Date: 1981-06-15
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. here. at midpoint in the Jeffersonian era. I should like to make some observations concerning the role of the Senate visavis the House in those years. In 1804. when New York Congressman Samuel Mitchill was elected to the Senate. he worte to his wife: "Henceforth you will read little of me in the Gazettes. Senators are less exposed to public view than Representatives. Nor have they near so much hard work and drudgery to perform." As I have mentioned in earlier addresses. the popularlyelected House was far more active than the Senate in those early days and. therefore. drew far more public attention. Sessions in the House generally lasted longer than those in the Senate. And. as Professor Noble Cunningham has pointed out in his study of The Process of Government Under Jefferson. House members originated more bills and demanded more roll call votes than did senators. Much of their activity was devoted to originating revenue bills as the Constitution provided. However this did not mean that the Senate was not the "upper body." Movement from one House to the other was consistently from the House to the Senate and rarely in reverse. Samuel Mitchill described himself as no longer a "Representative of the People" but one of the "Senators of the Nation." a member of "the Supreme Executive Council of the Nation." 1 The Senate had not yet evolved into its "Golden Age of Debate." as it would in the next few decades. and descriptions of its proceedings in those first years in Washington do not sound all that foreign from our proceedings today. Senator William Plumer of New Hampshire wrote to his son in 1806 that "in general by the time a senator has been speaking 10 minutes it is rare that there is a quorum within the Barand many of those that are there. are either writing letters or reading newspapers. At the fire side a majority is seated. and often in a private conversation the question under debate is there settled by a free interchange of opinions." " When the Ninth Congress convened in December 1805. foreign policy became the chief concern of the senators. On December 20. Senator George Logan of Pennsylvania. a close friend and ally of President Jefferson. introduced a resolution to suspend commercial trade between the United States and the French island of Santo Domingo. today the Dominican Republic. American merchants had been trading with the black population of that island who were in revolt against France. which was clearly a violation of American neutrality. The Republicans believed such trade would draw the United States into a war with France and proposed ending all trade with the island. a solution vigorously opposed by the Federalists. especially those who represented the trading states of New England. Senator Johp Quincy Adams expressed his belief that no needless interference of the Government with the regular course of commercial transactiqns ought ever to be countenanced." To assist in resolving this controversy. the Senate requested that the president send them all documents. papers. and any other information relative to complaints by the French Government against United States trade with Santo Domingo. Jefferson then provided them with notes from French Foreign Minister Talleyrand and Ambassador Louis Turreau protesting the Santo Domingo trade. and on February 20. the Senate voted 21 to 7 to suspend the trade and preserve American neutrality." Of course. settling the issue in the case of Santo Domingo did not solve the neutrality problem. which grew much graver during Jeffersons second term. Reading through the Annals of Congress. one sees the frequent references to British interference with American shipping. Great Britain. as we recall. was at war with Napoleonic France and the powerful British Navy sought to halt American commerce with Franceas. indeed. the French would also have done against trade with Britain. had their Navy been the equal of the British Navy. A particularly noxious side to this interference was the impressment of American seamen into the British Navy. While many of these seamen had once served in the British Navy. they were now American citizens and public sentiment was outraged by their capture. Senator Robert Wright of Maryland pointed to the "present degraded state of impressed American seamen. thousands of whom have been pressed on board the British ships of war. and compelled. by whips and scourges. to work like galley slaves." 2" On January 25. 1806. the Senate received from Secretary of State James Madison a report on the "unjustifiable British violations" of American neutrality rights. The Senate unanimously responded with a resolution declaring the British actions "an unprovoked aggression upon the property of the citizens of these United States. a violation of their neutrality rights and an encroachment upon their national independence." "2 As a means of punishing Great Britain. the resolution recommended prohibiting the importation of numerous goods manufactured in Great Britain. ranging from woolens and linens. to mirrors. boots. shoes. and rum. This eventually became the NonImportation Act of 1806. enacted that April. the first step on the road to Jeffersons Embargo. The Federalists argued that the president and Senate had no such right to interfere with United States trade. but they fought a losing battle. The NonImportation Act was due to go into effect by December 14. 