Part 17 (1/2)
GENERAL ACCOUNTS.--J. B McMaster, _United States_, II. 89-557; H. Von Holst, _Const.i.tutional History_, I. 112-167; J. Schouler, _United States_, I. 221-501; R. Hildreth, _United States_, IV. 411-704; V. 25-418; T.
Pitkin, _United States_, II. 356-500 (to 1797); George Tucker, _United States_, I. 504-628, II. 21-145; Bryant and Gay, _Popular History_, IV.
123-144; Bradford, _Const.i.tutional History_, 125-201.
SPECIAL HISTORIES.--Standard lives of Was.h.i.+ngton, especially Sparks, Marshall, and Irving; C. F. Adams, _Life of John Adams_; Henry Adams, _Albert Gallatin_; H. C. Lodge, _Was.h.i.+ngton_, II. 129-269; J. T. Morse, _Jefferson_, 146-208, and _John Adams_, 241-310; G. Pellew, _John Jay_, 262-339; S. H. Gay, _Madison_, 193-251; George Gibbs, _Administrations of Was.h.i.+ngton and Adams_, I., II.; W. H. Trescott, _Diplomatic History_; T.
Lyman, _Diplomacy_; J. C. Hamilton, _Republic_, V., VI.
CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS.--Thomas Jefferson, _Anas_ (_Works_, IX. 185-203); William Sullivan, _Familiar Letters on Public Characters_, 48-187 (written in reply to Jefferson); Works of Was.h.i.+ngton, Jefferson, Fisher Ames, John Jay, Rufus King, Arthur St. Clair, John Adams, Madison, and Gallatin; Abigail Adams, _Letters_; W. Winterbotham, _Historical View_ (1795); T.
Cooper, _Some Information respecting America_ (1793, 1794); Rochefoucault- Liancourt, _Voyage dans les etats-Unis_ (1795-1797) (also in translation); J. Weld, _Travels through the States_ (1795-1797); newspapers, especially _General Advertiser_ and _Aurora, Boston Gazette_.--Reprints in Alexander Johnston, _American Orations_, I.; _American History told by Contemporaries_, III.
82. FORMATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES (1792-1794).
[Sidenote: Origin of parties.]
During the four uneventful years from 1789 to 1793 two political parties had been slowly developed. Some writers have imagined that these two parties were a survival of the Revolutionary Whigs and Tories; some have traced them back to the debate on the a.s.sumption of State debts. John Adams, years later, went to the heart of the matter when he said: ”You say our divisions began with Federalism and anti-Federalism. Alas! they began with human nature.” The foundation for the first two great national parties was a difference of opinion as to the nature and proper functions of the new government.
During the second Congress, from 1791 to 1793, arose an opposition to Hamilton which gradually consolidated into a party. It came chiefly from the Southern and Middle States, and represented districts in which there was little capital or trade. Arrayed among his supporters were most of the representatives from New England, and many from the Middle States and South Carolina: they represented the commercial interests of the country; they desired to see the debt funded and the State debts a.s.sumed; they began to act together as another party.
[Sidenote: Hamilton and Jefferson.]
The final form taken by these two parties depended much upon the character of their leaders. Hamilton, a man of great personal force and of strong aristocratic feeling, represented the principle of authority, of government framed and administered by a select few for the benefit of their fellows. Jefferson, an advocate of popular government extended to a point never before reached, declared that his party was made up of those ”who identified themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interest.” Between two such men controversies were certain to arise. In May, 1792, Jefferson wrote that Hamilton had introduced speculation and a dangerous construction of the const.i.tution; and Hamilton wrote that Jefferson was at the head of a hostile faction dangerous to the Union. Was.h.i.+ngton attempted to make himself an arbiter of this quarrel, but was unable to reconcile the two men. They both urged him to accept a second term for the presidency, and he was again unanimously elected in 1792. The quarrel between the two great chiefs had by this time got abroad. Hamilton was said to be a monarchist. His administration of the Treasury was attacked, and an investigation was held early in 1793; but no one was able to find any irregularity.
[Sidenote: Party names.]
By this time the followers of Jefferson had begun to take upon themselves the name of Republicans. They held that the government ought to raise and spend as little money as possible; beyond that they rested upon the principles first definitely stated in Jefferson's opinion on the bank (-- 96) that Congress was confined in its powers to the letter of the Const.i.tution; and that the States were the depositary of most of the powers of government. The other party took upon itself the name of Federal, or Federalist, which had proved so valuable in the struggle over the Const.i.tution. Among its most eminent members were Hamilton, John Jay, Vice-President John Adams, and President Was.h.i.+ngton.
[Sidenote: Newspaper organs.]
Both parties now began to set in motion new political machinery. The ”Gazette of the United States” became the recognized mouthpiece of the Federalists, and the ”National Gazette,” edited by Philip Freneau, translating clerk in Jefferson's department, began to attack Hamilton and other leading Federalists, and even the President. At a cabinet meeting Was.h.i.+ngton complained that ”that rascal Freneau sent him three copies of his paper every day, as though he thought he would become a distributer of them. He could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him.”
83. WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND (1793).
[Sidenote: French Revolution.]
[Sidenote: War.]
So far the parties had been little more than personal followings; the mighty movements in Europe were now to crystallize them. Early in 1789 a revolution had come about in France; in 1791 a const.i.tution was put in force under which the king became a limited monarch; in 1792 war broke out between France and a Prussian-Austrian alliance. Disasters on the frontier were followed by the overthrow of the monarchy, and in January, 1793, Louis the Sixteenth was executed. The anarchical movement, once begun, hurried on until the government of France fell into the hands of men controlled by the populace of Paris. On Feb. 3, 1793, the French Republic declared war against England: the issue was instantly accepted. As the two powers were unable conveniently to reach each other on land, great efforts were made on both sides to fit out fleets. The colonies of each power were exposed to attack, and colonial trade was in danger.
[Sidenote: Interest of America.]
From the first the sympathy of the United States had naturally been with France. The republic seemed due to American example; Jefferson was our minister at Paris in 1789, and saw his favorite principles of human liberty extending to Europe. The excesses of the Revolution, however, startled the Federalists, who saw in them a sufficient proof that Jefferson's ”people” could not be trusted. The war brought up the question of the treaty of 1778 with France, by which the Americans bound themselves to guarantee the colonial possessions of France in case of defensive war.
[Sidenote: Danger to America.]
For the United States to enter the war as ally of either side meant to lose most of the advantages gained by the new Const.i.tution: the Indians on the frontier had opposed and defeated a large body of United States troops; the revenue of the country derived from imports would cease as soon as war was declared; American s.h.i.+ps would be exposed to capture on every sea. Trade with the West Indies, which proceeded irregularly and illegally, was now likely to be broken up altogether. The question was no longer one of international law, but of American politics: the Democrats were inclined to aid France, by war or by indirect aid,--such as we had received from France at the beginning of the Revolutionary War; the Federalists leaned toward England, because they wished English trade, and because they feared the spread of anarchical principles in America.
84. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY (1793).