politician to overlook his opportunity to annihilate the
Federalists. He hoped to absorb them in his own party, "to unite
the names of Federalists and Republicans." Moderate Federalists,
who possessed sufficient gifts of grace for conversion, he
sedulously nursed. But he removed all officers for whose removal
any special reason could be discovered. The "midnight
appointments" of John Adams he refused to acknowledge, and he
paid no heed to John Marshall's dicta in Marbury versus Madison.
He was zealous in discovering plausible excuses for making
vacancies. The New York Evening Post described him as "gazing
round, with wild anxiety furiously inquiring, 'how are vacancies
to be obtained?'" Directly and indirectly, Jefferson effected,
during his first term, 164 changes in the offices at his
disposal, a large number for those days. This he did so craftily,
with such delicate regard for geographical sensitiveness and with
such a nice balance between fitness for office and the desire for
office, that by the end of his second term he had not only
consolidated our first disciplined and eager political party, but
had quieted the storm against his policy of partizan
proscription.

During the long regime of the Jeffersonian Republicans there were
three significant movements. In January, 1811, Nathaniel Macon
introduced his amendment to the Constitution providing that no
member of Congress should receive a civil appointment "under the
authority of the United States until the expiration of the
presidential term in which such person shall have served as
senator or representative." An amendment was offered by Josiah
Quincy, making ineligible to appointment the relations by blood
or marriage of any senator or representative. Nepotism was