1807. but long before then. it was clear that it would not influence British policy. which if anything was becoming even more aggressive and restrictive. On December 18. Jefferson sent Congress a warning about the "increasing dangers with which our vessels. our seamen. and merchandise. are threatened on the high seas" and recommended a complete embargo on all United States overseas trade. The overwhelmingly Republican Senate suspended its rules and passed the measure that same day. 22 to 6.21 During the next few months. however. evidence became unmistakable that American smugglers were successfully circumventing the Embargo Act. particularly by carrying goods across the Canadian border. and so the Embargo had little effect on the British economy. On the contrary. it was having its most adverse effect on the old. predominantly Federalist. merchant class in New England and New York. whose normal foreign trade had been officially severed. Thus. when the Tenth Congress convened in November 1808. the Embargo was the subject of bitter debate. Senator James Hillhouse of Connecticut complained that the Republican notion that a cutoff of American food products would starve Britain was "a farce. an idle farce." Instead of affecting the nations that had violated American neutral rights. Hillhouse charged that it was "fraught with evils and privations to the people of the United States. They were the sufferers." It reminds one of the recently imposed and subsequently lifted embargo on grain to the Soviet Union. There were those who said that the American farmersnot the Soviet Unionwere the sufferers. The Republicans conceded the weaknesses of the Embargo but argued that its alternatives were submission or war. The Senate then debated the Enforcement of the Embargo Act. which on December 21 passed by a vote of 20 to 7. These ehforcement provisions established stern penalties for violations of the Embargo. a highly unpopular move in mercantile New England. where the Federalists made strong gains in local and congressional elections. Outcry was so great that by February 22. the Senate Footnotes at end of article. voted 21 to 12 to repeal the Embargo and to pass in its stead the NonIntercourse Act. reopening all sea trade except with England and France. Thomas Jefferson admitted defeat on his controversial Embargo. but to his dying day maintained that the measure would have worked had it been given sufficient time." Time. however. had run out for Jefferson. and on Saturday. March 4. 1809. the Senate of the Tenth Congress returned in extra session to witness the inauguration of his successor. James Madison. In telling the story of the Senate during the Jeffersonian era. it is fitting to conclude with the mysterious figure with whom we began: Aaron Burr. In these eight years. Burr contested with Jefferson for the presidency. served as vice president. shot Alexander Hamilton. and then was tried for treasonous conspiracy. After leaving the vice presidency. Burr first tried to persuade President Jefferson to appoint him to a high government post. Failing that. he headed west to rebuild his personal and political fortunes. Soon rumors began drifting east to Washington that Burr was seeking to separate the new western territories to create an independent state. with himself as its ruler. It was said that he was plotting with the British and the Spanish. and with the American military governor of Louisiana. James Wilkinson. Undercover agents pursued Burr and collected evidence against him. On January 22. 1807. Jefferson sent a remarkable message to the Senate warning its members of Burrs activities." The next month. Burr surrendered to authorities in Mississippi. and a trial was set for him in the federal circuit court in Richmond. Virginia. Presiding over this trial was Jeffersons other nemesis. Chief Justice John Marshall. Burrs trial lasted from August 3 to September 1. and resulted in his acquittal. Shortly afterward. Aaron Burr went into exile in Europe. Dissatisfied with the results of the trial. President Jefferson sent Congress the transcripts ti examine for possible defects in the law. to protect the nation from treason. But Congress was preoccupied with the Embargo and offered no resolution to the problem. The transcripts of that dramatic trial are preserved for us today in the Annals of Congress. Tenth Congress. first session. The Senate remained aloof from the Burr trial. but could not ignore the involvement of one of its own members. Senator John Smith of Ohio. who was indicted for conspiracy along with Burr. Smith was accused of having entered into the conspiracy in 1804. when Presi. dent Jefferson had sent him on a special mission to Louisiana and Florida. A special Senate committee. chaired by John Quincy Adams. reported on December 31. 