The Life of John Marshall, Volume 1: Frontiersman, soldier, lawmaker, 1755-1788

857

Watson, 266.

858

"You see [in Maryland and Virginia] real misery and apparent luxury insulting each other." (De Warville, 159.)

859

Chastellux, 279, and translator's note.

860

Anburey, ii, 331-32.

861

De Warville, 242.

862

"Soon after entering Virginia, and at a highly respectable house, I was shocked … at seeing for the first time, young negroes of both sexes, from twelve even to fifteen years old, not only running about the house but absolutely tending table, as naked as they came into the world… Several young women were at the table, who appeared totally unmoved." (Watson, 33.) Watson's statement may perhaps be questionable; a livelier description, however, was given with embellishments, some years later. (See translator's note to Chastellux, 245; and see Schoepf, ii, 47.)

863

Anburey, ii, 331-32.

864

Ib., 332-33.

865

Weld, i, 192. See Weld's description of "gouging." And see Fithian's interesting account; Fithian, 242-43.

866

Schoepf, ii, 89.

867

Ib., 91-95.

868

Jefferson to Chastellux, Sept. 2, 1785; Thomas Jefferson Correspondence, Bixby Collection: Ford, 12; and see Jefferson to Donald, July 28, 1787; Jefferson's Writings: Washington, ii, 193, where Jefferson says that the qualities of Virginians are "indolence, extravagance, and infidelity to their engagements."

869

Weld, i, 199.

870

Schoepf, ii, 34. This strange phenomenon was witnessed everywhere, even in a place then so far remote as Maine. "Elegant women come out of log or deal huts [in Maine] all wearing fashionable hats and head dresses with feathers, handsome cloaks and the rest of their dress suitable to this." (La Rochefoucauld, ii, 314.)

871

Ib., 89; and Weld, i, 199, 236. The reports of all travelers as to the want of fresh meat in the Valley are most curious. That region was noted, even in those early days, for its abundance of cattle.

872

Ib., 144.

873

"Notes on Virginia": Jefferson; Works: Ford, iv, 69; and see Weld, i, 114, for similar diet in Pennsylvania.

874

Ib., 183-84.

875

Weld, i, 206. "Sigars and whiskey satisfy these good people who thus spend in a quarter of an hour in the evening, the earnings of a whole day. The landlord of the Inn has also a distillery of whiskey," writes La Rochefoucauld, in 1797, of the mountain people of Virginia. He thus describes the houses and people living in the valley towards Staunton: "The habitations are in this district more numerous than on the other side of the Blue Mountains, but the houses are miserable; mean, small log houses, inhabited by families which swarm with children. There exists here the same appearance of misery as in the back parts of Pennsylvania." (La Rochefoucauld, iii, 173-76.)

876

"It took a good deal of New England rum to launch a 75 ton schooner … to raise a barn … or to ordain a regular minister… Workingmen in the fields, in the woods, in the mills and handling logs and lumber on the river were supplied with regular rations of spirits." (Maine Hist. Soc. Col. (2d Series), vi, 367-68.)

The rich people of Boston loved picnic parties in the near-by country, at which was served "Punch, warm and cold, before dinner; excellent beef, Spanish and Bordeaux wines, cover their tables … Spruce beer, excellent cyder, and Philadelphia porter precede the wines." (De Warville, 58.) This inquiring Frenchman called on Hancock, but found that he had a "marvelous gout which dispenses him from all attentions and forbids the access to his house." (Ib., 66.) As to New England country stores, "you find in the same shop, hats, nails, liquors." (Ib., 127.)

877

La Rochefoucauld, iv, 577.

878

Washington to Green (an employee) March 31, 1789; Writings: Ford, xi, 377.

879

Memoirs of Talleyrand: Broglie's ed., i, footnote to 181; and see Talleyrand's description of a brandy-drinking bout at this house in which he participated.

880

Schoepf, ii, 47.

881

Watson, 252.

882

Chastellux, 224; see also 243.

883

La Rochefoucauld, iv, 119.

884

Ib., 590.

885

See infra, II, chap. II.

886

De Warville, 262.

887

Watson, 261-62. "The indolence and dissipation of the middling and lower classes of white inhabitants in Virginia are such as to give pain… Horse-racing, cock-fighting, and boxing-matches are standing amusements, for which they neglect all business." (Ib.; and see Chastellux, 292, translator's note. Also see Chastellux's comments on the economic conditions of the Virginians, 291-93.) For habits of Virginians nearly twenty years after Watson wrote, see La Rochefoucauld, iii, 75-79.

888

"The session assembles here, besides the neighboring judges, lawyers, and parties whose causes are to be tried, numbers of idle people who come less from desire to learn what is going forward than to drink together," says La Rochefoucauld; and see his picturesque description of his arrival at the close of court day at Goochland Court-House. (La Rochefoucauld, iii, 126-29.)

