we have seen, the Constitution
was interpreted by the Supreme Court as excluding this doctrine; and that
decision having been reaffirmed repeatedly, and having been acquiesced in
by the nation for fifty years, may fairly be said to have become by the
year 1861 the law of the land.

Jefferson, however, by no means intended to push matters to their logical
conclusion. His resolutions were intended for moral effect, as he
explained in the following letter to Madison:--

"I think we should distinctly affirm all the important principles they
contain, so as to hold to that ground in future, and leave the matter in
such a train that we may not be committed absolutely to push the matter to
extremities, and yet may be free to push as far as events will render
prudent."

As to the charge that the Kentucky Resolutions imply the doctrine of
secession, as well as that of nullification, it has no basis. The two
doctrines do not stand or fall together. There is nothing in the
resolutions which implies the right of secession. Jefferson, like most
Americans of his day, contemplated with indifference the possibility of an
ultimate separation of the region beyond the Mississippi from the United
States. But nobody placed a higher value than he did on what he described
"as our union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to
prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators."

X

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON

For the presidential election of 1800, Adams was again the candidate on
the Federal side, and Jefferson on the Republican side. Jefferson, by
interviews, by long and numerous letters, by the commanding force of his
own intellect and character, had at last welded the anti-Federal elements
into a compact and disciplined Republican party. The contest was waged
with the utmost bitterness, and especially with bitterness against
Jefferson. For this there were several causes. Jefferson had deeply
offended two powerful classes in Virginia, the old aristocratic and Tory
element, and--excluding the dissenters--the religious element; the former,
by the repeal of the law of entail, and the latter by the statute for
freedom of religion in Virginia. These were among the most meritorious
acts of his life, but they produced an intense enmity which lasted till
his death and even beyond his death. Jefferson, also, though at times
over-cautious, was at