4. Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1850 (Princeton, 1962), I, 3–20; James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, 1800–1828 (New York, 1966). There is also a splendid summary in Martin Smelser, The Democratic Republic, 1801–1815 (New York, 1968), 2–5.
5. Bob Arnbeck, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800 (Lanham, 1991); Charles Janson, The Stranger in America (London, 1807). For an excellent collection of travelers’ accounts and early maps, see John W. Reps, Washington on View: The Nation’s Capital Since 1790 (Chapel Hill, 1991), 50–85.
6. Smith, Forty Years, 10–13; George Waterston, The L… Family at Washington, or A Winter in the Metropolis (Washington, 1822), 21–22; Reps, Washington on View, 51.
7. See, for example, the description of the Capitol in History, I, 135.
8. For a convenient review of the scholarly literature on Burr, see J. C. A. Stagg, “The Enigma of Aaron Burr,” Reviews in American History, XII (1984), 378–82. The standard biographies are Nathan Schachner, Aaron Burr: A Biography (New York, 1937) and Milton Lomastz, Aaron Burr (2 vols., New York, 1979–83). Though obviously not reliable as history, Gore Vidal’s Burr (New York, 1973) is a fictional treatment of considerable erudition and even greater wit.
9. Sisson, Revolution of 1800, 13–58, offers the fullest secondary account of the election.
10. On the election in the House, see Morton Borden, The Federalism of James A. Bayard (New York, 1955), 73–95.
11. There is no first-rate modern biography of Marshall. Leonard Baker, John Marshall: A Life in Law (New York, 1974) falls short. The best biography remains Albert J. Beveridge, Life of John Marshall (4 vols., Boston, 1916–19).
12. The “twistifications” reference is from Jefferson to James Madison, May 25, 1810, Smith, III, 1632. John Marshall to Alexander Hamilton, January 1, 1800, Charles F. Hobson, ed., The Papers of John Marshall (7 vols., Chapel Hill, 1974– ), VI, 46–47.
13. For the midnight judges story and Adams’s view of the political context, see Ellis, Passionate Sage, 19–26.
14. John Marshall to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, March 4, 1801; Jefferson to John Marshall, March 4, 1801; Marshall to Jefferson, March 4, 1801, Hobson, ed., Marshall Papers, VI, 88–89.
15. Sisson, Revolution of 1800, 41–58; Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 726–42.
16. Smith, Forty Years, 25–26; Jefferson to James Monroe, February 18, 1801, Ford, VII, 490–91; Malone, IV, 10–14.
17. My interpretation of Jefferson’s political ideology in 1800 draws upon my reading in the vast scholarly literature on republicanism that has appeared over the last thirty years. For a succinct summary of the “oppositional” argument, see Banning, Jeffersonian Persuasion, 273–302. For the Federalists’ fears of Jefferson, see Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism, 746–50. The quotation is from Charles Lee to Leven Powell, February 11, 1802, cited in Cunningham, Jeffersonian Republicans, 316.
18. Jefferson to Gideon Granger, August 13, 1800, LC; in the same vein, see Jefferson to Thomas Lomax, February 25, 1801, Ford, VII, 500. The classic secondary account of what was in Jefferson’s mind as he assumed the presidency is History, I, 145–47.
19. Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, January 16, 1801, Harold Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (27 vols., New York, 1961–81), XXV, 319–20.
20. The Inaugural Address is printed in a somewhat muddled fashion in Ford, VIII, 1–6. I am indebted to Andrew Burstein, who provided me with copies of Jefferson’s final draft from the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress.
21. Ford, VIII, 5.
22. Ibid., 3, 4.
23. Compare the handwritten version in the Library of Congress with the printed version that appeared in the National Intelligencer, March 4, 1801. Alexander Hamilton, “An Address to the Electors of the State of New York,” March 21, 1801, Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XXV, 365. See also Elkins and McKitrick on the reconciliation theme in Age of Federalism, 750–54.
24. John Marshall to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, March 4, 1801, Hobson, ed., Marshall Papers, VI, 89.
25. Ford, VIII, 4.
26. Ibid., 3.
27. Jefferson to John Dickinson, March 6, 1801; Jefferson to Nathaniel Niles, March 22, 1801; Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, March 24, 1801; Jefferson to Samuel Adams, March 29, 1801, Ford, VIII, 7–8, 24–25, 35–37, 38–40.
28. Jefferson to John Dickinson, March 6, 1801, Ford, VIII, 7.
29. The classic account, and it truly is, of the domestic and international situation on the eve of Jefferson’s presidency, is History, I, 5–125.
