President George Washington appointed him to negotiate with the rebels of the Whiskey Rebellion, successfully defusing the situation without violence.[3] On April 1, 1794, the Pennsylvania legislature elected him to the United States Senate to replace Albert Gallatin, who was removed by the legislature. There, he authored a new law for the public lands and fought President Thomas Jefferson's administration. He was elected to a second term in the Senate in 1797.
In 1800, with the 1800 Presidential Election on the horizon, Ross introduced a controversial bill whereby, after the electoral votes were counted in Congress, the ballots would be turned over to a committee chaired by the Chief Justice and consisting of twelve members, six from each house of Congress. The committee, acting behind closed doors, would be able to discard electoral votes deemed fraudulent after investigation. A group of horrified Republican Senators leaked the bill to arch-Republican Philadelphia printer William Duane, who published the contents in his Aurora on February 19, 1800. The Federalists quickly dropped the bill.[4]
On January 15, 1803, amidst the controversies over Spain's revocation of the American right of deposit at New Orleans and French acquisition of Louisiana, Ross moved to afford Jefferson the ability to raise 50,000 troops to seize New Orleans. Jefferson did not want to have to use these troops, but the motion gave United States Minister to France Robert R. Livingston leverage in his negotiations, which resulted in the Louisiana Purchase.[5]
^Sanford W. Higginbotham, The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 19.
^Sanford W. Higginbotham, The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p. 19.
^Ray Walters, Alexander James Dallas, Lawyer, Politician, Financier, 1759–1817(New York: Da Capo Press, 1969), pp. 92–95.
^George Dangerfield, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746–1813 (New York: Harcourt, 1960), pp. 350–57.
^Sanford W. Higginbotham, The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p.
26.
^Sanford W. Higginbotham, The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), p.
46.
^Sanford W. Higginbotham, The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1952), pp.
155–75.
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