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28. The Revolution of 1800
uring the short interval of time between his inauguration and the meeting of the first Congress, the attention of President Jefferson was occupied in maturing his plans for republicanizing the government and in carrying them into execution in all cases where he possessed the power independently of the legislature. The courtly custom of levees with the train of attendant forms and ceremonies had its origin with the inception of the new government. General Washington resisted the importunities to introduce them for three weeks after his induction into office. At last he yielded, and Colonel Humphreys, a gentleman of great parade, was charged with the arrangement of ceremonies on the first occasion. Accordingly, an antechamber and presence-room were provided, and when the company who were to pay their court had assembled, the President advanced, preceded by Humphreys. After passing through the ante-chamber, the door of the inner room was thrown open and Humphreys entered first, calling out with a loud voice, "The President of the United States." The President was so much disconcerted that he never recovered from it during the whole time of the levee. After the company had retired, he said to Humphreys, "Well, you have taken me in once, but by ___ you shall never take me in a second time." He never allowed the same form to be repeated, but had the company introduced as they entered the room, where he stood to receive them. The levees were continued under Mr. Adams. Repeated at short intervals and accompanied, as they were, by a general course of entertainment, they were unnecessarily expensive and obstructive of business. Mr. Jefferson discontinued them. He had but two public days for the reception of company -- the fourth of July and first of January. On these occasions, the doors of his house were thrown open and the most liberal hospitality provided for the entertainment of visitors of every grade without distinction.
So much for the demolition of forms. With these, a system of substantial reformation was vigorously prosecuted by the President. The introduction of economy in the public expenditures was the cardinal principle of this system: to diminish the number and weight of public burthens and establish a frugal system of government which "should not take from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned." To this end, the army and navy were reduced into republican peace establishments -- or rather, to the ultimate point of reduction confided to executive discretion. Further than this, he could not go without the concurrence of the legislature. The amount of force, including regulars and militia which the several acts of the preceding administration had authorized the President to raise, was considerably over 100,000 men. Mr. Jefferson reduced the army to four regiments of infantry, two regiments of artillerists and engineers, and two troops of light dragoons. The next year, by the consent of the legislature, he reduced it to two regiments of infantry, one regiment of artillerists, and a corps of engineers -- or to about three thousand men.
He visited in person each of the departments and obtained a catalogue of the officers employed in each with a statement of their wages and amount of duties. Those under his own immediate charge were subjected to the same scrutiny. Thence he extended his enquiries over the whole territory of the republic and comprehended in the revision all those who under any species of public employment drew money from the treasury. This done, he immediately commenced the reduction of all such offices as he deemed unnecessary, whose tenure depended on executive discretion. The inspectors of the internal revenue were discontinued in a mass. They comprised a large body of treasury men dispersed over the country. Various other agencies created by executive authority on salaries fixed by the same authority were deemed superfluous. These were all suppressed. The diplomatic establishment was reduced to three ministers, which were all that the public interests required, namely, to England, France, and Spain. He called in foreign ministers who had been absent eleven and even seventeen years, and established the rule which he had formerly recommended to General Washington, by whom it was approved: that no person should be continued on foreign mission beyond a term of six, seven, or eight years. But the great mass of the public offices, being established by law, required the concurrence of the legislature to discontinue them.
The President formed the design of introducing some wholesome improvements in the established code of international intercourse by engaging in concurrence and peaceable cooperation, a coalition of the most liberal powers of Europe. These improvements respected the rights of neutral nations and were original conceptions with himself and Dr. Franklin. He desired to see the established law of nations abolished which authorized the taking the goods of an enemy from the ship of a friend, and to have substituted in its place by special compacts the more rational and convenient rule that free ships should make free goods. The vexatious effects of the former principle upon neutral nations peaceably pursuing their commerce and its tendency to embroil them with the powers involved in war were sufficient reasons for its universal abandonment, while the operation of the latter principle -- leaving the nations at peace to enjoy the common rights of the ocean unmolested -- was more favorable to the interest of commerce and lessened the occasions and the vexations of war. Besides, the principle of "free bottoms, free goods," he contended, was the genuine dictate of national morality. The converse which had unfortunately obtained -- a corruption originally introduced by accident between two States, Venice and Genoa, then predominating upon the ocean -- was afterwards adopted from the mere force of example by other nations as they successively appeared upon the theatre of general commerce.
The President desired to see this improvement so far carried out as to abolish the pernicious distinction of contraband of war in the articles of neutral commerce. He regarded the practice of entering the ship of a friend to search and seize what was called contraband of war, as a violation of natural right and extremely liable to abuse.
