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diff --git a/40591-0.txt b/40591-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec84a0b --- /dev/null +++ b/40591-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2461 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40591 *** + + The Riverside Biographical Series + + NUMBER 10 + + + + + ALEXANDER HAMILTON + + BY + + CHARLES A. CONANT + + + [Illustration: A Hamilton] + + + ALEXANDER HAMILTON + + BY + + CHARLES A. CONANT + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1901 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY CHARLES A. CONANT + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + _Published October, 1901_ + + + + +ALEXANDER HAMILTON + + + + +I + +YOUTH AND EARLY SERVICES + + +The life of Alexander Hamilton is an essential chapter in the story of +the formation of the American Union. Hamilton's work was of that +constructive sort which is vital for laying the foundations of new +states. Whether the Union would have been formed under the +Constitution and would have been consolidated into a powerful nation, +instead of a loose confederation of sovereign states, without the +great services of Hamilton, is one of those problems about which +speculation is futile. It is certain that the conditions of the time +presented a rare opportunity for such a man as Hamilton, and that +without some directing and organizing genius like his, the +consolidation of the Union must have been delayed, and have been +accomplished with much travail. + +The difference between the career of Hamilton in America and that of +the two greatest organizing minds of other countries--Cæsar and +Napoleon--marks the difference between Anglo-Saxon political ideals +and capacity for self-government and those of other races. Where the +organization of a strong government degenerated in Rome and France +into absolutism, it tended in America, under the directing genius of +Hamilton, to place in the hands of the people a more powerful +instrument for executing their own will. So powerful a weapon was thus +created that Hamilton himself became alarmed when it was seized by the +hands of Jefferson, Madison, and other democratic leaders as the +instrument of democratic ideas, and those long strides were taken in +the states and under the federal government which wiped out the +distinctions between classes, abolished the relations of church and +state, extended the suffrage, and made the government only the servant +of the popular will. + +The development of two principles marked the early history of the +Republic,--one, the growth of sentiment for the Union under the +inspiration of Hamilton and the Federalist party; the other, the +growth of the power of the masses, typified by the leadership of +Jefferson and the Democratic party. These two tendencies, seemingly +hostile in many of their aspects, waxed in strength together until +they became the united and guiding principles of a new political +order,--a nation of giant strength whose power rests upon the will of +all the people. It was the steady progress of these two principles in +the heart of the American people which in "the fullness of time" made +it possible for the Union to be preserved as a union of free men under +a free constitution. To Hamilton, the creator of the machinery of the +Union, and to John Marshall, the great Chief Justice, who interpreted +the Constitution as Hamilton would have had him do, in favor of the +powers of the Union, this result was largely due. + +If Cæsar, fighting the battles of Rome on the frontier of Germany, +and kept from party quarrels at home, and Napoleon, born outside of +France and free by his campaign in Egypt from the compromising +intrigues of Parisian politics, were preëminently fitted by these +accidents to transmute the spirit of revolution from chaos into order, +Hamilton stood in somewhat the same position in America. Born in the +little island of Nevis in the West Indies (January 11, 1757), he came +to the United States when his mind was already mature, in spite of his +fifteen years. He came without the local prejudices or state pride +which influenced so many of the Revolutionary leaders, and was +therefore peculiarly qualified to fasten his eyes steadfastly upon the +single end of the creation of a nation rather than the ascendency of +any single state. He was so free from local attachments that he even +hesitated at first on which side he should cast his lot,--whether with +the imperial government of Great Britain, which appealed strongly to +his love of system and organized power, or with the struggling +revolutionists, with their poor and undisciplined army and uncertain +future. The possibility of winning distinction in the service of Great +Britain must have attracted him, but the justice of the colonial cause +spoke more strongly to his sense of right and his well-ordered mind. + +The great services of Hamilton were nearly all performed before he was +forty years of age. His precocity was partly derived from his birth in +the tropics and partly, perhaps, from the unfortunate conditions of +his early life. A mystery hangs over his birth and parentage, which +repeated inquiries have failed to clear away. He is believed to have +been the son of James Hamilton, a Scottish merchant of Nevis, and a +lady of French Hugenot descent, the divorced wife of a Dane named +Lavine. But the history of his parents and their marriage is shrouded +in much obscurity. The father, although reduced to poverty, lived +nearly if not quite as long as his illustrious son, but the mother was +reported to have died while Hamilton was only a child, leaving the +memory of her beauty and charm in one of the chambers of his infant +mind. Hamilton sought in his later years to establish regular +communication with his father, and he had a brother in the West Indies +with whom he corresponded; but the fact that all these relatives +remained so much in the background gave some color to the slanders of +his enemies concerning his birth. + +To offset the disadvantages of birth, Hamilton had neither the +fascinating manners which go straight to the hearts of men, nor the +imposing personal presence which in the orator often invests trifling +platitudes with sonorous dignity. He was possessed of a light and +well-made frame, and was erect and dignified in bearing, but was much +below the average height. His friends were wont to call him "the +little lion," because of the vigor and dignity of his speech. He had +the advantage of a head finely shaped, large and symmetrical. His +complexion was fair, his cheeks were rosy, and in spite of a rather +large nose his face was considered handsome. His dark, deep-set eyes +were lighted in debate with a fire which controlled great audiences +and cowed his enemies. But it was chiefly the power of pure intellect +which gave him control over the minds of other men. There was nothing +mean or low in his character, but he had not a high opinion of the +average of humanity, and therefore lacked somewhat in that ready +sympathy with the minds of others which is so useful to politicians +and party leaders. + +Hamilton was early thrown upon his own resources. His father became a +bankrupt, and he was cared for by his mother's relatives. His +education was aided by the Rev. Hugh Knox, a Presbyterian clergyman, +with whom Hamilton kept up an affectionate correspondence in later +years. The boy was only thirteen years of age when he was placed in +the office of Nicholas Cruger, a West Indian merchant. Here his +self-reliance and methodical habits made him master of the business +and head of the establishment when his employer had occasion to be +away. His remarkable capacity, and his occasional writings for the +daily press, led to a determination by his relatives and friends to +send him to a wider field. He was accordingly supplied with funds and +sent to Boston, where he arrived in October, 1772, still less than +sixteen years of age. He was fortunately provided with some strong +letters of recommendation from Dr. Knox, and was soon at a grammar +school at Elizabethtown, N.J., where he made rapid progress. He +desired to enter Princeton, but his project of going through the +courses as rapidly as he could, without regard to the regular classes, +was in conflict with the rules. He therefore turned to King's College, +New York, now Columbia University, where he was able, with the aid of +a private tutor, to pursue his studies in the manner which he wished. + +The decision of Hamilton to take the side of the colonies in the +conflict with England was made early in 1774, partly as the result of +a visit to Boston. Among the well-to-do classes of New York, the +dominant feeling was in favor of Great Britain, and the control of the +Assembly was in the hands of the friends of the Crown. Hamilton found +Boston the hotbed of resistance to England, and listened attentively +to the reasoning by which the "strong prejudices on the ministerial +side," which he himself declares he had formed, gave way to "the +superior force of the arguments in favor of the colonial claims." The +opportunity soon came for him to make public proclamation of his +position. A great meeting was held in the "Fields"[1] (July 6, 1774), +to force the hand of the Tory Assembly in the matter of joining the +other colonies in calling a Congress. Hamilton attended, and after +listening to the speeches was so strongly impressed with what was left +unsaid that he worked his way to the platform and began an impassioned +argument for the colonial side. Below the normal stature and of +slender form, he looked even younger than his seventeen years, but was +recognized by the crowd as a collegian and received with great +enthusiasm. + +[Footnote 1: The "Fields" of that day occupied what is now City Hall +Park, then the upper limit of New York. King's College was in the +immediate neighborhood, the name still lingering in College Place.] + +Hamilton was soon at the forefront of the fight for civil liberty, +which was carried on by means of pamphlets and newspaper addresses. +His papers, which appeared without signature, showed so much ability +that they were attributed to the most eminent of the patriot leaders. +After the die was cast at Lexington for armed conflict, Hamilton early +in 1776 received the command of a company of artillery. Its thorough +discipline attracted the favorable notice of Greene and other leaders. +Greene introduced Hamilton to Washington, who had early occasion, in +the disastrous battle of Long Island, when Hamilton protected the rear +with great coolness and courage, to measure the mettle of his young +artillery officer. + +Washington on March 1, 1777, offered Hamilton the rank of +Lieutenant-Colonel on his staff. In this position Hamilton found +congenial occupation for his pen in the great mass of letters, +reports, and proclamations which issued from headquarters. These +communications, many of which still survive, while bearing the impress +of Washington's clear, directing mind, bear also the mark of the +skill and logic of the younger man. Hamilton rendered valuable service +after the surrender of Burgoyne, in persuading Gates to detach a part +of his forces to aid Washington. On this occasion, although he had in +his pocket a positive order from Washington, he displayed a tact and +diplomatic skill which were unusual in his dealings with men. It fell +to the lot of Hamilton to meet André while a prisoner in the hands of +the Americans, and his letters regarding the affair to Miss Schuyler, +who afterwards became his wife, are among the most interesting +contributions to this pathetic episode of Revolutionary history. + +Hamilton's quarrel with Washington, about which much has been written, +came after nearly four years' service over a trivial delay in obeying +a call from the General. Washington rebuked his aide for disrespect, +to which Hamilton hotly retorted, "I am not conscious of it, sir; but +since you have thought it, we part." Washington endeavored to prevent +the execution of his project, but Hamilton would not be reconciled +and returned to service in the line. He led his men with great +impetuosity upon one of the British redoubts at Yorktown, and carried +the position in ten minutes, with much more promptness than the +French, to whom the other redoubt had been assigned. + +While the war was still in progress Hamilton was looking ahead with +the constructive genius which afterwards found such wide opportunities +in the cabinet of Washington. He addressed a letter in 1780 to Duane, +a member of Congress, in which he made a remarkable analysis of the +defects of the Articles of Confederation, urged that Congress should +be clothed with complete sovereignty, and made suggestions regarding +its powers which were afterwards embodied to a large extent in the +Constitution. He addressed an anonymous letter to Robert Morris early +in the same year, treating of the financial affairs of the +confederacy. He discussed carefully the paper currency and the causes +of its depreciation, and proposed to restore soundness to the finances +by gradual contraction of the volume of paper, a tax in kind, and a +foreign loan, which was to form the basis of a national bank. When the +clumsiness and helplessness of the system of government by committees +was finally appreciated by the Continental Congress in 1781, and +several executive departments were established, Hamilton was suggested +by John Sullivan to Washington for head of the Treasury Department. +Washington replied that "few of his age have a more general knowledge, +and no one is more firmly engaged in the cause, or exceeds him in +probity and sterling virtue." Robert Morris was chosen for the +Treasury, but Hamilton opened a correspondence with him regarding the +work of the department, which established a firm friendship between +the older and younger man. + +Hamilton desired the unification of the debt and the creation of a +national bank, for the combined objects of cementing the Union and +putting the finances of the country upon a stable basis. "A national +debt," he wrote, "if it is not excessive, will be a national +blessing, a powerful cement of union, a necessity for keeping up +taxation, and a spur to industry." Whether all these benefits fall +within the economic effects of a debt may well be doubted, but the +second advantage assigned was undoubtedly one of the chief motives of +Hamilton in recommending its creation. The Bank of North America was +established by Morris upon a much more modest scale than was proposed +by Hamilton. The younger man, looking to the future needs of the +country and to the example of European banks, recommended an +institution with a capital of ten or fifteen millions, with authority +to establish branches, and with the sole right to issue paper currency +equal to the amount of its capital. He contemplated a close relation +between the bank and the government, and the taking up, under contract +with the United States, of all the paper issues of the Continental +Congress. + +Hamilton made a connection while still under twenty-four which fixed +his status as a citizen of New York, and proved of value to him in +many ways. While on his mission to Gates at Albany, he met Miss +Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of General Philip Schuyler, one of the +social as well as political leaders of the best element in New York. +The acquaintance with Miss Schuyler was renewed in the spring of 1780 +and ripened into an engagement, followed by their marriage on December +14 of that year. With the conclusion of the war, Hamilton was left +with nothing but his title to arrears of pay in the army, and with a +wife and child to support. He refused generous offers of assistance +from his father-in-law, applied himself for four months to the study +of the law, and in the summer of 1782 was admitted to the bar at +Albany. While waiting for clients he continued his studies on +financial and political questions and his vigorous arguments through +the public prints for a strong federal union. He declined several +offers of public place, but finally accepted an appointment from +Robert Morris (June, 1782) as continental receiver of taxes for New +York. This afforded him an opportunity of meeting the New York +legislature, which had been summoned in extra session at Poughkeepsie, +in July, to receive a report from a committee of Congress. + +Congress in May, 1782, had taken into consideration the desperate +condition of the finances of the country, and divided among four of +its members the duty of explaining the common danger of the states. It +was at the request of the delegation which went north that Governor +Clinton called an extra session, and a communication was submitted on +the necessity of providing for a vigorous prosecution of the war. +Hamilton went to Poughkeepsie to aid his father-in-law, General +Schuyler, and it was upon the motion of the latter that the Senate +resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the state of the +nation. Two days of deliberation were sufficient to produce a series +of resolutions, probably drafted by Hamilton, which were unanimously +adopted by the Senate and concurred in by the House. + +These resolutions set forth that recent experience afforded "the +strongest reason to apprehend from a continuance of the present +constitution of the continental government a subversion of public +credit" and danger to the safety and independence of the states. +Turning to practical remedies, it was pointed out that the source of +the public embarrassments was the want of sufficient power in +Congress, particularly the power of providing a revenue. The +legislature of New York, therefore, invited Congress "to recommend and +each state to adopt the measure of assembling a general convention of +the states especially authorized to revise and amend the +confederation, reserving a right to the respective legislatures to +ratify their determinations." These resolutions the government was +requested to transmit to Congress and to the executives of the other +states. Hamilton appeared before the legislature and discussed the +subject of revenue, and one of the results of his manifest interest in +the subject and his knowledge of finance was his selection by the +legislature as one of the members of Congress from New York. + +The impress