Kevin R. C. Gutzman - The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe

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For Cyril

The Jeffersonians lived before standardization of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. I have left their English as I found it.

A House committee headed by Chairman Thomas Pinckney, Federalist of South Carolina, informed Vice President Thomas Jefferson that the House had at last elected him president. One might have thought the Virginian would exult in his triumph, but that would be to mistake Jefferson. In deciding between the candidates, he said, I am sensible that age has been respected rather than more active and useful qualifications.

Only after several weeks acrimonious dispute had the House at last broken the Electoral College deadlock between Jefferson and his running mate, New Yorks Senator Aaron Burr, by opting for the man all knew to be the Republican presidential candidate. Rumors held that Burr would make a deal with the outgoing Houses Federalist majority: make me president, and I will maintain some of your measures my fellow Republicans find obnoxious. (Some leading Federalists took for granted that Burr would deal.)

Another possible result of the deadlock was that House Federalists would block any decision past Inauguration Day, thus reserving the position for some Federalistperhaps the Senate president pro tempore. Unbeknownst to the public, radical steps might have been taken to prevent any such thing from happening. Jeffersons chief ally, James Madison, counseled his chieftain that Jefferson and Burr ought, if that happened, jointly to call for an early meeting of the new Republican Congresswhich otherwise would not meet until December. The new House could then anoint Jefferson chief executive. Federalists had better not try to thwart the popular will. (Left unclear in this plotting was how it could be illegitimate for Federalist representatives to vote against Jefferson in the House, as the Constitution empowered them to do.)

Also without the publics knowing it, Jefferson had told Madison in 1796 that in case of an Electoral College tie, his rival candidate John Adams should be given the presidency. After all, Jefferson then reasoned, Adams had always been his senior in politics. Far from demure, then, Jefferson may have been candid in concluding that his more advanced age accounted for his victory over Burr in early 1801.

May have been. We cannot be certain. Jefferson has not been called the American Sphinx for nothing.

Jeffersons explanation of his election to Madison the day after the decisive February 17th vote reflected Jeffersons honest appraisal of the situation.

President John Adams endeavored till the end of his tenure to thwart the Republicans hopes for a congenial transition. As Jefferson told it, Mr A. embarrasses us. He keeps the offices of State & War vacant, has named Bayard M[inister] P[lenipotentiary] to France, and has called an unorganized Senate on the 4th. of March [inauguration day]. For his part, close observer Madisonnever an Adams admirerheld, The conduct of Mr. A. is not such as was to have been wished or perhaps expected. Instead of smoothing the path for his successor, he plays into the hands of those who are endeavoring to strew it with as many difficulties as possible; and with this view does not manifest a very squeamish regard to the Const[titutio]n.

Jeffersons election a mere fifteen days prior to his inauguration had left him so pressed that he sent a letter to his intended secretary of war, Henry Dearborn, offering him the job the same day that he wrote informing Madison of the result.

About the same time, Jefferson repeated his observation about the popular effect of Federalist congressmens machinations during the House proceedings. He then noted that Adamss calling the Senate, imperfect as it will be on the 4th. of March, into session could lead to rejection of Jeffersons leading appointments. This to be sure, he concluded, would dismast our ship, before leaving port.

Jefferson assured Representative Pinckneys delegation,

I know the difficulties of the station to which I am called and feel and acknowledge my incompetence to them. But whatsoever of understanding, whatsoever of diligence, whatsoever of justice or of affectionate concern for the happiness of man, it has pleased Providence to place within the compass of my faculties shall be called forth for the discharge of the duties confided to me, and for procuring to my fellow-citizens all the benefits which our Constitution has placed under the guardianship of the General Government. Guided by the wisdom and patriotism of those to whom it belongs to express the legislative will of the nation, I will give to that will a faithful execution.

On February 28, 1801, Vice President Jefferson resigned his office to make way for the Senate to select a new president pro tempore. Jefferson bade that body farewell in his characteristic way, noting that he no doubt had erred in his role as the Senates president and holding that for honest errors however indulgence may be hoped.

Thus spoke Jefferson on February 28th. Due to the prolonged standoff in the House, if he put off writing it until certain of his election, Jefferson had only twelve days to prepare his First Inaugural Address for delivery on March 4th. Every indication is that he had not waited to begin writing it.

Jeffersons First Inaugural Address is one of only a handful of such speeches that repay a reading. Despite its sparkling eloquence and striking economy of expression, however, the mere text tells only part of the story. The Revolution of 1800, as Jefferson later dubbed his partys electoral conquest, began before the new president laid his manuscript on the lectern.

Part of that Revolution was a sharp shift in manners. The occasion of George Washingtons first inauguration had become one extended celebration of the Continental Armys only commander-in-chief. En route from Mt. Vernon on the Potomac to Manhattan on the Hudson, Washington progressed from one festivity to the next. Local militia detachments escorted him, young ladies fted him, and leading citizens of towns through which he passed held celebratory balls in his honor.

It was Washington who decided, without prompting from the Constitution, that there ought to be a presidential speech in conjunction with the prescribed oath. With help from Representative James Madison, President Washington prepared and delivered a classic Virginian inauguration address. It began with an avowal that he had not wanted nor felt qualified for the job, proceeded through a lengthy observation about an unnamed gods essential aid in winning the Revolution and establishing the Constitution, rested for a while on the idea that the success of the federal republic would depend on the morality of officeholders and of the people in general, stopped briefly upon a call for constitutional amendments to buttress individual rights, added a disavowal of any desire for a salary, and concluded with a prayer to the benign Parent of the Human Race to superintend the new governments activity. The whole ceremony took place before a crowd of onlookers on Wall Streetagain at Washingtons instigation.