Evening star., 1936-08-02


Rugged old John Adams lost the
election of 1900, two years before
Thomas jefferson won it.
When "Bonny Johnny" who also
was called THE Duke of Braintree"
by those who did not like him, stood
up on his own two legs to be Presi-
dent in spite of Alexander Hamilton,
the party boss, he wrote his own ticket
back to his Massachusetts, farm,
though it was a year and a half be-
fore the polling began.
But most historians agree that II
the events of the next year and half
had been unrolled before the old gen.
tleman at the time, his course would
have been unaltered. Years after
ward he wrote that he would desire
no other inscription over his grave
stone than: Here lies John Adams,
who took upon himself the response
bility of the peace with France in the
year 1900"
Certain it was. however, that when
he slammed shut the gate between
himself and Alexander Hamilton, he
smashed the Federalist party into such
tiny fragments that it was never pieced
together into any powerful working
whole again-and it was 40 years be-
fore the Wings with William Henry
Harrison managed to drive the follow
ers Of Jefferson out Of the Federal
sarral
Jefferson Had to Beat Burr.
Despite his loss. however, such was
the chicanery and double dealing of
the campaign that Thomas Jefferson
did not win it unit. months after the
ballot counting. ans even then had to
beat Aaron Burr, his Republican team
mate.
The electoral college pitched the
issue into the Hous. of Representatives
on tie vote. and that august branch
of Congress fought through So ballots
before the Federalist speaker, Theo-
dore Sedgewick, was forced to an
nounce in a rage that Jefferson was
the new President.
A few days before JefferSon-the op-
position party Vice President who had
been thrust upon Adams under the
electoral rules of the day-had called
upon Adams at the new and unfinished
White House sitting beside a marsh
on muddy roadside in the rude Capt.
tai City of Washington.
You have turned me out; you have
turned me out" Adams burst forth
without offering Jefferson chair.
And on the morning of Inauguration
day, while Jefferson was walking from
his boarding house to the Capitol amid
the thunders of artillery, Adams, Bit
ter old man with dour face, had his
pudgy figure pressed far back into a
coach that was grumbling and strain
ing through the mire of the Baltimore
road He had left the Capital in the
early morning darkness.
Fair Picture Different.
So bitter was the campaign, SO fierce
the hatreds engendered by it that even
now it is hard to get at anything like
q fair picture of it. Certainly none
of the contemporary writer's held a
mind unaffected by the welts and scars
that were raised by the lashings and
Jdl1 oCIltCllNCo dAu DIdldlls udSC
that were a part of the campaign.
The campaign had really started be-
fore Adams, the Federalist, and JET
ferson, the Republican, took up their
work as President and Vice President,
respectively, in 1896.
All of the hatreds that had been
reused in the campaign of 1896 out Of
which Adams had gained three-vote
victory over Jefferson, were kept alive
and multiplied as time went on.
The characters that went into the
new campaign were many and varied
but all strong, either in their good
points or their villainies, according to
the historian through whose knot hole
one peers at them.
On the Federalist side was Adams,
self conscious, serious minded, vain
and jealous, but courageous and hon.
est. He had no wealth to bequeath
when he died.
Aligned with him under the Fed
eralist banner, but more frequently
found against him because Adams was
a man he could not rule, was Alex
ander Hamilton. Graceful, courtly, q
wizard of finance, a lawyer, astute boss
Of the party until he found the man
who would not listen.
Burr Ran With Jefferson.
On the other side was jefferson,
philosopher; reserved. Some said his
gaze was shifty, others that he was
overly shy. His father had been a
farmer, his mother an aristocrat. He
inherited his politics from his father.
And with Jefferson on the ticket was
Burr, man much like Hamilton in
many respects. He helped to kill
Hamilton politically by taking New
York State away from him and fin
tshed what was left of him in a duel
that was helped along by the cam
paign.
Adams did not change cabinets
when he replaced Washington in the
Presidential chair. He was confronted
with Vice President of the opposite
party and three members Of his cab
met who felt that they owed homage
to Hamilton. Through them, without
the knowledge of Adams, Hamilton
kept his finger on the executive pulse
and prescribed for the Nation. So
audacious was Hamilton that once he
sent to Philadelphia Senator bear
ing "a whole system of instructions
for the conduct OF the President, the
Senate and the House of Represen-
tatives."
Out of the x, Y, z letters telling
Of Frances refusal to receive dele
cation from the United States, the
Federalists whipped up war spirit,
established a standing army and en-
acted alien and sedition laws. The
first Of these laws authorized the
President to prescribe for the expul-
Tlon OF alien enemies. Some said 1t
was aimed at Frenchmen, others at
Irish Republicans. The second for
bade, among other things, the ut
terance or publication Of false, scan
dalous and malicious sentiments tend
Ing to bring the Government or its
officers into disrepute or to exercise