nder
the Constitution, threw the decision into the hands of the House of
Representatives, and in that House the Federalists still held the
balance of power. They could not choose their own nominee, but they
could choose either Jefferson or Burr, and many of them, desiring at the
worst to frustrate the triumph of their great enemy, were disposed to
choose Burr; while Burr, who cared only for his own career, was ready
enough to lend himself to such an intrigue.

That the intrigue failed was due mainly to the patriotism of Hamilton.
All that was best and worst in him concurred in despising the mere
flatterer of the mob. Jefferson was at least a gentleman. And, unfairly
as he estimated him both morally and intellectually, he knew very well
that the election of Jefferson would not be a disgrace to the Republic,
while the election of Burr would. His patriotism overcame his
prejudices. He threw the whole weight of his influence with the
Federalists against the intrigue, and he defeated it. It is the more to
his honour that he did this to the advantage of a man whom he could not
appreciate and who was his enemy. It was the noblest and purest act of
his public career. It probably cost him his life.

Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice-President, as had
undoubtedly been intended by the great majority of those who had voted
the Democratic ticket at the elections. But the anomaly and disaster of
Burr's election had been so narrowly avoided that a change in the
Constitution became imperative. It was determined that henceforward the
votes for President and Vice-President should be given separately. The
incident had another consequence. Burr, disappointed in hopes which had
almost achieved fulfilment, became from that moment a bitter enemy of
Jefferson and his administration. Also, attributing the failure of his
promising plot to Hamilton's intervention, he hated Hamilton with a new
and insatiable hatred. Perhaps in that hour he already determined that
his enemy should die.

Jefferson's inauguration was full of that deliberate and almost
ceremonial contempt of ceremony in which that age found a true
expression of its mood, though later and perhaps more corrupt times have
inevitably found such symbolism merely comic. It was observed as
striking the note of the new epoch that the President rejected all that
semi-regal pomp which Washington and Adams had thought necessary to the
dignity of their office. It is said that he no