A Magnificent Catastrophe

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A Magnificent Catastrophe Page 35

by Edward J. Larson


  “at an age”: Jefferson, Writings, p. 273 (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 25).

  “It is good”: E.g., Mason, “Voice of Warning,” pp. 21–22.

  “If Jefferson is”: A Christian Federalist, “A Short Address to the Voters of Delaware” (Dover: Black, 1800), p. 3.

  “THE GRAND QUESTION”: E.g., Gazette of the United States, Sept. 13, 1800, p. 3.

  “lying pamphlets” and “absolute falsehoods”: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800, PTJ, 32:168.

  “As to the calumny”: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, May 26, 1800, PTJ, 31:590.

  “I have a view” and following: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800, WTJ (Ford), 9:148. In the original, Jefferson used the Latin phrase from Horace, “genus irritabile vatum,” which, in context, I have translated “irritable race of critics”—though perhaps Jefferson had Dwight in mind and did mean “poets.”

  “an adorer of our God”: John James Beckley, “Address to the People of the United States with an Epitome and Vindication of the Public Life and Character of Thomas Jefferson” (Philadelphia: Carey, 1800), p. 32.

  “a real Christian” and following quotes from Clinton [DeWitt Clinton]: “A Vindication of Thomas Jefferson Against the Charges Contained in a Pamphlet Entitled ‘Serious Considerations’ etc.” (New York: Denniston, 1800), pp. 6 and 33.

  “It will, I trust”: John Beckley to James Monroe, Aug. 26, 1800, in Noble E. Cunningham Jr., The Jeffersonian Republicans: The Formation of Party Organization, 1789–1801 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1957), p. 198.

  “sound practical”: Tench Coxe, et al., “To the Republican Citizens of the State of Pennsylvania” (Lancaster: Dickson, 1800), p. 14.

  “does not think”: Joseph Bloomfield, “To the People of New-Jersey,” p. 1, in EAI, Evans no. 38656.

  “The fact is”: Independent Chronicle, July 17–21, 1800, p. 2.

  “Mr. Jefferson stands”: Independent Chronicle, June 26–30, 1800, p. 2.

  “I have always”: [Clinton], “Vindication of Jefferson,” p. 33.

  “the first of men”: Timothy Dwight, “The Triumph of Infidelity Rightly Attended” (1788), complete text in Early America’s Digital Archive at http://narcissus.umd.edu/eada. For an example of the political use of this poem by Republicans, see Marcus Brutus, “Serious Facts Opposed to ‘Serious Consideration’” (n.c: n.p., 1800), p. 10.

  “Now I don’t know”: Centinel of Freedom, Nov. 4, 1800, p. 1.

  “Your President”: Mason, “Voice of Warning,” p. 30.

  “Mr. Adams may”: Carolina Gazette, Oct. 23, 1800, p. 1.

  “No people differ more”: National Intelligencer, Nov. 10, 1800, p. 2.

  “an established church”: Aurora, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 2.

  “indignation at the charge”: Fisher Ames to Rufus King, Sept. 24, 1800, LCRK, 3:304.

  “done more to shuffle”: John Adams to John Trumbull, Sept. 10, 1800, WJA, 9:83.

  “The secret whisper”: John Adams to Benjamin Rush, June 12, 1812, Spur of Fame, p. 224.

  “The foundation” and following quotes from Bishop: Abraham Bishop, “An Oration on the Extent and Power of Political Delusion” (Philadelphia: Carey, 1800), pp. iii, 15, and 26.

  “Do you ask”: Jonathan Russell, “To the Freemen of Rhode Island” (Providence: n.p., 1800), pp. 2–3.

  “and an enslaved”: Brutus, “Serious Facts,” p. 4.

  “Federalism a mask”: Aurora, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 2.

  “I believe in Alexander Hamilton”: Centinel of Freedom, Dec. 9, 1800, p. 2 (reprint from Hartford Mercury).

  “Mr. Adams, it is said”: Constitutional Telegraphe, June 25, 1800, p. 1.

  “the two Mr. Pinckneys”: Constitutional Telegraphe, Oct. 18, 1800, p. 1 (reprint of Adams’s letter).

  “must have been founded”: Constitutional Telegraphe, Oct. 18, 1800, p. 1 (reprint of Pinckney’s letter).

  “proof, strong proof”: Constitutional Telegraphe, Oct. 18, 1800, p. 1 (reprint of Adams’s letter).

  “Our country is prosperous”: Federal Gazette, Aug. 11, 1800, p. 2.

  “This is the 12th year”: Christian Federalist, “Short Address,” p. 5.

  “They are composed”: Connecticut Courant, Nov. 24, 1800, p. 2.

  “chimney-sweeper politicians”: Gazette of the United States, quoted in Susan Dunn, Jefferson’s Second Revolution: The Election Crisis of 1800 and the Triumph of Republicanism (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 150.

