Bolivar Central School - Gusher Yearbook (Bolivar, NY)

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14 BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL ‘BLIZZARD” considered an Anti-Federalist. He had great faith and confidence in the wisdom of the masses and wished to give them a large share in the government. Jefferson stated that he was not a Federalist because lie never submitted all his opinions to the creed of any party of men. But he was much farther from that of the Anti-Federalists, lie approved of what was in the new constitution while they didn’t. His experience abroad, in attempting to form commercial treaties, had taught Jefferson the necessity of a closer union of the States for purposes of foreign relationships but his general plan was to make the States one in connection with all foreign affairs, and several ins to everything domestic. Thus when the constitution was published, he found much in it which seemed very unsound and his earliest criticisms were very severe. But within a short time he was looking forward eagerly to its adoption, hoping that a favorable moment would come for correcting what was amiss in it. The only real objections which he retained to the end were, the absence of a bill of rights and the presence of the re-eligibilitv of the President. The former defect was wisely fixed and the other has been practically controlled. In 1789 when Washington became President, the cabinet consisted of only four persons. John Jay was chief justice; Jefferson, secretary of state; Hamilton, secretary of treasury, and Knox, secretary of war. The greater part of the labor fell on Hamilton who encountered the task with magnificent spirit. Every matter of importance had been taken care except the war debts of the States. The States were unable to form any plan for this. Their feeling showed that a serious crisis was menacing the young nation. Hamilton became very anxious, for the fate of the government depended upon his department. Thus he resolved to make use of Jefferson. The time had now come for the selection of a site for the national capital. The Southern States wanted it on the Potomac; the middle and northern States wished it to be farther north. Hamilton desired to have it on the Potomac. The opportunity for a bargain was obvious and temptation to it was irresist-able. So he took Jefferson as his partner to secure it. Although Jefferson knew little concerning the site, by Hamilton’s influence he gained it. Soon, however, Jefferson found himself deeply repenting his share in the transaction. He began to doubt whether assumption was really wise and right and he plainly saw that from a personal point of view he had blundered seriously. For he had greatly aided the influence of one who soon became his most formidable political opponent. The two men soon became so bitter toward each other that they requested Washington to send one of them away. But they were both fine men and filled their positions so well that Washington would not hear of losing either. Finally Jefferson resigned and betook himself to his plantation. Jefferson came to the vice presidency in a cheerful and sanguine temper. He plainly saw that Hamilton was no longer to have control over a united party. In 1801 he was chosen President, the first President to be inaugurated in the city of Washington. The capitol city unlike Philadelphia was new and crude. It. consisted of a few buildings in the midst of the wilderness an dsome of them were unfinished. Brilliant social events were impossible under such conditions and what is more important.

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BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL “BLIZZARD” 13 Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution By TERESA WELLENHOFFER Little more than a century ago a civilized nation without an aristocracy was a pitiful spectacle, scarcely to be witnessed anywhere in the world. The American colonists having brought no dukes and barons with them to the rugged wilderness felt compelled to set up ail imitation of these creatures and as their best makeshift in the emergency, they ennobled the richer Virginian planters. The gentlemen well filled the qualifications assigned to them. They gambled recklessly and caroused at taverns. They were very extravagant, very lazy and very arrogant; they were great genealogists and stupid in family pride; they occupied houses which were very capacious and noted for unlimited hospitality. Rather upon the outskirts than actually within the sacred limits of this enchanted circle, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 3, 1743. Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas was the first of his family to trod the road of success. He owned a large plantation near the James river. Thomas Jefferson was sensibly brought up, getting as good an education as was possible in Virginia. He grew to be a slender young man, six feet two and one-half inches tall, with red hair and gray eyes. Although he was not handsome, he was intelligent and sensible. By his own desire he entered William and Mary college in 1760, at the age of seventeen. After graduation, Jefferson read law in the office of George Wythe. His career at the bar began when he was twenty-four. He stepped into an excellent practice for he received many cases, but he remained at this only seven years. Farming, though it contributed but little to bis income, he loved with a fondness not to be quenched by all the cares and interests of a public career. He was never too busy but that he could keep an eye on soil and its cultivation and lie always praised new methods mid experiments. In 1769 he was voted a member of the house of Burgesses of Virginia. In the years that followed he was in Congress, then Governor of Virginia and minister to France. At the close of the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence. He was not only pre-eminently fitted for this difficult task but also a man without an enemy. The Revolutionary war was over now. The colonists having united for a struggle, had defended their rights mid won their independence. Could they now govern themselves? Would they hang together or become jealous and distrustful of one another and fall apart? Would they still be able to protect their property from foreign foes? These were the questions the people had to face. The great men of the Revolution now had to form a government strong enough to establish justice, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for their children. Thus in May 1787 a convention met at Philadelphia to form a government. But some of the members preferred a national government while others desired a federal form. On account of this difference two parties were formed. The Federalists in favor of a national government, the Anti-Federalists against it. Thomas Jefferson was

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BOLIVAR HIGH SCHOOL “BLIZZARD” 15 the Republicans were not in favor of useless display. The inauguration was a simple ceremony. The new President walked to the capitol in the company of a few friends and quietly took the oath of office. It was his policy to introduce simplicity into governmental affairs. At Jefferson’s election the fervor which attended the first, the new born sense of American national life had largely worn away. From the open beginning of the constitution-making at Annapolis until the inauguration of Adams, the American people under the governing of Washington were concerned only with the framework upon which tile fabric of their political life was to be wrought. The framework was doubtless of vast and enduring importance. But quite apart from this were the temper and traditions of popular politics, out of which conies the essential nature of pub- lic institutions. In this creative and deeper work Jefferson was engaged during 1801 and 1809. There was an American government, an American nation when Washington left for Mt. Vernon. The government was wel lordered and the nation was dignified, but the people were either still colonial and provincial or rushing in bad temper to crude theories. Twenty-five years later with Jefferson as the political idol the people became profoundly national. Before this many had seen no more than the mean and trivial details and of course the unimaginative minds failed to see the greater and deeper movements of politics. But in Jefferson’s term dawned a great national spirit in their virtues, an exalted love of truth and liberty composure and dignity and the absence of either meanness or bitterness which is for greater than any other treasures. Football, Best of American Games By GEORGE BLISS During the last twenty-five years the game of football has been revolutionized. Fundamentally of course it is the same game but it is no longer a sport requiring more beef and brawn. Mass play is a thing of the past and an open style of football prevails. Altho this style of play is not such a test of strength and endurance as was the olden game it is more thrilling and spectacular. But the players will fight just as hard playing one style of football as the other. Into no other game can a fellow throw all his spirit as he can in football. He forgets everything but the thrill of the game. He gives everything he has and does not realize that he is tired until afterwards. What is there to a game that has such an effect on a youth? Football is a fight and no one forgets one’s self as they do in a fight. The real football player must possess courage and the power to fight. To bo sure he must understand the game but the man who cannot fight is not the man who is seen on the gridiron. An authority on football has said, “It matters not how big you are or how fast you can run. The ideal football player is made up of 60 per cent fight and 40 per cent usable knowledge.” A large stature and fleetness of foot are most valuable assets to a player but with-