March 3. The administration of Jefferson had been conducted with great skill. The acquisition of Louisiana, adding very nearly one million square miles-more exactly 899,519-to the public domain was an event whose importance to the greatness and prosperity of the Republic, can hardly be overestimated. The finances during the last two years were somewhat disturbed by the various decrees and edicts of France and England against the commerce of neutrals. These complications, by which insult had been heaped upon injury, and injury upon insult, greatly embarrassed the government, and rendered an increased expenditure necessary. They also stirred up the spirit of war and set on foot warlike preparations. The Embargo and Non-intercourse acts, the building of forts and ships, and the equipment of troops, both militia and regular, disclosed a determination on the part of the United States to appeal to arms and secure by force the rights of seamen and of neutrals. VII. POLITICAL PARTIES. The two parties were still continued in their organization and opposition. The States passed gradually from Federal to Republican control. In 1805, when the Ninth Congress convened, it was found that the Republicans were largely in the majority, whilst the Federal party were represented by merely seven Senators and twenty-five members of the House. Still the party, by the great ability of its leaders, formed a strong minority. 1. The Republican party prepared for the canvass of 1804, by renominating Mr. Jefferson for President and substituting the name of George Clinton for Aaron Burr who had, by a break with Jefferson, politically ruined himself, for Vice President. In the Presidential canvass of 1808, Mr. Jefferson declining a third term, it was a matter of debate whether the position should be given to Madison, Monroe, or George Clinton; but finally the triangular contest was closed, and the field left clear for Madison and Clinton as candidates for President and Vice President. 2. The Federal party, designating by a Congressional caucus C. C. Pinckney and Rufus King as their standard bearers, went into the canvass of 1804, but without any chances of success. In 1808 the strength of the Federal vote was given for the second time to C. C. Pinckney and Rufus King, and they received a support which proved numerically much greater than the vote cast for them in 1804. The Embargo Act formed the chief touchstone of party principle and separation in the election of 1808. The bill had passed the Senate by 22 to 6 votes, and the House by 82 to 44. "This measure rekindled," it has been said, "the old fire 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, to be seen and almost felt with the hand (so strong was it), in every State, city, county, town, village and hamlet of the United States, and in every class and condition of the people, high or low, rich or poor." It may be remarked that the words "Republican" and "Democrat" in certain sections of the county, were used interchangeably. This act affecting the money interest of a large class gave more strength to the Federal party than it would otherwise have possessed. During this administration the "impressment" of American seamen assumed a serious aspect from the frequency with which Great Britain exercised the "right." At one time, there were over 6,000 names of American citizens on the books of the State Department, who had been forcibly taken and placed in the British Navy. VIII. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The receipts of external duties were much larger than at any previous time. Upwards of eight millions of dollars, principal and interest, of public debt was extinguished in 1802, with a surplus in the treasury of four millions and a half of dollars. The purchase of Louisiana added, above the first payment, nearly thirteen million dollars to the debt, of which the greater part was payable in fifteen years. The effect of the Embargo on the resources of the government was hardly perceptible at the outset. Importations were still allowed, with the view of getting home American property abroad. There was a surplus of $17,000,000 in the Treasury, when the Embargo was enacted, and this was more than suffi cient for the expenditure of an entire year. In 1808 the Secretary of the Treasury reported that the next year would commence with money and bonds on hand to the amount of $16,000,000. By reference to the column of expenditures, it will be seen that about thirteen millions was the annual current expense. It must be understood that this sum included the reimbursement of public debt and interest thereon. Year. Public Debt. Expenditures. Exports. Imports. 1801 $82,038,050 $12,273,376 $ 94,115,925 $111,363,513 1802 80,712,632 13,276,084 72,483,160 76,333,366 55,800,083 64,666,613 77,699,074 185,000,000 95,566,021 120,600,000 129,410,000 138,500,000 56,990,000 1803 77,054,686 11,258,983 IX. OUTLINE OF CONCURRENT EVENTS. England: Nelson bombarded Copenhagen, which put an end to the armed neutrality of 1801; Nelson died in 1805 at Trafalgar; treaty with Spain to recognize no other king of Spain than Ferdinand VII, and to assist with all her forces against France 1802. France: Concordat with Rome 1801; Peace of Amiens 1802; Napoleon I., Emperor 1804-1814; Third Coalition against France by England, Russia, Naples and Austria; Fourth Coalition by England, Prussia, Russia and Saxony. Germany Dissolution of the German Empire 1806; Confederation of the Rhine till 1813. CHAPTER IV. THE ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. I. CABINET. PRESIDENT. 1809. James Madison, Virginia. VICE PRESIDENTS. 1809. George Clinton, New York, (died April 20th, 1812.) 1813. Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts, (died Nov. 23d, 1814.) SECRETARIES OF STATE. 1809. Robert Smith, Maryland. 1811. James Monroe, Virginia. SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY. 1809. Albert Gallatin, Pennsylvania. SECRETARIES OF WAR. 1809. William Eustis, Massachusetts. SECRETARIES OF THE NAVY. 1809. Paul Hamilton, South Carolina. 1813. William Jones, Pennsylvania. 1814. Benjamin W. Crowninshield, Massachusetts. |