te matter. No part
of the work of the Federal Convention had been more difficult than to
reconcile the small-State party to the mode provided for the election of
a President. The final settlement had been accepted only in the
expectation that in most cases the electoral college would fail to
elect, and that a choice would then be made by the House of
Representatives, where the small States would have an equal voice with
the large States. To remove the chances of an election by the House was
to upset the original compromise and to increase the importance of the
large States in the initial election.

Another consequence would follow the proposed change. The office of
Vice-President would be degraded. Roger Griswold clearly foresaw this
eventuality. "The office will generally be carried into the market,"
said he, "to be exchanged for the votes of some large States for
President; and the only criterion which will be regarded as a
qualification for the office of Vice-President will be the temporary
influence of the candidate over the electors of his State."
Notwithstanding these and many less obvious objections, the amendment
was adopted by a party vote in Congress and promptly ratified by
thirteen out of the sixteen States before the fall elections.

The campaign of 1804 was uneventful. The congressional caucus of the
Republican party dropped Burr as a candidate and nominated George
Clinton, of New York. Jefferson was the unanimous choice of his party.
The depressed Federalists supported Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of
South Carolina, and Rufus King, of New York, as their candidates.
Jefferson was triumphantly reelected with the loss of only two States,
Connecticut and Delaware, and of two electoral votes in Maryland. Well
might he exult at the discomfiture of his enemies. "The two parties," he
wrote to Volney, "are almost melted into one."

[Map: The Yazoo-Georgia Land Controversy]

Below the calm surface of Republican politics, however, dangerous
counter-currents swirled. For a time the controversy over the Yazoo land
claims seemed likely to be a reef on which Republican unity would be
shattered. Both the United States and Georgia laid claim to the great
Western tract which is now occupied by the States of Mississippi and
Alabama. But Georgia with a stronger _prima facie_ case evinced little
regard for the claims of the Federal Government. In 1795, while a mania
for land speculation was sweeping over the country, the