Produced by The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's University, and Alev Akman JEFFERSON AND HIS COLLEAGUES, A CHRONICLE OF THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY By Allen Johnson CONTENTS I. PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S COURT II. PUTTING THE SHIP ON HER REPUBLICAN TACK III. THE CORSAIRS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN IV. THE SHADOW OF THE FIRST CONSUL V. IN PURSUIT OF THE FLORIDAS VI. AN AMERICAN CATILINE VII. AN ABUSE OF HOSPITALITY VIII. THE PACIFISTS OF 1807 IX. THE LAST PHASE OF PEACEABLE COERCION X. THE WAR-HAWKS XI. PRESIDENT MADISON UNDER FIRE XII. THE PEACEMAKERS XIII. SPANISH DERELICTS IN THE NEW WORLD XIV. FRAMING AN AMERICAN POLICY XV. THE END OF AN ERA BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE JEFFERSON AND HIS COLLEAGUES CHAPTER I. PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S COURT The rumble of President John Adams's coach had hardly died away in the distance on the morning of March 4,1801, when Mr. Thomas Jefferson entered the breakfast room of Conrad's boarding house on Capitol Hill, where he had been living in bachelor's quarters during his Vice-Presidency. He took his usual seat at the lower end of the table among the other boarders, declining with a smile to accept the chair of the impulsive Mrs. Brown, who felt, in spite of her democratic principles, that on this day of all days Mr. Jefferson should have the place which he had obstinately refused to occupy at the head of the table and near the fireplace. There were others besides the wife of the Senator from Kentucky who felt that Mr. Jefferson was carrying equality too far. But Mr. Jefferson would not take precedence over the Congressmen who were his fellow boarders. Conrad's was conveniently near the Capitol, on the south side of the hill, and commanded an extensive view. The slope of the hill, which was a wild tangle of verdure in summer, debouched into a wide plain extending to the Potomac. Through this lowland wandered a little stream, once known as Goose Creek but now dignified by the name of Tiber. The banks of the stream as well as of the Potomac were fringed with native flowering shrubs and graceful trees, in which Mr. Jefferson took great delight. The prospect from his drawing-room windows, indeed, quite as much as anything else, attached him to Conrad's.