By the time you read this, Election Day will have come and gone and hopefully we will know who our next president will be; so, it seems like a good time to get the perspective of history. Abraham Holmes, whose extensive memoirs I have previously cited, was born and raised in Rochester. As an adult he was a lawyer and active in both town and state politics. For many years he was a member of the state’s General Court. His opinions on the post-Revolutionary War American government and on the men who were our first presidents are interesting.
He explains that, in the late 1780s, the early national government was “lodged in Congress whose powers amounted in most cases no higher than that of recommendation.” The general belief at the time was that Congress needed more power, so a convention of states was convened; by the end, a completely new system of government with Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches was created. Many disliked what was produced, in part because it greatly lessened the power of the states. Holmes particularly thought it should be rejected because of a lack of a Bill of Rights. He also added,”I then apprehended that in no case did the power with which a government is vested, did it ever diminish, but would gradually increase.” A thought that many would agree with today.
When it comes to his reviews of the men who were the first presidents, like most he had nothing but praise for Washington and his eight years as president. His critiques of others were not so flattering. He found John Adams, the second president, a man of “sound and extensive acquirements,” but of “a very irritable temper”.
He writes that Mr. Jefferson, a Federalist (the other party was the Democrats) made sure that “the Federal Cause as it was called grew richer and richer” through his eight years as the third president. He was followed by eight years of James Madison, and then came James Munroe. Holmes’ disapproval of Munroe is evident as he writes, “Mr. Munroe was probably possessed of the most feeble intellect of any man that ever filled that chair.”
At the end of Munroe’s term there was no election, so the choice was made by the House of Representatives, and John Quincy Adams was chosen with a majority of only one state. It was therefore no surprise that the years of his term were marked by constant disagreements between the members who had supported his appointment and those who hadn’t. According to Holmes, it was obvious from the start that it was the intention of many, if not all who had not voted for him, “to make his situation as uncomfortable as they could, and one of them said he would blow him sky-high, and accordingly they immediately opened the electioneering campaign, even before the time his presidency commenced.”
Following Quincy Adams was Andrew Jackson. The first thing that Holmes held against him was that Jackson had voted against Washington’s administration. In addition, he writes,” In point of mental abilities he cannot be rated above mediocrity; his education limited; his temper vindictive; his passions and ungovernable will were the sole dictators of his conduct.”
It’s easy to see echoes of the past in our current politics, and it makes you wonder if politics ever had “good old days”.
Note: In the article about the rampaging pig, the farmer who corralled him was Joseph Florindo. I went with the name in the newspaper caption, but, even as I wrote it, I thought it sounded wrong. Sorry!
By Connie Eshbach
