He is in favor of elevating, cherishing, and increasing all
the institutions of the government, and of a vigorous and energetic
administration of it. From his rapidity of thought, he is often
wrong in his conclusions, and his theories are sometimes wild,
extravagant, and impractical. He has always claimed to be, and is,
of the Democratic party, but of a very different class from that of
Crawford; more like Adams, and his schemes are sometimes denounced
by his party as ultra-fanatical." [Footnote: Mass. Hist. Soc.,
Proceedings, XIX., 37 (1881-1882).]
Another contemporary, writing prior to 1824, declared: "He wants, I
think, consistency and perseverance of mind, and seems incapable of
long-continued and patient investigation. What he does not see at
the first examination, he seldom takes pains to search for; but
still the lightning glance of his mind, and the rapidity with which
he analyzes, never fail to furnish him with all that may be
necessary for his immediate purposes. In his legislative career,
which, though short, was uncommonly luminous, his love of novelty,
and his apparent solicitude to astonish were so great, that he has
occasionally been known to go beyond even the dreams of political
visionaries, and to propose schemes which were in their nature
impracticable or injurious, and which he seemed to offer merely for
the purpose of displaying the affluence of his mind, and the
fertility of his ingenuity.
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