30. A concise summary of the scholarly overview is available in Smelser, Democratic Republic, 20–44. Jefferson’s own sense of the favorable conditions can be seen in Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, March 21, 1801; Jefferson to George Logan, March 21, 1801, Ford, VII, 21–23. The “noiseless course” remark is from Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, November 29, 1802, ibid., VIII, 178.
31. Jefferson to Gideon Granger, October 31, 1801, LC. The reference to Adams’s tantrums is in Jefferson to William Short, June 12, 1807, Ford, X, 414–15. For an excellent appraisal of Jefferson’s cabinet by a shrewd contemporary, see John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, November 1804, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 437.
32. Cunningham, Process of Government, 14–15. Koch, Jefferson and Madison, 212–59, for Madison’s role, as well as the more recent treatment in Smith, II, 1164–68. Gallatin still awaits a modern biographer who is up to the subject. On his administrative skill, see Jay C. Henlein, “Albert Gallatin: A Pioneer in Public Administration,” WMQ, VII (1950), 64–94 and Leonard D. White, The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801–1829 (New York, 1951), 71–74.
33. Once again, the subject has been treated by scores of political historians, but none has surpassed the version in History I, 148–68.
34. See Jefferson’s original statement of his administrative style in his “Circular to the Heads of Departments,” November 6, 1801, Smith, II, 1201–02, which is also available in Ford, VIII, 99–101. A modern appraisal of Jefferson as moderator of cabinet sessions is Robert M. Johnstone, Jr., Jefferson and the Presidency: Leadership in the Young Republic (Ithaca, 1978), 80–113.
35. Jefferson to Destutt de Tracy, January 26, 1811, and Jefferson to Joel Barlow, January 24, 1810, Ford, X, 184; IX, 269. Cunningham, Process of Government, 60–71; Jefferson to Madison, April 9, 1804, Smith, II, 1304.
36. Smith, Forty Years, 28, 34–35, 46–47, 80; Louisa Catherine Adams, November 1803, Microfilm Edition of Adams Papers, Reel 269; William Plumer, Memorandum of Proceedings in the United States Senate, 1803–1807, ed. E. S. Brown (New York, 1923), 455. On the Merry Affair, see “Rules of Etiquette” [November ? 1803], Ford, VIII, 276–77; Jefferson to James Monroe, January 8, 1804, ibid., 290–91; Jefferson to William Short, January 23, 1804, LC; History, I, 546–67.
37. Cunningham, Process of Government, 42–43; Johnstone, Jefferson Presidency, 33–34.
38. Cunningham, Process of Government, 25–26. See also Jeffrey K. Tules, The Rhetorical Presidency (Princeton, 1987), 70–71.
39. Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, November 16, 1801, LC; Jefferson to William Thornton, February 14, 1802, LC; Jefferson to James Madison, December 29, 1801, Smith, II, 1211–12. Cunningham, Process of Government, 35–41.
40. Jefferson to Madison, November 12, 1801, Smith, II, 1203; Albert Gallatin to Jefferson, November 21, 1802, quoted in Cunningham, Process of Government, 82.
41. Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, October 11, 1809, Ford, IX, 264; Jefferson to James Madison, December 29, 1801, Smith, II, 1212–13.
42. One of the clearest and most concise summaries of the debt issue is in Norman Risjord, Thomas Jefferson (Madison, 1994), 130–34. See also History, II, 158–63, and Albert Gallatin to Jefferson, November 16, 1801, Ford, VIII, 109–17.
43. Cunningham, Process of Government, Appendix I, 325–26, lists all the employees of the federal government
in 1801 and 1808.
44. On Adams’s worries about the reduction in the size of the navy and the likelihood of war with England, see Ellis, Passionate Sage, 106–12.
45. Sloan, Principle and Interest, 197–201.
46. First Annual Message, December 8, 1801, Ford, VIII, 108–25. The final quotation is from the Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805, ibid., 343.
47. Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, June 18, 1801, LC; Jefferson to William Short, October 3, 1801, Ford, VIII, 97–99; Jefferson to Gallatin, April 1, 1802, ibid., 139–41; Jefferson to du Pont de Nemours, January 18, 1802, ibid., 127.
48. Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, February 14, 1801; Jefferson to James Monroe, March 7, 1801; Jefferson to Horatio Gates, March 8, 1801; Jefferson to Elias Shipman, July 12, 1801, Ford, VII, 489–90; VIII, 8–10, 11–12; IX, 270–74. The fullest treatment of the patronage problem is in Cunningham, Jeffersonian Republicans, 30–70. The most incisive analysis is in Carl Prince, “The Passing of the Aristocracy: Jefferson’s Removal of the Federalists, 1801–1805,” JAH, LVII (1970), 563–75.
