cy than their
leaders. "Submission men" were generally defeated in the election; new
leaders, like Clay, Calhoun, and Crawford, made the dominant party a war
party, and forced the President into their policy; and the war of 1812
was begun. Its early defeats on land, its startling successes at sea,
its financial straits, the desperation of the contest after the fall of
Napoleon, and the brilliant victory which crowned its close, all
combined to raise the national feeling to the highest pitch; and the
federalists, whose stock object of denunciation was "Mr. Madison's war,"
though Mr. Madison was about the most unwilling participant in it, came
out of it under the ban of every national sympathy.

The speech of Mr. Quincy, in many points one of the most eloquent of our
political history, will show the brightest phase of federalism at its
lowest ebb. One can hardly compare it with that of Mr. Clay, which
follows it, without noticing the national character of the latter, as
contrasted with the lack of nationality of the former. It seems, also,
that Mr. Clay's speech carries, in its internal characteristics,
sufficient evidence of the natural forces which tended to make democracy
a national power, and not a mere adjunct of State sovereignty, wherever
the oblique influence of slavery was absent. For this reason, it has
been taken as a convenient introduction to the topic which follows, the
Rise of Nationality.

THOMAS JEFFERSON,

OF VIRGINIA, (BORN 1743, DIED 1826.)

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES,

MARCH 4, 1801

FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS:

Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our
country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my
fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks
for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to
declare a sincere consciousness, that the task is above my talents, and
that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments, which the
greatness of the charge, and the weakness of my powers, so justly
inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land,
traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry,
engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right,
advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; when I
contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the
happiness, and the h