Book Read Free

Fallen Founder

Page 58

by Nancy Isenberg


  4. For Burr’s membership in the New York Democratic Society, see Philip S. Foner, ed., The Democratic-Republican Societies, 1790–1800 (Westport, Conn., 1976), 200. Like Burr and his supporters, Swanwick shared the same belief in commercial Republicanism; see Baumann, “John Swanwick,” 139–53.

  5. Genet is the doll-like figure, dropping coins into the hand of the man seated on the floor—see Pencak, “Jews and Anti-Semitism,” 400.

  6. Richard Welch, Theodore Sedgwick, Federalist: A Political Portrait (Middleton, Conn., 1965), 130–31; Cunningham, The Jeffersonian Republicans, 63, 66; and Ferling, First of Men, 449–53.

  7. Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 160; see also “Petition against the election of Albert Gallatin,” Dec. 2, 1793, National Archives and Records of Administration, Records of the U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.

  8. Adams, Life of Albert Gallatin, 83, 87–88, 91–93, 95–96; see also Ernest, Rufus King, 195.

  9. For Taylor’s note, see Burr Papers, microfilm, reel 1; Kline, ed, Burr Papers, I: 170. Coverage of the Senate hearings appeared in the American Minerva, the Gazette of the United States, the Philadelphia Gazette, and the New York Daily Advertiser, to name just a few. For a report that the public Senate hearings attracted a “crowded audience the whole time,” see Pittsburgh Gazette, Mar. 8, 1794.

  10. See coverage of the Senate hearings in the American Minerva, Feb. 28, 1794.

  11. Gallatin also spoke in his own defense; yet his argument was very different from Burr’s definition of citizenship—Albert Gallatin to AB [before Feb. 27, 1794], in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 165. For a discussion of Gallatin’s arguments, see James H. Kettner, The Development of American Citizenship, 1608–1870 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1978), 233–34.

  12. See the notes taken by Gallatin and King on Burr’s remarks in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 168–69, 173–74.

  13. Burr’s arguments in part reflected the constitutional idea of “volitional allegiance,” popular during the Revolution. But that model was never applied to foreign-born residents. Congressman Theodore Sedgwick best expressed the Federalist stand on citizenship in December 1794, when the House debated revising the Naturalization Law. Sedgwick argued that native-born Americans had years of training, in schools and community life, that prepared them for the duties of citizenship. Anglo-American culture had to be learned through years of experience. See Kettner, The Development of American Citizenship, 194, 232–35; Welch, Theodore Sedgwick, 133–34.

  14. See AB to Samuel Smith, Dec. 17, 1800, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 472.

  15. For vote, see American Minerva, Mar. 13, 1794; see also John Adams to Abigail Adams, Mar. 2, 1794, in Adams, ed., Letters of John Adams, Addressed to his Wife, II: 145. A later account praised Burr for a “discourse of considerable ingenuity”; see [Joseph] Delaphlaine’s Repository . . . , 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1815–18), I: 183, quoted in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 170; and Ammon, James Monroe, 110.

  16. See Adams, Life of Gallatin, 100–01, 109.

  17. AB was ordering and recommending Bentham’s writings as early as 1803, long before he met him in 1808—see Kline, ed., Burr Papers, II: 767–68, 1057; Adams, Life of Gallatin, 289; Raymond D. Walters, Jr., Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat (New York, 1957); also AB to Theodosia Burr Alston, Sept. 9, 1808, in Van Doren, ed., Correspondence of Aaron Burr and his Daughter Theodosia, 242.

  18. As Gallatin wrote: “My advantages consisted in laborious investigation, habits of analysis, thorough knowledge of the subjects under discussion, and more extensive general information”—Adams, Life of Gallatin, 154, 156.

  19. William B. Hatcher, Edward Livingston: Jeffersonian Republican and Jacksonian Democrat (University, La., 1940), 25, 28–32, 36; see also “Edward Livingston,” in Harrison, ed., Princetonians, 1776–1783, II: 333–35.

  20. Joseph Charles, “The Jay Treaty: The Origins of the American Party System,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 12 (Oct. 1955): 589–90, 92–93; Young, The Democratic Republicans, 366–67; Ferling, First of Men, 437–38.

  21. For Burr’s leadership in the opposition against Jay’s appointment, see John Jay to Sarah Livingston Jay, Apr. 20, 1794, in John Jay Papers, Columbia University, New York; see also Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 177–78.