of the organizing mind and far-sighted purposes of +Hamilton was felt during his brief service in Congress. He took his +seat from New York in November, 1782, and resigned in August, 1783. He +cast his influence from the beginning in favor of a strong executive +organization, and did his best to strengthen the heads of the recently +created departments of finance and foreign affairs. He was of great +service to Robert Morris, and almost carried the project of a general +duty on importations, which was finally defeated by the obstinacy of +Rhode Island. Such a measure, if carried out, would have afforded the +central government a permanent revenue. It would have greatly +mitigated the evils of the time, but would perhaps by that very fact +have postponed the more complete union of the states which was to come +under the Constitution of 1789. This was only one of the many projects +germinating in the fertile mind of Hamilton. In a letter to Washington +(March 17, 1783) he wrote:-- + +"We have made considerable progress in a plan to be recommended to +the several states for funding all the public debts, including those +of the army, which is certainly the only way to restore public credit +and enable us to continue the war by borrowing abroad, if it should be +necessary to continue it." + +That it might be necessary to continue the war Hamilton seriously +feared, in spite of the fact that the provisional treaty of peace with +Great Britain was then before Congress. A grave question had arisen +whether faith had been kept with France in the negotiation of this +treaty. Congress had resolved unanimously (October 4, 1782) that "they +will not enter into any discussion of overtures of pacification but in +_confidence_ and in _concert_ with His Most Christian Majesty," the +King of France. Adams and Jay, against the advice of Franklin, +negotiated secretly with Great Britain, and only the moderation of +Vergennes, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, prevented serious +friction between the allies. + +Hamilton, though far from being a partisan of France, believed in +acting towards her with the most scrupulous good faith. He advocated a +middle course between subserviency to Great Britain and implicit +confidence in the disinterestedness of France. He declared (March 18, +1783), when the peace preliminaries were considered, that it was "not +improbable that it had been the policy of France to procrastinate the +definite acknowledgment of our independence on the part of Great +Britain, in order to keep us more knit to herself, and until her own +interests could be negotiated." Notwithstanding this caution regarding +French purposes, he "disapproved highly of the conduct of our +ministers in not showing the preliminary articles to our ally before +they signed them, and still more so of their agreeing to the separate +article." His own view was expressed in some resolutions which he +offered, and which Congress adopted (May 2, 1783), asking a further +loan from the French King, "and that His Majesty might be informed +that Congress will consider his compliance in this instance as a new +and valuable proof of his friendship, peculiarly interesting in the +present conjuncture of the affairs of the United States." + + + + +II + +THE FIGHT FOR THE CONSTITUTION + + +Hamilton was not a conspicuous national figure during the four years +which elapsed between the termination of his term in Congress and his +appearance in the Federal Convention of 1787. He was working none the +less earnestly and persistently, however, in favor of a stronger +union. Movements towards this union took form almost simultaneously in +different parts of the country under the impulse of a common need. The +wise and thoughtful words of Washington, in his circular letter to the +governor of each state on surrendering the command of the army (June +8, 1783), sank into many hearts, and did much to soften local +prejudices against giving more power to the central government. The +State of Virginia in December, 1783, ceded her northwestern territory +to Congress, and granted a general impost. Significance was given to +the act by the policy of the governor in communicating it to the +executive authority of the other states, with the suggestion that they +do likewise. + +Jefferson was as cordial a supporter as Madison at that time of the +project of a federal union. As a member of Congress, he prepared a +plan for intercourse with the powers of Europe and the Barbary States, +in which he described "the United States as one nation upon the +principles of the federal constitution." Only two states--Rhode Island +and Connecticut--voted to substitute weaker words in describing the +union. It was voted by eight states to two (March 26, 1784) that in +treaties and in all cases arising under them, the United States formed +"one nation." The need for uniform rules for the regulation of +commerce on the Potomac and the creation of roads and canals led to a +number of conferences during the next two years between Virginia and +Maryland, in one of which Washington played the part of referee. The +legislature of Maryland finally took a step which shot a bright ray +of light through the darkness surrounding the prospects of a permanent +union. In a letter to the legislature of Virginia (December, 1785), it +proposed that commissioners from all the states should be invited to +meet and regulate the restrictions on commerce for the whole. Madison +in Virginia gave cordial welcome to the invitation. He had already +gone beyond the sentiment of his state in his zeal for union, but at +his instigation a meeting of delegates from the states was called by +Virginia at Annapolis, Md., for September, 1786. + +Hamilton snatched at the opportunity which this invitation presented. +Several of his friends were elected to the legislature of New York, +and made the appointment of delegates to Annapolis their paramount +object. In spite of much hostility, they succeeded in wresting +authority from the legislature for a commission of five. Hamilton and +Benson were the only two of these delegates who appeared at Annapolis. +They found only four other states represented there. It was +determined that the best that could be done by the little gathering +was to urge upon the states a general convention, to meet at +Philadelphia on the second Monday of the next May, "to consider the +situation of the United States, and devise such further provisions as +should appear necessary to render the constitution of the federal +government adequate to the exigencies of the Union." Hamilton was not +a member of the committee appointed to prepare the report, but it was +his draft which, with some modifications to meet the sensibilities of +the Virginians, was accepted and adopted. + +A path was now blazed in which those who favored a stronger union +could walk in harmony. Hamilton returned to New York with the +intention of exerting his whole strength in behalf of the convention. +He secured an election to the legislature, and at once took the lead +of the members opposed to the separatist policy of Governor Clinton. +He assailed the governor on the question of granting an impost to +Congress in a practicable form, but was beaten by the solid vote of +the party in power. He succeeded better with his resolution for the +appointment of five delegates to the convention at Philadelphia. The +Senate cut down the number to three, and two of them--Chief Justice +Robert Yates and John Lansing, Jr.--were resolute supporters of the +governor; but Hamilton carried the vital point that New York should be +represented in the Federal Convention, and he was himself one of the +delegates. It was not until late in February, 1787, that this action +was taken,--little more than three months before the meeting of the +convention,--and it was a few days later when formal approval was +given to the project by the Federal Congress. + +Hamilton, although one of the three delegates from New York to the +convention, was embarrassed throughout the proceedings by the open +hostility of his associates to any vigorous steps towards a strong +union. He had definite ideas and strong feelings, however, and could +not restrain himself from setting forth his views of what the new +government should be. When Dickinson proposed that the convention +should seek union through a revision of the old Articles of +Confederation, Hamilton took the floor (June 18, 1787) to show how +inadequate such a measure would be, and to set forth his own long +matured views. He spoke for six hours, reviewing the history of the +colonies before the Revolution, during its progress, and afterwards, +the steps which had been taken towards union, and the imperative +necessity which had been disclosed for a government possessing +complete powers within its fields of action. He urged that the +convention "adopt a solid plan without regard to temporary opinions." +He laid bare unsparingly the defects of the confederacy, and insisted +that the Articles of Confederation could not be amended with benefit +except in the most radical manner. He opposed strongly the creation of +a general government through a single body like Congress, because it +would be without checks. He continued:-- + +"The general government must not only have a strong soul, but strong +organs by which that soul is to operate. I despair that a republican +form of government can remove the difficulties; I would hold it, +however, unwise to change it. The best form of government, not +attainable by us, but the model to which we should approach as near as +possible, is the British constitution, praised by Necker as 'the only +government which unites public strength with individual security.' Its +house of lords is a most noble institution. It forms a permanent +barrier against every pernicious innovation, whether attempted on the +part of the crown or of the commons." + +Hamilton made little concealment of his belief that the new government +should not be exclusively republican. He said on June 26, 1787:-- + +"I acknowledge I do not think favorably of republican government; but +I address my remarks to those who do, in order to prevail on them to +tone their government as high as possible. I profess myself as zealous +an advocate for liberty as any man whatever; and trust I shall be as +willing a martyr to it, though I differ as to the form in which it is +most eligible. Real liberty is neither found in despotism nor in the +extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. Those who mean to +form a solid republic ought to proceed to the confines of another +government. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot +into a monarchy." + +In pursuance of these views, Hamilton urged that all branches of the +new government should originate in the action of the people rather +than of the states. In this respect he came closer to democracy than +some of his opponents, but he proposed to give strength and permanence +to the government by providing that the Senators and the executive +should hold office during good behavior. He contended that by making +the chief executive subject to impeachment, the term monarchy would +not be applicable to his office. Another step differing radically from +the Constitution as adopted, and showing the unswerving purpose of +Hamilton to give supremacy to the central government, was the proposal +that the executive of each state should be appointed by the general +government and have a negative on all state legislation. + +Hamilton had no expectation that his plan would be adopted. What he +sought was to key the temper of the delegates up to a pitch which +would bring them as nearly to his ideal of what the new government +should be as was possible under the circumstances of the times. His +long speech was attentively listened to, and even Yates reported that +it "was praised by everybody, but supported by none." Notwithstanding +these criticisms, the Constitution, as it was finally adopted, +embodied many of the features of the project which was outlined by +Hamilton. A legislative body of two houses, the choice of the +executive by electors, a veto for the executive over legislative acts, +the grant of the treaty-making power to the executive and the Senate, +the confirmation of appointments by the Senate, the creation of a +federal judiciary, and the provision that state laws in conflict with +the Constitution should be void; these and many other features of the +existing Constitution were parts of the plan of Hamilton. + +It was not the open preference which Hamilton expressed for the +British form of government which caused distrust of his plan. This was +neither startling nor offensive to the great majority of those who +heard him. Representative government under a republican head had not +then been tried upon a large scale in any part of the world. Such +small republics as existed in ancient times and in Italy had been +confined within narrow areas, and had in many cases presented examples +of factional strife which were far from encouraging to the friends of +liberty. The Americans, in revolting against Great Britain, revolted +only against what they considered the false interpretation given by +King George to the guarantees of the English constitution, wrested by +their ancestors from King John and his successors and consecrated by +the Revolution of 1688. It was far from the thoughts of the most +extreme, with perhaps an occasional personal exception, to cut loose +from the traditions of English liberty, tear down the ancient +structure, and build from the ground up, as was done a few years +later in France by the maddened victims of the oppression of the +nobles. + +The sentiment most strongly opposed to the views of Hamilton was not +democratic sentiment, in the strictest sense of the word, but devotion +to local self-government. Hamilton was democratic enough to insist, in +the discussion of the manner of choosing members of the House of +Representatives, "It is essential to the democratic rights of the +community that the first branch be directly elected by the people." +What he desired was strength at the centre of authority, from whatever +source that authority was derived. Coming from a little West Indian +island where the traditions of parliamentary government had little +footing, he attached no such importance as most of his associates to +the reserved rights of the states. He was the man for the hour as the +champion of a strong government, but it would not have been fortunate +in some respects if his views had been adopted in their extreme form. +There never was the slightest chance, as he doubtless knew, that they +would be adopted by the descendants of English freemen who had founded +self-governing states in accord with their own principles on the +western shores of the Atlantic. + +Having delivered a single strong speech, which pointed the way towards +a strong union, Hamilton remained comparatively in the background +during the remainder of the convention. It was inevitable, however, +that he should make himself heard upon the proposal that the new +government should have power "to emit bills on the credit of the +United States." The power to issue unfunded paper had received his +censure four years before, as one of the defects of the existing +Articles of Confederation. He now opposed in the most emphatic manner +the grant of authority to the new government to issue paper money in +the form of its own notes, and to force them into circulation as a +substitute for gold and silver coin. When Gouverneur Morris moved to +strike out the power to issue bills on the credit of the United States +and was supported by Madison, it was supposed that, if the motion +prevailed, the power to issue government paper money and make it a +legal tender for debts was guarded against for all time. The power was +stricken out of the Constitution by a vote of nine states against two. +Madison decided the vote of Virginia, and declared that "the pretext +for a paper currency, and particularly for making the bills a tender, +either for public or private debts, was cut off." It is not surprising +that Mr. Bancroft, the jealous friend of the Constitution, in spite of +the opening of the door at a later period by the Supreme Court of the +United States, declared: + +"This is the interpretation of the clause, made at the time of its +adoption alike by its authors and by its opponents, accepted by all +the statesmen of that age, not open to dispute because too clear for +argument, and never disputed so long as any one man who took part in +framing the Constitution remained alive." + +Hamilton spoke on a few other occasions on subsidiary points connected +with the draft of the Constitution, but it was only at the close of +the convention that he again came resolutely to the front to exert a +strong influence over his associates. When the final draft of the new +frame of government had been completed, several delegates showed +symptoms of refusing to affix their signatures. The great weight of +Franklin was thrown into the scale to urge that the delegates go back +to the people presenting the semblance of harmony instead of +divisions. "I consent to this Constitution," he declared, "because I +expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best." +Washington sought also to secure unanimity, and Hamilton declared:-- + +"I am anxious that every member should sign. A few by refusing may do +infinite mischief. No man's ideas are more remote from the plan than +my own are known to be; but is it possible to deliberate between +anarchy and convulsion on the one side, and the chance of good to be +expected from the plan on the other?" + +Such words had some weight, but not enough to secure unanimity. All +the states voted for the Constitution, but several delegates went on +record against it, and Hamilton's two associates from New York were +absent. It was this alone which saved New York from being recorded +against the Constitution. Hamilton did not shrink from putting down +his signature as the representative of his state. It was he who, in a +bold, plain hand, inscribed on the great sheet of parchment the name +of each state, as the delegations came forward, one after another, in +geographical order and affixed their signatures to the precious +document which was to found the government of the United States. + +Hamilton