on the executive power be placed in the
hands of some public officer, was a revolutionary act of usurpation
which would have been put down by force if necessary. It was threatened
that, if any man should be thus appointed President he should instantly
be put to death, and bodies of men were said to be organized, in
Maryland and Virginia, ready to march to Washington on March 4 for that
purpose. The fears of violence were so great that to Governor McKean of
Pennsylvania was submitted the propriety of having a body of militia in
readiness to reach the capital in time to prevent civil war. From this
letter of Mr. Gallatin, then the last surviving witness of the election,
only one conclusion can be drawn: that the Republicans would have
preferred violent resistance to temporary submission, even though the
officer exercising executive powers was appointed in accordance with
law. Fortunately for the young country there was enough good sense and
patriotism in the ranks of the Federalists to avert the danger.

On the suggestion of Mr. Bayard it was agreed by a committee of sixteen
members, one from each State, that if it should appear that the two
persons highest on the list, Jefferson and Burr, had an equal number of
votes, the House should immediately proceed in their own chamber to
choose the president by ballot, and should not adjourn until an
election should have been made. On the first ballot there was a tie
between Jefferson and Burr; the deadlock continued until February 17,
when the Federalists abandoned the contest, and Mr. Jefferson received
the requisite number of votes. Burr, having the second number, became
vice-president.

Mr. Gallatin's third congressional term closed with this Congress. In
his first term he asserted his power and took his place in the councils
of the party. In his second, he became its acknowledged chief. In the
third, he led its forces to final victory. But for his opposition, war
would have been declared against France, and the Republican party would
have disappeared in the political chasm. But for his admirable
management, Mr. Jefferson would have been relegated to the study of
theoretical government on his Monticello farm, or to play second fiddle
at the Capitol to the music of Aaron Burr.

In the foregoing analysis of the debates and resolutions of Congress,
and the recital of the part taken in them by Mr. Gallatin, attention has
only been paid to such of the proceedings as concerned the