40 - Thomas Jefferson, Part 5
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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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| Thomas Jefferson |
In our last program, we reported on the presidential election of Eighteen-Oh-Four. Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president, was re-elected easily. We will have several programs about developments during his second administration. Today, we begin that story.
VOICE TWO:
Thomas Jefferson was head of the Republican Party. His political opponents were called Federalists. Jefferson had a very good record during his first term as president.
He ended many taxes. He paid government debts. And he gained possession of the huge Louisiana Territory from France without going to war. The Federalists were sure he would win the election of Eighteen-Oh-Four. Still, they were surprised by the strength of his election victory.
VOICE ONE:
Jefferson won one-hundred sixty-two electoral votes. His opponent, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, won just fourteen. The Federalists had expected Pinckney to get about forty.
Jefferson received support even in the northeast. That is where the Federalists had their greatest strength. What was the explanation?
One man tried to explain the meaning of Jefferson's great victory. He was John Quincy Adams, son of former president John Adams. President Adams had been a firm Federalist. This is what his son said:
VOICE TWO:
"The power of Jefferson's administration rests on a strong majority of the American people. The president has great popular support. His re-election shows that the experiment of the Federalists has failed. It never can and never will be brought to life again. To try to bring it back would be foolish. It would be like trying to put life into a body that has been buried for years."
After the election of Eighteen-Oh-Four, only seven Federalists remained in the United States Senate. Only twenty-five remained in the House of Representatives.
VOICE ONE:
The Federalists no longer controlled the Congress, although they still controlled the courts. Many judges had been appointed during John Adams's last days as president. These judges opposed Thomas Jefferson. Some used the courtroom as a place to attack his policies. Judges were not supposed to make political speeches in court.
One of the most powerful anti-Jeffersonian judges was Samuel Chase. He was a member of the Supreme Court.
VOICE TWO:
Samuel Chase was from the state of Maryland. He was active in local and national politics for a long time. He had signed America's Declaration of Independence from Britain. He had served in the Continental congresses that governed America during and after its Revolutionary War. Yet he did not agree with all parts of the United States Constitution. When the Maryland legislature voted to approve or reject the Constitution, he voted against it.
VOICE ONE:
Samuel Chase was not a republican. He believed that Americans should not have the same rights. For example, he believed that all citizens should not have the right to vote. He said this would lead to mob rule. He declared that great trouble would come to the government if common people had the same rights as educated people who owned property.
President Jefferson heard about Chase's statement. He told a member of Congress that he was concerned. Jefferson asked: "Should this judge's attack on the ideas of our Constitution go without punishment? The public will look to Congress to take the necessary action against him."
VOICE TWO:
During the last months of Jefferson's first term as president, the House of Representatives began discussing the possibility of removing Justice Chase from the Supreme Court.
A committe was named to investigate. The committee decided that there was enough evidence to bring him to trial before the Senate. The full House agreed. The impeachment trial was to begin in February, Eighteen-Oh-Five.
VOICE ONE:
The judge in the trial was the chief officer of the Senate, Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr would decide what evidence could or could not be heard. His actions would have great influence over the final decision.