reply. Hamilton waited until October 1, and then
wrote again, affirming "that by whomsoever a charge of the kind mentioned
in my former letter, may, at any time, have been made or insinuated
against me, it is a base, wicked, and cruel calumny; destitute even of a
plausible pretext, to excuse the folly, or mask the depravity which must
have dictated it."

Hamilton, always sensitive to imputations upon his honor, was not
satisfied to allow the matter to rest there. He wrote a detailed account
of his relations with Adams, involving an examination of Adams's public
conduct and character, which he privately circulated among leading
Federalists. It is an able paper, fully displaying Hamilton's power of
combining force of argument with dignity of language, but although
exhibiting Adams as unfit for his office it advised support of his
candidacy. Burr obtained a copy and made such use of parts of it that
Hamilton himself had to publish it in full.

In this election the candidate associated with Adams by the Federalists
was Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Though one Adams
elector in Rhode Island cut Pinckney, he would still have been elected had
the electoral votes of his own State been cast for him as they had been
for Thomas Pinckney, four years before; but South Carolina now voted
solidly for both Republican candidates. The result of the election
was a tie between Jefferson and Burr, each receiving 73 votes, while Adams
received 65 and Pinckney 64. The election was thus thrown into the
House, where some of the Federalists entered into an intrigue to give Burr
the Presidency instead of Jefferson, but this scheme was defeated largely
through Hamilton's influence. He wrote: "If there be a man in this
world I ought to hate, it is Jefferson. With Burr I have always been
personally well. But the public good must be paramount to every private
consideration."

The result of the election was a terrible blow to Adams. His vanity was so
hurt that he could not bear to be present at the installation of his
successor, and after working almost to the stroke of midnight signing
appointments to office for the defeated Federalists, he drove away from
Washington in the early morning before the inauguration ceremonies began.
Eventually he soothed his self-esteem by associating his own trials and
misfortunes with those endured by classical heroes. He wrote that
Washington, Hamilton, and Pinckney formed a triumvirate like that of