Reaffirming the Constitution

by

       M. Richard Maxson

      On Mar. 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson gave his first inaugural address after winning a bitter campaign for President of these United States. The outcome of the election of 1800 had been in doubt until late February

because Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the two leading candidates, each had received 73 electoral votes. Consequently, the House of Representatives met in a special session to resolve the impasse, pursuant to the terms spelled out in the Constitution. After 30 hours of debate and balloting, on the thirty-sixth ballot, Mr. Jefferson emerged as the President and Mr. Burr the Vice President. With such division, Jefferson knew he had his work cut out for him. During the campaign, he noted that the nation's newspapers were "teaming with every falsehood they can invent for defamation." John Adams, who was seeking re-election on the Federalist ticket, was labeled a monarchist; Vice President Jefferson was called an atheist; both candidates were declared enemies of the Constitution. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

      After the election of 1796, the press went from praising President Washington to attacking President Adams. At the insistence of his wife, the president signed a series of acts put forth by his party including the Sedition Act, which made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. Under the Sedition Act, the Federalist Administration of John Adams had jailed more than a dozen Democratic-Republican political opponents for their speech or writing. Jefferson his party were outraged. They felt that this was a clear violation of the first amendment of the new Constitution. A serious disagreement on government for the new nation. The national debate raged into the election of 1800. In large part as a result of this political repression, Jefferson prevailed in the election and the Federalist Party began its spiral into oblivion. The Sedition Act and the Alien Friends Act were allowed to expire in 1800 and 1801, respectively.

      Chief Justice John Marshall administered the first executive oath of office ever taken in the new federal city in the new Senate Chamber (now the Old Supreme Court Chamber) of the partially built Capitol building. President John Adams, who had run unsuccessfully for a second term, left Washington on the day of the inauguration without attending the ceremony. Jefferson wisely delivered a conciliatory address. He stated that difference of opinion “is not a difference of principle.” All Americans were united—“we are all republicans: we are all federalists.” And freedom of expression should protect all, even those who preferred dissolution of the country—“let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.”

       So he started his Inaugural with a great deal of humility - noting that he would do his best to fulfill the duties of the monumental task at hand, but find all his guidance in the Constitution, which he would rely on "under all difficulties." From there, he said, "it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration."

       He laid out his principles for the nation going forward. There are 13 of them, which you can read below. It is also interesting to note that he mentioned the word "PEACE" seven times in his short speech, and even suggested that government should exist only to enforce the non-aggression principle.

1. Equal and exact justice to all - whatever state of persuasion, religious or political
2. Peace commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none
3. Support of state governments as the most competent administration for domestic concerns - and surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies
4. preservation of the General government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home, and safety abroad
5. Republican majoritarianism instead of an appeal to force
6. A well disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them
7. The supremacy of the civil over the military authority
8. Economy in the public expense
9. Honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith
10. Encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid
11. The diffusion of information
12. Freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom of person
13. Trial by juries impartially selected

      In his speech he reaffirmed and clarified those principles of that very Constitution that he had helped craft. His point was that the law of the land is to be used as written as it was written in that manner for a purpose. It was a rebuke to the previous President Adams whose Sedition Act and the Alien Friends Act were signed into law on the insistence of his wife because feelings were hurt. Yes, it does sound familiar.