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The assault on the Judiciary begins--Intense excitement of political parties--Message on the Judiciary that Jefferson sent to Congress--Message he did not send--The Federalists fear the destruction of the National Judiciary--The grave defects of the Ellsworth Judiciary Act of 1789--The excellent Federalist Judiciary Act of 1801--The Republicans determined to repeal it--The great Judiciary debate begins in the Senate--The Federalists assert the exclusive power of the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of acts of Congress--The dramatic language of Senator Gouverneur Morris--The Republican Senators evade the issue--The Federalist Senators press it--Aaron Burr takes his seat as Vice-President--His fateful Judiciary vote--Senator John Breckenridge denies the supervisory power of the Supreme Court over legislation--The debate in the House-- Comments of the press--Extravagant speeches--Appearance and characteristics of John Randolph of Roanoke--The Federalists hint resistance--The lamentations of the Federalist newspapers--The Republicans repeal the Federalist Judiciary act--They also suspend the sessions of the Supreme Court for fourteen months--This done to prevent Marshall from overthrowing the Republican repeal of the Federalist Judiciary Act of 1801--Marshall proposes to his colleagues on the bench that they refuse to sit as Circuit Judges--They reject his proposal--The New England Federalist leaders begin to talk secession--The jubilation of the Republican press: "Huzza for the Washington Judiciary!"
Power of the Judiciary over legislation the supreme issue-- Federalist majorities in State Legislatures assert that Supreme Court can annul acts of Congress--Republican minorities vigorously resist the doctrine of Judiciary supremacy--Republican strength grows rapidly--Critical situation before the decision of Marbury vs. Madison-- Power of the Supreme Court must be promptly asserted or permanently abandoned--Marshall confronts a serious dilemma--Escape from it apparently impossible--Republicans expect him to decide against Madison--They threaten impeachment--Marshall delivers his celebrated opinion--His reasoning on the power of the Judiciary merely repeats Federalist arguments in the Judiciary debate--He persuades his associates on the Supreme Bench that Section 13 of the Ellsworth Judiciary Act is unconstitutional--Startling boldness of his conception--History of Section 13-- Drawn by framers of the Constitution and never before questioned--Marshall's opinion excites no immediate comment-- Jefferson does not attack it until after his reëlection-- Republican opposition to the Judiciary apparently subsides-- Cause of this--Purchase of Louisiana--Jefferson compelled to take "unconstitutional" action--He counsels secrecy-- The New England Federalist secession movement gains strength--Jefferson reëlected--Impeachment the next move.
Republicans plan to subjugate the Judiciary--Federalist Judges to be ousted and Republicans put in their places-- Marshall's decision in United States vs. Fisher--The Republican impeachment programme carried out--The trial and the conviction of Judge Addison--The removal of Judge Pickering--The House impeaches Justice Chase of the Supreme Court--Republicans manipulate public opinion--The articles of impeachment--Federalists convinced that Chase is doomed--Marshall the chief object of attack--His alarm--He proposes radical method of reviewing decisions of the Supreme Court--Reason for Marshall's trepidation--The impeachment trial--Burr presides--He is showered with favors by the Administration--Appearance of Chase--His brilliant array of counsel--Luther Martin of Maryland--Examination of witnesses--Marshall testifies--He makes an unfavorable impression: "too much caution; too much fear; too much cunning"--Arguments of counsel--Weakness of the House managers--They are overwhelmed by counsel for Chase-- Joseph Hopkinson's brilliant appeal--He captivates the Senate--Nicholson's fatal admission--Rodney's absurd speech--Luther Martin's great argument--Randolph closes for the managers--He apostrophizes Marshall--His pathetic breakdown--The Senate votes--Tense excitement in the Chamber--Chase acquitted--A determinative event in American history--Independence of the National Judiciary saved-- Marshall for the first time secure in the office of Chief Justice.
Marshall agrees to write the "Life of Washington"--He is unequipped for the task--His grotesque estimate of time, labor, and profits--Jefferson is alarmed--Declares that Marshall is writing for "electioneering purposes"--Postmasters as book agents--They take their cue from Jefferson--Rumor spreads that Marshall's book is to be partisan--Postmasters take few subscriptions--Parson Weems becomes chief solicitor for Marshall's book--His amusing canvass--Marshall is exasperatingly slow--Subscribers are disgusted at delay-- First two volumes appear--Public is dissatisfied--Marshall is worried--He writes agitated letters--His publisher becomes disheartened--Marshall resents criticism--The lamentable inadequacy of the first three volumes--Fourth volume an improvement--Marshall's heavy task in the writing of the last volume--He performs it skillfully--Description of the foundation of political parties--Treatment of the policies of Washington's administrations--Jefferson calls Marshall's biography a "five-volume libel" and "a party diatribe"--He seeks an author to answer Marshall--He resolves to publish his "Anas" chiefly as a reply to Marshall--He bitterly attacks him and the biography-- Other criticisms of Marshall's work--His lifelong worry over the imperfections of the first edition--He decides to revise it--He devotes nearly twenty years to the task-- Work on the Supreme Bench while writing the first edition.
