from the rights and the blessings of self-government, to proscribe them as unworthy of every trust. It would have been to me a circumstance of great relief, had I found a moderate participation of office in the hands of the majority. I would gladly have left to time and accident to raise them to their just share. But their total exclusion calls for prompter correction. I shall correct the procedure, but, that done, return with joy to that state of things when the only question concerning a candidate shall be: Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?"

"Some removals I know must be made. They must be as few as possible, done gradually, and bottomed on some malversation or inherent disqualification" . . . . "officers who have been guilty of gross abuses of office, such as marshals packing juries, etc., I shall now remove, as my predecessor ought in justice to have done. The instances will be few, and governed by strict rule, not party passion. The right of opinion shall suffer no invasion from me.” "The measures

we shall pursue and propose for the amelioration of the public affairs will be so confessedly salutary as to unite all men not monarchists in principle."

FEDERALIST.

President Adams was held responsible by many prominent Federalists for the injury done to the party by the Alien and Sedition laws, and his known desire for re-election alienated others who felt that party success was jeopardized by his candidacy. Against the Sedition acts especially, Hamilton, the most popular of the party's leaders, had vainly remonstrated. "Let us," said he, "not establish a tyranny. Energy is a very different thing from violence. If we take no false step, we shall be essentially united; but if we push things to the extreme, we shall then give to parties body and solidity." Hamilton had long been estranged from Adams; and the latter was regarded by many as an unwise party leader, because of personal peculiarities as well as public measures.

The party was defeated by sixty-five to seventy-three electoral votes, and never recovered political ascendency; but it had done good work and deserved well of the country. It had solidified the Union by the Federal Constitution, a work which otherwise might not have been achieved but by a slow political evolution. It had funded the public debt and established the finances of the new nation on a creditable basis; had put into practical operation the complex machinery of the new government, and had added the first ten Amendments to the Con

stitution, having shown an unusual degree of political courage in accepting them from the opposition.

Through dissensions among the leaders, as well as by reason of the great political sagacity of Jefferson, who has perhaps never been surpassed as a party leader, the Federalists had sunk into a hopeless minority.

REPUBLICAN-1809 TO 1813.

The party continued in the line marked out by the genius of Jefferson, and no one was more willing to accept his guidance than the new President. The government had been administered for eight years under Republican principles to the general satisfaction of the people, and there were no grounds for a marked change of policy. The disturbed relations with England remained unimproved, but Jefferson and Madison were equally loath to proceed to extremities by declaring war. The Embargo act of the former administration had some influence in decreasing the Republican majority in the Electoral college, but a schism in the party and the less popularity of the candidate had probably more influence in producing that result. The ascendency of the party throughout the nation was not, however, seriously impaired; nor were any new principles of party politics introduced. Even its bitterest opponents had been compelled to recognize its patriotism and fidelity to the Constitution.

Madison, personally, had been a wise and zealous promoter and defender of that instrument, and his influence in molding it to its existing form was second to none. He has, indeed, been styled "the father of the Constitution." "I hold for a fundamental point," said he, in April, 1787, "that an individual independence of the states is utterly irreconcilable with the idea of aggregate sovereignty. I think, at the same time, that a consolidation of the states into a simple republic is not less unattainable than it would be inexpedient. Let it be tried whether any middle ground can be taken."

"Let the national government be armed with a positive and com plete authority in all cases where uniform measures are necessary, as in trade. . . . Let it also retain the powers which it now possesses. Let this national supremacy be extended also to the judiciary. The legislative department may be divided into two branches. A national executive will also be necessary.. An article, guaranteeing the state against internal as well as external

dangers."

..

FEDERALIST.

The Federalists being in opposition since 1801, their views had become somewhat modified. They were no longer strenuous advocates of the "implied and constructive" powers of the Federal government. They had opposed the purchase of Louisiana on the ground, among others, that the Constitution did not entrust Congress with such powers; and they railed at the Embargo act, as not included in the power to regulate commerce. "This measure rekindled the old fires of party. He that was for the Embargo was a 'Democrat;' he that was against it, a 'Federalist.' It was a wall between the parties in every state, city, county, town, village and hamlet, every class and condition of the people.

REPUBLICAN-1813 TO 1817.