49. History, I, 201. This of course was just the kind of ironic predicament that Adams found most worthy of extended treatment.
50. Jefferson to William Branch Giles, March 23, 1801; Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, July 11, 1801; Jefferson to John Dickinson, July 23, 1801; Jefferson to Thomas McKean, July 24, 1801; Jefferson to Joel Barlow, May 3, 1802; Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, August 28, 1802, Ford, VIII, 25–26, 67, 75–77, 79–80, 149–50, 170.
51. New York Evening Post, June 29, 1802, quoted in Malone, IV, 83–84.
52. Jefferson’s most famous celebration of Indian nobility occurred in his Notes on Virginia. See Peden, Notes, 159–60. The fullest discussion of Jefferson’s mentality in this racial area remains Jordan, White over Black, 429–81. The quotation comes from the Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1804, Ford, VIII, 344–45. The fullest presentation of his benevolent intentions toward the Indian population during his first term is in Jefferson to Benjamin Hawkins, February 18, 1803, ibid., 213–14.
53. Jefferson to Governor William Henry Harrison, February 27, 1803, L&B, X, 368–73.
54. See Jefferson’s welcoming remarks to Indian delegates on January 7, 1802, ibid., 391–400. Also Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, December 29, 1802, LC, where he suggests that policies that force Indians to go into debt were justified on the ground that this would hasten the inevitable by leading to their removal west of the Mississippi. The seminal study of this entire question is Bernard W. Sheehan, Seeds of Extinction: Jeffersonian Philanthropy and the American Indian (Chapel Hill, 1973).
55. Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805, Ford, VIII, 345; Jefferson to James Monroe, November 24, 1801, ibid., 103–06.
56. The best book-length treatment of Jefferson’s foreign policy is Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson, Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson (New York, 1990). The best brief overview is Walter La Faber, “Jefferson and an American Foreign Policy,” Onuf, ed., Jeffersonian Legacies, 370–91.
57. Jefferson to James Madison, August 28, 1801, July 30, 1802, August 23, 1802, Smith, II, 1193, 1231–32, 1239; Jefferson to Wilson Carey Nicholas, June 11, 1801, Ford, X, 264–65. A convenient synthesis of Jefferson’s views on the Barbary pirates is available in Reginald C. Stuart, The Half-Way Pacifist: Thomas Jefferson’s View of War (Toronto, 1978), 35–51. The standard history of the naval war in the Mediterranean is William M. Fowler, Jr., Jack Tars and Commodores: The American Navy, 1783–1815 (Boston, 1984), 82–105.
58. Robert J. Allison, The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776–1815 (New York, 1995), 187–206, is excellent on the popular response to Decatur’s exploits.
59. The decision to build a small fleet of gunboats rather than the more expensive frigates was the Jefferson answer to the budget demands. See Spencer C. Tucker, The Jeffersonian Gunboat Navy (Columbia, 1993).
60. The standard account is Alexander DeConde, The Affair of Louisiana (New York, 1976). Recent and briefer scholarly treatments of the subject include Reginald Horsman, “The Dimensions of an ‘Empire for Liberty’: Expansionism and Republicanism, 1775–1825,” JER, IX (1985), 1–20; and John M. Belolavek, “Politics, Principle, and Pragmatism in the Early Republic: Thomas Jefferson and the Quest for American Empire,” Diplomatic History, XV (1991), 599–606.
61. The reference to Napoleon’s decision to “throw the province” is from the historian Edward Channing, cited in Malone, IV, 285, which also contains the quotation from the New York Evening Post. Even such a loyal Jeffersonian as Margaret Bayard Smith attributed “little or no agency” to Jefferson. See Smith, Forty Years, 40.
62. James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, May 1, 1802, quoted in Malone, IV, 258; for Jefferson’s view of Spain as a mere stalking-horse for eventual American occupation, see Jefferson to William C. Clarborne, July 13, 1801, Ford, VIII, 71–72; the Rufus King quotation is from Rufus King to James Madison, June 1, 1801, cited in Malone, IV, 249. The narrative of these heady times and the silent collaboration between Jefferson and Madison is handled with a truly deft touch in Smith, II, 1254–57.
63. Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, April 18, 1802, Ford, VIII, 143–47. The French side of this diplomatic equation is best covered in George Dangerfield, Chancellor Robert Livingston of New York, 1746–1813 (New York, 1960), 309–94.
