5441. MONOPOLY, Of office.—
When it
is considered that during the late administration,
those who were not of a particular
sect of politics were excluded from all office;
when, by a steady pursuit of this measure,
nearly the whole offices of the United States
were monopolized by that sect; when the
public sentiment at length declared itself, and
burst open the doors of honor and confidence
to those whose opinions they more approved,
was it to be imagined that this
monopoly of office was still to be continued
in the hands of the minority? Does
it violate their equal rights to assert some
rights in the majority also? Is it political
intolerance to claim a proportionate
share in the direction of the public affairs?
Can they not harmonise in society unless
they have everything in their own hands?—
To the New Haven Committee. Washington ed. iv, 404.
Ford ed., viii, 69.
(W.
July. 1801)