returned to New York determined to use his utmost powers to +secure the ratification of the Constitution as the best attainable +means of averting the dangers of disunion. Although cordially +supported by John Jay and Edward Livingston, Hamilton, in the fight +for ratification in New York, was the natural leader. He found arrayed +against him the whole influence of Governor Clinton and the dominant +party in New York politics. Clinton was not absolutely opposed to +union, but he attached to it so many reservations that for practical +purposes he was an opponent of the new Constitution. The battle over +ratification began on the question of the choice of delegates to the +state convention. It was in this field that Hamilton fought the great +fight with his pen which has left to posterity the fine exposition of +the Constitution known as "The Federalist." A society was formed in +the city of New York to resist the adoption of the Constitution, and +articles soon began to appear in the local press criticising and +opposing it. + +Preparing a vigorous letter, while gliding down the Hudson, in reply +to some of the first points of the opposition, Hamilton soon extended +the project into a series of strong papers, which appeared twice a +week for twenty weeks over the signature of "Publius." He secured the +aid of Madison and Jay, who wrote some of the papers, but the project +was Hamilton's, the majority of the papers were written by him, and +to him has been justly given the credit of the well-knit and powerful +arguments afterwards printed under the title of "The Federalist." + +Taking up point by point the provisions of the new Constitution, +Hamilton, by skillful argument, drawn from the closest abstract +reasoning, the recent experience of the states, and the history of +foreign countries, sought to show that the new Constitution was based +upon sound principles of government, that it was well calculated to +carry out these principles, and that its acceptance was practically +the only course open to the American people to insure for themselves +the benefits of liberty, prosperity, and peace. "The Federalist," +although a purely political argument, has survived the occasion which +called it forth, as one of the master documents of political writing. +That it has a distinct place in literature is admitted by so severe a +critic as Professor Barrett Wendell in his recent "Literary History of +America." It is worth while quoting his acute literary judgment of its +merits:-- + +"As a series of formal essays, the 'Federalist' groups itself roughly +with the 'Tatler,' the 'Spectator,' and those numerous descendants of +theirs which fill the literary records of eighteenth century England. +It differs, however, from all these, in both substance and purpose. +The 'Tatler,' the 'Spectator,' and their successors dealt with +superficial matters in a spirit of literary amenity: the 'Federalist' +deals in an argumentative spirit as earnest as that of any Puritan +divine with political principles paramount in our history; and it is +so wisely thoughtful that one may almost declare it the permanent +basis of sound thinking concerning American constitutional law. Like +all the educated writing of the eighteenth century, too, it is phrased +with a rhythmical balance and urbane polish which give it claim to +literary distinction." + +While the written arguments of Hamilton in "The Federalist" have +survived for a hundred years and been consulted by foreign students in +the formation of new constitutions, a more severe task was imposed +upon him at the meeting of the state convention called to consider the +report of the convention at Philadelphia. It was in some respects the +hardest task ever set with any hope of success before a parliamentary +leader. Indeed, to the superficial observer there would have seemed to +be no hope of success, when in the elections to the state convention +the supporters of Governor Clinton chose forty-six delegates and left +on the side of Hamilton only nineteen of the sixty-five members. But +this statement of the case gives a somewhat darker color to the +situation than the real facts. There was a strong and growing body of +public sentiment for the Constitution in New York city and the +counties along the Hudson, which even led to the suggestion that they +should join the Union in any event and leave the northern counties to +shift for themselves. It was generally recognized, moreover, that +however strong the objections were to the Constitution, the choice lay +practically between this Constitution and none,--between the proposed +government and anarchy. + +So strong was the sentiment that the Constitution must be accepted in +some form, that its opponents in the state convention did not venture +upon immediate rejection. Fortunately, their course in fighting for +delay only tended to make it clearer that New York would stand alone +if she failed to ratify. While the dream of independent sovereignty, +or the leadership in a federation which should dictate terms to the +surrounding states, was not without its attractions to the more +ambitious of the opposition leaders, there was a darker side to the +proposition which was much less attractive. Independence for New York +meant a heavy burden of taxation for a separate army and navy, for +guarding long frontiers on the east, north, and south, for supporting +an extensive customs service along the same frontiers, for maintaining +ministers at foreign courts and consuls in the leading cities of the +world, and for meeting all the other expenses of a sovereign nation. + +It was fortunate for the state and the country that the leader of the +opposition to the Constitution in the New York convention was a man of +a high order of ability, whose mind was open in an unusual degree to +the influence of logical reasoning. This man was Melancthon Smith, who +is accorded by Chancellor Kent, the great authority on American law, +the credit of being noted "for his love of reading, tenacious memory, +powerful intellect, and for the metaphysical and logical discussions +of which he was a master." It is as much to his credit as that of +Hamilton that he finally admitted that he had been convinced by +Hamilton, and that he should vote for the Constitution. This result +was only reached, however, after a long and sometimes acrimonious +struggle, in which Hamilton was on his feet day after day explaining +and defending each separate clause of the Constitution,--not only in +its real meaning, but against all the distorted constructions put upon +it by the most acute and jealous of critics. + +But events had been fighting with Hamilton. State after state had +ratified the new document, and news of their action had reached New +York. Nine states, the number necessary to put the Constitution in +force, were made up by the ratification of New Hampshire (June 21, +1788). Still New York hesitated, and Hamilton wrote to Madison: "Our +chance of success depends upon you. Symptoms of relaxation in some of +the leaders authorize a gleam of hope if you do well, but certainly I +think not otherwise." Virginia justified his hopes by a majority of 89 +against 79 for ratification (June 25, 1788). The news reached New York +on July 3. The opposition there, though showing signs of relenting, +was still stubborn. Conditional ratification, with a long string of +amendments, was first proposed. Jay firmly insisted that the word +"conditional" must be erased. Finally, on July 11, he proposed +unconditional ratification. Melancthon Smith then proposed +ratification with the right to withdraw if the amendments should not +be accepted. Hamilton exposed the folly of such a project in a +brilliant speech, which led Smith to admit that conditional +ratification was an absurdity. Other similar proposals were brought +forward, but they were evidently equivalent to rejection by +indirection, which would have left New York out of the new Union. + +Finally, Samuel Jones, another broad-minded member of the opposition, +proposed ratification without conditions, but "in full confidence" +that Congress would adopt all needed amendments. With the support of +Smith, this form of ratification was carried by the slender majority +of three votes (July 26, 1788). By this narrow margin it was decided +that New York should form a part of the Union, and that the great +experiment in representative government should not begin with the two +halves of the country separated by a hostile power, commanding the +greatest seaport of the colonies. + +Hamilton thus played an important part in winning the first great +battle for the Constitution. Ratification was only one of many steps +which remained to be taken before the new government was in working +order. Hamilton hurried back to the Federal Congress, and carried an +ordinance fixing the dates and the place for putting the new +government in operation. When he returned to New York, he was beaten +for reëlection to Congress, and Governor Clinton and his party +retained such a firm grip upon the legislature that a deadlock +occurred between the Federalist House and the opposition Senate. New +York was unrepresented in the first electoral college, and had no +senators at the meeting of the First Congress. The state elections +which followed resulted in defeat for the Federalists in the election +of the governor, but they carried the legislature and elected two +senators,--General Schuyler and Rufus King. King had recently come +from Massachusetts, and Hamilton's insistence that he should be chosen +caused a breach with the Livingstons, which contributed to the defeat +of Schuyler two years later and the election of Aaron Burr. Hamilton's +course in this matter was one of many cases in which he showed that +he was not an astute politician, nor an adept at dealing with men. His +highest qualities were those more distinctly intellectual, which led +him to drive straight towards a desired object, with little patience +for smaller men or the obstacles which stood in his way. + + + + +III + +ESTABLISHING THE PUBLIC CREDIT + + +The great work of Hamilton, which was to stamp his name forever upon +American history and our frame of government, was yet before him. +Washington was inaugurated in April, 1789, but it was not until +September 2 that an act passed Congress establishing the Treasury +Department. Hamilton was the selection of Washington for the new post. +It was a selection so well approved by all who were familiar with +Hamilton's great abilities as an organizer and financier that the +nomination was confirmed on the day that it reached the Senate. The +studies of many years, the programme which had been outlined in +letters to Morris and in the newspapers, were now to bear fruit under +the directing genius of Hamilton. Only ten days passed after his +appointment before Congress requested him to prepare a report upon +the public credit. Then came calls for reports on the collection and +management of the revenue; estimates of receipts and expenditures; the +regulation of the currency; the navigation laws; the post-office, and +the public lands. Money had to be found at once for the pressing needs +of the new government before the more elaborate projects of the young +minister of finance could be put in operation. But Hamilton did not +delay long even for the more important and permanent work. When +Congress met in January, he submitted his celebrated report "On Public +Credit," which laid the corner-stone of American finance under the +Constitution. + +This report of Hamilton's on the public credit has long stood out as +one of the master state papers of American history. Read to-day in the +light of the economic progress of more than a century, its conclusions +are not entirely novel, but are in the main clear and sound. To obtain +a proper perspective regarding their value, the mind should be +projected back to the beginning of 1790, when political economy as a +science had barely been born, and the work of Adam Smith, although +about fourteen years old, was probably known to but few in America. +Many public men of to-day with the proper preliminary training might +evolve as sound a report as that of Hamilton, but no ordinary man +could have done it a hundred and ten years ago, and few men could do +it to-day with the force of diction, precision and directness of +statement, the grasp of principles, and the mastery of detail which +marked the work of Hamilton. + +He seemed to gather in his hands all the tangled threads of the +disordered finances of the Continental Congress and of the states and +show how they could be woven into a band of strength and symmetry, +holding together by the motive of enlightened self-interest all the +parts of the new Union. He proposed to plant the public credit upon a +firm foundation, satisfy the public creditors, and put the nation on +the high road to industrial and financial progress. The difficulties +which Hamilton confronted were not merely a bankrupt Treasury and a +loose system of finance under the federal government, but large +expenditures by the states for carrying on the Revolutionary War, for +which reimbursement was demanded by the states which had spent the +most and was opposed by those which had spent the least. Hamilton +endeavored to show that all would gain by the assumption of these +debts by the federal government. Although a thinker rather than a +tactician, he was shrewd enough to make an appeal early in his report +to all men engaged in industry by pointing out the importance of +public credit upon the volume and profits of private business. He +endeavored first to make clear the benefit to any government of a +sound fiscal system. He said upon this point:-- + +"As, on the one hand, the necessity for borrowing in particular +emergencies cannot be doubted, so, on the other, it is equally evident +that to be able to borrow upon good terms, it is essential that the +credit of a nation should be well established. For, when the credit of +a country is in any degree questionable, it never fails to give an +extravagant premium, in one shape or another, upon all the loans it +has occasion to make. Nor does the evil end here; the same +disadvantage must be sustained upon whatever is to be bought on terms +of future payment. From this constant necessity of borrowing and +buying dear, it is easy to conceive how immensely the expenses of a +nation, in the course of time, will be augmented by an unsound state +of the public credit." + +Taking up the demonstration how closely the public credit is linked +with the fortune of the individual, Hamilton points out that public +securities are a part of the medium of exchange, that sound credit +will extend trade by preventing the export of money, and that +agriculture and manufactures will be promoted because "more capital +can be commanded to be employed in both," and that the interest of +money will be lowered. + +Hamilton took up and punctured in his report several fallacies +regarding the treatment of the debt which had obtained lodgment in the +public mind and threatened to influence the action of Congress. One +of these was that a distinction should be made between those holders +of the debt to whom it was originally issued and those who had +acquired it by purchase. As the latter holders had bought the debt in +some cases at a mere fraction of its face value and for speculative +purposes, the specious argument was made that they were entitled in +the settlement with the government only to what they had paid the +original holders. Hamilton set himself to dissipate this prejudice by +showing that the man who had been willing to purchase the public debt +might be quite as patriotic as the man who had parted with it for a +price. He suggested that if the debt was thus purchased in the +confidence that it would rise to par, the act was a proof of the +patriotism of the purchaser, and it would be a sorry return for this +confidence to make it a reason for discrimination against him. + +But much more important from the public point of view, he pointed out, +was the sanctity of contracts guaranteed by the new Constitution, and +absolutely required to give a stable character to the securities of +the government. If the government were to discriminate between the +original holders of the debt and other holders, he made it clear that +a degree of discredit would be cast on all the obligations of the +United States, no matter in whose hands they were found, which would +tend to defeat the end and aim of all his measures,--the restoration +of public credit. Upon this point he said:-- + +"The nature of the contract, in its origin, is, that the public will +pay the sum expressed in the security, to the first holder or his +assignee. The intent in making the security assignable is, that the +proprietor may be able to make use of his property, by selling it for +as much as it may be worth in the market, and that the buyer may be +safe in the purchase. + +"Every buyer, therefore, stands exactly in the place of the seller, +has the same right with him to the identical sum expressed in the +security, and having acquired that right, by fair purchase, and in +conformity to the original agreement and intention of the government, +his claim cannot be disputed without manifest injustice. + + * * * * * + +"The impolicy of a discrimination results from two considerations: +one, that it proceeds upon a principle destructive of that quality of +the public debt, or the stock of the nation, which is essential to its +capacity for answering the purposes of money, that is, the security of +transfer; the other, that, as well on this account as because it +includes a breach of faith, it renders property in the funds less +valuable, consequently induces lenders to demand a higher premium for +what they lend, and produces every other inconvenience of a bad state +of public credit." + +One of the most serious obstacles which confronted Hamilton in +carrying out his financial policy was the opposition to the assumption +by the new federal government of the debts of the several states +incurred in the prosecution of the war. The states which had been +remiss in paying their quota for the general expenses and those which +had not been called upon to pay much for local defense did not see +why a burden should be imposed upon them, even in equitable proportion +with the other states, for the