as proof
of Burr's respect for the will of the people.

[Footnote 94: James Parton, _Life of Aaron Burr_, 267.]

But the Federalists had plans of their own. "To elect Burr would be to
cover the opposition with chagrin, and to sow among them the seeds of
a morbid division," wrote Harrison Gray Otis of Massachusetts.[95]
Gradually this sentiment took possession of New England and the Middle
States, until it seemed to be the prevailing opinion of the Federal
party. "Some, indeed most of our eastern friends are warm in support
of Burr," said Gouverneur Morris, which James A. Bayard of Delaware
corroborated in a note to Hamilton. "There appears to be a strong
inclination in a majority of the Federal party to support Burr," he
said.[96] "The current has already acquired considerable force, and is
manifestly increasing." John Rutledge, governor of South Carolina,
thought "his promotion will be prodigiously afflicting to the Virginia
faction, and must disjoint the party. If Mr. B.'s Presidency be
productive of evils, it will be very easy for us to get rid of him.
Opposed by the Virginia party, it will be his interest to conciliate
the Federalists."[97] Theodore Sedgwick, speaker of the House of
Representatives, likewise declared that "most of the Federalists are
for Burr. It is very evident that the Jacobins dread this appointment
more even than that of General Pinckney. If he be elected by the
Federalists against the hearty opposition of the Jacobins, the wounds
mutually given and received will probably be incurable. Each will have
committed the unpardonable sin. Burr must depend on good men for his
support, and that support he cannot receive, but by a conformity to
their views. At first, I confess, I was strongly disposed to give
Jefferson the preference, but the more I have reflected, the more I
have inclined to the other."[98]

[Footnote 95: _Ibid._, 267.]

[Footnote 96: James Parton, _Life of Aaron Burr_, 270.]

[Footnote 97: _Ibid._, 275.]

[Footnote 98: _Ibid._, 275.]

To such a course Hamilton was bitterly opposed, not only because he
distrusted Burr more than he did Jefferson, but because the
Federalists should leave the responsibility of a selection to the
Republicans and thus in nowise be answerable for the consequences. "If
the anti-Federalists who prevailed in the election," he wrote Bayard
of Delaware, "are left to take their own man, they remain responsible,
and the Federalists remain free, united, and w