which it might produce. These measures provoked violent opposition. They were denounced by the Kentucky 1798. Resolutions, composed mainly by Mr. Jefferson; and by the Virginia Resolutions, drawn by Mr. Madison.

The new

site selected for it on the banks of the Potomac. capital was built in the woods. It was named Washington, in honor of the illustrious man who had died It has now become one of

1800. at the close of the previous year.*

the most beautiful cities of the world. The removal and the choice of the location were the result of a compromise between the North and the South.

20. The third Presidential election was marked by the de

* Washington died universally lamented. Even his bitterest assailants in his own country showed reverence for his memory. The British ships-of-war lowered their flags out of respect to his name. Bonaparte, on the eve of the campaign of Marengo, ordered the battle-flags to be put in mourning.

The first Congress assembled at the new capital provided for the erection of an imposing monument to commemorate his services. It is not yet completed.

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION.

171

feat of the Federal party. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both Anti-Federalists, received the largest number of electoral votes. Each, however, had an equal number. The House of Representatives was required by the Constitution to make choice between them. An effort was made to secure the election of Burr, by the aid of the Federalists. Jefferson was elected President;* Burr, of course, became Vice-President. An amendment to the Constitution was adopted to prevent the recurrence of such hazards.t

ADMINISTRATION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON.— 1801-1809.

21. Jefferson entered upon his administration at a favorable time. The country was prosperous. The Federalists were overcome. Peace had been made with France. Jefferson affected extreme republican simplicity in dress and manners. The enthusiasm for French principles had been weakened by the late hostilities, and by the change in the French Government and policy.

THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA.

22. By the purchase of Louisiana an important extension of territory was acquired, and the whole course of the Mississippi secured. Napoleon could not hope to defend it at a time when he was engaged in great wars with Britain, and on the continent of Europe. He accordingly offered to sell it to the United States. He remarked, on signing the treaty by which it was transferred, that he thus raised up a rival to Eng

* The election was made on the thirty-sixth ballot, after voting for seven days.

+ Amendment XII., 1804. This secured the two highest magistracies for the same party.

Elder John Leland, of Cheshire, Massachusetts, sent a huge cheese to President Jefferson. It weighed sixteen hundred pounds.

land, "which would, sooner or later, wrest from her the

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

sceptre of the

1803. seas." The ac

13 April.

quisition was

*

very valuable. It was regarded by those who opposed the purchase as scarcely accordant with the tenor of the Constitution. James Monroe was the agent for negotiating the treaty. The price paid for the territory was fifteen millions of dollars. A quarter of this sum consisted of American claims on France.

WAR WITH THE BARBARY POWERS.

23. The piratical powers on the northern coast of Africa insulted and injured the vessels of the United States. Commodore Preble was sent to the Mediterranean, with a small force, to obtain redress. He forced the Em1803. peror of Morocco to make terms, and proceeded against Tripoli. The Philadelphia struck on a rock and was captured. It was burnt in the harbor by the skilful daring of Lieutenant Decatur,† who was soon afterwards engaged in a

* James Monroe (1758-1831) was present at the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He opposed the new Constitution. He was minister to the French Republic in 1794, and was sent again to France for the Louisiana purchase in 1802.

+ Commodore Stephen Decatur (1779-1820). The burning of the Philadelphia was suggested by Capt. Bainbridge, then a prisoner in Tripoli. The combat with the Tripolitan captain, who was a very powerful man, occurred in August, 1804. In 1812, Decatur, in the United States, captured the British frigate Macedonian. In 1814, the squadron which he commanded was blockaded at New London by the British. In 1815, he was captured in the President. In the summer of that year he dictated

desperate encounter with a Turkish captain. The city was threatened by a land force under Capt. Eaton, formerly American consul at Tunis, and Hamet, the brother of the Dey of Tripoli. They had taken Derne (der'ne), with the aid of Commodore Barron * and the fleet. Tunis submitted on the appearance of the American flotilla. Further successes were prevented by the reëstablishment of peace.

1804. II July.

AARON BURR.

24. The disappointed ambition of Burr produced disastrous consequences. He regarded Hamilton as the chief cause of his defeat. He challenged and killed him on the Jersey shore of the Hudson River, opposite the city of New York. Burr fell into greater discredit than before. When Jefferson was reëlected President, Burr was replaced as Vice-President by George Clinton. He engaged in lawless schemes in his bitterness and despera-tion. It is uncertain whether he designed the conquest of a part of Mexico, or the separation of the south-western territory and the creation of a new republic. He was arrested, conveyed to Richmond, and imprisoned. He was ac1807. quitted on his trial before Chief-Justice Marshall. His brilliant career ended in disgrace, obscurity, and despair.

LEWIS AND CLARKE'S EXPLORATION.

25. Much of the territory included under the name of Louisiana was an unknown wilderness. Jefferson sent

peace to the Dey of Algiers. He fell in a duel with Commodore Barron, 22d March,

1820.

* Commodore James Barron (1768-1851) received his commission in 1798, on the formation of the United States navy. In 1807, the Chesapeake, commanded by him, was attacked by the British frigate Leopard, and surrendered. He was tried by court-martial, and suspended for five years. These transactions led to the duel with Decatur.

*

an expedition under Lewis and Clarke to explore it. They were engaged in their difficult and hazardous journey two years and a half. They started from St. Louis, crossed the Rocky Mountains, and descended the Columbia River to the Pacific.

1804. 1806.

CONTROVERSIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE.

26. The interests of the United States at sea were grievously harassed by the measures of both England and France. Long and anxious negotiations failed to secure redress from either. The British Orders in Council and the Imperial Decrees of Napoleon were equally obnoxious. Jay's treaty had not relieved American vessels from impressment of British sailors, or from the seizure of enemies' goods on board. The orders of the British Government were executed in an arrogant and offensive manner, which inflamed the indignation occasioned by them.

THE CHESAPEAKE AND THE LEOPARD.

27. The right of search § was enforced by the British cruisers, which took from American ships all who were, or who were alleged to be, British seamen. These proceedings passed beyond endurance, when the Chesapeake was stopped off the capes of Virginia, fired into, and boarded by the British frigate Leopard. Four

1807. 22 June.

* Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) was born near Charlottesville, Va. He was private secretary to President Jefferson, 1801-1803. In 1803 he was sent, with Capt. Wm. Clarke, on the exploring expedition. He is supposed to have shot himself in Tennessee, in a fit of despondency.

+ The British Orders in Council were State Papers, issued by George III., "by and with the advice of his Privy Council," in retaliation for Napoleon's Berlin Decree. These orders prohibited all trade by neutrals with the ports of France and her allies. They were renewed with increasing stringency.

These decrees were the Berlin and Milan decrees, designed to close the ports of the continent to British trade, and to exclude British products from the mainland of Europe. The Berlin Decree (21st Nov. 1806) declared the British islands under blockade, and authorized the seizure of all vessels coming from British harbors, and of British goods wherever they might be found. The Milan Decree repeated and extended these severe measures against commerce.

The right of search was the alleged right of stopping on the high seas vessels