Remarkable effect on the Senate of Burr's farewell speech-- His desperate plight--Stanchness of friends--Jefferson's animosity--Unparalleled combination against Burr--He runs for Governor of New York and is defeated--Hamilton's lifelong pursuit of Burr--The historic duel--Dismemberment of the Union long and generally discussed--Washington's apprehensions in 1784--Jefferson in 1803 approves separation of Western country "if it be for their good"--The New England secessionists ask British Minister for support--He promises his aid--Loyalty of the West--War with Spain imminent--People anxious to "liberate" Mexico--Invasion of that country Burr's long-cherished dream-- He tries to get money from Great Britain--He promises British Minister to divide the Republic--His first Western journey-- The people receive him cordially--He is given remarkable ovation at Nashville--Andrew Jackson's ardent friendship-- Burr enthusiastically welcomed at New Orleans--War with Spain seemingly inevitable--Burr plans to lead attack upon Mexico when hostilities begin--Spanish agents start rumors against him--Eastern papers print sensational stories--Burr returns to the Capital--Universal demand for war with Spain--Burr intrigues in Washington--He again starts for the West-- He sends his famous cipher dispatch to Wilkinson-- Blennerhassett joins Burr--They purchase four hundred thousand acres of land on the Washita River--Plan to settle this land if war not declared--Wilkinson's eagerness for war--Burr arraigned in the Kentucky courts--He is discharged--Cheered by the people--Wilkinson determines to betray Burr--He writes mysterious letters to the President-- Jefferson issues his Proclamation--Wilkinson's reign of military lawlessness in New Orleans--Arrest of Burr's agents, Bollmann and Swartwout--Arrest of Adair--Prisoners sent under guard by ship to Washington--The capital filled with wild rumors--Jefferson's slight mention of the Burr conspiracy in his Annual Message--Congress demands explanation--Jefferson sends Special Message denouncing Burr: his "guilt is placed beyond question"--Effect upon the public mind--Burr already convicted in popular opinion.
Bollmann and Swartwout arrive at Washington and are imprisoned--Adair and Alexander released by the court at Baltimore for want of proof--Eaton's affidavit against Burr--Bollmann and Swartwout apply to Supreme Court for writ of habeas corpus--Senate passes bill suspending the privilege of that writ--The House indignantly rejects the Senate Bill--Marshall delivers the first of his series of opinions on treason--No evidence against Bollmann and Swartwout, and Marshall discharges them--Violent debate in the House--Burr, ignorant of all, starts down the Cumberland and Mississippi with nine boats and a hundred men--First learns in Mississippi of the proceedings against him-- Voluntarily surrenders to the civil authorities--The Mississippi grand jury refuses to indict Burr, asserting that he is guilty of no offense--Court refuses to discharge him--Wilkinson's frantic efforts to seize or kill him--He goes into hiding--Court forfeits his bond--He escapes--He is captured in Alabama and confined to Fort Stoddert--Becomes popular with both officers and men--Taken under military guard for a thousand miles through the wilderness--Arrives at Richmond--Marshall issues warrant for his delivery to the civil authorities--The first hearing before the Chief Justice--Shall Burr be committed for treason--The argument-- Marshall's opinion--Probable cause to suspect Burr guilty of attempt to attack Mexico; no evidence upon which to commit Burr for treason--Marshall indirectly criticizes Jefferson-- Burr's letters to his daughter--Popular demand for Burr's conviction and execution--Jefferson writes bitterly of Marshall--Administration scours country for evidence against Burr--Expenditure of public money for this purpose-- Burr gains friends in Richmond--His attorneys become devoted to him--Marshall attends the famous dinner at the house of John Wickham, not knowing that Burr is to be a guest--He is denounced for doing so--His state of mind.
Richmond thronged with visitors--Court opens in the House of Delegates--The hall packed--Dress, appearance, and manner of spectators--Dangerous state of the public temper--Andrew Jackson arrives and publicly denounces Jefferson--He declares trial a "political persecution"--Winfield Scott's opinion: the President the real prosecutor--Grand jury formed and instructed--Believe Burr guilty--Burr's passionate reply to George Hay, the District Attorney--Hay reports to Jefferson-- Burr's counsel denounce the Administration's efforts to excite the public against him--Attorneys on both sides speak to the public--Hay moves to commit Burr for treason-- Marshall's difficult and dangerous situation--Jefferson instructs Hay--Government offers testimony to support its motion--Luther Martin arrives--Hay again reports to Jefferson, who showers the District Attorney with orders-- Burr asks that the court grant a writ of subpoena duces tecum directed to Jefferson--Martin boldly attacks the President--Wirt's clever rejoinder--Jefferson calls Martin that "Federal bulldog"--Wants Martin indicted--Marshall's opinion on Burr's motion for a subpoena _duces tecum_--He grants the writ--Hay writes Jefferson, who makes able and dignified reply--Wilkinson arrives--Washington Irving's description of him--Testimony before the grand jury--Burr and Blennerhassett indicted for treason and misdemeanor-- Violent altercations between counsel.
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