Part 27 (1/2)

[Sidenote: New manufactures established.]

[Sidenote: Invention of cotton spinning machinery.]

236. Growth of Manufactures, 1789-1800.--As soon as the new government with its wide powers was established, manufacturing started into life. Old mills were set to work. While the Revolution had been going on in America, great improvements in the spinning of yarn and the weaving of cloth had been made in England. Parliament made laws to prevent the export from England of machinery or patterns of machinery.

But it could not prevent Englishmen from coming to America. Among the recent immigrants to the United States was Samuel Slater. He brought no patterns with him. But he was familiar with the new methods of spinning. He soon built spinning machinery. New cotton mills were now set up in several places. But it was some time before the new weaving machinery was introduced into America.

CHAPTER 23

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATIONS

[Sidenote: Jefferson's political ideas. _Higginson_ 239; _McMaster_, 216.]

[Sidenote: Republican simplicity.]

237. President Jefferson.--Thomas Jefferson was a Republican. He believed in the republican form of government. He believed the wisdom of the people to be the best guide. He wished the President to be simple and cordial in his relations with his fellow-citizens. Adams had ridden to his inauguration in a coach drawn by six cream-colored horses.

Jefferson walked with a few friends from his boarding house to the Capitol. Was.h.i.+ngton and Adams had gone in state to Congress and had opened the session with a speech. Jefferson sent a written message to Congress by a messenger. Instead of bowing stiffly to those who came to see him, he shook hands with them and tried to make them feel at ease in his presence.

[Sidenote: Proscription of Republicans by the Federalists.]

[Sidenote: Adams's midnight appointments.]

238. The Civil Service.--One of the first matters to take Jefferson's attention was the condition of the civil service. There was not a Republican office-holder in the government service. Was.h.i.+ngton, in the last years of his presidency, and Adams also had given office only to Federalists. Jefferson thought it was absolutely necessary to have some officials upon whom he could rely. So he removed a few Federalist officeholders and appointed Republicans to their places. Adams had even gone so far as to appoint officers up to midnight of his last day in office. Indeed, John Marshall, his Secretary of State, was busy signing commissions when Jefferson's Attorney General walked in with his watch in hand and told Marshall that it was twelve o'clock. Jefferson and Madison, the new Secretary of State, refused to deliver these commissions even when Marshall as Chief Justice ordered Madison to deliver them.

[Sidenote: The Judiciary Act, 1801.]

[Sidenote: Repealed by Republicans]

[Sidenote: Jefferson and appointments.]

239. The Judiciary Act of 1801.--One of the last laws made by the Federalists was the Judiciary Act of 1801. This law greatly enlarged the national judiciary, and Adams eagerly seized the opportunity to appoint his friends to the new offices. The Republican Congress now repealed this Judiciary Act and ”legislated out of office” all the new judges.

For it must be remembered that the Const.i.tution makes only the members of the Supreme Court sure of their offices. Congress also got rid of many other Federalist officeholders by repealing the Internal Revenue Act (p. 167). But while all this was done, Jefferson steadily refused to appoint men to office merely because they were Republicans. One man claimed an office on the ground that he was a Republican, and that the Republicans were the saviors of the republic. Jefferson replied that Rome had been saved by geese, but he had never heard that the geese were given offices.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS JEFFERSON.] ”Honest friends.h.i.+p with all nations, entangling alliances with none, ... economy in the public expense, the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith.”--_Jefferson's First Inaugural._

[Sidenote: Expenses diminished.]

[Sidenote: Internal taxes repealed.]

[Sidenote: Army and navy reduced.]

[Sidenote: Part of the debt paid. _McMaster_, 217-218.]

240. Paying the National Debt.--Jefferson was especially anxious to cut down the expenses of the government and to pay as much as possible of the national debt. Madison and Gallatin worked heartily with him to carry out this policy. The repeal of the Internal Revenue Act took much revenue from the government. But it also did away with the salaries of a great many officials. The repeal of the Judiciary Act also put an end to many salaries. Now that the dispute with France was ended, Jefferson thought that the army and navy might safely be reduced. Most of the naval vessels were sold. A few good s.h.i.+ps were kept at sea, and the rest were tied up at the wharves. The number of ministers to European states was reduced to the lowest possible limit, and the civil service at home was also cut down. The expenses of the government were in these ways greatly lessened. At the same time the revenue from the customs service increased. The result was that in the eight years of Jefferson's administrations the national debt shrank from eighty-three million dollars to forty-five million dollars. Yet in the same time the United States paid fifteen million dollars for Louisiana, and waged a series of successful and costly wars with the pirates of the northern coast of Africa.

[Sidenote: The Spaniards in Louisiana and Florida. _McMaster_, 218-219.]