ravaged by
the War. His elder daughter went over with him;
and he sent, shortly after arrival, for the younger.
He formed many friendships with brilliant women
and men.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
141
The impression made upon him by the artificial
French society, feverishly dancing on the brink of
revolution, is expressed in his numerous letters, of
which the following is a characteristic example:
"Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Eu-
rope! * * * You are, perhaps, curious to know how
this new scene has struck a savage of the mountains of
America. Not advantageously, I assure you. I find
the general state of humanity here most deplorable.
The truth of Voltaire's observation, offers itself perpet-
ually, that every man here must be either the hammer
or the anvil. It is a true picture of that country to
which they say we shall pass hereafter, and where we
are to see God and his angels in splendor, and crowds
of the damned trampled under their feet. While the
great mass of the people are thus suffering under phys-
ical and moral oppression, I have endeavored to exam-
ine more nearly the condition of the great, to appreci-
ate the true value of the circumstances in their situa-
tion, which dazzle the bulk of spectators, and, especially,
to compare it with that degree of happiness which is
enjoyed in America, by every class of people. Intrigues
of love occupy the younger, and those of ambition, the
elder part of the great. Conjugal love having no exist-
ence among them, domestic happiness, of which that is
the basis, is utterly unknown. In lieu of this, are sub-
stituted pursuits which nourish and invigorate all our
bad passions, and which offer only moments of ecstacy
amidst days and months of restlessness and torment.
Much, very much inferior, this, to the tranquil, perma-
nent felicity with which domestic society in America
blesses most of its inhabitants ; leaving them to follow
steadily those pursuits which health and reason ap-
A characteristic
letter, giving
Jefferson's
view of
French society,
in contrast
to the conditions
prevailing in
America.
The philosopher
of democracy.
142
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Pungent
application
to present
day America!
Jefferson a
lover of the
arts.
Influence of
the American
Revolution on
France.
prove, and rendering truly delicious the intervals of
those pursuits.
"In science, the mass of the people are two centuries
behind ours ; their literati, half a dozen years before
us. Books, really good, acquire just reputation in that
time, and so become known to us, and communicate to
us all their advances in knowledge. Is not this delay
compensated, by our being placed out of the reach of
that swarm of nonsensical publications which issues
daily from a thousand presses, and perishes almost in
issuing? * * * Were I to proceed to tell you how much
I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music, I
should want words. It is in these arts they shine. The
last of them, particularly, is an enjoyment, the depriva-
tion of which with us, cannot be calculated."*
While Jefferson fulfilled his duties as diplomat
with scrupulous fidelity, and was entirely at home
with the aristocrats of the old regime, his instincts
and settled convictions alike fitted him fully to appre-
ciate the aims of those leaders who were bringing on
the French Revolution. La Fayette was one of his
most intimate life-long friends.
France was deeply influenced by our example. We
had fought through the Revolution successfully and
got rid of kings: why should not she? Of course,
there was a difference: our King was an absentee
landlord; while theirs lived among them, exercising
supremely autocratic power; and then, there was a
wide difference in the temperament and character of
* Jefferson, in letter to Charles Bellini, Paris, September 30, 1785:
Writings, Vol. V, pp. 152-4.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 143
the two peoples. Nevertheless, the French Revolu-
tion was profoundly stimulated by ours.
Here in America, the desperate conditions of the
years following the War, impressed our statesmen —
Washington, Hamilton and the rest — with the need
of a strong, authoritative central government. As
the French Revolution began, they saw chiefly its
bloodshed and destructive lawlessness, and drew away
from it, in strong disapproval, turning sympathetic-
ally to the British example and practice in govern-
ment. Jefferson, remote from the situation at home
and so less influenced by it, and prepared by temper- vf^™? 1 ^
anient and political philosophy to understand the French
t „,,, * i ■£ i -n i- Revolution.
hopes of the leaders of the Jbrench Revolution, was,
alone among our statesmen, able to see across the in-
itial bloodshed to its final meaning. For this, he was
bitterly attacked at the time ; and slavish biographers
have echoed the criticisms to the present hour; but
they are wrong ; for the view Thomas Jefferson took
of the ultimate significance of the French Revolu-
tion is the one held by every liberal scholar in the
world today. The Bastille fell before his return from
France ; so he saw the actual beginnings of the Rev-
olution.
Jefferson's years in Paris gave him life-long love
and devotion to France and the French people. After
reviewing his experience in the Autobiography, he
said:
"I cannot leave this great and good country
(France), without expressing my sense of its pre-emi-
1U
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson's
permanent
love for
France,
His intense
Americanism,
increased by
his residence
abroad.
Letter to
James Monroe,
expressing
Jefferson's
view of
the effect of
foreign
residence.
nence of character among the nations of the earth. A
more benevolent people I have never known, nor greater
warmth and devotedness in their select friendships.
Their kindness and accommodation to strangers is un-
paralleled, and the hospitality of Paris is beyond any-
thing I had conceived to be practicable in a large city.
Their eminence, too, in science, the communicative dis-
positions of their scientific men, the politeness of the
general manners, the ease and vivacity of their conver-
sation, give a charm to their society, to be found no-
where else."*
With this feeling permanently for France, Jeffer-
son came home in October, 1789, only the more whole-
heartedly American. His residence abroad had in-
creased his love for his home land and made him ideal-
ize it. This is expressed in numerous letters from
Paris. For instance, to his friend, James Monroe,
he had written :
"I sincerely wish you may find it convenient to come
here ; the pleasure of the trip will be less than you ex-
pect, but the utility greater. It will make you adore
your own country, its soil, its climate, its equality, lib-
erty, laws, people and manners. My God ! how little do
my countrymen know what precious blessings they are
in possession of, and which no other people on earth en-
joy. I confess I had no idea of it myself." f
Jefferson's advice, based upon his experience, that
the best way to waken love of one's own land is to live
* Jefferson, Autobiography: Writings, Vol. I, p. 159.
f Jefferson, in a letter to James Monroe, Paris, June 17, 1785:
Writings, Vol. V, p. 21.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 145
abroad awhile, is just as true today as when Jefferson
gave it to Monroe.
Jefferson returned believing in America for Amer- Formulating
icans, deprecating free immigration, advocating the of the* 1 " 1 * e
complete detachment of America from European Mon ™e Doctrine.
politics and conflicts, formulating the principles Mon-
roe afterwards promulgated in what we know as the
Monroe Doctrine. Monroe proclaimed it; but Jef-
ferson formulated it. iSE'to
Jefferson had expected, on his return, to retire to return to
*■ , France, and
spend some time at Monticello and go back to France, embarrassment
To his surprise and embarrassment, he found that invitation^ 011
Washington wanted him, as Secretary of State, in sec°Sary of
the newly formed Federal Government. His experi- state -
ence abroad had increased Jefferson's strong belief in
the need for a union of the States. He held that "The
politics of Europe render it indispensably necessary
that, with respect to everything external, we be one jJeHef^n'a
nation only, firmly hooped together. Interior gov- uni <> n of
ernment is what each State should keep to itself." * substantial
He followed, with deep interest and increasing ap- the^onstitution,
proval, the formulation of the Constitution, in which J^^™
his friend, James Madison, had so important a part.
His two criticisms of the Constitution, as signed, were
that it contained no bill of rights and no prohibition
of the repeated re-election of a President: both valid
objections. His view is best expressed in a letter objections to
p t> • j. a t^ ii tn e Constitution.
from Fans, to A. Donald:
* Jefferson, in letter to James Madison, Paris, February 8, 1786
Writings, Vol. VI, p. 278.
146
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The letter
giving
Jefferson's
matured view of
the Constitution.
The Amendments
answering
Jefferson's
chief objection
to the
Constitution,
"I wish with all my soul, that the nine first conven-
tions may accept the new constitution, because this will
secure to us the good it contains, which I think great
and important. But I equally wish, that the four latest
conventions, whichever they be, may refuse to accede to
it, till a declaration of rights be annexed. This would
probably command the offer of such a declaration, and
thus give to the whole fabric, perhaps, as much perfec-
tion as anyone of that kind ever had. By a declaration
of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce
against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no sus-
pensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies.
These are the fetters against doing evil, which no hon-
est government should decline. There is another strong
feature in the new Constitution, which I as strongly dis-
like. That is, the perpetual re-eligibility of the Presi-
dent. Of this I expect no amendment at present, because
I do not see that anybody has objected to it on your
side the water. * * * We must take care, however,
that neither this, nor any other objection to the new
form, produces a schism in our Union. That would be
an incurable evil, because near friends falling out, never
re-unite cordially; whereas, all of us going together,
we shall be sure to cure the evils of our new Constitution,
before they do great harm."*
Eleven States had ratified the Nation's charter be-
fore Jefferson left France ; and the ten great Amend-
ments, which answered his chief objection to it, were
proposed at the first session of Congress, shortly after
his return. He was reluctant, nevertheless, to as-
* Jefferson, in letter to A. Donald, Paris, Feb. 7, 1788: Writings,
Vol. Vl/pp. 425, 426.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 147
sume the duties of Secretary of State; but yielding
to Washington's reiterated wish, he accepted, taking as^Secrefary of
Office in March, 1790. State, in March,
The most important problem of foreign relations,
Jefferson had to handle as Secretary of State, was
the Genet affair. France, under the Directorate, de- mi „ ±
. , The Genet
clared war on Britain; and as the treaty of alliance, affair.
of 1778, had never been repealed, assumed that we
would enter the war on the side of France. Citizen
Genet was sent over; and landed at Charleston, conduct of
South Carolina, in April, 1793. He came North, ^aSvfngln
greeted with wild enthusiasm by the French-loving Am erica.
populace, enlisting men to fight against Britain, ar-
ranged for the French consuls to act as courts for
prize ships brought into American ports, and even
made plans for fitting out privateers to sail from our
ports and prey on British commerce.
With the intense popular sympathy for France,
the result was the serious embarrassment of the Gov-
ernment. We were a young, struggling country, bur-
dened with the devastation and debts of the Revo-
lution, in no condition to go to war, and with no rea-
son for it, except the old French friendship.
The consequence was a split in the Cabinet. Ham-
ilton, Knox and Randolph, with whom Washington ogin
agreed, held that France had declared a war of ag- views in the
. ., fl ,,. „ Administration.
gression, while the treaty was for an alliance for mu-
tual defense, and that our treaty had been made with
King Louis; and since he had lost his throne and
head, and an entirely different government had been
148
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson's
treatment of
Citizen Genet.
The Neutrality
Proclamation,
furnishing the
permanent basis
for our foreign
policy.
established as a result of the French Revolution, the
treaty was automatically abrogated. This was per-
haps the technically correct view, and certainly the
view expedient for American interests.
Jefferson, loving France passionately and welcom-
ing her Revolution, hating Britain and regarding his
colleagues in the government as servile toward her,
argued just the opposite. He held that the treaty
had been made in good faith ; France had loyally ful-
filled her part under it, during our Revolutionary
War; we were not concerned with domestic changes
in France; and the treaty was, therefore, still bind-
ing. This was the more generous and the more moral
view, though inconsistent with practical American in-
terests.
Jefferson therefore welcomed Citizen Genet, had
conferences with him and sought to further his plans.
When, however, Genet arrogantly announced his in-
tention to appeal, across the head of the beloved Pres-
ident, Washington, to the people of the United
States, Jefferson shared the universal indignation,
would have nothing more to do with Genet and his
schemes, and from that time supported Washington's
policy. The result of these circumstances, however,
was that Washington's great Neutrality Proclama-
tion was drafted, not by Jefferson, the Secretary of
State, but by Randolph, the Attorney General. It
might be added that Citizen Genet did not go back
to France : he married a daughter of Governor Clin-
THOMAS JEFFERSON 149
ton, of New York, and settled down in New York
City, to innocuous citizenship.
During the early period of Jefferson's service as
Secretary of State, he was on entirely friendly terms Jefferson's
with Washington's great Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton with
Hamilton. When in his fight to make the Federal
government a living reality, Hamilton was threat-
ened with defeat on his key-measure, for the assump-
tion of state debts by the Federal Government, he
came to Jefferson and proposed that if Jefferson
would give him the needed Virginia votes for as-
sumption, he would furnish enough Federalist votes to
place the new Capital where Jefferson and the other
southern leaders wanted it : where it is today. Other- bargain on
wise, the Capital would have gone to New York or ^T^SS."" 1 '
Philadelphia, as the majority of votes favored one of
those places.
At that time, Jefferson was not opposed to Ham-
ilton's measure, probably not recognizing the conse-
quences it carried. Also, Jefferson did not realize
the feeling in the South, and thought it would be
well for the Federal Government to take over the
State debts. So he cheerfully agreed. In July, 1790,
came the vote on the Capital; and Hamilton carried
out his part of the bargain. In August, the final vote
came on assumption. Jefferson, true to his side of the
agreement, furnished the needed Virginia votes; and
Hamilton's key measure carried by a slight mar-
gin. That is why the Capital is at Washington ; and
that is why there was a government in it, strong
150 AMERICAN STATESMEN
enough to survive the Civil War and function effec-
tively to the present hour.
As time went on, however, Jefferson drew back,
Reasons for the in increasing alarm, from the rapidly growing power
Hamilton* °^ tne federal Government, under Hamilton's vig-
orous fostering with Washington's sanction. To un-
derstand this, one must remember the fundamental
contrast between the two men. Hamilton was force-
ful and aggressive, rather loving a fight. Jefferson
'was pacific and conciliatory, disliking a quarrel, but
holding tenaciously to his opinions. Hamilton, more-
over, believed, by temperament and conviction, in the
•strongest government possible consistent with liberty.
Contrast in the T ^ i ,, , , , , ...
two great leaders, J errerson, equally by temperament and conviction,
and^Mlosophy. believed in the least government possible, consistent
with law and order. He held that when government
goes much beyond the police functions of protecting
life and property and enforcing contracts, it is in dan-
ger of passing over into tyranny.
Jefferson never understood Hamilton's funding
scheme, and failed to appreciate the moral signifi-
cance of his plans for paying the Nation's debt, un-
justly regarding these measures as a mere device to
gain partisan adherents for the Federalist group.
He sincerely believed that the Treasury Department
was corrupting the Congress, and that the govern-
ment was going headlong toward monarchy.
The result was a growing rupture between Jeffer-
son and Hamilton: the fundamental opposition in
conviction finally becoming bitter personal enmity.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
151
Jefferson fostered, or at least approved, the increas-
ingly bitter attacks upon Hamilton, finally directly
arraigning him and his policies in letters to the Presi-
dent. When he found, however, that Washington Resignation from
continued to favor every one of Hamilton's measures *^ 3 Cabinet m
for strengthening the power and authority of the
central government, he resigned at the end of 1793,
and went home, with mingled relief and disgust, to
Virginia.
Late in his life, Jefferson wrote out gossipy, anec-
dotal reminiscences, for which he had kept notes at character of
the time, of his experiences as member of Washing-
ton's Cabinet. He called them Anas; and left them
to be published after his death. In the Anas, with the
reiterated charge that Hamilton governed by corrup-
tion, Jefferson says that Hamilton tricked him into
the bargain on the Capital and assumption; that he
had recently returned from France, did not under-
stand the situation, and was deceived. That was not
true: Jefferson was not tricked. He experienced a
sincere change in conviction ; and should have so stated
it. Leaving for publication, after death, these Anas,
with their unjustly sinister reflections on a great as-
sociate, long since dead, is the darkest stain upon Jef-
ferson's high career.
The instance is mentioned as the most flagrant ex-
ample of Jefferson's gravest fault, occasional unfair-
ness to individuals, with tenacious holding to per-
sonal resentment. Always close to the heart of the
people, with almost a divining power in relation to the
Jefferson's
worst fault.
152
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Significance of
Jefferson's lack
of humor.
Jefferson's
preference for
agriculture.
Vice President.
popular attitude, Jefferson was sometimes unjust to
persons. One wonders whether this fault came partly
from his lack of that abundant sense of humor, pos-
sessed by Hamilton and Washington, and still more
by Franklin and Lincoln, among our great states-
men. Wit, Jefferson had, repartee, intellectual clev-
erness; but he was without that genial humor that
gives perspective and their right values to great and
small.
Jefferson was delighted to get back to Monticello
and resume his life as a country gentleman. He al-
ways called himself a farmer; and regarded agricul-
ture as the natural vocation of man, desiring, indeed,
to keep the whole country agricultural, as the only life
consistent with sobriety and morality. He went so
far as to regard yellow fever as a desirable scourge, a
blessing in disguise, since he held it would forever
prevent men living in cities.
When the election of 1796 occurred and the votes
of the electoral college were counted, it was found,
Washington having refused to stand, that John Ad-
ams had the largest number of votes for President,
and Jefferson the next number. According to the
Constitution at that time, Adams automatically be-
came President and Jefferson Vice President: the
one a strong Federalist; the other, the outstanding
opponent of the growing Federal power. Adams and
Jefferson, though with a period of estrangement, re-
mained friends to the end of their joint lives; and
some of Jefferson's loveliest letters were written to
THOMAS JEFFERSON 153
John and Samuel Adams. President Adams was,
however, dominating, sure of his own opinions, deny-
ing Jefferson any real share in the government. Jef-
ferson therefore spent his term as Vice President in
consolidating the elements of opposition to the rap-
idly growing power of the central government. He
was thus the founder of the first consciously formed
political party, since the Federalists were forced into)
a party by Jefferson's organized opposition. Jeffer-j organizing the
son named his organization the Republican party .1 longest-lived ;
° x political party in
It was afterwards called the Republican-Democratic, \ the United states.;
and finally the Democratic party. It is the party that
has had the longest life of any in the United States;
that has repeatedly returned to the principles formu-
lated by Jefferson ; and that, in spite of the apparent
results of certain recent elections, is alive, vigorous
and flourishing at the present time.
During Adams's administration occurred the trou-
ble with France over the "XYZ Letters", in which Effect on the
the French cynically demanded bribes of large sums ^wai^scare
of money, before even seeing President Adams's spe- £™ r the XYZ
cial commissioners. The publication of the Letters
over here caused nation-wide indignation and a gen-
eral demand for war. The scare subsided however.
The Directorate fell, succeeded by Napoleon, who
showed better sense in his dealings. As a result of
it all, the Federalist leaders in office lost their heads,
and enacted most unwise legislation, the Alien and
Sedition Laws, which doomed their party.
Those Federalist leaders had made the central gov-
154
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The unwise
Alien and
Sedition laws.
Jefferson's protest
in the Kentucky
Resolutions.
Jefferson's views
of State versus
Nation.
ernment : it was a natural mistake for them to regard
attacks upon themselves as attacks upon the govern-
ment. That is by no means the only time in our his-
tory when men in office have regarded criticism of
themselves as criticism of the government; but in no
other instance had the mistake so much excuse. In
this mood, the Alien laws were passed, providing four-
teen years before an immigrant could become a natu-
ralized citizen ; and during that long period the Pres-
ident could deport the immigrant at will, without
legal action, merely declaring him dangerous or un-
desirable: a grave abuse of power. The Sedition
laws were worse : for conspiring against the Govern-
ment and its measures, for interfering with its activ-
ities, or for issuing scandalous material concerning the
President, Congress or the government departments,
the penalty was severe fine and imprisonment: gag-
law of the worst kind. Jefferson was furious. He
drafted, in protest, a series of resolutions, which were
adopted in November, 1798, by the Kentucky Legis-
lature, and are therefore called the Kentucky Resolu-
tions. His friend, James Madison, drafted a similar
series, adopted a month later by the Legislature of
the State of Virginia, and so called the Virginia Res-
olutions.
. In the Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson held that
the Federal Government could rightfully exercise
only such powers as were specifically assigned to it
in the Constitution ; that each State had the right to
annul — nullify — any act of the Federal Government
The dead lock
in the election
THOMAS JEFFERSON 155
not specifically warranted in the Constitution; and
(most dangerous of all) each State was to be its own
final judge as to when its rights had been violated:
thus denying the authority of the Supreme Court
finally to interpret the Constitution.
These Resolutions were a much needed protest, at
the time, against the wickedness of the Alien and Se-
dition Laws ; but they contained germs of grave trou-
ble, which was to develop and culminate in the Civil
War.
The situation described destroyed all chance of
John Adams succeeding himself as President; and
when the election of 1800 was held, and the votes of of 180 °-
the electoral college were counted, it was found there
was an equal number of votes for the two leading
candidates, Jefferson and Aaron Burr, for President.
This threw the election into the strongly Federalist
House of Representatives. Party feeling has never
been more bitter than it was then. Certain Federal-
Threats of
ists, who thought they owned the Government, talked disregarding the
of setting the Constitution aside and appointing a Constitution -
Federalist President pro tempore. Fortunately, that
nefarious step was not taken.
Jefferson was the outstanding leader of the oppo-
sition ; and so most bitterly hated. You know it takes
a great man to be greatly hated. The House was
therefore inclined to give the election to Aaron Burr,
which would have been a national calamity. At this
point, Hamilton intervened. He and Jefferson were
now personal enemies ; but Hamilton recognized that
156
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson was a patriot, and in office, would serve
the country with all his wisdom and ability. On the
other hand, Hamilton regarded Aaron Burr as an un-
Hamiiton's part in scrupulous adventurer, who would be most dangerous
Pr^wfnt efferS ° n * n ^ e presidential chair, possibly even attempting to
make himself king; and Burr's later career would
seem to indicate that Hamilton's distrust was not
without foundation. Thus it was Alexander Ham-
ilton who influenced enough Federalist votes in the
House of Representatives to make his personal enemy,
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States.
Do not forget it: it was one of the great actions of
Hamilton's great career.
Jefferson's Inaugural Address was a high state-
ment of his whole program of political principles:
next to the Declaration of Independence, it is per-
haps his most important writing as philosopher of
democracy. In it he said, "We are all Republicans
— we are all Federalists." He hoped to unite the
whole people behind him, as Washington had done;
and he very nearly achieved it.
He stated in the Inaugural his conception of what
government should be:
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain
men from injuring one another, which shall leave them
otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry
and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of
labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good
government. * * *
"Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever
Statement of
Jefferson's
political
philosophy in
his Inaugural
Address.
Jefferson's
conception of
government.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
157
state and persuasion, religious or political ; peace, com-
merce, and honest friendship, with all nations — entang-
ling alliances with none; the support of the state gov-
ernments in all their rights, as the most competent ad-
ministrations for our domestic concerns and the surest
bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the pre-
servation of the general government in its whole consti-
tutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home
and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of elec-
tion by the people — a mild and safe corrective of abuses
which are lopped by the sword of the revolution where
peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquies-
cence in the decisions of the majority — the vital princi-
ple of republics, from which there is no appeal but to
force, the vital principle and immediate parent of de-
spotism; a well-disciplined militia — our best reliance
in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars
may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the
military authority ; economy in the public expense, that
labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of
our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith;
encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its
handmaid; the diffusion of information and the ar-
raignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason;
freedom of religion ; freedom of the press ; freedom of
person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and
trial by juries impartially selected — these principles
form the bright constellation which has gone before us,
and guided our steps through an age of revolution and
reformation. * * * They should be the creed of our
political faith — the text of civil instruction — the touch-
stone by which to try the services of those we trust."*
Summary of
Jefferson's
political principles
in the Inaugural
Address.
* Jefferson, from first Inaugural Address :
320-322.
Writings, Vol. Ill, pp.
158
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The charming
letter to the aged
Samuel Adams.
Jefferson's
excellent cabinet.
On the basis of these principles, which he hoped to
carry out in his administration, Jefferson assumed the
presidency. Three weeks after the inauguration, he
wrote a letter to Samuel Adams, then seventy-eight
years old, which reveals his most lovable aspect:
"I addressed a letter to you, my very dear and an-
cient friend, on the 4th of March: not indeed to you
by name, but through the medium of some of my fellow-
citizens, whom occasion called on me to address. In
meditating the matter of that address, I often asked
myself, is this exactly in the spirit of the patriarch,
Samuel Adams? Is it as he would express it? Will he
approve of it? I have felt a great deal for our country
in the times we have seen. * * * How much I lament
that time has deprived me of your aid ! It would have
been a day of glory which should have called you to the
first office of the administration. But give us your
counsel, my friend, and give us your blessing; and be
assured that there exists not in the heart of man a
more faithful esteem than mine to you, and that I shall
ever bear you the most affectionate veneration and re-
spect." *
Among Jefferson's first acts, as President, was the
freeing of those imprisoned under the Alien and Se-
dition Laws; which was right. He gave the first
post in the Cabinet to his close friend and gifted dis-
ciple, James Madison; and the other members were
all men of high character and education.
Under the Federalist notion of owning the govern-
ment, John Adams had used the last hours of his term
* Jefferson, letter to Samuel Adams, Washington, March 29th, 1801 :
Writings, Vol. X, pp. 250, 251.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
159
to fill every office under presidential patronage:
"midnight judges," certain of these appointees were
called. Jefferson naturally and justly resented this;
and as rapidly as he could do so, without disturbing
the public service, replaced these with men of his own
party. For this he has been attacked as the author
of the spoils system. The criticism is unjust: he
was merely correcting his predecessor's unfair use of
power. One of the reasons (there were others!) for
Jefferson's hatred of Chief Justice Marshall was that
Marshall was one of Adams's midnight judges, and
being appointed for life, Jefferson could not remove
him.
Believing, as Jefferson sincerely did, that Hamilton
wanted a monarchy and that, politically and socially,
the country was moving rapidly toward aristocracy,
he sought to thwart that tendency in every possible
way. He abandoned the system of etiquette Wash-
ington had prepared for behavior toward the Pres
ident and abolished the weekly levees. He dressed;
deliberately in slipshod fashion, in contrast to his eax-\
lier dandyism; and adopted a behavior widely dif-
ferent from that which had given him his reputation
as an unusually cultivated gentleman. His state din-
ners were arranged on what was called the "pell-
mell" plan. The dinners themselves were excellent:
Jefferson had brought over a French chef, and the
wines were as famous as at Monticello; but the plan
was, when dinner was announced, all present thronged
into the dining room, taking any available seats, with
Significance of
removing the
"midnight judges.
Efforts to thwart
tendencies toward
monarchy and
aristocracy.
Jefferson's
experiments
in social
democracy.
160
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The Louisiana
Purchase, the
outstanding
achievement of
Jefferson as
President.
no precedence whatever, even for foreign ambassa-
dors. The result was, a stately minister would find
himself at one end of the table; while his wife,
crowded out in the throng, would be seated at the
other end, between two quite undesirable compan-
ions. Jefferson actually got into trouble with for-
eign governments, in consequence; and he finally
came to see that the ordinary usages of polite society
are not necessarily opposed to the principles of de-
mocracy, and returned to those usages.
The great achievement, however, of Jefferson as
President, and the supreme anomaly of his career was
the Louisiana Purchase. The year that Jefferson
was elected President, Spain ceded to Napoleon her
claim to that vast territory, extending from New Or-
leans to the northwest Pacific coast. Jefferson's sym-
pathy for France had been chilled by the rise of Na-
poleon out of the ashes of revolution; and he re-
garded Napoleon's possible possession of an Ameri-
can empire with grave alarm. His first thought was
that "The day that France takes possession of New
Orleans * * we must marry ourselves to the British
fleet and nation."* His one hope of avoiding grave
trouble and probably war with France was that Na-
poleon might recognize our paramount interest, and
be willing to cede New Orleans for a price. He
therefore urged our Ambassador to begin negotia-
tions, and then sent Monroe, as special envoy, with
* Jefferson, in letter to the U. S. Minister to France, April 18th,
1802: Writings, Vol. X, p. 313.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 161
private instructions and large authority for the pur-
chase of New Orleans and the territory immediately
about it; which was all he imagined he could get.
Understand: Jefferson did not originate this idea:
it was an old problem. As the population spread j^r r an r open U |?rt S
westward, there was an increasing demand for an on th e Mississippi.
open port at the mouth of the Mississippi, the great
artery through which commerce could be carried on
with the old world. Washington had been occupied
with the problem; and Jefferson, as his Secretary of
State, had struggled to secure free navigation. At
one time, Kentucky had threatened to leave the rest
of the states and form a separate nation, to attain this
long-cherished desire. Jefferson merely believed the
time had come for realizing it.
To Napoleon, however, the possession of this em-
pire proved an embarrassment. He had not been
able to shake England's command of the seas. All
she would need to do would be to detach a portion
of her fleet and army, take New Orleans; and the sold his American
claim to the entire territory would be hers, and not empire -
Napoleon's. He finally offered, therefore, to sell the
whole empire, for a sum which, with the assumption
of American claims against France, amounted to
about sixteen million dollars. For this insignificant
sum of national small change, Jefferson bought that
vast empire, from New Orleans to Tacoma and
Seattle, which has made our greater America pos-
sible. Through Jefferson's urging, the bill was rushed
162 AMERICAN STATESMEN
through both houses of Congress in four days; and
the purchase was completed.
Jefferson had great difficulty in settling the pur-
Paradox of the chase with his own conscience, and still more in ex-
Purchase, and its pl a J n i n g it to the public. The point is, Jefferson had
explanation. r & r r >
held, publicly and repeatedly, that the Federal gov-
ernment could rightfully exercise only such powers
as were specifically assigned to it in the Constitu-
tion; and there was nothing in the Constitution giv-
ing the President of the United States the right to
use the national funds, even with the consent of Con-
gress, to buy an empire from a foreign potentate.
The explanation of the paradox is that Jefferson
was wiser as practical statesman than as political
Jefferson's wisdom theorist ; that as national executive he did the thing
in meeting the h e saw was r ight and best for the welfare and prog-
practical issue. ° .... .
ress of the country, and did it in direct violation of
his oft-expressed opinions regarding the Constitution.
He was the greater man thus to rise to the issue and
solve it for the Nation's good. It is worth noting
that, in office, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe all
what executive were compelled to act on the basis of Hamilton's
to* political y ° e3 view of the implied powers in the Constitution ; which
theorists. sa y S mucn f or that view, as well as showing how of-
ficial responsibility is apt to convert liberal theorists
into political realists in handling practical problems.
Jefferson was intensely interested in the empire he
had given the nation. He appointed his secretary,
Captain Lewis, the son of his neighbor, in command
of an expedition to explore the new territory. Con-
THOMAS JEFFERSON 163
gress gave the Lewis and Clarke expedition five thou-
_ , ,, ~r no r^ Jefferson planning
sand dollars expense money. Jefferson gave Cap- the Lewis and
..-j- ,-, -iiii i j j.1 j«j.i? Clarke expedition,
tain Lewis the right to draw at need on the credit ot and deeply
the United States government: he meant to see the ^^^ itS
expedition rightly carried out. He was intensely in-
terested in all the discoveries: fauna, flora, streams,
mountains, Indian life.
Jefferson was a temperamental expansionist. He
wished to annex Cuba, to annex or purchase the Flor-
idas from Spain; and indeed, got into trouble with temperamental
Spain in consequence. During the periods when war ex P an81onist -
with Britain loomed on the horizon, he repeatedly
expressed the hope that the acquisition of Canada
would be the first result, if war had to come.
A further curious instance of inconsistency in the
great democrat is in the fact that Jefferson's plan for
the government of the Louisiana Territory was wholly Paradox in the
, .. n .1 -n • i • .1 imperialistic plan
autocratic, conferring on the President the powers f or governing
previously held by the King of Spain, and providing territories.
for no self-government by the population. Jeffer-
son's followers defended this, on the ground that the
States owned the Territories and could do with them
as they pleased : an amazing reversion to that British
view of the Colonies, which fomented the Revolution!
Our history, of course, is full of such inconsistencies,
as notably, the limiting of "all men", in the Declara-
tion of Independence, to white men, in its application,
excluding Indians, negroes and women. Fortunately,
Jefferson's plan was modified, in its adoption, and
164
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson a
personal executive.
Eager
continuation of
his cultural
interests amid
harassing
presidential
cares.
Significant
illustration
in the letters
to Dr. Priestley.
Jefferson's view
of the moral
teaching of Jesus.
soon replaced by one more in harmony with his life-
long principles.
As President, Jefferson exercised personal domina-
tion and direction in all this complicated range of
problems with which he had to deal. He found time,
however, to continue his cultural activities: writing
thoughtful letters on scientific, medical and educa-
tional questions. A culminating example is in the
correspondence with Dr. Priestley, which also shows
well Jefferson's earnest and liberal religious attitude.
Dr. Priestley sent Jefferson, in 1803, a brief com-
parative study of Socrates and Jesus. Jefferson wrote,
expressing his pleasure, and urging a wider compari-
son with the ancient philosophers, saying that he had
thought of writing something of the kind and even
sketched the outlines in his mind :
"I should first take a general view of the moral doc-
trines of the most remarkable of the ancient philoso-
phers. * * * I should do justice to the branches of
morality they have treated well. * * * I should pro-
ceed to a view of the life, character, and doctrines of
Jesus. * * * His system of morality was the most be-
nevolent and sublime probably that has been ever taught,
and consequently more perfect than those of any of the
ancient philosophers. His character and doctrines have
received still greater injury from those who pretend to
be his special disciples, and who have disfigured and so-
phisticated his actions and precepts, from views of per-
sonal interest, so as to induce the unthinking part of
mankind to throw off the whole system in disgust, and to
pass sentence as an impostor on the most innocent, the
THOMAS JEFFERSON
165
most benevolent, the most eloquent and sublime charac-
ter that ever has been exhibited to man."*
Evidencing how deeply the subject was in his mind, DotJe^further
ten days later he wrote to Edward Dowse, returning comparing the
a sermon by Mr. Bennet, and referring to Dr. Priest- philosophers
ley's pamphlet. Of the ancient philosophers, he said :
"Their philosophy went chiefly to the government of
our passions, so far as respected ourselves, and the pro-
curing our own tranquility. In our duties to others
they were short and deficient. They extended their cares
scarcely beyond our kindred and friends individually,
and our country in the abstract. Jesus embraced with
charity and philanthropy our neighbors, our country-
men, and the whole family of mankind. They confined
themselves to actions ; he pressed his sentiments into the
region of our thoughts, and called for purity at the
fountain head." f
January 29th, 1804, Jefferson writes again to Dr.
Priestley, expressing his satisfaction that the larger
comparison is to be carried out; then turning to the
significance of the Louisiana Purchase, and conclud-
ing:
"Have you seen the new work of Malthus on popula-
tion? It is one of the ablest I have ever seen. Although
his main object is to delineate the effects of redundancy
of population, and to test the poor laws of England,
and other palliations for that evil, several important
Just appreciation
of the great
work of Malthus,
then appearing.
* Jefferson, in letter to Dr. Priestley, April 9th, 1803:
Vol. X, pp. 374, 375.
f Jefferson, in letter to Edward Dowse, April 19th, 1803:
Vol. X, p. 377.
Writings,
Writings,
166
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The literary and
philosophic
statesman.
Why Jefferson
accepted a
second term.
Circumstances
of his election.
The second
Inaugural.
Bad results
from the
overwhelming
majority.
questions in political economy, allied to his subject in-
cidentally, are treated with a masterly hand." *
Truly Jefferson was the most many-sided in cul-
tivation of all our great leaders, pursuing his intel-
lectual interests, with unflagging zeal, to the end of
his days.
Jefferson's fame as President would have been
greater had he declined a second term. He had op-
posed, on principle, the re-eligibility of the president;
but had urged Washington to accept a second term,
for the good of the country. Feeling that a second
term was needed to complete his work, justify his
policies and answer Federalist criticisms, he decided
to follow Washington's example. He was over-
whelmingly elected, receiving 162 out of 176 electoral
votes: one of the greatest victories in the history of
American political parties. It looked as if he had
really achieved his aim of uniting the whole people
behind him. His second Inaugural Address was a
pean of triumph, reviewing the achievement of the
program laid down in the first address.
The very size of his majority meant trouble, how-
ever. When a political party goes into power with
too large a majority, usually the party splits behind
its leaders: which should comfort the defeated! This
is what happened to Jefferson : the new recruits quar-
reling with the older members of the party. Then,
too, there were exasperating foreign complications;
* Jefferson, in letter to Dr. Priestley, Jan. 29th, 1804:
Vol. X, pp. 447, 448.
Writings,
THOMAS JEFFERSON 167
and Jefferson met these with a vacillating weakness,
strikingly in contrast with the firm attitude of his
first administration.
To understand this, one must remember that Jef-
ferson had one obsession. Believing that no genera- Jefferson's
tion has the right to bind any subsequent one, he was regarding the
opposed to any funding of the national debt, which national debt '
would extend the time of payment beyond the life of
the generation incurring the debt. This helps explain
his opposition to Hamilton's program. Now in this,
without much argument it may be said, Jefferson
was simply wrong. A legitimate national debt is
merely a mortgage on the national farm. If one
buys a farm for forty thousand dollars, giving a ten
thousand dollar purchase money mortgage, and dies
before the mortgage is paid; if one's heir accepts the
farm, it is only right he should assume the mortgage.
Of course, a farm mortgaged beyond its value is an What a
undesirable inheritance; and a national debt that ap- legitimate
x national debt
proximates the national wealth is a hideous monstros- really signifies.
ity; but a legitimate debt is merely the mortgage on
the national wealth handed on to the next generation.
