, 1859-07-08
From the Boston Post, April G, 1859.
Letter Of Hon. B. f. HalIett.

unite with the democrats of Salem in cele
brating JEFFERsoN's birth. 1t is marked
by that fulness Of information, sound de
mocracy and vigorous aud lucid expression
which usually characterize the productions
of this eminent gentleman
BosroN, March 81, 1859.
The professional duties Of counsel in 6
capital trial just commenced in the circuit
court, compel ME to reliDquiSh the pleasure
| had anticipated of being present at your
well-timed festival in honor Of the birth.
day of Jefferson.
1t was said many yeas ago, by one oI
bis biographSrs, that it was the fate oI
Thomas Jefferson to DC at ouce more loved
and praised by his friends, and more hated
and reviled by his enemies, than any of bis
compatriots.
That was true in his lifetime. At his
death all statesmen, all parties, all man
kind united in canonizing his virtues. But
now, and what perhaps most of al endan-
gers his fame, in thirty-three years after bis
decease, his worst enemies, because they
are the worst enemies of the Union, at
tempt to claim him as the apostle of their
creed of liberty without law, because he
was the great apostle of civil and religious
freedom, regulated by law. You do well,
therefore, on this day, to rescue his memo
ry from such uuhallowed uses.
1t was the fate of Mr. Jefferson during
his lifetime, to be miSrepreSented as to his
principles Of popular government. 1t is
b fate after his death, to be misrepresent-
ed as to his opinions upon the duties Of
states to each other, and to the Union,
under the constitution.
l have not time, nor is a letter the prop
er medium, 10 enter into an exposition Of
the relations of the democratic party to
Mr.. Jefferson, from the FIRST division OF
parties in the Federal Union, TO the pres
ent.
But if / we're called upon to name the
one discriminating principle which has
guided him and them from the foundation
of that American Independence which be
first embodied in his grand Declaration,
and which has marked the broadest and
most enduring line between the two poll
cieS that have divided the statesmen and
the parties of the country; l should find ii
in that comprehensive policy, inaugurated
by Jefferson, of the extension of the terri
tory, and the increase of this Union.
We owe to him more than TO any one
man, but in common with other statesmen,
the democratic and at the same time con-
servative elements of our republican forms
Of government. But we owe to him al
most alone, the extension Of the territory
of the republic.
Democracy, as developed by jefferson,
was the problem of mans capacity for
self-goVernment. 1t sought first the larg-
est indivual liberty consistent with we'll
ordered government. That was the repub-
lie within the State. 1t then applied
larger principal Of union in general gov.
vernment Of delegated powers from the
States, and yet conserving the equal rights
of the States Reaching beyond this, it
sought for q still more enlarged and com.
pPehensiVe policy that shonld go onward
progressively, extending territory and in-
creasing States to cover this whole conti-
nent with commonwealth, each independ-
ent within its own sphere, and all united
in general government, supreme only in
the limited and certain powers conceded
by the States.
This policy required absolute political
equality Of the new with the old States,
and absolute equality Of all the States in
all newly acquired territory. That was
the comprehensive policy Of Jefferson from
the beginning. That is the comprehensive
policy of the democratic party now, aud
that is the only governmental relation to
slavery which they hold uuder the consti-
tuition, as a national party.
On no other principles could the thir-
teen original States have now become thir-
ty-three.
All our history shows that the demo-
cratic party were with Mr.. Jefferson in the
initiation Of this grand policy of American
Republican-Em His and their oppo-
nents resisted it and the slavery element,
in the new States and Territories which
Congress had no right to meddlc with, has
always been the prerext for that resist
ence.
The federal statesmen Of his time, no
doubt honestly, feared the extension of ter
ritory and the addition of distant States as
fatal to the republic. But all the obstruc-
tiOns to the enlargement of the United
States have, from the beginning, come
from the party opposed to Mr.. jefferson
and to democracy. This was the marked
dividing line between parties in 1900, aud
it is equally marked in dividing ihem now
1t was Louisiana then. 1t has since been
Florida, Texas, Oregon, California, New
Mexico, and it is Cuba now.
All Of the New England statesmen of
Jefferson's time not of his party, resisted
the extension Of territory and the increase
Of States. In 1895 they opposed the ad-
mission of the first new State formed out
Of territory ceded to the United States,
Tennessee, alleging that it was because she
held slaves. But in 1909 they resisted the
admission of Ohio, though free State,
formed by the liberal endowment OF Vir-
oinia Out of tho north arr, to,,;t os,, h.