that time also, it should be noted, the votes for President and Vice President were not cast separately. The candidate who received the largest number of votes was elected President, and the candidate who came next Vice President. Eventually the Federalists chose Adams and Thomas Pinckney, while Jefferson and Aaron Burr (then known as an astute Republican organiser in New York) were the Republican nominees. It was a very close contest between Adams and Jefferson. In fact it may almost be said that Adams only won by a fluke, or as Hamilton put it, by a miracle; for he received one vote from Pennsylvania, one from Virginia, and one from North Carolina. Otherwise the result was perfectly geographical. Apart from these three votes Jefferson had all those of the south and of Pennsylvania, while Adams had the solid north and seven votes from Maryland. If Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina had not given these three eccentric votes to John Adams contrary to all expectation, Jefferson would have been elected President and Adams Vice President. As it was, the votes stood for Adams 71, for Jefferson 68, for Pinckney 59, for Burr 30. Samuel Adams received 15, Oliver Ellsworth 11, George Clinton 7, and Jay 5. Pinckney's small vote is accounted for by a suspicion among the New England Federalists that Hamilton had arranged to put Pinckney above Adams; consequently some of the New England electors gave Ellsworth the second place on their tickets. Each elector wrote two names on his ballot paper, and although one was usually intended for President and the other for Vice President, yet it was the candidate whose name appeared most frequently who became President.

On December 17, before the victory of Adams was certain, Jefferson wrote to Madison: "the first wish of

my heart was that you should have been proposed for the administration of the government. On your declining it I wish anybody rather than myself." To Rutledge a few days later he explained that his name had been brought forward without concert on his part, and that he would rejoice at escaping: "I have no ambition to govern men, no passion which would lead me to delight to ride in a storm." When it seemed possible that there would be a tie between himself and Adams, he authorised Madison "to solicit on my behalf that Mr. Adams may be preferred." From the commencement of their public life Adams had always been his senior, and if the public vote were equal, that circumstance ought to give him the preference. When the result was almost but not quite certain, Jefferson wrote a very friendly letter of congratulations to Adams on the assumption that he would be elected, though "it is possible you may be cheated of your succession by a trick worthy the subtlety of your archfriend of New York." "I devoutly wish," he added, "you may be able to shun for us this war, by which our agriculture, commerce, and credit will be destroyed. If you are, the glory will be all your own; and that your administration may be filled with glory and happiness to yourself and advantage to us is the sincere wish of one who, though in the course of our voyage through life various little incidents have happened or been contrived to separate us, retains still for you the solid esteem of the moments when we were working for our independence, and sentiments of respect and affectionate attachment."

This letter he enclosed, unsealed, in another to Madison, who was to deliver it or not to the President elect at his discretion. In the letter to Madison, which was written on January 1 after hearing the final results, he says he

cannot decide whether he would prefer the Vice Presidency to private life. As regards the enclosure he remarks: "If Mr. Adams can be induced to administer the government on its true principles, and to relinquish his bias for an English constitution, it is to be considered whether it would not be on the whole for the public good to come to a good understanding with him as to his future elections. He is perhaps the only sure barrier against Hamilton's getting in." Madison replied from Philadelphia (January 15) that on consideration he had suspended the delivery of this letter for six reasons, the last of which -"the probability that Mr. A.'s course of Administration may force an opposition to it from the republican quarter - was perhaps sufficient. In such matters as this Madison was a shrewd counsellor, and we cannot wonder that Jefferson put so much confidence in his discretion. More than a year after Jefferson's death, when Trist was on a visit to Montpelier, Madison found this letter among his papers, and read it over. When he came to "the only sure barrier," the old man shook his head and said, "Hamilton never could have got in."

CHAPTER II

REPUBLICANISM AT BAY

JEFFERSON'S VICE PRESIDENCY — 1797 TO 1801

"President Adams seemed determined to establish a strong government tending to monarchical powers and by means of severe enactments to prostrate the free expression of popular opinion."

- From John Wood's Suppressed History of the Administration of John Adams (1846)

T

HIS chapter would be a very short one if Jefferson's political activities during the four years of his Vice Presidency had been confined to his official functions as Chairman of the Senate. At first it looked as if he might play a part as confidential advisor to President Adams on important matters, especially those affecting foreign policy. Indeed it is clear from notes left by both Adams and Jefferson on the subject that Adams began with this idea. But after meeting the Cabinet Ministers (all Hamiltonians whom he had taken over from Washington) Adams was diverted from his intention of steering with Jefferson's help a middle course, and allowed the ship to sail on under the Federalist flag. Consequently Jefferson dropped his own notion that the Republicans might make terms with Adams, and from this moment it was certain that he would have to be Republican candidate for the Presidency at the next contest. Meanwhile, throwing himself with characteristic energy into his official duties as Chairman of the Senate, he wrote to Wythe

and other friends to help him with their notes and observations on parliamentary procedure, about which he felt 'rusty.' If there is a subject with which a competent man is not thoroughly acquainted, there is no better way of mastering it than writing a book. Jefferson, accordingly, aided by the precedents of Hatsel and anticipating Ilbert, prepared a Manual of Parliamentary Practice, which is still recognised as an admirable contribution to a dry but not unimportant branch of government. The basis on which he worked was a parliamentary pocketbook compiled for his own edification when he was studying law at Williamsburg.1

Freed by the President's action from all part in the public policy of the Administration, Jefferson watched from his official chair in the Senate with critical, suspicious, and often hostile eyes the measures which John Adams and his not very loyal colleagues adopted during four anxious and eventful years.

Far from regretting, he rejoiced at, his narrow escape from power. "Flumina amo sylvasque inglorius," he wrote to a friend. "The newspapers will permit me to plant my corn, peas, etc. in hills or drills as I please (and my oranges by-the-bye when you send them), while our eastern friend will be struggling with the storm which is gathering over us; perhaps be shipwrecked in it. This is certainly not a moment to covet the helm."

In another letter (to Dr. Benjamin Rush) he dwells complacently on the tranquil and unoffending station' which

1 At the end of his Vice Presidency Jefferson deposited his manual in manuscript with the Senate. It was printed and became the recognised guide for public bodies in the United States. The Manual is conveniently divided into sections, each rule or observation being followed by a reference to Hatsel or some other authority. For the whole subject see Josef Redlich's The Procedure of the House of Commons. 3 vols., London, 1908.