Those who fought through the Revolutionary War
and achieved independence did it not only for them-
selves, but for all subsequent generations of Ameri-
cans. They gave freely their blood and treasure, and
borrowed money wherever they could get it, to pull
the struggle through to victory. Is it not right that
subsequent generations inheriting the country, its
painfully achieved freedom, its institutions and
168
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Effects of
Jefferson's
extreme pacifism
during his
second term.
wealth, should share In the payment of the debt, in-
curred for the good of all?
Jefferson did not see this; and therefore he was
obsessed with the desire to pay off the national debt
before going out of office as President. To achieve
this, he must not have a foreign war, or the debt would
be greater than when he assumed office. Well, the
Napoleonic wars were drawing out their devastating
length in Europe. Hatred was increasing on every
hand. England was issuing Orders in Council, claim-
ing the right to search our ships and take out what-
ever she chose to declare contraband, impressing our
seamen into her service. She forbade us to trade with
the continent of Europe, from the Mediterranean to
the North Sea, on penalty of confiscation of our ships
and cargoes. Napoleon retaliated, forbidding us to
trade with Britain, on the same penalty. Spain ob-
serving, said, "Well, if they can do it, why can't we?"
We were slapped on one cheek, then on the other, then
in the mouth; and Jefferson did nothing. Had he
assumed a firm attitude, it might have meant war;
but he would have had the whole people with him.
As it was, to avoid any chance of increasing the na-
tional debt, and with a growing belief in peace at any
The Embargo Act. p r i ce> he submitted. Finally, in the last period of his
administration, the Embargo Act was rushed through
Congress, forbidding American ships to leave port:
a cowardly device to prevent their search and seizure
and the impressing of their seamen! Early in the
World War, you remember, there were leaders weak
THOMAS JEFFERSON 169
enough to propose similar cowardly measures to keep
us out of war : rather inconsistent with national self-
respect, do you not think?
New England, whence the ships mainly sailed, was
furious over the Embargo law. "What," the sea cap- Resentment in
tains said, "Are they not our ships? Have we not the anTfirsf an
right to risk them, if we wish? Are our sailors not the "Federal ° f
free men, with the right to earn their living and risk authority.
their freedom, if they choose?" Please note that the
earliest challenging of the authority of the Federal
Government, and affirmation of the rights of the
States over against that Government, came not from
the South, but from New England : that will be made
more clear when we come to Robert E. Lee.
The result of all this was that Jefferson left office
deeply humiliated, but with the heart of the people Refusal of a
still with him. The legislatures of five states urged ^turn* 6 ™ and
him to run for a third term; but Jefferson refused, Monticeiio at
thus establishing the tradition, founded by Washing-
ton, of only two terms for any President : a tradition,
as has been said, never since successfully challenged
by any man. Jefferson returned home, at the age of
sixty-six, resuming his life at Monticeiio. His imme-
diate successors in office were his friends and neigh-
bors, Madison and Monroe, who constantly consulted
him, carried on his policies and continued his influ-
ence.
The last long period of Jefferson's life was spent
largely in realizing a part of his cherished educational
program, through founding the University of Vir-
sixty-six.
170
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The successful
fight to
establish the
University of
Virginia.
Jefferson's
service as
architect and
Rector of the
University.
View of life
in old age.
The letter to
John Adams.
ginia. It was a ten-year fight. Finally, the Act was
passed in 1819, and the University established, with
Jefferson as Rector. It never had a president, until
about twenty years ago, when yielding to the auto-
cratic tendency in education of the time, it took a
president and became an ordinary university.
Jefferson was the architect of the buildings, plan-
ning them on beautiful classic lines : the simple quad-
rangles of stately arcades, with student rooms be-
hind, and here and there a more impressive structure
rising. It was a very inexpensive plan, but probably
the most beautiful series of academic buildings then
in America, and in dignified simplicity and majestic
harmony, one of the most satisfying ever erected on
American soil.
The curriculum Jefferson planned on liberal elect-
ive lines. The University had one of the first self-
governing student bodies in America. The whole
organization was singularly modern. In other words,
Jefferson inaugurated, at the University of Virginia,
many of those reforms carried out, three quarters of
a century later, at Harvard and elsewhere in the
North, and then regarded as novelties. Once more,
how far-visioned Jefferson was, as educator as well
as political philosopher!
In many letters, Jefferson expressed his relief at
being free from the anxious cares of active political
life. The serene and mellowed attitude of his later
years is well expressed in a letter to John Adams,
written at seventy-three, a decade before his death:
THOMAS JEFFERSON 171
"You ask, if I would agree to live my seventy or
rather seventy-three years over again? To which I
say, yea. I think with you, that it is a good world on
the whole; that it has been framed on a principle of
benevolence, and more pleasure than pain dealt out to
us. There are, indeed (who might say nay), gloomy
and hypochondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bod-
ies, disgusted with the present, and despairing of the
future; always counting that the worst will happen,
because it may happen. To these I say, how much
pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!
My temperament is sanguine. I steer my bark with
Hope in the head, leaving Fear astern. My hopes, in-
deed, sometimes fail; but not oftener than the forebod-
ings of the gloomy. There are, I acknowledge, even in
the happiest life, some terrible convulsions, heavy setoffs
against the opposite page of the account. I have often
wondered for what good end the sensation of grief could
be intended. All our other passions, within proper
bounds, have an useful object. And the perfection of
the moral character is, not in a stoical apathy, so hypo-
critically vaunted, and so untruly too, because impossi-
ble, but in a just equilibrium of all the passions. I wish
the pathologists then would tell us what is the use of
grief in the economy, and of what good it is the cause,
proximate or remote."*
Meantime, Jefferson's financial affairs were in in-
creasingly desperate condition. We have seen vari- Reasons for
n , i • x no 5i i i? the collapse
ous causes for this: Jetiersons long absences from f Jefferson's
home in his service of the country, the ravaging of his fortunes.
estates during the Revolution, the multiplied payment
* Jefferson, in letter to John Adams, Monticello, April 8th, 1816:
Writings, Vol. VI, pp. 575, 576.
172
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Jefferson's
sale of his
great library.
The gift that
enabled Jefferson
to close his
life at
Monticello.
of the heavy mortgage on his father-in-law's lands;
but there was a further cause. After Washington's
death, Jefferson was the most eminent man in Amer-
ica, recognized as such all over the world. After his
retirement from the presidency, a countless stream of
guests came to Monticello, from North, South, West
and from all over Europe. Jefferson entertained
them with the old lavish hospitality; and they liter-
ally ate and drank him out of house and home! His
debts accumulated so that he was finally compelled
to sacrifice his beloved library. Think what that
meant : a natural student and devoted lover of books,
all his long life he had been gathering together this
splendid collection ; and now he had to let it go. To
keep it together, he sold it to Congress, which gave
him the miserly sum of twenty-three thousand nine
hundred and fifty dollars for it: about half what it
would probably have brought at public auction. This
amount proved only a slight alleviation, paying but
a part of the growing debts. He turned over the run-
ning of his estates to a grandson, hoping for better
results. Friends in other states raised a purse of six-
teen thousand five hundred dollars, and presented it
to him, which prevented his having to leave Monti-
cello. After his death, his daughter was compelled to
leave, and the estate was sold for about ten thousand
dollars. Just now, there is a nation-wide movement
on to buy it back, as a national monument, for a half
million dollars; and yet we sometimes think we are
a practical people!
4th, 1826.
THOMAS JEFFERSON 173
Jefferson, therefore, died at Monticello at the age
of eighty-three, and strangely enough, on the Fourth Death, July
of July, 1826: interesting, that he should have died
on the birthday of the nation, the anniversary of the
day when his great Declaration of Independence was
adopted by the Continental Congress, and the new
nation brought into being. Still more remarkable,
Jefferson's life-long associate, friend and rival, John
Adams, died the same day in Massachusetts ; and al-
most the last words of John Adams were, "Thomas
Jefferson still survives" ; but Jefferson had died, a few
hours earlier, at Monticello.
He wrote his own epitaph. It is inscribed on the
simple monument, that stands in the enclosure, beside
the road, as you climb the slope of Monticello. It
reads :
Significance of
"Here was buried
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Jefferson's
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom and self-written
. ... epitaph.
Father of the University of Virginia."
That was all : no word about his two terms as Pres-
ident, the Louisiana Purchase, his service as Ambas- „ .
Services by
sador, Secretary of State and Vice President. "Au- winch he wished
TO ViP "TPTY1 PTT1 r)GT*CO
thor of the Declaration of American Independence" :
the great charter of our liberties, through which the
independent nation was born; "of the Statute of Vir-
ginia for religious freedom", making him the father
of American religious liberty; and "Father of the
University of Virginia": the first American states-
174
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Summary of
Jefferson and
his career.
Present day
significance of
Jefferson's ideas.
Principles on
which depends
the soul of
democracy.
man to recognize fully the responsibility of the State
in the education of the citizen, under democracy:
those were the three achievements by which he wished
to be remembered.
Like Washington, six feet two inches tall, of ro-
bust and enduring physical constitution, with red
hair, a firm, sensitive face, and thin, rather compressed
lips; the most many-sided in cultivation of all our
great men, an aristocrat in manner, Jefferson was a
born leader, always close to the heart of the people,
and the philosopher of democracy for all time. Foun-
der of our longest-lived political party, through the
Louisiana purchase virtual creator of our greater
America, father of our religious freedom, idealist in
political philosophy, Jefferson stands for just that
range of ideas that most need re-emphasis at the pres-
ent hour. Today, when the World War has left us
with vastly increased tendencies toward centralization
and paternalism in government, when the popular
mind is obsessed with the idea of multiplied legisla-
tion as the certain cure for all moral and social ills,
we particularly need to return to the great ideas of
Thomas Jefferson : freedom of speech and press, free-
dom in religion, freedom of person and conduct : prin-
ciples for which we must ever fight, if we are to keep
the soul of democracy in our great, ever more power-
ful, more highly organized, centralized and authori-
tative Republic.
IV
HAMILTON, AND THE MAKING
OF OUR GOVERNMENT
IF WASHINGTON, more than any other lead-
er, made possible an independent nation on the
American continent, it was Hamilton who called
the Convention that made the Constitution, who ini- Hamilton the
tiated and fought through to victory the great meas- of rt t he Federal
ures that moulded the new government into a living, Government.
growing organism. Covered with abuse and calumny
because of his very excellence and fighting force, ac-
complishing his great work by sheer power of intel-
lect acting on the leaders of his time, Hamilton stands
out as one of the truly great statesmen in the entire
history of mankind.
Hamilton was born in the island of Nevis, one of
the lesser West Indies, January 11th, 1757. He was one of the
thus fourteen years younger than his great associate Revolutionary
and rival, Jefferson, twenty-five years younger than leaders -
Washington, and fifty-one years younger than Ben-
jamin Franklin, who as we have seen, was the patri-
arch of the Revolution.
Nevis is a small island, with about fifty square miles The l9lan( i
of territory, rising over a plateau to a volcanic cone, Hamilton's
about three thousand feet above the sea. The West birthplace.
175
176
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Relations of the
West Indies to
the mainland.
Hamilton devoted
to the American
cause from its
inception.
Indies, as has been said, were well in advance of the
mainland in civilization. The luxuriant soil, tropical
climate, early introduction of Negro slavery, and the
wide European demand for the great staples pro-
duced in the Islands, sugar, molasses and rum, de-
veloped prosperity at an early day. The planters
lived in stately homes, with beautiful grounds about
them, and imitated the manners of continental
Europe.
The relation of the islands to the mainland was,
moreover, much closer than at a later day. The easy
and natural means of travel and transportation was
by water. It was easier to go from the West Indies
to Virginia or Massachusetts, than to go, by land,
from Massachusetts to Virginia. Trade with the
mainland was thus constant and intercourse close.
The island Colonies of Britain had, further, to meet
just the same neglect and tyranny, on the part of the
home government, as those upon the continent. Ham-
ilton was a child of eight when the Stamp Act was
passed. There were on Nevis and other islands, the
same scenes of public meetings of protest, with the
seizing and burning of the stamped papers, as oc-
curred on the mainland.
These facts are mentioned merely to indicate that
Hamilton had every right to feel, as he did feel, that
he was born an American, as completely as if he had
been born on the mainland. He had no sense of be-
ing apart, and was a whole-hearted patriot, devoted
to the American cause from the beginning.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 177
Behind the birth of Hamilton is a most interesting
romantic story, and strange to say, we had to wait for
a novelist to clear it up for us with scholarly accuracy.
Until Gertrude Atherton went to the islands, exam-
ined every oldest inhabitant, looked up all the mould- AtherWs
ering records and published her results, the biogra- servi ce.in
. ascertaining
phers and historians were very hazy and uncertain re- Hamilton's
garding that story. Since Gertrude Atherton made
her thorough investigation, her results have been ac-
cepted as scholarly and accurate by subsequent writ-
ers, notably by Hamilton's grandson, Allan McLane
Hamilton, who published in 1910 his Intimate Life
of Alexander Hamilton, giving Miss Atherton full
credit. Hamilton's own letters, moreover, are en-
tirely consistent with the facts as now established, and
show that he was fully aware of the circumstances of
his birth and ancestry. The romantic story deserves
brief retelling.
Hamilton's maternal grandfather was Dr. John
Fawcett, of French Huguenot family: the name be-
ing originally Faucette, which he had changed to the ^nS^and*
English pronounciation and spelling. It is worth father.
remembering that Hamilton had French blood: it
helps to explain certain characteristics of his temper-
ament. Dr. Fawcett bought land, became a fairly
wealthy planter, married a young English girl, and
lived in a great house on his country estate, associ-
ating with the fashionable society of Nevis. There
were three daughters, two of whom married early.
After twenty years of married life, the wife sought
178 AMERICAN STATESMEN
a separation from her husband; and taking her
youngest daughter, Rachel, went to live apart, in a
property she possessed on the neighboring island of
St. Kitts.
Rachel Fawcett was apparently an unusually
Hamilton's beautiful and gifted girl, finely formed, with reddish
mother. f a i r hair, deep gray eyes, vivacious manner and an
excellent gentlewoman's education. At sixteen, she
was seemingly pushed by her mother into a loveless
marriage with a wealthy Dane, John Levine, who
had come over to the Danish island, St. Croix, and
seemed a desirable match. Levine took his bride and
her mother to Copenhagen ; the ladies were presented
at the Danish court; then the mother returned to St.
Kitts, and a little later, the couple to live on St.
Croix.
The circumstances of her married life became un-
endurable to Rachel, however. She fled suddenly
from her husband's home to her mother on St. Kitts.
Her family connections were sufficiently high, so
that her husband was unable to compel her return.
When the child of the union was born, the father
claimed and reared it. Hamilton, by the way, in one
of his letters to his wife, probably written in 1782,
speaks of "the death of my brother Levine", and adds,
"You know the circumstances that abate my distress,
yet my heart acknowledges the rights of a brother,"*
proving that he knew all about the connection. John
* Hamilton, Allan McLane, Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton,
p. 4.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 179
Levine secured some sort of legal separation from his
wife, which did not permit her to marry again. Her
mother's death occurring shortly, Rachel was left,
still a girl of nineteen, living alone on St. Kitts, in
this anomalous situation, neither wife nor widow.
There came to the island, seeking his fortune in
the new world, James Hamilton, younger son of the
great Scotch Hamilton family, affable, handsome, scotch father.
well educated, a good conversationalist. He and Ra-
chel Levine came to love each other very deeply and
wished to marry. She could not obtain a divorce,
however, except by act of Parliament; and Parlia-
ment was too far away, and she was without the
requisite influence. The two young persons decided,
therefore, to accept the fact of marriage and unite
their lives, since they could not overcome all the legal
obstacles. Under the circumstances and ethics of the
time, it should probably be regarded as a common law circumstances
marriage, since it was accepted as a permanent life ^J^i LeXe°and
union on both sides. They went to live on Rachel's James Hamilton.
inherited property in the island of Nevis; and while
there was some criticism, the families of the two young
persons stood by them loyally; and they were soon
accepted in the best society of the islands. Two chil-
dren were born of this union : Alexander Hamilton in
1757, as we have seen, and his brother, James, five
years later.
The father, however, with all his education and
charm of manner, seems to have been one of those
men who are unable to find satisfactory business ad-
180
AMERICAN STATESMEN
James Hamilton's
business failures.
Death of his
mother when
Hamilton was
but eleven.
Hamilton's later
relations with his
father and family.
justment in life. He was unsuccessful in one posi-
tion after another. Finally, his devoted wife sold
her inherited property and gave him her whole cap-
ital to start in business independently. He took it,
and failed again, making his family penniless. Lyt-
ton, the husband of one of Rachel's sisters, gave him
a manager's position on an estate in St. Croix, whither
the family removed. In this work, also, he was not
successful; and when his son, Alexander, was a boy
of nine, James Hamilton left for St. Vincent, hoping
to better his condition. He was able to earn but a
meager salary ; and Rachel took her two children and
went to live in the home of her sister, Mrs. Lytton.
She was too proud, too sensitive, however, to endure
the situation of her life: she had suffered bitterly
under the anomalous circumstances of her marriage
anyway; and when she was but thirty-two and her
son, Alexander, a lad of eleven, she died.
Hamilton was thus left, at eleven, practically doub-
ly orphaned; for it is doubtful if he ever saw his
father again. In his later life, when Hamilton had
become famous in our country, he wrote affectionate
letters to his father and brother in the islands, send-
ing gifts of money, and urging the father to come
to New York and spend his last years with his son
there. The father had agreed to do so; but frail
health and warfare on the sea postponed this, and
he died in St. Vincent, with the plan unfulfilled. In
his later years, Hamilton also sent money to his
aunts, who were then in reduced circumstances. From
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 181
the age of eleven, however, Hamilton was thrown
upon his own resources. He could, of course, con-
tinue to live in the home of his aunt; but he had his
mother's pride and sensitiveness, and wished to sup-
port himself.
From his mother, Hamilton had acquired an excel-
lent speaking and reading knowledge of French,
which was a great asset to him later on. Rev. Hugh ar y e
Knox, recognizing the boy's precocious intellect, had
already tutored him in certain of the conventional
academic subjects. Hamilton was, moreover, a born
student, with a richly gifted and intensely active
mind. He was already reading widely and deeply
in history and allied fields, and he continued an eager
student all his life.
At twelve, Hamilton went to work in the general
store of Nicholas Cruger, doing the ordinary tasks
of a clerkship and casting up accounts. He did not
like the work, but it must have been excellent train- Work in the
store of Nicholas
ing for his subsequent career. It was done so faith- Cruger from
fully, however, that when, the following year, Nicho-
las Cruger was called to the mainland, for some
months' time, he left this boy of thirteen in entire
charge of the business, during his absence: a signal
tribute to the fidelity and thoroughness with which
Hamilton fulfilled the tasks assigned him.
So his life went on to the age of fifteen. That
year, one of those terrible hurricanes that frequently
devastate the West Indies swept the island. St.
Croix suffered frightful loss of life and property.
182
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's
account of the
hurricane.
To the mainland
for a college
education.
In the preparatory
school at Eliza-
bethtown, New
Jersey,
Circumstances
of entering
King's College,
New York City.
The young Hamilton wrote an account of the dis-
aster, which was published in a newspaper in St.
Kitts, and received much favorable comment. It was,
indeed, a remarkable literary production for a youth
of fifteen. It awakened his relatives to recognize
that he had too good a mind to spend his life in an
island clerkship; and they raised enough money to
send him to the mainland for a college education.
Still under sixteen, Hamilton sailed for Boston,
landed at that port, made his way to New York and
into the edge of New Jersey, and entered a second-
ary school, at Elizabethtown, to complete his prepa-
ration for college. His high family connections gave
him letters of introduction to certain eminent New
York and New Jersey statesmen; and these recog-
nized at once his intellectual ability and promise. In
fact, during his period in the secondary school, Ham-
ilton lived in the home of one of the prominent New
Jersey political leaders, Elias Boudinot.
After a few months, he felt himself ready for col-
lege, and wished to enter Princeton. He had limited
funds, and knew that he could study intensely and
rapidly; so apparently he asked the Princeton au-
thorities if they would let him go through as fast as
he could. Well, there were pedants and martinets in
those days, just as there are today: one wonders why
a college student must do time, after he has done all
the work; but it was so then and it is so now. The
Princeton authorities refused, saying he must go
through in conventional fashion. Hamilton therefore
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 183
turned his back on Princeton, and tried King's Col-
lege, New York City, the germ from which Colum-
bia University has developed. King's College had a
Tory president and two professors: very different
from the vast educational machine, Columbia Uni-
versity has become today. This small faculty was
quite willing Hamilton should go through as fast as
possible; so he entered King's College.
He remained in college hardly two years, leaving to Hamilton's
join the army of the Revolution; but do not imagine education.
he did only two years' work. With his precocious,
awakened intellect, he was reading with passionate
eagerness in the fields of history, government and
statesmanship. Then, too, leaving college did not
close his student years: he continued a student al-
ways, becoming one of the best educated men in
America, perhaps in the world, of his time.
When Hamilton was seventeen and a half years
old, a mass meeting was held in the City Hall Park, First services of
^t ^t i t-t m i -.i t • i the Revolution.
New York. Hamilton made an address, which cer-
tain eminent men present recognized as masterly;
and shared, from that time, the expectation of a great
future for him.
The chief method of influencing public opinion, in
those days, corresponding to our use of newspapers a pamphleteering
and magazines, was by issuing pamphlets. It was a age *
pamphleteering age. A Rev. Dr. Seabury, an intense
Tory, issued one, severely attacking the Continental
Congress. Hamilton, not yet eighteen, replied with
a fourteen thousand word pamphlet, The Continental
184
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's
mature ideas of
government in the
pamphlets issued
at seventeen and
eighteen.
His acceptance of
the democratic
conception of
government, based
on the theory of
the rights of man.
The mob at
Dr. Cooper's.
Congress Vindicated. Dr. Seabury came back with
Congress Canvassed by a Westchester Farmer; and
again Hamilton, now eighteen, answered with a long
pamphlet, equivalent to a small volume, The Farmer
Refuted. In these early writings, Hamilton outlines
his permanent philosophy of government, evidencing
the precocity of his intellectual development. At the
same time, these pamphlets show how completely he
had accepted the prevalent ideas of natural rights, on
which the Revolution proceeded. Nothing that Jef-
ferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence af-
firms those rights more clearly than the following
passage from The Farmer Refuted:
"The origin of all civil government, justly estah-
lished, must be a voluntary compact between the rulers
and the ruled, and must be liable to such limitations as
are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of
the latter; for what original title can any man, or set
of men, have to govern others, except their own con-
sent? To usurp dominion over a people in their own
despite, or to grasp at a more extensive power than they
are willing to entrust, is to violate that law of nature
which gives every man a right to his personal liberty,
and can therefore confer no obligation to obedience."*
While whole-heartedly devoted to the Revolution-
ary cause, Hamilton deprecated the rioting that was
taking place. For instance, Dr. Cooper, President
of King's College, was an intense Tory; and there
was a plot to mob his home. Hamilton, hearing of
the plan, proceeded in advance of the mob to Dr.
* Hamilton, in The Farmer Refuted : Works, Vol. I, p. 63.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 185
Cooper's dwelling, mounted the steps, and when the
rioters arrived, addressed them, urging them to ob-
serve law and order. Dr. Cooper stuck his head out
of an upstairs window; and recognizing who was
speaking, but not hearing the words, shrieked, "Don't
listen to that fellow, he's crazy!" Rather grotesque:
Hamilton endeavoring to save Dr. Cooper's life; and
Dr. Cooper responding as cited! Hamilton smiled,
continued speaking, held the mob till Dr. Cooper got
out of the house by the back door, was rowed out to a
British ship, and carried to England and safety: En-
gland where he should have stayed !
Again, a mob out of Connecticut attacked Riving- H .. , r
ton's Press, which had published Tory pamphlets, in authoritative
broke up the presses and wrecked the establishment.
Hamilton wrote a letter to John Jay, member of
the Continental Congress, vigorously opposing such
methods in the service of the American cause and
urging that rioters be punished.
The point is : Hamilton believed, temperamentally
and by conviction, in law and order first, and freedom Temperamental
afterwards. Jefferson, if you wish the initial con- Hamilton and
trast between the two men, believed, equally by tern- Jefferson -
perament and conviction, in freedom first, and law
and order afterwards. Hamilton's is far the safer
theory of society : I agree with Jefferson.
Knowing that war was coming, Hamilton studied Commissioned
intensely military science; and when the New York Artillery Tn °
authorities sanctioned the raising of armed forces, March > 1776 -
applied for a commission as captain of artillery. The
186 AMERICAN STATESMEN
authorities were surprised at this stripling of nineteen
wanting to be a captain of artillery; and put him
through a severe examination, which he passed bril-
liantly, proving that he had mastered the whole field
and was prepared to serve. He was granted his com-
mission the same week that Washington caused the
British evacuation of Boston.
Hamilton used all the rest of the money, he had
been given for his college education, in raising and
equipping his artillery company ; and that money was
never paid back to Hamilton, nor to his family after
his death. His widow did receive, in her necessity,
payment of his back pay as officer; but these funds,
used to organize and equip his company, were never
repaid.
Hamilton trained his men so thoroughly, that his
The service of company was one of the few entirely dependable ones
Hamilton's , . it t i T t T -tt
Company. Washington had, early m the War. He was given
the rear guard service in the retreat across the river,
after the battle of Long Island. He was at Haarlem
Heights, where apparently Washington's personal
attention was first called to him, and in the battle of
White Plains. He accompanied Washington on the
retreat across New Jersey ; and it was his dependable
company that had again and again the rear guard
service, in crossing one and another of those New Jer-
sey rivers. He shared in the victories of Trenton and
Princeton ; and when these won for Washington that
five months' breathing space at Morristown, he asked
Hamilton to give up his commission as captain of ar-
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 187
tillery, take a position on Washington's personal staff,
with the rank of colonel, and serve as Washington's
secretary.
Washington may have been partly moved to this
by the fact that he had already recognized Hamilton's Washington
brilliant intellect and also his reckless daring in the to g becomThb° n
field; and realizing that Hamilton could hardly live Secretar y«
very long if he remained in active military service,
he may have wished to save this great mind for the
nation's need, later on. Besides this, Washington,
always sensitive about the defects in his early school-
ing, wanted someone else to express his ideas for him*
Those ideas had come to entire clearness: Washing-
ton knew what he wished to say; but he was sensitive
over his grammar, spelling and style.
Hamilton did not wish to accept. His strongest
ambition, strange to say, was in the military field. His
great work as statesman was done to serve the nation's
need, from a sense of duty, with a minimum of per-
sonal ambition; but he was keenly ambitious in his The four years
military career. Nevertheless, he accepted: why? Be- Washington's
cause he recognized that he could serve the country's brain and V01ce '
cause best that way. So for four years, Hamilton
served as Washington's brain, voice and pen, laboring
incessantly, writing those innumerable letters to the
Continental Congress, to generals in the field, to com-
manders of the opposing armies, to statesmen through-
out the colonies.
The contrast between the two men is impressive:
Washington, twenty-five years the elder, six feet two
188
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Contrast of
Washington
and Hamilton.
Hamilton's
engagement to
Elizabeth
Schuyler.
in height, a tall giant, with those enormous hands and
feet, wrists and ankles; Hamilton, a little man, five
feet seven, with finely formed hands and feet, a hand-
some figure, sandy red hair, piercing blue-gray eyes, a
straight classic nose, and red-white Scotch complex-
ion. Washington came to feel for his young associate
a truly fatherly affection. Indeed, Washington seems
to have had a warmer affection for Hamilton than
for any other of his young companions of the Revolu-
tion, with the possible exception of Light Horse
Harry Lee of Virginia.
It was during Hamilton's period of service as
Washington's secretary, that his personal life was
permanently established. In the autumn of 1777, he
was sent on a mission to General Gates; and stayed,
in Albany, at the home of General Schuyler, head of
one of the great New York landed families, of Dutch
descent, and a close friend of Washington's. Here
Hamilton met, for the first time, Elizabeth, the sec-
ond daughter of the family, just twenty, a petite bru-
nette, with charming manner and dark, lovely eyes.
Then, in the winter of 1779 and 80, when Washing-
ton again had headquarters at Morristown, General
Schuyler, at that time a member of the Continental
Congress, took a house at Morristown, to be nearer
his family. Hamilton was constantly carrying mes-
sages between Washington and General Schuyler, on
business of state, he was a frequent guest in the
Schuyler home ; and a warm, deep love affair quickly
developed between him and Elizabeth Schuyler. She
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 189
as some seven months younger than Han.
al Schuyler warmly welcomed the eng
tving come to feel for Hamilton much tL
therly affection Washington had.
It was during the period of their engagement
e Benedict Arnold treason occurred. You will i
11 it was Hamilton into whose hands the treasoL
ipers were placed; Hamilton who gave them to
Washington and heard his one comment; Hamilton
ho had the task of comforting the hysterical Mrs.
mold, which no doubt he did very effectively ; and it
from Hamilton's letters to his fiancee, her father,
id to Laurens, that we have our best account of the
ial and execution of Major Andre, afterwards.
About a month after the Arnold treason, Hamilton
id Elizabeth Schuyler were married. The marriage, Hamilton's
i. n i j_ i _cr? • personal life
te result of a warm and passionate love affair, re-
amed a deep relationship to the end of Hamilton's
fe. He was a tender and loving father to his eight
lildren, their companion in every leisure hour, play-
ig with them, even in their childhood days, upon the
Lirsery floor, bitterly resenting the long absences
om home his service of the country's cause necessi-
/ted. His wife was devoted to him with utter loyalty,
irough his life time and during her long widowhood,
i spite of certain infidelities, which Hamilton's strong
id not always controlled passions afterwards caused.
A few months after Hamilton's marriage a break
2curred with Washington: that it was not perma-
ent was due to Washington's generous magnanimity.
190
AMERICAN STATESMEN
ircumstances of
le temporary
reak with
Washington.
lamilton's desire
o resume active
ailitary service.
The circumstances are sufficiently interesting to d«
serve narration. Hamilton was hastening from or
office to another with a message for some genera
passed the foot of a stairway, and Washington, fro]
the top, called down to him. Hamilton respondei
went on and delivered his message, and returning, w<
stopped for a few moments' conversation by La Fa]
ette. Reaching the foot of the staircase again, Was
ington, still standing at the top, in one of those rai
occasions when Washington did not control his nati
rally fierce temper, exclaimed, "Colonel Hamilto
you have kept me waiting for ten minutes : you trei
me with disrespect, Sir!" Hamilton, from the botto]
of the stairway, responded, "Sir, I am unaware of i
but since you think so, we part."
Washington went into his office, realized at on<
that he had spoken hastily and unjustly, and with thi
beautiful magnanimity that makes him so lovable ar
human, sent a general to Hamilton, with what w;
practically an apology, from the chief to the suborc
nate, urging Hamilton not to leave his service.
Hamilton was insistent : he would not remain. Pro
ably he welcomed the opportunity to go : for with h
keenest ambition in the military field, and recognizir
that the war was drawing into its last phase, he w;
anxious to get into active service before the fightir
stopped. Besides this, however, Hamilton had som
thing of that personal touchiness which a great m*
who is physically small sometimes shows. One wo
ders about that characteristic. It is rarely, if eve
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 191
found in a great man who is large in stature; but
sometimes, perhaps often, it is seen in a truly great character.
man of small size. Can it be an instinctive effort to
throw out a protection Nature has not given? What-
ever the explanation, Hamilton had something of that
quality; so his decision to go was unalterable.
A little later, Hamilton wrote Washington, asking
for an appointment in the field. This put Washing-
ton in a quandary. Hamilton had been out of active
service four years. To appoint him over officers who
had been fighting during that period, would be unfair
and cause heart burnings. On the other hand, if not
appointed, Washington feared Hamilton would take
it as a personal matter, because of their quarrel. So
Washington sat down and wrote Hamilton a frank,
manly letter, explaining the situation, telling him he
would like to appoint him, but these were the reasons
why he could not, and hoping Hamilton would not
take it personally. Hamilton replied with an equally
manly letter, saying that he understood perfectly, but
that, if Washington had a chance to appoint him,
wouldn't he please do so.
A few months later, the opportunity came: when
Rochambeau lent those five thousand French soldiers ^^^nt
and Washington, with the combined armies, hastened Colonel of a
... . . _ regiment of
south to Virginia. Hamilton was given the command infantry,
of a regiment of light infantry, and accompanied
Washington. At Yorktown, there were two redoubts
to be stormed. The larger was assigned to the French.
A large body of the troops moved slowly forward,
192
AMERICAN STATESMEN
service at
Yorktown.
Turning to the
law as a life
vocation.
was discovered by the British, and the fort was taken
only after a sanguinary conflict.
The smaller redoubt was assigned to Hamilton to
Brilliant military capture. He crept swiftly forward, with a small
body of men, had himself lifted on the shoulders of
his soldiers, and leaped over among the British, fol-
lowed by his men: a most daring and dangerous act.
The result was, the fort was taken with hardly any
loss. Washington described this feat as one of rare
coolness, firmness and intrepidity. Hamilton had his
military opportunity late ; but you see what good use
he made of it.
With the surrender of Cornwallis, the war was at
an end; and Hamilton was out of a job. He had no
money and no vocation. He was married, and his
eldest child, Philip, was born a few months after
Yorktown. He did not wish to live on his father-in-
law. What was he to do? He turned naturally to
the law. That was where his interest centered : in the
great problems of government and society which law
embodies; and it was in that field he had read most
widely. So he went to Albany, and isolated himself
for five months. At the end of that time, he passed
brilliantly his examinations for the Bar, was admitted
to practice ; and in the meantime, had compiled a Man-
ual of Practice, just to fix his ideas, which served sev-
eral generations of lawyers helpfully. Surely that
can hardly be equalled, as an example of precocious
and gifted youthful intelligence and intense work;
and understand, he was admitted to the Bar, not
A brilliant mind,
with marvelous
power of work.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
193
through favoritism, but because he had mastered the
whole field and was ready.
He wished to begin practice in New York City;
but the British occupancy continued till the autumn
of 1783, and he had to wait. He recommended to the
Treasurer of the Continental Congress, Morris, the
appointment of superintendents to collect the requisi-
tions from the states. Morris liked the idea, and
straightway appointed Hamilton for New York. He
accepted reluctantly: it was a thankless task; but he
fulfilled it faithfully.
In 1782, Hamilton was a member of the Conti-
nental Congress. His whole effort, during his term
of service, was to strengthen the authority of that
weak government. The situation was going from
bad to worse. By 1780 the Continental currency was
down to forty to one, by official action. The follow-
ing year it had reached 175 to 1. Meantime, state
notes were three to one. That was because the states
could lay taxes; the Congress could not. All Con-
gress could do was to assess the states their quotas,
and then hope they would respond. As long as the
war was on there was an acute reason for the states
to do as well as possible ; but when the actual fighting
stopped, there was not the same pressure. For in-
stance, in 1782, the year that Hamilton served in the
Continental Congress, Rhode Island did best among
the states, paying one-fourth of her assigned quota.
Pennsylvania paid one-fifth, Massachusetts one-
eighth, Virginia one-twelfth, New York one twentieth,
Hamilton's aim
and service as a
member of the
Continental
Congress.
Weakness of
Congress. Effect
of no taxing
power.
Relation of the
States to Congress.
194
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Early statement
of Hamilton's
conception of the
Union.
First calls for a
Convention to
make a
Constitution.
Beginning law
practice. Qualities
that made
Hamilton a
leader at the bar.
New Hampshire one-one hundred and twenty-first,
North Carolina and Georgia nothing. Imagine, run-
ning a government under conditions such as those!
Hamilton realized, more clearly than anyone else,
that the only hope lay in establishing a stronger cen-
tral government. He had stated his view the year
that the war was concluded:
"There is something noble and magnificent in the per-
spective of a great Federal Republic, closely linked in
the pursuit of a common interest, tranquil and prosper-
ous at home, respectable abroad ; but there is something
proportionally diminutive and contemptible in the pros-
pect of a number of petty States, with the appearance
only of union, jarring, jealous, and perverse, without
any determined direction, fluctuating and unhappy at
home, weak and insignificant by their dissensions in the
eyes of other nations."*
In 1780, Hamilton had suggested a Constitutional
Convention. In 1782, through the New York Legisla-
ture, he issued a definite call for one; but the time
was not ripe, and he had to wait.
In the interim, the British evacuated New York in
the autumn of 1783. Hamilton immediately moved to
the city, and opened a law office on Wall Street. He
strode quickly to the head of the profession. His
marvelously gifted mind, power of intense and in-
cessant work, ability to sheer down to the fundamen-
tal principles of a case, and genius for concise, logical
statement made him a master at the Bar.
* Hamilton, in The Continentalist, published in 1781: Works, Vol.
I, pp. 286, 287.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 195
At the same time, his complete disregard of public
opinion and devotion to principle, even when it was
abstract principles of government, are shown in one
of the earliest cases he took.
