of so honorable and able a Judge should be wounded »
as I have no doubt he will be, by having a younger
lawyer, not more eminent in that line, put over his
head." ^
So strong was the feeling in the Senate against the nomination of Marshall that the Federalists were actually prepared to refuse to confirm him, if by such action they could have induced the President to appoint Paterson. Accordingly they postponed their vote for a week ; but finding Adams inflexibly opposed to Paterson, they finally yielded, and the nomination was confirmed on January 27, 1801. The fact that John Marshall attained the Chief Justiceship, in the face of pronounced Federalist opposition, and only because of the obstinacy of John Adams, is not gener- ally known, but is most interestingly pictured in a series of letters from Jonathan Dayton, the Senator from New Jersey, to Judge Paterson.* On the day of the nomination, Dayton wrote that it was "with grief, astonishment and ahnost indignation" that he informed Paterson of Marshall's nomination "con- trary to the hopes and expectations of us all.'* "The eyes of all parties had been turned upon you, whose
^ Works of John Adams, IX, 91, letter of Jan. 26, 1801 ; Life and Letters of Simeon Baldwin (1919), by Simeon E. Baldwin, letter of Jan. 31, 1801. Even be hostile a paper as the Aurora said that Judge Paterson had "ever been considered one of the ablest lawyers America has produced." Later, the Aurora stated that Paterson's failure to secure the nomination was due to certain Federalists who resented his decision in 1795 in holding unconstitutional a Pennsylvania statute enacted in favor of Connecticut settlers. AurorcL, Jan. 24, 1801, Jan. 22, Sept. 20, 28, 1803.
' Paiereon Papers MSS, transcript in New York Public Library, letters of Dayton to Paterson, Jan. 20, 28, Feb. 1, 1801, letter of Marshall to Paterson, Feb. 2, 1801.
James A. Bayard wrote, Jan. 28, 1801, to Andrew Bayard : "I see it denied in your papers that Mr. Marshall was nominated Chief Justice of the U. S. The fact u so, and will, without doubt, have the concurrence of the Senate. Some hesitation was at first expressed from a respect to the pretensions of Paterson." James A. Bayard Papers (1915). See also History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams (1846), by George Gibbs, II, 461 ; King, III, letter of Feb. 17. 1801.
