237.  President Jefferson.—­Thomas Jefferson was a Republican.  He believed in the republican form of government.  He believed the wisdom of the people to be the best guide.  He wished the President to be simple and cordial in his relations with his fellow-citizens.  Adams had ridden to his inauguration in a coach drawn by six cream-colored horses.  Jefferson walked with a few friends from his boarding house to the Capitol.  Washington and Adams had gone in state to Congress and had opened the session with a speech.  Jefferson sent a written message to Congress by a messenger.  Instead of bowing stiffly to those who came to see him, he shook hands with them and tried to make them feel at ease in his presence.

[Sidenote:  Proscription of Republicans by the Federalists.]

[Sidenote:  Adams’s midnight appointments.]

238.  The Civil Service.—­One of the first matters to take Jefferson’s attention was the condition of the civil service.  There was not a Republican office-holder in the government service.  Washington, in the last years of his presidency, and Adams also had given office only to Federalists.  Jefferson thought it was absolutely necessary to have some officials upon whom he could rely.  So he removed a few Federalist officeholders and appointed Republicans to their places.  Adams had even gone so far as to appoint officers up to midnight of his last day in office.  Indeed, John Marshall, his Secretary of State, was busy signing commissions when Jefferson’s Attorney General walked in with his watch in hand and told Marshall that it was twelve o’clock.  Jefferson and Madison, the new Secretary of State, refused to deliver these commissions even when Marshall as Chief Justice ordered Madison to deliver them.

[Sidenote:  The Judiciary Act, 1801.]

[Sidenote:  Repealed by Republicans]

[Sidenote:  Jefferson and appointments.]

239.  The Judiciary Act of 1801.—­One of the last laws made by the Federalists was the Judiciary Act of 1801.  This law greatly enlarged the national judiciary, and Adams eagerly seized the opportunity to appoint his friends to the new offices.  The Republican Congress now repealed this Judiciary Act and “legislated out of office” all the new judges.  For it must be remembered that the Constitution makes only the members of the Supreme Court sure of their offices.  Congress also got rid of many other Federalist officeholders by repealing the Internal Revenue Act (p. 167).  But while all this was done, Jefferson steadily refused to appoint men to office merely because they were Republicans.  One man claimed an office on the ground that he was a Republican, and that the Republicans were the saviors of the republic.  Jefferson replied that Rome had been saved by geese, but he had never heard that the geese were given offices.

[Illustration:  THOMAS JEFFERSON.] “Honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none, ... economy in the public expense, the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith.”—­Jefferson’s First Inaugural.