"War between two nations cannot diminish the rights of the rest of the world remaining at peace. The doctrine that the rights of nations remaining quietly under the exercise of moral and social duties are to give way to the convenience of those who prefer plundering and murdering one another, is a monstrous doctrine and ought to yield to the more rational law that "the wrongs which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other must not infringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at peace." And what is contraband by the law of nature? Either everything which may aid or comfort an enemy or nothing. Either all commerce which would accommodate him is unlawful or none is. The difference between articles of one or another description is a difference in degree only. No line between them can be drawn. Either all intercourse must cease between neutrals and belligerents or all be permitted. Can the world hesitate to say which shall be the rule? Shall two nations turning tigers break up in one instant the peaceable relations of the whole world? Reason and nature clearly pronounce that the neutral is to go on in the enjoyment of all its rights, that its commerce remains free, not subject to the jurisdiction of another nor consequently its vessels to search or to enquiries whether their contents are the property of an enemy or are of those which have been called contraband of war." (Sept. 9, 1801. ME 10:280)
These opinions and arguments he communicated in the form of instructions to Robert R. Livingston, nominated as Minister Plenipotentiary to France the day after his inauguration. They were communicated unofficially, however, and with the express reservation that they were not to be acted upon until the war in Europe, which threatened to embroil us with the principal belligerents, should be brought to a termination. The same principles had been repeatedly sanctioned by the government, and he entertained little doubt of the concurrence of his constitutional advisers. They formed a part of those instructions of Congress drafted by himself in 1784 to the first American ministers appointed to treat with the nations of Europe, and which were acceded to by Prussia and Portugal. In the renewal of the treaty with Prussia, they had been avoided at the instance of our then administration lest it should seem to commit us against England on a question then threatening decision by the sword; and in the last treaty with the last named power, they had been abandoned by our envoy, which constituted a principal ground of opposition to the memorable negotiation.
Scarcely had the President entered upon the duties of his office when our commerce in the Mediterranean was interrupted by the pirates in that region. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary powers, came forward with demands unfounded either in right or compact and avowed the determination to extort them at the point of the sword on our failure to comply peaceably before a given day. The President with becoming energy immediately put in operation such measures of resistance as the urgency of the case demanded, without awaiting the advice of Congress. The style of the challenge admitted but one answer. He sent a squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean with assurances to the Bey of Tripoli of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce at all hazards against the threatened attack. The Bey had already declared war in form. His cruisers were out; two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded, and that of the Atlantic in peril. The arrival of the American squadron dispelled the danger, however. One of the Tripolitan cruisers, having fallen in with and engaged a small schooner of ours which had gone out as a tender to the larger vessels, was captured with a heavy slaughter of her men and without the loss of a single one on our part. This severe chastisement, with the extraordinary skill and bravery displayed by the Americans, quieted the pretensions of the Bey and operated as a caution in future to that desperate community of freebooters.
n the 8th of December, 1801, Mr. Jefferson made his first annual communication to Congress by message. It had been the uniform practice with his predecessors to make their first communications on the opening of Congress by personal address, to which a formal answer was immediately returned by each house separately. The President always used to go in state, as it was called, to deliver his speech. He moved to the capitol, preceded by the marshal and constables of the District with their white staffs, and accompanied by the heads of departments, the members of Congress, and a numerous procession of citizens. On these occasions he always wore his sword. A desire to impart a more popular character to the government by divesting it of a ceremonial which partook in some degree the character of a royal pageant, a regard to the convenience of the legislature, the economy of their time, and relief from the embarrassments of immediate answers induced Mr. Jefferson to adopt the mode of communication by message, to which no answer was returned. And his example was followed by succeeding Presidents.
The President announced in his message that the cessation of hostilities in Europe had produced a consequent cessation of those irregularities which had afflicted the commerce of neutral nations and restored the ordinary communications of peace and friendship between the principal powers of the earth; that our intercourse with the Indians on our frontiers was marked by a spirit of mutual conciliation and forbearance, highly advantageous to both parties; that our relations with the Barbary States were in a less satisfactory condition, and such as to inspire the belief that measures of offense ought to be authorized sufficient to place our force on an equal footing with that of its adversaries; that the increase of population within the last ten years as indicated by the late census proceeded in such an unexampled ratio as promised a duplication every twenty-two years; that this circumstance combined with others had produced an augmentation of revenue which proceeded in a ration far beyond that of population and authorized a reduction of such of its branches as were particularly odious and oppressive.