In the treaty of peace with Britain, Congress had
agreed that no action would be taken against Tories
or British subjects, who had occupied American prop-
erty, during the periods of British occupancy of our
towns and cities. Under the mood of post-war hatred,
the New York Legislature, in 1783, passed a law that
such action could be taken, making royalists liable for devotion to
arrears of rent. Thus the state law was in direct vio- P rinci P le -
lation to the treaty made with Britain, by Congress,
for the whole country. Hamilton at once saw the
point: is the government of all the people to prevail,
or the government of part of the people?
The first case to come up, under this conflict of leg-
islation, was that of a poor widow, whose property had
been occupied by British subjects during the period of
British control of New York. They had duly paid
their rent, as designated by the British authorities;
and under the treaty no action could be taken against
them. Under the New York statute, the widow sued
for her arrears of rent over again. Public opinion
was strongly in her favor: she was a poor widow and
everybody wanted to kick a Tory in those days.
Hamilton took the unpopular case of the British
subjects; made an argument so trenchant and con-
vincing, so unanswerable in logic and moral basis,
that the judge said there was only one possible way
196
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The first victory
for Nation versus
State.
The price
Hamilton paid
for victory.
Cause of the
Phocion Letters.
A statement that
the prejudiced
and intolerant
everywhere might
well take to heart!
Hamilton prophet
in vision as well
as realist in
practice.
to settle the case, and decided it in favor of Hamil-
ton's clients. Hamilton had won the first round of
the fight of Nation versus State. There was a public
uproar against Hamilton: he was threatened with
assassination and with duels; but he carried the fight
to the public in the Phocion pamphlets. Hamilton's
opponents won a sweeping victory in the next elec-
tion : one price he paid for devotion to principle.
Hamilton's two letters signed "Phocion", and ad-
dressed to "The Considerate Citizens of New York",
in 1784, were inspired by this unreasoning bitterness
toward Tories, and the widely favored proposal to
confiscate all their property. He trenchantly
observed :
"There is a bigotry in politics as well as in religions,
equally pernicious in both. * * *
"It is remarkable, though not extraordinary, that
those characters, throughout the States, who have been
principally instrumental in the revolution, are the most
opposed to persecuting measures."*
In the second Phocion Letter, Hamilton gave an
impressive diagnosis of the situation created by the
victorious War for Independence: the unparalleled
opportunity and resulting responsibility, and the
threatened tragedy, if the opportunity should not be
taken and the obligation fulfilled. The whole great
passage proves that Hamilton was not only the su-
premely practical statesman, but that he could be, on
occasion, the seer, as far-visioned as Jefferson or any
Hamilton, in Phocion Letters; Works, Vol. IV, pp. 284, 285.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
197
other. The noble words are still vitally pregnant for
the America that has issued, again victorious, from the
World War:
"Those who are at present entrusted with power, in
all these infant republics, hold the most sacred deposit
that ever was confided to human hands. * * *
"If we set out with justice, moderation, liberality,
and a scrupulous regard to the Constitution, the gov-
ernment will acquire a spirit and tone productive of
permanent blessings to the community. If, on the con-
trary, the public councils are guided by humor, pas-
sion, and prejudice; if from resentment to individuals,
or a dread of partial inconveniences, the Constitutibn
is slighted, or explained away, upon every frivolous
pretext, the future spirit of government will be feeble,
distracted, and arbitrary. The rights of the subject
will be the sport of every party vicissitude. * * *
"The world has its eye upon America. The noble
struggle we have made in the cause of liberty has occa-
sioned a kind of revolution in human sentiment. The in-
fluence of our example has penetrated the gloomy re-
gions of despotism, and has pointed the way to en-
quiries which may shake it to its deepest foundations.
The responsibility
upon the States,
following the
Revolution.
Effects of good and
bad government.
America's
opportunity to be
the beacon light
to mankind.
"To ripen enquiry into action, it remains for us to
justify the revolution by its fruits.
"If the consequences prove that we really have as-
serted the cause of human happiness, what may not be
expected from so illustrious an example? In a greater
or less degree the world will bless and imitate.
"But if experience, in this instance, verifies the lesson
long taught by the enemies of liberty, that the bulk of
mankind are not fit to govern themselves, * * * we
shall then see the final triumph of despotism over liberty.
The contrasting
tragic possibility.
198
AMERICAN STATESMEN
How Hamilton's
diagnosis and
prophesy apply
to the America
of today!
The key to the
functioning of
democracy.
The Commercial
Convention of
1786.
* * * With the greatest advantages for promoting it
that ever a people had, we shall have betrayed the cause
of human nature."*
With this dilemma, faced by the country in those
bitter post-war years, conditions had to grow worse
before they could get better. Under democracy, the
people will get the worst government they are willing
to tolerate ; and under democracy, the people can get
the best government they are willing to work for.
That principle should be remembered: it is the key
to the functioning of democracy. When therefore,
conditions become very bad, there is always hope that
the people will be aroused to make them better ; which
ought to comfort us in dark days. So it was with
the country during those desperate years following
the close of the war. Congress was increasingly feeble
and migratory. England was passing such Orders
in Council as she chose, and doing as she pleased with
our shipping on the high seas. Algerine pirates were
seizing our ships as prizes, and selling our seamen into
slavery. Finally the merchants of the country were
aroused by their increasing losses. You know, when
the business interests get really stirred up, they can
bring strong pressure to bear on the politicians. Thus,
not Massachusetts, New York or Pennsylvania, but
Virginia issued a call for a Commercial Convention,
to meet in Annapolis, September, 1786, to see what
could be done to relieve the situation.
* Hamilton, from the second Phocion Letter, to the Considerate Citi-
zens of New York, in 1784: Works, Vol. IV, pp. 288-290. *
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 199
Hamilton saw his opportunity, and got himself
elected a delegate to the Annapolis Convention. When T
. , . . Hamilton calling
it met, Hamilton rose and made a stirring address, in the Constitutional
which he urged the calling of a second Convention, to
meet in Philadelphia, in May of the following year, to
make a Constitution. His resolution was unanimously
adopted, though the language was altered to placate
certain delegates : it was to be a Convention "to revise
the Articles of Confederation" ; but it was the Consti-
tutional Convention just the same. Thus Hamilton
called the Convention that made the Constitution.
He hastened home to bring New York in line. That
( ° Governor Clinton
was more difficult than might be imagined, for the and New York
reason that Governor Clinton had New York in his
pocket. To understand that, one must remember that
a considerable property qualification was required for
voting in those days. For instance, when New York
State had 325,000 population, there were only about
12,500 voters in the State. It can easily be seen how
a successful politician, in league with the great landed
families, could get that small constituency united be-
hind him. Governor Clinton had accomplished that.
The Governor was a strong state sovereignty man:
probably on principle : let him have the benefit of the
doubt; but all his interest was on that side. If New
York refused to sign a constitution and remained a
separate empire, Governor Clinton was czar in his
own regime. If New York entered a union of the
States, under a strong central government, Governor
State politics.
200 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Clinton descended to the position of a satrap, merely
a governor of a part of the nation.
Hamilton succeeded in getting himself elected one
The three New of the three delegates from New York to the Consti-
^conl^utianai tutional Convention; but his associates, Yates and
Convention. Lansing, were Clinton henchmen and strong state
sovereignty men. When the Convention began by
abrogating the old Articles of Confederation, Yates
and Lansing simply turned their backs on it and went
home, and would have nothing more to do with it,
leaving Hamilton sole representative from New
York. Hamilton had his heavy law practice. He
went from New York to Philadelphia and from Phil-
adelphia to New York. He did not take a very active
part in the part in the Convention; partly because he was only a
minority representative from New York, but proba-
bly more because he saw it was not necessary. He
seems to have asked for more than he wanted, to get
as much as he could. When, after the months of
wrangling, the Constitution was made and signed by
the delegates: our compromise Constitution, great as
it is, which completely satisfied nobody, but which
most of the delegates believed was the best compromise
Governor Clinton's _ -i-i-i* j «i_ /» . r? •. -ij
attack on the they could achieve ; and the first copy of it reached
New York City, there appeared, the same day, a viru-
lent attack upon it, from the pen of Governor Clinton,
in the Governor's official newspaper.
Hamilton saw that something must be done ; and in
The Federalist , °
papers. a sloop, coming down the river from Albany to New
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
201
York, he wrote the first of the Federalist papers. The
opening passage reads:
"To the People of the State of New York:
"After an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency
of the subsisting federal government, you are called
upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United
States of America. The subject speaks its own impor-
tance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less
than the existence of the Union, the safety and welfare
of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an em-
pire in many respects the most interesting in the world.
It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have
been reserved to the people of this country, by their con-
duct and example, to decide the important question,
whether societies of men are really capable or not of
establishing good government from reflection and choice,
or whether they are forever destined to depend for their
political constitutions on accident and force. If there
be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are
arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in
which that decision is to be made ; and a wrong election
of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be
considered as the general misfortune of mankind."*
Hamilton appealed to Jay and Madison to help
him in the critical fight. Jay wrote a few papers,
Madison a considerable number, more philosophical
in character; but it was Hamilton who took up in
detail every power conferred by the Constitution, and
argued its significance and value, and who considered
one by one the objections raised against it, answering
them conclusively. The bulk, thus, of that thick,
Opening appeal in
the Federalist, to
the people of New
York State.
Hamilton's view
of the crisis faced
by our people.
Recognition that
the solution was
for mankind.
The part of Jay
and Madison in
the Federalist.
Hamilton's
major part and
the amazing
thoroughness
of his work.
* Hamilton, opening passage of the first paper in The Federalist :
Works, Vol. XI, pp. 3, 4.
202
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Fighting for a
union of the people
in a Nation.
Hamilton's
reiterated belief
in the first
principle of
democracy :
self-government
by the people.
The Federalist
papers giving
the program of
Hamilton's great
work as statesman.
large volume of Federalist papers was written wholly
by Hamilton, in a few months' time, in the intervals of
his law practice.
One weakness of the Continental Congress had
been that its members voted only as State delegations,
not unlike the procedure of a political party conven-
tion under the unit rule. Hamilton fought hard for
a truly national Union, as against a federation of
States, with the government's authority flowing from
the people and not from the States. He said in num-
ber 22:
"It has not a little contributed to the infirmities of
the existing federal system, that it never had a ratifica-
tion by the people. * * * The fabric of American em-
pire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of
the people. The streams of national power ought to
flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of
all legitimate authority." *
Believing that the national government should ex-
ercise unhampered authority, he argued:
"A government ought to contain in itself every power
requisite to the full accomplishment of the objects com-
mitted to its care, and to the complete execution of the
trusts for which it is responsible, free from every other
control but a regard to the public good and to the
sense of the people." f
Hamilton laid down, in the Federalist papers, the
whole program for a strong, unhampered, truly na-
180.
Hamilton, in No. 22 of The Federalist.- Works, Vol. XI, pp. 179,
f Hamilton, in No. 31 of The Federalist; Works, Vol. XI, p. 241.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
203
tional government, which afterwards he was to fight
through to victory.
The concluding words of the last paper were a
solemn warning:
"I acknowledge that I cannot entertain an equal tran-
quillity with those who affect to treat the dangers of a
longer continuance in our present situation as imagi-
nary. A nation, without a national government, is, in
my view, an awful spectacle. The establishment of a
Constitution, in time of profound peace, by the volun-
tary consent of a whole people, is a prodigy, to the com-
pletion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety.
I can reconcile it to no rules of prudence to let go the
hold we now have, in so arduous an enterprise, upon
seven out of the thirteen States, and after having passed
over so considerable a part of the ground, to recom-
mence the course. I dread the more the consequences
of new attempts, because I know that powerful individ-
uals, in this and in other States, are enemies to a general
national government in every possible shape,"*
It is hard to see how anyone can read Hamilton's
writings, and not recognize his entire sincerity and
pure-minded devotion to the welfare of the people and
the nation, as he saw it. That we became a Nation,
and not a collection of loosely associated, mutually
jealous and contending States, is due to Hamilton
more than to any other man or group of men.
Among all his writings, the Federalist essays rank
high. They won completely New York City and
Westchester County to the Constitution, influenced
* Hamilton, concluding passage in No. 85, the last paper of The
Federalist: Works, Vol. XII, pp. 345, 346.
The closing
warning.
Hamilton's
sincerity and utter
devotion to the
cause.
Why the United
States is a
nation.
What the
Federalist
essays achieved.
204
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's
service in the
Poughkeepsie
Convention.
Putting New York
in the Union.
The celebration.
voters throughout the state and in other states; and
the volume remains a great, permanent classic on gov-
ernment, vital and interesting at the present hour.
In 1788, New York State held a Convention at
Poughkeepsie, to decide whether or not New York
should accept the Constitution and enter the Union.
There were fifty-seven delegates; and when the Con-
vention met, forty-six were opposed, and only eleven
in favor of entering the Union. It looked as if Gov-
ernor Clinton had won in advance, hands down. The
debate lasted three weeks. Hamilton spoke nearly
every day, and sometimes almost all day; and the
sheer force of the man's intellect, acting on the intel-
lects of those other men, won the fight. It is true
he used a whip: he threatened that if New York re-
fused to enter the Union, New York City and West-
chester County would leave the rest of the State, form
a separate commonwealth, and enter anyway. That
helped ; but it was mainly his dominating intellect and
unanswerable logic that won, in the final vote, thirty
for the Constitution, against twenty-seven opposed.
Thus Alexander Hamilton put New York in the
Union; and more than anybody else, he made the
Union.
The celebration in New York City was planned by
L'Enfant, who laid out the City of Washington, D. C.
When the great float, the ship marked "Hamilton"
came by, the crowd went wild with enthusiasm. For
a considerable time afterwards, New York City was
called, by both the friends and enemies of Hamilton,
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 205
"Hamiltoniana" : not such a bad name: one almost
wishes it might have lasted.
The first election under the new Constitution fol-
lowed, with every vote of the electoral college for Hamilton's
George Washington for first President. You will re- waSgWs
call Washington's reluctance to serve, and the letters acceptance of the
? Presidency.
he received from statesmen all over the country, urg-
ing his acceptance. Hamilton wrote what was per-
haps the strongest letter of all. The young man wrote
to his senior, the secretary to his chief to the effect:
you must accept, you have no right to decline ; you are
the one man who can lead the country safely forward
and make the new government a living reality.
Washington replied, recognizing the justice of Ham-
ilton's arguments and saying he would accept. Then,
a little later, he said, "But you must be my Secretary
of the Treasury".
It was the worst job of the Union. It has always Appointment and
been a thankless task: it was worse then than it has sec?etary e f S the
ever been since, or could be imagined ever again to Treasui 7*
be. Hamilton knew that, if he accepted, he would be
criticized, vilified, abused. He accepted: why? Be-
cause he knew he was the one man who could do that
work and carry the problem through.
Think of the task he faced : a hideous internal debt,
for which the government had not had value received, Hamilton's
since the debt had been accumulated under a rapidly colossal task -
depreciating currency. Besides this, was an almost
equally terrible external debt. We had borrowed
money wherever we could get it, chiefly from France.
206
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Proposals for
repudiation
of debts.
Proposals for
discrimination
or partial
repudiation.
Then we borrowed more money to pay the interest on
what we had borrowed ; then more to pay the interest
on the interest; and when we could not borrow any
more, we defaulted the interest.
Many, even statesmen, threw up their hands and
said, "It is no use, we cannot pay; we will repudiate,
and start afresh"; but that cannot be done. The
Bolshevist regime in Russia cynically attempted such
repudiation; but Russia can never take her place
among the nations, until whatever government sur-
vives assumes the national mortgage, in taking the
national farm. Of course, a nation, like an individual,
may go through bankruptcy, to the ruin of its credit ;
but neither the one nor the other can merely repudiate
honest debts.
Others, James Madison among them, urged dis-
crimination. They said, where soldiers have kept their
claims, we will pay them ; but where they have got into
the hands of gamblers and speculators, we will repu-
diate or pay a fraction of them. That caught the pop-
ular fancy. Everybody likes to kick a speculator,
chiefly, perhaps, because nobody admits he is one.
Once more, however, discrimination is impossible. If
the debts are just, they must be paid, no matter into
whose hands they may have passed. To repudiate
them because of a change in ownership, is to destroy
equally the credit of the debtor and the faith on which
business relations rest. Further, how could they dis-
criminate with regard to the indebtedness of the Revo-
lution? Here was a claim sold by a soldier to a spec-
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 207
ulator : you would repudiate that. Here was a starv-
ing soldier, whose friend, to help him, bought his
claim at a fair price: what would you do with that?
Except in an occasional case, just discrimination was
simply impossible.
Hamilton had expected to report on the floor of
the house, and prepared himself for it, assuming that ^emandin
heads of departments would have that natural relation written report.
to the legislative body. Congress established a prec-
edent, subsequently harmful to the Nation's busi-
ness, by refusing to hear him. Why? Because they
were afraid of him: the man's dominating intellect,
unerring grasp of moral principles, convincing power
of logical statement, when he spoke by word of mouth. „ .,_, ,
, r J Hamilton's power
Understand, Hamilton was never an orator lor the as an orator
crowd; but when he addressed men of intellect, lead- Naders!
ers, he dominated them with his convictions and
carried them with him, with a sweeping power, un-
equalled by any other man in America, probably in
the world, of his time.
So, fearing his personal power, Congress demanded
a written report. Hamilton furnished it in five days : Th ?. remarkable
r J achievement of
twenty thousand words of carefully reasoned argu- writing the great
ment, and more than that amount of figures and days' time.
schedules, outlining his funding scheme for the colos-
sal debts. How could he do it? Because he had it
all thought out in his brain, ready for oral statement,
and there was required merely the mechanical labor
of writing it down.
That Report, of January 9th, 1790, is a master-
208
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The basic thesis:
to reestablish the
public credit by
paving every debt
in "full.
Hamilton's view
that the future
of the Nation
depended upon the
honest acceptance
and just fulfillment
of all obligations.
The only way of
restoring the
public credit.
The ethics of
organized society.
The ends Hamilton
sought to achieve
by establishing the
public credit,
piece. Its initial thesis was, the first step in getting
the Nation on its feet is to reestablish the public credit.
That can be accomplished only by honestly assuming
our obligations and paying every debt, internal and
external, at face value. In his own words:
"To attempt to enumerate the complicated variety of
mischiefs, in the whole system of the social economy,
which proceed from a neglect of the maxims that up-
hold public credit, and justify the solicitude manifested
by the House on this point, would be an improper ob-
trusion on their time and patience.
"In so strong a light, nevertheless, do they appear
to the Secretary, that, on their due observance, at the
present critical juncture, materially depends, in his
judgment, the individual and aggregate prosperity of
the citizens of the United States ; their relief from the
embarrassments they now experience; their character
as a people ; the cause of good government.
"If the maintenance of public credit, then, be truly
so important, the next inquiry which suggests itself is:
By what means is it to be effected? The ready answer
to which question is, by good faith ; by a punctual per-
formance of contracts. States, like individuals, who
observe their engagements are respected and trusted,
while the reverse is the fate of those who pursue an op-
posite conduct.
"To promote the increasing respectability of the
the American name; to answer the calls of justice; to
restore landed property to its due value ; to furnish
new resources, both to agriculture and commerce; to
cement more closely the union of the States ; to add to
their security against foreign attack; to establish pub-
lic order on the basis of an upright and liberal policy:
these are the great and invaluable ends to be secured by
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 209
a proper and adequate provision, at the present period,
for the support of public credit."*
Hamilton recognized that speculators would profit
in some instances ; but held that must be disregarded : significance in
to invalidate a debt, because its ownership had ^morimy 00 ^ 7
changed hands, would destroy the faith on which prevailing among
. . persons.
society and business proceed. The beauty of his plan
was its honest simplicity. He merely applied to or-
ganized societies the principle of honesty and justice
accepted for individuals: an application not yet uni-
versally made. Hamilton's enemies accused him of
holding that a national debt was a blessing. That was
not true. What he did argue was that the acceptance
of common obligations tended to unify a people, and
that the proper funding of the debt would furnish, in
the stocks or bonds representing it, additional capital
for business enterprise.
With the twenty thousand words of argument,
Hamilton furnished, as has been stated, a still larger The^ funding
amount of figures and schedules for his funding plan,
carrying the payment over a sufficiently long period,
so that taxation would not be too burdensome in any
one year. The Report was so admirable that Con-
gress adopted it; and he had won the first round of
the fight.
Now came the problem of the practical functioning
of the scheme. The next step was for the Federal m h e L^ pti ° n
Government to take over the debts, accumulated by
♦Hamilton, in First Report on the Public Credit: Works, Vol. II,
pp. 229-232.
210
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Why assumption
of state debts by
the Federal
Government was
the key measure
in Hamilton's
great program.
The selfishness
of post-war
thinking.
What the defeat
of assumption
would mean.
the several States during the War for Independence,
and pay them as the debt of the whole people.
Now see how this was the hinging element in Ham-
ilton's plan. If the States retained their debts, and
paid them severally, the State governments would
have the superior taxing power. If the Federal Gov-
ernment assumed these debts, and paid them, as the
debt of all the people in the land, then the Federal
Government would have the superior taxing power.
Now the government that has the supreme power of
taxation is always the supreme government. One
can go through all human history and find hardly an
exception to that statement. ^
The post-war period, however, was, as always, one
of selfish thinking. States that had suffered severely
and accumulated a heavy war debt thought that, of
course, the Federal Government should take over the
state debts. States that had been outside the war
zone and had sacrificed less argued: "What, the Fed-
eral Government assume our small debt, and tax us
to pay the debts of other States? No, we will pay our
own debts, and let them pay theirs!" The result was
that Hamilton's key measure was in peril. If it failed,
the whole plan to build an efficient government failed.
The States, retaining the taxing power, would be
supreme in authority; while the new central govern-
ment would be the weak Continental Congress over
again, standing, cap in hand, to ask favors of the
sovereign States. Incidentally, it would be practi-
cally impossible to get the debts accumulated by the
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 211
Continental Congress acceptably divided among the
several States.
At this point, Hamilton took his first great step
down, from statesman to politician. He took others, The political
afterwards, far more reprehensible : this he could rea- jefiferson Wlt
sonably argue, was forced by the situation ; but it was
a step down, nevertheless. He went to Jefferson, and
proposed that first great deal in American politics,
the bargain already cited, that for the needed Vir-
ginia votes for assumption, Hamilton would furnish
enough Federalist votes to have the new Capital
placed in the South, where Jefferson and other South-
ern leaders wanted it. Hamilton was indifferent as
to the location of the Capital: all he wanted was a
strong, efficient government to function in it. Jef-
ferson, as we have seen, at that time not opposed to
the federal assumption of state debts, cheerfully
agreed. In July, 1790, came the vote on the Capital;
and Hamilton, true to the bargain, influenced enough
votes to have it placed where it is today. The follow-
ing month, came the final vote on assumption. Jef-
ferson, fulfilling his part of the agreement, furnished
the required Virginia votes; and Hamilton's great and
hinging measure carried. The statement is so import-
ant that it must be repeated; and its significance
should now be evident: that is why the Capital is at
Washington ; and that is why there was a government
in it strong enough to survive the Civil War, and
function efficiently to the present hour.
This victory made a series of great measures pos-
212
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Significance of
establishing a
National Bank.
Washington's
doubt and
handling of the
problem.
Hamilton's view
of the implied
powers in the
Constitution.
sible. Hamilton's next step concerned the specific
functioning of his plan. To carry out his funding
scheme for the payment of the internal and external
debt a national bank was needed. Unless you are
intimately familiar with the history of finance, you can
hardly imagine the meager banking facilities of those
days. The first national bank was the stocking, or a
hole in the woodshed floor; and that condition pre-
vailed for a long time. Hamilton had previously
established a state bank in New York, in 1784; and
he now prepared a bill to establish the National Bank,
necessary for the functioning of his plan. It passed
the Congress; but here Washington drew back. He
was not sure. He could find nothing in the Constitu-
tion warranting the President in signing a bill to es-
tablish such a corporation as a National Bank. He
consulted Jefferson and Randolph, who both disap-
proved, holding the proposal unconstitutional. So he
asked James Madison to prepare a veto message.
Then, with his shrewd wisdom, Washington handed
the opposed opinions to Hamilton, and asked him to
answer them. Two days after Washington received
Madison's draft of a veto message, Hamilton came
back with eleven thousand words of carefully reasoned
argument, completely convinced Washington, who
signed the bill, and consistently supported, thereafter,
every one of Hamilton's great measures for making
the National Government a vital and growing reality.
It was in this paper that Hamilton developed, for the
first time, his theory of implied powers in the Consti-
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 213
tution. His view was : in creating the Federal Gov-
ernment to fulfill certain ends, the Constitution
grants, by implication, the powers necessary to achieve
those ends. The Federal Government, once formed,
moreover, is the government of all the people in the
land. As such, it takes precedence over the govern-
ments of fractions or sections of the people in the land.
All powers, therefore, not specifically reserved to the
States in the Constitution, belong to the Federal Gov-
ernment, and may rightly be assumed by it, with the
Supreme Court as the final arbiter and interpreter of
the Constitution.
Now, if you wish, in clearest outline, the original The fundamental
J ° opposition of
cleavage in political philosophy, which was to divide Hamilton and
i • r^- «i Jefferson in
the country ever after and culminate m the Civil War, political
remember that Jefferson held exactly the opposite. p l osop y '
His view, as expressed in the Kentucky Resolutions
and elsewhere, was: the State governments preceded
the Federal Government as original sovereign author-
ities. They had united to form the Federal Govern-
ment, as an instrument to perform certain limited
functions; exactly as the nations have united and
established the League of Nations to carry out certain
defined functions, without compromising the sov-
ereignty of the nations united in the League. The
parallel is perfect. All powers, therefore, not specifi-
cally accorded to the Federal Government in the Con-
stitution, belonged to the States ; and each State might
lawfully annul — nullify — any act of the Federal
214
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The conflict that
required a Civil
War for its
settlement.
The great Report
on Manufactures,
of Dee. 5th, 1791.
Evidences of the
naive economic
thinking of the
time.
Hamilton's failure
to see the evil of
exploiting children
in industry.
Government not specifically authorized in the Consti-
tution; with each State, as absolutely sovereign, its
own final judge as to when its rights had been violated,
thus denying the authority of the Supreme Court
finally to interpret the Constitution.
There is the original conflict in the view of our gov-
ernment, held with equal sincerity on both sides, which
was settled only through the horrors of a colossal
fratricidal war, so far as such questions can be settled
by warfare.
Hamilton next established a mint and coinage sys-
tem ; and then wrote his great paper on manufactures,
which, almost equally with the assumption and fund-
ing measures^ produced a storm of controversy and
attack. The naive thinking of the time is evident in
the fact that he was compelled to argue that manu-
facturing industry is truly productive, as is agricul-
ture, and that interest on capital is an economic factor
equivalent to rent on land. A further evidence of
the same state of thought is Hamilton's own error in
holding that the employment of young children is an
advantage in manufactures. One gasps at his state-
ment, in the light of the tragic lessons experience has
since taught us:
"It is worthy of particular remark that, in general,
women and children are rendered more useful, and the
latter more early useful, by manufacturing establish-
ments, than they would otherwise be. Of the number
of persons employed in the cotton manufactories of
Great Britain, it is computed that four sevenths, nearly,
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 215
are women and children, of whom the greatest propor-
tion are children, and many of them of a tender age."*
This citing as an excellence, one of the saddest evils may fail victim
of the time, is only a painful illustration of how a great MsVmeT 01 ^ °
and wise man may fall victim to an error of his age.
In contrast to the opinions of many of those who
profess to be his followers, Hamilton began his Re- trade and
port with a frank recognition of the natural advan- ^ndustry^as the
tages of free commerce, with no hampering interfer- natural order »
ence by government ; but argued of that policy :
"If it had governed the conduct of nations more
generally than it has done, there is room to suppose
that it might have carried them faster to prosperity
and greatness than they have attained by the pursuit
of maxims too widely opposite."!
In place of that natural freedom of production and The European
exchange, burdensome restraints had been established, restraints on
especially against the exports of the United States. J? ad ^ compelling
It was these restrictions on the part of European na- manufactures.
tions that convinced Hamilton of the necessity of
fostering our own manufactures and developing
greater domestic commerce.
His supreme argument, however, was the need of
national self-sufficiency, especially in war. Suppose nationlT^eif-
the country were kept agricultural, and every knife sufficiency. Note
and gun were bought from Britain; and then sud- argument in the
denly we were plunged into war with Britain: what pr Qg r r m m men
would happen to us?
* Hamilton, from Report on Manufactures: Works, Vol. IV, p. 91.
f Hamilton, Report on Manufactures: Works, Vol. IV, p. 73.
216
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's view
that making the
Nation self-
dependent was the
next great step
of progress.
The turn of
the tide.
"Not only the wealth but the independence and se-
curity of a country appear to be materially connected
with the prosperit}' of manufactures. Every nation,
with a view to those great objects, ought to endeavor
to possess within itself, all the essentials of national sup-
ply. These comprise the means of subsistence, habita-
tion, clothing, and defense.
"The possession of these is necessary to the perfec-
tion of the body politic ; to the safety as well as to the
welfare of the society. The want of either is the want
of an important organ of political life and motion;
and in the various crises which await a state, it must
severely feel the effects of any such deficiency. The
extreme embarrassments of the United States during the
late war, from an incapacity of supplying themselves,
are still matter of keen recollection ; a future war might
be expected again to exemplify the mischiefs and dan-
gers of a situation to which that incapacity is still, in
too great a degree, applicable, unless changed by timely
and vigorous exertion. To effect this change, as fast as
shall be prudent, merits all the attention and all the
zeal of our public councils ; 't is the next great work to
be accomplished."*
So far, Hamilton had been victorious in every
round of the fight. Now the inevitable reaction came.
The chief portfolio in the Cabinet is that of Secretary
of State, held by Jefferson ; but the chief figure in the
Cabinet was Hamilton. Naturally, that was not
pleasing to Jefferson. Then, as we have seen, Jef-
ferson drew back in alarm from the rapidly growing
power of the Federal Government under Hamilton's
* Hamilton, from Report on Manufactures :
135, 136.
Works, Vol. IV, pp.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 217
initiative and Washington's sanction. He came really Reasons for
to believe that Hamilton, and perhaps Washington, Rowing 118
wished to develop an aristocracy and turn the govern- opposition to
ment into a monarchy. That was not true; but Jef-
ferson believed it. Moreover, he had some apparent
warrant for his distrust in the fact that Hamilton had
proposed, in the Constitutional Convention, a Presi-
dent and Senate elected on good behavior, which
would be dangerously near monarchy. Hamilton's
gravest limitation, moreover, was a lack of faith in the
people, which Jefferson had in such abundant meas-
ure. From this lack sprang the errors in Hamilton's
theory of government and the mistakes in his political
career.
While strongly favoring republican government,
Hamilton regarded it as an experiment, which must
be proved in practice. His faith and doubt both are
given frank statement in his long letter to Colonel
Carrington, of Virginia, in 1792. After reviewing
the, to him, puzzling growth of opposition and enmity
to his work on the part of Jefferson and Madison, he
said:
"I am told that serious apprehensions are dissemi- Letter to Colonel
nated in your State as to the existence of a monarchical Carrington.
party meditating the destruction of State and repub-
lican government. If it is possible that so absurd an
idea can gain ground, it is necessary that it should be
combatted. I assure you, on my private faith and
honor as a man, that there is not, in my judgment, a
shadow of foundation for it. * * *
"As to the destruction of State governments, the
218
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's view
of republican
government.
Fear lest the States
should cripple the
National
government.
Why Hamilton
desired a liberal
construction of
the Constitution.
Frank expression
of doubts as to
the success of
republican
government.
great and real anxiety is to be able to preserve the na-
tional from the too potent and counteracting influence
of those governments. As to my own political creed, I
give it to you with the utmost sincerity. I am affection-
ately attached to the republican theory. I desire above
all things to see the equality of political rights, exclu-
sive of all hereditary distinction, firmly established by a
practical demonstration of its being consistent with the
order and happiness of society. As to State govern-
ments, the prevailing bias of my judgment is that if
they can be circumscribed within bounds, consistent
with the preservation of the national government, they
will prove useful and salutary. * * * As the thing now
is, however, I acknowledge the most serious apprehen-
sions, that the government of the United States will not
be able to maintain itself against their influence. I see
that influence already penetrating into the national
councils and preventing their direction. Hence, a dis-
position on my part towards a liberal construction of
the powers of the national government, and to erect ev-
ery fence to guard it from depredations, which is, in my
opinion, consistent with constitutional propriety. As to
any combination to prostrate the State governments, I
disavow and deny it. * * *
"I said that I was affectionately attached to the re-
publican theory. * * * I add that I have strong hopes
of the success of that theory; but, in candor, I ought
also to add that I am far from being without doubts.
I consider its success as yet a problem. It is yet to be
determined by experience whether it be consistent with
that stability and order in government which are essen-
tial to public strength and private security and happi-
ness
55*
* Hamilton, in Letter to Colonel Edward Carrington, Philadelphia,
May 26, 1792: Works, Vol. IX, pp. 532-534.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 219
Nothing could show better than this statement by Evidence of the
the chief initiator and strongest leader of the Federal chaScTeTof our
Government, how experimental our Republic was in institutions in
i • i t • their early
its early phases, lhat the wise and temperate politi- history.
cal philosophy, with the mingled faith and doubt, ex-
pressed in the above passage, was sincerely Hamil-
ton's, his whole career attests. When one remem-
bers, in contrast, Jefferson's enthusiastic and unques-
tioning faith in democracy and his distrust of central-
■i , •, • , j , i i • • Contrast between
ized government, it is easy to understand his suspi- Hamilton's
cions as to Hamilton's motives and his growing oppo- questioning and
e> o xrr Jefferson s
sition to Hamilton's measures. enthusiastic faith
Jefferson, moreover, never understood Hamilton's *'
funding plans, and was suspicious of them as merely
an instrument of corruption. In his Anas Jefferson
went so far as to say :
"Hamilton was not only a monarchist, but for a mon-
archy bottomed on corruption.
"Hamilton was, indeed, a singular character. Of
acute understanding, disinterested, honest, and honor- Jefferson's 111
able in all private transactions, amiable in society, and matured estimate
duly valuing virtue in private life, yet so bewitched and
perverted by the British example, as to be under thor-
ough conviction that corruption was essential to the
government of a nation."*
The fairness of Jefferson's personal estimate is
only equalled by the injustice of his judgment of
Hamilton as statesman and the almost childish re-
of Hamilton as
statesman.
* Jefferson, Anas : Writings, Vol. I, pp. 278, 279.
220
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Madison's share
in the controversy.
Philip Freneau
and the attacks in
the opposition
newspaper.
The attack in
Congress.
sentment of Britain; but that was Jefferson's deep-
seated conviction.
Himself disliking a controversy, Jefferson looked
about for someone to answer Hamilton, and chose
James Madison. Madison tried a time or two; and
got his fingers burned. Nobody could answer Hamil-
ton. He had the most trenchant pen, the most con-
vincing logic, the clearest grasp of the infant nation's
needs, the most dominating force of any man in Amer-
ica, at that time. So James Madison quit ; and Jef-
ferson tried less direct methods. He found a young
literary man, Philip Freneau, and gave him a minor
place in the State department, apparently on condi-
tion that Freneau should edit and publish an opposi-
tion newspaper in Philadelphia. The plan was carried
out; and in Freneau's newspaper appeared attacks
upon Hamilton, John Adams, other Federalist lead-
ers and, finally, upon Washington.
Afterwards, Freneau publicly testified that Jeffer-
son never wrote nor inspired one of those attacks.
Later, he stated privately that Jefferson wrote many
of them and inspired them all. You may take your
choice : one or the other time Philip Freneau lied.
The attacks upon Hamilton got into Congress,
where certain of the lesser leaders offered a resolu-
tion that Hamilton had broken the law, exceeded his
authority and misused the funds of his department.
A complete accounting was demanded. Consider the
situation: Hamilton had had to build the Treasury
department from nothing, while dealing with the com-
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 221
plicated masses of internal and external debt, and
fighting the incessant battle for government authority.
A satisfactory accounting would have seemed almost
a miracle. He had done his work so faithfully and Hamilton's
kept his accounts so accurately that he was able in a accounting
brief time to furnish a complete report, accounting ^nerSFoif 6
for every penny that had passed through the depart-
ment, since its inauguration. He was completely ex-
onerated. The next year an attempt was made to
revive the charges; but it died in committee: there
was no use: Hamilton's record was too entirely un-
impeachable.
In 1794, there came the only serious challenging by
force, of the Federal Government, until the Civil
War. One of the earliest taxes to be laid by the Fed- Rebellion : the
eral Government was, rightly, the excise tax on intox- resfstanc^to the
icating liquors. This caused bitter resentment, which National
. , . -~ -i . t government.
came to a head m western Pennsylvania, where the
Scotch Irish liked their liquor straight and untaxed.
The resistance assumed the proportions of a rebellion.
