The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4). Beveridge Albert Jeremiah
eridge
The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)
LIST OF ABBREVIATED TITLES MOST FREQUENTLY CITED
Am. St. Prs. See American State Papers.
Beard: Econ. I. C. See Beard, Charles A. Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States.
Beard: Econ. O. J. D. See Beard, Charles A. Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy.
Cor. Rev.: Sparks. See Sparks, Jared. Correspondence of the Revolution.
Cunningham Letters. See Adams, John. Correspondence with William Cunningham.
Letters: Ford. See Vans Murray, William. Letters to John Quincy Adams. Edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford.
Monroe's Writings: Hamilton. See Monroe, James. Writings. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton.
Old Family Letters. See Adams, John. Old Family Letters. Edited by Alexander Biddle.
Works: Adams. See Adams, John. Works. Edited by Charles Francis Adams.
Works: Ames. See Ames, Fisher. Works. Edited by Seth Ames.
Works: Ford. See Jefferson, Thomas. Works. Federal Edition. Edited by Paul Leicester Ford.
Works: Hamilton. See Hamilton, Alexander. Works. Edited by John C. Hamilton.
Works: Lodge. See Hamilton, Alexander. Works. Federal Edition. Edited by Henry Cabot Lodge.
Writings: Conway. See Paine, Thomas. Writings. Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway.
Writings: Ford. See Washington, George. Writings. Edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford.
Writings: Hunt. See Madison, James. Writings. Edited by Gaillard Hunt.
Writings, J. Q. A.: Ford. See Adams, John Quincy. Writings. Edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford.
Writings: Smyth. See Franklin, Benjamin. Writings. Edited by Albert Henry Smyth.
Writings: Sparks. See Washington, George. Writings. Edited by Jared Sparks.
THE LIFE OF JOHN MARSHALL
CHAPTER I
INFLUENCE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ON AMERICA
Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than it now is. (Jefferson.)
That malignant philosophy which can coolly and deliberately pursue, through oceans of blood, abstract systems for the attainment of some fancied untried good. (Marshall.)
The only genuine liberty consists in a mean equally distant from the despotism of an individual and a million. ("Publicola": J. Q. Adams, 1792.)
The decision of the French King, Louis XVI, on the advice of his Ministers, to weaken Great Britain by aiding the Americans in their War for Independence, while it accomplished its purpose, was fatal to himself and to the Monarchy of France. As a result, Great Britain lost America, but Louis lost his head. Had not the Bourbon Government sent troops, fleets, munitions, and money to the support of the failing and desperate American fortunes, it is probable that Washington would not have prevailed; and the fires of the French holocaust which flamed throughout the world surely would not have been lit so soon.
The success of the American patriots in their armed resistance to the rule of George III, although brought about by the aid of the French Crown, was, nevertheless, the shining and dramatic example which Frenchmen imitated in beginning that vast and elemental upheaval called the French Revolution.1 Thus the unnatural alliance in 1778 between French Autocracy and American Liberty was one of the great and decisive events of human history.
In the same year, 1789, that the American Republic began its career under the forms of a National Government, the curtain rose in France on that tremendous drama which will forever engage the interest of mankind. And just as the American Revolution vitally influenced French opinion, so the French Revolution profoundly affected American thought; and, definitely, helped to shape those contending forces in American life that are still waging their conflict.
While the economic issue, so sharp in the adoption of the Constitution, became still keener, as will appear, after the National Government was established, it was given a higher temper in the forge of the French Revolution. American history, especially of the period now under consideration, can be read correctly only by the lights that shine from that titanic smithy; can be understood only by considering the effect upon the people, the thinkers, and the statesmen of America, of the deeds done and words spoken in France during those inspiring if monstrous years.
The naturally conservative or radical temperaments of men in America were hardened by every episode of the French convulsion. The events in France, at this time, operated upon men like Hamilton on the one hand, and Jefferson on the other hand, in a fashion as deep and lasting as it was antagonistic and antipodal; and the intellectual and moral phenomena, manifested in picturesque guise among the people in America, impressed those who already were, and those who were to become, the leaders of American opinion, as much as the events of the Gallic cataclysm itself.
George Washington at the summit of his fame, and John Marshall just beginning his ascent, were alike confirmed in that non-popular tendency of thought and feeling which both avowed in the dark years between our War for Independence and the adoption of our Constitution.2 In reviewing all the situations, not otherwise to be fully understood, that arose from the time Washington became President until Marshall took his seat as Chief Justice, we must have always before our eyes the extraordinary scenes and consider the delirious emotions which the French Revolution produced in America. It must be constantly borne in mind that Americans of the period now under discussion did not and could not look upon it with present-day knowledge, perspective, or calmness. What is here set down is, therefore, an attempt to portray the effects of that volcanic eruption of human forces upon the minds and hearts of those who witnessed, from across the ocean, its flames mounting to the heavens and its lava pouring over the whole earth.
Unless this portrayal is given, a blank must be left in a recital of the development of American radical and conservative sentiment and of the formation of the first of American political parties. Certainly for the purposes of the present work, an outline, at least, of the effect of the French Revolution on American thought and feeling is indispensable. Just as the careers of Marshall and Jefferson are inseparably intertwined, and as neither can be fully understood without considering the other, so the American by-products of the French Revolution must be examined if we would comprehend either of these great protagonists of hostile theories of democratic government.
At first everybody in America heartily approved the French reform movement. Marshall describes for us this unanimous approbation. "A great revolution had commenced in that country," he writes, "the first stage of which was completed by limiting the powers of the monarch, and by the establishment of a popular assembly. In no part of the globe was this revolution hailed with more joy than in America. The influence it would have on the affairs of the world was not then distinctly foreseen; and the philanthropist, without becoming a political partisan, rejoiced in the event. On this subject, therefore, but one sentiment existed."3
Jefferson had written from Paris, a short time before leaving for America: "A complete revolution in this [French] government, has been effected merely by the force of public opinion; … and this revolution has not cost a single life."4 So little did his glowing mind then understand the forces which he had helped set in motion. A little later he advises Madison of the danger threatening the reformed French Government, but adds, reassuringly, that though "the lees … of the patriotic party [the French radical party] of wicked principles & desperate fortunes" led by Mirabeau who "is the
"That the principles of America opened the Bastille is not to be doubted." (Thomas Paine to Washington, May 1, 1790;
"Did not the American Revolution produce the French Revolution? And did not the French Revolution produce all the Calamities and Desolations to the human Race and the whole Globe ever since?" (Adams to Rush, Aug. 28, 1811;
"Many of … the leaders [of the French Revolution] have imbibed their principles in America, and all have been fired by our example." (Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Paris, April 29, 1789;
"All the friends of freedom on this side the Atlantic are now rejoicing for an event which … has been accelerated by the American Revolution… You have been the means of raising that spirit in Europe which … will … extinguish every remain of that barbarous servitude under which all the European nations, in a less … degree, have so long been subject." (Catharine M. Graham to Washington, Berks (England), Oct. 1789;
See vol. i, chap. viii, of this work.
Marshall, ii, 155. "The mad harangues of the [French] National Convention were all translated and circulated through the States. The enthusiasm they excited it is impossible for me to describe." (Cobbett in "Summary View"; Cobbett, i, 98.)
Jefferson to Humphreys, March 18, 1789;