American Aurora
Page 117
Granted. And here we see the vast importance, particularly in a republic, of a body constituted like the Senate—Here we see the wisdom and foresight of those who framed our constitution—Why was a certain degree of permanency given to this body? Most undoubtedly for times like the present … The Senate is our anchor which prevents us from being blown to and fro by every changing blast of popular delusion or caprice. It is known that a people, however honest or patriotic, cannot at all times withstand the falsehoods and lying intrigues of artful, designing demagogues … and if there were nothing to check their misguided fury, they would tear the state to atoms. This necessary, indispensable check is the Senate …
I hope, therefore that the people, before they join in the hue and cry against their Senate and “consign to execration” (as they are modestly desired by Duane) some of their most meritorious citizens, will seriously examine the difference between the two branches of the Legislature … [I]f the state is disenfranchised, the reproach must fall on those who have arrogantly endeavored to vest the whole legislative power in one branch of the Legislature …
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
F E N N O in his supplementary catalog of imported books has the following parenthesis as a recommendation of Boecker’s Sermons: (… unfolds many facts and private anecdotes, tending to place the character of the arch hypocrite and impostor, Franklin, in a more detestable point of light, if possible, than that in which it stood before). Thus it is that a shameless young man can dare to insult the whole country by attempting to rob the honoured dead of his fair fame. Where is the spirit which ought to protect the sacred memory of America’s brightest ornament? … Too long did that British emissary Porcupine libel the same great and good man; being an Englishman and the tool of his government, [Porcupine] was more excusable than an American who has no pretext …
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The constitution of the United States gives to each state a share in the election of President … and trusts to the State legislatures to direct the best mode … What then must be thought of the men who … have defeated this right of the People … Citizens of Pennsylvania, as ye have the opportunity, watch well these thirteen Culprits …
This evening, in the Gazette of the United States:
From the Washington Federalist … “… [T]hat a spirit has been manifested … to cover the authors of our independence with odium …” … the files of the Aurora exhibit the most incontestable evidence.
IF there was one man among us who, more than any other, deserves to be considered as the “Author of Independence,” the world will unite in saying that man was GENERAL WASHINGTON … [T]he people of America have for years witnessed the unremitting efforts of the Aurora to cover with odium even HIM whose name is the pride and boast of our country.
Few among the living rendered more effectual service than General HAMILTON, and on none has more odium been cast …
Colonel PICKERING was a valuable and faithful officer … Colonel Pickering has been treated as the vilest and most despicable of men.
If, in the political line, any two men rendered to America, struggling for liberty, more distinguished service than others, those two men are JOHN ADAMS and JOHN JAY. In addition to their brilliant services in Congress, they negotiated that treaty which severed us forever from Great-Britain; and, in spite of the influence of a Gallic party, obtained for us those boundaries and those advantages which make it truly INDEPENDENT.
These are the men on whom those, who during our contest for liberty were engaged against us, labor to heap up obloquy. With too much truth, therefore, does the Aurora say, “that a spirit has been manifested for some years back, even in America, to cover the authors of our independence with odium.”
Neither the Gazette of the United States, nor the Philadelphia Aurora, nor any other journal can decide for you, dear reader, who is the “Author of Independence,” the “Author of Democracy,” or even the “Father of His Country.” It is for you, dear reader, to decide.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
“It is said that several of the important records, to which William Duane had recourse last summer, have, with other highly interesting documents which would have been proper for Mr. Jefferson to have seen, been destroyed by the fire at the Federal city …” (Herald.)
The accounts published in “The Aurora” are not all from the war office, but from the treasury department over which Oliver Wolcott so unfortunately and so long presided—it is true the accounts of the accountant of the war office were noticed among others; and Pickering’s accounts of monies held since the revolution … may have been there; but the other accounts of Dayton, Pickering … and about a hundred others are all safe, unless, as was threatened in the event of Jefferson’s election, another fire should purify the defaulters.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
RETURN OF VOTES
For President And Vice President of the United States
Adams Pinckney Jefferson Burr
New Hampshire 6 6
Massachusetts, 16 16
Rhode Island
Connecticut 9 9
Vermont,
New-York, 12 12
New-Jersey 7 7
Pennsylvania, 7 7 8 8
Delaware, 3 3
Maryland, 5 5 5 5
Virginia, 21 21
Kentucky,
Tennessee
North-Carolina
South-Carolina,
53 53 46 46 …
THIRTEEN United States saved themselves from a foreign yoke and THIRTEEN Senators of Pennsylvania have saved these States from anarchy and Jacobinism. The number Thirteen must be gratefull to Americans.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1800
Today, in Washington, Thomas Jefferson writes Robert Livingston:
The constitution to which we are all attached was meant to be republican … Yet we have seen it so interpreted and administered as to be truly what the French have called “monarchie masquée.” Yet so long has the vessel run on this way and been trimmed to it that to put her on her republican track will require all the skill … of her ablest and best friends …2037
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
General Davie has arrived on the Portsmouth at Norfolk and brought the Treaty with France.