Accordingly, he recommended the abolition of all the internal taxes, comprehending excises, stamps, auctions, licensed carriages, and refined sugars, to which he added the postage of newspapers to facilitate the progress of information. The remaining sources of revenue aided by the extensive system of economy which he proposed to introduce would be sufficient, he contended, to provide for the support of government, to pay the interest of the public debt, and to discharge the principal in a shorter period than the laws or the general expectation had contemplated.
As supplemental, however, to the proposition for discontinuing the internal taxes, he recommended a diminution of the public disbursements by the abolition of all superfluous drafts upon the treasury. He informed the legislature of the progress he had already made in this department of public duty by the suppression of all unnecessary offices, agencies, and missions which depended on executive authority, and recommended to their consideration a careful revision of the remainder. "Considering," says he, "the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge; that it may never be seen here that, after leaving to labor the smallest portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government shall itself consume the residue of what it was instituted to guard." (1st Annual Message, 1801. ME 3:333)
In order to multiply barriers against the dissipation of the public money, he recommended Congress to establish the practice of specific appropriations in all cases susceptible of definition, to reduce the undefined field of contingencies, and to bring back to a single department for examination and approval all accountabilities for receipts and expenditures.
He directed the attention of Congress to the army and advised the reduction of the existing establishment to the number of garrisons actually necessary and the number of men requisite for each garrison. A standing army in time of peace was both unnecessary and dangerous. The militia was the main pillar of defence to the country and the only force which could be ready at every point to repel invasion until regulars could be provided to relieve them. This consideration rendered important a careful review of the existing organization of the militia at every session of Congress, and the amendment of such defects as from time to time might show themselves in the system until it should be made sufficiently perfect. "Nor should we now," said he, "or at any time separate, until we can say we have done everything for the militia which we could do were an enemy at our door."
With respect to the navy, although a difference of opinion might exist as to the extent to which it should be carried, yet all would agree that a small force was continually wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean. All naval preparations beyond this, the President thought, should be confined to the provision of such articles as might be kept without waste or consumption and be in readiness for any exigence which might occur.
The President was of opinion that agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation were most disposed to thrive when left most free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments, however, might sometimes be seasonably interposed, and was clearly within the constitutional limits of Congress.
He submitted to the serious consideration of the legislature the judiciary system of the United States and suggested the expediency of rescinding that branch of it recently erected, should it appear on examination to be superfluous, of which he entertained no doubt. While on the subject of the judiciary, he commended to their protection the "inestimable institution of juries," urging the propriety of their extension to all cases involving the security of our persons or property and the necessity of their impartial selection.
The President warmly recommended a revisal of the laws on the subject of naturalization and an abbreviation of the period prescribed for acquiring citizenship. The existing regulation requiring a residence of fourteen years was a denial of citizenship to a great proportion of those who asked it, obstructing the prosperous growth of the country and incompatible with the humane spirit of our laws.
After commending to them prudence and temperance in discussion, which were so conducive to harmony and rational deliberation within their own walls and to that consolidation of sentiment among their constituents which was so happily increasing, the President concluded as follows: "That all should be satisfied with any one order of things is not to be expected; but I indulge the pleasing persuasion that the great body of our citizens will cordially concur in honest and disinterested efforts, which have for their object to preserve the general and State governments in their constitutional form and equilibrium; to maintain peace abroad and order and obedience to the laws at home; to establish principles and practices of administration favorable to the security of liberty and property; and to reduce expenses to what is necessary for the useful purpose of government." (1st Annual Message, 1801. ME 3:340)
The first message of the first Democratic-Republican President of the United States was anticipated with a fever of popular impatience. On its appearance, sensations diametrically opposite were excited in the two great division of the political public. The fundamental features of his policy as publicly delineated by the President were too unequivocal and strongly marked not to realize the expectations of his supporters and the necessary apprehensions of his adversaries. His propositions for lessening the expenditures of the previous administrations by the abolition of sinecures and the establishment of a rigid accountability with the remaining offices of the government; for cutting down the army and relying for ordinary protection on the unpensioned resource of an omnipresent militia; for reducing the navy to the actual force required for covering our commerce from the ravages of the common enemies of civilization; for the gradual and systematic extinguishment of the public debt in derision of the monarchical maxim that "a national debt is a national blessing"; for circumscribing discretionary powers over money by establishing the rule of specific appropriations; for restoring the hospitable policy of the government towards aliens and fugitives from foreign oppression; for multiplying barriers around the sovereignty of the States and the liberties of the people against the encroachments of the federal authorities; for crippling the despotism of the judiciary and lopping from it a supernumerary member engrafted by his predecessors for political purposes -- all these propositions were seized with avidity by his opponents and made one by one a topic of censure or of raillery. On the other hand, innumerable addresses of thanks by republican assemblies and by individual champions of the Republican party were communicated to him from every section of the union. To these he returned public or private answers according to the nature of the address.
