CHAPTER   XIII.

THE   EEA   OF  BAD   FEELING-.

Thb three Peeiods op oue History—Paetibs before the Eeyolution—Parties
AFTER the Eevolution — Effect of the French Revolution upon A.mbkican
Politics — Hamilton — Jeffeeson—The tone of Society on Jefferson's kb-

TURN  FROM FeANCB—TlIE DIFFERENCES   BETWEEN   HAMILTON AND JeFFERSON —

EisE OF THE Democratic Party — John Adams — Public Excitement in 1798,

It was the fortune of Aaron Burr to contribute, in a re¬
markable manner, to the first triumph of his party. That the
reader, not fresh in the early history of his country, may un¬
derstand the importance of that triumph, it is necessary that
he should be informed or reminded of the state of parties, and
the feeling of the country, and of the character of certain lead¬
ing persons who flourished at that time. This chapter, then,
is to be a digression—to be skipped by a reader who is in
haste,

" Whig and Tory belong to natural history," Mr, Jefferson
used to say. This truth, that free communities naturally di¬
vide into two parties, one in favor of keeping things as they
are, the other strenuous for making them better than they are,
simplifies the study of political history, and should always be
borne in mind by the student. It is not an infallable guide
through the labyrinth of party politics, but it greatly assists
the groping explorer.

An historian might divide our political history into three
periods. The first began with the adoption of the Con¬
stitution, and ended with the election of Jefferson ; a period
which, in the recent language of Mr. Seward, " gave to the
country a complete emancipation of the masses from the dom¬
ination of classes." The second began Avith Jefferson, and
ended with the annexation of Texas, This was the period of
peaceful democratic rule, the fruit of Jefferson's ideas and