Instantly Hamilton saw the significance. It was not
a matter of putting down some hundreds or thousands
of recalcitrants in western Pennsylvania. The issue
was: is the Federal Government to lay and collect
taxes, carrying on the business of government, peace-
ably and with orderly authority, or is it not?
Hamilton therefore asked Washington if he might
raise the army to put down the rebellion. Now he was recognition of
not Secretary of War: Knox held that office; but, of ^™fn g 7he
course, the attack was on the Treasury department. rebelli <> n -
222
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Resignation from
the Treasury.
Circumstances
making Hamilton
boss of the
Federalist party;
thus increasingly
the politician.
Washington consented; and Hamilton raised 10,000
infantry and 2,000 cavalry; marching with Washing-
ton at the head of the troops into Pennsylvania. When
the rebels saw the size of the force coming against
them, they — well, they just evaporated. When the
army got well into Pennsylvania, there were no rebels
there. Thus Hamilton suppressed, practically blood-
lessly, the only active challenging of the Federal Gov-
ernment till the Civil War.
The following year, 1795, feeling that his work in
the Treasury was largely accomplished, he resigned to
resume his law practice. With an expensive family,
it was difficult to live on his secretarial salary. He
could not escape politics, however. The members of
the Cabinet and other leaders came continually to
consult him, as the chief figure among those who had
moulded the government; and thus, without wishing
it, he was pushed into the position of boss of the Fed-
eralist party. This helps to explain the increase in
the politician as compared with the statesman, in
Hamilton's later years.
When Washington, in 1796, peremptorily refus-
ing to consider a third term, wished to give a farewell
message to the American people, he turned to his asso-
ciate and old-time secretary for help. Before the close
of his first term, he had asked similar assistance of
James Madison. His mind now definitely made up,
Washington jotted down the ideas he wanted to cover;
but reluctant, as always, to take his pen in hand, he
handed the paper, with probably Madison's sketch, to
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 223
Hamilton, and asked him to draft an address, on the
basis of these points. Hamilton did so ; and Washing-
ton was so pleased with the draft that he adopted it,
and apparently, with a few changes, issued it as his Drafting
Farewell Address to the American People. Do not ^ a rewTn Address.
forget, next time you read that classic, that it is the
work of two minds : the ideas of the great chief, elab-
orated and expressed, as in the early years of the Rev-
olution, by his life long co-worker and old-time secre-
tary, Hamilton.
The worst attack of all, upon Hamilton, came in
, wnw , n, i • ,. , a , t_v The attack upon
1797, two years alter his retirement from public Hamilton in 1797.
office. Back in 1792, when he was in the thick of the
fight in the Treasury department, two scoundrels,
Clingman and Reynolds, were thrown into jail, ac-
cused of suborning perjury to obtain money on claims
against the government. They let it be known that
they had some hold on a high officer of the govern-
ment; and Muhlenberg, speaker of the House, went
to see them. They showed him certain letters from
Hamilton, and told him Hamilton had conspired with
them to defraud the government. While not believ-
ing the charge, Muhlenberg, being a Congressman,
felt the matter must be investigated. He took two
other congressmen, Venable and James Monroe; and
the three called upon Hamilton, and informed him
of the charges.
Hamilton frankly laid the whole private matter
before them. He told them that, during one of the
long periods in the country's service, a handsome,
224
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's
publication of the
Reynolds
pamphlet.
vulgar woman, Mrs. Reynolds, had called upon him,
telling him she had been abandoned by her husband,
was in dire need, and asked him for a little money.
Hamilton told them he had gone to see her, had given
her some money, and quickly discovered that, as he
expressed it, she was open to other consolation as
well. He explained that he had become involved in
an unworthy relation with her; then an alleged hus-
band had appeared on the scene, and they had black-
mailed him. Yes, he had given them a thousand dol-
lars, in two payments, and other small sums, disguised
as loans. He turned over all the papers in the case
to the three Congressmen, who took them for exam-
ination ; and returning them, apologized to Hamilton
for having bothered him.
After Washington's retirement, however, when
party bitterness grew to an intense pitch, hardly
equalled subsequently, except just before the Civil
War, James Monroe, who had unfairly kept copies of
certain of the papers, allowed them to get into print.
The object, of course, was to destroy Hamilton's
leadership of the Federalist party. Hamilton de-
manded a full statement from Monroe, who had com-
pletely exonerated him as a public servant ; but Mon-
roe temporized and evaded. Then Hamilton did the
amazing thing, the thing his enemies never dreamed
he would dare to do: he published the whole affair
in the Reynolds pamphlet: all Mrs. Reynolds's pas-
sionate, misspelled letters, her husband's blackmailing
letters, Hamilton's replies: there they were: fifty-two
Scotland.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 225
documents in all. Hamilton accompanied the docu-
ments with a statement, in the course of which he
said, that he was sorry to have to do this, especially
as it would give pain to one whom he dearly loved
(of course, his wife, with whom he had long since
made his peace) ; but his honor as a public man com-
pelled it. The result was complete and permanent
exoneration of his character as a public man and
statesman, but grave private humiliation.
In 1797, the year of this most virulent attack, Ham-
ilton wrote a long letter to a relative in Scotland, of Significance of
!r Hamilton's brief
the same name. His great achievement and fame had story of his life,
evidently aroused his Scotch relatives to claim the re- relative In**
lationship! The letter is a brief, modest autobiog-
raphy. As it gives, best of all surviving documents,
Hamilton's view of his own life, answers many criti-
cisms, and shows, at once, why he undertook the thank-
less task of the Treasury department and why he re-
tired from public office, it is quoted entire :
"Albany, State of New York,
May the 2nd, 1797.
"My dear Sir : Some days since I received with great
pleasure your letter of the 10th of March. The mark
it affords of your kind attention, and the particular ac-
count it gives me of so many relatives in Scotland, are
extremely gratifying to me. You no doubt have under-
stood that my father's affairs at a very early day went
to wreck ; so as to have rendered his situation during
the greatest part of his life far from eligible. This
state of things occasioned a separation between him
and me, when I was very young, and threw me upon
226
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Modest reference
to his brilliant
storming of the
redoubt at
Yorktown.
Why Hamilton
undertook the
Treasury
Secretaryship.
the bounty of my mother's relatives, some of whom were
then wealthy, though by vicissitudes to which human af-
fairs are so liable, they have been since much reduced
and broken up. Myself at about sixteen came to this
country. Having always had a strong propensity to
literary pursuits, by a course of study and laborious ex-
ertion I was able, by the age of nineteen, to qualify my-
self for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the College of
New York, and to lay the foundation for preparatory
study for the future profession of the law.
"The American Revolution intervened. My princi-
ples led me to take part in it ; at nineteen I entered into
the American army as Captain of Artillery. Shortly
after I became, by invitation, aid-de-camp to General
Washington, in which station I served till the com-
mencement of that campaign which ended with the siege
of York in Virginia, and the capture of Cornwallis's
army. The campaign I made at the head of a corps of
light infantry, with which I was present at the siege of
York, and engaged in some interesting operations.
"At the period of the peace of Great Britain, I found
myself a member of Congress by appointment of the
Legislature of this State.
"After the peace, I settled in the city of New York,
in the practice of the law, and was in a very lucrative
course of practice, when the derangement of our public
affairs, by the feebleness of the general confederation,
drew me again reluctantly into public life. I became a
member of the Convention which framed the present
Constitution of the United States ; and having taken
part in this measure, I conceived myself to be under an
obligation to lend my aid towards putting the machine
in some regular motion. Hence, I did not hesitate to
accept the offer of President Washington to undertake
the office of Secretary of the Treasury.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
227
"In that office I met with many intrinsic difficulties,
and many artificial ones, proceeding from passions, not
very worthy, common to human nature, and which act
with peculiar force in republics. The object, however,
was effected of establishing public credit and introduce
ing order in the finances.
"Public office in this country has few attractions.
The pecuniary emolument is so inconsiderable as to
amount to a sacrifice to any man who can employ his
time with advantage in any liberal profession. The op-
portunity of doing good, from the jealousy of power
and the spirit of faction, is too small in any station to
warrant a long continuance of private sacrifices. The
enterprises of party had so far succeeded as materially
to weaken the necessary influence and energy of the
executive authority, and so far diminish the power of
doing good in that department, as greatly to take away
the motives which a virtuous man might have for mak-
ing sacrifices. The prospect was even bad for gratify-
ing in future the love of fame, if that passion was to be
the spring of action.
"The union of these motives, with the reflections of
prudence in relation to a growing family, determined
me as soon as my plan had attained a certain maturity,
to withdraw from office. This I did by a resignation
about two years since, when I resumed the profession of
the law in the City of New York under every advantage
I could desire.
"It is a pleasant reflection to me, that since the com-
mencement of my connection with General Washington
to the present time, I have possessed a flattering share
of his confidence and friendship.
"Having given you a brief sketch of my political ca-
reer, I proceed to some further family details.
"In the year 1780 I married the second daughter of
The simple
reference to his
great achievement.
The bitter lessons
and mood of
pessimism,
resulting from
Hamilton's
experiences as
statesman.
Reasons for
retiring from
public office.
Reverence and
friendship for
Washington.
228
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Happiness of
Hamilton's
domestic life.
Evidence of
Hamilton's later
relations with his
father.
General Schuyler, a gentleman of one of the best fam-
ilies of this country, of large fortune, and no less per-
sonal and political consequence. It is impossible to be
happier than I am in a wife ; and I have five children,
four sons and a daughter, the eldest a son somewhat
past fifteen, who all promise as well as their years per-
mit, and yield me much satisfaction. Though I have
been too much in public life to be wealthy, my situation
is extremely comfortable, and leaves me nothing to wish
but a continuance of health. With this blessing, the
profits of my profession and other prospects authorize
an expectation of such addition to my resources as will
render the eve of life easy and agreeable, so far as may
depend on this consideration.
"It is now several months since I have heard from
my father, who continued at the island of St. Vincent.
My anxiety at this silence would be greater than it is,
were it not for the considerable interruption and pre-
cariousness of intercourse which is produced by the
war.
"I have strongly pressed the old gentleman to come
and reside with me, which would afford him every en-
joyment of which his advanced age is capable; but he
has declined it on the ground that the advice of his
physicians leads him to fear that the change of climate
would be fatal to him. The next thing for me is, in pro-
portion to my means, to endeavor to increase his com-
forts where he is.
"It will give me the greatest pleasure to receive your
son Robert at my house in New York, and still more
to be of use to him; to which end, my recommendation
and interest will not be wanting, and I hope not un-
availing. It is my intention to embrace the opening
which your letter affords me to extend my intercourse
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
229
with my relatives in your country, which will be a new
source of satisfaction to me."*
When John Adams succeeded Washington as
president, he took over the existing Cabinet, whose
members, as we have seen, went constantly to consult
Hamilton. This greatly displeased Adams, who,
forceful and opinionated, felt that he was quite able
to run the government without outside help or inter-
ference. His consequent growing dislike of Hamilton
was a case of one strong man resenting another. Then
came the scare of war with France, over the X Y Z
Letters, and Adams's appointment of Washington,
as Commander-in-Chief, to raise an army. Washing-
ton accepted, on condition that he be privileged to ap-
point his subordinate generals ; and named Hamilton,
Pinckney and Knox. Adams, disliking Hamilton,
wished to reverse the order, and commission Knox,
Pinckney and Hamilton. Washington said No, Col-
onel Hamilton is the younger man, he has worked
with me and understands my methods, I want him
next under me. Well, even forceful John Adams
could not oppose George Washington; so he gritted
his teeth and issued the commissions, Hamilton,
Pinckney and Knox; and hated Hamilton all the
more. On one occasion Adams referred to Hamilton
as "the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar". That was
unworthy and unfair; but he said it. Meantime, the
President Adams's
resentment toward
Hamilton.
The X Y Z
Letters.
Appointment of
Hamilton as first
General under
Washington.
* Hamilton, letter to his Scotch relative, Alexander Hamilton:
Works, Vol. X, pp. 257-261.
230
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Hamilton's reply
to the accusation
of leading a
British faction.
Circumstances of
the publication of
Hamilton's
pamphlet on
The Public
Character and
Conduct of John
Adams.
war scare blew over, leaving Hamilton Inspector Gen-
eral of the army.
Then came the foolish enactment, against Hamil-
ton's warning, of the vicious alien and sedition laws,
with the consequent wrecking of the Federalist party.
After Washington's death, President Adams, in a
rage with Hamilton, got rid of Hamilton's remaining
friends in the Cabinet.
During the last year of President Adams's admin-
istration Hamilton wrote him a letter, stating that
Adams was reported to have declared Hamilton the
leader of a British faction, and asking if the Presi-
dent had made such a charge. Receiving no reply,
Hamilton waited exactly two months, and then wrote
a second letter, in which he said:
"This much I affirm, that by whomsoever a charge
of the kind mentioned in my former letter, may, at any
time, have been made or insinuated against me, it is a
base, wicked and cruel calumny; destitute even of a
plausible pretext, to excuse the folly, or mark the de-
pravity which must have dictated it."*
The result of all this was that, when the election of
1800 came, Hamilton prepared, for private circula-
tion among the Federalist leaders, a pamphlet on The
Public Character and Conduct of John Adams.
Aaron Burr, his rival in New York politics, got hold
of fragments of it and published them, compelling
Hamilton to publish the whole, in self defense. Thus
* Hamilton, in letter to John Adams of Oct. 1st, 1800: Works, Vol.
VII, p. 365.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 231
Hamilton was In the anomalous position of support-
ing John Adams, as the most available candidate the
Federalists had to succeed himself in the presidency;
yet with this published pamphlet, severely criticising
the candidate's public character and conduct. It was
one of the several occasions where Hamilton allowed
his passions to get the better of his judgment as
statesman, always, of course, with bad consequences.
There was thus no chance for Adams to carry New
York State; and there followed the equal number of
votes for Jefferson and Burr, in the electoral college,
throwing the election into the Federalist House, Ha-
ting Jefferson as the outstanding opposition leader,
_ _ . Hamilton's part in
the House, as we have seen, was inclined to choose making Jefferson
Burr, until Hamilton intervened to give the election resi ent *
to the one who, though his enemy, he recognized to
be an earnest patriot, as against the man he had come
to regard as an unprincipled adventurer. Let me re-
peat, it was one of the great and magnanimous
achievements of Hamilton's career that his influence
made Thomas Jefferson President of the United
States.
Naturally, Burr's hatred of Hamilton was in-
creased. When they were both stripling young offi- ^ed of° Wing
cers in the Revolution, Burr and Hamilton had been Hamilton -
friends ; but Burr's political methods aroused Hamil-
ton's distrust, and he came to regard Burr as an un-
principled adventurer. When, in 1791, Burr was
elected to the national Senate, in place of General
Schuyler, the circumstances were such as to make
232
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The challenge
to a duel.
Reasons for
Hamilton's
acceptance of
Burr's challenge.
Hamilton intensely bitter. As time went on, Hamil-
ton attacked Burr, in letters to other statesmen, with
increasing venom: a further example of the clouding
of his statesmanship by his passions. Burr waited
until the attacks became semi-public, and demanded
an explanation. Hamilton gave one which Burr de-
clared unsatisfactory; and challenged Hamilton to
a duel.
Why did Hamilton accept? He hated the whole
vicious duelling system. It is true, early in life, he
had served as second to Laurens, in the duel with
General Charles Lee, over the latter's scurrilous at-
tack on Washington ; but that was in military affairs,
and the honor of their beloved chief was in question.
Moreover, some years before Burrs challenge, Philip,
Hamilton's eldest son, outraged by the vicious attacks
upon his father, had challenged one of the detractors,
and been killed in a duel at Weehawken, to his
father's deep and lasting grief, and the mental break-
down of his sister. It is interesting that Hamilton's
eighth and last child, born in 1802, was also named
Philip (Little Philip, he was called) in memory of the
favorite eldest son, who had gone the path his father
shortly followed.
Why then did Hamilton accept? The writings he
left answer the question and show how his mind
worked. He argued with himself: I am the head of
the Federalist party, that is, of the group of men
who have made our government. If I decline this
challenge, public opinion being what is is, I shall be
ALEXANDER HAMILTON 233
stigmatized as a coward, and my leadership destroyed.
I would better be dead than have that happen. If
I am to live, I must go on serving the cause, as leader
of those who seek to foster the authority, efficiency
and permanence of the nation's government. He
accepted.
An unusual number of days intervened between the
acceptance and the duel. Hamilton spent the time Jay S m ^ r Jw mng
setting his house in order, in the endeavor to leave his Hamilton spent
. . them.
family in not too difficult circumstances, in the event
of his death. He had earned liberally, but spent
freely. His family had occupied several homes in
New York; and then, wishing ta live completely in
the country, Hamilton had gone away beyond the city
and built The Grange, far out in the wilderness — at
142nd Street and 10th Avenue. In the nights before
the duel, Hamilton wrote two agonizingly tender love
letters to his wife. Burr spent the intervening days in to kill,
pistol practice on Long Island: he meant to kill.
The duel occurred at morn, across the river at
Weehawken, July 11th, 1804. Hamilton's pistol
went off in the air : he had said that he would not fire
upon his adversary. Burr shot to kill; and killed.
Hamilton, mortally wounded, was carried across the The tragic end of
river, and died the next day, July 12th, 1804: forty-
seven and a half years old ! He should have had an-
other thirty years of service. O, maybe his work was
done: the battle had been fought through and the
great steps taken in establishing the government. In
his last years, Hamilton had been increasingly the
234
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Effect on the
country.
The long life-
loyalty of
Hamilton's wife.
politician, as compared with the pure statesman of
his great days: maybe his great work was done; but
if he had gone on developing and serving, what might
not the Hamilton of another thirty years of life have
done for us!
The whole country was aroused by the murder, for
as such it was regarded. That the Vice President of
the United States should murder the greatest states-
man in it, under the forms of a duel, so shocked the
people, that it did more than anything else that ever
happened to eliminate the infamous duelling system.
Understand, it was a long time before it went; but
the murder of Hamilton by Burr was a chief cause of
its passing.
Hamilton's wife survived him fifty years! She
spent her active years, during that half century of
widowhood, in seeking justice for her husband's
memory. Hamilton's son grew up, and wrote the
story of his father's life. The widow finally secured
the purchase by Congress of Hamilton's papers, in-
suring their being kept intact. She won her fight!
When she came to die, in 1854, at the age of ninety-
seven, there was found upon her breast, enclosed in a
little bag, tied about her neck with a piece of ribbon,
the faded paper, containing the love verses Hamilton
had written to her, as her fiance, seventy-four years
before.
LEE : THE AMERICAN WARRIOR
THE foregoing essays have dealt with the mak-
ing of the Nation, the initiation of our institu-
tions, their early progress, and the original cleav-
age in political philosophy, based on opposing views of
the Constitution, and resulting in the political parties
led by Hamilton and Jefferson. We come now to the ^^^nt£3
culmination of that cleavage, in the terrible trial by philosophy.
fire, through which the Nation was reborn and present
day America made possible ; studying it through those
two outstanding leaders, Lee- and Lincoln, to whom
the opposing sides turned in fratricidal conflict: both
Nature's noblemen; each absolutely consecrated to
his cause.
The union of States was formed under the whip
of necessity. During the Revolution, the Colonies The Union of the
were compelled to make common cause, establish the stat ^ compelled
r 'by circumstances,
weak Continental Congress, and loosely confederate,
in order to pull the struggle through to victorious in-
dependence. So, in those dark years following the
Revolutionary War, the infant States were forced to
get together, make a Constitution, unite under it and
establish a central Federal government, to be able to
stand on their feet and hold up a self-respecting face
to a threatening and potentially hostile world.
235
236
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Doubts of the
Union's
permanence.
Growth in the
power and
authority of
the Federal
government.
Free trade among
the States as
fostering national
unity,
Effect of vast
immigration on
the nationalism
of the North
and West.
Those who formed the Union doubtless hoped it
would last permanently: that is proved by the fact
that there is no provision for withdrawal in the Con-
stitution ; but it was hope rather than clear conviction.
The view of the States as absolutely sovereign was
universal; and even the strongest supporters of a
union under a Federal government, such as Washing-
ton and Hamilton, had periods of depression when
they questioned its continuance.
Hamilton's far seeing fight had borne fruit, how-
ever, and the Federal government grew rapidly and
steadily in power and authority. This resulted in
part from the mere expansion of the country in terri-
tory and population. The larger the area over which
a government functions, other things being equal, the
more powerful it is apt to become.
The absence of trade restrictions among the States
tended further to obliterate the older State attach-
ments and make for national unity. Free, unham-
pered commerce is one of the most unifying forces
known. With goods and persons moving freely across
the State borders, those lines became increasingly
mere convenient political divisions, with the Nation
the unit on which patriotic feeling centered.
This process was accentuated, in the North and
West, by the great tide of immigration that flowed
across the Atlantic upon our shores, in multiplying
volume. Those immigrants came, not to Massa-
chusetts, Pennsylvania or Ohio: they came to Amer-
ica, which they regarded as the land of freedom and
ROBERT E. LEE 237
opportunity. They were scarcely more interested in
State lines than in County and City divisions. Their
patriotism, often intense in character, was focussed,
not upon the State, but on the National government,
as the government of all the people in the land.
A further cause, also affecting the North and West,
was the rapid development of manufacturing indus- influence of
. ., ,. . . , manufacturing
tries. An industrial population is notoriously un- industries on the
stable, moving readily from place to place, as wages
and conditions of employment vary. That growing
population had no tradition of attachment to the State
as sovereign: its loyalty also centered naturally on
the government of the Nation.
Certain of these causes did not act, to the same
extent upon the Sputh. Little of that tide of immi-
gration went south, during the first half of the nine- Survival of the
teenth century. When the Civil War broke out, the state patriotism
majority of people living in the south Atlantic states ln the Soutn -
had been born upon the soil where they lived. They
had deeply the tradition of attachment to the sover-
eign State government, upon which patriotic feeling
had originally centered. As the southwest territories
were opened up, they were settled chiefly by people
from the south Atlantic states, who carried with them
this tradition of State affiliation.
The South, moreover, remained agricultural. An
agricultural population is far more intensely attached Significance
, ., , • -, • t r™ ttt n tit that the South
to the soil than an industrial one. lhe World War remained
gave an impressive illustration of that. The fervor a s ncu ura •
of patriotism, marking the French people in the war,
238 AMERICAN STATESMEN
came in no small measure from the French custom of
dividing each farm among all the children of a family,
so that each peasant has his little strip of land, which
he regards as a bit better than any other land in
France, and therefore in all the world. It was largely
the attachment of the French peasant to the soil of
France that gave the passionate loyalty France dis-
played in the war. Conditions of argriculture in the
South, of course, differed widely from those in mod-
ern France; but there was a similar intense local
type of patriotism, cherishing the tradition of State
affiliation.
Those differences, marking the South, received
Reasons for the their supreme expression in old Virginia. Virginia
SouThern^radition had a great tradition. With Massachusetts, she had
in old Virginia. called for a union of the Colonies and initiated the
Revolution. She had declared herself independent
of Britain, and furnished the great commander-in-
chief to lead the American forces to victory, return-
ing him for two terms as first President of the infant
Nation. Traditionally the "Mother of Presidents,"
she had sent, in turn, Jefferson, Madison and Mon-
roe to follow Washington in leadership of the Nation.
Her population was largely of direct English de-
scent, with a considerable fraction from the lesser
British nobility, Virginia was the most impressive
surviving example of the original sovereign State;
and the devotion of her people to her was particularly
fervid. All this was behind Robert E. Lee.
Lee was born at Stratford, Westmoreland County,
ROBERT E. LEE 239
Virginia, a few miles from the birthplace of Washing-
ton, January 19th, 1807, of best Virginia families Lee's father, Light
on both sides. His father was that Light Horse Horse Harry Lee '
Harry Lee, Washington's beloved young comrade
of the Revolution. You will remember his excellent
service, at Paulus Hook and elsewhere. He was,
indeed, the only officer, below the rank of general, to
be voted a medal by the Continental Congress; and it
was he whom the Congress invited to give the Me-
morial Address over Washington, in which he used
those words, already quoted as still defining our view
of Washington, that he was "First in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
Moreover, some biographers identify that "Lowland
Beauty,' ' as Washington called her, of whom he was
enamoured in his youth and to whom he wrote those
tender but rather clumsy verses, as the same girl who
afterwards married one of the Lees and became the
mother of Light Horse Harry. If true, this would
merely help to explain Washington's attachment for
his young comrade in arms.
Light Horse Harry Lee was twice married. His *
second wife was Anne Carter, of the eminent Carter Lee ' s mother -
family in Virginia; and her third son was Robert E.
Lee.
When Lee was a child of four, the family moved to
Alexandria, near Washington's Mount Vernon
home, to secure better educational opportunities for
the children. The following year, the War of 1812 thT^Ly^anY
broke out; and President Madison commissioned his fa*her° f Lees
240 AMERICAN STATESMEN
friend, Light Horse Harry Lee, one of the generals
to lead the army of invasion into Canada. He started
North; stopped at Baltimore. There was a riot in
that city; and in endeavoring to protect a friend, a
Federalist editor, from the mob, Light Horse Harry
Lee was injured. He went to the West Indies in
search of health; did not get better; returned to an
island off the Georgia coast, the home of General
Nathanael Greene, his comrade of the Revolution;
and died there in 1818, when his son Robert, was a
Parallel with boy of eleven. Thus Lee had the misfortune, at the
Washington. a g e Q f e i even? | } ose j^g father, exactly as had hap-
pened to Washington.
Lee was the main stay of his widowed and semi-
Lee's chivalry invalid mother, treating her with beautiful courtesy
and tender chivalry, taking upon himself the cares of
the household, while continuing his studies. Lee
differed from others of our great leaders in having
Excellent early excellent schooling. He was thoroughly prepared
" education. for Wegt p^ haying early decided to foUow the
footsteps of his father in a military career.
One of Lee's cousins is authority for the statement
that it was Mrs. Lewis, the Nellie Custis of Mount
Vernon, Washington's favorite step -grandchild, and
the aunt of the girl Lee afterwards married, who went
with the young Lee to Washington, to intercede
with General Andrew Jackson, then Senator from
PoinTat Tennessee, to get Lee admitted to West Point. In
eighteen. an y case? h e was admitted at the age of eighteen.
Then, as now, the discipline was strict and the cur-
Remarkable record
ROBERT E. LEE 241
riculum hard. Lee went through his four years with-
out a single demerit mark. He was early cadet
officer; then adjutant of the entire batallion, the most
coveted honor at West Point; and he was graduated
second in a class of forty-six. Taking those facts to- a * West Point.
gether, they make an almost unequalled record for
the whole history of West Point.
Then, as today, the engineers were the aristocracy
of the army. Lee entered that corps; and his first
service was at Hampton Roads, where he was em-
ployed in improving the fortifications of the harbor. Ham P ton V Road9
While on this service, Lee made frequent visits to
Arlington, the beautiful home of George Wash-
ington Parke Custis, Washington's step-grandchild,
adopted, with his sister, as Washington's own chil-
dren, after the death of the father, Jack Custis, when
Washington became convinced he was not to have a
direct heir.
Here at Arlington, Lee resumed what had been a
boy and girl friendship with Mary Parke Custis,
daughter of the family. A warm love affair quickly \
developed. There seems to have been some opposi- Lee's engagement
, • , , ,1 , (* ,1 and marriage to
tion to an engagement, on the part of the young Mary Parke
woman's parents, owing to Lee's limited financial cir- Custls -
cumstances ; but the young persons succeeded quickly
in overcoming this opposition; and the year that Lee
was twenty-four, he and Mary Parke Custis were Bonds between
married. Lee's family
and that of
Thus Lee's marriage added a further bond, to the Washington.
many already existing, between his family and that
242
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Washington as
Lee's hero and
model.
Identity of
character in Lee
and Washington.
Domestic life.
of Washington. Very early in life, Lee had deliber-
ately chosen Washington as his hero and model. His
whole conduct and career were consciously moulded
on the example of Washington; and it is interesting
to note how many characteristics were the same in
both men. Lee had Washington's absolute integrity,
his devotion to duty. Lee said repeatedly that "duty
is the noblest word in our language"; and he made
it the guiding principle in his conduct of life. He
had Washington's courage and patient endurance,
Washington's modesty and selflessness. Moreover in
the crisis of his career, Lee dreamed of achieving, for
his State and section, what Washington had won for
the whole group of Colonies, namely, complete in-
dependence from what he had come to regard as ex-
ternal tyranny.
Lee's marriage, resulting from the warm and
tender love affair, was lived with entire loyalty
through his whole life. No breath of scandal ever
touched the personal character and conduct of Robert
E. Lee. Seven children were born of the union, all
growing up to maturity. Three of Lee's sons became
officers in the Confederate army, and two of them
reached the rank of Major General. Lee's letters
to his wife and children are beautiful combinations of
tenderness and affection with that reserve, that
marked him as it did Washington. Lee had more
introspection than Washington; otherwise their char-
acteristics seem the same.
A few months after Lee's marriage, a terrible series
ROBERT E. LEE 243
of events occurred in the southeastern corner of Vir-
ginia. A certain Nat Turner, negro slave and half-
crazed religious fanatic, believing himself called of
~ , , ,° , i • i , . . The Nat Turner
God to redeem and revenge his people, and seeing in rebellion,
the heavens signs that the hour had struck, started on
a murdering expedition. He associated other negroes
with him, and others were forced to join the band; in
the end it numbered fifty-three. Five of the family
of Turner's master were murdered in their beds. The
only white persons in the neighborhood who escaped
were those protected by faithful slaves. In all, fifty-
seven whites were murdered, including all the chil-
dren in a school. Bands of white men gathered to-
gether, troops were sent from Fortress Monroe, the
negroes were hunted down; and the leaders were, not
lynched, but tried, convicted and legally hanged.
This rebellion produced a terrible impression all
over the South. It wakened the southern people to a Far reaching
realization of the slumbering volcano on which they Turner Rebellion
were living, and to what would happen were that on the South -
volcano suddenly to explode. The result was severer
laws regarding freed negroes, stricter treatment of
slaves and a general stopping of the wide spread
movement for gradually emancipating the slaves, then
on all over the South.
This series of events produced a deep impression
on Lee. His letters to his wife, at the time, show how
profoundly he was affected by them. Please remem-
ber this series of events : it had much to do with what
followed.
244
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Lee's work at
St. Louis.
The years of
service in New
York harbor.
After Hampton Roads, Lee's next important work
was at St. Louis. The channel of the Mississippi was
changing, threatening a part of the city; and St.
Louis appealed for help to General Scott, head of
the United States army. General Scott responded
that he knew but one man capable of meeting the
problem. He said, "He is young, but if the work
can be done, he can do it" ; and recommended Robert
E. Lee.
Lee went to St. Louis. The work went forward
thoroughly, but slowly. The people of St. Louis be-
came impatient. It is said that a cannon was even
placed where it could be fired upon Lee and his men,
if desired. Lee said, "They can do as they like with
their own, but I was sent here to do certain work, and
I shall do it;" and he did it, so efficiently, that the
present channel of the Mississippi river, at St. Louis,
is determined by the great existing bulwarks, erected
by Robert E. Lee.
Earlier, Lee had surveyed the upper Mississippi,
and opened it to navigation ; and his report to the gov-
ernment really determined our present national policy
on inland water ways.
At thirty-five, Lee was sent to New York, to im-
prove the harbor defenses. He lived for several years
at Fort Hamilton. He issued from this work with the
rank of captain, and was appointed one of the visit-
ing inspectors of West Point.
Lee's great training for his later career, however,
came through the war with Mexico. It is aside from
ROBERT E. LEE
245
our purpose to go into the causes of that war ; but you
will recall it broke out in 1846, when Lee was thirty
nine. The list of officers of the United States army
in the war with Mexico reads like a roster of the
generals on both sides in the Civil War. There were
McClellan, Hancock, Thomas and Grant. There were
Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, Beauregard,
Longstreet, Joseph Johnston, Jubal Early and Lee.
Lee did admirable service in the war with Mexico.
He was honorably mentioned for his work at the
taking of Vera Cruz. He was then attached to Gen-
eral Scott's personal staff, and given much of the
difficult work of advance. For instance, at Cerro
Gordo, General Santa Anna was posted in an ap-
parently impregnable pass in the mountains. Lee
discovered a by-path around the summit; led a por-
tion of the army over it to a position in front ; posted
batteries by night; and in the morning, executed a
turning movement that drove Santa Anna out.
In his report on Cerro Gordo, General Scott said:
"I am compelled to make special mention of the serv-
ices of Captain R. E. Lee, Engineer. This officer,
greatly distinguished at the siege of Vera Cruz, was
again indefatigable, during these operations, in recon-
naissances as daring as laborious, and of the utmost
value. Nor was he less conspicuous in planting bat-
teries, and in conducting columns to their stations un-
der the heavy fire of the enemy."*
Still more important was Lee's work at Contreras,
The war with
Mexico.
Officers in the war
with Mexico who
became generals in
the Civil War.
Lee's brilliant
service and
training for his
later career, in the
war with Mexico.
General Scott's
report on Lee's
service at Cerro
Gordo,
* Scott, Gen. Winfield, in Supplemental Report on Cerro Gordo, Apr.
23rd, 1847: Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 450.
246
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Lee's remarkable
feat at Contreras
General Scott's
repeated praise
of Lee.
Lee at the
conclusion of the
war with Mexico
on the road to the City of Mexico. Here, the road
lay between impassable swamps, rivers and lakes, on
one side, and on the other, a tangled mass of twisted
lava rock, called the Pedrigal. Lee discovered a mule
track through the Pedrigal; widened it with his en-
gineers; led two divisions over it to the front. Then
it was discovered that they were out of touch with
headquarters, and General Scott must be notified. So
alone, at night, in a drenching storm, Lee made his
way back across that desolate twisted mass of lava
rock; reported to General Scott; and again returned
alone, arriving in time for the assault, the following
morning.
Referring to this feat, General Scott said:
"Of the seven officers * * * not one has succeeded
in getting through these difficulties, increased by dark-
ness. They have all returned. But the gallant and in-
defatigable Captain Lee, of the Engineers, who has been
constantly with the operating forces, is (eleven o'clock
p. m.) just in * * * to ask that a powerful diversion
be made against the center of the entrenched camp
toward morning."*
In his summary of the campaign, General Scott
mentioned "Captain R. E. Lee, as distinguished for
felicitous execution as for science and daring." t
Those are authentic words. General Scott is further
reported to have said that Lee was the greatest mili-
tary genius in America. Whether he said it or not,
it was true. Thus Lee issued from the war with
\* Scott, Gen. Winfield, Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 475.
flbid., pp. 500, 501.
ROBERT E. LEE 247
Mexico, brevetted Colonel, with the warm approba-
tion of all his superiors, and without the jealousy of
his associates : a signal illustration of his modesty and
generosity, as well as nobility of spirit.
Lee was now made Superintendent of West Point;
and served in that capacity from the age of forty five Four years as
to forty nine. His discipline was strict, but his atti- f UP West e point.
tude fatherly; and the students all loved him de-
votedly. His own son, Custis, was a cadet at West
Point, during these years.
Then in 1856, Jefferson Davis, United States
Secretary of War, commissioned Lee Lieutenant
Colonel of a regiment of cavalry, and ordered him Service in Texas.
to Texas, to protect the Texans against the Indians.
Lee regretted leaving his beloved engineers corps,
and disliked the assignment because of the necessary
long periods of absence from home; but, of course,
obeyed orders. He went to Texas for several years
of desultory Indian fighting, still further equipping
him for his later career.
In 1859, he was called home to Arlington by the
death of his father-in-law, G. W. Parke Custis. He i n 1859.
adjusted his father-in-law's estate. In the will, it
was provided that all the slaves should be freed at a
certain date. Lee had long since let go the few slaves
he had inherited ; and he freed these others on the as-
signed date, which, strange to say, fell one week
after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclama-
tion.
While Lee was at home on furlough, the John
The John Brown
248 AMERICAN STATESMEN
Brown raid occurred; and the Secretary of War tele-
graphed Lee to take a detachment of marines, proceed
to Harper's Ferry and arrest the raiders. Singular,
raid, and Lee's part that this service should have fallen to Lee's lot, owing
to the accident of his being on furlough at Arlington.
Lee took his marines; went to Harper's Ferry;
stormed the engine house, in which John Brown and
his associates were barricaded; arrested the raiders,
and turned them over to the civil authorities. It was
all done quietly and effectively, as Lee fulfilled every
task assigned him.
Lee returned to Texas, for another period of
wLht^ta the Indian fighting; and then, in the spring of 1861, he
spring of 1861; was suddenlv ordered to Washington. He arrived to
arriving to nnd " ^
the Southern find seven states already seceded; their representa-
aiready raCy tives having met in Montgomery, Alabama, and in
established. early February, weeks before Lincoln took office as
President, formed the Southern Confederacy, with
Jefferson Davis, ex-United States Secretary of War,
as President, and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice
President. Lee thus returned to Washington to find
the Southern Confederacy an accomplished fact,
J>\Na _ already formed and functioning.
