The Life of John Marshall Volume III Part 11

[194] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 99.

[195] Morris notes in his diary that, on the same day, the Senate resolved "to admit a short-hand writer to their floor. This is the beginning of mischief." (Morris, II, 416-17.)

[196] January 27, 1802.

[197] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 149.

[198] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 150.

Burr's action was perfectly correct. As an impartial presiding officer, he could not well have done anything else. Alexander J. Dallas, Republican Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, wrote the Vice-President a letter approving his action. (Dallas to Burr, Feb. 3, 1802, Davis: _Memoirs of Aaron Burr_, II, 82.) Nathaniel Niles, a rampant Republican, sent Burr a letter thanking him for his vote. As a Republican, he wanted his party to be fair, he said. (Niles to Burr, Feb. 17, 1802, _ib._ 83-84.) Nevertheless, Burr's vote was seized upon by his enemies as the occasion for beginning those attacks upon him which led to his overthrow and disgrace. (See chaps. VI, VII, VIII, and IX of this volume.)

[199] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 178-79.

[200] See Appendix A to this volume.

[201] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 179.

[202] _Ib._ 180.

[203] It was five o'clock (_ib._ 178) when Senator Breckenridge began to speak; it must have been well after six when Senator Morris rose to answer him.

[204] _Ib._ 180.

[205] _Ib._ 180.

[206] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 181.

[207] Troup to King, April 9, 1802, King, IV, 103.

[208] Bayard to Ba.s.sett, Jan. 25, 1802, _Papers of James A. Bayard_: Donnan, 146-47.

[209] Except Colhoun of South Carolina, converted by Tracy. See _supra_, 62.

[210] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 183.

[211] _Ib._ 510. A correspondent of the _Columbian Centinel_, reporting the event, declared that "the stand which the Federal Senators have made to preserve the Const.i.tution, has been manly and glorious. They have immortalized their names, while those of their opposers will be execrated as the a.s.sa.s.sins of the Const.i.tution." (_Columbian Centinel_, Feb. 17, 1802.)

[212] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 518-19.

[213] _Ib._ 521-22.

[214] See vol. II, 532, 541.

[215] _Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_, Feb. 13, 1802.

[216] Henderson in _North Carolina Booklet_, XVII, 66.

[217] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 529-30.

[218] See _infra_, chap. IV.

[219] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 531.

[220] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 552-53.

[221] _Ib._ 554.

[222] _Ib._ 558.

[223] See _infra_, chap. IV.

[224] See, for example, the speeches of Thomas Morris of New York (_Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 565-68); Calvin G.o.ddard of Connecticut (_ib._ 727-34); John Stanley of North Carolina (_ib._ 569-78); Roger Griswold of Connecticut (_ib._ 768-69).

[225] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 579.

[226] Anderson, 83. Grigsby says that "Mr. Jefferson p.r.o.nounced him (Giles) the ablest debater of the age." His speech on the Repeal Act, Grigsby declares to have been "by far his most brilliant display."

(Grigsby: _Virginia Convention of 1829-30_, 23, 29.)

[227] Anderson, 76-82.

[228] See _supra_, 72.

[229] This statement, coming from the Virginia radical, reveals the profound concern of the Republicans, for Giles thus declared that the Judiciary debate was of greater consequence than those historic controversies over a.s.sumption, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Bank, Neutrality, the Jay Treaty, the French complication, the army, and other vital subjects. In most of those encounters Giles had taken a leading and sometimes violent part.

[230] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 512.

[231] Story's description of Giles six years later: Story to Fay, Feb.

13, 1808, Story, I, 158-59. Also see Anderson, frontispiece and 238.

Giles was thirty-nine years of age. He had been elected to the House in 1790, and from the day he entered Congress had exasperated the Federalists. It is an interesting though trivial incident that Giles bore to Madison a letter of introduction from Marshall. Evidently the circ.u.mspect Richmond attorney was not well impressed with Giles, for the letter is cautious in the extreme. (See Anderson, 10; also _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 581.)

[232] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 580-81.

[233] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 582.

[234] _Ib._ 583.

[235] See _supra_, chap. I.

[236] Marbury _vs._ Madison (see _infra_, chap. III). For Giles's great speech see _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 579-602.

[237] Bayard is "a fine, personable man ... of strong mental powers....

Nature has been liberal to him.... He has, in himself, vast resources ... a lawyer of high repute ... and a man of integrity and honor.... He is very fond of pleasure ... a married man but fond of wine, women and cards. He drinks more than a bottle of wine each day....

He lives too fast to live long.... He is very attentive to dress and person." (Senator William Plumer's description of James A. Bayard, March 10, 1803, "Repository," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)

[238] _Annals_, 7th Cong. 1st Sess. 605.

[239] _Ib._ 606.