he delivered in at the clerk's table, where it was read and unanimously agreed to by the House, as follows: The representatives of the good people of this commonwealth, in general assembly convened, having maturely considered the answers of sundry states in the Union, to their resolutions passed the last session, respecting certain unconstitutional laws of Congress, commonly called the alien and sedition laws, would be faithless, indeed, to themselves and to those they represent, were they silently to acquiesce in the principles and doctrines attempted to be maintained in all those answers, that of Virginia only excepted. To again enter the field of argument, and attempt more fully or forcibly to expose the unconstitutionality of those obnoxious laws, would, it is apprehended, be as unnecessary as unavailing. We can not, however, but lament that, in the discussion of those interesting subjects by sundry of the legislatures of our sister states, unfounded suggestions and uncandid insinuations, derogatory to the true character and principles of this commonwealth, have been substituted in place of fair reasoning and sound argument. Our opinions of these alarming measures of the general government, together with our reasons for those opinions, were detailed with decency and with temper, and submitted to the discussion and judgment of our fellow citizens throughout the Union. Whether the like decency and temper have been observed in the answers of most of those states who have denied or attempted to obviate the great truths contained in those resolutions, we have now only to submit to a candid world. Faithful to the true principles of the federal Union, unconscious • of any designs to disturb the harmony of that Union, and anxious only to escape the fangs of despotism, the good people of this commonwealth are regardless of censure or calumniation. Lest, however, the silence of this commonwealth should be construed into an acquiescence in the doctrines and principles advanced and attempted to be maintained by the said answers, or lest those of our fellow citizens throughout the Union who so widely differ from us on those important subjects, should be deluded by the expectation that we shall be deterred from what we conceive our duty, or shrink from the principles contained in those resolutions-therefore, Resolved, That this commonwealth considers the federal Union, upon the terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, as conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several states; that it does now unequivocally declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seek its dissolution; that if those who administer the general government be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, by a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein contained, an annihilation of the state governments, and the creation upon their ruins of a general consolidated government, will be the inevitable consequence; that the principle and construction contended for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism—since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the constitution, would be the measure of their powers; that the several states who formed that instrument being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the infraction; and that a nullification by those sovereignties of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument is the rightful remedy; that this commonwealth does, under the most deliberate reconsideration, declare that the said alien and sedition laws are, in their opinion, palpable violations of the said constitution; and, however cheerfully it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of its sister states, in matters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet, in momentous regulations like the present, which so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence as highly criminal; that although this commonwealth, as a party to the federal compact, will bow to the laws of the Union, yet it does, at the same time, declare that it will not now, or ever hereafter, cease to oppose in a constitutional manner every attempt, at what quarter soever offered, to violate that compact. And, finally, in order that no pretext or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence on the part of this commonwealth in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as precedents for similar future violations of the federal compact-this commonwealth does now enter against them its solemn protest. Extract, etc. Attest: T. TODD, C. H. R. In Senate, November 22, 1799.-Read and concurred in. B. THURSTON, C. S. 1800. (No Federal Platform.) REPUBLICAN PLATFORM, PHILADELPHIA. 1. An inviolable preservation of the federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the states, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who, therefore, became its enemies. 2. Opposition to monarchizing its features by the forms of its adminis tration, with a view to conciliate a transition, first, to a President and Senate for life; and, secondly, to an hereditary tenure of those offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle. 3. Preservation to the states of the powers not yielded by them to the Union, and to the legislature of the Union its constitutional share in division of powers; and resistance, therefore, to existing movements for transferring all the powers of the states to the general government, and all of those of that government to the executive branch. 4. A rigorously frugal administration of the government, and the application of all the possible savings of the public revenue to the liquidation of the public debt; and resistance, therefore, to all measures looking to a multiplication of officers and salaries, merely to create partisans and to augment the public debt, on the principle of its being a public blessing. 5. Reliance for internal defense solely upon the militia, till actual invasion, and for such a naval force only as may be sufficient to protect our coasts and harbors from depredations; and opposition, therefore, to the policy of a standing army in time of peace which may overawe the public sentiment, and to a navy, which, by its own expenses, and the wars in which it will implicate us, will grind us with public burdens and sink us under them. 6. Free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment. 7. Opposition to linking ourselves, by new treaties, with the quarrels of Europe, entering their fields of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty. 8. Freedom of religion, and opposition to all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendency of one sect over another. 9. Freedom of speech and of the press; and opposition, therefore, to all violations of the constitution, to silence, by force, and not by reason, the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their public agents. 10. Liberal naturalization laws, under which the well disposed of all nations who may desire to embark their fortunes with us and share with us the public burdens, may have that opportunity, under moderate restrictions, for the development of honest intention, and severe ones to guard against the usurpation of our flag. 11. Encouragement of science and the arts in all their branches, to the end that the American people may perfect their independence of all foreign monopolies, institutions, and influences. CHAPTER VII. THOMAS JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATIONS. 1801-1809. REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES. Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated President, at Washington City, March 4, 1801. He set forth what he considered the essential principles and purposes of our government in his inaugural address, as follows: "Equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations -entangling alliances with none; the support of the state governments in all their rights as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence, the vital principle of republics from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and the sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason; the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected." This became, and continued to be, for a long time, the creed of political faith for a great part of the people. Jefferson's aim was to bring all parties into a unity of action, to do away with political intolerance as religious intolerance had been done away with. "We have called by different names brothers of the same principle. We are all republicans-we are all federalists." OUTLOOK OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. As would be naturally supposed, Jefferson endeavored to shape his policy and manage the government in accordance with republican views. This involved something of a change from the course of affairs during the previous twelve years. But circumstances favored the change. The foreign and domestic difficulties, which had been so troublesome during the previous administration, were all being amicably adjusted. National finances were prosperous, and material resources were increasing rapidly. This administration, it was plain to see, would not be a crisis for the institutions of government, as the previous ones had been, for it accepted them as they had been provided, together with the means of their maintenance, from the administration just driven from power. Jefferson was not disposed, neither would it have been politic, to introduce any violent changes. Cautious and temporizing rather than aggressive, the new President was calculated to deceive the anticipations of the federalists, many of whom took a gloomy view of the future. OFFICIAL PATRONAGE. The summer of 1801 was occupied with the trouble-question of official appointments. The President's idea was to remove no person from office merely for holding opinions adverse to the party in power; but the republicans, upon their accession to power, made great demands for the offices. The |