III. HAMILTON IN THE SADDLE 43

Confidence in Hamilton in commercial circles--Report on Public Credit--Reason not personally presented--Scene when read--Reactions of a radical--Enthusiasm in commercial quarters--The discords--Hate of speculators--‘In the interest of the rich’--Plan to bind moneyed class--Activity of speculators--Public men involved--Rumors of Robert Morris--Fast-sailing vessels--The gambling mania--Fenno defends speculators--The debate on Funding--Gallery scenes--Jackson’s attack--Hamilton turns lobbyist--Organizes his forces--Newspaper attacks--Portrait of Madison--He proposes discrimination--Consternation--Gloom at the Knox dinner--Hamiltonians attack--The debate--Sedgwick--Smith--Ames--The gallery--Madison replies--Maclay’s plan--An old roué--Madison’s snub--Discrimination voted down--Abuse of Madison--Reaction in the streets--Assumption--A caucus of Hamiltonians--Robert Morris’s interest--Opposition appears--Revolt of Southerners--The cause--Annihilation of States--Wolcott reveals Hamilton’s motives--The debate--Hamiltonians ‘piped to quarters’--Fear of vote--Rumors of Vining--Activity of the lobby--Lame and sick carried to House--Morris approaches Maclay--Alarm of Hamiltonians--Scenes in the Senate--Assumption voted down--Distress of Sedgwick, Wadsworth, Clymer, Fitzsimons--Scenes in coffee-houses--Hamiltonian Senate on a strike--Threats of disunion--Press comments--‘Bastard of Eastern speculators’--Jefferson reaches New York--Hamilton tries bargaining--Early morning walk on the Battery--Hamilton and Jefferson barter--Dinner at Jefferson’s--Madison agrees--Assumption wins.

IV. PREMONITIONS OF BATTLE 69

Hamilton at high tide--Idol of business--Masterful manner in Cabinet--New fortunes and class feeling--Hamilton’s excise--Welcomes test of strength--Distillers aroused--Pennsylvania protests--Neutrality of Jefferson and Madison--Street debates--House debate--Denunciations of Jackson--Madison’s embarrassment--Liquor and morals--Giles approves--Revenue agents in elections--Hamilton takes personal charge in Senate--Meets with committee--Maclay’s rebuff--‘Hamilton fails in nothing’--Bloodshed predicted--The National Bank--Hamilton’s powerful following--Maclay notes drift of moneyed men--Debate in House--Madison attacks monopoly and implied powers--Ames defends--Sectional significance of vote--Fight in the Cabinet--Madison consulted by Washington--Asked to reduce views to writing--Fear of veto--Ames explains Washington’s hesitation--Ugly talk in New York--Hamilton and Jefferson break--The battle of the press--Hamilton man of the hour--Given reception in New York--Jefferson and Madison on a journey--Their intimacy--Their association in the public mind--Significance of their journey--Pamphlet duel of Burke and Paine--‘Rights of Man’ and Adams’s ‘Discourses of Davilla’--Jefferson’s ‘preface’ to Paine’s pamphlet--Reference to Adams--British Agent shocked--Also ‘Society’--Press joins the fray--Burke versus Paine in country towns--Adams disgusted with Paine--Enraged by Jefferson--J. Q. Adams attacks Jefferson and Paine--Defends English institutions--The war in the press--Turmoil pleases Jefferson--Embarrassed by the ‘preface’--Explains to Adams--Friends of democracy aroused--Scandal of ‘scrippomony’--Swindlers’ harvest--Frenzy of speculation--Press warns--Political phase--Scandal in choice of Bank directors--Hamilton’s brilliant support.

V. THOMAS JEFFERSON: A PORTRAIT 92

Appearance--A woman’s impressions--His cold first look--Charm of manner--Maclay’s impressions--His conversation--His frontier training--Westerner with Eastern polish--Bred in democratic community--College influences--Fights for democracy in Virginia--Associations in Paris--Life there--Interest in peasants’ plight--Sympathy with dawning of French Revolution--Chats with Gouverneur Morris--Consulted by leaders of Revolution--His plan to save the monarchy--His humanity--Toward Hessian prisoners--Against death penalty for minor offences--Against degrading prisoners--Relations with servants--With slaves--Hostility to slavery--Attitude toward religion--Toward the Constitution--Methods as party leader--His tact--Persuasions of dinner table--Dislike of quarrels and separations--Self-control--Justly estimates opponent’s strength--Relations with Adams--His cunning--The art of mining--Practical political methods--Serenity in storms--The artistic phase--Music--Architecture--The scientific phase--Interest in natural history--Astronomy--Inventions--Passion for agriculture--Life at Monticello.