  22. For Burr’s recommendation of his stepson, see AB to James Monroe, May 30, 1794. Burr continued to write to Monroe, and send him the latest news; see AB to Monroe, July 5, Aug. 2, Sept. 11, Dec. 24, 1795; and for Tazewell and Mason’s relationship to Burr, AB to Henry Tazewell, Sept. 3, Oct. 11, 1795, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 180, 212, 223–30; see also Ammon, James Monroe, 92.

  23. Charles, “The Jay Treaty,” 592; Ferling, First of Men, 456; Mitchell, Alexander Hamilton, 333; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 212.

  24. Charles, “The Jay Treaty,” 594; Ernest, Rufus King, 206; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 219–20. For a somewhat less critical view of the Jay Treaty, see Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic, 117.

  25. See Albert Gallatin to Hannah Gallatin, June 29, 1795, in Adams, Life of Albert Gallatin, 151; AB to George Washington, June 16, 1795, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 212–15, 218–19.

  26. See “Franklin—No. XI,” Argus, May 26, 1795; “From a Correspondent,” [reprinted from the Aurora], Argus, June 20, 1795; “From a Correspondent,” [reprinted from the Aurora], New-York Journal and Patriotic Register, June 20, 1795.

  27. Charles, “The Jay Treaty,” 595. Greenleaf did publish the copy from the Aurora, but he published it at the same time he published the motions by Burr and Tazewell. Rufus King claimed that Burr been circulating his copy among his constituents—see Argus, July 3, 1795. For Burr’s motions, see Argus, July 4, 1795, and New-York Journal and Patriotic Register, July 4, 1795. For a report on King’s claims of Burr circulating his copy of the treaty, see New-York Journal, Dec. 19, 1795.

  28. See Argus, July 6, 1795; New-York Journal and Patriotic Register, July 8, 1795.

  29. The Democratiad (Philadelphia, 1795), 10–11.

  30. Aristocracy (Philadelphia, 1795). Charles E. Modlin was the first to identify this poem as an attack on Burr—see Modlin, “Aristocracy in the Early Republic,” Early American Literature 6 (1972): 252–57.

  31. Aristocracy, 15.

  32. Oliver Wolcott, Sr., to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Mar. 25, 1795, in George Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams Edited from the Papers of Oliver Wolcott (reprint New York, 1971), I: 179; see also Aristocracy, 9.

  33. For the burning of Jay’s portrait, see New York Journal, July 22, 1795; also Fisher Ames to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Sept. 2, 1795, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations, 1: 229; Young, The Democratic Republicans, 449, 450–53.

  34. Young, The Democratic Republicans, 394, 418; Ernst, Rufus King, 203; Foner, ed., The Democratic-Republican Societies, 200.

  35. AB to Henry Tazewell, Sept. 3, I795, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 226. The New York Democratic Society published a defense of their organization in the New-York Journal on May 28, 1795. In its defense, the society employed the same terms that Burr had used to justify his actions during the 1792 election controversy: that is, every citizen has the right to express his opinions, and “to hear and impartially weight the arguments on both sides of the question.” See Young, The Democratic Republicans, 415–16.

  36. Democratiad, 10; Aristocracy, 14.

  37. See Philip Schuyler to Rufus King, Dec. 16, 1794, box 5, folder 7, King Papers, New-York Historical Society, New York, N.Y.; Young, The Democratic Republicans, 430; Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 202.

  38. Young, The Democratic Republicans, 430, 441.

  39. James Madison to James Monroe, Dec. 4, 1794, in Mason and Rutland, eds., The Papers of James Madison, XV:408.

  40. Young, The Democratic Republicans, 436, 136; see chapter four: “An Unprejudiced Mind.”

  41. Young, The Democratic Republicans
, 431.

  42. See Peter Van Gaasbeek to Stephen Van Rensselaer, Dec. 30, 1794, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 185–87, 202–05.

  43. See Philip Schuyler to Rufus King, Dec. 16, 1794, in King Papers, box 5, folder 7, New-York Historical Society; and Young, The Democratic Republicans, 431–34.

  44. Young, The Democratic Republicans, 430.

  45. Federalist Daniel Hale wrote Rufus King that “Burr’s creatures are indefatigable thro the whole state.” Burr relied on friends, but not that alone. In the Albany Gazette, one of his critics claimed Burr made “unusual friendly visits in the Middle, Eastern and Western districts of this state,” supposedly riding circuit in the four counties, acting as “deputy prosecutor for the people.” See Daniel Hale to Rufus King, Dec. 23, 1794, in King Papers, box 5, folder 7, New-York Historical Society; and Albany Gazette, Dec. 8, 1794; see also Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 187.