The CiviiN^ar as ^^ e Civil War was simply the culmination of that
t f e tne lm rMnai l cl eay age of political philosophy, which began in the
conflict of opinion Constitution itself, and took shape immediately after
Constitution and in the divisions of opinion led by Jefferson and
Hamilton. 1 The makers of our Constitution, after
the months of wrangling, established a dual system
of government. We are unique among the nations
ROBERT E. LEE 249
in living under that dual system of government. Cer-
tain rights and powers were reserved, in the Con-
stitution, to the State Governments. Others were
specifically assigned to the new Federal Govern- 0ur dual sys t e m
ment; but, of course, the delegates could not cover of g° ,vernment -
the ground. New problems have arisen in every
decade of our history. Immediately the question
arose as to which government was entitled to exercise
the powers unassigned in the Constitution. Here
came the cleavage; and it is so important for our
whole history, that it must be repeated.
Jefferson held that the State governments were
the original sovereign governments." Their repre- The political
sentatives had met and formed the Federal Govern- j e ffers°6n and his
ment to execute certain limited functions. There- followers '
fore, the Federal Government could not lawfully ex-
ercise any power, not specifically granted to it in the
Constitution; and each State could rightly annul
(nullify) any act of the Federal Government, not
specifically warranted in the Constitution; with each
State, since absolutely sovereign, its own final judge,
as to when its rights had been violated; thus denying
the authority of the Supreme Court finally to inter-
pret the Constitution.
Hamilton held just the opposite. His view was,
you remember, that the Federal Government, once The view of
formed, was the government of all the people in the Shirty. "*
nation. As such, it was superior to the government
of any fraction or section of the population. Thus all
powers not specifically reserved to the subordinate
250
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The original
conflict of opinion.
Attitude of the
founders of our
government
toward the
question in
dispute.
Article X of the
Constitution.
The Civil War
a conflict of
loyalties.
r
State governments, in the Constitution, belonged to
the government of the whole nation, and might right-
fully be assumed by the Federal Government, with .
the Supreme Court as the final judge and interpreter
of the Constitution.
There, in the simplest possible statement of it, is
the original conflict of opinion, held with equal sin-
cerity on both sides, which divided our country for
more than a half-century, and was settled, or sup-
pressed, only by the terrible arbitrament of fratricidal
war.
It seems almost as if the founders of our govern-
ment meant to leave the question of this conflict open,
for later solution; for Article X of the Constitution A
(one of the first series of Amendments, declared-4n-
force December 15th, 1791) reads:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
If the unassigned powers were reserved to the
States, then Jefferson's view was right; if they were
reserved to the people, Hamilton's interpretation was
justified.
The Civil War was thus a conflict of loyalties ; and
we Americans may well be proud of the fact that all
our great wars have been wars of ideas and not pri-
marily of interests. The War for Independence, the
Civil War and the World War were all dominantly
wars of ideas.
The original conflict of opinion, regarding State
ROBERT E. LEE
251
and Nation, was in no degree sectional : it ran through
all the States, dividing the citizenship everywhere.
The first vigorous opposition to the Federal govern-
ment, moreover, and affirmation of the rights of the
States over against it, came, not from the South: ifi
came from New England; and the statement is made
by one of Plymouth Rock ancestry on both sides.
In the war of 1812, for instance, certain New Eng-
land States were incensed at measures taken by the
National government; and Daniel Webster, then
Representative in Congress, made a speech, in
December, 1814, on the Conscription bill in which he
said:
"No law professedly passed for the purpose of com-
pelling a service in the regular army, nor any law which,
under color of military draft, shall compel men to
serve in the army, not for the emergencies mentioned
in the Constitution, but for long periods, and for the
general objects of war, can be carried into effect. In ''
my opinion it ought not to be carried into effect. The
operation of measures thus unconstitutional and illegal
ought to be prevented by a resort to other measures
which are both constitutional and legal. It will be the
solemn duty of the State governments to protect their
own authority over their own militia, and to interpose
between their citizens and arbitrary power. These are
among the objects for which the State governments ex-
ist ; and their highest obligations bind them to the pres-
ervation of their own rights, and the liberties of their
people. I express these sentiments here, Sir, because
I shall express them to my constituents."*
* Daniel Webster, from Speech on the Conscription Bill, House of
Representatives, December 9, 1814: Writings, Supplem. Vol. II, p. 68.
The original
cleavage as not
sectional.
New England as
first challenging
the Federal
government and
affirming State
rights,
Daniel Webster's
speech in the House
of Representatives,
Dec. 9th, 1814.
Had Webster's
opinion prevailed,
men could not
have been drafted
in the World War
and sent across
the ocean to fight
in France,
The "arbitrary-
power" of the
Federal
government.
252
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Significance of
the Hartford
Convention and
its resolutions.
H
v9
The doctrine of
State sovereignty
in William
Rawle's View of
the Constitution.
We think of Daniel Webster as the great defender
of the Union and its government: he became that in
Ihe later conflict; but this is what he said in 1814.
He may have regretted it, afterwards, but he said it.
Massachusetts and Connecticut had acted, more-
over, on the view Webster's speech expresses, refus-
ing to turn over their militia to the Federal Govern-
ment in the war of 1812. The Government, in conse-
quence refused to pay the war expenses of those
States. As a result, the same month of Webster's
speech, representatives of Massachusetts, Connecti-
cut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island
met at Hartford, Connecticut, and passed resolutions
bitterly attacking actions of the Federal Government
— resolutions regarded in many quarters as treason-
able. The original cleavage of opinion was in no sense
sectional.
An eminent northern lawyer, William Rawle,
Chancellor of the Philadelphia Law Association, and
author of a Manual of Cases, still quoted by lawyers
when they wish particularly to impress a judge with
authority, wrote a book on the Constitution, pub-
lished in 1825. We are told it was used at West
Point, during the following fifteen years, as an offi-
cial text book for the education of the cadets, thus
through the period in which Lee was a student there.
In the course of that text-book, William Rawle says
(quoted from the edition of 1829, with identical word-
ing) :
"The States, then, may wholly withdraw from the
ROBERT E. LEE 253
Union; but while they continue they must retain the
character of representative republics.
xj? 5Jt tJ? 7lff t|?
"The secession of a State from the Union depends on
the will of the people of such State."* 4
No southern leader in the Civil War ever claimed
more ; yet that is the view of a most eminent northern
legal mind, in the second quarter of the nineteenth
century. The original division of opinion was in no
degree sectional.
During Jackson's administration, South Carolina,
you remember, wanted to nullify and possibly secede ; An ^ r 5^ ^ ac . kson
and it was a President, not from Massachusetts, New
York or Pennsylvania: it was Andrew Jackson of r
Tennessee, who said, "The Union must and shall be
preserved' 3 ; and it was preserved, indeed, while
Andrew Jackson was President. ^ — "*"*--^,
gain, in 1842, John Quincy Adams, then Repre^
sentative from Massachusetts, presented on the floor The Haverhill
. . . petition.
of Congress, a petition from the people of Haverhill,
Massachusetts, asking a dissolution of the Union. The
original cleavage of political conviction was not sec-
tional. _.— - — ■"" """-— -
As time went on, it did tend, however, to become
sectional, placing in opposition the North and the Reasons why the
South. Certain causes of this have already been f ^^^^ m
cited: the vast immigration, with the development of sectional.
manufacturing industries in the North, obliterating
* William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States
of America, pp. 297, 302, Philadelphia, 1829.
254
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Effect of the
discrepancy in
population,
North and South.
State lines and producing attachment to the National
Government ; while the South, remaining agricultural,
little changed by immigration, perpetuated the orig-
inal tradition of devotion to the sovereign State.
The same causes, immigration and manufactures,
produced a preponderant increase in population, in
the North and West as compared with the South.
When the Civil War broke, there were nearly four
^whites to one, in the States remaining in the Union
compared to those seceding from it. This discrepancy
was partly alleviated by allowing five slaves to count
as three white votes, in determining national repre-
sentation; but this did not overcome the difference.
The North, with its developing industries, wanted
protection for them; and with its larger population
could vote it, while the South could not help herself.
Thus she had to buy her manufactured articles from
the North and from Europe at protection prices ; and
sell her agricultural staples, cotton, tobacco and corn,
to the North and to Europe at free trade prices. That
was unfair; but with hardly more than one vote to
four, the South could not protect herself. This situa-
tion tended further to make the Southern people
draw away and cherish the older State affiliation.
The great cause, however, of the sectional cleavage
of he a S SoTal CaUSe was ^ e ^ ar k k* ot °f ne g ro slavery. Originally pre-
cieavage. vailing throughout the land, it had died out in the
North, chiefly because it was too uneconomic for the
conditions of northern production. It had been
stopped by law, in the Northwest, at the beginning
The influence of a
protective tariff
policy on the
South.
The survival of
ROBERT E. LEE 255
of 1800, through the bill fathered, you recall, by
Thomas Jefferson.', It survived for a longer period
in the South, because, though an utterly uneconomic slavery as
institution, it was better adapted to the conditions of the 1 Nation.
southern agricultural production, particularly in the
Cotton States. The result was a wide difference
in the manners and customs of the people, North and
South, leading to a jealous cherishing of the State ■
rights on the part of the South.
The North, moreover, no longer afflicted with the
incubus of slavery, took increasingly a moral view of aboUt*on°8entiment
it. You know it is easy to take high moral ground in the North -
with reference to a problem a long way off : if you do
not know it, you should ; for it is a factor influencing
our views, today as yesterday. The South compelled
to live with slavery, knowing the problem at first
hand, took naturally the political and economic view
of it.
The people of the North, moreover, seeing the
slaves from a long distance, often viewed them Abolitionist views
through rose-colored glasses. So intelligent a man as
Wendell Phillips went about publicly proclaiming
that in one generation after emancipation, the slaves
would be intellectually and morally superior to their
masters. In his lecture on Toussaint UOuvertwre,
given in New York and Boston, in December, 1861, Wendell phiiii ps
Wendell Phillips said: in 1861 -
"In the hour you lend me tonight, I attempt the
Quixotic effort to convince you that the negro blood,
instead of standing at the bottom of the list, is entitled,
256 AMERICAN STATESMEN
if judged either by its great men or its masses, either
by its courage, its purpose, or its endurance, to a place
as near ours as any other blood known in history."* v
To us who come after the event, North and South,
such views seem strange; but they were widely held
among the northern Abolitionists. The Southern
£ >1 th?'s i uth VieW P e °pl e > living with the slaves, knew well what a long
road the negro has still to travel, before even approxi-
mately catching up with the advanced races in civili-
zation.
Under this situation, think what the disproportion
Significance for m population, already cited, meant to the South. Sup-
the South of the p 0Se the rapidly growing abolition sentiment should
disproportion of * r J ° . °
voting population, get the upper hand in Northern politics, what would
happen? The South remembered the Nat Turner
rebellion. That had been followed by the Charles-
ton, South Carolina, conspiracy. In October, 1859,
came the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry: a
frank attempt to lead the negro slaves to rise in re-
Brown raid meant bellion against their masters, exultantly applauded by
to the South. the Abolitionists. Wendell Phillips, their outstand-
ing spokesman, said in a speech in Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, two weeks after the raid and three days
after John Brown's conviction:
"Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia! She is
only a chronic insurrection. I mean exactly what I
view of the raid. say. I am weighing my words now. She is a pirate
ship, and John Brown sails the sea a Lord High Ad-
The Abolitionist
* Phillips, Wendell, in lecture on Toussaint UOuverture : Speeches,
Lectures and Letters, Series I, p. 469.
ROBERT E. LEE 257
miral of the Almighty, with his commission to sink every
pirate he meets on God's ocean of the nineteenth cen-
tury."* | V
Imagine what the public expression of such senti-
ments did to the South! Suppose the John Brown T he Southern fear
• n ° f a ne g ro
raid had achieved its purpose : of course, there was not uprising.
a chance in a million : the slaves were too loyal to their
masters ; but suppose it had succeeded. What would
have happened to the South: to the children of the
South, to the women of the South, to the beautiful
culture of the South, elaborated through a hundred
and fifty years? That was the terror in the heart of
every thoughtful Southerner; and the demand for the
extension of slave territory, on the part of the people
of the South, did not mean that they were per-
manently committed to the institution of slavery.
Suppose all the new territories came in as free States :
the vote was already nearly four to one: suppose it
became six to one, eight to one? Then let the in-
tense and growing abolition sentiment of the North significance of the
get the upper hand in Northern politics; with the re- ^Xsion^f dive
suit suddenly of eliminating slavery, either by legis- territory by the
lation or a Constitutional amendment? Think what South.
disaster this would mean to the South. Thus, the
demand for the extension of slave territory, on the
part of the people of the South, mas a struggle for
self-preservation, not to be completely out-weighed
* Phillips, Wendell, in speech on The Lesson of the Hour, delivered
in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, Nov. 1st, 1859: Speeches,
Lectures and Letters, Series I, p. 272.
258 AMERICAN STATESMEN
and out-voted in the national councils. Every person,
born and reared north of Mason and Dixon's line,
should realize that, to understand the conflict of loyal-
ties in the Civil War.
One compromise after another was attempted, the
Missouri Compromise being the most lasting and im-
portant; but none worked, except for a time. Hate
and bitterness grew rapidly on both sides, obscuring
the vision and clouding the judgment of men. The
South took the election of Lincoln as a direct chal-
immediate results l en ge. Four days after his election, the South Caro-
Lin«Sn electlon ° f ^ ma Senators resigned and went home ; and six weeks
after the election, months before Lincoln took office as
President, South Carolina seceded from the Union.
Her example was followed by the five "Cotton"
The situation Lee States, and shortly afterwards by Texas. In early
faced on arriving February the representatives of these States estab-
at Washington. .
lished the Confederacy, still weeks in advance, as has
been shown, of Lincoln's inauguration. < This was the
situation Lee came home to face:
His feeling on returning is expressed in a letter to
his son, Custis, written in December, 1860:
"Feeling the aggressions of the North, resenting their
denial of the equal rights of our citizens to the common
territory of the commonwealth, etc., I am not pleased
with the course of the 'Cotton States', as they term
themselves. In addition to their selfish, dictatorial
bearing, the threats they throw out against the 'Border
States', as they call them, if they will not join them,
argues little for the benefit or peace of Virginia should
she determine to coalesce with them. While I wish to
ROBERT E. LEE
259
do what is right, I am unwilling to do what is wrong,
either at the bidding of the South or the North. One
of their plans seems to be the renewal of the slave trade.
That I am opposed to on every ground."*
Lee was as earnestly opposed to the institution of
slavery as was Washington. The following passage Lee's view of
gives his view: taken from a letter written home from ofVavery! 10n
Texas, intended, not for the public, but for his wife :
"In this enlightened age there are few, I believe, but
will acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a
moral and political evil in any country. It is useless
to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it, however,
a greater evil to the white than to the black race, and
while my feelings are strongly interested in behalf of the
latter, my sympathies are stronger for the former. The
blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa,
morally, socially and physically. * * * Their eman-
cipation will sooner result from a mild and melting in-
fluence than the storms and contests of fiery con-
troversy. * * *
"Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pil-
grim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve the
freed mi of their opinion have always proved themselves
intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others. "f
During the Civil War, Lee proposed that the Con-
federacy should free all the slaves in its domain, and
give a bond to each slave owner for the value of
his slaves; such bond to be a first claim on the Con-
A comment
instructive to
some of us,
because it was
not written for us !
* Lee, in letter to his son, Custis, of Dec. 14th, 1860, from San
Antonio, Texas: Jones, Life and Letters of Lee, p. 119.
fLee, in letter to Mrs. Lee, Fort Brown, Texas, Dec. 27th, 1856:
Jones, Life and Letters of Lee, pp. 82, 83.
260
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Lee's view of the
Nation and
devotion to the
Union.
Revolution as the
last right of
liberty.
Deep-seated
conviction against
coercion by the
Nation toward
the State.
federacy after independence had been achieved. That
gives sufficiently Lee's views of slavery.
Lee was, moreover, devoted to the Union, regard-
ing its possible disruption as the greatest of catastro-
phes. In another letter home from Texas, he wrote:
"I can anticipate no greater calamity for the coun-
try than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an
accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am
willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preser-
vation. * * * Secession is nothing but revolution."
That is just what it was. Of course, revolution is
the last right of liberty: when everything else fails,
men may turn to revolution, if they dare and are
willing to pay the price. The only difference History
makes, between a revolution and a rebellion, is that
one succeeded and the other failed. Every revolution
in history that failed goes down as a rebellion; every
rebellion that succeeded goes down as a revolution:
History does not go behind the returns.
Lee continues:
"The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so
much labor, wisdom and forbearance in its formation,
and surrounded it with so many guards and securities,
if it was intended to be broken by every member of the
Confederation at will. * * * Still, a Union that can
only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which
strife and civil w r ar are to take the place of brotherly
love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn
for my country and for the welfare and progress of
mankind. If the Union is dissolved, and the Govern-
ment disrupted, I shall return to my native State and
ROBERT E. LEE 261
share the miseries of my people, and save in defense will
draw my sword on none."*
T iii n ,t_ ,i_. , Lee's thirty-two
.Lee had been, moreover, tor more than thirty years ye ars f service
in honorable service in the United States army: its ^ a ^ ^^y d
commanders were his approving superiors, its officers,
his affectionate friends and comrades.
When Lee reached Washington, President Lincoln,
through Blair, offered him the command-in-chief of Lee offered and
the Union armies. Lee declined, of course : he could command hf chief
not imagine leading an army of invasion into his own of the Union
State, against his own people. Had he been able to
accept, the war could scarcely have lasted a year : with.
Lee's incomparable military genius transferred from
the one side to the other, it would have been quickly acceptance of
over. He declined. He went into General Scott's Lincoln's 1 offer
office, told of the offer that had been made him, and would have meant -
explained the reasons for his declination. Then he
went home to Arlington.
The next night Lee spent walking to and fro in an
up-stairs room, while his wife waited anxiously in the ^ u "^^ith the
room below. The sound of his footfalls ceased only problem.
when he knelt in prayer. Toward morning he came
down, and said quietly to the anxiously waiting wife :
"Well, Mary, the question is settled. Here is my
resignation, and a letter I have written General Lee ' s lett er to
6 _ General Scott
oCOtt. ±he letter Said: accompanying his
resignation from
"Since my interview with you on the 18th inst., I have the United States
felt that I ought no longer to retain my commission in arm y-
* Lee, Letter home from Fort Mason, Texas, January 23, 1861 : Jones,
Life and Letters of Lee, p. 121.
262 AMERICAN STATESMEN
the army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I
request you will recommend for acceptance. It would
have been presented at once but for the struggle it has
cost me to separate myself from a service to which I
have devoted all the best years of my life and all the
ability I possessed.
"During the whole of that time — more than a quarter
of a century — I have experienced nothing but kindness
from my superiors, and the most cordial friendship from
my comrades. To no one, General, have I been as much
indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and con-
sideration, and it has always been my ardent desire to
meet your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the
most grateful recollections of your kind consideration,
and your name and fame will always be dear to me.
"Save in defense of my native State, I never desire
again to draw my sword. Be pleased to accept my most
earnest wishes for the continuance of your happiness
and prosperity, and believe me,
"Most truly yours,
"R. E. Lee."*
On the same day with this letter to General Scott,
Ster e on r the day Lee wrote nis sister, Mrs. Marshall, at Baltimore:
"My dear Sister: I am grieved at my inability to see
you. I have been waiting for a more convenient season,
which has brought to many before me deep and lasting
regret. Now we are in a state of war which will yield
to nothing. The whole South is in a state of revolution
into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been
drawn; and, though I recognize no necessity for this
state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded
to the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed,
*Lee, letter to General Scott, Arlington, Va., April 20th, 1861
Jones, Life and Letters of Lee, pp. 132, 133.
ROBERT E. LEE
263
yet in my own person I had to meet the question whether
I should take part against my native State. With all
my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty
and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able
to make up my mind to raise my hand against my rela-
tives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned
my commission in the army, and save in defense of my
native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services
may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on
to draw my sword.
"I know you will blame me, but you must think as
kindly of me as you can, and believe that I have en-
deavored to do what I thought right."*
Also on the same date, Lee wrote to his brother :
"After the most anxious inquiry as to the correct
course for me to pursue, I concluded to resign, and sent
in my resignation this morning. I wished to wait until
the Ordinance of Secession should be acted on by the
people of Virginia; but war seems to have commenced,
and I am liable at any time to be ordered on duty which
I could not conscientiously perform. To save me from
such a position, and to prevent the necessity of resign-
ing under orders, I had to act at once, and before I
could see you again on the subject, as I had wished.
I am now a private citizen, and have no other ambition
than to remain at home. Save in defense of my native
State, I have no desire ever again to draw my sword. "f
April 13th, a week before Lee's resignation from
the United States army, Sumter had fallen. April
15th, Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volun-
* Lee, in letter to his sister, April 20th, 1861 : Long, Memoirs of
Robert E. Lee, p. 95.
t Lee, in a letter to his brother, Arlington, Va., April 20th, 1861:
Captain Lee's Recollections and Letters, pp. 26, 27.
The explanation
in a letter to
his brother.
Significance of the
one reiterated
reservation.
264
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Circumstances of
the great decision.
Accepting
command of the
Virginia forces
for defense.
Reasons why the
crucial decision
was inevitable to
Lee's conscience.
teers. April 17th, Virginia, whose Legislature had
voted not to secede, and then, by a larger majority,
had voted that the Union had no right to use force to
coerce a State to remain in it, purely on the State
versus Nation issue, seceded; followed by North
Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. April 23rd, three
days after his resignation, Lee was summoned to
Richmond, and offered the command of the Virginia
forces for defense: he accepted; and the great, the
crucial decision was made.
The reasons for it? If you have followed the pre-
ceding argument, those reasons are evident: Lee's
inheritance, his early environment, the great tradition
of Virginia; his education, the interpretation of the
Constitution he had studied under government sanc-
tion at West Point; his deep-seated conviction that
the Union had no right to use force to compel a
sovereign State to remain in it; his utter devotion to
duty, as the guiding principle of his life, without re-
gard to his interests or career; the impossibility of
going against his own people: if they went, he must
go with them, share their miseries and help to bear
their burdens. The decision was the only one Robert
E. Lee could make, being who he was; and it was
the decision you or I would have made, with Lee's
inheritance, environment, education and his utter de-
votion to duty as the guiding principle of life.
The decision once made, there was no return to
questioning: Lee was the military leader to the end
of the war. He had no illusions regarding the conflict
ROBERT E. LEE 265
however. North and South, with the arrogance of
hate, men were boasting of easy victory. All over the
North, they were saying the war would be a picnic:
well, war is never that! Everywhere South, they
were boasting that one Southerner could whip four
Yankees any day; which is just about what they
would have had to achieve to win the war. Not so
Lee: he wrote his wife, "Make your preparations for
several years of war." Moreover, he did not wish Lee , s hi h
his decision to influence others, even his own son. He magnanimity.
wrote to his wife regarding his son, Custis, who had
been a cadet at West Point, while his father was
Superintendent, and who was now an officer in the
United States army:
"Tell Custis he must consult his own judgment, rea-
son, and conscience as to the course he may take. I do
not wish him to be guided by my wishes or example. If T , , f T
I have done wrong, let him do better. The present is regarding his
a momentous question which every man must settle for son ' s decl81on -
himself and upon principle."*
Could loving father say more? Of course, Custis
went with his father, as did Lee's other sons. Let it
be said, further, for Robert E. Lee, that no word of Nature's
_ _, _ nobleman.
hate or abuse of the North, or of the people of the
North, ever came from his lips, to the end of his life.
Nature's nobleman, indeed, he was!
When the war began, there were twenty-two mil-
lion people living in the States remaining in the
*Lee, in letter to his wife, May 13, 1861: Jones, Life and Letters
of Lee, p. 140.
266
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Contrasting
situation and
equipment of the
Union and the
Confederacy in
the great conflict.
The two chances
the South had in
the struggle.
The first hope:
foreign
intervention.
Union. There were five and a half million whites
and three and a half million blacks in the seceding
States : nearly four white citizens to one, in the North
as compared with the South. The Union had a
government, long established and efficiently function-
ing, with an army and plans for immediate war
mobilization. The South had the newly formed Con-
federate Government, with everything to be done
from the ground up. The Union had a navy: the
Confederacy had none. The North was rich in manu-
factures ; the South had practically none. During the
war, the Union enlisted two and one-half million
men. The Confederacy, calling every stripling and
graybeard, who could move about and carry a gun,
enlisted nine hundred thousand. The mountain popu-
lation of the South, moreover, gave the Union armies
a hundred and eighty thousand men. When the war
closed, there were nine hundred and eighty thousand
Union soldiers in the field, and about a hundred and
seventy-five thousand Confederates.
It looked hopeless for the South from the start, did
it not? There were two chances. First, foreign in-
tervention: that was the hope of President Davis and
of many others, to the end of the war ; and not without
reason. It had happened in the Revolution, when
France entered at the critical moment and turned the
scale ; why might it not happen again? Britain looked
across the ocean at the great lion cub, sprung from
her loins, that had grown so swiftly powerful. Many
of her statesmen would have been glad to see us
ROBERT E. LEE 267
divided, and no longer so strong. Other nations felt
much the same. If the South could carry on the war
successfully for a considerable period of time, it was
not unreasonable to hope that some power might in-
tervene in her favor. Lee did not cheat himself with
that illusion. Moreover he saw, as did Washington
in the Revolution, that if victory were to be worth
while, the South must win it for herself.
There was another chance for the South, however.
Barring the mountain population, the people of the
South were solidly behind the war, as is usually true
of an invaded land : the people of the North were %
not. All over the North was a large body of citizens, opposed on
i_ v si • • ,• j-j T,- i conviction to
believing with sincere conviction m the very political the war.
philosophy on which the Southern States had seceded
from the Union. Deploring the rift in the Union,
these men held that the seceding States had the con-
stitutional right to go, if they chose to do so. Those
citizens, therefore, regarded the war as unjust, and
were actively opposed to it.
Besides these, was another large group negatively
opposed to the war; indeed, the Abolitionists were m
x x , , The group
generally in that camp during the first year and a half negatively opposed
of the war. They saw only their own issue. They
were willing to fight through a war to free the slaves ;
but President Lincoln told them that was not this
war, that it was a war to preserve the Union; and
many were unwilling to fight for that. Their spokes-
man, Wendell Phillips, in those desperately dark days
of January, 1861, gave a speech in Music Hall,
268
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The Abolitionists
as pacifists.
The second hope
for the South.
Lee's amazing
military
achievement.
Boston, on Disunion, in which he exulted in the
breaking of the Union, saying:
"Why do I set so little value on the Union? Because
I consider it a failure."*
On February 17th, speaking in the same hall on
Progress, he said :
"We do not want the Border States. Let them go,
be welcome to the Forts, take the Capital with them."f
The view of these extremists was : We do not want
slaves in the Union; the South wants slaves: let her
take her slaves and go, and stew in her own juice.
With this large party in the North, actively or
negatively opposed to the war, if the South could
make a successful showing on the battle field, and
carry the war well into the North, was there not
reason to hope that the opposition in the North might
get the upper hand, and the South win peace with
independence? That was the hope Lee cherished till
near the end of the war.
That, in the face of the seemingly insuperable odds,
Lee carried through three years of brilliant warfare,
winning a series of victories unequalled except in the
career of Napoleon, makes him one of the great mili-
tary captains of all history; and it was possible, fur-
ther, because of the utter devotion of the South behind
him.
* Phillips, Wendell, in speech on Disunion, Music Hall, Boston, Jan.
20th, 1861 : Speeches, Lectures and Letters, Series I, p. 356.
f Phillips, Wendell, in speech on Progress, Feb. 17th, 1861 : Speeches,
Lectures and Letters, Series I, p. 387.
ROBERT E. LEE 269
When Virginia, a short time after seceding, entered
the Confederacy, Lee was automatically reduced in Service during
rank, as he was in command merely of the Virginia * f \hewar? ar
forces for defense. He went to Richmond, and spent
the first months of the war raising and equipping an
army. Thus he was not at Bull Run; but it was his
work and plans which made the Confederate victory
at Bull Run possible.
Then he was sent into West Virginia. Owing to a
series of accidents, the West Virginia campaign was
a failure; but the President of the Confederacy did
not lose faith in Lee. He was sent south to improve
the coast defenses ; and he made Georgia and the Caro-
lines impregnable by sea till the end of the war. In
March, 1862, he was recalled to Richmond, and made Lee chief of staff
Chief of Staff under President Davis. To under- from March > 1862 -
stand that one must remember that the President of
the Confederacy regarded himself as the active head
of its military forces. Lincoln did not take that atti-
tude in the Union. Of course, as President, he was
absolute authority over the armed forces of the
Nation; but always he wanted an active commander-
in-chief, in the field under him. President Davis,
however, who was a graduate of West Point, had as active military
risen to the rank of Colonel in the army, and had ex- confederate 6
perienced active service in the Black Hawk war and forces -
the war with Mexico, besides serving as United States
Secretary of War, regarded himself as actively in
command of the Confederate armed forces. Lee,
therefore, did not have, as chief of staff, the authority
270
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Consequences of
Lee's limited
authority.
Significance of
Lee's relations
with President
Davis.
McClellan's
campaign : "On
to Richmond!"
to order the concentration of armies, as Grant for
instance, could do. It was not until February, 1865,
two months before the war closed, when the Con-
federacy, at its last gasp, was grasping at any straw,
that Lee was finally made Commander-in-Chief:
singular that it came so late ! Had that appointment
been made earlier, certain events of the war would
have been different, though the final outcome could
hardly have been changed.
Nothing, moreover, better shows Lee's magna-
nimity and generosity than his whole relation to the
President of the Confederacy. President Davis was
whole-souled in devotion to his cause. He gave it the
best wisdom and service he had in him; but he was
strong in his opinions and something of a martinet
in discipline. He quarreled with certain of his gen-
erals; and some of them were dismissed in conse-
quence. Lee was in closer relation to him than any
other Southern general; and there was never a word
of misunderstanding to the end of the war. This
was to Lee's credit. His attitude was, I am not a
politician, but a military man, concerned solely with
carrying out orders in the field. When his opinion
was asked, he gave it frankly and fully; but never
intruded. Thus he maintained entirely friendly rela-
tions with President Davis to the end.
In the Spring of 1862, McClellan, urged on by
Lincoln, who had yielded to the popular cry, "On to
Richmond," invaded Virginia with a splendidly
equipped and now well trained army of 115,000 men.
ROBERT E. LEE 271
For the protection of Richmond, now the Capital,
Lee had some 53,000; and there were perhaps 17,000
more elsewhere in the State. Against the advice of
his generals, Lee decided on a frontal attack. He Malvern mil and
summoned Jackson to him ; and with his united army tictorliro^Lee.
of 70,000 men, at Malvern Hill, rolled McClellan's
army back upon itself ; completely outgeneralled Mc-
Clellan ; won victory after victory ; and at the end of
the seven days' fighting, McClellan barely succeeded
in getting what was left of his shattered army across
the Potomac to temporary safety.
The point is, Lee was able to think all around Mc-
Clellan: indeed he could go all around him; for
Stuart, the "Light Horse Harry" of Lee's army,
with 1,200 cavalrymen, rode completely around the
Union armies, getting every position, and returning
unscathed; which seriously shook the confidence of
Lincoln and the North in McClellan's leadership.
You see Lee had served with McClellan in the war
with Mexico, and he knew McClellan's psychology.
McClellan was an admirable drill-master. Few men Reasons for Lee's
outgeneraling of
have been so able to whip an army into shape and McClellan.
prepare it for battle as was McClellan ; but he lacked
the audacity and the imagination necessary to bril-
liant work in the field ; and then he was obsessed with
the idea that there were about three times as many
Southern troops as really were in Lee's army opposed
to him. Lee, knowing his mental processes, was able
to anticipate his every move and so completely to
outgeneral him.
272
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Pope and the
second Bull Run.
The situation
compelling Lee's
compaign into
Maryland,
The result was, Lincoln issued an order creating a
second army, for the protection of Washington, plac-
ing Pope in command; and a little later, called
Halleck to the chief command at Washington.
Lee, with Napoleonic audacity, divided his little
army of 50,000 men; placed half, under Jackson,
behind Pope, the other half in front; came through
Thoroughfare Gap; and Pope's incompetence in
meeting Lee's strategy resulted in the second Bull
Run, of August, 1862. From now on Lee was the
hero of the Confederacy, with the burden of its for-
tunes upon his shoulders.
At this point, Lee decided to carry the war into the
North. He had to do it, to strengthen the morale
of the South, in the hope of bringing about foreign
intervention, in the expectation of Maryland rising
and joining the South, in the further hope that the
party opposed to the war in the North might get the
upper hand and grant the South peace with inde-
pendence, and finally, he had to do it to subsist his
army. It is one of the amazing features of Lee's
career that he carried through those three years of war
largely with arms and supplies captured from the
enemy armies : it seems incredible ; but he did it.
In early September, 1862, Lee crossed into Mary-
land, and issued his proclamation to the people of the
State. That document is so characteristic in its dig-
nified restraint, widely differing from the usual mili-
tary proclamation, and expresses so clearly the view
ROBERT E. LEE
273
Lee had come to take of the great conflict, that it is
quoted entire:
"Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia,
"Sept. 8th, 1862.
"To the People of Maryland :
"It is right that you should know the purpose that
has brought the army under my command within the
limits of your State, so far as that purpose concerns
yourselves.
"The people of the confederate States have long
watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and out-
rages that have been inflicted upon the citizens of a
commonwealth, allied to the States of the South by the
strongest social, political and commercial ties, and re-
duced to the condition of a conquered province.
"Under the pretence of supporting the Constitution,
but in violation of its most valuable provisions, your
citizens have been arrested and imprisoned upon no
charge, and contrary to all the forms of law.
"A faithful and manly protest against this outrage,
made by a venerable and illustrious Marylander, to
whom in better days no citizen appealed for right in
vain, was treated with scorn and contempt.
"The government of your chief city has been usurped
by armed strangers — your Legislature has been dis-
solved by the unlawful arrest of its members — freedom
of the press and of speech has been suppressed — words
have been declared offences by an arbitrary decree of
the Federal Executive — and citizens ordered to be tried
by military commissions for what they may dare to
speak.
"Believing that the people of Maryland possess a
spirit too lofty to submit to such a government, the
people of the South have long wished to aid you in
Lee's Proclamation
to the people of
Maryland, giving
his view of the
conflict.
Significance that
Lee's appeal was
wholly in the
name of freedom
and justice,
274 AMERICAN STATESMEN
throwing off this foreign yoke, to enable you again to
enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen, and restore
the independence and sovereignty of your State.
"In obedience to this wish our army has come among
you, and is prepared to assist you with the power of its
arms in regaining the rights of which you have been
so unjustly despoiled.
"This, citizens of Maryland, is our mission, so far
as you are concerned. No restraint upon your free
will is intended — no intimidation will be allowed within
the limits of this army at least.
"Marylanders shall once more enjoy their ancient
freedom of thought and speech. We know no enemies
among you, and will protect all of you in every opinion.
"It is for you to decide your destiny, freely, and with-
out constraint. This army will respect your choice,
whatever it may be ; and while the Southern people will
rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among
them, they will only welcome you when you come of your
own free will."
"R. E. Lee,
"General Commanding."*
Maryland did not rise in answer to this appeal.
McClellan withdrew to Frederick, and Lee followed.
By some mischance, Lee's whole plan of battle was
found, wrapped around some tobacco and carried to
Antietam. McClellan. Fortunately for Lee, he apparently dis-
covered in time that McClellan knew his plans;
changed swiftly and completely his order of battle;
and brought the engagement at Antietam : one of the
* Lee, Proclamation to the People of Maryland, Sept. 8th, 1862: The
Rebellion Record, edited by Frank Moore, New York, 1865, Supplement,
Vol. I, Documents, p. 755.
ROBERT E. LEE 275
bloodiest battles of the war, excepting Gettysburg.
One fourth of the men engaged on each side fell.
Again Lee's superior generalship made up for lesser
numbers ; and after Antietam, Lee withdrew his shat-
tered army across the Potomac unmolested.
Once more Stuart, with 1,800 cavalrymen, rode
completely around McClellan's army, going as far
44. nu u i. -d i • -a- io^ stuart ' s second
north as Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; riding 126 ride around
miles in two days and eight hours, and returning with- e an s army '
out the loss of a man. The result was, President Lin-
coln dismissed McClellan, and called Burnside to the
chief command.
Burnside moved on Richmond with 113,000 men.
Lee had some 78,000. The culminating engagement Bumside's
came at Fredericksburg, Dec. 11th, 1862, where cam P*ign.
Burnside's folly resulted in the slaughter of 12,500
Union soldiers; and Burnside withdrew. There was
deep depression throughout the North. The South
believed the war was over ; but Lee knew better.
