CHAPTER XLI JEFFERSON PRESIDENT REMAINING at Albany, and contenting himself with a refusal to help the conspirators at Washington, Burr did nothing to defeat them. This atti tude appeared to give Mr. Jefferson satisfaction at the time, for he wrote to his daughter that the Federalists had not been able to make a tool of Burr, and that the conduct of that gentleman had been honorable throughout. As day after day passed in the House, and no election resulted, excitement rose higher and higher throughout the country. It was the middle of February. If by March 4th there should have been no choice of President, regular government would be at an end. There was no hold-over machinery which could be relied upon. A new convention of States would have to be called, perhaps, and this new convention might make various changes which numerous people did not desire. For instance, the South might lose the Federal capital, and Delaware might lose her statehood. Evidently it was to the interest of all parties that Federalism should not defy the country. Hotheads began to talk of fighting, and in one or two places preparations of a warlike character were made. Threats were heard that no Federalist should have the presidency, and that Thomas Jefferson should be seated. If Burr had been chosen there would have been no revolt; Mr. Jefferson says this himself. But the Federalists could no more extract a pledge from him than from Jefferson. At this crisis three factors entered the problem and influenced the Federalists to obey the people, and prefer Jefferson. One was the fear of the South as to the capital; another was the fear of Delaware that Pennsylvania would absorb her; and the third was the fear of Alexander Hamilton that Burr's elevation would mean his own extinction. A student of the situation will be impressed with the fact that, independent of Hamilton, the other two considerations would have compelled the choice of Jefferson. With Hamilton the least of his motives was patriotic. His opinion of Jefferson was as bad a one as one man could have of another. But Jefferson did not live in New York; Burr did, and that fact made a world of difference. It was simply intolerable to Hamilton to have his detested local rival elected to the presidency, and he exerted what influence he could to have Jefferson chosen. What that influence was is not so clear. Vermont, Delaware, and Maryland were the pivotal States, and it is not certain that Hamilton controlled either. The vote of any one of these would be enough to elect Jefferson. Pugnacious and incorruptible Matthew Lyon was one of the Representatives from Vermont, and the nephew of Gouverneur Morris was the other. Gouverneur Morris was Senator from New York, and had his own jealousy and dislike of Burr, his own independ ent and honorable belief that the choice of the people should be respected by Congress, and favored Jefferson from the first. That his nephew absented himself and allowed Lyon to cast the whole vote of Vermont for Jefferson was probably due to the influence of the rich, adroit, powerful New York Senator, Gouverneur Morris. Maryland cast a neutral ballot at the final vote, and who knows that Hamilton's influence caused her to do it? The fear of losing the capital had intensely excited Baltimore, and local influences of the strongest kind had been brought to bear. But when she at last voted for Jefferson, he no longer needed her support. As to Bayard, of Delaware, he was the Mephis topheles of the whole episode. He extended his open palms in both directions, seeking gifts. Burr could have bought the presidency through Bayard. Jefferson could have arranged a deal through Bay ard. Neither would trade with him. Yet he voted for Burr thirty-five times and not once for Jeffer son! On the final ballot, when his vote did not affect the result, he voted a blank piece of paper. In 1802 he explained his vote on the floor of Congress by saying that in voting for Aaron Burr he was supporting "the one whom he thought the greater and better man." Yet scholarly Henry Cabot Lodge and voluminous historian Hildreth allege that Thomas Jefferson owed his election to Bayard. Evidence of this Federalist's purity is furnished in a letter of his to Hamilton (1801), in which he expresses contempt for Burr because of his failure to "deceive one blockhead and buy two corruptionists." It was the vote of Matthew Lyon, throwing Vermont to Mr. Jefferson, which ended the long contest, and the fact that Lyon would so vote was never doubtful. The decisive thing to do was to get Lewis R. Morris, his colleague, out of the way, so that Lyon could cast the whole vote, and there is no evidence that either Bayard or Hamilton controlled Lewis R. Morris. A new era had now opened. Mr. Jefferson came into his high office, not as one candidate usually follows another, but as a reformer chosen to make great changes. His campaign had been a protest against a radically opposing creed, a revolt against what he considered a subversion of great principles. Under Washington and Adams, monarchy in disguise had entered the citadel. It must be driven out. The people had chosen him to do the work. It was his mission. The temple must be purified and rededicated to true principles upon which the people had intended to plant themselves when they were struggling to throw off the English yoke. Misled by the baleful influence of the British faction, Washington and Adams had gone far astray from the path, had grieved the spirit of Democracy. It had been his to sound the warning, to arouse the people to lead them to victory. The Govern ment must be put back in the right road. The old landmarks must be recovered, the true doctrine preached and practised. In this spirit of consecration to a high mission, Mr. Jefferson entered upon his duties. No cream-colored chariot and prancing horses, with outriders and livery, bore him to the Capitol to take the oath. He walked from his boarding-house, attended informally by a few friends, and read in a low voice the beautiful address which will always be to good government what the Sermon on the Mount is to religion. Great changes were made at once in all matters |