Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/194

168 an Amendment to the Constitution providing that the United States Judges should hold no other appointment or office, and later he introduced a bill to accomplish the same end.^

During the great struggle for the Presidency in the fall of 1800, which resulted in the overthrow of the Federalist Party, and which produced a complete revo- lution in the poUtical trend of the country, the general attitude of the Judges of the United States Courts had been one of the campaign issues. And as a consequence of the hostility towards the Federal Ju- diciary thus entertained by the Anti-Federalist Party, the Court, upon convening for the first Term to be held in the new city of Washington in February, 1801, entered upon a new period in its history. During the subsequent thirty-five years, it was destined to be the center of persistent political opposition, out of which, nevertheless, it was to emerge more fiixedly es- tablished as an independent branch of the American Government, more potent a factor in the industrial, social and political development of the country, and more securely intrenched in the public confidence and respect.

^ 6th Cong., Id 8es9., March 5, April 8, 1800. A aimiUr Constitutional Amendment was introduced in the House by Liyingston, of New York, Feb. 13, 1800. A resolution to provide for similar legislation was introduced into the House again in 1804. See New York Daily AdoertUer, Feb. 7, 1804. Timothy Pickering wrote, Blay 19, 1828, on the Independence of the Judiciary : "Perhaps it might be expedient, to render this as perfect as any human institution can be, to declare, as an Amendment to the Constitution, that a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States should be forever preduded from every other office and place under the General Government; either by the appointment of the Executive or Congress or the election of the people.'* Pickmng Papers M88»