When the electoral votes
were counted, Jefferson and Burr, it was found, had each received
seventy-three votes; while Adams secured sixty-five and Pinckney
sixty-four votes. The tie between Jefferson and Burr caused the election
to be thrown into the House of Representatives, where the Federalists
were still strong, and who, in their dislike of Jefferson, reckoned
on finally giving the Presidency to Burr. To this, Hamilton,
however, magnanimously objected, and in the end Jefferson secured the
Presidential prize, while to Burr fell the Vice-Presidency.
For the next eight years, until the coming of Madison's Administration,
Jefferson was at the helm of national affairs, assisted by an able
Cabinet, the chief members of which were James Madison, Secretary
of State, and the Swiss financier, Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the
Treasury. Aaron Burr, as we have recorded, was Vice-President, though
the relations of Jefferson with him were far from cordial, owing to his
political intrigues, which led the President ultimately to eschew him
and distrust his character. Jefferson's attitude toward the man was
later on shown to be well justified, as the result of Burr's hateful
quarrel with Alexander Hamilton, and his mortally wounding that eminent
statesman in a duel, which doomed him to political and social ostracism.
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