  “the very refuse”: Gazette of the United States, Aug. 5, 1800, p. 2.

  “The lower class”: Oliver Wolcott to Fisher Ames, Aug. 10, 1800, Gibbs Memoirs, 2:401.

  “The People”: Philadelphia Gazette, May 5, 1800, p. 3.

  “May he not be”: Charles Carroll of Carrollton to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 27, 1800, PAH, 25:95.

  “Science and government”: A Layman, “The Claims of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency Examined at the Bar of Christianity,” (Philadelphia: Dickins, 1800), pp. 49–50.

  “He is so true”: The Mercury and New-England Palladium, Jan. 16, 1801, p. 1.

  “Mr. Jefferson’s conduct”: Oliver Wolcott to Fisher Ames, Gibbs Memoirs, 2:401.

  “His fantastic tricks”: Charles Carroll of Carrollton to Alexander Hamilton, Apr. 18, 1800, PAH, 24:412.

  “Against the dangerous”: North Carolina Planter, “Address to the Citizens of North Carolina of the Subject of the Approaching Elections” (Raleigh: Hodge and Boylan, 1800), p. 12.

  “The philosopher is nothing” and following: American Mercury, July 31, 1800, p. 1. For an example of Federalist references to Jefferson as a “mad specula[to]rist and the fanatical reformer,” see Connecticut Courant, May 26, 1800, p. 1.

  “is intriguing with all his might”: Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard, Aug. 6, 1800, PAH, 25:58.

  “It is admitted”: Maryland Herald, Sept. 25, 1800, p. 1.

  “These are always”: Thomas Boylston Adams to William Shaw, Aug. 8, 1800, ed. Charles Grenfill Washburn, “Letters of Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 1799–1823,” American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, n.s. 27 (1917), p. 121.

  “The candidates on both sides”: Oliver Wolcott to Fisher Ames, Aug. 10, 1800, Gibbs Memoirs, 2:404.

  “Here the candidates”: Adams to Shaw, p. 121.

  “The measures of”: Federal Gazette, July 28, 1800, p. 3.

  “a tried, firm”: Maryland Herald, Sept. 25, 1800, p. 1.

  “You may be certain”: Federal Gazette, Aug. 14, 1800, p. 2.

  “If ever an occasion”: Maryland Herald, Oct. 30, 1800, p. 2.

  “The right of election”: Federal Gazette, Aug. 21, 1800, p. 2.

  “I am aware”: Alexander Hamilton to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Aug. 7, 1800, PAH, 25:60.

  “counteract the policy”: Maryland Herald, Sept. 25, 1800, p. 1.

  “Equity among the citizens”: Federal Gazette, Aug. 11, 1800, p. 2.

  “From present appearances”: James McHenry to Philemon Dickinson, Sept. 3, 1800, PAH, 25:115.

  “it more than probable”: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, Aug. 12, 1800, PJM, 17:401.

  “Republican issue”: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, Oct. 1, 1800, PJM, 17:418.

  “It may be truly said” and following: Federal Gazette, Oct. 1, 1800, p. 2 (address dated Sept. 16, 1800).

  CHAPTER EIGHT: INSURRECTION

  “A fellow of courage”: American Citizen, Sept. 25, 1800, p. 2.

  “Death or Liberty” and following: “The Trial of Gabriel,” Journal of the Senate of Virginia (Richmond: Nelson, 1800), p. 32.

  “It is unquestionably”: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 15, 1800, WJM, 3:208.

  “Upon that very evening” and following: James Thomson Callender to Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 13, 1800, PTJ, 32:136.

  “was preparing”: Gazette of the United States, Apr. 3, 1799, p. 3.

  “The scenes which”: James Monroe to General Mathews, Mar. 17,
1802, quoted in Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993), p. 47.

  “There has been great”: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 9, 1800, WJM, 3:205.

  “The whole state”: Thomas Jefferson, Writings (New York: Library of America, 1984), p. 289 (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 28).

  “While it was possible”: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 15, 1800, PTJ, 32:144–45.

  “The sound of French”: New Hampshire Gazette, Sept. 30, 1800, p. 3.

  “Behold America”: Philadelphia Gazette, Oct. 24, 1800, p. 3.

  “The slave holders”: Gazette of the United States, Oct. 1, 1800, p. 3.

  “Truly Mr. J.”: Gazette of the United States, Sept. 18, 1800, p. 3.

  “to tread down”: The Courier, Oct. 15, 1800, p. 2.

  “The late revolt”: William Cobbett, Porcupine’s Works, 12 (London: Cobbett & Morgan, 1801), p. 141.

  “He who effects”: Connecticut Gazette, Oct. 8, 1800, p. 1.

