Beschreibung:

JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743-1826). President . Autograph letter signed ("Th:Jefferson") as President, to Nathaniel Macon, Washington, 14 May 1801. 1 full page, 4to, integral address leaf neatly inlaid on a larger sheet, professional repairs to integral leaf , otherwise fine. THE "REVOLUTION OF 1800": JEFFERSON IMPLEMENTS HIS PLANS TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT A highly significant letter, written only two months after Jefferson assumed the presidency in what he termed the "Revolution of 1800," which was "as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 1776 was in its form." Here, he articulates many of the goals of his new administration, following the bitterly contested campaign and a disputed election which had to be resolved by Congress. It was Jefferson's intention to set the nation back on the course established in the Revolution: "We shall put her back on her republican tack and she will show by the beauty of her motion the skill of her builders" (Malone, Jefferson the President , p. 26; Weisberger, America Afire , p. 285). The course that he hoped to steer would be guided by the political values of a republicanism that, he believed, the Federalists had betrayed, especially by limiting the power and authority of central government. "The very notion of government itself was the core problem. In that sense he remained true to the Whig tradition, which stigmatized all forms of political power as inherently corrupt, as well as his own ideal of personal autonomy, which regarded any explicit exercise of authority that was not consensual or voluntary as inherently invasive...Jefferson was declaring that his primary responsibility as president was to render ineffectual and invisible the very government he was elected to lead" (Ellis, American Sphinx , p. 217). As one historian has observed "nothing gave the President more trouble in these early months than the disposition of the federal offices. It took more time, caused more pain, personal and political, and made more enemies than all the other business of government" (Peterson, Thomas Jefferson & The New Nation , p. 666). Here, writing to Nathaniel Macon (1758-1837), Speaker of the House and a close personal friend, Jefferson notes that the commission for a Mr. Potts has been prepared, but "I have still thought it better to forward the commission in the house that reconsideration or the influence of yourself & friends might induce an acceptance of it. Should it be otherwise, you must recommend some other good person, as I had rather be guided by your opinion than that of the person you refer me to. Perhaps Mr. Potts may be willing to stop the gap till you meet & repeal the law." Seeking to lighten his burden of appointments, Jefferson asks Macon for "a recommendation from you as soon as possible, and in all cases, when an office becomes vacant in your state, as the distance would occasion a great delay were you to await to be regularly consulted, I shall be much obliged to you to recommend the best characters. There is nothing I am so anxious about as making the best possible appointments, and no case in which the best men are more liable to mislead us by yielding to the sollicitations [ sic ] of applicants. For this reason your own spontaneous recommendation would be desirable." Then, responding to Macon's question about his administration's policy, he spells enumerate actions he proposed in order to reduce the size of government and cut government expenditures: "Levees are done away. The communication to the next Congress will be, like all subsequent ones, by message, to which no answer will be expected. The diplomatic establishment in Europe will be reduced to three ministers. The Compensations to Collectors depend on you, not me. The army is undergoing a chaste reformation. The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment by the last of this month. Agencies in every department will be revised. We shall push you to the uttermost in econo