  46. See American Minerva, Nov. 13, 1794, and Albany Gazette, Dec. 8, 1794.

  47. American Minerva, Apr. 16, 1794.

  48. AB to Henry Tazewell, Sept. 3, Oct. 11, 1795, in Kline, ed., Burr Paper, I: 226–27, 229.

  49. Dumas Malone, Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty (Boston, 1962), 276–77; Cunningham, The Jeffersonian Republicans, 86–87. The rumors about the meeting hit the newspapers in October 1796, but Federalists were already blaming Jefferson and Burr for orchestrating the opposition against the Jay Treaty in order to subvert the Federalists and win the next presidential election. See Chauncey Goodrich to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., Apr. 12, 1796, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, I: 326. This claim by Goodrich was made several months before Republicans had officially decided on Burr as Jefferson’s running mate, which was determined in July 1796.

  50. For the absence of party machinery, except in Pennsylvania, see Cunningham, The Jeffersonian Republicans, 112, 114.

  51. Adams assumed he would be the “heir apparent” as early as January 1796, but Federalist Party leaders reached this decision by spring. Madison admitted to Monroe that Jefferson had to be prodded to run, but his candidacy was confirmed by May. See Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic, 142; also James Madison to James Monroe, Feb. 26, 1796, and May 14, 1796, in J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison (Charlottesville, Va., 1989), XVI: 232–33, 358.

  52. Richard McCormick observed that the Republicans were “indifferent on the matter of the vice-presidential candidate.” Federalists also saw the contest as a battle over the presidency alone. Hamilton’s plan to place Pinckney over Adams reflects his indifference to the vice presidency; he was not selecting a running mate for Adams, but another presidential candidate. One Federalist, Oliver Wolcott, believed that Jefferson would be more dangerous as vice president than as president, because he would serve as “the rallying point of faction and French influence.” See Richard McCormick, The Presidential Game: The Origins of American Presidential Politics (New York, 1982), 52–57; and Oliver Wolcott to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., Nov. 27, 1796, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations, I: 400.

  53. Stephen G. Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams: The Collapse of Federalism, 1795–1800 (New York, 1957), 92, 94–95, 186, 203.

  54. Ibid., 93; see also L. H. Butterfield, ed., Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 4 vols. (Cambridge, 1961), 3: 229. Ulrich Phillips reinforces this view, describing Butler as the “personification of sectionalism”—see Phillips, “The South Carolina Federalists, II,” American Historical Review, 14 (July 1909): 731. Though Butler was five years older than Burr, he carried certain liabilities: he had been born in Ireland, and had been a major in the British army until 1773. He did not, however, play an active military role in the Revolution. On the other hand, he was prominent planter and had extensive service in state government and the Continental Congress before his election to the Senate—see Billy Bob Lightfoot, “The State Delegations in the Congress of the United States, 1789–1800,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Texas, 1958, 1021, 1023–24.

  55. Federalist William Loughton Smith, who reported on the meeting, claimed that Senate Republicans felt that Langdon had “no influence.” Livingston was supposedly put forward because the Virginians liked his Cato letters against the Jay Treaty. But Livingston had not held elected office in the 1790s; he was not known as a Republican leader. Livingston was an unlikely candidate because, as his biographer notes, his personal style had a way of “arousing the keenest hostility.” See William Loughton Smith to Ralph Izard, May 18, 1796, in “South Carolina Federalist Correspondence,” American Historical Review 14 (July 1909): 780; see also Dangerfield, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, 209, 228, 245–46. For Clinton as a “safe” candidate, see chapter four: “An Unprejudiced Mind”; and for Burr’s voting record, see Mary P. Ryan, “Party Formation in the United States Congress, 1789 to 1796,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 28 (Oct. 1971): 532.

  56. See excerpt in Wolcott’s papers, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administration, I: 379–80; and Jefferson to Madison, Apr. 27, 1795, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, 16: 1–2. James Roger Sharp notes how the word “southern” was later changed to “republican.” Either Jefferson changed it when preparing his papers for the historical record because the word was embarrassing, or it was altered after his death. See Sharp’s “Unraveling the Mystery of Jefferson’s Letter of April 27, 1795,” Journal of the Early Republic 6 (1986): 411–18; also Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic, 144.