purpose of relieving those states which +had been prompt with their payments or had been compelled to spend +freely for the protection of their own boundaries and people. This +prejudice Hamilton faced with the same clear vision and resolute +purpose as that against providing for the debt of the Union. He set +forth at the outset that if these debts were to be paid at all, +whether by the states or by the Union, "it will follow that no greater +revenues will be required, whether that provision be made wholly by +the United States, or partly by the states separately." He pointed out +that the control of the entire matter by the federal government would +secure uniformity of treatment for the public creditors, would prevent +competition between the Union and the states for the sources of the +revenue, which otherwise might cause collision and confusion, and +would secure a distribution of taxation more just to industry in all +the states. The assumption of the state debts, moreover, he insisted +was vital to the credit of the Union. Upon this head, and upon the +equity of charging to the Union of the states the debts which had been +incurred for the benefit of all, Hamilton observed:-- + +"Should the state creditors stand upon a less eligible footing than +the others, it is unnatural to expect they would see with pleasure a +provision for them. The influence which their dissatisfaction might +have could not but operate injuriously, both for the creditors and the +credit of the United States. Hence it is even the interest of the +creditors of the Union, that those of the individual states should be +comprehended in a general provision. Any attempt to secure to the +former either exclusive or peculiar advantages would materially hazard +their interests. Neither would it be just that one class of the public +creditors should be more favored than the other. The objects for which +both descriptions of the debt were contracted are in the main the +same. Indeed, a great part of the particular debts of the states has +arisen from assumptions by them on account of the Union. And it is +most equitable, that there should be the same measure of retribution +for all. + + * * * * * + +"The general principle of it seems to be equitable, for it appears +difficult to conceive a good reason why the expenses for the +particular defense of a part, in a common war, should not be a common +charge, as well as those incurred professedly for the general defense. +The defense of each part is that of the whole, and unless all the +expenditures are brought into a common mass, the tendency must be to +add to the calamities suffered by being the most exposed to the +ravages of war, an increase of burthens." + +Hamilton found the public debt of the Union to be $54,124,464.56. This +would not be a formidable debt to-day, even with full allowance for +the difference in population, but it was formidable for that time +because of the comparative poverty of the country, and the scanty +resources for paying it. The great increase in the productive power +of man in our time, by means of machinery, improved means of +communication, and other devices for saving labor and increasing its +efficiency, makes it easy for prosperous nations to bear taxation +without feeling the burden which would have paralyzed industry and +arrested national progress a century ago. The United States in 1790 +were not far beyond the primitive condition in which the entire sum of +production is required for the necessaries of existence, and little is +left for the luxuries of life and of state enterprise. + +The total of the debt, as computed by Hamilton, was made up by adding +the foreign debt, $10,070,307, with arrears of interest amounting to +$1,640,071.62, to the principal of the domestic debt, $27,383,917.74, +with arrears of interest amounting to $13,030,168.20, and estimating +the unliquidated debt at $2,000,000. The amount of the state debts he +was not able to ascertain with precision, but estimated at about +$25,000,000. This made the total debt to be dealt with something more +than $75,000,000. The annual interest required at the rates provided +in the contract would amount to $542,599.66 on the foreign debt, and +$4,044,845.15 on the domestic debt, including that of the states, +making a total of $4,587,444.81. While urging the most conscientious +fulfillment of obligations, Hamilton admitted that this demand would +require the extension of taxation to a degree and to objects which the +true interests of the public creditors themselves forbade. "It is +therefore to be hoped," he said, "and even to be expected, that they +will cheerfully concur in such modifications of their claims, on fair +and equitable principles, as will facilitate to the government an +arrangement substantial, durable, and satisfactory to the community." + +This arrangement he did not propose to reach by repudiating any +portion of the debt. He proposed to reduce the rate of interest, in +course of time, in accordance with the decline in the rate for the +rental of capital abroad, but to those holders of the debt who +desired settlement in full at the old rates of interest, he made +liberal offers. A number of optional plans for accepting funds at +different rates of interest for different terms were presented, which +it is not necessary to set forth in detail. The statement of the first +two will give an idea of their general character:-- + +"First, That, for every hundred dollars subscribed, payable in the +debt, (as well interest as principal,) the subscriber be entitled, at +his option, either to have two-thirds funded at an annuity or yearly +interest of six per cent., redeemable at the pleasure of the +government, by payment of the principal, and to receive the other +third in lands in the western territory, at the rate of twenty cents +per acre. Or, to have the whole sum funded at an annuity or yearly +interest of four per cent, irredeemable by any payment exceeding five +dollars per annum, on account both of principal and interest, and to +receive, as a compensation for the reduction of interest, fifteen +dollars and eighty cents, payable in lands, as in the preceding +case." + +Hamilton thus reserved the right to redeem the debt at the pleasure of +the government, when new securities could be floated at reduced rates. +This was in accordance with the enlightened policy of governments +before and since in availing themselves of the increase of capital and +the improved condition of the public credit. The holder of the public +funds could find no fault if he received back his principal, while an +attractive investment at current rates of return upon capital would be +offered to new investors in the form of funds at a reduced rate of +interest, if such new funds were not acceptable to the old holders of +the debt. + +The proposal for using the public lands in part settlement of the debt +was a happy device for employing a resource of immense value to the +country, and promoting early settlement of the great areas of +uncultivated land which became the property of the Union. It was in +pursuance of this comprehensive policy that Connecticut, Virginia, +and other states had ceded to Congress, even before the adoption of +the Constitution, their indefinite claims to the great stretches of +country between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi. + + + + +IV + +CONGRESS SUSTAINS HAMILTON + + +The plans of Hamilton having been formulated, it remained to be +determined whether they should be adopted by the lawmaking power or +should remain a splendid but abortive monument to the constructive +skill of their author. Vigorous opposition was expected by Hamilton to +the measures which he proposed. He had endeavored to meet and disarm +such opposition as far as possible in the careful and illuminating +language of his report, but it soon became evident that against nearly +all parts of it a bitter and persistent battle would be waged. The +owners of capital and the commercial element were represented in the +Northern and Eastern States rather than in the South, and the +representatives of the former states strongly supported from the first +the entire policy of the Secretary of the Treasury. Rumors were +already abroad that something was to be done to restore the national +credit, but it was not until the reading of Hamilton's report in the +House (January 14, 1790) that the full scope of his plans was made +manifest. + +The effect of the report was so favorable upon the public credit as to +forge weapons for its enemies. This came about through the sudden rise +in the public funds, and the promptness with which speculators bought +them up from holders who were ignorant of their value. Funds which +would have been gladly disposed of at three shillings to the pound, or +fifteen per cent. of their face value, at any time within the previous +three years, rose before noon the next day fifty per cent. of their +quoted price. It was not yet certain that the project would be adopted +by Congress, but shrewd men were willing to discount the future in +much the same manner that brokers in Wall Street do at the present +time. The absence of a well-organized stock market, with the +ramifications of telegraphic quotations throughout the Union, put in +the hands of the more daring of these speculators an opportunity to +avail themselves of the ignorance of others to an extent which would +not be possible to-day. Agents were soon scouring the country, buying +up the certificates of the debt in all its varied forms, before the +news of Hamilton's great report had reached the humble holders, some +of whom were old soldiers or quiet farmers who had been compelled to +furnish supplies for the army. Jefferson says in his Anas:-- + +"Couriers and relay horses by land, and swift-sailing pilot-boats by +sea, were flying in all directions. Active partners and agents were +associated and employed in every state, town, and county, and the +paper bought up at five shillings, and even as low as two shillings in +the pound, before the holder knew that Congress had already provided +for its redemption at par." + +This sudden and remarkable effect of Hamilton's recommendations put +weapons in the hands of the enemies of the project, because it seemed +to give force to their argument that a distinction should be made +between those to whom the debt was originally issued at par and the +new holders who had obtained it at a discount. Long and bitter were +the debates in the House over this and other branches of Hamilton's +project. But it was so obvious that a distinction between the holders +of the debt would run directly counter to its character as negotiable +paper, and would be almost impossible of just execution, that the +friends of the funding project easily had the best of the argument. +Madison, although inclined to oppose Hamilton, was forced to admit +that the debt must be funded at par without discrimination. He brought +forward a project to pay the original holders the difference between +par and the price at which they had sold, and to pay to the present +holders only what they had paid for the securities. This was shown to +be so impracticable that only thirteen votes were given for it in a +House of forty-nine members voting. The advocates of the entire +funding project carried it in committee of the whole (March 9, 1790) +by a vote of 31 to 26. + +The debates had so strengthened the position of Hamilton that the +wisdom of funding the debt of the Union at par was now generally +admitted. His opponents and those who feared too great a concentration +of power in the capitalist class and the central government made their +stand on the proposal to assume the state debts. When the resolution +reported by the committee of the whole was taken up in the House on +March 29, several representatives from North Carolina appeared in the +House and swelled the ranks of the opposition. North Carolina had been +late in accepting the Constitution, and her members had not been +present on previous votes. When, therefore, a motion to recommit the +financial projects was made, it was carried by a vote of 29 to 27. The +advocates of assumption were so indignant, and so convinced that one +part of the project was as vital as the other, that they voted to +recommit the original funding resolution. Further debate took place, +but without shaking the firmness of the opposition to the assumption +of the state debts. The project was rejected in committee (April 12) +by a vote of 31 to 29. + +The situation was a grave one. Hamilton felt that the future of the +Union was at stake. If his projects were not adopted substantially as +a whole, the new government would be without credit and the work of +the Convention of 1789 would be in vain. The government at Washington +would be as helpless as the Continental Congress and its committees +had been. This opinion was shared by all those who favored a vigorous +central government, and practically by all the members of the party in +Congress which was forming in support of the measures of Hamilton and +looking to him as their leader. While casting about for some means for +meeting the emergency, Hamilton fell upon a plan which represents one +of the few cases in which he had recourse to diplomacy in his public +career. The question of the location of the national capital had been +for some time pending in Congress. It had already become involved with +the assumption of the state debts. A strong bid had been made by the +opponents of assumption for the five votes of Pennsylvania by the +offer to locate the capital for fifteen years at Philadelphia. + +The importance of having Congress and its officials in a given city +represented more at that time, in spite of the small size of the body +and the relative insignificance of the interests before it, than would +be the case to-day with either of the great commercial cities of New +York, Boston, or Philadelphia. Local interests played the same part +then as now in political man[oe]uvring, and possession of the capital +looked larger in the eyes of some members than the financial policy of +the Union. In the sarcastic language of Professor McMaster, "The state +debts might remain unpaid, the credit of the nation might fall, but +come what might, the patronage of Congress must be drawn from New York +and distributed among the grog-shops and taverns of Philadelphia." + +Hamilton took advantage of this situation to save assumption and to +fix the financial policy of the United States. The Senate had +rejected the proposal to establish the capital at Philadelphia, and +when the project came back to the House, Baltimore was substituted by +a majority of two. The Pennsylvanians and their friends in the Senate +retaliated by mutilating the funding bill and daring the +assumptionists to reject it. The latter held to their position and +rejected the bill, 35 to 23. It was while matters were in this acute +stage, while threats were made on behalf of the North that the Union +would be broken up if assumption were not carried, that Hamilton one +day in front of the President's house met Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson +had recently returned from France to assume the position of Secretary +of State. What followed is best told in Jefferson's own words, because +he afterwards claimed that he had been "duped" by Hamilton and acted +without knowledge of the effect of what he was doing. Jefferson's +account of the matter is as follows:-- + +"As I was going to the President's one day, I met him (Hamilton) in +the street. He walked me backwards and forwards before the +President's door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper +into which the legislature had been wrought; the disgust of those who +were called the creditor states: the danger of the _secession_ of +their members, and the separation of the states. He observed that the +members of the administration ought to act in concert; that though +this question was not of my department, yet a common duty should make +it a common concern; that the President was the centre on which all +administrative questions ultimately rested, and that all of us should +rally around him, and support, with joint efforts, measures approved +by him; and that the question having been lost by a small majority +only, it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment and +discretion of some of my friends might effect a change in the vote, +and the machine of government, now suspended, might be again set into +motion. I told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject; +that not having yet informed myself of the system of finance adopted, +I knew not how far this was a necessary sequence; that undoubtedly, if +its rejection endangered a dissolution of our Union at this incipient +stage, I should deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to +avert which all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. I +proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next day, and I would +invite another friend or two, bring them into conference together, and +I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together +coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a +compromise which was to save the Union. The discussion took place. I +could take no part in it but an exhortatory one, because I was a +stranger to the circumstances which should govern it. But it was +finally agreed, that whatever importance had been attached to the +rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the Union and of +concord among the states was more important, and that, therefore, it +would be better that the vote of rejection should be rescinded, to +effect which some members should change their votes. But it was +observed that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern +States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten +it a little to them. There had been projects to fix the seat of +government either at Philadelphia or at Georgetown on the Potomac; and +it was thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and to +Georgetown permanently afterwards, this might, as an anodyne, calm in +some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure +alone. Some two of the Potomac members (White and Lee, but White with +a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive) agreed to change their +votes, and Hamilton undertook to carry the other point. In doing this, +the influence he had established over the eastern members, with the +agency of Robert Morris with those of the Middle States, effected his +side of the engagement." + +Hamilton had little of the state pride which influenced the men of +Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, or of any other state who had +grown up on the soil won by their English ancestors by their blood or +the sweat of their brows. To him the question of the location of the +capital seemed insignificant in comparison with the foundation of the +Union upon the rock of a comprehensive financial policy. It is +significant of the commanding influence which the young secretary had +acquired, and the well-knit party which was gathering around him, that +he had no difficulty in carrying his part of the programme for seating +the capital eventually on the banks of the Potomac. The bill to remove +the capital was passed on July 9, 1790, by a majority of three, and +the assumption of the state debts was carried soon after. The form of +the assumption differed somewhat from the proposal of Hamilton, but it +accomplished the result at which he aimed. A specific sum, +$21,500,000, was assumed by the government and distributed among the +states in set proportions. The project passed the Senate July 22, by a +vote of 14 to 12, and the House on July 24, by a vote of 34 to 28. A +great step was thus taken in the consolidation of the Union, and +notice was given to the world that the United States proposed to pay +their debts and fulfill with scrupulous honor their financial +obligations. + + + + +V + +STRENGTHENING THE BONDS OF UNION + + +The funding of the debt was only one of several parts of the policy of +Hamilton for putting the new government upon a solvent and firm basis. +The session of Congress which began in December, 1790, witnessed the +presentation of his report in favor of a national bank. This report, +like that on the debt, showed careful study of the subject in its +theoretical as well as practical aspects. Hamilton referred in opening +to the successful operation of public banks in Italy, Germany, +Holland, England, and France. He then went on to point out some of +their specific advantages in concentrating capital and permitting the +easy transfer of credit. He declared that such a bank would afford +"greater facility to the government, in obtaining pecuniary aid, +especially in sudden emergencies." It would also facilitate the +payment of taxes, by enabling tax-payers to borrow from the bank and +by the aid which it would give in the transfer of funds. He did not +shrink from declaring that the country would benefit if foreigners +invested in the bank shares, since this would bring so much additional +capital into the United States. Hamilton then pointed out the vital +distinction between government paper issues and bank paper. He laid +down thus the fundamental principle of a well-regulated bank-note +currency:-- + +"Among other material differences between a paper currency, issued by +the mere authority of government, and one issued by a bank, payable in +coin, is this: That, in the first case, there is no standard to which +an appeal can be made, as to the quantity which will only satisfy, or +which will surcharge the circulation: in the last, that standard +results from the demand. If more should be issued than is necessary, +it will return upon the bank. Its emissions, as elsewhere intimated, +must always be in a compound ratio to the fund and the demand: whence +it is evident, that there is a limitation in the nature of the thing; +while the discretion of the government is the only measure of the +extent of the emissions, by its own authority." + +The bank which Hamilton proposed was private in its ownership, but the +United States were to pledge themselves not to authorize any similar +institution during its continuance. The capital of the bank was not to +exceed $10,000,000, for which the President of the United States might +subscribe $2,000,000 on behalf of the government. It was further +provided that three fourths of the amount of each share might be paid +in the public debt instead of gold and silver. + +It was the purpose of Hamilton not merely to create a useful financial +institution, in which the government would be able to keep its +deposits, but to weld the monetary system of the country into an +harmonious whole. The result of this, which he foresaw and intended, +was to bind the property-owning classes to the interests of the new +government. The effect was much the same as the creation of the Bank +of England by the loan of its capital to the government, which bound +the moneyed classes firmly to King William, through the knowledge that +the debt and the solvency of the bank depended on the perpetuation of +his government and the exclusion of the Stuart Pretender. The tendency +of Hamilton's project was clearly seen by Jefferson and other +democratic leaders, and did not fail to arouse their hostility. It was +not long before they promptly took sides against the national bank. +Jefferson wrote regarding the meetings of the cabinet at this time +that "Hamilton and myself were daily pitted in the cabinet like two +cocks." + +There was something deeper involved, from the standpoint of Jefferson, +than the mere question of bringing the moneyed class to the side of +the government. The latter object was sufficiently distasteful to him, +but the extension of the powers granted by the Constitution beyond +those which were directly enumerated in the document involved a +question of public policy and constitutional law which afforded the +basis for the creation of two great national parties. The Constitution +did not anywhere grant in terms to the government the power to +establish a national bank. Even Hamilton did not pretend to put his +finger on the specific authority for his new project. He advanced a +doctrine which was eagerly embraced by the party which was growing up +around him, but which was as resolutely opposed by the other party. +This was the doctrine of the implied powers granted to the new +government by the Constitution. It is doubtful whether the +Constitution would have been ratified by Virginia and other states if +this doctrine had been set forth and defended in the state conventions +by the friends of the Constitution. This by no means implies that the +policy and doctrine of Hamilton were not wise and far-sighted. +Hamilton had definite aims before him, and it was his legitimate +mission to educate public sentiment up to the point of accepting those +aims and of granting him the means for carrying them out. + +The doctrine of the "implied powers" rested upon the theory that +unless they were directly prohibited by the Constitution, all powers +were granted to the government by implication which were found +necessary and proper for carrying out the powers specifically granted. +Jefferson came to believe, if he did not believe at the outset, that +the government was one of delegated powers which were strictly limited +to those enumerated in the Constitution. The doctrine of Hamilton, +from this point of view, was revolutionary. It meant the conversion of +a government holding limited delegations of power from the people and +the states into a government having supreme power, capable of taking +an infinite variety of measures whenever Congress, in the exercise of +its discretion, believed that such measures would contribute to the +well-being of the Union. The state governments, coming closer to the +people than the federal government, were most directly threatened by +this assumption of power, and it was as the champions of state rights +as well as democratic ideas that Jefferson and his friends took their +ground as the advocates of the strict construction of the +Constitution. + +It is not surprising, therefore, that the proposal to create the Bank +of the United States called forth in Congress prolonged and heated +debates. But the policy of Hamilton had been so far successful in +restoring the public credit that he carried the project for the +national bank through both houses, and it was laid before the +President for his approval. Washington had watched with interest the +struggle in the two houses, and was somewhat impressed by the weight +of the argument against the constitutional power of Congress to +establish the bank. The cabinet was divided. Jefferson and Randolph +were against the constitutionality of the bill. Hamilton and Knox were +in favor of it. Washington asked each of them to give him in writing +the reasons for his opinion. He weighed them carefully and then +affixed his signature to the bill (February 25, 1791). The new project +realized all the benefits which Hamilton expected. Washington, in his +tour of the Southern States in the spring of 1791, found the sentiment +for union strengthening and the country recovering from the +prostration of the era of bad money and political uncertainty which +had followed the Revolution. He declared in a letter written after his +return: + +"Our public credit stands on that ground, which, three years ago, it +would have been madness to have foretold. The astonishing rapidity +with which the newly instituted bank was filled, gives an unexampled +proof of the resources of our countrymen and their confidence in +public measures. On the first day of opening the subscription, the +whole number of shares (twenty thousand) were taken up in one hour, +and application made for upwards of four thousand shares more than +were granted by the institution, besides many others that were coming +in from various quarters." + +How much was likely to be done by a national bank to bind together the +commercial interests of different sections of the country can hardly +be appreciated to-day. At that time there were only four banks in the +country; none of these was ten years old, and their combined capital +was only $1,950,000. The Bank of the United States was authorized to +establish offices of discount and deposit in all the states and to +distribute parts of its capital among eight branches in the chief +cities of the country. It was the drafts of these branches upon each +other, and their means for reducing to a uniform and reasonable rate +the cost of transferring funds, which contributed to knit all parts of +the country together in commercial matters and so strengthened the +bond of political union. The bank did not make regular reports to the +Treasury Department, but its success is indicated by a special report +communicated to Congress by Secretary Gallatin (January 24, 1811), +which showed resources of $24,183,046. The average annual dividends +paid upon the stock up to March, 1809, were over eight per cent. + +So invaluable were the operations of the Bank of the United States to +the public treasury that Jefferson himself when President came to its +support. His support was perhaps never very hearty, and was due to +Albert Gallatin, his Secretary of the Treasury, whose foresight and +ability give him a rank next to Hamilton among the able men who have +presided over the national finances. Gallatin made a strong report in +1809, recommending that the charter of the bank be renewed upon its +expiration in 1811, with an increase of capital and wider powers. A +new charter was voted in the House, but the bill was not acted on in +the Senate, and before the next session the opposition of the state +bankers had rallied sufficient strength to defeat the recharter. The +second United States Bank was authorized in 1816, under the +administration of Madison and with his approval, but its career was +terminated in 1836, as the result of the political hostility of +President Jackson. + +It was not until after the grant of this second charter that the +question of the power of Congress to establish a bank came directly +before the Supreme Court in 1819. At the head of this court sat John +Marshall, who next to Hamilton, perhaps, did more than any other man +to strengthen and extend the powers of the general government. The +jealousy of the state banks had led the State of Maryland to impose a +discriminating tax on the Bank of the United States. If the right to +levy such a tax had been admitted, the Bank would have been completely +at the mercy of the states, and one of the chief purposes of its +creation would have been defeated. In order to sustain the right of +the bank to exemption from taxation, it was necessary to prove that it +was a constitutional instrument of federal power. Hence the question +of the power of Congress to create such a corporation came directly +before the court. + +Hamilton found the power to create a bank partly in the preamble to +the Constitution, which declares that the people of the United States +have adopted it in order to "promote the general welfare," but more +particularly in that concluding phrase of the clause defining the +powers of Congress, which declares that that body shall have +authority "to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for +carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers +vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or +in any department or officer thereof." Marshall, in the series of +great decisions by which he strengthened the power of the Union, often +made use of these provisions to justify his reasoning. In one of the +most famous of these decisions (McCulloch _vs._ Maryland), he +sustained the constitutionality of the bank as an instrument of +federal power and denied the right of the states to levy upon its +property. He declared that the power to tax involved the power to +destroy, and that if the federal government had not the power to +withdraw its creations from discriminating legislation by the states, +the latter might tax the mail or the mints, the papers of the +custom-houses, or the forms of judicial process. + +The view of Hamilton regarding the power of the federal government to +create a bank was thus sustained in emphatic terms by the highest +court in the land. It was partly his policy in providing for the bank +and demonstrating its usefulness, with his other measures to develop +the powers of the central government, which made possible the +decisions of Marshall. If the question of the right to incorporate a +bank could have been brought before the court at the beginning, before +the institution had proved its value, and if men like Jefferson and +Madison had been upon the bench, there is at least room for doubt +whether a decision would have been rendered in favor of a power which +is not granted directly to the government by the Constitution. But by +the resolute executive policy of Hamilton and the broad judicial +constructions of Marshall, the functions of the new government were +extended to all those great objects necessary to create a vigorous and +united nation. + +The many other measures of Hamilton were directed by the same +singleness of purpose to strengthen the hands of the government and +consolidate the Union. The report on the mint followed the previous +reports of Jefferson in recommending the adoption of the dollar as the +unit of value. Hamilton observed that "upon the whole, it seems to be +most advisable, as has been observed, not to attach the unit +exclusively to either of the metals; because this cannot be done +effectually, without destroying the office and character of one of +them as money, and reducing it to the situation of a mere +merchandise." He believed, however, that care should be taken to +regulate the proportion between the metals with an eye to their +average commercial value. He pointed out the danger of undervaluing +either metal, and the inevitable result, in case of a difference of +ratio in two countries, "if other things were equal, that the greatest +part of the gold would be collected in one, and the greatest part of +the silver in the other." + +This discussion of the subject took place at a time when monetary +principles were not very well fixed, when the standard and the state +of the currency had hardly been settled on an orderly basis in any +country, and when the means of transportation for the precious metals +were much slower and less efficient than under modern conditions, and +the cost was much greater. Hamilton endeavored to find the true +commercial relation between gold and silver as a basis for the coinage +values, in the hope that this would not change sufficiently to upset a +bimetallic system founded upon such a basis. He was not a victim of +the delusion that government can arbitrarily give value by law to +money, but declared, "There can hardly be a better rule in any country +for the legal, than the market proportion; if this can be supposed to +have been produced by the free and steady course of commercial +principles." + +The report on manufactures and the bill providing for an excise were +parts of the project of Hamilton for building up a vigorous and +self-supporting nation. The report on manufactures was not presented +to Congress until the beginning of the long session at the close of +1791, and was not carried out in legislation. It consisted chiefly of +an argument for the encouragement of young industries in an +undeveloped country. Hamilton strongly favored the diversification of +the industries of the country between agriculture and various forms of +manufacture, because he believed it would contribute to the solidity +of the industrial system and to the financial independence of the +United States. His conception of the best method for promoting +American industries differed materially, however, from more recent +developments of the protective system. He recommended bounties and +premiums in many cases in preference to protectionist customs duties, +in order to avoid the rise in the price of articles to the consumer +which often results from such duties. The customs duties which he +proposed, moreover, ranged only from seven and a half to fifteen per +cent., and the latter rate was to be levied on only a few articles. + +The country was not yet ripe for extensive industrial enterprises. The +manufactures then existing were chiefly for supplying local needs, +the factory system had not been introduced, and the capital had not +been accumulated for the creation of large establishments. The country +needed many foreign manufactured articles to put it upon the highroad +to