JEFF E R S I N P O WE R The Death Struggle of the Federalists
CLAUDE G. BOWERS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY -
BOSTON GTt t EtorretUr flrea 1936 COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY CLAUDE G.
BOWERS . RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK
OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS - PRINTED IN
THE U. S. A. Preface t HE eight dramatic years of Jeffersons two
Administrations JL marked the consolidation of the triumph of
democracy after the ten-year struggle I have described in Jefferson
and Hamilton Since some distinguished historians have written
bitterly partisan interpretations of this period, out of the
fullness of their fierce hate of Jefferson, it can scarcely be
amiss, or in bad taste, for one who is frankly partial to
Jeffersonian principles and policies to tell the story of these two
Administrations as he finds it written luminously in the record. It
was a lusty period, by no means so sedate as is the popular
impression a period of marching mobs, of rebellions more brazen
than that of Shays, of backstairs gossip and back-room intrigues,
of whispering campaigns and political assassinations. The fighting
was continuous, always bitter, often brilliant, and by no means
confined to the reasonably dignified polemics of politicians. Men
of light and leading occasionally engaged in common tavern brawls,
many deliberated in House and Senate with guns in their pockets,
and statesmen crept from their homes and boarding-houses in the
chilly dawn to face one another on the field of honor at
Bladensburg. Again Hamilton, in the shining armor of his genius,
rides right gallantly upon the scene. In some ways he has changed
under the skies, so gray to him, ofJeffersonian domination. But
that which will impress us most about him will be his pathetic
isolation. We shall find him frequently at odds with the Federalist
leaders, who will continue to pay him lip service while utterly
ignoring his advice. He cannot share their treasonable attitude on
the acqui sition of Louisiana he will not join them in their bitter
battle against a new and necessary constitutional amendment. He
will vi PREFACE stand four square against the secession movements
to which the most impressive portion of his party will give
adherence. He will refuse to join them in their conspiracy to raise
Aaron Burr to gubernatorial honors, and he will pay the penalty of
his opposition with his life. Midway of our story, this Homeric
figure will pass to history. No Federalist ever after was to wear
his mantle or to wield his mighty sword. The most scintillating of
the congressional leaders of the party were as insects crawling on
the earth, compared with Jefferson. The real leadership of the
Federalists passed to John Marshall, a consummate, constant, and
bitterly partisan politi cian, who fought with far-seeing cunning
from behind the pro tecting shield of the Supreme Court. These
were, on the whole, eight remarkably brilliant years, though the
anti-Jefferson historians are careful to convey no such impression.
They were years of unprecedented prosperity. The industrial life of
the nation developed rapidly. The management of the finances was
brilliantly successful. There was a complete absence of scandal in
administration. The federal judiciary was purged of the indecencies
that were destroying faith in its im partiality, integrity, or
justice, though the partisan historian hassmugly called this
purgation an attack on the courts. The acquisition, without the
shedding of a drop of blood, of an em pire, from which many of the
richest commonwealths of the nation have been carved, was a
memorable and immortal triumph. And we shall follow, in a more
sympathetic manner than has been fashionable among the
sword-rattlers of the ivory tower, Jeffersons superb effort, in the
utter collapse of all international law, to find, in economic
pressure, a civilized substitute for the savagery of war...
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