1807. a resolution "That John Smith. a Senator from the State of Ohio. by his participation in the conspiracy of Aaron Burr against the peace. union. and liberties. of the United States. has been guilty of conduct incompatible with his duty and station as a Senator of the United States. And that he be therefore. and hereby is. expelled from the Senate of the United States." Smith responded with a 96page defense of his actions." Now. when Burr had been acquitted. the government had dropped charges against Senator Smith. but the Republican members of the Senate felt the evidence against him warranted pursuing the case. even though he was a member of their own party. Smith denied all the charges of conspiracy. that he had no desire to separate off the western territories or participate in a military rebellion against the government. His only fault. he insisted. was in opening his doors hospitably to Aaron Burr. Senator James Bayard of Delaware led much of Smiths defense in the Senate. which was particularly crucial to the case. since Bayard. as a member of the House. had been one of the managers of the impeachment proceedings against Senator William Blount. who was expelled in 1797. a case which provided most of the precedents for the Smith proceedings. Bayard fully believed that Burr had conspired against the country. adding that "scarcely a man in the United States doubts it." Yet he would find no evidence to substantiate the charges against Smith." It is indeed a painful task for members of the Senate to try one of their colleagues for possible censure or expulsion. and the Senate debate moved slowly and deliberately from December through the following April. filling page after page of the Annals. At last. on Saturday. April 9. 1808. the Senate voted 18 to 10 to expel Smith. However. this was less than the necessary twothirds margin. several Republicans having found it impossible to vote against their colleague. The matter was settled later that month when Smith resigned from the Senate at the urging of the Ohio legislature." Mr. President. the events in the history of the United States Senate between 1800 and 1808 were certainly dramatic and crowded ones." These events were faced by a Senate of thirtyfour members representing seventeen states. Yet. in the eight years I have been discussing. there were eightyfour different senators serving in this body. Only three senators served consistently from the Seventh to the Tenth Congresses: James Hillhouse of Connecticut. Samuel White of Delaware. and Jesse Franklin of North Carolina. One of the chief reasons for this high turnover was the change in party structure in the United States. as the Republican party became the predominant party and the Federalist party began to fade from the scene. The Senate in the Jeffersonian era was also growing younger. with the average age of senators falling from 44.4 years in 1800 to 40.6 in 1810. This. in is fact. is the lowest average age in the history of the Senate. (For the Ninetyseventh Congress. the average age of senators is 52.5 years.) The youngest member of the Senate in this era was an ambitious politician named Henry Clay from Kentucky. of whom I will have considerable more to say in later addresses. Clay was elected by the Kentucky legislature to fill a vacancy in November 1806 and took his oath on December 29. 1806. when he was twentynine years. eight months. and seventeen days old. a little over three months younger than the constitutionallyprovided thirty years of minimum age for a senator. The Annals of Congress do not show anyone challenging Clay for his unconstitutional act. although legend has it that when asked by a fellow senator he responded: "I hope my colleague will propound that question to my constituents." and let the matter drop there.: Clay filled out the remainder of the term until March 3. 1807. when he left the Senate. still a month shy of his thirtieth birthday. He served another partial term from 1810 to 1811. but his major service Is the Senate did not begin until 1831 and then continued intermittently until his death in 1852. These young senators served a young nationwhose median age was only sixteen years old. But it was a growing nation in size and population. Between the censuses of 1800 and 1810 the population of the United States increased 36 percent. from 5.3 million to 7.2 million. while the physical size of the nation doubled from 865.000 square miles to 1.682.000 square miles. as a result of the addition of the Louisiana Purchase. With a doubling of the land area the number of people per square mile declined from 6.1 to 4.3. This statistic illustrates graphically that the United States was predominently a rural. agricultural nation. Only half a million Americans lived In cities and town with populations over 2.500 back in 1810. while 6.7 million lived In areas with less than 2.500 people. It was to. this rural. agricultural. westwardly moving population that the Jeffersonian Republicans appealed and why the party prospered to the point of wiping out the very existence of its opposition. In just a few short years the United States would move into a unique era of single party politics. which we refer to rather wistfully as "the Era of Good Feelings." The truth. as usual. was more complexas I will be discussing In a future address on the history of the United States Senate.