The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-20
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S~S~SS~SSS@fSM came evident that England was deter | mined to force the colonies to submis- i sion the opinion became stronger and stronger on the part of the people that their only hope lay in entire indapeni- ence. When the Congress came to con, s.der the question. Jefferssn, was one of the most ardent advocates of liberty. He was not an orator, and 1t was not as an eloquent speaker that he exerted the most potent influence. But no man of his time, with the possible ex ,ep. lon of Franklin. wielded 50 trenchaat pen or could so direct the decision Of a committee, and 1t was in these ways as we'll as by the face-to-face contact of personal intercourse that he made his opinions felt.
 When a committee was appointed to draft declaration Jefferson was made chairman. The other members were Franklin, John Adams. Roger sherman and Robert Livingston. Was ever a more momentous question submitted to the consideration of five men? Were there ever five men gathered in a sin- gle group more competent to deal with
 such a question? The paper itself was written by the practiced hand of Jeff ferson.
 When the committee reported there was long and tedious debate. All seemed conscious of the signilr llce cf the occasion. Jefferson hin,sel' did not take part in the discussion, bus left the defense of the document in the competent hands of Jonn Adams. Jee-
 ferson said afterward that the iiscus-
 sion might have run .)n intermina bly, had it not been that the weather vas hot and that the room occupied by the deputies was hard by stable, whence the hungry flies swarmed thick
 and fierce. alighting on the letgs of tl e delegates and biting hard throLgh the IF
 SIX stockings. Treason was prefera ble
 to discomfort" Whether Jefferson,s
 humorous account is the real explac a
 ton or not, the declaration is passed,
 thu members crowd around the table
 to affix their names underneath tine
 bold signature of John Han.,,K end
 the old liberty bell peals out it's iron music" to the anxious crowds waiting for the news. and literally ,ula.ls its prophetic inscription to proclaim lib- erty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" The Rubicon
 was passed. Thenceforth there could be no return.
 During the war Jefferson dec'ined
 further membership in the CcIonia, congress, but did valiant service .n va- rlous positions in Virginia After the connlct was over he was again in the congress for little time and then
 went abroad to represent the vounp re- pubic at the court of France. On his
 return he reluctantly became the rrst secretary of State under Washington
 The Cabinet. at the organization of
 the government, was organized irto Iour departmenest: The Treasury, with
 hamilton at It's head; War, under the ieadership of General Knox; that of the attorney General, with Edmund Ran- uoiph In charge; and the Department oI state, at first conducted by John Jay, who was to be Chief .Justjca .s
 soon as the permanent Secretary of
 state was appointed.
 . TWO men Of such transcendent abili- ties as Hamilton and Jefferson in one polltlcal household could' hardly have got along without friction had their political opinions been in accord. Their interests and ambitions would almost inevitably have produced clashings and ulscofd. But such men, holding views on all important topics 90 diametricaiIy ana fundamentally opposed to each other, were bound to come into con- hict, As matter of fact, during al- most the entire period when they were both in the Cabinet these two giant s laced each other in stern and uncom- promising controversy. Between them Washington had a hard time of it.
 Of course their differences were not in any large degree personal-they were, rather, differences arising from radically dissimilar conceptions of the Constitution and of the true powers of the Federal Government Hamilton was an extreme Federalist. He wished a strong, centralized government, and there Is reason to believe that when the Constitution was framed he would have preferred some form of mon archy. In his views of the Constitution he was loose constructionist-that is, he believed in interpreting the Consti- tuition in such a way as to give the General Government all powers not spe- cially oenied to it, or not spefically reserved to the States. He believed that the implied powers" of the Con- stitution were very great. Thus, he re- garded the Constitution, which might be bent or stretched to fit and include any Or all undertakings of the United Staes. So long as those undertakings were not positively forbidden. This theory was based by Hamilton upon that expression in Article l, Section 8, of the Constitution which grants to Congress the power to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States" Out of this the ory grew and upon 1t was based and around it was consolidated the Federal ist party, which never had an existence as an organization until its elements crystalized under the guiding inspira- tion of Hamilton around his political philosophy.
 Jefferson, on the other hand, was a true Democrat. He believed that as the people are the source of political