64. Jefferson to James Monroe, January 13, 1803, Ford, VIII, 190–92; see also Jefferson to James Monroe, January 10, 1803, ibid., 188.
65. Jefferson to du Pont de Nemours, February 1, 1803, Ford, VIII, 204; Jefferson to James Madison, February 22, 1803, Smith, II, 1262; Hamilton quotation in Malone, IV, 277–78; Jefferson to John Bacon, April 30, 1803, Ford, VIII, 228–29.
66. Livingston quoted in Malone, IV, 258. The matter of Napoleon’s unfathomable character was discussed in Jefferson to James Madison, August 18, 1803, Smith, II, 1279.
67. Jefferson to L. A. Pichon, July 1802, LC. The American posture toward the insurrection in Santo Domingo was discussed in Jefferson to James Madison, November 22, 1801, Smith, II, 1204, and Jefferson to James Monroe, June 2, 1802, Ford, VIII, 152–54. The best scholarly account of Jefferson’s posture toward Toussaint is Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 (Chapel Hill, 1993), 45–48, 160–61, 168–72.
68. The Talleyrand quotation is in Malone, IV, 306; Jefferson to John Colvin, September 20, 1810, Ford, X, 146.
69. Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis, April 27, 1803, and July 15, 1803, Ford, VIII, 193–97, 199–200; also Confidential Message on Expedition to the Pacific, January 18, 1803, ibid., 202.
70. For Jefferson’s somewhat expansive interpretation of the maps, see Jefferson to James Madison, August 24, 1803, Smith, II, 1282. This is the kind of collaboration with Madison that is usually invisible to historians, but because Jefferson had retreated to Monticello to avoid Washington’s heat and humidity he was forced to correspond with Madison.
71. Jefferson to James Monroe, January 8, 1804, Ford, VIII, 289; Jefferson to John Breckinridge, August 12, 1803, ibid., 243; Jefferson to William Dunbar, September 21, 1803, ibid., 256. See also Jefferson to James Madison, July 17, 1803, September 12, 1803, September 14, 1803, Smith, II, 1272–73, 1285–86.
72. Draft of an amendment to the Constitution, [July, 1803], Ford, VIII, 241–49; Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, January 1803, ibid., 242; Jefferson to John Breckinridge, August 12, 1803, ibid., 244; Jefferson to John Dickinson, August 9, 1803, ibid., 262.
73. Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, August 30, 1803, ibid., 246; also Jefferson to Thomas Paine, August 18, 1803, ibid., 245; Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicholas, September 7, 1803, ibid., 247–48.
74. The senator was William Plumer, quoted in Plumer, Memorandum of Proceedings, 13–14. The remark by John Quincy Adams is cited in Malone, IV, 331–32.
75. Jefferson to John Breckinridge, November 24, 1803, Ford, VIII, 279–81.
76. James Mad
ison to Robert R. Livingston, January 31, 1804, cited in Malone, IV, 353.
77. Jefferson felt uneasy about his posture, but mostly because of the opening it created for his Federalist critics. See Jefferson to De Witt Clinton, December 2, 1803, and Jefferson to James Monroe, January 8, 1804, Ford, VIII, 282–83, 287–88. For the remonstrance, see Malone, IV, 359–60.
78. On his insistence that the suspension of republican principles would only be temporary, see Jefferson to James Madison, August 7, 1804, Smith, II, 1332.
79. The best discussion of Jefferson’s belief that the life span of the American republic could be extended only by territorial expansion is Drew R. McCoy, The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America (New York, 1980).
80. Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, January 29, 1804, Ford, VIII, 295.
81. The standard work on Federalist criticisms of Jeffersonian values is Linda Kerber, Federalists in Dissent: Imagery and Ideology in Jeffersonian America (Ithaca, 1970). On the politics, see David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy (New York, 1965).
82. Hamilton’s pamphlet vilifying Adams is reprinted in Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XXV, 186–209. The charges against Hamilton, along with his response, are also available in ibid., XXI, 238–85. The charges against Washington are conveniently gathered in John C. Fitzpatrick, The George Washington Scandals (Alexandria, 1929). Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, October 10, 1802, Ford, VIII, 174–75.
83. Henry Adams, ed., Documents Relating to New England Federalism (Boston, 1877), 230–32, 321–22. For the obsession with the mammoth metaphor, see Kerber, Federalists in Dissent, 69–70. For the mammoth cheese, see Malone, IV, 106–07.
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