as we shall see, the use of this power might have been a matter of some importance.

The inauguration of Washington at the beginning of his second term was almost scandalously unceremonious, yet not. so informal as it came near to being. The mad passion against outward show, an importation from France, led to frequent criticisms in the Republican newspapers of the semi-regal state in which the President was supposed to live. Adams, of course, was not spared. He too was denounced for the luxury of his mode of life, and the shafts aimed at him took effect. He gave up his house in Philadelphia, sent his wife home to Massachusetts to manage the farm, and himself went to reside in lodgings. When the day upon which the oath of office was to be taken a second time by the President elect drew near, the time and place of the ceremony became the subject of discussion in the cabinet. Jefferson proposed that General Washington take the oath privately in his own house and send a certificate thereof to Congress. Hamilton fell in with this proposition; but the other members of the cabinet objected, and the plan was not adopted. At noon, precisely, on the 4th of March, Washington unattended entered the Senate Chamber, where were gathered many of the senators, some of the representatives who lingered after the adjournment of Congress, certain public officers, and "a number of private citizens." He took the oath of office, delivered his inaugural address, and then retired as quietly as he had come.

IV

JOHN ADAMS

DURING Washington's first administration, domestic questions occupied the government chiefly and gave rise to party conflicts the funding system and the excise law before all others. The first, which reduced the chaos of national finance to order, and restored the credit of the United States, nevertheless had necessarily some features which seemed a justification of the accusation that it was devised for the relief of the well-to-do. Accordingly it aroused the antagonism of the same class which, in modern times, denounces measures for the payment of national obligations in good faith, in order to maintain the credit of the country, as designed for the sole benefit of the bondholders. The excise law was passed in 1791, after violent opposition in Congress. Its execution

was resisted more or less from the beginning; but it was not until 1794 that the situation became so acute that a large armed force became necessary to quell what has passed into history as the "Whiskey Insurrection." At that time occurred the first serious collision between federal and state authority. Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, a Republican partisan, refused to take the initiative, and Washington called out the militia on the certificate of a federal judge that an insurrection existed. Little more than a display of force was required to put down the insurrection. The whole affair resulted, not a little to the surprise of both parties, in strengthening the government and making it popular. The people realized for the first time that they had created a power which was capable of making itself respected at home.

Meantime two most serious questions of foreign policy had been raised, and both of them had an important influence upon the elections which determined who should be the second President. The arrival, reception, and conduct of "Citizen" Genet, the French minister sent over by the Girondist government, excited the most bitter party controversy

these were This is not

the country had known. Although Jefferson himself, as Secretary of State, wrote and signed the account of Genet's diplomatic impertinences, and demanded his recall, yet his political attitude toward the agitation and his strong sympathy for the French rendered it impossible that he should remain in the cabinet as a loyal supporter of the administration. The appointment of Jay, the Chief Justice, to negotiate a treaty with England, aroused but little public feeling. The treaty which he negotiated was ratified by the Senate, by exactly the constitutional two-thirds majority, before its terms were made public. But when it was published there arose such a storm of opposition to its promulgation by the President as no Executive since Washington has had to encounter. Public meetings at which the most violent language was used, riots, burning the treaty and the effigy of Jay, every-day incidents in all parts of the country. the place to do more than refer to the events of the time and indicate their bearing upon the ensuing election. The details must be left to the general historian. It is sufficient to say that the firmness of Washington was proof against the popular clamor, against the personal abuse to which he was subjected, even against the determination of a great majority of the House of Representatives, as expressed in a resolution calling upon him for a copy of the instructions to Jay, with a view to the impeachment of the ambassador. He promulgated the treaty, he remained calm and silent under vituperation, he returned a respectful but unflinching refusal to the demand for Jay's instructions. In the end, too, the House itself, by the narrowest of majorities, agreed to pass the measures necessary for carrying the treaty into effect. It is not to be supposed that the sentiments of the American people were expressed in the noisy outcries of the opposition. Events proved that it was a minority only that displayed such violence of hostility toward measures which were greatly to the benefit of the United States during the next ten years. But the apparent strength of the democratic societies not only inspired the opposition party with a hope of capturing the government, but caused apprehension and anxiety throughout the ranks of the Federalists.

