That stirring in the earth that you felt over the weekend was the result of a man named Robert Goodloe Harper spinning at a velocity that may have rendered him invisible. Harper volunteered in a cavalry unit of the Continental Army when he was 15, and he also served in the War of 1812. In 1798, he was serving in the House of Representatives when the so-called XYZ Affair exploded. It began when France started seizing American merchant ships and demanding loans and bribes to stop doing so. President John Adams sent three envoys to France to negotiate on this country’s behalf. The French demands were so blatantly corrupt that the Americans were outraged. One of them, future chief justice John Marshall, was particularly scathing. Back in Washington, at a dinner party, Harper rose to compliment Marshall’s stand against what Harper considered extortionate demands.
“Millions for defense,” Harper famously said, “but not one cent for tribute.”