Letter to the Editor …
“Good news from South Carolina! … Jefferson and Burr will have every vote in that state—ca ira.”
One state’s vote, that of South Carolina, changes everything!
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
PEOPLE OF AMERICA.
Our Country and our form of government are rescued
From the talons of Monarchists.
In spite of intrigue,
In spite of terror,
In spite of unconstitutional laws,
In spite of British influence,
In spite of the Standing Army,
In spite of the Sedition Law …
The public voice of America and of virtue Prevails …
OFFICIAL RETURNS,
Of Votes for PRESIDENT and V. PRESIDENT.
Jeffer. Burr. Adams. Pinck..
Connecticut 0 0 9 9
Rhode Island 0 0 4 2
New-York, 12 12 0 0
New-Jersey 0 0 7 7
Pennsylvania, 8 8 7 7
Delaware, 0 0 3 3
Maryland, 5 5 5 5
Virginia, 21 21 0 0
Massachusetts, 0 0 16 16
New-Hamp. 0 0 6 6
S. Carolina, 8 7 0 0
Total 54 53 57 53
VOTES TO COME IN
Vermont, North-Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee.
THE [PROJECTED] WHOLE VOTE
Jeffer. Burr. Adams. Pinck..
73 70 65 61
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Huzza!—Huzza!—out neighbors! lend your eyes, spectacles and all! From the [very Federalist] Philadelphia Gazette of last night,
“Since Thursday last, the eight percent Stock of the United States has experienced a fall of 5 1-2 per cent, in consequence of the election of Mr. Jefferson.”
A good Federalist, who constantly hears the rev. Mr. Abercrombie, declared yesterday in the street that if “Jesus Christ were to come from Heaven, and say so, he would not believe Jefferson could ever be president.”—This man no doubt is not an atheist—nor a deist—nor a jacobin—he is one of the true High Church Tory Christians.
Arrangements are making for a festive celebration—uniting the objects of national joy with benevolence … [L]et the whole meet on one joyous day for temperate recreation and congratulation.
What a contrast does the conduct of the republicans exhibit in the present triumph! with that of their adversaries. No insults passing the streets—no rioting or breaking windows—no savage orgies as the streets exhibited four years ago. Men turn around now and reflect that peace and concord is once more to bless our cities and our country, that the cries of war and spies of sedition no longer infest our firesides.
We hear, without being able to vouch for its authenticity, that a FRENCH MINISTER has arrived at Norfolk. Nat. Intl.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
From recent information, it appears highly likely that Mr. Jefferson will be the President of the United States for the four ensuing years, commencing on the fourth day of March next. This circumstance, so much regretted by the Editor of this Gazette and all real Americans, may be attributed to … certain Gentlemen whose non-attendance at the post of duty at the important hour will be remembered …
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The following is copied from [a Federalist paper] of last evening—“There is nothing easier accounted for than the different effects which have been produced by the present and last election. At the last, the democrats were frustrated … Assaults, window breakings, &c. were the consequence.—In the present election, it appears that the Federalists have been disappointed.—What is the effect? We have no riotings, assaults, or commotions …”
Upon this paragraph we shall ask, was Joe Thomas a republican? was young Nichols, the son of a federal marshal, a republican? Whose windows were broke? The windows of the Aurora Office. Who were insulted—Judge McKean, Mr. [Alexander James] Dallas, Israel Israel, Benjamin Franklin Bache! … We have indeed no riotings now—and for sound and solid reasons; that kind of work has gone too far—M’Pherson’s blues could no longer impose upon this city, they who covered riot and disturbed the police under countenance of the magistrates and men in place. The marshal cannot now usurp the authority of the governor of the state to call out a train of military Janazaries, under pretence of keeping the peace, breaking it and spreading alarm. The functions of power are now restored to their legitimate organs and the violences of former days dare not now be acted again. The thirty ruffians who attacked this office, more than a year ago, are now some of them professing to be republicans, others of them bankrupts, and all of them stink in the nose of society.
Extract from a [letter to the editor from a Pennsylvania] Member of Congress at Washington …
“At length our wishes are accomplished, and I may venture to congratulate you, and indeed my country, on the success of the republican cause in the election of Mr. Jefferson.—auspicious event! would to Heaven I could be with you and our mutual friends in Philadelphia this moment to participate in the common joy! our exultations here [in Washington] are confined to too narrow a sphere—a wilderness is not the place to enjoy the incipient millennium.
