Carl Russell Fish

“ In a summing up of the whole policy of the Federalists toward the civil service, this point should first of all be insisted upon, that fitness was always an essential requirement; other qualifications were often looked for, but these were ever subsidiary to the ability to perform the duties of the office. Of these subsidiary qualifications, correct political opinion was one of the most important both under Washington and under Adams. ”

“ Adams graphically depicted the chances for combination and corruption opened by the participation of the Senate; and, while he perhaps underrated the danger of according the full power to the executive, he certainly grasped the nature of the problem better than his correspondent, who argued that the senators would in general be the most respectable citizens of their respective states, and deduced therefrom that they would be diffident about recommending even friends and kindred of other members, “lest they should be thought unduly to favor a person who is related to a member of their body.” ”

“ The president “shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the president alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. ”

“ The makers of the constitution fully realized that the adjustment of the power of appointment to office required careful consideration. From their youth up they had seen the rivalry for office, they had felt the influence of the patronage, in the politics of colony and state. John Adams complained that Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts passed over proper candidates in order to advance members of his own family ”

“ More extensive and more telling were the charges made by the Federalists. James Wilson of Pennsylvania pointed out that the transfer of the customs from the states to the national government, and the establishment of many new judicial and administrative offices, would turn the stream of patronage into a new channel, and that the constitution would therefore be opposed by all those who profited by existing conditions. ”

“ The constitution assigned to the president the duty of nominating public officers; but, in a country so extended as the United States, even a man with the wide personal acquaintance of Washington needed assistance in finding proper men. A machinery for presenting names to the executive therefore grew up outside of the constitution. ”

“ To have previously held an elective office was considered the best recommendation. Some administrative officers were transferred from the State to the national service, — as Oliver Wolcott, comptroller of public accounts for Connecticut, who was made an auditor.
This qualification was particularly insisted upon for judicial appointments. The new judiciary had much to contend against. Legal changes are always looked upon with disfavor; and Washington wished to draw into the national service, so far as possible, judges from the benches of the states. ”

“ Undoubtedly the state machine formed the chief prop of the opposition; but Clinton, as will be shown later, was moderate in his use of the appointing power, and it is extremely improbable that he made any direct threats of removal or promises of reward. [15] The more serious accusation made by the Federalists, that the governor was chiefly influenced in his opposition by fear of loss of prestige, must be dismissed as entirely unfounded. It was perfectly natural that the men in office should oppose the constitution: they represented the ideas of the Revolution ”

“ The kindness is open to doubt; but certainly few things tend more to hurt a man politically than a reputation for feathering the family nest with the salaries of public offices. Even the transfer, by his father, of John Quincy Adams from the post of minister to Portugal to that of minister to Prussia, so amply justified by the event, furnished material for detractors. [51]
In Adams's letter to Wolcott, quoted above, mention is made of the fact that Washington appointed many violent Republicans to office. ”

“ He described at length their methods of instilling Jacobinical ideas into the minds of their fellow-citizens, and concluded: “I have no hesitation in saying that I think Justice to the public requires the removal of these men. They surely cannot complain if that Government which is the object of their execrations should weaken their means of injuring and abusing it.” ”

“ One case of competition for office can be closely followed, and illustrates very well the conditions of the period. A certain Colonel Lindsay, collector of Norfolk, Virginia, early in Adams's term became mortally ill. Since the deputy of the collector, Francis Taylor, was engaged to Lindsay's daughter, it was felt by Colonel Lindsay's friends that it would be pleasant for Taylor to succeed to the collectorship, marry the daughter, and so provide for the family. ”

“ It lies not in man to give universal satisfaction; and small as was the part which politics played in the selections of the first administration, the government did not escape the charge of intolerance. John Tyler, Sr., was one of the judges of the admiralty court of Virginia, the functions of which, under the constitution, fell to the United States district court. ”

“ I must be permitted, with the best lights I can obtain, and upon a general view of characters and circumstances, to nominate such persons alone to offices, as in my judgment shall be the best qualified to discharge the functions of the departments to which they shall be appointed.” [17] This absolute requirement of capacity seems to have been generally understood, and nearly every existing application for office under Washington dwells on the applicant's ability.
There is a broad difference between appointing only fit men to office, and appointing those who are most fit ”

“ No president has enjoyed such immunity from this vexatious task as did he; still he found opportunity to develop a policy which is significant as marking a transition from the principles of Washington to those of Jefferson.
The war with France rendered the military appointments the most important of the administration. The pressure brought to bear upon Adams to make Hamilton second in command is too well known to need description ”

“ The system of paying consuls by fees is a very wasteful one: the agents at a few great posts are overpaid, while in many places where the trade may be important, though small, the fees do not afford a living. Washington found it impossible to secure proper candidates for many minor posts, [42] and was thus forced to appoint natives of the country, or at least Americans residing abroad for business purposes, whose administration of their duties might be affected by their private interests. This expedient was, however, the result of conditions rather than of policy ”

“ As president, he prudently consulted geography in making his general appointments: [20] his cabinet at first contained two men from Virginia, one from New York, and one from Massachusetts. When party lines came to be drawn more closely, the task became more arduous. John Adams wrote to his wife, January 7, 1796, “There seems to be a necessity of distributing the offices about the States in some proportion to their numbers ”

“ A similar care was observed in making the North Carolina appointments, for the conditions were similar. So far as can now be discovered, there were no reappointments in the state. There exists in Jefferson's handwriting, under date of June 7, 1790, an annotated list of candidates for the judicial positions there, such as it has always been customary to prepare for the president's use in important cases; in it one man is definitely recommended as being a “federalist.” ”

“ It must be borne in mind, however, that official duties were simple as compared with the functions of the modern public officer, and that, in the absence of foreign travel, standards of comparison were lacking. ”

“ Dunbar from the Senate” (Massachusetts Centinel, April 4, 1789) . ↑ Leake, Lamb, 353-354; Senate Documents, 16 Cong., 1st sess., ii. No. 89; J. A. Hamilton, Reminiscences, 121-122. ↑ Jefferson, Writings (Washington ed.) , iv. 230-231, 256; Massachusetts Spy, October 9, 1799. ↑ But Pickering, in 1796, advised William Lithgow, district attorney of Maine, to resign (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 6th series, viii. 281) . Lithgow resigned (Executive Journal, i. 217) . ↑ “Every person holding office must either quit it, or think and vote exactly with Mr. Adams.” ”