  “shallow”: Windham Herald, Oct. 2, 1800, p. 2 (reprint from Virginia Gazette, Sept. 12, 1800).

  “the boisterous sea”: e.g., Commercial Advertiser, Oct. 1, 1800, p. 3 (quote from Thomas Jefferson to Philip Mazzei, Apr. 24, 1796, reprinted in Jefferson, Writings, p. 1037).

  “If anything will”: Boston Gazette, Oct. 9, 1800, p. 3.

  “wholly false”: Herald of Liberty, Oct. 27, 1800, p. 3 (reprint from Aurora, Oct. 7, 1800).

  “While our administration”: The Times and District of Columbia Daily Advertiser, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 2 (reprint from Aurora).

  “There was not”: E.g., American Mercury, Oct. 16, 1800, p. 3 (reprint from Aurora).

  “According to our present”: James Monroe to John Drayton, Oct. 21, 1800, WJM, 3:217.

  “I doubt not”: William Vans Murray to John Quincy Adams, Dec. 9, 1800, ed. Worthington Ford, “Letters of William Vans Murray to John Quincy Adams, 1797–1803,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association (1912), p. 663.

  “In Virginia”: Robert Troup to Rufus King, Oct. 1, 1800, LCRK, 3:316.

  “under the auspices”: Jefferson, Writings, p. 289 (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 28).

  “Where to stay the hand”: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, Sept. 20, 1800, PTJ, 32:160.

  “reprieved for transportation”: term from the time for the export of a convicted slave quoted in Egerton, Gabriel’s Rebellion, p. 112.

  “an evil of colossal”: John Adams to William Turner, Nov. 20, 1819, AFP, reel 124.

  “should fail to insure”: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, in ed. Edward J. Larson and Michael Winship, The Constitutional History: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison (New York: Modern Library, 2005), p. 106.

  “Slavery is inconsistent”: Albert Gallatin, Mar. 22, 1793, excerpt in LAG, p. 86.

  “The spirit of the master”: Jefferson, Writings, p. 289 (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 28).

  “worth diamonds”: John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, May 22, 1785, PTJ, 8:160.

  “take lessons upon”: “A Candid Address to the Freemen of the State of Rhode Island on the Subject of the Approaching Election,” rpt. in ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., History of the American Presidential Elections, 1789–1968, 1 (New York: Chelsea, 1971), p. 140.

  “The insurrection”: Gazette of the United States, Sept. 23, 1800, p. 3.

  “We augur better”: Aurora, Sept. 24, 1800, p. 2.

  “His refusal”: John F. Mercer to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 10, 1800, PTJ, 32:436.

  “It was the popular”: Federal Gazette, Oct. 25, 1800, p. 2.

  “The right of suffrage” and following: Oliver Wolcott to Fisher Ames, Aug. 10, 1800, Gibbs Memoirs, 2:404.

  “I congratulate”: Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Smith, Oct. 17, 1800, PTJ, 32:227.

  “I see no other”: Federal Gazette, Oct. 25, 1800, p. 2.

  “I have now”: Charles Peale Polk to James Madison, Oct. 10, 1800, PJM, 17:423.

  “five, perhaps six”: Gabriel Duvall to James Madison, Oct. 17, 1800, PJM, 17:424.

  “The plan”: Centinel of Freedom, Apr. 1, 1800, p. 3.

  “at the total destruction”: “At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Township of Gloucester,” Aug. 4, 1800, p. 3, in EAI, Evans no. 37525.

  “A considerable diversion”: Alexander Hamilton to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, July 1, 1800, PAH, 25:69.

  “Delaware is safe” and following: James A. Bayard to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 18, 1800, PAH, 25:69.

  “No doubt is”: Gazette of the United States, Oct. 18, 1800, p. 3.

  “Altho’ our horizon”: Caesar A. Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, Oct. 13, 1800, PTJ, 32:

  (Rodney writes the maxim in the original Latin, “Magna est veritas & prevalebit”).

  “The engine is”: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Feb. 5, 1800, PJM, 17:227.

  “On every important”: Connecticut Courant, Aug. 18, 1800, p. 1.

  “the unceasing use”: Fisher Ames to Theodore Dwight, Mar. 19, 1801, WFA, 2:1411.

  “arrest[ing] the rapid”: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, Oct. 19, 1823, WTJ (Ford), 12:316.

  “Our annual election”: Aurora, Sept. 25, 1800, p. 2.

  “It is intended”: Gazette of the United States, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 2.

  “CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA”: Aurora, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 2.

  “FEDERALISTS TO YOUR POSTS”: Gazette of the United States, Oct. 14, 1800, p. 3.

  “In a few days”: Gazette of the United States, Oct. 11, 1800, p. 2.

  “Men know his contempt”: Ibid.

  “The friends of peace”: Aurora, Oct. 4, 1800, p. 2.

