Jefferson and executive power

Boston University Law Review

Volumn 88, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 421-457

  Yoo, John ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 44849120413     PISSN: 00068047     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (219)

1. See JOSEPH J. ELLIS, AMERICAN SPHINX: THE CHARACTER OF THOMAS JEFFERSON (1997).
2. See generally LEONARD W. LEVY, JEFFERSON & CIVIL LIBERTIES: THE DARKER SIDE (1963).
3. The two magisterial collections of works covering the Jefferson Presidency are 4 DUMAS MALONE, JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME: JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT: FIRST TERM, 1801-05 (1970) [hereinafter MALONE, FIRST TERM],
4. and 5 DUMAS MALONE, JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME: JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT: SECOND TERM, 1805-09 (1974) [hereinafter MALONE, SECOND TERM],
5. and the first four volumes of HENRY ADAMS, HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Antiquarian Press Ltd. 1962) (1889-1891).
6. Helpful works also include DAVID N. MAYER, THE CONSTITUTIONAL THOUGHT OF THOMAS JEFFERSON (1994);
7. FORREST MCDONALD, THE PRESIDENCY OF THOMAS JEFFERSON (1976);
8. Ralph Ketcham, The Jefferson Presidency and Constitutional Beginnings, in THE CONSTITUTION AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY 5-27 (Martin L. Fausold & Alan Shank eds., 1991);
9. Gary J. Schmitt, Thomas Jefferson and the Presidency, in INVENTING THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY 326-46 (Thomas E. Cronin ed., 1989).
10. JAMES W. CEASER, PRESIDENTIAL SELECTION: THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT 89 (1979).
11. See, e.g., David Gray Adler, Constitution, Foreign Affairs and Presidential War-Making: A Response to Professor Powell, 19 GA. ST. U. L. REV. 947, 1003-16 (2003);
12. Louis Fisher, A Constitutional Structure for Foreign Affairs, 19 GA. ST. U. L. REV. 1059, 1069-76 (2003).
13. Letter from Alexander Hamilton to James A. Bayard (Jan. 16, 1801), in 25 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 319, 320 (Harold C. Syrett ed., 1977).
14. 2 ADAMS, supra note 3, at 204.
15. See Drafts of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 (Nov. 17, 1798), in 8 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 458, 458 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1904).
16. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington (Aug. 4, 1787), in 11 THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 678, 679 (Julian P. Boyd ed., 1955).
17. Id.
18. Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on the Powers of the Senate (Apr. 24, 1790), in 6 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 49, 50 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1904).
19. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (July 7, 1793), in 7 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 436 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1904) ("Nobody answers him, & his doctrines will therefore be taken for confessed. For God's sake, my dear Sir, take up your pen, select the most striking heresies and cut him to pieces in the face of the public").
20. See U.S. CONST. amend XII.
21. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Judge Spencer Roane (Sept. 6, 1819), in 12 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 135, 136 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1905).
22. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (Mar. 4, 1801), in 9 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 193, 195 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1905).
23. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 37.
24. See id.
25. See id. at 36.
26. See id.
27. 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803).
28. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 50.
29. See MARC LANDY & SIDNEY M. MILKIS, PRESIDENTIAL GREATNESS 65 (2000). But see MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 37 ("Jefferson had no intention of introducing into the national government what would later be called the spoils system, the notion that members of the victorious political party had a right to patronage and jobs simply because they had won an election.").
30. See id.
31. See id.
32. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 34-36; see also LANDY & MILKIS, supra note 22, at 65; MERRILL D. PETERSON, THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE NEW NATION: A BIOGRAPHY 680 (1970).
33. 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 88 n.1 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1905) (reprinting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Mrs. John Adams dated September 11, 1804).
34. Id. at 89 n.1.
35. Id.
36. See id. at 88 n.1.
37. Id. at 89 n.1.
38. Id.
39. See id.
40. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Dickinson (Dec. 19, 1801), in 10 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 301, 302 (Albert Ellery Bergh ed., 1907).
41. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 51.
42. See id. at 80.
43. See id. at 81.
44. Id.
45. See id. at 82.
46. See id. at 81.
47. Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393, 452 (1856).
48. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 85.
49. Id. at 133. See generally John C. Yoo, The First Claim: The Burr Trial, United States v. Nixon, and Presidential Power, 83 MINN. L. REV. 1435 (1999).
50. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, United States Dist. Attorney for Va. (June 20, 1807), in 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 403, 404.
51. Id.
52. Id.
53. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, United States Dist. Attorney for Va. (June 17, 1807), in 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 400, 401.
54. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 133.
55. See id.
56. See id. at 61.
57. See, e.g., United States Marine Band, The Marines' Hymn, on FROM FIFE AND DRUM . . . : MARINE BAND RECORDINGS 1890-1988 (Altissimo! 2007) ("From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli . . . .").
58. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 42-43.
59. See id. at 77-78.
60. See ABRAHAM D. SOFAER, WAR, FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND CONSTITUTIONAL POWER: THE ORIGINS 208 (1976).
61. For a useful discussion of the Barbary pirates, see GERHARD CASPER, SEPARATING POWER: ESSAYS ON THE FOUNDING PERIOD 45-67 (1997); SOFAER, supra note 52, at 208-24; Schmitt, supra note 3, at 336-37;
62. Montgomery N. Kosma, Our First Real War, 2 GREEN BAG 2D 169 (1999).
63. See SOFAER, supra note 52, at 209.
64. Id.
65. Id. at 210.
66. CASPER, supra note 53, at 61.
67. Thomas Jefferson, The Anas (May 15, 1801), in 1 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 163, 365-66 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1904).
68. See JOHN YOO, THE POWERS OF WAR AND PEACE: THE CONSTITUTION AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS AFTER 9/11, at 143-73 (2005).
69. SOFAER, supra note 52, at 210.
70. See RICHARD H. KOHN, EAGLE AND SWORD: THE FEDERALISTS AND THE CREATION OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT IN AMERICA, 1783-1802, at 92-123 (1975).
71. Letter from Samuel Smith to Captain Richard Dale (May 20, 1801), in 1 NAVAL DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE UNITED STATES WARS WITH THE BARBARY POWERS 465, 467 (1939).
72. Id.
73. See Kosma, supra note 53, at 174.
74. Id. ("The Enterprise sustained no material damage, and not a single man was wounded.").
75. Id.
76. President Thomas Jefferson, President's Message (Dec. 8, 1801), in 7 Annals of Cong. 11, 12 (1801).
77. See Act of Feb. 6, 1802, ch. 4, 2 Stat. 129, 130 (1802).
78. The Examination Number 1 (Dec. 17, 1801), in 25 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, supra note 6, at 444, 456.
79. SOFAER, supra note 52, at 217.
80. Id. at 218.
81. Id. at 220.
82. Act of Feb. 6, 1802, ch. 4, 2 Stat. 129, 130 (1802).
83. See SOFAER, supra note 52, at 221.
84. MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 135.
85. Id.
86. Id.
87. Id.
88. Id. at 136.
89. SOFAER, supra note 52, at 172.
90. Id.
91. MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 135-36.
92. Thomas Jefferson, President's Annual Message (Oct. 27, 1807), in 10 Annals of Cong. 14, 17 (1807), stating: I did not hesitate, therefore, to authorize engagements for such supplements to our existing stock as would render it adequate to the emergencies threatening us; and I trust that the Legislature, feeling the same anxiety for the safety of our country, so materially advanced by this precaution, will approve, when done, what they would have seen so important to be done, if then assembled.
93. See BRADFORD PERKINS, PROLOGUE TO WAR: ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES 1805-1812, at 140-48 (3d prtg. 1968); SOFAER, supra note 52, at 172-73 (reporting that the vote was 124-2 in favor of the appropriation).