  57. See John Beckley to James Madison, June 20, 1796, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, 16: 371.

  58. Ibid. Tennessee and Kentucky stood by Burr: both states gave Jefferson and Burr an equal number of votes: 4 each from Kentucky and 3 each from Tennessee—“John Brown,” in Harrison, ed., Princetonians, 1776–1783, III: 217–22; and Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 257–63.

  59. Chauncey Goodrich to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., May 13, 1796, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations, I: 338–39; Frank Monaghan, John Jay (New York, 1935), 255–61; and “John Brown,” in Harrison, ed., Princetonians, 1776–1983, III: 220.

  60. William H. Masterson, William Blount (Baton Rouge, La., 1954), 307, 316–23; “John Brown,” Princetonians, 220–21.

  61. Rufus King to AH, May 2, 1796, in Charles R. King, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, 6 vols. (1895), II: 46.

  62. John Beckley to James Madison, June 20, 1796, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, XVI: 371–72; for information on James Swan, see also AB to James Monroe, July 5, 1795, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 223–25.

  63. See John Beckley to James Madison, Oct. 15, 1796, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, XVI: 409. For Federalist worries in Connecticut, see Chauncey Goodrich to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., May 6, 1796, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations, I: 337. See also AB to Pierpont Edwards, Nov. 22, 1796, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 273.

  64. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, July 10, 1796, The Thomas Jefferson Papers, microfilm, Library of Congress; see also Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams, 103–04; John Beckley to James Madison, June 20, 1796.

  65. See Theodore Sedgwick to AH, Nov. 19, 1796, with enclosures (Dayton to Sedgwick, Nov. 12 and 13, 1796), in Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XX: 403–04; and William Blount to John Sevier, Sept. 26, 1796, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 268.

  66. John Adams to Abigail Adams, Dec. 12, 1796, Adams Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

  67. John Beckley to James Madison, Oct. 15, 1796, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, XVI: 409; and Stephen Higginson to AH, Dec. 9, 1796, in Syrett, ed., Hamilton Papers, XX: 438.

  68. [Richmond] Virginia Argus, printed in [Richmond] Virginia Gazette and General Advertiser, Oct. 12, 1796, quoted in Arthur Scherr, “The ‘Republican Experiment’ and the Election of 1796 in Virginia,” West Virginia History 37 (1976): 89.

  69. Virginian Joseph Jones informed his nephew James Madison after the election that Re
publican electors (all but one) were warned of the “hazard of voting for P[inckney]” and directed to use their second vote on “some other person.” By then, Burr was completely out of the picture—see Joseph Jones to James Madison, Dec. 9, 1796, in Stagg, ed., Papers of James Madison, XVI: 423–24. John Adams received similar reports, writing that the “Southern Gentlemen with whom I have conversed, expressed more Affection for me than they had ever did since 1774. They certainly wish Adams elected rather than Pinckney. Perhaps because Hamilton and Jay are said to be for Pinckney.” See John Adams to Abigail Adams, Dec. 12, 1796, Adams Family Papers.

  70. For Burr’s warning to Massachusetts elector Elbridge Gerry, see AB to Elbridge Gerry, Nov. 30, 1976, in Kline, ed., Burr Papers, I: 278; and for his later complaint against the Virginians, see Hannah Gallatin to Albert Gallatin, May 12, 1800, in Adams, Life of Albert Gallatin, 243; Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams, 202.

  71. AH to Rufus King, Dec. 16, 1796, in King, ed., The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, II: 126; Chauncey Goodrich to Oliver Wolcott, Sr., Dec. 17, 1796, in Gibbs, ed., Memoirs of the Administrations, I: 413; Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams, 204; and Abigail Adams to John Adams, Dec. 25, 1796, Adams Family Papers. North Carolina was not as bad as Virginia; there Jefferson received 11 to Burr’s 6 electoral votes. The rest went to Federalists: Iredell (3), John Adams (1), C. Pinckney (1), T. Pinckney (1), and Washington (1).

  72. H. H. Simms, Life of John Taylor (Richmond, Va., 1932), 64; and Kurtz, The Presidency of John Adams, 198.

  73. Robert Troup to Rufus King, Jan. 28, 1797, in King, ed., Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, II: 135–36.

 

‹ Prev