tration, his energy was mischievous and his intrepidity was a
misfortune to himself and to his party.

Washington's term dragged to its close like so much slow torture. Others
might resign, but he had to stand at his post until the end, and it was a
happy day for him when he got his discharge. His elation was so manifest
that it was noticed by John Adams. Writing to his wife about the ceremony
the day after the inauguration, Adams remarked that Washington "seemed to
me to enjoy a triumph over me. Methought I heard him say, 'Ay! I am fairly
out, and you fairly in! See which of us will be the happiest.'"

CHAPTER IX

THE PERSONAL RULE OF JOHN ADAMS

The narrow majority by which John Adams was elected did not accurately
reflect the existing state of party strength. The electoral college
system, by its nature, was apt to distort the situation. Originally the
electors voted for two persons without designating their preference for
President. There was no inconvenience on that account while Washington was
a candidate, since he was the first choice of all the electors; but in
1796, with Washington out of the field, both parties were in the dilemma
that, if they voted solidly for two candidates, the vote of the electoral
college would not determine who should be President. To avert this
situation, the adherents of a presidential candidate would have to scatter
votes meant to have only vice-presidential significance. This explains the
wide distribution of votes that characterized the working of the system
until it was changed by the Twelfth Amendment adopted in 1804.

In 1796, the electoral college gave votes to thirteen candidates. The
Federalist ticket was John Adams and Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina.
Hamilton urged equal support of both as the surest way to defeat
Jefferson; but eighteen Adams electors in New England withheld votes from
Pinckney to make sure that he should not slip in ahead of Adams. Had they
not done so, Pinckney would have been chosen President, a possibility
which Hamilton foresaw because of Pinckney's popularity in the South. New
York, New Jersey, and Delaware voted solidly for Adams and Pinckney as
Hamilton had recommended, but South Carolina voted solidly for both
Jefferson and Pinckney, and moreover Pinckney received scattering votes
elsewhere in the South. The action of the Adams electors in New England
defeated Pinckney, and gave Jefferson the vice-presidency, the vote for
the leading ca