“You have, ere this will reach you, heard the result of our twin sister South Carolina—I call her twin sister because if Pennsylvania had not been cursed with a Senate hostile to the public will … her voice would also have been undividedly in favour of Jefferson. South Carolina has snatched us from disgrace and ruin—no feelings in union with monarchy operated upon her Legislature!”
Today, in Washington, Thomas Jefferson writes John Breckenridge:
[T]he State of S. Carolina (the only one about which there was uncertainty) has given a republican vote and saved us from the consequences of the annihilation of Pennsylvania … General Davie has arrived here with the treaty formed (under the name of a convention) with France. It is now before the Senate for ratification … He believes firmly that a continental peace in Europe will take place and that England also may be comprehended.2038
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
THE period which we have looked for so long and with so much anxiety has at length arrived … On Thursday arrived in Hampton Roads, the United States ship Portsmouth, Captain M’Neil, in 45 days from Havre [France]. General Davie, one of our envoys to the French Republic returned in the Portsmouth …
The accounts now in circulation are that all differences with the French Republic have been amicably adjusted; that a treaty, honorable to both nations, has been concluded; and that it now only remains for the President and Senate … to ratify a treaty concluded under their auspices and put an end to the contentions which have so long distracted the people of this country.
The news from Europe is not momentous. Negociation still continued the order of the day, and a general peace seemed probable.
Tonight, in the Gazette of the United States:
Extract of a letter from Washington … The Aurora-man has without doubt been let into the secret of the French Treaty. He will not be in a hurry to publish it. The Anti’s here say it is a bitter pill …
MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
CONVENTION OF AMITY & COMMERCE
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE FRENCH REPUBLIC …
The first consul of the French republic [Napoleon Bonaparte], in the name of the French people, and the president of the United States of America … have agreed to the following articles:
Article I. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, and a true and sincere friendship between the French Republic and the United States of America, as well as their countries, territories, cities, and places, as between their citizens and inhabitants, without exception of persons and places.
II. The Ministers Plenipotentiary of the two parties, not being empowered at present to agree relative to the treaty of alliance of the 6th of February, 1778 [or] to the treaty of commerce of the same date … said treaties … shall have no effect …
III. The ships belonging to the state taken on either side, or which may be taken before the exchange of ratifications … shall be mutually restored …
IV. The properties captured … shall be mutually restored …
America and France will be at peace. They will no longer, however, be allies!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The Fourth of March 1801 will become as celebrated in history as the 4th of July 1776 for the emancipation of the American states from British influence and tyranny. The election of a Republican President is a new declaration of independence, as important in its consequences as that of ‘76 and of much more difficult achievement.
Our former contest with England was merely a matter of strength. The contest which has just been closed was a war of interest, vice and corruption against principle, virtue, and patriotism. Our country became filled with foreign spies and domestic traitors who were on the eve of subverting our constitution and liberty—but the irresistible voice of a free people has banished them forever and declared that the fourth of March 1801 shall become the birthday of our regenerated independence and liberty.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1800
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
The anglo-federalists are about to lose all their honorable distinctions: president, secretaries, senators &c. wil
l be shortly mixed with the obscure swinish multitude;—what a sad reversal of good order!
(B. AM.)
Today, President John Adams writes a friend,
How mighty a power is the spirit of party! How decisive and unanimous it is! Seventy-three for Mr. Jefferson … In the case of Mr. Jefferson, there is nothing wonderful … What course is it we steer and to what harbor are we bound? … I am wholly at a loss.2039
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1801
GENERAL * AURORA * ADVERTISER
In the legislative system of Pennsylvania, of what use is the SENATE? …
[W]e have for some time had reason to doubt whether the machine of government (to use the metaphor of the illustrious Franklin) can proceed efficaciously for having one horse [the House] to draw before and two [the Senate and Executive] to drag behind.
Nor can we see the consistency of having one set of representatives to express the public will and another to oppose it: one to build up, and another to pull down. Nor can we divine why the least numerous and least perfect class of representatives should have it in their power to controul or paralize the operation of the rest.
Nor why the partial representatives of public opinion four years ago shall counteract or controul the public sentiment of the present day. In the election of such a Senate, no room is allowed for those changes in the public mind which more recent facts and more accurate discussion have reasonably occasioned … Such has been, is, and such will be the case; and hence are the people of Pennsylvania at this moment deprived of their due share in the election of the most important Magistrate in the Union …