889

One man to every five men, women, and children, which is a high estimate.

890

Madison to Jefferson, Aug. 12, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 261.

891

Randolph in the Virginia Constitutional Convention estimated that the colonies could have put four hundred thousand soldiers in the field. (Elliott, iii, 76-77.)

892

It is a curious fact, however, that in his journey through France Jefferson observed no bad conditions, but, on the whole, his careful diary states that he found the people "well clothed and well fed," as Professor Hazen expresses it. For impartial treatment of this subject see Hazen, 1-21.

893

Writings: Conway, i, 69 et seq.

894

"Common Sense had a prodigious effect." (Franklin to Le Veillard, April 15, 1787; Writings: Smyth, ix, 558.) "Its popularity was unexampled… The author was hailed as our angel sent from Heaven to save all from the horrors of Slavery… His pen was an appendage [to the army] almost as necessary and formidable as its cannon." (Cheetenham, 46-47, 55.) In America alone 125,000 copies of Common Sense were sold within three months after the pamphlet appeared. (Belcher, i, 235.)

"Can nothing be done in our Assembly for poor Paine? Must the merits of Common Sense continue to glide down the stream of time unrewarded by this country? His writings certainly have had a powerful effect upon the public mind. Ought they not, then, to meet an adequate return?" (Washington to Madison, June 12, 1784; Writings: Ford, x, 393; and see Tyler, i, 458-62.) In the Virginia Legislature Marshall introduced a bill for Paine's relief. (Supra, chap, VI.)

895

Graydon, 358.

896

Common Sense: Paine; Writings: Conway, i, 61. Paine's genius for phrase is illustrated in the Crisis, which next appeared. "These are the times that try men's souls"; "Tyranny like hell, is not easily conquered"; "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot," are examples of Paine's brilliant gift.

897

Moore's Diary, ii, 143-44. Although this was a British opinion, yet it was entirely accurate.

898

"They will rise and for lack of argument, say, Mṛ Speaker, this measure will never do, the People Sir, will never bear it… These small Politicians, returned home, … tell their Constituents such & such measures are taking place altho' I did my utmost to prevent it – The People must take care of themselves or they are undone. Stir up a County Convention and by Trumpeting lies from Town to Town get one [a convention] collected and Consisting of Persons of small Abilities – of little or no property – embarrass'd in their Circumstances – and of no great Integrity – and these Geniouses vainly conceiving they are competent to regulate the affairs of State – make some hasty incoherent Resolves, and these end in Sedition, Riot, & Rebellion." (Sewell to Thatcher, Dec., 1787; Hist. Mag. (2d Series), vi, 257.)

899

More than a decade after the slander was set afoot against Colonel Levin Powell of Loudoun County, Virginia, one of the patriot soldiers of the Revolution and an officer of Washington, that he favored establishing a monarchy, one of his constituents wrote that "detraction & defamation are generally resorted to promote views injurious to you… Can you believe it, but it is really true that the old & often refuted story of your predilection for Monarchy is again revived." (Thomas Sims to Colonel Levin Powell, Leesburg, Virginia, Feb. 5 and 20, 1801; Branch Historical Papers, i, 58, 61.)

900

Watson, 262-64. This comic prophecy that the National Capital was to be the fortified home of a standing army was seriously believed by the people. Patrick Henry urged the same objection with all his dramatic power in the Virginia Convention of 1788. So did the scholarly Mason. (See infra, chaps. XI and XII.)

901

Graydon, 392-93.

902

Memorials of the Society of the Cincinnati, 1790, 3-24.

903

Jefferson to Washington, Nov. 14, 1786; Works: Ford, v, 222-23; and see Jefferson's denunciation of the Cincinnati in Jefferson to Madison, Dec. 28, 1794; ib., viii, 156-57. But see Jefferson's fair and moderate account of the Cincinnati before he had learned of its unpopularity in America. (Jefferson to Meusnier, June 22, 1786; ib., v, 50-56.)

904

The same who broke the quorum in the Continental Congress. (Supra, chap. IV.)

905

Burke: Considerations on the Society of the Order of Cincinnati; 1784.

906

Mirabeau: Considerations on the Order of Cincinnati; 1786. Mirabeau here refers to the rule of the Cincinnati that the officer's eldest son might become a member of the order, as in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the present time.

907

As quoted in Hudson: Journalism in the United States, 158.

908

Madison to James Madison, Nov. 1, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 278.

909

Jay to Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 212.

910

See Weld, i, 114-15, as a fair example of foreign estimate of this American characteristic at that period.

911

See chap. II, vol. II, of this work.

