Albert Beveridge - The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)

This was emphatically true. From the National point of view it was the best feature of Hamilton's plan.

In his old age, John Adams, Hamilton's most venomous and unforgiving enemy, while unsparing in his personal abuse, paid high tribute to the wisdom and necessity of Hamilton's financial statesmanship. "I know not," writes Adams, "how Hamilton could have done otherwise." (Adams to Rush, Aug. 23, 1805; Old Family Letters , 75.) "The sudden rise of public securities, after the establishment of the funding system was no misfortune to the Public but an advantage. The necessity of that system arose from the inconsistency of the People in contracting debts and then refusing to pay them." (Same to same, Jan. 25, 1806; ib. , 93.)

Fisher Ames thus states the different interests of the sections: "The funding system, they [Southern members of Congress] say, is in favor of the moneyed interest – oppressive to the land; that is, favorable to us [Northern people], hard on them. They pay tribute, they say, and the middle and eastern people … receive it. And here is the burden of the song, almost all the little [certificates of State or Continental debts] that they had and which cost them twenty shillings, for supplies or services, has been bought up, at a low rate, and now they pay more tax towards the interest than they received for the paper. This tribute , they say, is aggravating." (Ames to Minot, Nov. 30, 1791; Works : Ames, i, 104.)

Marshall, ii, 181. The attack on Hamilton's financial plan and especially on Assumption was the beginning of the definite organization of the Republican Party. (Washington's Diary : Lossing, 166.)

Gore to King, July 25, 1790; King, i, 392; and see McMaster, ii, 22.

At one time, when it appeared that Assumption was defeated, Sedgwick of Massachusetts intimated that his section might secede. ( Annals , 1st Cong., April 12, 1790, pp. 1577-78; and see Rives, iii, 90 et seq. )

Marshall's statement of the debate is the best and fairest brief account of this historic conflict. (See Marshall, ii, 181-90. See entire debate in Annals , 1st Cong., i, ii, under caption "Public Debt.")

"This despicable grog-shop contest, whether the taverns of New York or Philadelphia shall get the custom of Congress, keeps us in discord and covers us all with disgrace." (Ames to Dwight, June 11, 1790; Works : Ames, i, 80.)

Jefferson to Monroe, June 20, 1790; Works : Ford, vi, 78-80; and see ib. , 76; to Gilmer, June 27, ib. , 83; to Rutledge, July 4, ib. , 87-88; to Harvie, July 25, ib. , 108.

Ib. ; and see also Jefferson to Eppes, July 25, ib. , 106; to Randolph, March 28, ib. , 37; to same, April 18, ib. , 47; to Lee, April 26, ib. , 53; to Mason, June 13, ib. , 75; to Randolph, June 20, ib. , 76-77; to Monroe, June 20, ib. , 79; to Dumas, June 23, ib. , 82; to Rutledge, July 4, ib. , 87-88; to Dumas, July 13, ib. , 96. Compare these letters with Jefferson's statement, February, 1793; ib. , vii, 224-26; and with the "Anas," ib. , i, 171-78. Jefferson then declared that "I was really a stranger to the whole subject." ( Ib. , 176.)

Jefferson's statement; Works : Ford, vii, 224-26, and i, 175-77.

Gibbs, i, 32; and see Marshall, ii, 190-91.

Henry, ii, 453. But Marshall says that more votes would have changed had that been necessary to consummate the bargain. (See Marshall, ii, footnote to 191.)

Ib. , 192.

Marshall, ii, 191-92.

Henry, ii, 453-55.

Journal, H.D. (1790), 35.

Journal, H.D. (1790), 35.

Ib.

Ib. , 80-81.

Journal, H.D. (1790), 80-81; and see Am. St. Prs., Finance , i, 90-91. The economic distinction is here clearly drawn. Jefferson, who later made this a chief part of his attack, had not yet raised the point.

Ames to Minot, Feb. 16, 1792; Works : Ames, i, 113.

This was the sentence which declared that Hamilton's reasoning would result in "fictitious wealth through a paper medium," referring to his plan for making the transferable certificates of the National debt serve as currency.

Journal, H.D. (1790), 141.

Hamilton to Jay, Nov. 13, 1790; Works : Lodge, ix, 473-74. Virginia was becoming very hostile to the new Government. First, there was a report that Congress was about to emancipate the slaves. Then came the news of the Assumption of the State debts, with the presence in Virginia of speculators from other States buying up State securities; and this added gall to the bitter cup which Virginians felt the National Government was forcing them to drink. Finally the tidings that the Senate had defeated the motion for public sessions inflamed the public mind still more. (Stuart to Washington, June 2, 1790; Writings : Ford, xi, footnote to 482.)

Even close friends of Washington deeply deplored a "spirit so subversive of the true principles of the constitution… If Mr. Henry has sufficient boldness to aim the blow at its [Constitution's] existence, which he has threatened, I think he can never meet with a more favorable opportunity if the assumption should take place." ( Ib. )

Washington replied that Stuart's letter pained him. "The public mind in Virginia … seems to be more irritable, sour, and discontented than … it is in any other State in the Union except Massachusetts." (Washington to Stuart, June 15, 1790; ib. , 481-82.)

Marshall's father most inaccurately reported to Washington that Kentucky favored the measures of the Administration; and the President, thanking him for the welcome news, asked the elder Marshall for "any information of a public or private nature … from your district." (Washington to Thomas Marshall, Feb., 1791; Washington's Letter Book, MS., Lib. Cong.) Kentucky was at that time in strong opposition and this continued to grow.

Taylor's "An Enquiry, etc.," as quoted in Beard: Econ. O. J. D. , 209. ( Ib. , chap. vii.) Taylor's pamphlet was revised by Pendleton and then sent to Madison before publication. (Monroe to Madison, May 18, 1793; Monroe's Writings : Hamilton, i, 254.) Taylor wanted "banks … demolished" and bankers "excluded from public councils." (Beard: Econ. O. J. D. , 209.)

Marshall, ii, 192.

In Jefferson's letters, already cited, not the faintest suggestion appears that he thought the law unconstitutional. Not until Patrick Henry's resolution, and the address of the Virginia Legislature to Congress based thereon, made the point that Assumption was in violation of this instrument, because the power to pass such a law was not expressly given in the Constitution, did Jefferson take his stand against implied powers.

"Whether … right or wrong, abstractedly, more attention should be paid to the general opinion." (Jefferson to Mason, Feb. 4, 1791; Works : Ford, vi, 186.)