"Why was there this shunning and changing from one to another ; why all this dodging ; why all this consultation; why give all this trouble about ascertaining facts, if they are doing right?"
On February 11, 1803, Lee began his argument, speaking (as the newspapers said) **at considerable length. The Attorney-General said that he had received no instructions to appear. The Court, when Mr. Lee terminated his argument, observed that they would attend to the observations of any person who was disposed to offer his sentiments." No one responded, however, to this invitation. At the time of this argument, it received little attention; for the city of Washington and the whole country were greatly excited over the alarming crisis in the relations with France and Spain. Four months before, the action of a Spanish official in withdrawing the right of deposit of goods for export at New Orleans, which had theretofore been granted to American citizens, had inflamed the whole of the Western country ; and by the month of February, it was reported that Kentucky and Tennessee were on the verge of attempting a seizure of New Orleans by armed force. Jefferson had hastily dispatched James Monroe to France, with instructions to purchase sufficient territory on the Mississippi to secure American rights. The Federalists, however, had not been satisfied with attempts to settle the difficulty by negotiation; they sought to make political capital out of the issue, to interfere with Jefferson’s peace policies and to undermine his efforts in France, by inflaming the minds of the people of the United States and especially of Kentucky, to demand settlement through a war. Just at the time when the Marbury Case involving encroachment on Executive functions was argued, a much more dangerous encroachment
