Excerpt from Presidential Election A change of administration was now loudly called for; and Mr. Jefferson assumed the helm amidst the lengthened plaudits of a nation of republicans. The mind of this great man was very early imbued with the spirit of the age - which, in his turn, he has enlightened and advanced. At thirty four lie gave us the immortal Declaration of Independence; and his intermediate services alone, at home and abroad, would have been sufficient to point him out to the gratitude of a virtuous and intelligent people. To him, therefore, it pre-eminently belonged to heal the wounds our free institutions bad sustained, and to re-assure the suffering nations of the world of the great political truth, first demonstrated in America - that the people are capable of self-government. - At the end of his second term, he too, like the father of his country, gladly withdrew to the bosom of philosophical retirement. Mr. Madison followed. This accomplished statesman had also long rendered himself a signal benefactor of the country that rewarded him with the highest distinction known among men - the chief magistracy of a free people. Our present happy form of national polity was mainly the work of his hands. It was he who nicely adjusted the parts, and first demonstrated the problem, that the sovereignty of individual states could be maintained under an efficient general or federal government-having the power of peace and war, and only terrible against internal or external aggression. Again: when in the crisis of '98 - '99, the light of the revolution seemed almost extinct with our rulers, it was he who aroused the people by the masterly Report on the violations of the constitution, and thus powerfully aided in bringing back the government to first principles, in 1801. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.