In the Spring of 1863, Lincoln called Hooker,
"Fighting Joe Hooker", to the chief command. Hooker's campaign
° o / # in the Spring
Hooker had all the qualities McClellan lacked; and of 1863.
lacked all the qualities McClellan had. He was au-
dacious, brilliant; but he was without McClellan's
caution and drill-mastery. He moved south in April,
with an admirably equipped army, more than twice
the size of Lee's opposing army; and as he did so,
he made a rather profane boast. He said he had the
Confederate army exactly' where he wanted it, and
God Almighty couldn't snatch a victory from him
276
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Chancellorsville.
Jackson.
now. He was to be sadly punished for his boast. Lee
waited with his little army, and brought the culminat-
ing engagement at Chancellorsville, May 1st and 2nd.
1863; where Lee's generalship, with Stonewall Jack-
son's fulfillment, won a brilliant victory. These two
men worked together with a perfect harmony one finds
Lee and stonewall m no other two military captains in history. Lee
was the greater strategist, with more brilliant mili-
tary imagination; but Jackson could carry out his
great captain's plans, not only with entire fidelity,
but with clock-like accuracy. Thus, the two working
together, in a flank attack, rolled Hooker's army
upon itself, drove a portion of it to wild panic rout;
and after the two days' battle, Hooker, bewildered,
was glad to get his defeated forces back across the
Rappahannock to safety.
At Chancellorsville, however, Lee lost what he
called his "right arm" ; for Stonewall Jackson, in the
confusion fired upon by his own men, was mortally
wounded, and died a little time after. It was indeed
the loss of Lee's right arm, worse for his cause than
the loss of many battles.
Again the North was in sackcloth and ashes, and
the South exultant ; but Lee saw the situation truly.
The North could replace her losses; the South could
not. She was already using what Lee called her "seed
Lee's wise view
of the situation corn" : those splendid young striplings, who ought to
victory at " mn nay e been the fathers of tomorrow, and who were
Chancellorsville. going down to their death with a smile on their lips,
in utter devotion to their beloved leader and their
The loss of Lee's
''right arm."
ROBERT E. LEE 277
cause. Thus, unless Lee could destroy the army of the
Potomac, his victories were sterile. No matter how
many brilliant victories he might win, if the Union
did not yield to discouragement and continued to re-
place its losses, the end could be only one way. Recog-
nizing this, Lee appealed to the President of the Con- His plan and
-i -m • appeal to
lederacy to concentrate all forces at two points: such President Davis,
troops as were needed at Vicksburg, on the Missis-
sippi, and all the rest in Virginia, letting everything
else go for the time being. Had he been Commander-
in-Chief he could have ordered that; but as Chief of
Staff under the President, he could only appeal. The
President and Cabinet only partly responded. Lee
took such reinforcements as they gave him, and
planned his second campaign into the North.
At this time Lee's wife was ill, his daughter dying.
One of his sons was wounded and in a Union prison.
That son's wife was dying. Another son offered to
take his brother's place; and the Union authorities
refused! Lee buried these personal sorrows heroically;-
in his heart, and went forward with his campaign.
His aim was to maneuver Hooker out of his posi-
tion on the Rappahannock, take a wide sweep around
into Pennsylvania, and bring a culminating engage- plan and purpose
ment at York, Gettysburg or Chambersburg, with the of Lee > second
J ° ° campaign into the
hope of destroying the army of the Potomac, subsist- North,
ing his own army, causing the evacuation of Wash-
ington and the recall of the troops before Vicksburg,
and so bringing the Union to yield the Confederacy
peace with independence.
Personal sorrows.
278 AMERICAN STATESMEN
He easily maneuvered Hooker out of his position ;
and then a quarrel between Hooker and Halleck re-
sulted in Meade's being given the command in the
field. Lee executed his wide sweep into Pennsylvania ;
a part of his army going nearly to Harrisburg : in fact,
would have taken Harrisburg, had it not mistaken the
road. The culminating engagement came, as every-
one knows, at Gettysburg, July 1st to 3rd, 1863: one
of the most terrible and bloody battles, not only of
the Civil War, but of all history. Moreover, we Amer-
The significance icans, North and South, have every reason to be proud
of the battle of J £_
Gettysburg. of the splendid courage shown on both sides. Those
Union soldiers went into that holocaust of destruc-
tion with unfaltering courage. Those Southern
troops, gravely outnumbered, but with Lee's general-
ship compensating for this, went down to their death
with dauntless heroism. The battle raged through
those three terrible days, until both sides were ex-
hausted and neither could attack again. That should
be called a drawn battle, should it not? It was a
Union victory only in the sense that Lee had failed
of the object of his campaign: he had not destroyed
the army of the Potomac ; and was forced to withdraw
the shattered remnants of his own army again to
Virginia soil. Meade was too exhausted to follow, at
least failed to pursue, in spite of Lincoln's urging;
and Lee had three months' breathing space to re-
organize his army.
Concerning Gettysburg, as other great battles, mil-
itary history is filled with fruitless discussions as to
Lee's attitude
ROBERT E. LEE 279
what would have happened if supporting generals
had more accurately obeyed orders and carried out
the plans of their chief. It is characteristic of Lee's
spirit that he never placed on a subordinate, blame for in defeat.
a failure, but always assumed it himself. Some days
after Gettysburg, a Charleston, South Carolina, news-
paper published an article, blaming one of Lee's offi-
cers for the failure and indirectly attacking the Con-
federate administration. President Davis sent the
article to Lee, who replied with one of his noblest let-
ters. In the course of it he said :
"No blame can be attached to the army for its fail-
ure to accomplish what was projected by me, nor should
it be censured for the unreasonable expectations of the
public — I am alone to blame, in perhaps expecting too
much of its prowess and valor. It however in my opin-
ion achieved under the guidance of the Most High a president Davis
general success, though it did not win a victory. I assuming full
thought at the time that the latter was practicable. I ^ttyrtwg.* 7 **
still think if all things could have worked together it
would have been accomplished. But with the knowledge
I then had, and in the circumstances I was then placed,
I do not know what better course I could have pur-
sued."*
A few days later he wrote, saying that when a mili-
tary leader failed, usually the best course was to re-
move him, and offered to resign ; but President Davis
wisely would not hear of it.
There followed some months of desultory fighting;
*Lee, in letter to Pres. Davis, Camp Culpepper, July 31st, 1863
Freeman, Lee's Dispatches, p. 108.
280
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The tide turning
with Grant's
appointment as
Commander in
Chief, in March,
1864,
Grant and Lee
compared.
Grant's plan.
and in the Spring of 1864, the tide definitely turned,
with the emergence of Grant. The day following
Gettysburg, July 4th, 1863, Vicksburg surrendered
to Grant. This was followed by his successes at Look-
out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. Lincoln had
been eagerly watching, praying for a general who
could stand up a month against Robert E. Lee. So
in March, 1864, Lincoln called Grant to Washing-
ton, and made him Commander-in-Chief; and Grant
began the campaign that ended the war.
The comparison of the two great military leaders
is interesting. Grant was at that time forty-two
years old; Lee, fifty-seven. Lee was the highly cul-
tivated Southern aristocrat and Virginia gentleman;
Grant, rather rough in exterior, somewhat Western
in type. Both were men of great military genius:
Lee, far the greater strategist, with far more bril-
liant imagination; Grant, with dogged determination
and indomitable will. Grant had a splendidly
equipped and provisioned army of 120,000 men; Lee,
perhaps 65,000, ragged, shoeless, half-starved, but
dauntless. Behind Grant were the inexhaustible re-
sources of the North, in men, money and manufac-
tures; behind Lee, an exhausted Southland. So the
final campaign began.
Grant formulated a comprehensive plan. There
were to be no more maneuvers, only a steady drive.
Early in May, 1864, Grant moved south. There
followed those terrible days of battle in the Wilder-
ness. Lee knew every country road and by-path. He
ROBERT E. LEE 281
completely outgeneralled Grant. The Union losses
were enormous. There was a wail all over the North; ?^® ter 2j?J^ days
in the Wilderness.
but now a strange thing happened. Hitherto, a
Union general, defeated by Lee, moved back, in re-
treat; Grant, defeated, moved forward: that is what Ma^nth^iset
ended the war. You remember his famous word of as defining the
will and action
May 11th, 1864: "I propose to fight it out on this that, with the
line, if it takes all summer/' Well, it took all sum- union resources,
mer, all autumn, all winter and the next spring; but won the war *
he fought it out on that line, and won the war.
Grant blundered repeatedly. At Cold Harbor, he
unnecessarily sacrificed thousands of men. He mis-
takenly attempted to storm Petersburg, and wasted
another 10,000. Grant's losses during the whole cam-
paign were greater than Lee's entire army opposed to
him. There was growing bitterness and resentment Grant's frightful
throughout the North; Greeley was shrieking in the
New York Tribune to end the hopeless war and hor-
rible butchery; but Grant, with Lincoln steadfast be-
hind him, pushed on. Lee sent Early, in a last at-
tempt to take Washington; but Lew Wallace saved
Washington, till Grant could send reinforcements.
Steady hammering gradually wore away the granite
rock of Lee's resistance. By the Spring of 1865, constant
Lee's army had dwindled to 30,000 men; and there hammering
J ' depleting Lee s
were no more to be called to fill the broken ranks, forces to 30,000,
Grant was closing in with 100,000 troops. Lee made lfees, wit^nxfmore
a last desperate stand at Five Forks, and failed. April
1st, Petersburg fell. April 2nd, Richmond was aban-
doned. April 3rd, it was occupied by Union troops.
men to be called.
282
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Last days of
the war.
Lee's humane
decision.
Circumstances of
Lee's surrender.
Lee attempted to retreat on Danville, and was
blocked. He changed his route toward Lynchburg,
and was stopped ; and he made his humane decision.
Now see: Lee's army was unbroken in spirit, still
dauntless in courage. Lee could have divided his little
army, and carried on guerrilla warfare for months,
perhaps years of time ; and gone down to history, un-
beaten and unsurrendered as a military captain; but
he said, No! the final issue is the same anyway, and I
will not sacrifice a single unnecessary man. So he
made his overtures in response to Grant's appeal.
Grant gave generous terms: the Southern soldiers
were to keep their side arms and their horses, and go
home ; only giving their word that they would not take
arms against the Union, during the remainder of the
war, or until exchanged.
So, on April 9th, 1865, at Appomattox Court
House, Virginia, Lee surrendered his ragged, daunt-
less army; and walked away, head up, silent, erect,
military bearing unchanged. Only God and General
Lee knew what thoughts were in his heart at that
hour.
Those half-starved Confederate soldiers instantly
fraternized with the Union troops, and ate the first
good meal they had had for months, on the ample
Union rations. Soldiers do not hate; big men do not
hate: it is little men, who stay at home and elaborate
their hooded viper poison, who hate.
Five days after the surrender, occurred the assas-
sination of Lincoln. Lee bitterly deplored and con-
ROBERT E. LEE 283
Jemned the act. He knew what it meant for the
South: the removal of that great, kindly, merciful re G g r et over the
figure, whose chief aim, during the last two years of of 8 ^ 1 ^* 1011
the war, had been to forestall the hate of little men
and the revenge he knew they would seek upon the
South, once the Union had achieved victory.
Lee went to Richmond, where he was greeted as a
conquering hero, as indeed he was. Then, if you T h e indictment
please, a couple of months later, a grand jury at G ra ^> r /°- 1 u 8t and
Norfolk, Virginia, composed of negroes and white conduct.
trash, indicted Lee for treason! When Grant heard
the news, he was indignant. He said it was directly
against the terms of surrender he had given Lee ; and
through Grant's influence, the indictment was Lee's attitude in
quashed. To the astonishment of many in the South, for pardon.
in June, Lee applied for pardon, under the Amnesty
proclamation. His Southern friends could not under-
stand that; but Lee's attitude was: if I surrender, I
surrender completely ; if we are going into the Union,
we will go whole heartedly, and seek to heal the scars
and close the wounds. So he applied for pardon,
sending his application papers through Grant. Grant
laid them before our government; and no notice was
taken of them; and, to the shame of the North, be it
said, Lee died five years later, a prisoner on parole!
Numerous offers of employment were made to him.
One corporation is said to have offered him a large Employment.
sum per year, just for the use of his name. Lee's
response is said to have been: "Well, if my name is
so valuable, I would better be careful how it is used";
284
AMERICAN STATESMEN
and he refused. Would there were more like him in
the land ! He declined the Rectorship of the Univers-
ity of Virginia; he declined the Presidency of the
University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee; he
refused to stand for the Governorship of Virginia : he
would have been elected unanimously. Finally, the
trustees of little Washington College, at Lexington,
Virginia, now appropriately, Washington and Lee
University, asked him if he would not please be their
President.
It was a small, struggling college, paying its Presi-
dent perhaps fifteen hundred dollars a year. It looked
humble enough even for Lee's beautiful modesty; but
Lee was not sure. In his letter to the trustees, he
said:
"I think it is the duty of every citizen in the present
condition of the country, to do all in his power to aid
in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way
to oppose the policy of the State or General Govern-
ments, directed to that object."*
If he could further that aim, he would serve ; so Lee
accepted, and spent the last five years of his life edu-
cating citizens for our America. His whole conse-
crated effort was to overcome the hate and bitterness,
cultivate harmony. th e war ^ a j j e f^ anc [ cultivate union and harmony.
His generous attitude is well expressed in a letter,
written in August, 1865:
Lee's purpose in
accepting the
Presidency of
Washington
College.
Lee's magnani-
mous efforts to
* Lee, letter to the Trustees of Washington College, when offered the
Presidency: Jones, Life and Letters of Lee, pp. 408, 409.
ROBERT E. LEE
285
"The questions which for years were in dispute be-
tween the State and General Government, and which
unhappily were not decided by the dictates of reason,
but referred to the decision of war, having been decided
against us, it is the part of wisdom to acquiesce in the
result, and of candor to recognize the fact.
"The interests of the State are therefore the same as
those of the United States. Its prosperity will rise or
fall with the welfare of the country. The duty of its
citizens, then, appears to me too plain to admit of doubt.
All should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the ef-
fects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace.
They should remain, if possible, in the country ; promote
harmony and good feeling; qualify themselves to vote;
and elect to the State and general Legislatures wise
and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the
interests of the country, and the healing of all dissen-
sions. I have invariably recommended this course since
the cessation of hostilities, and have endeavored to prac-
tise it myself."*
In 1866, to a Union officer, living in Lincoln's state,
who had been a friend in earlier years, Lee wrote :
"I must give you my special thanks for doing me the
justice to believe that my conduct during the last five
eventful years has been governed by my sense of duty.
I had no other guide, nor had I any other object than
the defense of those principles of American liberty upon
which the constitutions of the several States were origi-
nally founded; and, unless they are strictly observed,
I fear there will be an end to Republican government
in this country. I have endeavored to pursue this
Statement of
Lee's view of
reconstruction in
the letter to John
Letcher.
The letter to
Captain May, of
Illinois, giving
Lee's fundamental
conviction.
*Lee, in letter to Hon. John Letcher, Near Cartersville, Va., August
28th, 1865; Jones, Personal Reminiscences, p. 203.
The last chapter.
286 AMERICAN STATESMEN
course myself since the cessation of hostilities, and have
recommended it to others."*
In the Spring of 1870, Lee was ill and broken. He
went away, on vacation, in search of health. He went
to visit the grave of his daughter, who had died during
the war, while her father was at the front. He stopped
at Virginia Hot Springs; did not get better; came
home, and grew rapidly worse. During the last hours,
his mind wandered, evidently going over his old bat-
tles; for almost his last words were, "Tell Hill he must
come up!" So October 12th, 1870, Lee died, sixty-
three years old.
Nature's nobleman, he was, of high and spotless
personal life ; with absolute integrity of character, un-
Summary of Lee varying in obedience to duty as the guiding principle
in character ptpi •-!• • 1 a i ci
and conduct. ol lite; the greatest military genius the Anglo-Saxon
race has produced, not excepting George Washington
and the Duke of Wellington ; so fine and lofty in char-
acter and conduct, as to furnish an example for imita-
tion by the youth of America, North, South, East and
West; loved by his own people with an enthusiastic
devotion given to no other American, not excepting
Washington ; incarnating all that is noblest and best in
that beautiful, passionate and loyal Southland, which
is today so precious a part in our united America.
* Lee, in letter to Captain James May, of Rock Island, Ills., Lexing-
ton, Va., July 9th, 1866: Jones, Personal Reminiscences, p. 218.
VI
LINCOLN: THE PROPHETIC AMERICAN
FDR our closing study, we come to that great man,
to whom the nation turned in its hour of sorest
crial, on whom it laid its heaviest burden, through
whom the Union was reborn and present day America
made possible, and who, in character and leadership,
represents all that we hope democracy will some day;
be.
There could scarcely be a greater contrast, in back-
ground and early experience of life, than between Contrast in family
Lee and Lincoln: The one, a fine flower of that beau- eL^eZLme^t
tiful Southern aristocracy, with a rich cultural en- ? f . Le ? and
J . Lincoln.
vironment, and excellent preparation for the business
of life; the other, of the poorest of poor wandering
nomads, at the very bottom of the pioneer ladder, with
no material equipment for life at all : the one, incarnat-
ing all that was best and most beautiful in the past;
the other, prophetic, of the future that is to be.
Lincoln was born at Hodgenville, Kentucky,
February 12th, 1809. He was thus two years younger
than Lee. Lincoln, throughout his life, regarded his
family as of common stock on both sides. The ad-
mirers among his biographers have done their best to
rehabilitate his family tree ; and they have discovered,
287
288
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The Lincoln
family history.
The grandfather,
Abraham Lincoln.
and established beyond question, that Lincoln's father,
Thomas Lincoln, was of the sixth generation, in direct
line of descent, from certain sturdy English yeoman
Lincolns, who came over and settled at Salem, Massa-
chusetts in 1637, and at Hingham in 1640.
The Lincolns, however, were from the beginning
wandering stock. It is true, they loved land; and
wherever they went, bought it or took it up ; but they
wandered across Massachusetts, through New York
into New Jersey; over into Pennsylvania; down into
southern Pennsylvania; thence into Virginia; and
the immediate grandfather of Lincoln, also named
Abraham, took his wife and children, and moved still
further west into Kentucky, then, of course, Virginia
territory.
The grandfather was working in the field one day,
when an Indian killed him; seized the little six year
old Thomas, and was about to kill him, when an elder
brother, from the house, shot the Indian. This
Thomas was to be Lincoln's father. The incident is
mentioned merely to indicate how all the hardship and
adventure of frontier life were behind Lincoln.
The biographers have similarly tried to rehabilitate
the family of Nancy Hanks, Lincoln's mother; but
Lincoln's mother, with less success. Certainly, at the time she married
toSmU^ 8 ' aM Thomas Lincoln, Nancy Hanks and her relatives
were of those "poor whites", pushed ever out or mov-
ing out, to the newer frontier, to escape the degrading
competition with slave labor. Nancy Hanks herself,
however, was a rare flower of the forest; sensitive,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 289
highly emotional, there are stories of her intense re-
sponse to those wild religious revivals, that furnished
one of the few emotional outlets for the frontier. She
had obtained a little education. Why she married the
rather shiftless Thomas Lincoln, is a question: pos-
sibly, as one story tells, as a result of the excitement
of one of those same religious revivals. In any case,
she did marry him, when she was twenty-two and he
was twenty-eight years old.* Three children were
born of the union: a daughter, two years older, who
grew up to womanhood, married, and died without
leaving children, Lincoln, and a boy who did not sur-
vive infancy.
The father had largely abandoned his carpenter's
trade, and taken a poor farm at Hodgenville. When
Lincoln was a child of three, Thomas Lincoln gave car p^nter and **'
up this farm and moved a dozen miles to another farmer -
somewhat better farm. When Lincoln was a child
of seven, Thomas Lincoln decided to abandon Ken-
tucky altogether. He sold his farm for twenty dol-
lars and four hundred gallons of whiskey ; loaded the
stuff; crossed to the Ohio, and over the river; and
filed a claim for a forest farm in Spencer County,
southern Indiana, returning to bring over his family The settlement in
and belongings. On his new claim, he built a "half- indfana. ount ^
* William E. Barton has established the fact, which Lincoln himself
believed, that Nancy Hanks was the daughter of Lucy Hanks, born
seven years before the latter's marriage to Henry Sparrow. The tradi-
tion that Nancy Hanks's father was a well-to-do Virginia planter has
never been authenticated.
See Barton, Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I, Chapter IV.
290
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Death of Lincoln'
mother.
Circumstances of
Thomas Lincoln's
second marriage.
Lincoln's
relation to his
step-mother.
The boy Lincoln'
tenderness for
animals.
faced camp," that is, a shack with three sides and an
open front, in which the family lived for a year. The
next year, Thomas Lincoln rose to the dignity of a
one-room, four-walled cabin, with a loft over it.
The hardships of pioneer life were, however, too
much for the sensitive mother ; and the year that Lin-
coln approached the age of ten, Nancy Hanks Lin-
coln died, of one of those epidemics that scourge the
frontier, called in this instance milk sickness, and was
buried in a lonely grave in the forest. For the fol-
lowing months the family was in the care of the girl
of twelve. The next year, Thomas Lincoln went back
to Kentucky, and wooed successfully a widow with
three children, whom he had unsuccessfully courted
before her first marriage; and brought her back, as
his second wife. She seems to have been of rather
forceful character; she had something more in the
way of household utensils, and she set about, as she
expressed it, trying to make Thomas Lincoln's chil-
dren a little more human.
Lincoln's relation to his second mother was very
warm and tender. She seems to have had for him,
not only deepening affection, but steadily growing
respect, because of his utter integrity of character:
that was what distinguished him from the beginning.
The chief fact that stands out from Lincoln's earli-
est years is his tenderness for animals. He was re-
peatedly whipped for releasing trapped animals. He
would never carry a gun. One traditional story is
especially significant: Lincoln had frightened away
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 291
a fawn just as the hunter was about to fire at it; and
a boy comrade remembered, later in life, his puzzled
bewilderment when the lad, Lincoln, remarked, "God
might think as much of that fawn as of some people."
Lincoln's schooling was extremely meager, more
so than in the case of any of the statesmen previously
studied. He had learned his letters from his own
mother; and he had a few sporadic months of irregu- extremely meager
lar schooling from wandering masters, who came by, sc °° ing '
set up a frontier school for a month or two, then closed
it and moved on.
Lincoln was, however, a natural student, from the
beginning, with a passion for reading and knowing.
He never read rapidly or very widely, but he read
thoughtfully, and he had a most tenacious mind, so
that whatever he did read was his for life. We know
that during his earliest years he had: the Bible, Pil-
grim's Progress, Aesop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, ?hat mmiide? 8
a short History of the United States, Weems's eulo- Lincoln's
u , character.
gistic Life of Washington and, probably, Franklin's
Autobiography: few, but all great books; and Lin-
coln absorbed them, made them part of the very fibre
of his character, as well as of his mind. Then, in the
Indiana days, he early came upon a copy of the In-
diana Statutes. That does not seem like very inspir- Value of the
ing reading; but it was Lincoln's first introduction to ZVianl Statutes
the Law, and he was at once interested in it, as living ™ Lincoln's
00 development.
the foundation principles of government and of hu-
man society. The book contained, moreover, a com-
plete copy of the Declaration of Independence, the
292
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Influence of the
Declaration of
Independence on
Lincoln's
permanent
program of
Ideas.
Early developed
abundant humor.
Education by hard
manual labor.
The youthful
Lincoln.
nation's birth charter, as written by Thomas Jeffer-
son. It fascinated Lincoln, and he made it part of
himself. Indeed, this document had more influence
than any other literary production on Lincoln's
permanent convictions and on his entire career.
Lincoln's abundant sense of humor early developed.
This, in contrast to his temperamental melancholy,
was the balancing grace in his character, perhaps sav-
ing him from insanity in certain crises of his life. It
showed at first, and for long, in retelling those con-
ventional country-store stories, which furnished the
staple of frontier humor, and alas! are still a large
element in our boasted American humor. Lincoln's
forte, however, lay in the literary skill with which he
retold these stories, so that they caught the imagina-
tion of his audience, frequently giving him credit for
inventing what he had merely borrowed and skillfully
redressed.
Until he was twenty-one, his labor was, of course,
his father's. At sixteen he was working out at six
dollars a month, and turning the money over to his
father. We hear of him slaughtering hogs at thirty-
one cents a day : that must have been particularly try-
ing labor for one with his instinctive tenderness for
animals. He developed great physical strength, and
was regarded as an unusually skillful rail splitter.
Moreover, in a society much given to drink and im-
morality, he was marked by entire sobriety and per-
sonal purity. By the age of nineteen, he had already
reached his full height of six feet, four inches. So
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 293
Lincoln grew up, a tall, gaunt, awkward backwoods-
man, welcomed everywhere in the neighborhood for
his good comradeship, abundant humor and story tell-
ing, but a solitary, brooding soul within: a kind of
feminine soul in a masculine body.
The year that Lincoln was nineteen, he had his first
opportunity for a look out on the big world : he floated
down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, the larger a wor7d.
as a hand on a flat boat. New Orleans was an active,
important port city, in constant intercourse with Eu-
rope, largely French and Spanish in population. It
was Lincoln's first contact with cosmopolitan civiliza-
tion. He saw it wholly from the under side; but he
saw it, and it must deeply have affected him, though
he apparently had little to say about it on his return.
The year that Lincoln was twenty-one, the wander-
ing mood again seized his father; and spurred on by circumstances of
another of those frontier epidemics, Thomas Lincoln ^t^^iinn i
loaded his family and belongings into a wagon, trekked
across Indiana into Illinois, on into central Illinois,
and stopped about ten miles west of Decatur, on the
banks of the Sangamon. Here Lincoln helped his
father clear another piece of land; and now twenty-
two, he felt that he had done his part for his family,
and struck out for himself. Understand, he did not
desert his family ; all through the years he recurrinedy Lincoln's
J ' o J o J independent start
responded to their appeals and needs, even when his at twenty-two.
own circumstances were straitened. One shiftless
step-brother, in particular, was continually appealing
to him for money, and usually getting it, no matter
294
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Odd jobs in the
neighborhood.
The second trip
to New Orleans.
how hard it was to send ; but from the age of twenty-
two, Lincoln never lived in his father's home again.
He did all sorts of odd jobs in the neighborhood.
One contract has come down, in which he agrees to
"split four hundred rails, for each yard of brown
jeans for trousers"; rather expensive trousers, one
would think, in terms of hard manual labor. Then,
the same year he left his father's house, came his sec-
ond opportunity for a brief contact with the larger
world. Again he went to New Orleans; this time
in charge of a shipment of freight a local merchant
wanted to dispose of in that port city. It was on this
second visit that Lincoln saw the New Orleans slave
market; and although the remark attributed to him
was doubtless invented by his admirers afterwards,
the experience must deeply have impressed him.
He returned, and the merchant who had sent him
South made Lincoln "Manager" of his store in New
Salem, which means that he was the one clerk in the
store. The business failed shortly after, however, and
Lincoln was again out of a job. He decided to offer
himself as a candidate for the State Legislature, is-
suing a quaintly characteristic announcement; but
was not elected. During this period, Lincoln had
his one brief chapter of active military experience,
though with no actual righting, in the Black Hawk
Indian war. His standing with his young comrades
was shown, much to his gratification, by his election
as captain of the voluntary company ; his own simple
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 295
modesty by his immediate re-enlistment, as private,
on its disbandment.
Then he and a young friend, named Berry, decided ^ , , . .
J 9 & ' J ' Berry and Lincoln
to start out in business for themselves. They opened a8 general
a store in New Salem as "General Merchants," pur-
chasing the stock almost entirely on credit; but Berry
was rather idle and given to drink, and Lincoln
wanted to read all the time ; so the business languished.
At this time, Lincoln would walk twenty miles to
Springfield to borrow a book. It was now that he
came to know Burns and Shakespeare; and they be- Lincoln's reading.
came his life companions, to whom he turned, all
through the years, for personal solace and spiritual
companionship.
One incident of Lincoln's brief business career is
worth retelling: a traveller came by with a barrel of
rubbish he wished to dispose of, and offered it to Lin-
coln for a half dollar. Lincoln took a chance and
bought it ; and upending the barrel, out of the bottom
dropped Blackstone's Commentaries! A singular Circumstances
place to find that classic on the Law; but if the story Blackstone's
,1 . i T • t /» j ., rpn . Commentaries,
is true, that was where Lincoln found it. I his was and the effect of
his second and greater introduction to the Law, as Lincoin Ume ° n
giving the foundation principles of society and gov-
ernment. Lincoln was fascinated by the book and ab-
sorbed it.
The business soon failed; and although Lincoln
was neither legally nor morally bound to do so, he
took the whole partnership debt upon himself, and
paid it off with scrupulous fidelity. It took him fif-
296
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Business failure
and scrupulous
honesty in paying
the partnership
debt.
Early political
services.
Lincoln as
Postmaster at
New Salem.
The one deep
love affair of
Lincoln's life.
teen years to do it. He used to refer to it, jestingly,
as the "National Debt"; but it burdened him until he
was forty. At that age, when Representative in Con-
gress, he sent back part of his salary to pay items of
that old partnership debt: a further signal illustra-
tion of that utter integrity of character that was
Lincoln.
He served for a time as assistant to the County
Surveyor and as Postmaster. He was, for the second
time, a candidate for the State Legislature; was
elected; went to Vandalia and served his term, mak-
ing no impression whatever. Returning to New
Salem, he continued as local Postmaster, carrying the
mail around in his hat, but delivering it with great
carefulness. Indeed, Lincoln's hat, afterwards the
famous high silk hat, was always his favorite place
for carrying memoranda and letters, even as Presi-
dent in the White House.
At this period, occurred the one deep love affair of
Lincoln's life. Sweet, lovely, sensitive Ann Rutledge,
who must in some ways have reminded Lincoln of
his own mother, was the daughter of the family in
the house where Lincoln boarded. She had engaged
herself to a young man from the East. He had gone
back home ; his letters stopped. It was even rumored
in the neighborhood that he had been married at the
time he courted Ann Rutledge; and the poor girl
was in deep distress, not knowing whether she was
bound or free. Lincoln was deeply drawn to her,
and came to love her very tenderly. Finally, she felt
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 297
sufficiently free to engage herself to marry Lincoln;
but whether the cause was her mental and spiritual
distress or another of those scourging epidemics,
sweet Ann Rutledge died, the year that Lincoln was
twenty-six.
It was Lincoln's first great spiritual crisis, shock-
ing his solitary, brooding soul into consciousness of
the transiency of human life, of the frail foundation spiritual crisis on
on which our happiness must ever rest. He went incon -
away, for a time, in deep distress and melancholy. His
friends even feared for his sanity. It was perhaps at
this time Lincoln came to love the poem that remained
his favorite, and its recurring refrain was his favorite
and most often quoted line: "O why should the spirit
of mortal be proud !"
Lincoln returned to New Salem, and stood again
for the State Legislature, was elected, and served his
term. During it, he and his associates, by the con- inThe^tate" 1
ventional "log-rolling" methods of politics of those Le s islature -
days, and alas ! of these days, succeeded in getting the
Capital removed from Vandalia to Springfield. It
was a wise step to move it, but that was not why they
did it ; they wanted it near by.
During these years, Lincoln had been assiduously
studying law, in every spare moment ; and at twenty- Lincoln's
eight he felt ready to take his examinations; which he ^f^
passed successfully and was admitted to the Bar. So to Springfield.
he decided to remove to Springfield, which he and his
friends had recently made the State Capital, to begin
the practice of the Law.
298
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Occasion of
forming Lincoln's
most intimate
friendship.
Engagement and
marriage to
Mary Todd.
Joshua Speed tells the story of how Lincoln came
into Speed's store in Springfield, threw down his sad-
dle bags, and asked something about a lodging.
Speed glanced up; and says that he thought he had
never looked into so sad a face in all his life. Moved
by a sudden impulse, he said, to the effect, "O, I have
a room with a double bed in it; if you want to share
that, till you get on your feet and find out what you
are going to do, it's all right with me." Lincoln
gladly accepted, and it was the beginning of the clos-
est friendship of Lincoln's life. Please note that Lin-
coln did not have intimate friends. He never got on
well in polite society, so there was no chance there.
True, the men everywhere liked him, for his good com-
radeship and admirable story telling; but they were
never admitted to the inner sanctuary. Lincoln's
personal and spiritual life was singularly and tragic-
ally solitary. Even Herndon, for so many years
Lincoln's law partner, who thought he knew every-
thing about Lincoln, was never admitted to the Holy
of Holies; his book on Lincoln sufficiently proves
that. Joshua Speed was the nearest to an intimate
friend Lincoln had ; perhaps because he was associated
with Lincoln's later love affair and marriage.
Mary Todd, a little woman, of high Kentucky and
Virginia family, excellent finishing school education,
with keen social ambitions and a quick, not always
controlled temper, was the sister-in-law of one of the
leading Springfield citizens. Why did she turn to
Lincoln? During the same period she was being
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 299
courted by the affable and socially cultivated Stephen
A. Douglas. Was it that, through the awkward and
forbidding shell of the man, she was drawn to the deep
soul within, and divined something of his coming
greatness? Why did Lincoln turn to her? Was it his
longing for feminine society, his sense that she was
all that he was not in the way of social cultivation? In
any case, they were engaged to be married ; and then,
on New Year's Day of the following year, the en-
gagement was suddenly broken, under quite mysteri-
ous circumstances. Lincoln was in great distress of
mind, not knowing whether he had behaved disgrace-
fully and forfeited his own best life, or whether he
should be thankful for his release from an impossible
situation.
Note that there was much of the Hamlet ten-
dency in Lincoln. As his ideas developed, they be- Hfmlet a ei C ement the
came settled convictions, the basis of his life; but in in Lincoln,
conduct he was for long uncertain, apt to respond
to the nearest counsel, vacillating, subject to alternat-
ing moods of profound depression and relative self-
confidence. It was only in the terrible crucible of
war, that the man of inflexible ideas finally became
the man of equally inflexible action.
At this crisis, Speed took him away to Kentucky.
Speed's mother helped to nurse him back to mental
and moral health. He returned to Springfield; and
under almost equally peculiar circumstances, the en-
gagement was renewed ; and in November of the year
300 AMERICAN STATESMEN
that Lincoln was thirty-three, he and Mary Todd
were married.
Lincoln was an entirely loyal husband to the end
Lincoln as husband °^ n ^ s n ^ e > an( ^ a beautiful father to his children. He
and father. never disciplined them; possibly Mary Todd Lincoln
may have done enough of that for both ; but affection-
ate tenderness and companionship he gave, in fullest
measure. When the little boy, Willie, died, in the
darkest period of the Civil War, it helped to plunge
Lincoln into one of those long periods of depression.
His wife loved him with real and lasting affection.
She helped him in various ways. She tried hard to
improve his social etiquette, but with limited success.
He would come into the living room in his shirt
sleeves, when fashionable ladies were calling. One
instance will illustrate : a number of such ladies called,
and Lincoln went in and told them Mrs. Lincoln
would be down "as soon as she got her trotting har-
ness on." You can imagine what such behavior did
to the socially ambitious Mary Todd Lincoln. Under-
stand, Lincoln was a natural gentleman, with that in-
stinctive courtesy of Nature's nobleman, especially
toward the hurt and broken, that springs from a ten-
der and kindly heart, but he never got on well in
polite society.
His wife had excellent practical judgment: she
saved Lincoln from certain mistakes. For instance,
Effect of his 1 t • i . • o 1 • . r^
domestic life on when Lincoln, returning from his term in Congress
Lincoln. with a sense of failure and a mood of profound de-
pression, was inclined to accept the offered governor-
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 301
ship of Oregon as the best way out, his wife put her
little foot down hard and said, No, she wouldn't go
to Oregon and he shouldn't go either; and so saved
him for a national career. Had he gone to Oregon,
he would have been removed from the national theater
just at the critical time. Mrs. Lincoln was entirely
loyal to her husband's and the Union's cause, while
suffering the tragedy of her own relatives fighting
with the Confederate forces. It must be frankly
recognized, nevertheless, that Lincoln's married life
in no degree answered the deeper needs of his heart
and spirit; and possibly his domestic setting served
only to accentuate the brooding solitariness of the soul
within.
After a period of miscellaneous practice in Spring-
field, with two more terms in the Legislature, Lincoln
was offered a partnership by Judge Logan, one of Th . e law partner-
the leaders of the Illinois Bar; which means that Logan.
Judge Logan must have seen, through Lincoln's awk-
ward immaturity, something of his coming greatness.
So Lincoln had, with Judge Logan, several years of Lincoln , s interest
admirable training in the Law. His interest, as we and training in
• 1 ' T * * ^ e ^ aW *
have seen, was m the Law as giving the basic prin-
ciples of human society and government. He was
not interested in legal technicalities and the tricks for
winning cases. His colleagues sometimes thought
him lazy, in consequence. He was not lazy, though
there was a certain inertia in his giant frame and
brooding spirit; it was merely that the petty legal
devices did not interest him.
302
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Lincoln and
Herndon.
Standing for
Congress at 37.
After the years with Judge Logan, Lincoln left
that partnership, and formed another, with Herndon
as junior partner; and the shingle, Lincoln and Hern-
don, was out in Springfield till Lincoln's death; that
partnership was never broken.