94. See MALONE, FIRST TERM, supra note 3, at 240.
95. See id. at 271-72.
96. Id. at 272.
97. Id. at 240.
98. Id. at 271.
99. The events surrounding the purchase are described in id. at 239-332; MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 53-73; ROBERT W. TUCKER & DAVID C. HENDRICKSON, EMPIRE OF LIBERTY: THE STATECRAFT OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 87-171 (1990).
100. See MALONE, FIRST TERM, supra note 3, at 302.
101. Id. at 284 (quoting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, dated July 5, 1803).
102. U.S. CONST. art. IV, § 3, cl. 2.
103. GARY LAWSON & GUY SEIDMAN, THE CONSTITUTION OF EMPIRE: TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY 28-29 (2004).
104. Id.
105. See MALONE, FIRST TERM, supra note 3, at 311.
106. Id. at 312.
107. U.S. CONST. art. IV, § 3, cl. 1.
108. LAWSON & SEIDMAN, supra note 94, at 73-75.
109. U.S. CONST. art. IV, § 3, cl. 1.
110. MALONE, FIRST TERM, supra note 3, at 312.
111. Letter from Albert Gallatin to Thomas Jefferson (Jan. 18, 1803), in 1 THE WRITINGS OF ALBERT GALLATIN 111, 113-14 (Henry Adams ed., 1879).
112. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin (Jan. 1803), in 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 3 n. 1.
113. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Dickinson (Aug. 9, 1803), in 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 28, 29.
114. Id.
115. 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 7 n.1 (reprinting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John C. Breckinridge dated August 12, 1803).
116. Id.
117. Id.
118. See id. at 3-12.
119. Id. at 8 n.1 (reprinting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John C. Breckinridge dated August 18, 1803); see also id. (reprinting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine dated August 18, 1803) ("I infer that the less we say about constitutional difficulties respecting Louisiana the better, and that what is necessary for surmounting them must be done sub-silentio.").
120. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Cary Nicholas (Sep. 7, 1803), in 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 10.
121. Id.
122. Id.
123. Id.
124. Id.
125. See 2 ADAMS, supra note 3, at 204-05.
126. See MAYER, supra note 3, at 253.
127. 10 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 26, at 7 n.1 (reprinting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John C. Breckinridge dated August 12, 1803).
128. Id.
129. Id.
130. See MAYER, supra note 3, at 253.
131. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John B. Colvin (Sept. 20, 1810), in 11 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 146 (Paul Leicester Ford ed., 1905).
132. Id.
133. Id.
134. Id. at 146-47.
135. Id. at 147.
136. Id.
137. Id.
138. Id. at 148.
139. Id. at 148-49.
140. Id. at 148.
141. Id. at 149.
142. Id.
143. Id.
144. Id.
145. Id.
146. Id.
147. Id.
148. See EDWARD S. CORWIN, THE PRESIDENT: OFFICE AND POWERS, 1787-1984, at 18 (Randall W. Bland et. al eds., 5th rev. ed. 1984) ("What we encounter in Jefferson for the first time is a President who is primarily a party leader, only secondarily Chief Executive.").
149. Letter from John Marshall to Alexander Hamilton (Jan. 1, 1801), in 6 THE PAPERS OF JOHN MARSHALL 46, 46 (Charles F. Hobson ed., 1990).
150. Id.
151. See CORWIN, supra note 139, at 19 (asserting that Marshall's prediction "was justified by events when . . . party leadership passed to feebler hands").
152. Id.
153. RICHARD HOFSTADTER, THE IDEA OF A PARTY SYSTEM: THE RISE OF LEGITIMATE OPPOSITION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1780-1840, at 151 (1969).
154. LANDY & MILKIS, supra note 22, at 43.
155. Id. at 42.
156. Id. at 43.
157. Id. at 42.
158. See id. at 41-44; Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, in AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT: THE PHILOSOPHIC DIMENSION OF AMERICAN STATESMANSHIP 23, 49 (Morton J. Frisch & Richard G. Stevens eds., 1971).
