In New York Hamilton’s chief rival was Aaron Burr, whom Washington had disliked and allowed to retire from his military staff. But Colonel Burr was a brilliant lawyer and a popular politician. When Thomas Jefferson was elected President of the United States by the House of Representatives, Aaron Burr might have been chosen President if three men had voted the other way. Burr was bitterly disappointed, and blamed Hamilton for his defeat. Nursing revenge in his heart Burr practised shooting. As Hamilton continued to oppose Burr’s schemes, Burr easily found an excuse to challenge him to fight a duel.
Dueling was still a common means of deciding questions of honor. Hamilton’s eldest son had been killed in that way. As a man was called a coward if he did not fight, Hamilton accepted Burr’s challenge, though he felt sure it would mean death to himself. The place chosen for the shooting was the spot where Hamilton’s son had lately been killed. When the signal was given, Alexander Hamilton pointed his pistol upward and fired into a tree to avoid hitting Burr, whose aim was as true as when shooting at a target. Hamilton fell, face downward, and died next day, declaring that he forgave the enemy who had planned and practised to kill him.
This duel did more than anything else to show the wickedness of the duel as a way of settling disputes. Aaron Burr later was accused of being a traitor to the country which Hamilton had given his great and noble life to place upon a firm foundation. What is true of dueling is also true of war—the unworthy party may succeed by wicked means. But America remembers Aaron Burr as a curse, and Alexander Hamilton as a blessing to his country.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, THE FATHER OF DEMOCRACY
THOMAS JEFFERSON was born on his father’s many-thousand-acre farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, on the banks of River Anna, whose name was shortened to “Rivanna.” Thomas’s father, Colonel Peter Jefferson, had come over the sea from Wales, and his mother was Jane Randolph, a daughter of one of the “F. F. V.’s,” or First Families of Virginia.
The Jefferson boy grew up tall, thin, awkward, freckled and red-haired. His father, like George Washington’s, was a wealthy planter, who died while Thomas was yet a lad. But young Jefferson’s mother was not left poor like Washington’s; she was able to send her son to William and Mary College. Though Thomas was always reading and studying, he was very fond of playing the violin. Several stories are told about Jefferson and his “fiddle,” as they called it then. One is that he played duets with Patrick Henry; another is that he once performed with George Washington, who played quite well on the flute.
Thomas was so eager to learn and so afraid of wasting time in college that he took the four years’ course in two years, graduating at nineteen. Besides the regular college branches, he studied architecture, and after graduating devoted some time to that profession before fully deciding to study law.
Young Jefferson was not admitted to practise law until five years after finishing his college course. This was because he was not content merely with “reading law,” but he read many books on other subjects and continued his study of music.
While he was attending court at Charlottesville, his home at Shadwell was burned to the ground. An old negro house-servant came to tell the young master all about the fire. Lawyer Jefferson thought first of his large library and asked if his precious books had been saved.
“No, massa,” said the old slave. “Dem books is all burnt up, but de fire didn’t cotch your dear old fiddle. I carried dat out, myse’f, I did.”