Thomas Jefferson, a Character Sketch | Page 8

Alien and Sedition laws she withheld them from Adams and cast them
upon the Republican side.
It may not be generally known that it was because of this fact that New
York gained its name of the "Empire State."
The presidential vote was: Jefferson, 73; Burr, 73; John Adams, 65; C.
C. Pinckney, 64; Jay, 1. There being a tie between the leading
candidates, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives,
which assembled on the 11th of February, 1801, to make choice
between Burr and Jefferson.
It is to the credit of Hamilton that, knowing the debased character of
Burr, he used his utmost influence against him.
A great snow storm descended upon the little town of Washington and
the excitement became intense. On the first ballot, eight States voted
for Jefferson and six for Burr, while Maryland and Vermont were
equally divided. All the Federalists voted for Burr with the single
exception of Huger of South Carolina, not because of any love for Burr,
but because he did not hate him as much as he did Jefferson.
Mr. Nicholson of Maryland was too ill to leave his bed. Without his
vote, his State would have been given to Burr, but with it, the result in
Maryland would be a tie.

It was a time when illness had to give way to the stern necessity of the
case, and the invalid was wrapped up and brought on his bed through
the driving snow storm and placed in one of the committee rooms of
the house, with his wife at his side, administering medicines and
stimulants night and day. On each vote the ballot box was brought to
the bed side and his feeble hand deposited the powerful bit of paper.
Day after day, the balloting went on until thirty-five ballots had been
cast.
By that time, it was clear that no break could be made in the Jefferson
columns and it was impossible to elect Burr. When the thirty-sixth
ballot was cast, the Federalists of Maryland, Delaware and South
Carolina threw blanks and the Federalists of Vermont stayed away,
leaving their Republican brothers to vote those States for Jefferson. By
this slender chance did the republic escape a calamity, and secure the
election of Jefferson for president with Burr for vice-president.
The inauguration of the third president was made a national holiday
throughout the country. The church bells were rung, the military
paraded, joyous orations were delivered, and many of the newspapers
printed in full the Declaration of Independence.
The closeness of the election resulted in a change in the electoral law
by which the president and vice-president must of necessity belong to
the same political party.
Jefferson had every reason to feel proud of his triumph, but one of the
finest traits of his character was his magnanimity.
The irascible Adams made an exhibition of himself on the 4th of March,
when in a fit of rage, he rose before day-light and set out in his coach
for Massachusetts, refusing to wait and take part in the inauguration of
his successor. With the mellowness of growing years, he realized the
silliness of the act, and he and Jefferson became fully reconciled and
kept up an affectionate correspondence to the end of their lives.
Jefferson did all he could to soothe the violent party feeling that had

been roused during the election. This spirit ran like a golden thread
through his first excellently conceived inaugural. He reminded his
fellow citizens that while they differed in opinion, there was no
difference in principle, and put forth the following happy thought:
"We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among
us, who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican
form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with
which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to
combat it."
There can be little doubt that he had Hamilton in mind when he
answered, as follows, in his own forceful way the radical views of that
gifted statesman.
"Some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong,
that this government is not strong enough. I believe this, on the
contrary, is the strongest government on earth. I believe it is the only
one where every man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard
of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own
personal concern."
It was characteristic of Jefferson's nobility that one of his first efforts
was to undo, so far as he could, the mischief effected by the detested
Sedition law. Every man who was in durance because of its operation
was pardoned, and he looked upon the law as "a nullity as obsolete and
palpable, as