.

and in

The Republicans had entered on the campaign of 1808 with the avowal that "its only choice lay between the Embargo and war, and war should be avoided as long as possible;" and Madison had endeavored, by diplomacy and remonstrance, to avert a rupture with England. This course having proved ineffective, and the insults to the nation having grown more intolerable because of his forbearance, the leaders of the party demanded that he should yield to the wishes of the people, and the declaration of war against Great Britain was approved by him June 18, 1812. The presidential campaign of the year hinged on that measure and some minor domestic conditions: Sectional jealousy of Virginia, as “the mother of presidents;" the antagonism of a peace faction which on religious grounds deprecated war with Great Britain, "the bulwark of Protestantism" and "the world's last hope," and the partisanship of the Federalists who opposed it as an administration measure. The President having committed himself to war, was a strenuous advocate and promoter, by word and work, of all that it implied, and was supported by the great body of the people, though some of the New England states refused to supply their quotas of troops, and a few misguided Federalists gave aid and comfort to the enemy.

Otherwise the political views of the party underwent no serious change, and the following brief analysis of the Constitution by Madison shows his appreciation of the unique and nicely-balanced American system of government which secures sovereignty to the federal as well as the state authorities within their respective spheres: "The Constitution," said he, "is in strictness neither a national nor a federal con

stitution, but a composition of both. In its foundation it is federal, not national; in the sources from which the ordinary powers of the government are drawn it is partly federal and partly national; in the operation of these powers it is national, not federal; in the extent of them, again, it is federal, not national; and, finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing amendments it is neither wholly federal nor wholly national."

FEDERALIST.

The supporters of Clinton were partly Federalists and partly disaffected Republicans, the coalition being designated Clintonians.

CLINTONIAN PLATFORM ABRIDGED: 1. Opposition to the congressional caucus system of nomination of presidential candidates; 2, to an official regency self-constituted to prescribe tenets of political faith and tests of political orthodoxy; 3, to a monopoly of the highest offices by particular states, and especially to the continuance of a Virginian in the presidency; 4, to the continuance of Mr. Madison in an office which, in view of our pending difficulties with Great Britain, requires an incumbent of greater decision, energy and efficiency; 5, to the lingering inadequacy of preparation for the war; 6, averment of the existing necessity of placing the country in a condition for aggressive action for the conquest of Canada; 7, advocacy of the election of De Witt Clinton.

Hartford Convention of Federalists recommended the adoption, by the five New England states represented, of measures: 1, To protect their citizens from the federal military draft; 2, their own coasts with their own militia; 3, to organize their militia with full control by the respective states; 4, to labor for amendments to the Constitution-1, to ignore slaves as a basis of representation; 2, to require two-thirds vote of both houses for admission of new states; 3, to redistrict Congress in laying embargoes to sixty days; 4, to require two-thirds vote of both houses to decree commercial non-intercourse with foreign nations; 5, the same, to declare aggressive war; 6, to exclude naturalized citizens from federal offices; 7, to limit the President to one term, and to exclude from the immediate succession a citizen of the same state.

REPUBLICAN-1817 TO 1821.

No marked change of party views characterized the election of Monroe. He was recognized as the natural successor of Madison, as the latter was of Jefferson. The happy termination of the war had

given the party such a hold on popular confidence that they could afford to be more tolerant of their opponents' views and even to engraft some of them on their own principles. An effort was made to wipe out party lines, and the President's wishes in that direction were reinforced by the advice of General Jackson, "to exterminate that monster called party spirit." "The chief magistrate of a great and powerful nation," he added, "should never indulge in party feelings. His conduct should be liberal and disinterested; always bearing in mind, that he acts for the whole and not a part of the community." On his tour of inspection of national defenses, the President in reply to an address at Kennebunk, Maine, spoke as follows: "You are pleased to express a confident hope that a spirit of mutual conciliation may be one of the blessings which may result from my administration. This, indeed, would be an eminent blessing, and I pray it may be realized. Nothing but union is wanting to make us a great people. The present time affords the happiest presage that this union is fast consummating. It cannot be otherwise; I daily see greater proofs of it. The further I advance in my progress in the country, the more I perceive that we are all Americans-that we compose but one family-that our republican institutions will be supported and perpetuated by the united zeal and patriotism of all. Nothing could give me greater satisfaction than to behold a perfect union among ourselves—a union which is necessary to restore to social intercourse its former charms, and to render our happiness, as a nation, unmixed and complete. To promote this desirable result requires no compromise of principle, and I promise to give it my continued attention and my best endeavors."

As early as 1785 Monroe had favored an enlargement of the powers of Congress under the Articles of Confederation, and although distrustful of what he deemed the too liberal grant of power to the Federal government by the Constitution, and its too limited recognition of the rights of the citizen, upon the adoption of the first ten amendments to that instrument guaranteeing those rights, he became its consistent supporter, and during his term, like his predecessor, adopted some of the measures that were originally characteristic of Federalist views. He was, however, always mindful of the principle of popular sovereignty. "It is only," said he in his inaugural, "when the people become ignorant and corrupt-when they degenerate into a populace-that they are incapable of exercising sovereignty." From these causes his administration became known as "the era of good feeling.'