912

Private debts which Virginia planters alone owed British merchants were "20 or 30 times the amount of all money in circulation in that state." (Jefferson to Meusnier, Jan. 24, 1786; Works: Ford, v, 17-18; and see Jefferson to McCaul, April 19, 1786; ib., 88.)

913

"It cannot perhaps be affirmed that there is gold & silver eno in the Country to pay the next tax." (Madison to Monroe, June 4, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 245.)

914

Jefferson to Meusnier, Jan. 24, 1786; Works: Ford, v, 27.

915

Jefferson to Meusnier, Jan. 24, 1786: Works: Ford, v, 27.

916

Moore's Diary, ii, 425-26. The merchants of Philadelphia shut their shops; and it was agreed that if Congress did not substitute "solid money" for paper, "all further resistance to" Great Britain "must be given up." (Ib.)

917

Jefferson to McCaul, April 19, 1786; Works: Ford, v, 90; also to Wm. Jones, Jan. 5, 1787; ib., 247. – "Paiment was made me in this money when it was but a shadow."

918

Livingston to Jay, July 30, 1789; Jay: Johnston, iii, 373-74.

919

Fithian, 91.

920

Virginia's paper money experiment was the source of many lawsuits in which Marshall was counsel. See, for example, Pickett vs. Claiborne (Call, iv, 99-106); Taliaferro vs. Minor (Call, i, 456-62).

921

The House of Delegates toward the end of 1786 voted 84 to 17 against the paper money resolution. (Madison to James Madison, Nov. 1, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 277.)

922

"The advocates for paper money are making the most of this handle. I begin to fear exceedingly that no efforts will be sufficient to parry this evil." (Madison to Monroe, June 4, 1786; ib., 245.)

923

Madison to Jefferson, Aug. 12, 1786; ib., 259.

924

"Enclosed are one hundred Dollars of new Emmission Money which Col. Steward desires me to have exchanged for Specie. Pray, inform him they are all counterfeit." (Gerry to King, April 7, 1785; King, i, 87.)

925

Washington to Grayson, Aug. 22, 1785; Writings: Ford, X, 493-94.

926

Knox to Washington, Oct. 28, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, footnote to p. 407-08.

927

Minot: History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts in 1786 (2d ed.), 1810.

928

Printed in the first edition (1807) "enormous" – a good example of the haste of the first printing of Marshall's Life of Washington. (See vol. III of this work.)

929

Marshall, ii, 117.

930

Ib., 118.

931

Knox to Washington, Oct. 28, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, footnote to 408.

932

Shays's Rebellion was only a local outburst of a general feeling throughout the United States. Marshall says, "those causes of discontent … existed in every part of the union." (Marshall, ii, 117.)

933

Jay to Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 213.

934

Jay to Reed, Dec. 12, 1786; ib., 222.

935

Jay to Price, Sept. 27, 1786; ib., 168.

936

Madison to Randolph, Jan. 10, 1788; Writings: Hunt, v, 81.

937

Washington to Lee, Oct. 31, 1786; Writings: Ford, xi, 76-77.

938

Washington to Madison, Nov. 5, 1786; ib., 81.

939

Washington to Knox, Dec. 26, 1786; ib., 103-04. And Washington wrote to Lafayette that "There are seeds of discontent in every part of the Union." (Writings: Sparks, ix, 263.)

940

Marshall to James Wilkinson, Jan. 5, 1787; Amer. Hist. Rev., xii, 347-48.

941

Jefferson to Mrs. Adams, Feb. 22, 1787; Works: Ford, v, 265.

942

Jefferson to Mrs. Adams, Feb. 22, 1787; Works: Ford, v, 263.

943

Jefferson to Smith, Nov. 13, 1787; ib., 362.

944

"The payments from the States under the calls of Congress have in no year borne any proportion to the public wants. During the last year … the aggregate payments … fell short of 400,000 dollrs, a sum neither equal to the interest due on the foreign debts, nor even to the current expenses of the federal Government. The greatest part of this sum too went from Virga, which will not supply a single shilling the present year." (Madison to Jefferson, March 18, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 228.)

945

Washington to Jay, Aug. 1, 1786; Writings: Ford, xi, 54-55.

946

Jay (Secretary of State under the Confederation) to Jefferson, Dec. 14, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 223.

947

"We are wasting our time & labour in vain efforts to do business" (because of State delegates not attending), wrote Jefferson in 1784. (Jefferson to Washington, March 15, 1784; Works: Ford, iv, 266.) And at the very climax of our difficulties "a sufficient number of States to do business have not been represented in Congress." (Jay to Wm. Carmichael, Jan. 4, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 225.) During half of September and all of October, November, December, January, and February, nine States "have not been represented in congress"; and this even after the Constitution had been adopted. (Jay to Jefferson, March 9, 1789; Jay: Johnston, iii, 365.)

