Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/182

162 supported John Adams and the republicans Thomas Jefferson. Adams, who received 71 electoral votes, was chosen president, while Jefferson, who received 68, the next highest number, became, by the constitution as it then was, the vice president. The two next highest candidates were Thomas Pinckney and Aaron Burr. Timothy Pickering was made secretary of state, Oliver Wolcott of the treasury, James McHenry of war, and Charles Lee attorney general. In 1798 the navy department was created, and Benjamin Stoddert made secretary. The relations between France and the United States were so threatening that one of the first acts of President Adams was to convene congress in extra session, May 13, 1797. Three envoys, C. C. Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall, were sent to France with authority to adjust all difficulties. The French government refused to receive them, but intimated that a considerable present of money would greatly facilitate negotiations, and that a refusal to pay the bribe would lead to war. “War be it then,” replied Pinckney; “millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute.” Pinckney and Marshall, who were federalists, were ordered to quit France; but Gerry, who was a republican, was allowed to remain. The insult to their envoys excited great indignation in the United States, and congress made preparations for war. The army and navy were enlarged, and Washington was appointed commander-in-chief, with the rank of lieutenant general. The frigate Constellation captured a French frigate in the West Indies, and disabled another of superior force in an action lasting five hours. The decided measures adopted by the United States were not without effect on the French government, and overtures were made to the president for a renewal of negotiations. A fresh embassy was sent, and, Napoleon Bonaparte having attained to power, a treaty was promptly concluded, Sept. 30, 1800. During these troubles with France two acts were passed by congress, known as the alien and sedition laws: the first, which was limited to two years, empowering the president to order aliens who were conspiring against the peace of the United States to quit the country; the other, which was to remain in force till March 4, 1801, providing among other things for the punishment by fine and imprisonment of seditious libels upon the government. The alien law was defended on the ground that the country swarmed with French and English emissaries, whose mission was to embroil the United States with European quarrels; while the apology for the sedition law was the unquestionable licentiousness of the press, which at that time was chiefly conducted by refugees and adventurers from Great Britain and Ireland. Nevertheless these laws became exceedingly unpopular, and were bitterly denounced as harsh and unconstitutional. They contributed largely to the dissatisfaction with Mr. Adams's administration, which prevailed especially in the south and west, and which led in the next presidential election to the success of the republican candidates, Jefferson and Burr, each of whom received 73 votes, while Mr. Adams received 65, C. C. Pinckney 64, and Jay 1. The tie in the votes for Jefferson and Burr threw the election into the house of representatives, where on the 36th ballot Jefferson was chosen president and Burr vice president. This contest led to the adoption of the twelfth amendment of the constitution, requiring the electors to designate which person is voted for as president and which as vice president, while the original article required them to vote for two persons, of whom the one who had the highest number of votes was to be president, and the next highest vice president. Jefferson's cabinet consisted of James Madison, secretary of state; Samuel Dexter, and afterward Albert Gallatin, of the treasury; Henry Dearborn, of war; Benjamin Stoddert, and afterward Robert Smith, of the navy; and Levi Lincoln, attorney general. For the most part his administration was marked by vigor and enlightened views, and in 1804 he was re-elected for a second term, receiving 162 votes. George Clinton was elected vice president by the same vote. The opposition ticket, C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina and Rufus King of New York, received only 14 votes, those of Connecticut and Delaware and 2 from Maryland. During his first term Ohio was admitted (1802), and Louisiana was purchased of France in 1803. The insolence of the piratical states on the Barbary coast was humbled by the bombardment of Tripoli in 1804, and by the invasion of that state by a small force led from Egypt by Capt. Eaton, an American officer, which led to a satisfactory treaty in 1805. In 1806 Aaron Burr secretly organized, chiefly in the western states, a military expedition, which led to his arrest and trial at Richmond in 1807 on a charge of attempting to dismember the Union and to establish an independent dominion west of the Alleghanies; but no overt act being proved against him, he was acquitted. The amicable relations which had existed between the United States and Great Britain for several years began in the latter part of 1805 to be disturbed by the condemnation by British courts of several American vessels for alleged violations of neutrality; and the situation was aggravated by the operation of an order in council (May 16, 1806) of the British government declaring the whole coast of Europe, from the Elbe to Brest, to be in a state of blockade; an order which Napoleon retaliated by declaring in a decree issued at Berlin, Nov. 21, 1806, a blockade of all the ports of the British islands. Under these and other orders and decrees great numbers of American vessels were seized by French and English cruisers, and our foreign commerce, which had attained extraordinary prosperity from the neutral position of the country, was nearly destroyed. The irritation