In 1846, Lincoln stood for Congress as a "per-
sonal" candidate. His opponent, Peter Cartwright,
was a somewhat bigoted religionist. During the cam-
paign he attacked Lincoln as an "aristocrat" and an
"infidel." Lincoln answered the first charge, jocu-
larly; it was easy to answer; and remained silent on
the second. Why? Well, during the forties of the
nineteenth century a wave of liberal thinking had
gone across the country. Emerson, six years older
than Lincoln, was writing his early books and giving
his lectures. Lincoln was deeply influenced by the
movement. He had read the religious writings of
Thomas Paine, and had come about to the point of
view of Channing and Theodore Parker. While
naturally a religious man, and deepeningly so under
the terrible burden of war, he was never able to ex-
press his faith in the conventional orthodox forms or
accept the ordinary creedal statements. Rather than
attempt to answer his opponent, he thus remained
silent: a further illustration of the absolute moral
integrity that was Lincoln.
In spite of this situation, he was elected, served his
s resuntng term in Congress, and made no impression. True,
depression. the men liked him, as always, in committee rooms and
hotel lobbies, for his story telling and good com-
Lincoln's religious
views.
Relative failure
in Congress, and
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 303
radeship, but as a statesman he was unrecognized.
He voted as a strict party man. His only independ-
ent action was to propose a bill for the elimination of
slavery in the District of Columbia ; and it died pain-
lessly in Committee, never reaching the floor of the
House. At forty, Lincoln came home to Springfield,
feeling that he had failed completely, wondering
whether he was fit for public life anyway, inclined to
take the offered governorship of Oregon as the easiest
way out; a step from which, we have seen, his wife's
decision saved him.
He threw himself into his law practice with a new
fervor. There follows a series of years of circuit circurtriding.
riding; Lincoln going from court to court, in what is
described as "a ramshackle buggy, with a poky old
horse." He got on well with everybody, opposing as
well as friendly counsel; but where the other lawyers
went home for week-ends, Lincoln usually remained
on circuit. There may have been partly a domestic
reason to account for this; but mainly it was due to
Lincoln's feverish desire to make up the deficiencies
of his early schooling. While the others slept, or ^
J ° , \ Struggles to make
rested at home, he would read until two o'clock in the up for meager
morning. At this time he mastered Euclid. Now opportunities.
what did Lincoln want with Euclid at forty! There
is something pathetic about it all. Of course, Frank-
lin went through similar struggles ; but Franklin had
a genial, buoyant temperament Lincoln was without,
and then Lincoln had nothing of that personal vanity
which, as we saw, helped Franklin over many a hard
304
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Characteristics
determining
Lincoln's success
as a lawyer.
place in the road. Thus Lincoln's double life went
forward : outwardly, the companionable humorist and
story teller ; inwardly, the brooding thinker and earn-
est student, sombre and solitary.
Lincoln's strength with a jury came, first of all,
from his profound ethical grasp. He would fre-
quently state his opponent's case, better than the op-
posing counsel could state it; and then sheer down
to the very heart of the matter, basing his appeal on
the fundamental moral principles involved. With
this, it was his warm humanity, the quick turns of
humor that frequently won a case, and his growing
power of simple, direct, logical statement that made
him successful as a lawyer.
Lincoln did not get on well where he was not sure
of the justice of his cause; indeed, we are told he
would refuse criminal cases when not convinced of his
client's innocence. He would even abandon a case in
court, upon discovering that his client had lied to him.
One instance will illustrate : in this case, the testimony
suddenly revealed that his client was guilty, after as-
suring Lincoln of his entire innocence. Without a
word to anyone, Lincoln turned and left the court-
room. It came time for him to take his part in the
trial; the judge looked around; where was Mr. Lin-
coln? No one knew. The judge sent a messenger
integrity that was to the hotel. He found Lincoln in the wash room,
mcon. washing his hands. Lincoln sent back word to the
judge that he was trying to clean his client's dirt off
of him; and he never went back into court with that
Lincoln's behavior
toward lying and
guilty clients.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 305
case ; he left it right there. It was this moral integrity
that made everyone trust him: clients, judges, counsel
on both sides.
Meantime the clouds were gathering for the titanic
conflict that had to come. It has already been shown The gathering
that the original cleavage of political philosophy, on S ni over the
the State versus Nation issue, was for decades nqtx"
sectional, that it became sectional as a result of the^^*^
differences in population and production, North and
South, and especially because slavery survived in the
South, while dying out in the North and abolished
in the Northwest. Further, it has been made clear
that the fight for the extension of slave territory, on
the part of the people of the South, did not mean that
the South was permanently committed to the institu-
tion of slavery : that it was a struggle for self-preser-
vation, to prevent the South being completely out-
voted and outweighed in the national councils.
Besides this, however, there was, in the fourth, fifth
and sixth decades of the nineteenth century, a curi- mT
. n . » i • i Tne anoma ious
ous combination of vested interests within the party, combination of
founded by Thomas Jefferson to fight such interests, party founded by
The great slave owners were constantly demanding Jefferson -
new territory to exploit with the uneconomic slave
labor. These large operators were financed, not in
the South, but from the moneyed interests of the
North and East, especially of New York. The party,
within which these interests combined, was led from
Illinois by Stephen A. Douglas. Originally from
Vermont, he had gained national prominence in I Hi-
306
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Douglas, national
democratic leader
from Illinois,
engineering the
repeal of the
Missouri
Compromise,
Lincoln's
humorous
statement of the
reversal of party
attitudes, in his
letter to the
Boston Committee.
nois politics; and was now a leader of his party at
Washington, as Senator from Illinois. Yielding to
the pressure from within his party, he helped to engi-
neer the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, early in
1854, on the ground that the people of a territory
should have the right to decide for themselves whether
it should enter as a slave or free state; which was a
popular and apparently democratic policy. His
Kansas-Nebraska Bill further divided all the terri-
tory west of Missouri and north of 36° 30', into two
parts, with the aim of making it easier to vote the
southern half slave territory.
There was thus a curious reversal of party positions
toward the eternal problem of powerful vested inter-
ests. Lincoln referred to this, in that letter to the
Boston Committee inviting him to the celebration of
Jefferson's birthday, from which has already been
quoted the passage on the Declaration of Independ-
ence. Lincoln said:
"Bearing in mind that about seventy years ago two
great political parties were first formed in this country,
that Thomas Jefferson was the head of one of them
and Boston the headquarters of the other, it is both
curious and interesting that those supposed to descend
politically from the party opposed to Jefferson should
now be celebrating his birthday in their own original
seat of empire, while those claiming political descent
from him have nearly ceased to breathe his name every-
where. * * *
"I remember being once much amused at seeing two
partially intoxicated men engaged in a fight with their
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 307
great-coats on, which fight, after a long and rather
harmless contest, ended in each having fought himself
out of his own coat and into that of the other. If the
two leading parties of this day are really identical with
the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams, they have
performed the same feat as the two drunken men."*
In further application of Lincoln's story, it may
be added that the above is not the only instance of the
exchange of overcoats by our political parties. It
might seem invidious to cite later illustrations; but if
you have a keen mind and are interested in cross-
word puzzles, you might figure out for yourself who's
wearing whose overcoat now.
Lincoln was a Whig, but he based himself wholly
on the principles of Thomas Jefferson, especially as Lincoln's political
formulated in the Declaration of Independence, "the j^n^on \hllfe of
white man's charter of freedom." His ideas, more- Thomas Jefferson.
. . irti» as enunciated in
over, were clarifying and becoming the steadfast basis the Declaration of
on which his life was to rest. In his own family back- D epen CT
ground, he knew all the evils, to the poor whites, of
competition with slave labor. Wherever slavery ex-
isted, it was, of course, degrading to a free man to
work at the same task as a slave. Those whites, there-
fore, too poor to own slaves or be trained for skilled
labor, had to move out, ever further on the frontier,
to escape the degrading competition with the labor of
negro slaves. Lincoln had come to the settled con-
viction that the new territories were needed to give
* Lincoln, from letter to the Boston Committee, Springfield, Ills.,
April 6, 1859: Writings, Vol. V, pp. 24-26,
308
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Reasons for
Lincoln's settled
"free soil"
convictions.
The Peoria
speech, answering
Douglas, in 1854.
The first half of
Lincoln's life
program.
opportunity for poor white people to take up the
land, till the farms, build their homes, rear their chil-
dren, and by hard toil develop into self-respecting,
prosperous American citizens, without suffering the
degrading competition with slave labor, or, later, the
evil effects of using such labor.
In the campaign of 1854, there were three candi-
dates for the Senate from Illinois: Douglas's candi-
date, representing the regular Democratic party; the
candidate of the bolting Democrats, who had broken
with the party because of the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, and Lincoln. Twice during the cam-
paign, Lincoln publicly answered a speech by Doug-
las. In his second reply, at Peoria, Lincoln laid down
the first half of his life-program, in the following
words :
"Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska or other
new Territories, is not a matter of exclusive concern to
the people who may go there. The whole nation is in-
terested that the best use shall be made of these Terri-
tories. We want them for homes for free white people.
* * * Slave states are places for poor white people to
remove from, not remove to. New Free States are the
places for poor people to go to and better their condi-
tion. For this use the nation needs these Territories."*
No further extension of slave territory, no more
new slave states : this, Lincoln had come to see as the
first element in the solution of the nation's overshad-
owing problem. At the same time, he insisted on the
* Lincoln, in speech at Peoria, Illinois, in reply to Senator Douglas,
October 16, 1854: Writings, Vol. II, pp. 212, 213.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 309
enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, enacted in
1793, revised and made more stringent in 1850. That ^stlnce on the
law so offended abolition sentiment that all the New enforcement of tne
Fugitive Slave
England States and several others in the North en- Law, in spite of
acted personal liberty laws, practically nullifying the numerous
Federal statute. Nullification, like the affirmation of Northern states '
State sovereignty was, in our history, not originally
a sectional matter. Lincoln's view was that, since the
Fugitive Slave Law was a national statute, it must
be enforced. He was attacked for standing with
the slaveholders on that issue, and with the Abolition-
ists on the free soil question. He replied in the Peoria
speech :
"Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to
go for its restoration, lest they be thrown in company
with the abolitionists. Will they allow me, as an old
Whig, to tell them, good-humoredly, that I think this
is very silly? Stand with anybody that stands right.
Stand with him while he is right, and part with him
when he goes wrong. Stand with the abolitionist in
restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against
him when he attempts to repeal the Fugitive Slave law.
In the latter case you stand with the Southern disunion-
ist. What of that? You are still right. In both cases
you are right."*
"Stand with anybodj^ that stands right." Any "stand with
politician who can say that and consistently act upon Itlnda nght/'
it becomes a statesman.
* Lincoln, in speech at Peoria, Illinois, in reply to Senator Douglas,
October 16, 1854: Writings, Vol. II. p. 221.
310
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Kesults of
repealing the
Missouri
Compromise,
"Bleeding
Kansas ! "
The Dred Scott
decision and
consequences
its
To defeat Douglas, Lincoln threw the election to
the candidate of the bolting Democrats; and from
1854, on, the Illinois battle was between Lincoln and
Douglas.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise had thrown
the whole question of the new territories open again,
and multiplied the bitterness on both sides. There
followed the rush into Kansas, with the sack of Law-
rence by the pro-slavery party, and the massacre by
John Brown and his associates at Pottawatomie:
"Bleeding Kansas," indeed it was! Then came the
Dred Scott decision. Everyone knows what that
was; but not all realize its implications. Dred Scott
was a negro slave, taken by his master into free terri-
tory, and into a free State, and then back into a slave
State. The slave held that, inasmuch as he had been
taken into territory where slavery was forbidden by
law and could not exist, he was a free man; and the
Missouri Supreme Court decided he was still a slave.
There was an appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States. Its decision, withheld until after the
election of 1856, delivered March 6, 1857, denied the
right of any slave or descendant of a slave to sue in
a United States Court, declaring that "A negro whose
ancestors were imported into this country and sold as
slaves cannot become a member of the political com-
munity formed and brought into existence by the
Constitution of the United States." Besides thus
denying any rights of citizenship to freed negroes, the
Court further gratuitously stated that neither Con-
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 311
gress nor the State Legislatures had any right to re-
strict the spread of slavery, thus making unconstitu-
tional the law forbidding slavery in the Northwest
Territory, the Missouri Compromise and all similar
enactments.
Now see what that did: if one owner could take a
slave into free territory, and still hold him a slave,
why not a thousand owners, a thousand slaves each?
The decision seemed to throw the whole nation open
to slavery. That was what the opponents of slavery
feared, and the advocates of it believed. Indeed, one
pro-slavery leader boasted that he would yet call the
roll of his slaves on Bunker Hill: imagine what that
did to the Abolitionists!
When it was proposed to admit Kansas as a state,
with a constitution permitting slavery, against the D OU gi as > 8
wish of the maioritv of the inhabitants of Kansas, situation in the
° m campaign of 1858.
Douglas voted his convictions, against the measure;
and thus broke with his party leaders at Washington.
In the campaign of 1858, he was up for reelection as
senator ; and his problem was to hold his constituency
in Illinois, for if he lost that, he was out completely
politically.
Lincoln did not join the Republican party when it
was formed. He waited a year and a half : he wanted Why Lincoln
to see whose overcoat it was going to wear! When formed Republican
he became convinced, however, that it was wearing, ^™&^X
at that time, the overcoat of Thomas Jefferson, that it * he Rational
. ' Senate,
was formed to secure justice for the common people
and protect them against the combination of power-
312 AMERICAN STATESMEN
ful interests, then in the opposing party, Lincoln
joined it, and accepted its nomination for the senate
in 1858, against Douglas, the Democratic candidate.
In his speech at Springfield, accepting the nomina-
Lincoin's tion of the Republican Convention, Lincoln laid down
ar e s P prkig e fiei P d e , eCh tne secon d na ^ °f ms life-program in these words :
second half of his "I believe this government cannot endure permanently
life program. half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to
be dissolved ; I do not expect the house to fall ; but I do
expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become
all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents
of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place
it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates
will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in
all the States, old as well as new, North as well as
South."*
This speech displeased the party politicians. They
held that Lincoln had unnecessarily invited trouble
and damaged his chances of election. Lincoln replied
that he was "after bigger game," meaning, not that
he aspired to a higher office, but that his own election
or defeat was unimportant, compared to the great
problem the nation faced and had to solve. He never
took the abolitionist view of that problem, recognizing
that the South had inherited slavery, and the existing
generation was in no degree responsible for it. He
held, therefore, that slavery should be let alone where
* Lincoln, from the speech delivered at Springfield, Ills., June 17,
1858, at the close of the Republican State Convention which had nomi-
nated Lincoln for U. S. Senator: Writings, Vol. Ill, p. 2.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 313
it was, but confined within its existing limits, with
the hope that the southern people would voluntarily
work out a constructive solution through gradual
emancipation. Such was the now clearly defined pro-
gram of settled ideas on which his life work was to
rest.
Early in the campaign, Lincoln challenged Doug-
las to debate the issues publicly all over Illinois; and ^Dougia? 8 '^ 6
Douglas somewhat reluctantly partly accepted: for the partial
? ■ J r n • 1 acce P tance -
one important place in each of seven Congressional
districts of Illinois. There followed that great series
of debates, the greatest ever held, not only in our
country, but anywhere in the world at any time. Lin-
coln began that series of debates, a frontier lawyer
and local politician, hardly known outside central The t
Illinois; he closed it, a national figure, talked of all Debates,
over the northern half of the country as available for
the presidency.
The contrast between the two men is impressive:
Lincoln, the awkward, six-foot-four giant; Douglas,
called "The Little Giant," short, rotund, polished in
manner. Lincoln usually began his speeches in a u^^^t*™* 1
shrill, unpleasing voice, with hands tightly clenched Dou g las -
behind his back or used in awkward gestures, until he
forgot himself ; then his voice would deepen, his head
would begin bobbing, his gestures grow forceful, while
with direct, logical statement and whimsical turns of
humor, he drove home his ideas. Douglas was smooth,
ponderous, with a flow of language and flights of
rhetoric, able to cover up an issue with a torrent of
314 AMERICAN STATESMEN
words, when he desired. Lincoln, with a program of
deep, inflexible ethical ideas; Douglas, rather an op-
portunist, but with certain tenacious convictions. Lin-
coln, slow and deep; Douglas, facile and brilliant:
the one, with profound faith in the people; the other
allied with wealth and aristocracy.
The contrast extended to the way the two men
JS^Jtl t01ired the state - George B. McClellan, then an
two ways of official of the Illinois Central Railroad, whom Lincoln
touring the State. .
was afterwards to call to the command of the Union
armies, offered Douglas his private car; and in this
Douglas toured the state in luxurious fashion. Lin-
coln went about in any possible way: in the caboose
of a freight train, the smoker of a local, on horseback,
on foot : any way he could get around. Enthusiastic
crowds gathered; families drove in from the country-
side, bringing luncheon, supper and breakfast, sleep-
ing out all night on the. ground: it was a wonderful
series of debates.
In practically every debate, Douglas sarcastically
?f°Lfn?oin? iSU8e a
T masterpiece.
end. It brought to the Union the support of the
liberal party throughout the world. It cut the ground
from under the cabal in Congress, left it hanging in
the air, and pushed the leaders of the opposition party
into the position the cabal had occupied. Finally,
it was a supreme assumption of war powers by the
President.
Meantime, in the field, Burnside had followed Mc- Further disasters
Clellan to defeat at the hands of Lee, with the cul-
minating holocaust at Fredericksburg, well on the
road to Richmond.
336
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The cheering
message from
the cotton
workers of
Manchester.
Lincoln's reply,
again expressing
his conviction
that the war waa
for humanity,
Lincoln calling
Hooker to the
chief command.
Under the multiplying burden and disappoint-
ments, Lincoln was greatly cheered by the whole-
hearted expression of support on the part of the suf-
fering workers at Manchester, England, long out of
employment through the cutting off of cotton sup-
plies by the war. He wrote them :
"I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the
workingmen at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called
to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studi-
ously represented that the attempt to overthrow this
government, which was built upon the foundation of
human rights, and to substitute for it one which should
rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was like-
ly to obtain the favor of Europe. * * * Under the
circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utter-
ances upon the question as an instance of sublime Chris-
tian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age
or in any country. It is indeed an energetic and rein-
spiring assurance of the inherent power of truth and of
the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity
and freedom."*
Early in 1863, Lincoln called Hooker to the chief
command. Hooker had been talking rashly about the
need for a dictator, evidently implying that he would
make a good one. In appointing him, Lincoln wrote
Hooker a characteristic letter:
"Major General Hooker.
General : — I have placed you at the head of the Army
of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what
* Lincoln in letter to the Working Men of Manchester, England,
Executive Mansion, Washington, Jan. 19, 1863: Writings, Vol. VI,
p. 250.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 337
appear to me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it
best for you to know that there are some things in re-
gard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I The
believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which of letter to Hooker,
course I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with
your profession, in which you are right. You have
confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an
indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which with-
in reasonable bounds does good rather than harm ; but I
think that during General Burnside's command of the
army you have taken counsel of your ambition and
thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did
a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious
and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such a
way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both
the army and the government needed a dictator. Of
course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have
given you the command. Only those generals who gain
successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of
you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.
The government will support you to the utmost of its
ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done
and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the
spirit that you have aided to infuse into the army, of
criticising their commander and withholding confidence
from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you
as far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor Napo-
leon, if he were alive again, could get any good out
of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And now
beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with en-
ergy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us
victories."*
* Lincoln, letter to General Hooker, Executive Mansion, Washington,
D. C, Jan. 26th, 1863: Writings, Vol. VI, pp. 254, 255.
338
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Defeat in place
of hoped-for
victory.
Gettysburg
the turning point
of the war.
Significance of
the Gettysburg
Address as
showing
Lincoln's final
literary
mastership.
The greatest
classic in our
American
literature.
In place of the begged-for victory, came the over-
whelming defeat of Chancellorsville, with Hooker's
bewildered retreat, followed by Lee's second cam-
paign into the North, culminating in the critical bat-
tle of the war, Gettysburg.
After Gettysburg and the failure of Lee's cam-
paign, Lincoln was sure that the Union would win the
war. If only he could hold the people together, and he
was convinced now he could do that, the war could
end but in one way. His thoughts thus turned away
from the war to what would follow after ; and he began
planning to forestall the hate of little men, which he
saw victory would free for vengeance upon the
stricken South. In his Gettysburg Address, Novem-
ber 19, 1863, he. achieved perhaps his highest spiritual
interpretation of the war; and showed he had added
to his old power of simple, direct statement, an ability
to lift the common mind with a sweep of imaginative
vision, proving that he had finally become a literary
master.
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Lib-
erty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those
who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
339
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do
this.
"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can
not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here
have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
us — that from these honored dead we take increased de-
votion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that
these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."*
It is no accident that the world has come to regard
this Address as the purest classic in our literature.
In utter sincerity of feeling, elevation of spiritual
vision, noble restraint and compact brevity of style,
with that lofty simplicity that is the utterance of the
heart, it is the supreme literary expression of Lin-
coln's soul.
During some nine months of 1863, Congress was
not in session; and its members were all over the
country, getting the reaction of their constituents.
To their surprise and often chagrin, they found that
Lincoln had become the people's hero. Why? First
Why the
Gettysburg
Address is the
highest
expression of
Lincoln's soul in
literature.
Congress not in
session from
March to
December, 1863.
* Lincoln, Address at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863:
Vol. 7, p. 20.
Writings,
340
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Why Lincoln
had finally
become the
people's hero.
The letter to
Mrs. Bixby.
Significance
for the future
of democracy in
the response of
the people to
Lincoln.
of all, it was the growing recognition of his absolute
integrity of character. He made mistakes, many of
them ; but he was utterly honest, he meant always the
highest, and could be wholly trusted. With this, it
was his warm humanity, his mercy, humor and ten-
derness. The military men would come to him and
say that he must not let off those who had seriously
broken their regulations, that it destroyed military
discipline. Lincoln would reply, "O, I am their
father. I have to consider their mothers and fathers.
I am not a military man. I can't let a simple minded
boy be shot for running away, and not touch the man
who induced him to desert"; and he went right on
pardoning them. The military men fumed; but the
people loved him.
There was Mrs. Bixby, who was supposed to have
lost five sons in the war. Lincoln heard this report,
and wrote her that beautiful letter: so tender in hu-
manity, so spiritually exalted, so noble in patriotism:
it caught the imagination of the people all over the
land.
The response of the people to Abraham Lincoln is
one of the supreme justifications of our faith in de-
mocracy; for it proves that there is in the breast of
common humanity, a power finally to recognize the
highest when it appears.
Before the close of 1863, in his effort to thwart the
hate of little men, Lincoln issued his Amnesty Procla-
mation, a year and a half before the war closed. It
offered full pardon, with restoration of all rights of
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 341
citizenship and property (except slaves), to all but a
few at the top, on taking the oath of allegiance to the panose S in the
United States. It further provided that where ten Amnesty
-i-irx it i Proclamation
per cent of the voters in a seceded State would estab- of 1863.
lish a new state government in allegiance to the Union,
Lincoln would recognize that government.
The cabal in Congress was furious. Efforts were
made to transfer the action to Congress, and later to
thwart Lincoln's carrying out of the Proclamation;
but Lincoln pressed steadily on, in this final assump-
tion and execution of war powers.
It was in the spring of 1864 that Lincoln called
Grant, from his victories in Tennessee, to the com-
mand in chief of the Union armies ; and Grant began March, 1864.
that ceaseless driving campaign that ended the war.
After the terrible losses of those frightful days in the
Wilderness, Lincoln was in deepening misery; but
two days after Grant uttered those famous words, "I
propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all sum-
mer," Lincoln quoted Grant in a speech at Philadel-
phia, and added, "We are going through on this line if T . , , ± ,
f ' ^ ° b . Lincoln's steady
it takes three years more. Thus Grant, with Lin- support of Grant,
coin inflexible behind him, pushed on. The cumula- terrible* losses 6
tive Union losses, equalling in the end Lee's entire |rowm| inst the
opposing army, widely increased the pacifist senti- opposition.
ment in the North, which expressed itself in blunder-
ing efforts for premature peace. Lincoln handled
these attempts with consummate wisdom, enabling
Grant to continue his relentless hammering. Lincoln futile efforts
° for peace.
generously conceded everything else; but stood, un-
342
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Lincoln
renominated.
The worst attack
upon Lincoln,
between the
nomination and
election.
The Wade-Davis
Manifesto.
alterable, on the preservation of the Union. The
Southern leaders would accept nothing but complete
and separate independence. Every negotiation
reached that impasse ; and the war dragged on.
At the Union convention in June, Lincoln was re-
nominated. When he heard the news, he said, "I
suppose they didn't want to swap horses crossing a
stream." During the last hours of Congress, Lin-
coln urged through the bill drafting men without
monetary commutation. Up to that time, a man
drafted could pay a limited amount of money, and
get off. Under this bill, every man drafted would
have to serve. His party leaders warned Lincoln
that, if he signed that bill, he would not be re-elected.
Lincoln told them that this law was necessary to save
the Union ; and he signed the bill.
The result was wide resentment over the approach-
ing draft. This, with the furious opposition to Lin-
coln's assumption of war powers, and the exaspera-
tion of the growing pacifist sentiment over the failure
of the embarrassing negotiations for peace led to the
worst attack of all upon Lincoln, in the summer be-
tween the nomination and election. Leaders of his
own party issued a public Manifesto, declaring him a
usurper of the constitutional rights of Congress.
There was a strong movement to nominate another
candidate, acceptable to Lincoln's enemies in Con-
gress, in place of the one they regarded as a failure
and unfit for his task. Lincoln's friends, frightened,
took to cover; his enemies were jubilant.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
343
Lincoln was imperturbable. In utter disregard of
his personal fortunes, he pressed forward in his task
of saving the Union, through winning the war. He
wrote out his view of his duty, sealed the paper in an
envelope, and asked the Cabinet members to initial it,
at a meeting on August 23rd. At a Cabinet meeting,
following his election, he asked the members to open
and read the paper. It was:
"This morning, as for some days past, it seems ex-
ceedingly probable that this Administration will not be
re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so cooperate
with the President elect, as to save the Union between
the election and the inauguration ; as he will have secured
his election on such ground that he cannot possibly
save it afterward."*
Could there be a higher example of his utter self-
lessness, in consecration to his cause? It was his task
to win the war and save the Union; all else lay with
God.
Again it was the fresh discovery that the people
were with him that saved him. Stimulated by a suc-
cession of Union victories, public opinion rallied to
him. New England came out for him. Even Greeley
came over to him. He was re-elected, carrying all
the States, except New Jersey, Delaware and Ken-
tucky, with a considerable majority, this time, of the
popular vote. It was his utter sincerity, integrity and
selfless devotion that proved supreme statesmanship.
Lincoln's second inauguration came when the war
Lincoln's
consecration to
his cause and
disregard of his
own interests,
Significance of
the sealed paper.
The triumphant
reelection.
Lincoln, Writings, Vol. VII, pp. 196, 197.
344
AMERICAN STATESMEN
The second
Inaugural
Address.
Closing words
of the Address.
Last days of
the war.
Lincoln's
magnanimity
toward the
South.
was clearly drawing into its last phase. His brief
address attempted no prophesy, but clearly expressed
the hope in his heart for speedy and permanent peace,
and stated the idea achieved. It closed with those
noble words, familiar to every school boy, but which
cannot be too often repeated:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up
the nation's wounds, to care for him w T ho shall have
borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do
all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all nations."*
Those words are the soul of Abraham Lincoln.
He spent some days at the front, with Grant, at
Petersburg and Richmond ; and returned to urge that
all the States should vote on the Thirteenth Amend-
ment. April 9th, came the news of Lee's surrender.
Two days later, Lincoln made a speech, in whch he
urged that the Southern States should be treated as
if they had never left the Union. That is a mag-
nanimity and generosity, unequalled and unexampled
in any other victor in history. At his last Cabinet
meeting, he urged his associates to put aside all
thoughts of hatred and revenge: only if resentment
were extinguished, could there be hope of unity and
harmony.
Lincoln had aged terribly during the last years of
* Lincoln, concluding passage from his second Inaugural Address,
March 4, 1865: Writings, Vol. VII, p. 331,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
345
the war: It seemed as if he felt the death of every man,
as if it had been his own son ; but now, with the end at
hand, the burden was eased from his long-troubled
heart. With a lighter spirit than he had known for The drive with
years, he went out, on April 14th, for a long drive ^m^ 1 ?^ 111 on
with Mrs. Lincoln. She reports him as talking very
freely with her on that day, as saying, in effect, "Well,
Mary, we have had a hard time of it since we came
to Washington, but better days are in sight now. We
will get through these next four years somehow, and
go back to Illinois. I have saved a little money. I
can earn some more with my law practice back there.
There are some quiet, peaceful years ahead of us
now."
That evening, in this happier mood, he went to
Ford's theater to see Laura Keene in Our American The theater
Cousin. Mrs. Lincoln had planned the theater party, party -
and invited the Grants. At the last minute, they
could not go; which saved Grant's life, for he, too,
was marked as victim; but Mrs. Lincoln said she
would not have her theater party spoiled; so they
went. You know the last chapter: John Wilkes
Booth, ex-actor, half crazed with the sufferings of his
people, and seeing in Lincoln the symbol and head
of what he regarded as the tyranny that had caused
those sufferings, knowing every alley way of the
theater, laid all his plans, crept behind the presidential
box; and shortly after the play started, shot Lin-
coln through the head from behind. Lincoln never
regained consciousness, and died the next morning,
The last tragic
chapter.
346
AMERICAN STATESMEN
Disaster to
the South in
Lincoln's
assassination.
Significance of
Lincoln for the
future of
America.
April 15, 1865, fifty-six years old: centuries old, with
the burden of the nation's suffering he had borne so
long on heart and brain!
That shot, fired by John Wilkes Booth, was the
most terrible blow the South ever received. It was
worse than any invading campaign ; it was worse even
than Sherman's merciless march to the sea. It put
the little men in the saddle, the little men who hate.
The result was the horrors and wickedness of the re-
construction period in the South: horrors and wick-
edness that would have been avoided, had Lincoln
lived; for the major effort of the last two years of his
life had been to forestall the revenge, he knew would
be attempted upon the South when the war closed. In
the end, however, Lincoln's ideas conquered: better
men came into power; more just and generous coun-
sels prevailed ; and the result is the one united Nation,
we love and cherish today.
It was Lincoln's greatness that he did the work of
Alexander Hamilton, on the basis of the principles
of Thomas Jefferson; and thus united, in his leader-
ship and career, the two strands of political phi-
losophy that had divided our country: united them,
let us hope, for our whole future.
With six such stars shining in our spiritual firma-
ment, with six such leaders in our wonderful heritage
from the past, have we not reason to be proud, and
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 347
humble, to regard that heritage, not as something
merely to be gloried in, but as a challenge, to us, not
to sit down, but to get up and go forward, to see to in our heritage
it that the aim of our forefathers is not defeated, that America! 1 ay
the American experiment does not fail, that America
becomes the Beacon Light among the nations, they
one and all dreamed she was to be; until in the end,
to use Lincoln's great phrase, "Government of the
people, by the people, and for the people" shall pre-
vail, not only completely within the nation, but in the
relations of all the nations of mankind?
BOOK LIST
Books starred are of special value in relation to the
subjects of this volume; those double-starred are texts
for study or are otherwise of first importance.
Adam, G. Mercer, The Life of General Robert E. Lee, pp.
IV+321, A. L. Burt & Co., New York, 1905.
Adams, Charles Francis, *Lee's Centennial: An Address at
Lexington, Va., Jan. 19, 1907, pp. 76. Privately
printed.
Atherton, Gertrude, The Conqueror : A Dramatized Biog-
raphy of Alexander Hamilton, pp. XII +536. Fred-
erick A. Stokes Co., New York, 1902.
Atherton, Gertrude, Editor. A Few of Hamilton's Letters,
pp. XXI+227. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1903.
Bacheller, Irving, In the Days of Poor Richard, pp. 4*14.
Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1922.
Barton, William E., *The Life of Abraham Lincoln, 2 vols.,
pp. XVI+517 and 516. Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianap-
olis, 1925.
Barton, William E., The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 407.
George H. Doran Co., New York, 1920.
Bassett, John Spencer, The Federalist System, pp. XVIII
+327. Harper & Bros., New York, 1906.
Binns, Henry Bryan, Abraham Lincoln, pp. XIII+379.
Temple Biographies, J. M. Dent & Co., London, 1907.
Bowen, John Joseph, The Strategy of Robert E. Lee, pp.
256. Neale Publishing Co., New York, 1914.
Bowers, Claude G., * Jefferson and Hamilton, pp. XVII+
531. Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 1925.
348
BOOK LIST 349
Bowers, Claude G., The Party Battles of the Jackson Period,
pp. XIX+506. Houghton Mifflin Co., N. Y., 1922.
Bradford, Gamaliel, Jr., Lee the American, pp. XVI + 324.
Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1912.
Brooks, Noah, Abraham Lincoln, pp. XIV+471. Heroes of
the Nations, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1894.
Bruce, Philip Alexander, Robert E. Lee, pp. 380. George
W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907.
Bruce, William Cabell, Benjamin Franklin: Self Revealed,
2 vols., pp. III+544 and III+550. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1917.
Channing, Edward, The Jeffersonian System, pp. XII +
299. Harper & Bros., New York, 1906.
Charnworth, Lord (Godfrey R. Benson), Abraham Lin-
coln, pp. VIII +479. Makers of the Nineteenth Cen-
tury, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1926.
Conant, Charles A., Alexander Hamilton, pp. 145. River-
side Biographical Series, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., New
York, 1901.
Curtis, William Eleroy, *The True Abraham Lincoln, pp.
XIV+409, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1904.
Curtis, William Eleroy, *The True Thomas Jefferson, pp.
395, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1901.
Drinkwater, John, Abraham Lincoln: A Play, pp. XII+
112. The Houghton, Mifflin Co., New York, 1919.
Drinkwater, John, Robert E. Lee: A Play, pp. 95. Sidg-
wick and Jackson, London, 1923.
Fisher, Sydney George, *The True Benjamin Franklin, pp.
381. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1898.
Foley, John P., Editor, *The Jefferson Cyclopedia, pp.
XXII+1009. The Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York,
1900.
Ford, Henry Jones, * Alexander Hamilton, pp. VIII+381.
Figures from American History. Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York, 1920.
350 BOOK LIST
Ford, Paul Leicester, *The Many-Sided Franklin, pp. XX
+ 516. The Century Co., New York, 1899.
Ford, Paul Leicester, Editor, *The Sayings of Poor Rich-
ard, pp. 288. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1889.
Ford, Paul Leicester, *The True George Washington, pp.
319. The J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1896.
Franklin, Benjamin, ** Autobiography, with an Introduc-
tion by Woodrow Wilson, pp. XIX+299. The Cen-
tury Co., New York, 1910. Numerous other editions.
Franklin, Benjamin, ** Complete Works, 10 vols. G. P.
Putnam's Sons, New York, 1887.
Freeman, Douglas Southall, Lee's Dispatches, pp. LXIII
+400. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915.
Gerwig, George William, Washington, the Young Leader,
pp. XII + 144. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,
1923.
Gilman, Bradley, Robert E. Lee, pp. IX+205. The Mac :
millan Co., New York, 1915.
Hamilton, Alexander, **The Federalist, edited by Henry
Cabot Lodge, pp. LIX+586. G. P. Putnam's Sons,
New York, 1888.
Hamilton, Alexander, ** Works, Constitutional Edition,
edited by Henry Cabot Lodge, 12 vols. G. P. Put-
nam's Sons, New York, 1903.
Hamilton, Allan McLane, *The Intimate Life of Alexander
Hamilton, pp. XII+482. Charles Scribner's Sons,
New York, 1910.
Hapgood, Norman, Abraham Lincoln: The Man of the
People, pp. XI+433. The Macmillan Co., New York,
1913.
Hapgood, Norman, George Washington, pp. XI+419. The
Macmillan Co., New York, 1901.
Harrison, James Albert, George Washington, pp. XXIII
+ 481. Heroes of the Nations, G. P. Putnam's Sons,
New York, 1906.
BOOK LIST 351
Herndon, William H. and Weik, Jesse W., Abraham Lin-
coln: The True Story of a Great Life, pp. XXVIII
+331 and VII+348. D. Appleton & Co., New York,
1913.
Hill, Frederick Trevor, On the Trail of Grant and Lee,
pp. XIV+305. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1911.
Hill, Frederick Trevor, * On the Trail of Washington, pp.
XIV+276. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1922.
Irving, Washington, The Life of George Washington, 5
vols. G. P. Putnam & Co., New York, 1855-1859.
Jefferson, Thomas, ** Writings, Definitive Edition, edited
by Andrew A. Lipscomb, et al., 20 vols., Jefferson Me-
morial Association, Washington, 1905.
Johnson, Bradley T., General Washington, pp. X+338.
Great Commanders, D. Appleton & Co., New York,
1894.
