39 - Thomas Jefferson, Part 4
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.
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I'm Tony Riggs. Today, Shep O'Neal and I continue the story of America's third president, Thomas Jefferson.
VOICE TWO:
In our last program, we told how Congress approved two of President Jefferson's proposals. One proposal ended some taxes. The other reduced the number of judges appointed by former President John Adams. Congress passed a Judiciary Act in the closing days of Adams' term as president. The act gave Adams the power to appoint as many judges as he wished.
It was a way for the Federalist Party to keep control of one branch of government. In the elections, the Federalists had lost the presidency and their majority in Congress to Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans.
VOICE ONE:
President Adams quickly created new courts and named new judges. Just as quickly, the Senate approved them. The papers of appointment were signed. However, some of the judges did not receive their papers, or commissions, before Thomas Jefferson was sworn-in. The new president refused to give them their commissions.
One of the men was William Marbury. He asked the Supreme Court to decide his case.
VOICE TWO:
The Chief Justice was John Marshall, a Federalist. Marshall thought about ordering the Republican administration to give Marbury his commission. On second thought, he decided not to. He knew the administration would refuse his order. And that would weaken the power of the Supreme Court.
Marshall believed the Supreme Court should have the right to veto bills passed by Congress and signed by the president. In the Marbury case, he saw a chance to put this idea into law.
VOICE ONE:
Marshall wrote his decision carefully. First, he said that Marbury did have a legal right to his judicial commission. Then, he said that Marbury had been denied this legal right. He said no one -- not even the president -- could take away a person's legal rights.
Next, Marshall noted that Marbury had taken his request to the Supreme Court under the terms of a law passed in Seventeen-Eighty-Nine. That law gave citizens the right to ask the high court to order action by any lower court or by any government official.
Marshall explained that the Constitution carefully limits the powers of the Supreme Court. The court can hear direct requests involving diplomats and the separate states. It cannot rule on other cases until a lower court has ruled.
So, Marshall said, the Seventeen-Eighty-Nine law permits Marbury to take his case directly to the Supreme Court. But the Constitution does not. The Constitution, he added, is the first law of the land. Therefore, the congressional law is unconstitutional and has no power.
VOICE TWO:
Chief Justice Marshall succeeded in doing all he hoped to do. He made clear that Marbury had a right to his judicial commission. He also saved himself from a battle with the administration. Most importantly, he claimed for the Supreme Court the power to rule on laws passed by Congress.
President Jefferson understood the importance of Marshall's decision. He did not agree with it. He waited for the Supreme Court to use this new power.
Several times during Jefferson's presidency, Federalists claimed that laws passed by the Republican Congress violated the Constitution. But they never asked the Supreme Court to reject those laws.
VOICE ONE:
During Jefferson's first term, the United States faced a serious problem in its relations with France.
France had signed a secret treaty with Spain. The treaty gave France control of a large area in North America -- the Louisiana Territory.
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Napoleon Bonaparte ruled France at that time. Jefferson did not want him in North America. He felt the French presence was a threat to the peace of the United States. He decided to try to buy parts of Louisiana.
VOICE TWO:
Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris as a special negotiator.