159. MAYER, supra note 3, at 236.
160. Id.
161. See MALONE, FIRST TERM, supra note 3, at 93.
162. MAYER, supra note 3, at 237 (quoting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, dated June 13, 1805).
163. Id.
164. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 39.
165. Id.
166. See id. ("In any event, Jefferson's guests were usually overwhelmed: few congressmen were immune to the president's personality, and most returned to the congressional pit with renewed faith in his wisdom and virtue."); see also MAYER, supra note 3, at 238.
167. MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 39.
168. See CORWIN, supra note 139, at 18-19.
169. See CASPER, supra note 53, at 80.
170. See id. at 87.
171. See id. at 86-87.
172. See supra notes 22-25 and accompanying text.
173. LANDY & MILKIS, supra note 22, at 65.
174. See TUCKER & HENDRICKSON, supra note 90, at 14-17.
175. Id. at 18.
176. Id. at 190.
177. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Rutledge (July 4, 1790), in 6 THE WORKS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, supra note 11, at 86, 88.
178. Letter from Albert Gallatin to Thomas Jefferson (Dec. 18, 1807), in 1 THE WRITINGS OF ALBERT GALLATIN, supra note 102, at 368 (Henry Adams ed., 1879).
179. MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 143.
180. See Act of Dec. 22, 1807, ch. 5, 2 Stat. 451 (repealed 1809).
181. Id. § 2.
182. See Act of Jan. 9, 1808, ch. 8, 2 Stat. 453.
183. See Act of Mar. 12, 1808, ch. 33, 2 Stat. 473.
184. See Act of Apr. 25, 1808, ch. 66, 2 Stat. 499.
185. Id.
186. LEVY, supra note 2, at 102.
187. Id. at 104-05.
188. Id. at 104.
189. Id.
190. Id. at 104-05.
191. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin (May 6, 1808), in 1 THE WRITINGS OF ALBERT GALLATIN, supra note 102, at 385, 386.
192. Id.
193. LEVY, supra note 2, at 107.
194. See Thomas Jefferson, Proclamation (Apr. 19, 1808), in 1 A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS 1789-1897, at 450 (James D. Richardson ed., 1896).
195. LEVY, supra note 2, at 108-09.
196. See id. at 107.
197. Id. at 114.
198. LEONARD D. WHITE, THE JEFFERSONIANS: A STUDY IN ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY 1801-1829, at 451 (1951).
199. See Letter from Albert Gallatin to Thomas Jefferson (July 29, 1808), in 1 THE WRITINGS OF GALLATIN, supra note 102, at 396, 398.
200. Id.
201. Id. at 399.
202. Id.
203. See Act of Jan. 9, 1809, ch. 5, 2 Stat. 506.
204. LEVY, supra note 2, at 119.
205. Id.
206. Id. at 120.
207. 4 ADAMS, supra note 2, at 273.
208. See MCDONALD, supra note 3, at 159.
209. See PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP: RATING THE BEST AND THE WORST IN THE WHITE HOUSE 11-12 (James Tarante & Leonard Leo eds., 2004).
210. See PERKINS, supra note 84, at 223-60.
211. DONALD R. HICKEY, THE WAR OF 1812: A FORGOTTEN CONFLICT 30 (1989).
212. Id.
213. WALTER LAFEBER, THE AMERICAN AGE: UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY AT HOME AND ABROAD SINCE 1750, at 58 (1989) (quoting John Calhoun).
214. James Madison, Third Annual Message (Nov. 5, 1811), in 1 A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS 1789-1897, supra note 185, at 491, 494.
215. HICKEY, supra note 202, at 33.
216. Id. at 34.
217. Id.
218. Id. at 35. See generally LAFEBER, supra note 204, at 59-61.
219. See generally LAFEBER, supra note 204, at 72-99, 126-58, 182-254.