Jones, J. William, *Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee,
Soldier and Man, pp. 486. Neale Publishing Co., New
York, 1906.
Jones, J. William, Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes and
Letters of General Robert E. Lee, pp. XVI+509. D.
Appleton & Co., New York, 1875.
Lambeth, W. A. and Manning, W. H., Thomas Jefferson
as an Architect and Designer of Landscapes, pp. IX
+ 122+plates. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1913.
Lee, Fitzhugh, * General Lee, pp. 432. Great Commanders,
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1894.
Lee, Captain Robert E., * Recollections and Letters of Gen-
eral Robert E. Lee, by his Son, pp. XII +461. Dou-
bleday, Page & Co., New York, 1904.
Lincoln, Abraham, ** Writings, edited by Arthur Brooks
Lapsley, 8 vols., G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York,
1905, 6.
352 BOOK LIST
Lodge, Henry Cabot, Alexander Hamilton, pp. VIII +31 7.
American Statesmen, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1898.
Lodge, Henry Cabot, ^George Washington, 2 vols., pp.
VI+341 and 399. American Statesmen, Houghton,
Mifflin Co., Boston, 1917.
Long, A. L., Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, pp. 707. Sampson
Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, London, 1886.
Lossing, Benson John, et al., Harper's Encyclopaedia of
American History, revised edition, 10 vols. Harper &
Bros., New York.
MacChesney, Nathan William, Editor, Abraham Lmcoln:
TJie Tribute of a Century, pp. XXVIII+555. A. C.
McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1910.
Maurice, Frederick, Editor, An Aide-de-Camp of Lee, Be-
ing the Papers of Charles Marshall, pp XXIX+287.
Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1927.
Maurice, Sir Frederick Barton, Robert E. Lee, the Soldier,
pp VII+313. Houghton, Mifflin Co., New York, 1925.
McMaster, John Bach, Benjamin Franklin as a Man of
Letters, pp. IX+293, American Men of Letters, Hough-
ton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1900.
Merwin, Henry Childs, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 164. River-
side Biographical Series, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Bos-
ton, 1901.
More, Paul Elmer, Benjamin Franklin, pp. 139. Riverside
Biographical Series. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1900.
Morse, John T., Jr., Abraham Lincoln, 2 vols. pp. VI+387
and VI +373. American Statesmen, Houghton, Mifflin
& Co., Boston, 1893.
Morse, John T., Jr., Benjamin Franklin, pp. VI. + 428.
American Statesmen, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1896.
BOOK LIST 353
Morse, John T., Jr., The Life of Alexander Hamilton, 2
vols., pp. IX+425 and 384. Little, Brown & Co., Bos-
ton, 1876.
Morse, John T., Jr., Thomas Jefferson, pp. XIII+326.
American Statesmen, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston,
1898.
Muzzey, David Saville, Thomas Jefferson, pp. VIII+319.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1918.
Nicolay, John G., A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp.
XVI+578. The Century Co., New York, 1902.
Nicolay, John G., and Hay, John, Abraham Lincoln: A
History, 10 vols. The Century Co., New York, 1890.
Oliver, Frederick Scott, Alexander Hamilton: An Essay
on American Union, pp. XIII +502. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1906.
Page, Thomas Nelson, * Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier,
pp. XVIII+734. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,
1911.
Parton, James, *The Life and Times of Benjamin Frank-
lin, 2 vols., pp. 627 and 707. Mason Bros., New York,
1864.
Phillips, Wendell, Speeches, Lectures and Letters. Series I,
pp. IV+562, Walker, Wise & Co., Boston, 1864. Series
II, pp. V+476. Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1892.
Pierson, Hamilton W., Jefferson at Monticello, pp. 138.
Charles Scribner, New York, 1862.
Putnam, George Haven, Abraham Lincoln, pp. VIII + 292.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1909.
Randall, Henry S., The Life of Thomas Jefferson, 3 vols.
Derby and Jackson, New York, 1858.
Russell, Phillips, Benjamin Franklin: The First Civilized
American, pp. X+323. Brentano's, New York, 1926.
Sandburg, Carl, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, 2
vols., pp. XVI+480 and VI+482. Harcourt, Brace
& Co., New York, 1926.
354 BOOK LIST
Scott, Winfield, Memoirs, Written by Himself, 2 vols., pp.
XXII+653. Sheldon & Co., New York, 1864.
Shepherd, Henry E., Life of Robert Edward Lee, pp. 280.
The Neale Publishing Co., New York, 1906.
Shirley, Ralph, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 188.
Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York, 1919.
Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright, Compiler. *An Autobiog-
raphy of Abraham Lincoln: Consisting of the Personal
Portions of His Letters, Speeches and Conversations,
pp. 501. Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1926.
Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright, ^'Lincoln, pp. 474. The
Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1922.
Sumner, William Graham, Alexander Hamilton, pp. X+
281. Makers of America, Dodd, Mead & Co., New
York, 1890.
Tarbell, Ida M., *In the Footsteps of the Lincolns, pp.
XI+418. Harper & Bros., New York, 1924.
Tarbell, Ida M., *The Life of Abraham Lincoln, 2 vols.,
pp. XXXVI+426 and 475. The Macmillan Co., New
York, 1917.
Thayer, William Roscoe, George Washington, pp. IX +
274. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1922.
Trent, William P., Robert E. Lee, pp. XVIII+135. Bea-
con Biographies, Small, Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899.
Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrick, The Greatest American:
Alexander Hamilton, pp. XX+353. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1921.
Washington, George, ** Diaries, edited by John C. Fitz-
patrick, 4 vols. Houghton, Mifflin Co., New York,
1925.
Washington, George, * Writings, edited by Lawrence B.
Evans, pp. LXIX+567. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New
York, 1908.
BOOK LIST 355
Washington, George, ** Writings, collected and edited by
Worthington Chauncey Ford, 14 vols. G. P. Putnam's
Sons, New York, 1889-1893.
Watson, Thomas E., The Life and Times of Thomas Jef-
ferson, pp. XXII+534. D. Appleton & Co., New
York, 1903.
Watson, Thomas E., Thomas Jefferson, pp. XV+150.
Beacon Biographies, Small, Maynard & Co., Boston,
1900.
White, Henry Alexander, Robert E. Lee and the Southern
Confederacy, pp. XIII+467. Heroes of the Nations,
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1897.
Williams, John Sharp, Thomas Jefferson, His Permanent
Influence on American Institutions, pp. IX+330. Co-
lumbia University Press, New York, 1913.
Wilson, Woodrow, ^George Washington, pp. VIII+333.
Harper and Bros., New York, 1896.
Woodward, W. E., George Washington: The Image and the
Man, pp. 460+XXXV. Boni & Liveright, New York,
1926.
INDEX
Adams, John, 35, 37, 58, 63, 98,
99, 108, 111, 112, 114, 115, 140,
152-155, 158, 159, 170, 171, 173,
220, 229-231.
Adams, Mrs. John, 113.
Adams, John Quincy, 253.
Adams, Samuel, 37, 153; letter of
Jefferson to, 158.
Allen, Ethan, 36.
America, challenge of heritage, 9,
135, 174, 197, 198, 286, 346, 347;
characterized, 10, 134, 135; new
problems of, 5, 134, 135; view
of the fathers, 5, 114, 347.
Americanism, 5, 6.
Andre, John, 47-52, 189.
Arnold, Benedict, 46, 49-52, 138,
189.
Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, 51, 189.
Atherton, Gertrude, 177.
Bache, Benjamin F., 84.
Beauregard, Pierre G. T., 245.
Bell, John, 321, 322.
Bellini, Charles, 141, 142.
Bixby, Mrs., letter of Lincoln to,
340.
Blair, Francis P., 261.
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 54, 153, 160,
161, 168, 268, 333.
Bond, Thomas, 98.
Booth, John Wilkes, 345, 346.
Boudinot, Elias, 182.
Braddock, Edward, 21, 22, 101, 102.
Breckenridge, John Cabell, 321,
322.
Brillon, Madame, 113.
Brown, John, 247, 248, 256, 257,
310, 319, 320.
Bryant, William Cullen, 319.
Buchanan, James, 322, 323.
Burgoyne, Sir John, 43-45, 112.
Burnside, Ambrose E., 275, 335.
Burr, Aaron, 39, 155, 156, 230-234.
Carlyle, Thomas, 73.
Carrington, Edward, 217, 218.
Cartwright, Peter, 302.
Chandler, Zachary, 328.
Channing, William Ellery, 302.
Clarke, Major, 16.
Clarke, William, 163.
Clay, Henry, 314, 315.
Clinton, George, 199, 200, 204.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 47-52.
Collinson, Peter, 99, 100.
Congress, Continental, 34, 35, 37,
38, 39, 40, 41, 45, 53, 54, 55,
128, 139, 140, 173, 183, 187, 188,
193, 194, 195, 198, 202, 210, 211,
235.
Constitutional Convention, 57, 145,
194, 199, 200.
Conway Cabal, 45, 46.
Conway, Thomas, 45.
Cooper, Myles, 184, 185.
Cornwallis, Lord Charles, 39, 40,
42, 43, 52, 192.
Cruger, Nicholas, 181.
Custis, G. W. Parke, 26, 27, 241,
247.
Custis, Jack, 25, 26, 53, 241.
Custis, Patsy, 19, 25.
Davis, Henry Winter, 342.
Davis Jefferson, 245, 247, 248, 266,
269, 270, 277, 279.
Deane, Silas, 110, 111, 131.
Declaration of Independence, 38,
109, 128-130, 156, 163, 173, 184,
291, 292, 306, 307, 327.
Donald, A., 145, 146.
Douglas, Stephen A., 130, 299, 305,
306, 308, 309, 311, 312; charac-
terized, 313, 314; debates with
Lincoln, 313-317, 318; rallying
to the war, 330, 331; death, 331.
Dowse, Edward, 165,
356
INDEX
357
Early, Jubal A., 245, 281.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 73, 302.
Fairfax, Lord Thomas, 14, 15.
Fauquier, Francis, 120.
Fawcett, John, 177.
Field, David Dudley, 319.
Franklin, Abiah Folger, 67.
Franklin, Benjamin, characterized,
6, 7; 19, 22, 35, 44; part in the
Revolution, 66; relation to
Washington, 66, 67 ; ancestry,
67; father, 67, 68; mother, 67;
birth, 67 ; schooling, 68 ; early
reading, 68 ; Autobiography , 68-
70; characteristics, 70, 71; ap-
prenticed to the printer's trade,
71; struggle for education, 72,
73; the New England Courant,
74; journalistic efforts, 74; to
Philadelphia, 75, 76; at work
with Keimer, 76, 77; visit to
Boston, 77 ; relations with Gov-
ernor Keith, 77, 78; first trip to
England, 78, 79 ; return to Phila-
delphia, 79; with Keimer again,
80; partnership with Meredith,
80; at twenty-four an indepen-
dent printer, 80; the Pennsyl-
vania Gazette, 80, 81; the Junto,
81; founding a subscription li-
brary, 81; moral faults, 82;
seeking a wife, 82, 83 ; marriage
with Deborah Read, 83 ; domes-
tic life, 83-89; letters, 85-88;
scheme of discipline in the vir-
tues, 89-92; Poor Richard's Al-
manac, 92-96; collecting pro-
verbial wisdom, 95, 96; Father
Abraham's speech, 96; retire-
ment from business, 97 ; further
studies, 97 ; public service, 97,
98; discoveries and inventions,
98-101; experiments with elec-
tricity, 99-101; plan for a union
of the Colonies, 101 ; services in
the French and Indian War, 101-
103; the five years in England,
103, 104; travels and contact
with scholars, 104; the third
residence in England, 104-109;
examination before Parliament,
106; attitude as diplomat, 106,
107; newspaper articles, 107;
affair of the Hutchinson letters,
107-109; arraignment by Lord
Wedderburn, 108, 109; return
home, 109 ; services of the Amer-
ican cause, 109, 110; to France
at seventy, 110; the French wel-
come, 110, 111; attacks, 111;
meeting with Voltaire, 111, 112;
signing the treaty, 112; services
as Ambassador, 112, 113; social
life, 113; letter to Washington
in 1780, 113, 114; view of Amer-
ica's future, 114; signing the
peace treaty, 115; return to
Philadelphia at seventy-nine,
115, 116; President of Pennsyl-
vania Council, » 116; service in
the Constitutional Convention,
116, 117; last years and death,
117; summarv, 117; 118, 122,
131, 140, 152, 175, 291, 303, 304.
Franklin, Deborah Read, 76, 78,
79, 83-89, 105, 106, 109.
Franklin, James, 71, 73, 74, 75,
77.
Franklin, Josiah, 67, 68, 71, 72, 74,
77.
Franklin, William, 69, 84, 85, 98,
104.
Franklin, William Temple, 104.
Frederick the Great, 43, 46.
Fremont, John Charles, 329.
French and Indian War, 17-23,
101-103, 115.
Freneau, Philip, 220.
Gates, Horatio, 41, 44-46, 188.
Genet, Edmond Charles, 59, 147-
149.
Gist, Christopher, 17.
Godfrey, Thomas, 82, 83, 92.
Grant, U. S., 39, 245, 270, 280-283,
341, 344, 345.
Grasse, Count de, 52.
Greeley, Horace, 281, 319, 321, 334,
343.
Greene, Nathanael, 46, 52, 240,
358
INDEX
Halleck, Henry W., 272, 278, 333.
Hamilton, Alexander, character-
ized, 7; 37, 46, 50-52, 55, 57, 58,
60, 118, 143, 147; relations with
Jefferson, 149-152, 155, 156; 159,
162, 167; virtual creator of the
Federal government, 175; birth,
175; relation of the West Indies
to the mainland, 176; a patriot,
176; ancestry, 177-180; the Hu-
guenot French grandfather, 177;
mother, 178-180; the Scotch
father, 179, 180; later relations
with family, 180, 181; early edu-
cation, 181 ; clerk for Nicholas
Cruger, 181; account of the hur-
ricane, 181, 182; to the main
land for college education, 182;
in school at Elizabethtown, 182;
King's College, 183; significance
of early pamphlets, 183, 184; the
mob at Dr. Cooper's, 184, 185;
belief in authoritative govern-
ment, 185; initial contrast with
Jefferson, 185; captain of artil-
lery, 185-187; service in the
New York-New Jersey campaign,
186; four years as Washington's
secretary, 187-190; contrast with
Washington, 187, 188; physical
characteristics, 188; marriage,
188, 189; domestic life, 189;
temporary break with Washing-
ton, 189-191; fault in character,
190, 191; colonel of light infan-
try, 191; service at Yorktown,
192; studying for the Law, 192;
service in the Continental Con-
gress, 193, 194; early calls for a
Constitutional Convention, 194;
beginning law practice, 194; first
victory for Nation versus State,
195, 196; the Phocion letters,
196-198; lesson for today, 197,
198; Annapolis Convention, 198,
199; calling the Constitutional
Convention, 199; efforts to bring
New York in line, 199, 200; ser-
vice in the Convention, 200; the
first Federalist paper, 201 ; the
part of Jay and Madison, 201 ;
significance of work in the Fed-
eralist, 201*204; the Poughkeep-
sie Convention, 204; accepting
Treasury secretaryship, 205; the
task faced, 205-207; the Report
of Jan. 9th, 1790, 207-209; as-
sumption, 209-211; bargain with
Jefferson, 211; establishing the
National Bank, 212; view of im-
plied powers in the Constitution,
212-214; contrast with Jefferson
in Philosophy, 213, 214; the
Report on Manufactures, 214-
216; view of free trade, 215; rea-
sons for fostering manufactures,
215, 216; Jefferson's distrust
and enmity, 216-220; letter to
Colonel Carrington, 217, 218; at-
tacks, 220, 221 ; handling of the
Whiskey Rebellion, 221, 222;
resignation from the Treasury,
222; boss of the Federalist
party, 222; drafting Washing-
ton's Farewell Address, 222,
223; the Reynolds affair, 223-
225; publication of Reynolds
pamphlet, 224, 225; autobiog-
raphy in letter to relative in
Scotland, 225-229 ; controversy
with John Adams, 229-231; In-
spector-General, 229, 230; pam-
phlet on the Public Character
and Conduct of John Adams,
230, 231 ; part in making Jeffer-
son President, 231; relations
with Burr, 231-234; circum-
stances of the duel, 232-234;
death, July 12th, 1804, 233; long
widowhood of Mrs. Hamilton,
234; 235, 236, 248-250.
Hamilton, Alexander, ( Scotch
relative of Hamilton's), 225-229.
Hamilton, Allan McLane, 177.
Hamilton, Elizabeth Schuyler, 188,
189, 225, 227, 228.
Hamilton, James, 179, 180, 228.
Hamilton, James, Jr., 179, 180.
Hamilton, Philip, 192, 232.
Hamilton, Philip ("Little Philip") ,
232.
Hamilton, Rachel, 178-180.
Hancock, John, 58, 108.
Hancock, Winfield Scott, 245.
INDEX
359
Hanks, Lucy, 289.
Hanks, Nancy, 288-290.
Hartley, David, 110.
Helvetius, Madame, 113.
Henry, Patrick, 34, 35, 128.
Herndon, William H., 298, 302,
322.
Hooker, Joseph, 275-278, Lincoln's
letter appointing, 336, 337; 338.
Houdetot, Countess d', 113.
Howe, Sir William, 36-40, 44, 45,
47.
Hughes, John, 105.
Hutchinson, Thomas, 107, 108.
Jackson, Andrew, 240, 253.
Jackson, Thomas J. (Stonewall),
245 276.
Jav, John, 56, 57, 114, 115, 185,
201.
Jefferson, Jane Randolph, 119.
Jefferson, Martha Skelton, 123-
127, 131.
Jefferson, Peter, 118, 119.
Jefferson, Thomas, characterized,
7; 29, 58, 110; ancestry and
birth, 118; father, 118, 119;
mother, 119; Shadwell, 119;
schooling, 119, 120; at William
and Mary College, 119-121; in-
fluence of Dr. Small, 120, 121;
studying law, 121 ; success as
lawyer, 121, 122; six years'
service as burgess, 122; Sum-
mary of the Rights of America,
122, 123; marriage, 123; Monti-
cello, 123, 124; view of slavery,
124, 125; handling of slaves,
125; large inheritance from
John Wayles, 125, 126; domestic
life, 126, 127; farmer and busi-
ness man, 127, 128; contrast
with Washington, 127; in Rich-
mond Convention, 128; delegate
to second Continental Congress,
128; drafting answers to Lord
North's Propositions, 128 ; sig-
nificance as author of the
Declaration of Independence,
128-130; revising the Virginia
statutes, 131-137; eliminating
primogeniture and entail, 131,
132; abrogating oppressive laws
on religion, 132-134; the great
statute on religious freedom,
134; father of American re-
ligious liberty, 134; significance
of Jefferson's ideas for present
day America, 134, 135; program
on education, 135; on slavery,
135, 136; revision of the penal
system, 136, 137 ; Jefferson's
view of the significance of his
work, 137; Governor of Vir-
ginia, 138; Notes on Virginia,
138, 139; services in Continental
Congress of 1783, 139, 140; to
France for five years, 140-144;
social life, 140; impression of
French society, 141, 142; rela-
tion to French Revolution, 142,
143; love for France, 143, 144;
Americanism, 144, 145; view of
Constitution, 145, 146; Secre-
tary of State, 146-151; the
Genet affair, 147-149 ; relations
with Hamilton, 149-152; the
bargain on assumption, 149-151;
contrast with Hamilton, 150;
resignation from Cabinet, 151;
the Anas, 151 ; gravest fault,
151, 152; preference for agri-
culture, 152; Vice President,
152-155; relations with John
Adams, 152, 153; view of the
Alien and Sedition laws, 154;
drafting the Kentucky Resolu-
tions, 154; view of State versus
Nation, 154, 155; elected Presi-
dent, 155, 156; first Inaugural
Address, 156-158; letter to
Samuel Adams, 158; the Cabi-
net, 158; removing the "mid-
night judges," 159; efforts to
thwart aristocracy, 159, 160;
the Louisiana purchase, 160-
163; paradox of the purchase
and its explanation, 162; the
Lewis and Clarke expedition,
162, 163; the expansionist, 163;
plan for government of the new
territory, 163, 164; life-long cul-
tural activities, 164-166; view
of teaching of Jesus, 164, 165;
360
INDEX
Jefferson, Thomas — Continued.
reasons for accepting a second
term, 166; triumphant reelec-
tion, 166; view of the national
debt, 167, 168; foreign policy,
168; the Embargo Act, 168,
169; refusal of a third term and
retirement to Monticello, 169;
founding the University of Vir-
ginia, 169, 170; service as archi-
tect and Rector, 170; view of
life in letter to John Adams,
170, 171; financial troubles, 171,
172; death on July 4th, 1826,
173; significance of the self-
written epitaph, 173, 174; sum-
mary, 174; challenge for today,
174; 175, 184, 185, 196; rela-
tions with Hamilton, 211-214,
216-220; 231, 235, 238, 248-250,
255, 305-308, 311, 327.
Johnston, Joseph E., 245.
Kalb, Baron Johann de, 46.
Keene, Laura, 345.
Keimer, Samuel, 77, 80.
Keith, Sir William, 77, 78.
Knox, Henry, 46, 58, 147, 221, 229.
Knox, Hugh, 181.
La Fayette, Marquis de, 46, 52,
142.
Lansing, John, 200.
Laurens, John, 189, 232.
Lee, Anne Carter, 239, 240.
Lee, Arthur, 110, 111.
Lee, Charles, 47, 48, 232.
Lee, Custis, 247, 258, 259, 265.
Lee, Light Horse Harry, 24, 46, 49,
65, 188, 239, 240.
Lee, Mary Parke Custis, 241-243,
259, 260, 261, 265, 277.
Lee, Richard Henry, 128.
Lee, Robert Edward, characterized,
8; 24, 169; leader of the South,
235 ; circumstances compelling
the union of States, 235, 236;
growth of national unity, 236,
237 ; influence of immigration
and industries on the North,
236, 237; causes for the survival
of State patriotism in the South,
237, 238; culmination of the
Southern tradition in Virginia,
238; influences behind Lee, 237,
238; birth, 238, 239; father, 239,
240; mother, 239, 240; death of
father in 1818, 240; chivalry
toward mother, 240; education,
240, 241 ; lieutenant of engineers,
241 ; service at Hampton Roads,
241; marriage, 241; bonds with
family of Washington, 240-242;
choosing Washington as model,
242; similarity in character
with Washington, 242 ; domestic
life, 242; the Nat Turner re-
bellion, 242, 243; service at St.
Louis, 244; at New York, 244;
in the War with Mexico, 244-
247 ; praised by General Scott,
245, 246 ; brevetted colonel, 247 ;
Superintendent of West Point,
247; service in Texas, 247, 248;
called to Arlington, 247 ; sup-
pressing the John Brown raid,
247, 248; ordered to Washing-
ton in 1861, 248; arriving to
find the Confederacy established,
248; significance of the Civil
War, 248-250; original conflict
of State versus Nation as not
sectional, 250-253 ; New England
first challenging the Federal
government, 251-253; Webster's
speech, 251, 252; the Hartford
Convention, 252; Rawle's View
of the Constitution, 252, 253 ;
Andrew Jackson and the Union,
253 ; the Haverhill petition, 253 ;
causes for the sectional cleav-
age, 253-255; contrasting views
of slavery, 255, 256 ; speeches of
Wendell Phillips, 255-257; sig-
nificance to the South of dispro-
portion in voting population,
256-258; meaning of the South-
ern demand for extension of
slave territory, 257, 258; effect
of Lincoln's election, 258; for-
mation of the Confederacy, 258;
Lee's view of the situation, 258,
259; opposed to slavery, 259,
INDEX
361
Lee, Robert Edward — Continued.
260 ; devotion to the Union, 260,
261 ; service in U. S. Army, 261 ;
offered command of Union
armies, 261 ; circumstances of
the great decision, 26 L264 ;
resignation and letter tlx'ljren-
eral Scott, 261, 262; letter to
sister, 262, 263; letter to
brother, 263; accepting com-
mand of Virginia forces, 2jj 4;
reasons for the supreme de-
cision, 2J34; view of the con-
flict, 26*4, ' 265 i_ high magna-
nimity, 265 ; contrasting situa-
tion in the Union and the Con-
federacy when the war started,
265, 266; the two chances for
the South, 266-268; groups in
the Union opposed to the war,
267, 268; attitude of the Aboli-
tionists, 267, 268; Lee's mil-
itary achievement, 268; West
Virginia campaign, 269; service
in Georgia and the Carolinas,
269; chief of staff, 269; rela-
tions with President Davis, 270;
Malvern Hill, 271; understand-
ing McClellan, 271; defeating
Pope, 272; first campaign into
the North, 272-275; Proclama-
tion to the People of Maryland,
273, 274; Antietam, 274, 275;
Fredericksburg, 275; Hooker's
campaign, 275, 276; Chancel-
lorsville, 276; relation to Jack-
son, 276; death of Jackson, 276;
view of the situation, 276, 277;
plan and appeal to President
Davis, 277 ; personal sorrows,
277 ; second campaign into the
North, 277, 278; Gettysburg,
278, 279; attitude in defeat,
279; appointment of Grant, 280;
comparison of Lee and Grant,
280; the Wilderness, 280, 281;
Grant's determination, 281;
Union losses, 281 ; situation in
spring of 1865, 281 ; last strug-
gles, 281, 282; surrender, 282;
view of Lincoln's assassination,
282, 283; indictment, 283; sig-
nificance of application for par-
don, 283; offers of employment,
283, 284; President of Washing-
ton College, 284; view of recon-
struction, 284-286; last days and
death, 286; summarv, 286; 287,
333, 334, 335, 338, 341, 344.
Leeds, Titan, 93, 94.
L'Enfant, Peter Charles, 204.
Letcher, John, 284, 285.
Levine, John, 178, 179.
Lewis, Meriwether, 162, 163.
Lewis, Nellie Parke Custis, 26, 240,
241.
Lincoln, Abraham, characterized,
8, 9 ; 62 ; view of the Declaration
of Independence, 129, 130; view
of Jefferson, 129, 130; 152, 235,
247, 261, 263, 267, 272, 2,75, 278,
281, 282, 283; contrast with Lee,
287; birth, 287; family, 287-289;
father, 288-290; mother, 288-
290; move to Indiana, 289, 290;
relation to step-mother, 290;
tenderness for animals, 290, 291;
schooling, 291; early reading,
291, 292; influence of Declara-
tion of Independence, 291, 292;
humor, 292; manual labor, 292;
youthful characteristics, 292,
293 ; to New Orleans, 293 ; move
to Illinois, 293; leaving father's
home, 293 ; later relation to
family, 293, 294; odd jobs, 294;
effect of second trip to New
Orleans, 294; in the Black Hawk
war, 294, 295; with Berry as
general merchant, 295; finding
Blackstone, 295; failure in busi-
ness and paying partnership
debt, 295, 296; surveyor and
postmaster, 296 ; in state legis-
lature, 296; love for Ann Rut-
ledge, 296, 297; effect of first
spiritual crisis, 297 ; admission
to the Bar and removal to
Springfield, 297, 298; friendship
with Speed, 298; marriage, 298-
300; conflict in Lincoln, 299;
domestic life, 300, 301; partner-
ship with Judge Logan, 301 ;
362
INDEX
Lincoln, Abraham — Continued.
with Herndon, 302; religious
views, 302; term in Congress,
302, 303; circuit riding, 303;
struggles for education, 303 ;
characteristics as lawyer, 304,
305; view of reversal of party
positions, 305-307 ; basis of
ideas, 307, 308; Peoria speech
giving first half of life program,
308, 309 ; consequences of the
Dred Scott decision, 310, 311;
reasons for joining Republican
party, 311, 312; speech in ac-
cepting nomination to the sen-
ate, 312, 313; contrast with
Douglas, 313, 314; the great
debates, 313-317; summary of
life program, 314-316; political
strategy, 317; period of depres-
sion, 317; invitation to Brook-
lyn, 317, 318; Cooper Union
address, 317-321; view of John
Brown raid, 319, 320; conclud-
ing appeal, 320, 321 ; elected
President, 321, 322; conse-
quences of election, 322, 323;
situation at time of inauguration,
323 ; first Inaugural Address,
323; the initial question, 323,
324 ; relations with Seward, 324-
327; Seward's Thoughts, 324-
326; Powhatan affair, 326, 327;
Fort Sumter, 326, 327; message
of July 4th, 1861, 327, 328; Bull
Run, 328; the cabal in Congress,
328 ; opposition of Abolitionists,
328-330; attacks by Wendell
Phillips, 329, 330; harassment
from opposition party, 331;
solving the war powers contro-
versy, 331 ; view of labor and
capital, 331, 332; period of
vacillation, 332; emergence of
the final Lincoln, 332; judgment
of men, 333; efforts to solve
slavery, 333; the Emancipation
Proclamation, 333-335 ; answer
to Greeley's attack, 334 ; purpose
and effect of the Proclamation,
335; letter to the Manchester
workers, 336; letter appoint-
ing Hooker, 336, 337; Gettys-
burg Address, 338, 339; why
Lincoln became the people's
hero, 339, 340; significance of
the popular response, 340 ;
Amnesty Proclamation, 340, 341 ;
calling Grant, 341 ; handling
efforts for peace, 341, 342; re-
nominated, 342; Wade-Davis
Manifesto, 342; devotion to the
cause, 343; reasons for trium-
phant re-election, 343; second
Inaugural Address, 344; mag-
nanimity toward the South, 344;
the drive with Mrs. Lincoln,
345; the last tragic chapter,
345, 346; consequences of as-
sassination for the South, 346;
summary of career, 346; chal-
lenge in our heritage, 346, 347.
Lincoln, Abraham (grandfather of
Lincoln), 288.
Lincoln, Mary Todd, 298-301, 345.
Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, 288-290.
Lincoln, Sarah Bush Johnston, 290.
Lincoln, Thomas, 288-290, 293; 294.
Logan, Stephen T., 301, 302.
Longstreet, James, 245.
Lytton, Mrs. Peter, 180.
Madison, James, 145, 154, 158,
162, 169, 201, 206, 212, 217, 220,
222, 238, 239.
Malthus, Thomas Robert, 99, 165,
166.
Marshall, John, 159.
Marshall, Mrs. (sister of Robert
E. Lee), 262, 263.
Mav, James, 285, 286.
McClellan, George B., 245, 270,
271, 274, 275, 314, 329, 330, 332,
335.
McDowell, Irvin, 328.
Meade, George Gordon, 278.
Meredith, Hugh, 80.
Monroe, James, 144, 145, 160, 161,
162, 169, 223, 224, 238.
Monticello, 123-126, 140, 145, 152,
159, 169, 172, 173.
Morris, Gouverneur, 139.
Morris, Robert, 193.
INDEX
363
Mount Vernon, 14, 16, 29, 55, 62,
63, 64.
Muhlenberg, John Peter Gabriel,
223.
Muse, Adjutant, 17.
North, Frederick (Lord), 128.
Paine, Thomas, 302.
Parker, Theodore, 302.
Penn, William, 102.
Philipse, Mary, 23.
Phillips, Wendell, 255-257, 267,
268, attacks on Lincoln, 329, 330.
Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 229.
Pope, John, 272, 333.
Priestley, Joseph, 164-166.
Putnam, Israel, 41.
Rahl, Colonel, 42.
Ralph, James, 78.
Randolph, Edmund, 58, 122, 147,
148, 212.
Randolph, William, 119.
Rawle, William, 252, 253.
Rochambeau, Count de, 49, 50, 52,
191.
Rutledge, Ann, 296, 297.
Santa Anna, Antonio L. de, 245,
Schuyler, Philip, 44, 45, 188, 189,
228 231
Scott,' Winfield, 244-246, 261, 262.
Seabury, Samuel, 183, 184.
Seward, William Henry, 321, 322,
part in Lincoln's Inaugural
Address, 323 ; Thoughts for the
President's Consideration, 324-
326; 327, 333, 334.
Sherman, William T., 346.
Slavery, view of, Jefferson's, 124,
125, 135, 136, 139, 140; Lee's,
247, 259, 260; Lincoln's, 307-
321, 333-335; Washington's, 29.
Small, William, 120, 121.
Sparrow, Henry, 289.
Speed, Joshua, 298, 299.
Stamp Act, 32, 85, 86, 105, 106,
176.
Stamp Act Congress, 32.
Stephens, Alexander H., 248.
Steuben, Baron von, 46.
Stevenson, Mary, 86, 104.
Stevenson, Mrs., 86, 103, 105.
Stirling, Lord, 46.
Stuart, James E. B., 271, 275.
Sullivan, John, 41, 46.
Tarleton, Sir Banastre, 138.
Thomas, George Henry, 245.
Trumbull, Lyman, 328.
Turner, Nat, 243, 256.
Van Braam, Jacob, 17.
Venable, Abraham, 223.
Vergennes, Count de, 115.
Vernon, Admiral, 14.
Voltaire, 111, 112, 141.
Wade, Benjamin F., 328, 342.
Wallace, Lew, 281.
Washington, Augustine, 11.
Washington, Augustine (brother
of George) , 12.
Washington, George, characterized,
6; ancestry, 11, 12; birth, 11,
12; mother, 12; effect of father's
early death, 12; schooling, 12,
13; life-education, 13; reading,
13; sensitive on meager school-
ing, 13, 14; to Mount Vernon,
14; friendship with Lord Fair-
fax, 14, 15; physical character-
istics, 14, 15; surveyor, 15; trip
to West Indies, 16; inheritance
of Mount Vernon, 16; military
training, 17; first expedition to
the Ohio, 17, 18; "Conotoearius",
18; Journal of the expedition,
18; mental characteristics, 18-
20; Diaries, 18-20; humor, 19,
20; second Ohio expedition, 20,
21 ; view of war, 21 ; modesty
and dignity, 21, 28; experiences
on Braddock expedition, 21, 22;
in command of Virginia forces,
23; trip to Boston, 23; temper,
23; third journey to the Ohio,
23; marriage, 23-25; attitude
toward women, 23-25; as hus-
band and father, 25-27; letter
to Washington Custis, 26, 27;
elected burgess, 27, 28; farmer
and business man, 29, 30; view
364
INDEX
Washington, George — Continued.
of slavery, 29; wealth, 30; at-
titude toward Britain, 33; most
eloquent speech, 34; delegate to
Continental Congress, 34, 35;
appointed commander-in-chief,
35; effect of the battle of Bunker
Hill, 35; taking command, 35,
36; initial problems, 36; Dor-
chester Heights, 36; evacuation
of Boston, 36, 37 ; view of the
conflict, 37, 38; battle of Long
Island, 38, 39 ; Haarlem Heights
and White Plains, 39 ; retreat
across New Jersey, 39, 40;
letters giving view of the
struggle, 40, 41 ; crossing the
Delaware, 41 ; battle of Trenton,
41, 42; character as military
captain, 42, 43 ; battle of Prince-
ton, 43; effect of the New York-
New Jersey campaign, 43, 44
plans to resist Burgoyne, 44
battle of Brandywine Creek, 44
battle of Germantown, 45; the
Conway Cabal, 45; winter at
Valley Forge, 46; the French
alliance, 47; battle of Mon-
mouth, 47, 48; the year on the
Hudson, 48; the Arnold treason,
49-52; the Virginia campaign,
52; Yorktown, 52; the desper-
ate years until peace was pub-
lished, 53-55; farewell to the
army, 54; resigning commis-
sion, 55; working for a national
government, 55-57 ; the "legacy"
to the American people, 55, 56;
letter to Jay, 56, 57 ; in the Con-
stitutional Convention, 57; first
President, 57-61; the first Cab-
inet, 58; address to Congress,
58, 59 ; foreign policy, 59 ; ac-
ceptance of second term, 59 ; at-
tacks upon, 60; view of party
spirit, 60, 61; of the Union, 61,
62; Farewell Address, 60-62;
late life at Mount Vernon, 62-
64; circumstances of death, 64;
summary of, 64, 65; 66, 67;
letter of Franklin to, 113, 114;
116, 118; contrast with Jeffer-
son, 127; 133, 143, 147, 148, 151,
152, 159, 161, 166, 169, 172, 174,
175, 186, 187; contrast with
Hamilton, 187, 188; break with
Hamilton, 189-191; 205, 212,
217, 220; Hamilton drafting the
Farewell Address, 222, 223;
229, 230, 232, 236, 238, relations
of family to Lee, 239-242; Lee's
example, 242; 259, 267, 286.
Washington, John, 11, 18.
Washington, John Augustine, 40.
Washington, Lawrence, 12, 15-17.
Washington, Martha, 23, 25.
Washington, Mary Ball, 12, 62, 63.
Wayles, John, 123, 125, 126, 127.
Wayne, Anthony, 48, 48.
Webster, Daniel, 251, 252.
Wedderburn, Alexander, 108, 109,
112.
Welles, Gideon, 326.
Wellington, Duke of, 286.
Wilson, Woodrow, 58, 59, 130, 331.
Wren, Sir Christopher, 120.
Wythe, George, 120, 121.
Yates, Robert, 200.