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arrangement for its temporary government. The act providing for the new government was originated in the State Department, that is, with the President, and read briefly as follows:

"That until the expiration of the present session of Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of the said territories be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, and judicial powers exercised by the officers of the existing government of the same, shall be vested in such persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the President of the United States shall direct, for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of Louisiana in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion."

This was a wonderful plan, and indicated a startling stretch of power by an Executive and his followers who had dreaded and opposed every assumption of power in other hands. The act merely put the President in the place of the King of Spain, and gave him the force to maintain the position, irrespective of the Constitution of the United States. It was a bold, novel scheme, and was not, in any of its parts, touched by the Constitution or the Ordinance of 1787. Mr. Dana, of Connecticut, said, that "the President may, under this authority, establish the whole code of Spanish laws, however contrary to our own, appoint whomsoever he pleases as governor and judges, and remove them according to his pleasure; thus uniting in himself all power, legislative, judicial, and executive." And James Elliott, a Vermont Republican, said, that "he would never consent to delegate, for a single moment, such extensive powers to the President, even over a Territory. Such a delegation of power was unconstitutional."

Other members also spoke of the unconstitutional character of the entire measure, and this objection was

met in a way which would have been astounding at a later date, especially to the political descendants of the men who supported the act. This is what Mr. C.

A. Rodney, of Delaware, said :

"There is a wide distinction between States and Territories, and the Constitution appears clearly to indicate it. In the Territories of the United States, under the Ordinance of Congress, the governor and judges have a right to make laws. Could this be done in a State? I presume not. It shows that Congress have a power in the Territories which they can not exercise in the States, and that the limitations of power, found in the Constitution are applicable to States and not to Territories."

Mr. Randolph, a friend of the measure, placed his entire argument on the idea of sovereignty. It was simply a sovereign going to take possession of his property and govern it as he pleased.

Dr. Samuel Mitchell, of New York, announced the following view:

"The third section of the fourth article of the Constitution contemplates that territory and other property may belong to the United States. By a treaty with France the United States has lately acquired title to a new territory, with various kinds of property on it. By the same sanction of the Constitution, Congress is clothed with power to dispose of such territory and property, and to make all needful rules and regulations respecting it. This is as fair an exercise of Constitutional power as that by which we assemble and hold our seats in this House."

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To the same purport it was argued by others on the Administration side. And thus strongly, at this early emergency, was the absolute power of Congress over the Territories set up by those who subsequently became bitter opponents of the theory. This power, it was mainly argued, was a Constitutional power, and it applied to the regulation of slavery as well as other matters in the Territory. The authority of Congress

over the Territory was general and absolute, and it rested on the sanctions of the Constitution.

The bill was passed with an approach to unanimity in both Houses, and the temporary monarchic government went into operation with W. C. C. Claiborne as Governor, all the laws of Spain in force, and the President having the authority of the King.

That the course taken by the Administration in this whole matter was not best and right under the circumstances can not be a question at this time, and it was fortunate that it possessed the judgment and courage necessary for the emergency. The most extraordinary and striking features of the entire business. are to be found in the desperate and almost riotous opposition Mr. Jefferson and his party friends had previously made to the remotest departure from the letter of the Constitution, and every shadow of assumption of power by the Federalists; and by their successors in after-times attempting to set up the theory that Congress had no such power over the Territories, especially as to slavery, and that it never had had, either in principle or practice.

Mr. Jefferson looked upon his Louisiana purchase as one of the greatest, most beneficial events which had ever befallen the Nation; and one great source of consolation to this unwarlike man was that there was not only no bloodshed in the acquisition, but that it also prevented a formidable adventure on this Continent by the most dangerous of all modern European despots.

About the western boundary of this great cheaply acquired territory Mr. Jefferson had a very definite opinion while he was still at the head of the Govern

ment. He said that the French held that the western boundary of their Spanish territory was the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo), that is, that Louisiana extended to that river. But he said that after he purchased Louisiana they were silent on the matter of western border, although they were explicit enough as to the eastern boundary being the Perdido.

The treaty of purchase left the matter of boundary vague, and for a time Mr. Jefferson was quiet about it, the acquisition being so much greater than he had expected at the outset. Although the Colorado was, in a sense, agreed upon, the Spaniards held to the Sabine River as the eastern boundary, and this was finally admitted in 1806 by the commanders on the border, with the disposition on the part of the United States, at least, to consider the territory between the Sabine and the Rio Grande as in dispute, or neutral ground. Mr. Jefferson wrote to W. A. Burwell in the fall of 1806: "Although we consider our title good as far as the Rio Bravo, yet, in proportion to what they could obtain east of the Mississippi, they were to relinquish to the westward, and successive sacrifices were marked out, of which even the Colorado was not the last." So the matter remained until 1819 and 1821, when the Sabine was fixed as the western boundary, any claim on the part of this country being waved by reason of the Florida cession to us. But in this little history lies all there was in the boisterous pretension about Texas "re-annexation" in 1844, and for two or three years later.

CHAPTER XXI.

FIFTH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION-MR. JEFFERSON'S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS-TRIAL OF AARON BURR.

HE war against Barbary still continued, although some successes had attended the efforts of Mr. Jefferson's little Mediterranean fleet. One of the weakest features of Mr. Jefferson's Administration was connected with the management of the navy. In one of his messages he actually recommended Congress to build a dry dock at Washington, and in this the little navy was to be hauled up and placed under cover when unused in the grand peace which was certain to follow a thoroughly Republican Administration. This novel scheme produced a great deal of amusement for the Federalists, and many of the Democrats took so unkindly to it that it did not meet with success in Congress, notwithstanding Mr. Jefferson's almost unlimited influence. It was It was one of his impracticable fancies, and merited the fate it received.

At this time the Congressional caucus was devised, and Congressmen took to themselves the privilege of placing the Presidential candidates of the dominant party before the country. The time was approaching for the fifth quadrennial election, and during the session of the winter of 1803, the caucus unanimously announced Mr. Jefferson as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency. This was really the first regular

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