Thomas Jefferson: Establishing a New Order of Things

Also, Jefferson planned changes in the protocol of the presidential office itself.
The conjecture heard by Cutler:

--There is to be no speech at the opening of the session

--The President will host no levees

The practices of holding levees and speaking in person before Congress began under President Washington.

Alexander Hamilton helped design the presidential levee, the weekly formal reception for only invited congressmen and distinguished visitors. Hamilton argued it would not waste the president’s time and further advised that “the dignity of the office should be supported.”

The Federalists knew that Jefferson opposed this elitist entertainment along with the practice of the president delivering a state of the union message at the beginning of each session of Congress. Both followed too closely the old British practices of king and parliament.

Cutler was not wrong. In a personal letter written in the month following his inauguration, Jefferson promised:

. . .Levees are done away.

. . .The first 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 army is undergoing a chaste reformation.

. . .The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment. . . .

. . .Agencies in every department will be revised.

. . .We shall press you to the uttermost in economizing.

Congress adjourned on the evening of March 3, 1801, the day before Jefferson's inauguration, and was not scheduled to reconvene until the first Monday in December, as designated by the Constitution in Article I, Section 4. . . .

This gave Jefferson almost nine months to organize his administration and set any of his political agenda in motion that did not require congressional approval.

Recruiting secretaries to head the executive departments was one of Jefferson's first steps after his inauguration. These would be carefully chosen men with strong Democratic-Republican affiliations. He was pleased with his choices and enjoyed a close working relationship with his cabinet.

Jefferson used his first Inaugural Address to present his ideas on the presidency and the role of good government:

- The duties and power of the presidency would be limited: I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear.

- The federal government should be minimal: A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.

- He intended to cut internal taxes: Good government. . . shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

From North Carolina he received a letter from Nathaniel Macon, who would be Speaker of the House in the next session of Congress. Macon informed Jefferson that “the people expect:” No levees, no presidential speeches to Congress, fewer foreign ministers, the navy and army reduced. . . .

In fact that a system of æconomy is to be adopted and pursued with energy-----

In other words . . . .reduce the federal government.

Jefferson brought this issue to the attention of his Cabinet. They discussed treating with the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks with “Object. 1.” to obtain the desired lands by offering an annual annuities or ----“Object. 2.” to buy the rights for roads or outright purchase of their lands. A letter must go to the Georgia Commissioners to learn what land they would be willing to cede."

Then in early summer a delegation of Cherokee arrived in Washington, “to see the new President of the United States. . .the father and guardian of our country.”

The Cherokees reported that they had begun to make many improvements as urged by the government agents. But how were they to raise livestock if asked to give up more and more land?

Jefferson did not meet personally with the Indian delegation but rather drafted remarks to be delivered by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. The delegation was assured. . . .

The land certainly still belongs to you.

Dearborn sent a gift and written message with the delegation to their chief, Little Turkey. . .

Your father the President instructs me to assure you in behalf of your nation, that he will pay the most sacred regard to the existing treaties, between your nation and ours and protect your whole territory against all intrusions by white people.

With the stipulation. . .

The President will never abandon his beloved Cherokees nor their children, so long as they shall act justly and peaceably towards the White people and their Red brethren.

Pressures from a growing and restless white citizenry pushed against the lands occupied by the Native Americans. This was a point of conflict that Jefferson would not resolve. It eventually evolved into policies of Indian removal in subsequent administrations.

To help him with this task, Jefferson turned to his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, who had served in the U.S. Army in the territories east of the Mississippi River. Lewis knew many of the officers--most of whom were Federalist appointees-- stationed there. Jefferson wanted to know who be loyal to the new Democratic-Republican administration, who were the good officers and who not so good? Meriwether Lewis could supply the information he needed.

Your knolege of the Western country, of the army and of all it’s interests & relations has rendered it desireable . . .that you should be engaged in that office.

In 1801, only the north wing of the Capitol building was completed. This was designed as the Senate chamber but was occupied by both houses of Congress. The Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and courts for the District of Columbia occupied the unfinished third floor. These crowded conditions led Jefferson to ignore the unfinished President’s House in order to move forward on a temporary structure for the House of Representatives.

To provide needed space, a wooden structure was erected in 1801 as a temporary residence for the House. Due to the poor ventilation, it was given the name, "The Oven." It was not torn down until 1805.

Capt. Lewis and myself are like two mice in a church.
--Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 28 May 1801

The President’s House, as it was called when Jefferson entered office, was grand though also unfinished. This 23-room executive mansion was where Jefferson and his secretary would live, work and entertain.

Meriwether Lewis’s living area was on the ground floor, in the south end of the large, unfinished East Room. Canvas was used to wall off his private quarters.

Jefferson made few changes to the President’s House in his first year. More emphasis was given tp the Capitol building and improvements to the City of Washington.

In the summer of 1801, the American schooner Enterprise defeated a Tripolitan corsair in a decided victory with no men lost. When Congress was again in session, they supported Jefferson with "An act for the protection of commerce and seamen of the United States against the Tripolitan cruisers."

The conflict with Tripoli continued into Jefferson's second administration, culminating in the capturing of the city of Derna by the U.S. Navy and a small force of Marines.

The wars and troubles which have for so many years afflicted our sister nations have at length come to an end. . . .

Among our Indian neighbors, also, a spirit of peace and friendship generally prevailing.

There was peace at home, Jefferson noted. And the treaty between France and England would benefit neutral shipping. But then there was the Mediterranean . . .

To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. . . Tripoli.

Jefferson had to explain his actions against the Barbary state of Tripoli to Congress——they were defensive measures only.

The federal government and armed forces were being streamlined. Reform of the judiciary would be presented to Congress. Agriculture, manufacturing, commerce, and navigation were thriving.

Jefferson had one final point. . . .

On New Years Day 1802, President Jefferson received an unusual gift . . .

The Elder John Leland with members of his Baptist congregation arrived from Cheshire, Massachusetts with a wheel of cheese weighing over 1,200 pounds. According to Jefferson’s measurements, it was 4feet 4 1/2 inches in diameter and 15 inches thick. The cheese was meant to honor Jefferson for his defense of religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

Federalist newspapers lampooned the giant cheese, while a Republican writer published a broadside with an “Ode to the Mammoth Cheese.”

Manasseh Cutler along with other Federalist Congressmen called at the President’s House on New Years Day. After politely receiving cake and wine, the President invited them, “To the mammoth room and see the mammoth cheese.” Cutler saw the cheese as “folly.” He was still wary of . . .

"the new order of things."

Along with the cheese, Elder Leland delivered a written address from the Danbury Baptist Association, a group of 26 churches in western Connecticut. Jefferson’s famous reply, dated 1 January 1802, summarized his thoughts on religious freedom . . . .

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach action only, & not opinions. . . .

These thoughts concluded with his most notable statement. There should exist . . .

a wall of separation between church and state.