industrial development, and it was at a much later period that the +manufacturing interests acquired the power which enabled them to +increase the scale of duties. When this time came, they turned to the +arsenal of Hamilton's report for weapons in support of the policy of +diversifying industries; but they used these weapons in behalf of a +scale of duties which was not recommended by him and they ignored his +arguments for premiums and bounties for the protection of the consumer +against excessive prices. + +Whether Hamilton would have favored the policy of protection in its +later developments, it is useless to inquire. It is idle to claim for +any thinker of the past that he anticipated all future discoveries and +reasoning in the fields of politics or economics. It is not +necessary, in order to give a statesman a high place in history, to +worship blindly all that he did or said or to make such deeds and +words an authority for later generations. What can be said of Hamilton +without reasonable ground of denial is that he did not recommend in +any of his writings the high scale of duties advocated by some +protectionists in recent years. On the contrary, he urged a scale of +duties which would be treated by the protectionist of to-day as below +even the level of a "tariff for revenue only." That his ideas were far +from extreme is indicated by the project which he drew up in 1794 for +a reciprocity treaty with Great Britain, which proposed to limit +American import duties on the leading textiles and manufactured +articles of metal to ten per cent. of their value. He even criticised +Jefferson's message of 1801 for recommending the repeal of the +internal revenue taxes, upon the ground that the duties on imports +were high and that if any taxes were to be repealed, they should be +those which weighed on commerce and navigation. + +A measure which led to more immediate results than the report on +manufactures was the report on the excise. Hamilton found it +necessary, in order to obtain sufficient funds to meet the interest on +the debt and other charges, to recommend an excise tax upon distilled +liquors produced in the United States. The bill passed Congress in +January, 1791, and was soon put in force. Violent resistance was made +in western Pennsylvania, where the manufacture of whiskey was more +extensively carried on than in any other part of the Union. The +federal collector for Washington and Allegheny was tarred and +feathered, and deputy marshals did not dare serve writs against those +guilty of the outrage. Washington's journey through the South had a +good effect in softening the opposition to the law, which first showed +itself in Virginia and North Carolina; but in Pennsylvania conditions +went from bad to worse, until it became necessary to give the federal +government additional powers for collecting the tax and putting down +insurrection. Masked mobs terrorized those who were inclined to obey +the law, and forced them to publish the injury done to their stills. +In order to protect themselves by embroiling the whole community, some +of the insurgent leaders had the mail stopped, the militia called out +on their side, and threatened to lay Pittsburg in ashes (July, 1794). + +The opportunity had come for testing the question whether the Union +was strong enough to put down rebellion by force. It was an +opportunity which Hamilton did not shirk. At his earnest solicitation, +an army was dispatched to the disturbed districts. Washington showed +no hesitation in supporting the authority of the federal government. +He obtained a certificate from a judge of the Supreme Court, setting +forth that the laws of the United States were set at naught and that +the courts were unable to enforce them. He then issued a proclamation +commanding the insurgents to submit to the laws, and made a +requisition for 12,950 militia from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, +and New Jersey, to move on September 1, 1794, towards the disaffected +districts. + +The firmness of Washington put an end to the insurrection. Governor +Mifflin of Pennsylvania, who had hesitated to put down the +disturbances by the strong hand of the state, recovered his courage, +and aided the federal government by proclamations and by his full +quota of troops. Hamilton accompanied the army as it moved towards the +West, and remained with it after Washington turned back to attend the +opening of Congress. The strong display of force made by the +government overawed the insurgents and finally compelled their +submission. Albert Gallatin, although a citizen of the disaffected +section and an opponent of the party in power, exerted his influence +on behalf of order. Negotiations were set on foot between +commissioners of the President, and a committee of citizens, of which +Gallatin was a member. When this committee met to decide whether they +would recommend compliance with the law, they were surrounded by +riflemen who were ready to shoot if their leaders showed signs of +yielding. But they adopted the clever device of a ballot upon which +both yea and nay were written, with the option of destroying either +word. A small majority voted to submit. Some of the obstinate spirits +held out, but as the people fell away from them, they were arrested +and put on trial, and the authority of the federal government was no +longer disputed. + +This suppression of the "Whiskey Rebellion," as it was called, was one +of the most important steps in the consolidation of the Union. Many +who had observed the aggressive and comprehensive projects of +Hamilton, and seen them daily binding closer the bonds of union, did +not believe that they would stand the test of armed conflict. They +feared that the power of the government would wither and the people +split into warring factions when men were called upon to march in arms +against their fellow-citizens. The event proved that the new +government had vindicated its right to exist, and that the sentiment +of union was daily gaining a stronger hold upon the hearts of the +people. That this new power had not only built up a cohesive financial +system, but had shown its capacity to put down resistance to its +lawful authority with a strong hand, was largely the work of Hamilton. +It may be said that it was wholly his work, so far as any great +national policy can be projected and carried out by a single man, +independently of the support of his associates in the government and +of the body of public opinion which make possible the execution of his +plans. + +The time had come when Hamilton felt that his constructive work was +done. He withdrew from the cabinet (January 31, 1795), and Oliver +Wolcott of Connecticut was appointed his successor. Hamilton chose the +moment for retiring from office with a tact and judgment unusual with +public men. He was moved partly by the desire to provide for his +family upon a more liberal scale than his modest salary under the +government permitted. He was too patriotic, however, to have +abandoned his post until he felt that his constructive work was +complete. It was with conscious satisfaction that in his report on the +public credit at the beginning of 1795 he was able to marshal the +measures already taken towards restoring order to the national +finances and point out their results. The credit of the country had +been raised from the lowest abyss of dishonor to that of the most +enlightened nations of the old world; an adequate system of taxation +had been provided for meeting the public obligations; the business +interests had been knit together in support of the government by a +national bank; a monetary system had been established; the Treasury +had been organized in its various branches upon a basis which has +survived to our day; and finally the strength of the fabric of the +Union and of the financial system had been subjected to the test of a +rebellion which, without serious bloodshed, but with a strong display +of force, had been fully and firmly subdued. + + + + +VI + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND NEUTRALITY + + +The comprehensive measures of Hamilton for strengthening the Union +gave a definite character and policy to the Federalist party. The +foundations of this party had been laid by the struggle over the +question whether the Constitution should be accepted by the states; +but the measures of Hamilton were too strong for some of the friends +of the Constitution, and many changes occurred in the temporary +groupings of political leaders before a definite dividing line was +established between the Federalism of Hamilton on the one side and the +Democracy of Jefferson and Madison on the other. These two eminent +Democratic leaders had, indeed, been among the most earnest supporters +of the Constitution. Madison went farther than Jefferson in the +direction of Federalism, and encountered the distrust of the +states-rights element at home; but Jefferson, as has been already +seen, made several reports in the Continental Congress in favor of +declaring the United States a nation, and was the cordial promoter of +those important steps towards union,--the transfer of the Western +territory to Congress and the adoption of a common monetary system. + +The plans of Hamilton in regard to the finances, however, and his +resolute policy of neutrality between France and Great Britain, ran +counter to the views of Jefferson. It is not surprising, therefore, +that the latter found himself pitted against the great Federalist +leader upon nearly every question of importance which came before the +cabinet. The feeling that he had been duped in regard to the +assumption of the state debts found vent in many complaints, which +finally bore fruit in open attacks upon Hamilton, at first made +indirectly through a clerk in the government service, and then +directly in a long letter to Washington. Jefferson gave the post of +translating clerk in the State Department to a Frenchman, Philip +Freneau, who published a journal known as the "National Gazette." In +this journal Freneau began a series of bitter and sometimes +well-directed attacks upon the measures of the administration, and +particularly those of Hamilton. A friend of Jefferson in Virginia, +Colonel Mason, approached Washington in the summer of 1791, and made a +long and severe criticism upon the Treasury measures and their effect +upon the people. + +Washington continued to stand above party, and sought to mitigate the +friction between his cabinet officers. Where the judgments of Hamilton +and Jefferson differed on constructive measures, however, Washington +in nearly every case became convinced of the wisdom of the +recommendations of Hamilton. He therefore had the appearance of +leaning to his side, although he often mitigated the sharpness of the +arguments of his vigorous young minister of finance and endeavored to +temper his excess of zeal. After listening to Mason, Washington felt +that the time had come to interpose in the growing hostility between +his cabinet ministers. He submitted a brief summary to Hamilton of +the criticisms which had been made upon his projects and asked him to +submit a statement in reply. The charges were directed not only +against the substance of the financial measures, but declared that +they fostered speculation, corrupted Congress through the ownership of +the public debt by members of that body, and that Hamilton was +laboring secretly to introduce aristocracy and monarchy. + +It was not difficult for Hamilton to brush away most of these +criticisms. This he did in the cool, logical manner of which he was a +master by numbering each objection to his policy and measures and +showing that it was not founded upon solid reasoning or fact. Hamilton +would have done well to have rested his case upon his letter to +Washington, but he was now convinced that Jefferson was behind the +attacks upon him, and he determined to strike back. He began a series +of anonymous communications through the Federalist organ, "Fenno's +Gazette," which showed all his usual vigor and force of reasoning, but +which only intensified the bitterness in the cabinet. President +Washington was deeply disturbed by this open outbreak of hostilities, +and remonstrated by letter with both Hamilton and Jefferson. Hamilton +suspended his attacks, while Jefferson confined his hostility to less +open methods. + +When Congress met at the close of 1791, Giles of Virginia, a +loud-spoken, hot-headed member of the House, called for accounts of +the various foreign loans made by the government. An attempt was made +to prove corruption in the management of the Treasury. Hamilton could +not have found a better opportunity for defending himself, if he had +sought it. He was no longer shut up to the unsatisfactory methods of +unsigned communications through newspapers, but was in a position to +speak openly and boldly in exposition and defense of his measures. +Report after report was sent to Congress, setting forth the operations +of the Treasury with a lucidity and power which silenced the +opposition and almost overwhelmed Madison, who had been forced as a +party leader to accept the responsibility for the attacks. The +reports, to any one who understood the subject, were absolutely +convincing of the soundness and wisdom of Hamilton's measures. + +Jefferson, perhaps, had some right to complain of the influence which +Hamilton exerted over that department of the government which properly +belonged under his exclusive jurisdiction. This was the management of +foreign relations. Hamilton had such definite and well-considered +views on foreign policy as well as finance that he could not forbear +presenting them in the cabinet. His superiority in definiteness of aim +and energy no doubt led him to believe that he was fitted for the +functions of prime minister and that he was justified in exercising +them as far as he could. The course of Washington encouraged him to +the extent that the President often gave the preference to his views +over those of Jefferson, but it was far from the purpose of the +President to make any distinction in rank or in his confidence between +his ministers. Hamilton, although an admirer of the British political +system, permitted himself few prejudices in his theory of the foreign +policy of the United States. Though often charged with British +sympathies, he leaned much less towards Great Britain than Jefferson, +through his admiration of the spirit of the French Revolution, leaned +towards France. + +The foreign relations of the country began to become acute with the +outbreak of war between England and France in 1793. France had already +abolished royalty, expelled the nobles, sent Louis XVI. to the +scaffold, and was on the eve of the terrible massacres which did so +much to revolt even her best friends outside the country. The news of +war reached the United States early in April, 1793. News came also +that a minister from the French Republic had landed at Charleston and +would soon present his credentials at Philadelphia. Hamilton sent post +haste for Washington, who was at Mount Vernon. The outbreak of war +meant danger to American commerce on the ocean and the risk of trouble +with both powers over the neutrality laws. The serious question +confronting the American government was whether they should maintain +strict neutrality between the belligerents or should side with France, +to whom they were bound by the treaties made with her when she came to +the rescue of the colonies. When Washington reached Philadelphia, he +found both Jefferson and Hamilton ready with suggestions for meeting +the crisis, but these suggestions differed widely. Jefferson, although +not an advocate of war against England, believed that Congress should +be called together in extra session to deal with the emergency. + +A stronger programme was urged upon the President by Hamilton. He +regarded the question of neutrality and the reception of the French +envoy as one for the executive rather than for Congress. He believed +also that these subjects would be safer in the hands of Washington +than midst the passions of a legislative body. He drew up a statement, +embodying a series of questions regarding the policy of the United +States, which was laid by Washington before the cabinet. The first +question was whether a declaration of neutrality should be issued. +This was decided in the affirmative, and the proclamation was soon +issued by Washington. It was decided that the French minister, Genet, +should be received, but that early occasion should be taken to explain +to him that the United States did not consider themselves bound by the +treaties to plunge into war in behalf of France. While it was admitted +by Hamilton that it would not be the province of the United States +under ordinary circumstances to cavil over the character of the +government in France, but would be their duty to accept the government +which existed, nevertheless, the extraordinary events which had taken +place at Paris justified a certain reserve towards the revolutionary +powers. + +Entirely apart from the changes in the character of the French +government, it was felt by Hamilton that the time had come to give an +interpretation to the early treaties in harmony with a more +unchallenged independence for the United States, and a more +complete separation from the intrigues of European politics. The +radical character of the Revolution in France, and the action of the +French government itself, gave an excuse for an interpretation of the +treaties which otherwise might not have been found without blushing. +The treaties provided for a defensive alliance with France, and it was +promptly decided by the cabinet that the war of France against Great +Britain was not defensive. Hamilton proposed not only to revise the +treaties, but to resist by the utmost efforts of the federal +government the enlistment of men and the fitting out of privateers in +America in aid of the French. He did not propose, as some of the +friends of France would have desired, that the proclamation of +neutrality should be only a mask for underhanded aid to that country. + +The situation was made as difficult as possible for the government by +the hot temper and indiscretions of the new French minister. These +qualities in him were encouraged by the reception which he received +on the way from Charleston to