May 12

[In this letter, dated May 12, 1800, I am writing from Philadelphia to my close ally, James Madison, to provide an intimate update on the closing days of the congressional session and the massive shift in political momentum right before the pivotal Election of 1800. I was pleased to inform him that the Federalist faction has utterly failed to pass their aggressive legislative agenda, as their substantial majority in the House of Representatives has melted away under the fierce pressure of public disapproval. While the stubborn Senate continues to resist the voice of the people and push forward with a controversial election bill, the broader tide of public opinion has turned decisively in our favor on the eve of the presidential election.]

Congress will rise to-day or to-morrow. Mr. Nicholas proposing to call on you, you will get from him the Congressional news. On the whole, the federalists have not been able to carry a single strong measure in the lower House the whole session. When they met, it was believed they had a majority of twenty; but many of these were new and moderate men, and soon saw the true character of the party to which they had been well disposed while at a distance. This tide, too, of public opinion sets so strongly against the federal proceedings, that this melted off their majority, and dismayed the heroes of the party. The Senate alone remained undismayed to the last. Firm to their purpose, regardless of public opinion, and more disposed to coerce than to court it, not a man of their majority gave way in the least; and on the election bill they adhered to John Marshall's amendment, by their whole number; and if there had been a full Senate, there would have been but eleven votes against it, which include H. Marshall, who has voted with the republicans this session.