  “If this be true”: John Adams to William Tudor, Dec. 13, 1800, quoted in Page Smith, John Adams, 2 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1962), p. 1034.

  “Republicans will carry”: Herald of Liberty, Oct. 20, 1800, p. 3.

  “The elections in that state”: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Pinckney, Nov. 4, 1800, PTJ, 32:242.

  “We are so beset”: Carolina Gazette, Oct. 9, 1800, p. 1.

  “The citizens of Charleston”: City Gazette, Oct. 8, 1800, p. 2.

  “Mr. C. P.’s Ticket”: South Carolina State Gazette, Oct. 11, 1800, quoted in Noble E. Cunningham Jr., The Jeffersonian Republicans: The Formation of Party Organization, 1789–1801 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1957), p. 189.

  “You know we can form”: Thomas Pinckney to John Rutledge Jr., Sept. 23, 1800, in Marvin R. Zahniser, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney: Founding Father (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967), p. 222.

  “I have taken post”: Charles Pinckney to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 22, 1800, PTJ, 32:256–57.

  CHAPTER NINE: THUNDERSTRUCK

  “The rage of the Hamilton”: John Adams to James Lloyd, Feb. 17, 1815, WJA, 10:126.

  “for his part”: Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, July 12, 1800, PAH, 24:576 (quoting statement attributed to Hamilton).

  “statement” and following: Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, July 1, 1800, PAH, 25:4.

  “base, wicked, and cruel calumny”: Alexander Hamilton to John Adams, Oct. 1, 1800, PAH, 25:125.

  “will be converted”: George Cabot to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 21, 1800, PAH, 25:75.

  “You ought not”: Fisher Ames to Alexander Hamilton, Aug. 16, 1800, PAH, 25:87–88.

  “Whatever you may say”: Oliver Wolcott to Alexander Hamilton, Sept. 3, 1800, PAH, 25:105.

  “come too late”: James McHenry to Alexander Hamilton, Sept. 4, 1800, PAH, 25:111.

  “You see I am”: Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800, PAH, 25:54.

  “It is plain”: Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800, PAH, 25:54.

  “factious” and following: Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Sept. 26, 1800, PAH, 25:122.

  “In writing an intemperate indictment”: Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (New York: Penguin Pre
ss, 2004), p. 619.

  “letter” and following: Alexander Hamilton to Oliver Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800, PAH, 25:54.

  “Not denying to Mr. Adams” and following: Alexander Hamilton, Letter Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams (New York: Lang, 1800), pp. 4, 9, 12, 14, 20, 26, 29, 39, 47, and 52.

  “The final section”: Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 623.

  “Alexander Hamilton has been”: Aurora, Oct. 21, 1800, p. 3.

  “better that [the letter] should appear”: Salem Impartial Register, Dec. 4, 1800, p. 3.

  “The subject which now occupies” and following: Robert Troup to Rufus King, Nov. 9, 1800, LCRK, 3:330–31.

  “I cannot describe to you”: Robert Troup to Rufus King, Oct. 1, 1800, LCRK, 3:315.

  “The press teems”: Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, Nov. 13, 1800, PAH, 25:236.

  “Those amongst the Federalists”: James McHenry to Alexander Hamilton, Nov. 19, 1800, PAH, 25:242.

  “I regret”: John Adams to Uzal Ogden, Dec. 3, 1800, WJA, 9:576.

  “Among the very few truths”: John Adams to John Jay, Nov. 24, 1800, WJA, 9:91.

  “I shall not say anything”: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, Nov. 10, 1800, NLAA, p. 255.

  “gross lies”: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, Nov. 21, 1800, NLAA, p. 258.

  “Admitting all your charges”: American Mercury, Nov. 6, 1800, p. 2.

  “I am bound”: George Cabot to Alexander Hamilton, Nov. 29, 1800, PAH, 25:249.

  “We are all thunderstruck”: Bushrod Washington to Oliver Wolcott, Nov. 1, 1800, PAH, 25:249.

  “This letter”: Robert Troup to Rufus King, Dec. 4, 1800, LCRK, 3:340.

  “Our enemies”: Robert Troup to Rufus King, Nov. 9, 1800, LCRK, 3:331.

  “Hamilton’s attack upon Mr. Adams”: [Bishop] James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 1, 1800, PTJ, 32:239.

  “would have subjected”: Centinel of Freedom, Oct. 28, 1800, p. 3.

  “From what I have heard”: James Monroe to James Madison, Nov. 7, 1800, WJM, 3:220.

  “An eventful period”: Courier of New Hampshire, Nov. 1, 1800, p. 1.

  “The elections have” and following: James Madison to James Monroe, Nov. 10, 1800, PJM, 17:434.

  “If war in any degree”: John Adams to John Marshall, Sept. 4, 1800, PJMar, 4:257.

 

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