cticed in Albany. At the age
of twenty-eight he was a leader in the New York legislature, and was
chairman of the most important committees, always with the people,
against the aristocracy--an unpardonable mistake in those times.
At thirty-four he was attorney-general of the state, and his great
decisions were accepted by all other states. At thirty-four he
established the Manhattan bank of New York city. He was the only man
with the ability or courage to find a way to establish a bank for the
people, and the solidity of that institution for a hundred years is an
all-sufficient vindication of his plan. At thirty-five he was appointed
and confirmed as a supreme court judge of New York state, but he
declined the honor, and was the same year elected to the United States
senate. He was re-elected, serving in all fourteen years.

At the second presidential election Senator Burr received one vote in
the electoral college, at the third he received thirty, and in the
fourth received seventy-three. Jefferson also received seventy-three and
the election was thrown into the house. This was in 1800 and Mr. Burr
was forty-years of age. The choice lay with New York, which could be
carried by no man but Aaron Burr.

Alexander Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists. He also was of
New York. It was a battle of the giants. These two men measured swords.
The presidency of the United States was the prize both parties--the
Federalists and the Democrats--were seeking. New York had always been
with the Federalists. In this great struggle it went against Hamilton
and for Burr. This ended the political career of Hamilton, and would
have done so had he lived longer. He was one of America's greatest
statesmen, but one of the poorest politicians. No one could get along
with him but Washington, and when he died the political end of Hamilton
came.

Jefferson and Burr each received seventy-three votes for president, and
Adams received sixty-five. New York had twelve votes, so that if she
had remained with the Federalist candidate Adams, he would have won,
seventy-seven to sixty-one. This defeat angered Hamilton beyond
endurance. He and Burr had been deadly rivals for thirty years, first
for the love of woman, then for military preferment, and later in the
political arena. When Burr established the Manhattan bank, Hamilton's
brother-in-law, inspired by Hamilton, attacked Burr's motive, with the
result of a duel in which neither was harmed.

N