Philadelphia. He was everywhere welcomed +with such enthusiastic demonstrations of sympathy for France as tended +to make him believe that he was something more than the diplomatic +representative of a foreign country, and could safely interfere in the +politics of the United States. As he approached Philadelphia (May 16, +1793) he found Captain Bompard of the French frigate L'Ambuscade ready +to fire a salute of three guns, and men on swift horses posted along +the road to give notice to the citizens of his coming. + +Genet had no sooner landed at Charleston than he began to fit out +privateers to prey upon British commerce. The Ambuscade herself, which +brought Genet to Charleston, seized several English merchant vessels +on her way to Philadelphia, and crowned her insolence to the United +States by seizing an English vessel, the Grange, within the Delaware +capes, in the jurisdiction of the United States. The Grange was +restored to her owners, but her seizure was only one of many flagrant +violations of international law which were systematically carried out +by the French, and which were defended and often planned by Genet. +When the Polly was stopped from leaving New York fitted out for a +French privateer, Hauterive, the French consul, addressed a note to +Governor Clinton, telling him it was not in a land where Frenchmen had +spilled their blood that they were to be thus harassed. When the +Little Sarah was fitted out as a privateer in Philadelphia, Hamilton +and Knox urged that a battery be placed on one of the islands and that +the vessel be fired upon if she attempted to leave the harbor. +Jefferson was hoodwinked by assurances from Genet that the vessel +would not sail, and himself indulged in some glittering talk against +the United States joining in "the combination of kings against +France." The vessel at once put to sea, and Washington was so +indignant that Jefferson was almost driven to resignation. + +Hamilton had a more direct interest officially in the demands of Genet +for money which was owed to France. Genet not only asked for the +anticipation of payments soon to mature, but insisted that he should +receive the whole amount of the debt. He threw a bait to American +sentiment by the suggestion that the money would be spent in the +United States for provisions and supplies. Hamilton treated his rude +demands just as he would those of any other creditor. He was willing +to anticipate certain payments when the Treasury resources justified +it, but absolutely refused to do more. Genet then threatened to pay +for what he bought with drafts upon the Treasury. Hamilton coolly +retorted that the drafts would not be honored. The Frenchman was +compelled to consume his wrath, not exactly in silence, but without +result upon the government. + +Genet, encouraged by some of the enemies of the administration, +succeeded in working up a strong pro-French sentiment in various parts +of the country. At a dinner in Philadelphia, following his arrival, +songs were sung to France and America, and the red cap of liberty, +which had been forced upon the reluctant head of Louis XVI. in the +great demonstration of the preceding August at the Tuileries, was +passed around the table and successively worn by each of the American +guests. Hamilton, who never had much confidence in pure democracy, +went close to the other extreme in his alarm over these signs of +public opinion. He felt compelled in the summer of 1793 to publish a +series of essays signed "Pacificus," defending the policy of the +administration. These papers, in the language of Mr, Lodge, "served +their purpose of awakening the better part of the community to the +gravity of the situation, and began the work of rallying the friends +of the government to its active support." Genet addressed such +offensive letters to the Department of State, and his conduct became +so intolerable, that the cabinet agreed to send the correspondence to +Paris and ask for his recall. Genet himself published a letter which +revealed his insolence to the public, and caused a revulsion of +sentiment which brought the more sober men of all parties to the side +of Washington. Genet's course was run, and in February, 1794, his +successor came out from France. + +Hamilton soon had opportunities for proving that his policy of +neutrality was directed as much against English as against French +aggression. When Great Britain issued the first Orders in Council, +directing the seizure of all vessels loaded with French produce, +Hamilton declared the British order an outrage, and urged the +fortification of the seaports and the raising of troops. He exerted +himself, however, to restrain popular passion and preserve peace. He +suggested to Washington that a special mission be sent to London to +treat with the British government. The idea was cordially accepted by +Washington. He desired to send Hamilton, but the Virginia party, +headed by Madison and Monroe, strongly opposed the appointment. They +were embittered by recent party conflicts, and regarded Hamilton as +too friendly to British interests. Chief Justice John Jay of New York +was then recommended by Hamilton for the mission. Opposition was made +even to Jay, but the nomination was confirmed (April 19, 1794), and +Hamilton himself drew the outline of the instructions with which Jay +sailed from New York. + +The conflict over the treaty which Jay brought back in the following +winter was one of the most bitter ever waged in American politics. The +contracting parties to the treaty--the United States and Great +Britain--looked at the situation from widely different points of view. +Jay secured the promise of the withdrawal of the British troops from +the frontier posts and an agreement to compensate Americans for losses +through British privateering. The last was an important concession, +because it covertly admitted the British position in regard to +privateering to be in conflict with international law. Some important +commercial concessions were also made by Great Britain, which were +regarded at London as purely gratuitous. But the treaty failed to +secure any compensation for the claims of American citizens for +negroes and other property carried away by the British troops, and +American vessels were forbidden carrying to Europe from English ports +or even from the United States coffee and the other chief colonial +products. Among the latter was named cotton, which was then just +becoming a large element in the production of the South. + +Hamilton himself is said to have characterized the treaty as "an old +woman's treaty," when he first read it, but it soon became evident +that it must be accepted substantially as presented, if war was to be +avoided. Washington called the Senate in extra session in June, 1795, +and after two weeks' debate in secret session the treaty was ratified +by exactly the necessary two thirds vote,--twenty to ten. It was not +until the adjournment of the Senate that the contents of the document +reached the public through Senator Mason of Virginia. The news was +followed by town meetings all over the country demanding that +President Washington refuse to exchange ratifications. So intense was +the feeling that a vessel suspected of being a British privateer was +seized and burned at Boston, a great meeting in Faneuil Hall ordered +a committee to take a protest to Philadelphia, and Hamilton himself +was stoned and refused a hearing at a meeting in New York. But +Washington remained calm. Hamilton, as the responsible leader of the +party, took up the cudgels for ratification. He submitted an elaborate +argument to the cabinet (July 9, 1795), and with an amendment which +the Senate recommended and Great Britain accepted, the treaty went +into operation. + + + + +VII + +HAMILTON AS A PARTY LEADER + + +The ratification of the Jay treaty did much to shake the power of the +Federalists, and for a moment seemed to threaten their ruin. It was +divisions in their own ranks, however, which contributed as much to +this event as any real blunders in public policy. Hamilton was not at +his best in conciliating those who differed from him, and he did not +encounter a more yielding or tactful associate in John Adams. Hamilton +had gone out of his way with little reason at the first presidential +election, in 1788, to secure votes against Adams. His avowed object +was to insure the election of Washington by preventing a tie vote +between Washington and Adams. The original Constitution authorized +each elector to vote for two persons for President and Vice-President, +without designating the office for which either was voted for. This +led to complications which were corrected by an amendment after the +election of 1800. In the case of the first election, however, few sane +men doubted that Washington would have the majority of the votes, and +the only effect of the intrigue of Hamilton was to reduce the vote for +Adams to a point which almost caused his defeat. Hamilton supported +Adams in the second election, in 1792, and the relations between the +two men were reasonably cordial. + +When Washington retired from the presidency, in 1797, the commanding +men in the Federalist party were Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Pinckney, +and John Adams. Hamilton was the controlling mind in the consultations +of the leaders rather than the sort of man who appealed to the people. +He was not seriously thought of by himself or others as a candidate +for President. Jay was barred by the odium attaching to the treaty +with Great Britain. The choice was therefore reduced to Pinckney and +Adams. Most of the leaders were for Adams, who was superior to +Pinckney in Revolutionary services and ability. It was determined +that the Federalist electors should vote for both Adams and Pinckney, +with the purpose of choosing the former for President and the latter +for Vice-President. Hamilton on this occasion urged that all the +Federalist electors should vote for both Adams and Pinckney. If each +had received an equal number of votes, the choice would have been +thrown into the House and Adams would probably have been elected. +Hamilton erred in letting it be known that he was indifferent whether +the outcome was favorable to Adams or Pinckney, especially when there +was a strong suspicion that he was really for Pinckney. Party +discipline had not then reached its modern development, and votes were +thrown away by Federalist electors,--in the North to prevent a +majority for Pinckney over Adams and in the South to prevent the same +chance in favor of Adams. + +The result of these jealousies was that Adams barely escaped defeat. +He was chosen by a plurality of three, but Pinckney was beaten, and +Jefferson, having the next highest vote, was elected Vice-President. +Adams became firmly convinced that Hamilton was his personal enemy and +would stop at nothing to injure him. That Hamilton was recognized by +all the party leaders as the master mind and the guiding spirit of the +party made no difference to a man of the hot temper and resolute +spirit of John Adams. Tact and conciliation were as far removed from +his nature as from that of any American public man. The indifference +of Hamilton whether he was beaten by Pinckney, in connection with +Hamilton's intrigue in 1788, had convinced Adams that Hamilton did not +feel proper respect for him, and that he was seeking to dictate the +policy of the administration and to thwart and degrade him. Adams +resented any sort of suggestion or consultation, and took delight in +disregarding the suggestions of Hamilton, while the latter struck back +through several members of the cabinet, who were more in sympathy with +him than with the President. + +The country having escaped the danger of immediate war with England by +the Jay treaty, was soon threatened with war with France. Monroe had +been recalled as American Minister at Paris and Charles Pinckney, who +was sent in his place, had been refused a reception. Some of the +Federalists were so incensed against France that they were eager for +war. Hamilton was opposed to war if it could be avoided, but was in +favor of a resolute policy. Adams, although as far as possible from +sympathy with France, believed every reasonable effort should be made +to preserve peace. It was decided, with the approval of both Adams and +Hamilton, to send a commission of three to Paris, to negotiate. Over +the appointment of this commission new differences broke out between +Hamilton and the President. Hamilton favored the appointment of a +Northern and a Southern Federalist and of a Democrat of the highest +standing, like Madison or even Jefferson. Adams was at first disposed +to make these appointments, but finally took both the Federalists from +the South,--Pinckney of South Carolina and John Marshall of +Virginia,--and selected as the third member a Democrat of +comparatively minor standing, Gerry of Massachusetts. + +The commissioners accomplished little good at Paris. They were +insulted and browbeaten and told that only bribery would secure what +they desired. When their treatment became known in the United States, +in the spring of 1798, there was a popular outburst which restored the +Federalists to power in Congress in the following autumn, with a +larger majority than ever before since party divisions became fixed. +Enthusiastic addresses poured in upon President Adams, war vessels +were fitted out by private subscription, and bills were carried at +once for a provisional army, for fortifications, and for the increase +of the navy. Even under this stress of excitement, however, Hamilton +opposed alliance with Great Britain, and persuaded Pickering, the +Secretary of State, to abandon the advocacy of it. + +It was over the organization of the new army that the hostility of +Adams to Hamilton became open and bitter. Washington was selected as +commander-in-chief, but only consented to serve upon the condition +that he should have the choice of the officers who were to rank next +him, and should not be called upon to take an active part until the +army took the field. He recommended to the President that rank in the +Revolutionary army be disregarded and that the three major-generals to +be appointed should be Hamilton, Charles Pinckney, and Knox. This gave +the practical command and the work of the organization to Hamilton. +Adams sent the names to the Senate, in the order suggested by +Washington, and they were promptly confirmed. When he came to signing +the commissions, however, he took the ground that Knox was the senior +officer on account of his rank during the Revolution. Hamilton would +not consent to this arrangement, and all the Federalist leaders, +including members of the cabinet, remonstrated with the President +against it. One of the saddest results of the quarrel was the +alienation from Hamilton of Knox, who had been a friend of many years +and when Secretary of War in Washington's first cabinet had stood +loyally by Hamilton against Jefferson in the controversy over the +financial projects. + +Adams at first seemed to grow more stubborn with the protests which +were made against his action. The leaders finally turned to +Washington. The latter informed the President that if the original +agreement as to the rank of the officers was not kept, he should +resign. Adams, with all his stubbornness and bravery, did not dare +defy the country by forcing Washington from the service. He gave way, +and appointed Hamilton to the first place, but the good feeling which +might have been promoted if he had done so at first was replaced on +both sides by bitterness which was never softened. + +Hamilton, as the practical head of the army, showed the same abounding +energy and capacity for organization which he had shown at the head of +the Treasury. He drafted a plan for the fortification of New York +harbor, made an apportionment of officers and men among the states, +and drew up projects for the organization of the new army, dealing +with the questions of pay, uniforms, rations, promotions, police in +garrisons and camps, and the many other branches of the service. All +these projects received the cordial approval of Washington. When +Congress met, Hamilton was ready with a bill putting the army upon a +basis which would permit its increase or diminution in future without +changing the form of the organization. In the spring of 1799 he was +providing for the defense of the frontiers and planning the invasion +of Louisiana and the Floridas. + +The projects of these invasions of Spanish territory justify a +reference to the continental policy of Hamilton. He was among the +first to maintain that the United States should have complete control +of the valley of the Mississippi, and even during his short term in +the Congress of the Confederation the last resolution which he +presented declared the "navigation of the Mississippi to be a clear +and essential right and to be supported as such." It was left for +Jefferson, Hamilton's great opponent, to carry out his conception of +the acquisition of the Mississippi valley by the purchase of +Louisiana. The admirers of Hamilton credit him with a still wider +vision of the future power of the United States, which was eventually +to bear fruit in the Monroe doctrine and in the celebrated declaration +of Secretary Olney in 1895, that "to-day the United States is +practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law upon the +subjects to which it confines its interposition." Hamilton wrote in +"The Federalist," before the adoption of the Constitution, that "our +situation invites and our situation prompts us to aim at an ascendant +in American affairs." + +The firm attitude of the United States towards France had its effect +at Paris. Talleyrand sent an intimation indirectly to President Adams +that the French government would be glad to receive an American envoy. +Again the impetuosity of Adams divided his party and intensified his +quarrel with the leaders who stood around Hamilton. The name of Vans +Murray was sent to the Senate by the President for Minister to +France, without even consulting the cabinet. Many doubted the wisdom +of snapping up so promptly the offer made by Talleyrand, and more were +incensed at the President's method of doing it. There was at first a +strong disposition among the Federalist leaders to defeat the +nomination in the Senate. Hamilton, however, checked