It was made known by Washington to his closest intimates, early in the year 1796, that he intended to decline a reëlection. His purpose was rumored, but not definitely made public, early

in September. Those who had been aware of his intention had already canvassed the subject and were agreed upon their candidates. Several names were considered for the presidency. Hamilton was eligible, and he was the undoubted leader of his party. But he had made many enemies, and his candidacy would surely have aroused intense antagonism. There was a stain upon his private character; and a threat had been made that should he come forward as a candidate, certain papers alleged to be damaging to his integrity would be published. There is no evidence worthy to be regarded either that a truthful accusation against his financial honor could have been brought, or that a fear of exposure deterred him from becoming a candidate. He was rather a king-maker than a candidate for the throne.

If Hamilton were not to seek the office, the two most prominent candidates were Adams and Jay. It seems to have been universally felt that although Jay's talents fitted him for the office, his negotiation of the treaty with England would cost him enough votes to endanger his election. Adams was directly in the line of promotion; his services to the country during a long public life had given him as good title as any statesman had to the gratitude of his country; and his conduct in the Vice-President's chair had been fully acceptable to the Federal party. Accordingly it was agreed at a conference of Federalist members of Congress that Mr. Adams should be the candidate for President; and Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina was chosen as the candidate for Vice-President. The date of the nominations is not known. The time is fixed vaguely in a letter from Oliver Wolcott to Henry W. Edwards, quoted by Gibbs (vol. ii. p. 488), as the summer of 1796.

At about the same time, as we learn from the same authority, Jefferson and Burr were agreed upon by a conference of Republican members of Congress, as the candidates of their party. The Republicans seem to have arrived at a tacit understanding that Mr. Jefferson was to be their candidate, before the conference was held. Jefferson had been the leader and organizer of the party while still in Washington's cabinet. From his retirement at Monticello he had conducted a copious correspondence with the chief men of the party, full of comment on passing events and of advice as to their course of action. He was now the natural, and, indeed, the inevitable candidate. Republican opinion, in the North at all events,

accepted Aaron Burr as the candidate for Vice-President. Burr had, by his political adroitness and activity, displaced George Clinton as the leader in New York of the Republican party. The second position was already regarded as one of importance vastly inferior to that of the first. Neither Mr. Pinckney nor Mr. Burr would have been generally regarded as possessing strong claims to the presidency. The names of the candidates for the vice-presidency were not usually coupled with those of the leaders. "It requires no talent at divination," said a writer in the "Boston Gazette," a Republican paper, in September, 1796, "to decide who will be candidates for the chair. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams will be the men, and whether we shall have at the head of our executive a steadfast friend to the rights of the people, or an advocate for hereditary power and distinction, the people of the United States are soon to decide." An unsigned letter from Virginia, dated September 24, published in all the papers, stated: "I have been informed that Mr. Edmund Randolph, who has lately visited Mr. Jefferson, says that Mr. Jefferson will serve in the office of President of the United States, if elected."

The canvass began tamely enough. For two or three weeks after the appearance of Washington's Farewell Address, which was dated September 17, 1796, the subject of the coming election was rarely even mentioned in the newspapers. But the contest soon became earnest and bitter. For the most part it took the form of an intensely partisan comparison of the records and views of the two candidates. The leading disputant on the Federal side wrote, over the signature "Phocion," a series of nearly thirty articles. Although the papers consisted largely of attacks upon Jefferson, two or three of them were devoted to a strong defence of Adams. The stoutest opponent of the Vice-President adopted the signature "A Federalist." His position and arguments were anything but Federalist. Adams's record was assailed most virulently, and Jefferson was warmly praised. It must be said that the debate on both sides was disingenuous. Jefferson was not only berated for acts which in the minds of his opponents constituted real offences, but was accused of many things which it was easy to

1 The authorship of the letters is not known. They are attributed by some historians to Hamilton; but they are not included by J. C. Hamilton in a list of his father's works, and Lodge, when preparing the memoir of Hamilton, could find no evidence that they were written by him.