it, and the time that Congress should provide a temporary government for it. The bill put the President of the United States in place of King Charles of Spain; gave to Jefferson the same absolute power of appointing territorial officers that the Spanish king possessed-legalized, in short, on the soil of the United States a government which was, as Thomas H. Benton afterwards said, an "emanation of Spanish despotism," in which the people not only had no political rights, but were liable to punishment for presuming to meddle with political subjects. In reply to objections of the Federalists, John Randolph laid bare the vital spot of the situation: "Gentlemen will see the necessity," he said, "of the United States taking possession of the country in the capacity of sovereigns, in the same extent as that of the existing government of the province." The bill became a law October 31. The law that provided a territorial form of government for Louisiana did equal violence to the theories of Republicanism. It provided for a Governor and Secretary, the former to hold office for three years, the latter for four, both to be appointed by the President; for a legislative council of thirteen members to be appointed by the President without consulting the Senate, and to be convened and prorogued by the Governor whenever he might deem it expedient; and for judicial officers, also appointed by the President, who were to hold office for *Italics are mine. † Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, 500. four years. It contained three important provisions relating to slavery: (1) No slave could be imported from any foreign country; (2) no slave could be taken into the territory from the United States who had been imported since May 1, 1798; (3) no slave could be taken into the territory, directly or indirectly, except by an American citizen, who went there to settle, and not even by him unless he was "the bona fide owner of such slave." Many Republicans opposed the bill. Michael Leib, a Pennsylvania Republican, characterized the power conferred by it on the Governor as "royal;" Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, Speaker, declared that it established a species of government unknown to the laws of the United States; G. W. Campbell, of Tennessee, said that it established a "complete despotism," that it did not "evince a single trait of liberty," but Eustis, of Massachusetts, showed the real nature of the dilemma in which Republicanism was placed. To attempt to extend the provisions of American institutions to the people of Louisiana, he said, was to pursue a "vain theory." "I am one of those who believe that the principles of civil liberty cannot suddenly be ingrafted on a people accustomed to a regimen of a directly opposite hue. The approach of such a people to liberty must be gradual." Facts, he said, must decide the question, otherwise liberal and praiseworthy sentiments might operate in *Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, 1294-1296. juriously on those they were intended to benefit. The Republican Congress and the Republican President were .nen of too much common sense to be consistent and so the bill became a law in March, 1804. Consciously or unconsciously, Eustis characterized with great accuracy the theories of Jeffersonian Republicanism. They were, indeed, "liberal and praiseworthy sentiments" of the most exalted character. They were formulated by men who believed with intense enthusiasm that to put them in practice would be to introduce a new era into the history of the world. But the logic of events often plays sad havoc with the theories of men. The inexorable logic of facts compelled the government first to choose on the one hand between adhering to the theories of Republicanism and injuring the American people; and on the other, trampling upon those theories for the sake of the people they were intended to benefit; and then, to choose between loyalty to the principles of Republicanism, and an intelligent regard to the best interests of the people of Louisiana. If precedents are the habits of nations, Henry Adams is right when in speaking of the Louisiana legislation, he says: "Such an experience was final; no century of slow and half-understood experience could be needed to prove that the hopes of humanity lay thenceforward, not in attempting to restrain the government from doing whatever the majority should think necessary, but in raising the *Annals of Congress, 1803-1804, 1055–1063. people themselves till they should think nothing necessary but what was good."* In this session of Congress the twelfth amendment of the constitution, providing that in future presidential elections the persons voted for as President and Vice President respectively, should be designated in the ballots of the electors, was introduced. The proposed amendment, having received the affirmative vote of twothirds of both Houses, was sent to the States. It was ratified by all of the seventeen except Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware. QUESTIONS. 1. Why was the navigation of the Mississippi so important to the United States? 2. Give some account of the efforts of the United States to secure it. 3. Why did the United States object to the cession of Louisiana to France? 4. How did Jefferson propose to amend the constitution, and why? 5. Give an account of his efforts to secure a constitutional amendment. 6. Why did he not attempt to force his idea upon his party? 7. Did Jefferson annex Louisiana as a Democrat or as a States Rights Republican? 8. Show the conflict between the two, (1) in the case of the purchase of Louisiana, and (2) in the case of its government. 9. In what respect did the debate on the Louisiana treaty mark an epoch in the history of the United States ? 10. What is the significance of the quotations made from Randolph and Eustis? *Vol. II, 130. |