VI. THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND 116

Complaints of Philadelphia prices and manners--The physical city--Streets and gardens--Halls of Congress--Offices of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Washington--Life in the taverns--In boarding-houses--Drinking-places--Arrogance of the masses--Their social life--Public gardens--Streets by night--Shops and shopping--Economic status of workers--The aristocracy--Vanity of wealth--‘Elegance of dress’--Entertaining--Heavy drinking--Risqués conversations--Burr’s wine--A dinner at Clymer’s--Hamilton and Mrs. Church--Portrait of Mrs. Bingham--The Bingham mansion--Mrs. Bingham’s hectic life--Monroe’s social blunder--Judge Chase’s boorishness--A reception at Mrs. Bingham’s--The Morrises--Mrs. Walter Stewart--Mrs. Samuel Powell--Mrs. Knox--Mrs. Hamilton--Mrs. Wolcott--Mary Ann Wolcott--Pierce Butler--Mrs. William Jackson--Foreign visitors--A scene at the British Legation--Country places--The hunt--Dancing Assembly--The theater--Washington at the play--The players--The circus--Home of Jefferson.

VII. JEFFERSON MOBILIZES 140

Hamilton’s advantage in organization--Jefferson’s raw material--His problem--The scattered masses--The disfranchised--Jefferson plans amalgamation of local democratic groups--Busy with his pen--Hancock and Sam Adams--Charles Jarvis--Ben Austin--Abraham Bishop--Politics in Connecticut--Gideon Granger--Ephraim Kirby--John Langdon--Matthew Lyon--George Clinton--The Livingstons--Aaron Burr--Jefferson approaches Burr--Tammany--Jeffersonian leaders in Pennsylvania--John Francis Mercer--The Virginia machine--Willie Jones of Halifax--Nathaniel Macon--Timothy Bloodworth--James Jackson of Georgia--Charles Pinckney--Jefferson’s iron discipline--He works on the masses--Aristocrats shocked at his associations--Uses the press--John Fenno--His relations with Federalist leaders--Launching of Freneau’s paper--Its national appeal--Portrait of Freneau.

VIII. THE GAGE OF BATTLE 161

Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures--Its reception--Hamilton’s plan for factories at Passaic Falls--Appears before New Jersey Legislature for charter--Visits site to select locations--Pamphlet attacks on his Passaic project--Admirers subscribe for Trumbull portrait of him--He watches Freneau’s paper--Its early tone--‘Brutus’ attacks funding system--Attacks on Freneau’s paper--‘Work of foreigners’--Of a ‘junto’--‘Sidney’ assails Hamilton and his policies--Other assaults in Freneau’s paper--Fenno to the defense--Demolished by Freneau--Scene at the Morris house--The rivals visit a factory--Washington’s hope for reconciliation--Fenno regrets lack of King--Fenno versus Freneau--Fenno again crushed--Hamilton’s rage--His ‘T.L.’ letter--Freneau’s reply--Hamilton’s anonymous attacks on Jefferson--Seeks affadavit from Boudinot--Washington appeals for peace--Hamilton’s reply--Jefferson’s--Hamilton continues--Madison attacks Hamilton’s letter--Fenno fears duels--Jefferson holds aloof--Attack postpones his plans to retire--‘It is a Fact’--Collapse of St. Clair’s expedition--Jeffersonians attack Knox--Bubble of speculation bursts--Press denounces the gamblers--The Duer failure--Business paralyzed--Charged to funding system--The Clinton-Jay contest--Bitter campaign of 1792--Federalist pessimism--Maryland fight--Hamilton involved--In North Carolina--In Kentucky--In Virginia--Hamilton’s cultivation of Virginia Federalists--Adams opposed--Hamilton to the rescue--Carroll for Vice-President--McHenry’s letter--Hamilton orders Adams to his post--Press battle over Adams--Results.

IX. HAMILTON’S BLACK WINTER 185

A remarkable winter--Jeffersonians aggressive--Hamilton’s methods challenged--Madison demands report on finances--Hints of corruption--Threats of Duer--Blackmail of Reynolds--Explanation asked of Hamilton--Scene in Hamilton’s office--In his home--His confession concerning Mrs. Reynolds--Jeffersonians attack finances--Fight planned at Jefferson’s--Portrait of Giles--Freneau creates atmosphere for assault--First Giles Resolutions--Giles’s speech--Hamilton’s indignation--His candle-lit office--His prodigious achievement--His friends’ enthusiasm--Criticism of his enemies--Technical violation of law--Giles resolution of condemnation--The political strategy--The caucus at Hamilton’s--The debate--The night session--Madison sums up--Ames replies--The vindication--Reactions of the press--Toast at Providence Society dinner--Jeffersonians analyze the vote--‘Parties to the cause’--Jefferson finds bank directors and speculators did it--A conference at Port Royal--John Taylor’s pamphlet--End of the fiscal phase.