But of all the measures of reform recommended in the President's message, none was so extensive as the proposition to suppress all the internal taxes. This was indeed a solid inculcation of the principles of republicanism. In proposing to disband all these at a stroke, the President meditated the disarming the government of an immense resource of executive patronage and preponderance, besides relieving the people of a surcharge of taxation. The disinterestedness of the transaction was only equaled by its boldness, at which the republicans themselves were considerably alarmed. In a letter to one of them dated December 19, 1801, the President wrote:
"You will perhaps have been alarmed as some have been at the proposition to abolish the whole of the internal taxes. But it is perfectly safe. They are under a million of dollars, and we can economize the government two or three millions a year. The impost alone gives us ten or eleven millions annually, increasing at a compound ratio of six and two-thirds per cent. per annum, and consequently doubling in ten years. But leaving that increase for contingencies, the present amount will support the government, pay the interest of the public debt, and discharge the principal in fifteen years. If the increase proceeds and no contingencies demand it, it will pay off the principal in a shorter time. Exactly one-half of the public debt, to wit, thirty-seven millions of dollars, is owned in the United States. That capital, then, will be set afloat to be employed in rescuing our commerce from the hands of foreigners, or in agriculture, canals, bridges, or other useful enterprises. By suppressing at once the whole internal taxes, we abolish three-fourths of the offices now existing and spread over the land. Seeing the interest you take in the public affairs, I have indulged myself in observations flowing from a sincere and ardent desire of seeing our affairs put into an honest and advantageous train." (to John Dickinson. ME 10:302)
he first Congress which assembled after Mr. Jefferson came into power contained an ascendency of republicanism in both houses, with just enough of opposition to hoop the majority indissolubly together and induce the legislature to move in strong cooperation with the executive. They erected into laws all the fundamental changes recommended by the President and thereby enabled him to carry through a system of administration which substantially revolutionized the government.
To other specific improvements might be added the general simplification of the system of finance, in which he was powerfully aided by Gallatin, and the establishment of the permanent rule of definite appropriations of money for all objects susceptible of definition so that every person in the United States might know for what purpose and to what amount every fraction of the public expenditure was applied. His watchfulness over this department of administration, the operations of which are so intimately interwoven with all human concerns, is forcibly illustrated by the following letter to the Secretary of the Treasury.
"I have read and considered your report on the operations of the sinking fund and entirely approve of it as the best plan on which we can set out. I think it an object of great importance to be kept in view and to be undertaken at a fit season, to simplify our system of finance and bring it within the comprehension of every member of Congress.
"I like your idea of kneading all the little scraps and fragments into one batch and adding to it a complementary sum which, while it forms it into a single mass from which everything is to be paid, will enable us, should a breach of appropriation ever be charged on us, to prove that the sum appropriated and more has been applied to its specific object.
"But there is a point beyond this on which I should wish to keep my eye and to which I should aim to approach by every tack which previous arrangements force on us. That is, to form into one consolidated mass all the moneys received into the treasury and to marshal the several expenditures, giving them a preference of payment according to the order in which they shall be arranged. As for example: 1. The interest of the public debt. 2. Such portions of principal as are exigible. 3. The expenses of government. 4. Such other portions of principal as, though not exigible, we are still free to pay when we please. The last object might be made to take up the residuum of money remaining in the treasury at the end of every year after the three first objects were complied with, and would be the barometer whereby to test the economy of the administration. It would furnish a simple measure by which everyone could mete their merit and by which everyone could decide when taxes were deficient or superabundant. If to this can be added a simplification of the form of accounts in the treasury department and in the organization of its officers so as to bring everything to a single centre, we might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them.
"I have suggested only a single alteration in the report which is merely verbal and of no consequence. We shall now get rid of the commissioner of the internal revenue and superintendent of stamps. It remains to amalgamate the comptroller and auditor into one and reduce the register to a clerk of accounts; and then the organization will consist as it should at first of a keeper of money, a keeper of accounts, and the head of the department. I have hazarded these hasty and crude ideas which occurred on contemplating your report. They may be the subject of future conversation and correction." (to Albert Gallatin, Apr. 1, 1802. ME 10:306)
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