‘Stop ere your civic feasts begin;
Wait till the votes are all come in;
Perchance amidst this mighty stir
Your monarch may be Colonel Burr.’[1908]
A correspondent from Washington was quoted approvingly on the plan to support Burr—‘the expediency of which course is so palpable to common sense ... that I am astonished any Federal man should hesitate upon the subject.’[1909] And the ‘Centinel’ expressed the hope that it would be able ‘by Saturday next to announce either that the people will have another opportunity to elect a Federal President; or that the House, rejecting a theoretical and experimental philosopher, will prefer, as a very respectable member of Congress describes Mr. Burr, “a practical gentleman who will have judgment, taste and genius enough to appreciate the usefulness of our federal fabric, and nerve enough to preserve its integrity.”’[1910]
There was no longer any doubt that the Federalist hot-heads were ready for usurpation and revolutionary measures. It was known to every Democrat of any consequence in the country. Gallatin, counting noses, had no fear of desertions from the Jeffersonian ranks. The real danger, as the little conclave at Conrad’s saw it, was the prevention of an election, and Gallatin was certain that, to prevent this calamity, a Federalist from Maryland and Morris of Vermont would go over to Jefferson. A plan to meet this contingency was drawn up by Gallatin and accepted by the chief. More sinister still was the threat, commonly heard, that should the Federalists succeed in preventing an election, they would pass a law placing the Presidency in the hands of Marshall or some other official. This the Democrats were prepared to resist by physical force. To prevent this usurpation, the Jeffersonians notified Governor M’Kean of Pennsylvania and Governor Monroe of Virginia, who were prepared to march troops instantly upon the capital ‘for the purpose, not of promoting, but of preventing revolution and the shedding of a single drop of blood.’[1911] A careful survey convinced Gallatin that this scheme of usurpation would not have mustered more than twenty votes among the Federalist members. Only Henry Lee, ‘a desperate character,’ and Roger Griswold of Connecticut, a bigot, appeared to Gallatin to be really favorable to such a monstrous measure. Even so the rumor spread, and it was said that fifteen hundred men in Virginia and Maryland had agreed in the event a usurper were placed in the Presidency to move on Washington to assassinate him.[1912]
Jefferson had other plans in view, which he conveyed only to Madison and Monroe—to call a convention to reorganize the Government and amend the Constitution, but he concealed this from Gallatin.[1913] The Gallatin plan, with its military feature, leaked out, causing some uneasiness among the conspirators, who proceeded, however, with their plans. The ‘Centinel’ boasted that Federalists had no fear of Southern and Western fighters. ‘Our General [Burr] if called upon can assure them that he has seen southern regiments in former times and knows what they are composed of.[1914]
Meanwhile the Federalists proceeded with their plans. Burr, concealing himself in Albany, was maintaining a discreet silence, and on February 1st, Jefferson wrote him a letter. At no time had he any confidence in Burr’s political honesty or reliability. During the two Federalist Administrations he had observed that, whenever a great military or diplomatic appointment was to be made, Burr had hurried to Philadelphia and was ‘always at market if they wanted him.’ Jefferson had thought it wise to remain rather distant.[1915] But he was too sagacious to reveal his distrust at this juncture. He had no thought of giving Burr any excuse for treachery, and enemies had been busy with a forged letter bearing Jefferson’s signature setting forth uncomplimentary opinions. He wrote to call attention to the forgery and denounce it. ‘It was to be expected,’ he wrote, ‘that the enemy would endeavor to sow tares between us that they might divide us and our friends.’ If the letter was ever answered, the reply has been lost.
On the day Jefferson sat in his room at Conrad’s writing Burr, Gouverneur Morris’s morning slumber was interrupted by two visitors who wished to discuss with him the organization of Burr’s Administration. ‘Laughable enough under the circumstances which now exist,’ chuckled the cynic.[1916] Two days later, still serene, Jefferson was writing Dr. Caspar Wistar of some bones recently discovered which the Doctor wished for the museum. The candidate had taken the trouble to write Chancellor Livingston, and the reply was inspired by the latter’s letter in answer. With the village capital crowded, with talk of revolution, usurpation, assassination, he wrote at length. Perhaps it would be better to ask only for the bones missing from the museum’s collection, as the town where they were found would probably be loath to part with them at all. Even then the philosopher and scientist was not wholly lost in the politician.[1917]
In New York, Hamilton, having gone his limit, was no longer writing letters. The indifference of his erstwhile followers had left him depressed and bitter. Then, one day at the Tontine Coffee-House, he had an opportunity to renew his warning in the most dramatic manner. Wolcott had resigned from the Cabinet, his treachery still unsuspected by Adams, to be wined and dined by the Federalist members of Congress in Washington, and toasted by the merchants of Philadelphia and New York. After the regular toasts had been given at the Tontine and volunteers were in order, Hamilton rose, and in his most impressive manner proposed: ‘May our government never fall a prey to the dreams of a Condorcet nor the vices of a Catiline.’[1918] ‘The vices of a Catiline’ was the one expression remembered by the diners as they poured out into the streets.
The next day the balloting was to begin. On the day of the dinner at the Tontine the ‘Commercial Advertiser’ predicted the election of Burr on the second ballot; and that same day Representative William Cooper was writing a friend of the determination of the Federalists ‘to run Burr perseveringly’ and to ‘leave the consequences to those who have hitherto been his friends.’[1919] At Conrad’s boarding-house all was serene.
V
In a blinding snowstorm the lawmakers and spectators fought their way to the Capitol on Wednesday morning, the 11th. Nature spread a white mantle over the crudities of the village as though to dress it becomingly for the great day. The great plain between the foot of the hill and the river was covered with a spotless sheet, and even the shop of the shoemaker and the home of the washwoman took on the appearance of beauty. No one minded the storm, not even Joseph H. Nicholson of Maryland, who, though bedridden with fever, insisted on being carried through the storm to cast his ballot for Jefferson. The electoral votes being counted in a joint session of the two houses, the members of the House retired to their own chamber to elect a President. The crowded gallery was ordered cleared. The visitors, grumbling loudly, filed out into the corridors. When Samuel Harrison Smith, editor of the ‘National Intelligencer,’ who had established his paper in the capital on the advice of Jefferson, insisted on remaining, he was angrily ordered out by Theodore Sedgwick, the Speaker. Arrangements were thereupon made by the Jeffersonians to keep Smith informed hourly of the fortunes of the fight. In a committee room off the chamber lay Nicholson on a bed, burning with fever, an anxious wife at his side to give him water and medicine. Even the conspirators could not restrain their admiration. ‘It is a chance that this kills him,’ wrote Otis. ‘I would not thus expose myself for any President on earth.’[1920] The stricken Democrat was not there, however, against the wishes of his wife, who had the fighting spirit of a Spartan woman.