The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-07-07
coretaries felt it was their duty to

When General Washington retired
from the Presidential chair. there was
n violent struggle fer the succession
between John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson, the candidates, respectively,
of the Federalists and Democrats. MIR.
Adams had but three majority of the
electoral votes, they Standing II to
6S. 1t was nearly a sectional divis-
ion. The South was for Jefferson,
and the North, save Pennsylvania,
was for Adams. Three old Revolu-
tionary associates of Mr.. Adams, south
of the Potomac, separated from Their
friends, and their votes elected him.
Jefferson, under the Constitution be-
came Vice President. He was the
head of the party which opposed the
Alien and Sedition laws, and other ar
bitrary measures of Adams admins
tration. Beaten in Congress he trans
ferred the fight to the States The
resolutions which he wrote for the
kentucky Legislature in 1898 denied
that the Federal Government was au-
thorized by the Constitution to deter
mine the extent of its own powers IN
n contest with the States, and MAIN
tanned that each State was the Judge
of the mode apd manner of redress
when its rights had been trampled up
on. No one more abhorred the whole
doctrine of Federal Capitalization of
power than Mr.. Jefferson. He con-
sidered it short stepping stone to a
monarchy. In 1900 he was elected
President by majorityiof eight cleo
toral votes over Mr.. Adams. The
circumstance of tte election created
much feeling on the, part of Mr. Adj
ans. He became estranged, for n
short time from his old friend, Jeffer
son, and left the city without partici-
pating In the inaugural ceremonies
He soon recovered his temper, and i'll
1904 he voted for Mr.. Jefferson for re
election. Massachusetts also voted
for him-the only instance in her his
tory when she ever voted for Demo-
cratic candidate for President. Mr..
Adams and Mr.. Jefferson were strong
ly identified in their histories. They
were members of the old Revolutions
ry Congress they were both ON the
committee that drafted the Declara-
ton of Independence; they were both
foreign Ministers together; they were
each Vice President and President
successfully; they were leaders oftheir
respective parties, and they both died
on the same day, the Fourth of July,
1926, just half century from the time
they had signed the immortal Decla,
ration For many years they had am
intimate correspondence, from which
it appears that both of them were what
would now be termed Free Thinkers
on the subject Of religion, and if there
was any difference between them, Mr..
Adams was the more heterodox of the
two.
This is the moIc curious, when VIC
consider the fact that the piour Fed
eral women of Massachusetts, when
he was elected over Adams, are said
TO have hid their Bibles for fear jeff:
crson would burn them. His moral
instructor consisted in his pasting in
his scrap-book all the parallels and
sayings of Jesus Christ, cut from the
New Testament. That he considered
the best religion, and the purest mo-
rality extant. St. Paul he believed
the first corruptor of the text. .
Mr.. Jefferson acquired the Terrific
ry of Louisiana. Being a strict con
structionist of the Constitution, he adj
mittcd afterward that it was n measurs
outside of that instrument, but he jus
tilted his conduct upon the plea of Ma
tional necessity. This was an unfor-
tunate admission, as the precedent was
afterward used by Abraham Lincoln
to justify his most outrageous viola
tions of the Constitution. Mr.. Jcffer-
sons inaugural in 1901 is one of the
finest political documents eXtant.-
Nowhere can one find in so few words
such an excellent compendium of
political creed. The excellence of its
matter is only exoclled by the beauty
of its expression. isa. ..-.. ..-..;.
Itwas during his Presidential ad-
ministration that the so-callcd "Aaron
Burr Conspiracy" to divide the Union
occurred. Mr.. jefferson, who was a
bitter enemy of Burr's did his best to
procure his (Burr's) conviction. He
wrote daily TO Mr.. Hay, the Govern
ment District Attorney, who managed
the case against Burr for the Govern
menl before the Supreme Court, at
Richmond, Va. Before Burr was
tried, he expressed his opinion of his
guilt III his annual message. and, af-
ter his acquittal, he made an indirect
reflection upon the conduct of Chief
Justice Marshall, under whose auspi-
ces it happened. We know of no 9TH
er instance in his life where the hui
name, sensible and amiable Jefferson
was SO much carried away by his pas
SIGNS and prejudices. Mr.. Jefferson's
life was protracted beyond the excite
ments of the Missouri Compromise in
1920. That struck him, as he said in
one of his letters, like a fire-bell in the
night, and he lost all confidence, as
he wrote Mr.. Adams, in the perpetui-
ty Of our institutions. He denounced
the efforts of the North to interfere
with slavery in the new States as mon
strous, and as subvGrsive of the prin-
ciples of the Government. We have
been assured by gentleman, who had
it from an ex-senator. from Virginia,
that Mr.. Jefferson told him that he
was fearful he had made a mistake in
supposing that we, as q nation, for q
considerable period were qualified for
the extreme principles of popular self
government which he had laid down.
He was the most profound thinker,
and the ablest writer and the finest
doctrinal statesman that this nation
has nroduced - The Onlv exoapfion