948

Jay to Jefferson, Dec. 14, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 223-24. And Melancton Smith declared that "the farmer cultivates his land and reaps the fruit… The merchant drives his commerce and none can deprive him of the gain he honestly acquires… The mechanic is exercised in his art, and receives the reward of his labour." (1797-98; Ford: P. on C., 94.) Of the prosperity of Virginia, Grigsby says, "our agriculture was most prosperous, and our harbors and rivers were filled with ships. The shipping interest … was really advancing most rapidly to a degree of success never known in the colony." (Grigsby, i, footnote to p. 82; and see his brilliant account of Virginia's prosperity at this time; ib., 9-19.) "The spirit of industry throughout the country was never greater. The productions of the earth abound," wrote Jay to B. Vaughan, Sept. 2, 1784. (Jay: Johnston, iii, 132.)

949

Jay to John Adams, Feb. 21, 1787; Jay: Johnston, iii, 235. Jay thought that the bottom of the trouble was that "relaxation in government and extravagance in individuals create much public and private distress, and much public and private want of good faith." (Ib., 224.)

950

Madison to Jefferson, Dec. 4, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 293. "This indulgence to the people as it is called & considered was so warmly wished for out of doors, and so strenuously pressed within that it could not be rejected without danger of exciting some worse project of a popular cast." (Ib.)

951

Madison to Washington, Dec. 24, 1786; ib., 301. "My acquiescence in the measure was against every general principle which I have embraced, and was extorted by a fear that some greater evil under the name of relief to the people would be substituted." (Ib.)

952

Rutledge to Jay, May 2, 1789; Jay: Johnston, iii, 368.

953

Washington to Jay, May 18, 1786; Writings: Ford, xi, 31-32.

954

Jay to Washington, June 27, 1786; Jay: Johnston, iii, 204.

955

Ib., 205.

956

Washington to Harrison, Jan. 18, 1784; Writings: Ford, x, 345.

957

Ib.

958

See Madison's masterful summary of the wickedness, weakness, and folly of the State Governments in Writings: Hunt, ii, 361-69.

959

Washington to Jay, March 10, 1787; Writings: Ford, xi, 125.

960

See supra, chap. VI.

961

Madison to Jefferson, March 18, 1786; Writings: Hunt, ii, 228. "Another unhappy effect of a continuance of the present anarchy of our commerces will be a continuance of the unfavorable balance on it, which by draining us of our metals, furnishes pretexts for the pernicious substitution of paper money, for indulgencies to debtors, for postponements of taxes." (Ib.)

962

Virginia carefully defined her revenue boundaries as against Pennsylvania and Maryland; and provided that any vessel failing to enter and pay duties as provided by the Virginia tariff laws might be seized by any person and prosecuted "one half to the use of the informer, and the other half to the use of the commonwealth." (Va. Statutes at Large (1785), chap. 14, 46.)

Virginia strengthened her tariff laws against importations by land. "If any such importer or owner shall unload any such wagon or other carriage containing any of the above goods, wares, or merchandise brought into this state by land without first having entered the same as directed above, every such wagon or other carriage, together with the horses thereto belonging and all such goods wares and merchandise as shall be brought therein, shall be forfeited and recovered by information in the court of the county; two-thirds to the informer and one-third toward lessening the levy of the county where such conviction shall be made." (Ib.)

Even Pennsylvania, already the principal workshop of the country, while enacting an avowedly protective tariff on "Manufactures of Europe and Other foreign parts," included "cider, malted barley or grain, fish, salted or dried, cheese, butter, beef, pork, barley, peas, mustard, manufactured tobacco" which came, mostly, from sister States. The preamble declares that the duties are imposed to protect "the artisans and mechanics of this state" without whose products "the war could not have been carried on."

In addition to agricultural articles named above, the law includes "playing cards, hair powder, wrought gold or silver utensils, polished or cut stones, musical instruments, walking canes, testaments, psalters, spelling books or primers, romances, novels and plays, and horn or tortoise shell combs," none of which could be called absolutely indispensable to the conduct of the war. The preamble gives the usual arguments for protective tariffs. It is the first protective tariff law, in the present-day sense, ever passed. (Pa. Statutes at Large (1785), 99.)

963

Even at the present time the various States have not recovered from this anti-National and uneconomic practice, as witness the tax laws and other statutes in almost every State designed to prevent investments by the citizens of that State in industries located in other States. Worse, still, are the multitude of State laws providing variable control over railways that are essentially National.

964

Writings: Hunt, ii, 395.

965

Marshall (1st ed.), v, 76-79.

966

Madison to Washington, April 16, 1787; Writings: Hunt, ii, 345-46. This ultra-Nationalist opinion is an interesting contrast to Madison's States' Rights views a few years later. (See infra, vol. II, chaps. II, III, and IV.)