Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/614

 594 THOMAS JEFFERSON again be a candidate for the presidency, and thereupon the two great parties rixed upon John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as their nominees. In February, 1797, the votes were opened and counted in presence of both houses ; and the highest number appearing in favor of Adams, with the next in favor of Jef- ferson, the former was declared, in accordance with the existing law, president of the United States, and the latter vice president. On March 4, 1797, Jefferson took the chair as president of the senate, and delivered a short address, in which he expressed his attachment to the laws, and his anxious wish to properly fulfil his duties. The greater part of the next four years was spent at Monticollo, but Jeffer- son was a close observer of public events, and largely participated in affairs, through his wide correspondence. The reaction of public feel- ing, resulting from the excesses of the reign of terror, had almost overwhelmed the American sympathizers with France. The aggressions of the French directory, and the insulting re- ception of our envoys, paralyzed the enemies of the federalists. The "war message" of Adams in the spring of 1797 threw the country into unheard-of agitation. The general indig- nation against France swept all opposition be- fore it. Congress declared all treaties an- nulled ; merchant vessels were authorized to resist search ; large sums were voted for de- fence ; and these measures were soon followed by others still more energetic. The alien and sedition laws were passed; the former empow- ered the president to order out of the country such aliens as he considered dangerous, on pain of heavy penalties; the latter declared that printing or uttering false and malicious charges against the president or congress should be deemed seditious, and punished by fine and im- prisonment. These measures were vainly op- posed by the republican party. The whole nation was urgent for war, and Washington offered to take his place at the head of the army. Nothing was left for the republicans but to make an issue on the constitutionality of the alien and sedition laws, and even this was impossible in congress. " Finding them- selves of no use there," they determined to resort to the state arenas ; and the result was the Kentucky and Virginia "resolutions of '98." The former state was closely connected with Virginia, and Jefferson drafted the Ken- tucky resolutions, denouncing the obnoxious laws, and intimating a determination on the part of the states to proceed to armed resis- tance. They were followed in Virginia by sim- ilar resolves, drawn up by James Madison, op- posing the consolidation measures of the fed- eral party, and calling on the states to maintain their liberties inviolate. The spring of 1799 brought a revulsion in favor of the republicans. Adams sent envoys to France; Washington retired again to Mount Vernon ; and the war spirit rapidly subsided. Washington died be- fore the close of the year, and the brief pause in political strife which succeeded the intelli- gence of his death was followed by more vio- lent commotions than before. The elections in New York in the spring of 1800 were bitterly contested, but terminated in a republican tri- umph, which extended throughout the Union. The result was largely attributed to the in- trigues of Aaron Burr, who became the repub- lican candidate for vice president, with Jef- ferson for president. The federalists supported Adams and Pinckney. When the votes were opened, it was found that Jefferson and Burr were elected, but by an equal number of voices. The dilemma was serious, as the constitution did not require the specification of the office to which each was elected, and the decision devolved upon the house of representatives. Many weeks of violent struggles on the part of the supporters of the two candidates took place; but on the 36th ballot Jefferson was elected president and Burr became vice presi- dent. Jefferson took his seat March 4, 1801, at Washington, to which the capital had been removed some months before, and delivered an inaugural address which lucidly and elo- quently summed up the principles of repub- lican government. He had come in upon a swelling tide of popularity, and he carefully avoided all acts which would tend to diminish it. Few removals were made, and these chiefly of those who were appointed by Adams in the last hours of his administration. A general amnesty was granted to the federalists, and they seemed to gradually become merged in the masses, which every day grew more " re- publican." The old regime appeared to have suddenly passed away. A change in dress and manners followed the political success of the republicans. The reaction against the stately dignity and ceremony of Washington's era was headed by the new president, who would have no formal address from congress, and sent in his message by a common messenger. Every- where the new philosophy of life was received with acclamations which swelled still higher the flood of Jefferson's popularity. In 1800 Louisiana had been ceded by Spain to France, and in 1802 the president opened a private correspondence with the French government, which resulted in the succeeding year in the purchase of the entire territory for the sum of $15,000,000. The question of the consti- tutionality of that measure was evaded, and so great was the advantage which it secured that all opposition soon disappeared. In 1804 Captains Lewis and Clarke, under the auspices of Jefferson, set out to explore the continent to the Pacific, with instructions drawn up by the president's own hand. The expedition re- turned two years afterward with a mass of valuable information, which exhibited the skill of their instructions. In 1803 Commodore Preble vindicated American rights in the Med- iterranean against the emperor of Morocco ; Decatur in a small schooner entered the harbor of Tripoli, and burned the frigate Philadelphia,