the indignation +of his friends and suggested a way out of the difficulty by appointing +a strong commission. + +The downfall of the Federal party and the retirement of Hamilton from +the active control of national policy were at hand. The passage of the +alien and sedition laws, arrogating to the federal government +intolerable powers of interference with the rights of the press and of +free speech, was one of the causes contributing to the revulsion of +feeling in favor of the party of Jefferson. Hamilton opposed the first +drafts of these laws as cruel, violent, and tyrannical, but he did not +disapprove their final form. The Federalists carried the congressional +elections of 1798, under the impulse of the feeling against France, +but began to lose ground soon after. As the presidential election of +1800 approached, a desperate struggle was made to hold New York for +Federalism as the only hope of defeating Jefferson and reëlecting +Adams. The New York election went against the administration, and +Hamilton pleaded in vain with Governor Jay to defeat the will of the +people by calling the old legislature together and giving the choice +of presidential electors to the congressional districts. It was +perhaps the most discreditable proposal which ever came from Hamilton, +and was promptly rejected by Jay. + +Hamilton's motive was a sincere fear that the country would go to ruin +and the Constitution be endangered by the triumph of the political +school of Jefferson. This might have been the case if it had been the +first election under the Constitution, but Hamilton himself had +builded better than he knew. The financial projects, the national +bank, the suppression of the "Whiskey Insurrection," and the other +measures taken under Washington and Adams had built up a Federal +Union, whose strength could not be seriously shaken by the transfer of +power from one party to another. + +With the shadow of defeat hanging over them, the course of the +Federalist leaders seemed to justify the maxim, "Whom the gods destroy +they first make mad." With the utmost need for harmony and unity, +quarrels broke out which would have wrecked the party even if there +had been otherwise some prospect of its success. Adams drove McHenry +and Pickering from his cabinet because they had betrayed his secrets +to Hamilton, and denounced Hamilton and his friends as a British +faction. Hamilton asked in writing for a denial or explanation of the +charge, but was treated with contemptuous silence. As the presidential +election approached, Hamilton scarcely concealed his preference for +Pinckney, who was again to be voted for by the electors along with +Adams. Hamilton had been so badly treated by the President that he +announced his purpose to prepare a pamphlet, exposing the failings of +Adams and vindicating his own position. + +His best friends stood aghast at the project and labored with him to +abandon it. Hamilton persevered, however, in the preparation of the +pamphlet. He denounced Adams as a man of disgusting egotism, intense +jealousy, and ungovernable temper, and reviewed in a scathing manner +his entire public career, and especially the recent dismissal of the +secretaries who were friendly to Hamilton. After all this criticism, +Hamilton wound up with the lame conclusion that the electors should +vote equally for Adams and Pinckney, in order to preserve Federal +ascendency. He yielded to the protests of his friends so far as to +keep the circulation of the pamphlet within a small circle, but it was +hardly off the press before a copy was in the hands of Aaron Burr, the +Democratic leader in New York, and was used with effect against the +Federalist President. + +The downfall of Federalism came with the presidential election of +1800. Jefferson and Burr were the Democratic candidates for President +and Vice-President. Each was voted for by all the Democratic +electors, giving them an equal number of votes and a majority of the +electoral college. This threw the election into the House of +Representatives, which was Federalist but was compelled by the +provisions of the Constitution to decide between the two leading +candidates, Jefferson and Burr. Some of the Federalists were ready to +stoop to any means for striking at Jefferson, the great representative +of Democratic ideals. If the Federalists in Congress could have +effected a combination with the Democrats from states where Burr was +influential, they might have been able to elect Burr President instead +of Jefferson. But the Democrats, even from New York, voted for +Jefferson, and it was evident that he must be chosen or there would be +no election. Feeling in the country ran high, and there were threats +of violence if the election of Jefferson should be defeated by +intrigue. + +Hamilton behaved on this occasion with the high sense of public duty +which marked most of his acts. Familiar as he was with the +unscrupulous methods and doubtful character of Burr in New York +politics, he felt that it would be criminal to put him in office. He +had little reason to love Jefferson, who had filled the ears of +Washington with slurs against himself, but he felt that the election +belonged to Jefferson and that his defeat by a political intrigue +would be a greater menace than his election to the system established +by the Constitution. With Bayard of Delaware, the Federalist leader in +the House, Hamilton threw himself strongly into the contest against +Burr. His advice was not at first followed. The House ballotted from +the eleventh to the sixteenth of February without reaching a choice. A +caucus of the Federalists was then held; it appeared that Jefferson +had given some assurances of a conservative policy in office, the +views of Hamilton and Bayard prevailed, and on February 17, 1801, the +Federalist members from several states withheld their votes, and +Jefferson was elected. + +The retirement of the Federalists from power substantially ended the +public services of Hamilton. He continued to watch public events with +interest during the remaining five years of his life, and to be +regarded as the leader of the Federalist party, but the party had +shrunk to a corporal's guard in Congress and the long reign of the +Democratic party had begun, which was to be interrupted during only +two presidential terms until the election of Lincoln in 1860. +Hamilton, therefore, at the age of forty-three, had completed his +constructive work and ceased to influence public affairs except by his +writings and speeches. It might almost be said that this work was done +with the close of the administration of Washington in 1797, and that +his great fame would have shone with brighter lustre if he had not +lived to take part in the later differences and quarrels of the Adams +administration. His life was not without service, however, under +Adams, since his influence over members of the cabinet several times +restrained rash policies, and between the conflicting passions of the +champions of France and of the friends of Great Britain, kept the ship +of state steady upon a safe course. + + + + +VIII + +HAMILTON'S DEATH AND CHARACTER + + +The death of Hamilton was in a peculiar sense a part of his public +career. He had never hesitated to denounce in strong terms the public +career and some of the private acts of Aaron Burr. The latter, after +losing the presidency, sought the governorship of New York, and +entered into correspondence with the Federalist leaders in New England +with a view to the formation of a Northern confederacy. Hamilton +succeeded in dividing the Federalist vote in New York so as to give +the election to Lewis, Burr's democratic rival. Burr then determined +to force a personal quarrel upon Hamilton in order to obtain revenge +upon the man who had so often thwarted him. Hamilton had no desire to +fight, but he did not feel able to repudiate the code of the duelist +as it was then accepted among gentlemen. + +It was on June 17, 1804, that Colonel Burr, through his intimate +friend Judge Van Ness, demanded an apology for a criticism by Hamilton +which had reached Burr's ears. Several letters were exchanged before +it became plain that Burr was bound to force a quarrel or to humiliate +Hamilton to a point which he knew would not be endured. When Burr's +true purpose became plain to Hamilton, he requested a short time to +close up several important cases for his clients, which were then +pending in the circuit court. The circuit having terminated, Colonel +Burr was informed (Friday, July 6, 1804) that Hamilton would be ready +to meet him at any time after the following Sunday. Both men realized +that the meeting might be fatal, and prepared for it in a +characteristic way. Burr, who because of his fascinating manners was a +great favorite with women, destroyed the compromising letters which he +had received and devoted his spare hours to pistol practice. Hamilton +had fewer such letters to destroy, and was determined not to kill Burr +if it could be avoided. He drew up his will, and prepared a statement +of his reasons for fighting. This statement set forth that he was +opposed to the practice of dueling and had done all that was +practicable, even beyond the demands of a punctilious delicacy, to +secure an accommodation. He then said:-- + +"I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, +and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw +away my first fire; and I have thought even of reserving my second, +and thus giving a double opportunity to Colonel Burr to pause and +repent." + +The arrangements for the duel were made on Monday, and on the +following Wednesday (July 11) the meeting took place at seven o'clock +in the morning at Weehawken, three miles above Hoboken, on the west +shore of the Hudson. Burr and Hamilton exchanged salutations, the +seconds measured the distance, which was ten paces, and the parties +took their respective stations. At the first word, Burr fired. +Hamilton's weapon was discharged in the air, and he almost instantly +fell, mortally wounded. The ball struck the second or third false rib, +fractured it about the middle, passed through the liver and diaphragm, +and lodged in the first or second lumbar vertebra. Hamilton was at +first thought to be dead, but he revived when put on board the boat +which was in waiting, and was able to utter a few words as he was +borne towards his home. He died on the day after the meeting at two +o'clock in the afternoon. Even in his death he rendered a parting +service to his countrymen, by the revulsion of feeling which was +everywhere aroused against the practice of dueling. The news of his +premature taking off caused a wave of grief and indignation to spread +over the country, differing from the chastened sorrow felt over the +death of Washington, because Washington had met his end full of years +and honors, and in the natural order of nature. + +The concluding statement made by Hamilton in the paper which he left +regarding his meeting with Burr gives some clue to his reasons for +fighting. This paragraph ran as follows:-- + +"To those who, with me, abhorring the practice of dueling, may think +that I ought on no account to have added to the number of bad +examples, I answer that my relative situation, as well in public as +private, enforcing all the considerations which constitute what men of +the world denominate honor, imposed on me (as I thought) a peculiar +necessity not to decline the call. The ability to be in future useful, +whether in resisting mischief or effecting good, in those crises of +our public affairs which seem likely to happen would probably be +inseparable from a conformity with public prejudice in this +particular." + +This statement has been construed to mean that Hamilton looked forward +to the time when the Constitution would be assailed by extremists and +he would be called by events to put himself at the head of a movement +for a stronger government, and perhaps even to lead an army. Several +passages in his writings, especially after the downfall of the +Federalists, gave color to the view that he feared an outbreak of +Jacobin violence in America, and the failure of the Constitution in +such an event to resist the strain which would be put upon it. In a +letter to Gouverneur Morris (February 27, 1802), he drops into the +following gloomy forebodings:-- + +"Mine is an odd destiny. Perhaps no man in the United States has +sacrificed or done more for the present Constitution than myself; and, +contrary to all my anticipations of its fate, as you know, from the +very beginning, I am still laboring to prop the frail and worthless +fabric. Yet I have the murmurs of its friends no less than the curses +of its foes for my reward. What can I do better than withdraw from the +scene? Every day proves to me more and more that this American world +was not made for me." + +This mood of despondency was not the usual mood of Hamilton. Much as +he abhorred the sympathy with France shown by the Democrats and the +tendency towards French ideas, his habitual temper was for combination +and action rather than surrender. During the three years which +followed the inauguration of Jefferson, he continued, though busy with +his law practice, to keep up in private life an active correspondence +with Federalist leaders throughout the country, and to advise earnest +efforts to defeat Democratic policies. Only the day before the duel, +in a letter to Sedgwick of Massachusetts, he indirectly condemned a +project which was on foot for a combination of the Northern States +into a separate confederacy. He said that "dismemberment of our empire +will be a clear sacrifice of great positive advantages without any +counterbalancing good, administering no relief to our real disease, +which is Democracy." + +Hamilton had fears for the future of the Union under the Constitution +which were much exaggerated by his leanings towards a strong, +self-centred government like that of Great Britain. It is not +unreasonable to believe that he felt that he might again be called +upon to play a great part in politics as the leader of his party, and +that under the prejudices then prevailing he would weaken his +personal influence if he refused a challenge. The public man of that +day who could be charged with cowardice or lack of regard for his +personal honor would suffer much with the masses, if not with the +party leaders, who understood his character and abilities. Hamilton +hardly needed to prove his personal courage to any reasonable man +after his services in the Revolution, including his reckless charge +upon the redoubt at Yorktown, but political foes might forget these +evidences of his character if he should tamely submit to insult from a +political opponent. It is doubtful whether his purpose in meeting Burr +went beyond this submission to the general prejudice in favor of +dueling and the belief on his part that his position as a gentleman +and a political leader required him to accept the challenge. + +The high abilities and great services of Hamilton to the new Union +have been sufficiently set forth in these pages to make unnecessary +any elaborate estimate of his character and attainments. His essential +merit was that of a constructive and organizing mind, which saw the +opportunity for action and was equal to the opportunity. Hamilton was +governed to a large extent by his intellect, but having reasoned out a +proposition to be sound and wise, he rode resolutely to its +accomplishment, taking little account of the obstacles in the way. He +was not a closet philosopher, pursuing abstract propositions to their +sources, and searching, through the discordant threads of human +destiny, the ultimate principles of all things; but his mind was keen +and alert in seizing upon reasoning which seemed obviously sound, +laboring in behalf of his convictions, and presenting them with force +and simplicity to others. He found the career for which he was +preëminently fitted in the organization of the financial system and +the consolidation of the Union, under the first administration of +Washington. He was less fitted for the career of a politician in times +less strenuous, or when tact and finesse were more useful in securing +results than clear reasoning and strong argument. + +Hamilton was cut off when he had only recently resumed his +professional career, but was making a distinguished record at the bar. +Always a great lawyer, he would soon have accumulated a fortune if he +had lived amid the tempting opportunities of to-day. As it was, his +legal fees were modest and his sudden death left large debts. He +bequeathed the request to his sons that they should assume these debts +if his estate was insufficient, but the gratitude of some of the +wealthy Federalists relieved them of this filial obligation. Hamilton +had six sons, but most of them were already approaching a +self-supporting age when he died. His oldest son had fallen a victim +to the barbarous practice of dueling in a petty quarrel at a theatre +three years before the father's death. The fourth son, Mr. John C. +Hamilton, gave much time to the study of his father's career, and +prepared the Life of Hamilton which has been the source of the later +work of historians. Hamilton's widow, the daughter of General +Schuyler, survived until 1854, when she died at the age of +ninety-seven years and three months. + +As a man in private life, Hamilton was loved and respected by those +who came closest to him, but it was as much by the qualities of his +mind as by the special fascinations of his manner. He commanded the +respect and support of most of the leaders of his party, because they +were great enough to grasp and appreciate his reasoning, but he was +never the idol of the people to the same extent as many other leaders. +He would probably have made a great career in whatever direction he +might have turned his high abilities, but he was fortunate in finding +an opportunity for their exercise in a crisis which enabled him to +render greater services to the country than have been rendered by +almost any man in her history, with the exception of Washington and +Lincoln. + + The Riverside Press + + _Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co._ + _Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Alexander Hamilton, by Charles A. Conant + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40591 *** |