Page:Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.djvu/27

Rh negative, and to some still smacked of a false position; the name of Democrat, which was not uncommonly given at the time, was a term of reproach and grew out of the unfortunate conduct of Genet, and the taste of French affairs was then fast growing bitter in all men's mouths. They had already begun to give themselves out as Republicans, and then to join the two names into Democratic-Republicans; but as yet this name had not become fairly fixed upon the party.

Such was the general state of affairs when Adams became President, and Jefferson Vice-President. Mr. Jefferson with his unfailing political sagacity had remarked the weaknesses in the great body of men who thought with him, and now began a systematic course directed towards the remedying of those defects. His first impulses towards a cooperation with the policy that Mr. Adams might pursue were of brief duration. Their points of view were hopelessly at variance.

The President was an avowed admirer of the British Constitution, he had pronounced views of an aristocratical nature, and he was an uncompromising friend of strong government. The Vice- President, great as he was, was undeniably suspicious, and especially so of the northern Federalists. Even he forgot, that while at the Court of St. James Mr. Adams had pursued a most manly and independent course, and that, whatever his theories were, he had proved his patriotism and