Mr. Jefferson, though too revolutionary in his notions, is yet a lover of liberty and will be desirous of something like orderly Government – Mr. Burr loves nothing but himself – thinks of nothing but his own aggrandizement – and will be content with nothing short of permanent power [struck: and] in his own hands – No compact, that he should make with any [struck: other] passion in his [struck: own] breast except [struck: his] Ambition, could be relied upon by himself – How then should we be able to rely upon any agreement with him? Mr. Jefferson, I suspect will not dare much Mr. Burr will [inserted in margin: dare every thing in the sanguine hope of effecting every thing –]

Alexander Hamilton - When the election of 1800 resulted in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton conducted a letter-writing campaign to urge fellow Federalists to vote for Jefferson. his particular letter was sent to Harrison Gray Otis, and is on view now at the NY-Historical Society.

Courtesy of  The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History

(via michaelblume)

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You can’t bring this up without mentioning how Hamilton’s opinion was 100% vindicated a few years later.

Aaron Burr was charged with treason in 1807 for a bizarre conspiracy to take over the Midwest. The plan was for a small militia he had gathered in Ohio to join forces with Mexican discontents and maybe the British, launch a sneak attack on New Orleans, then use it as the nucleus for a new nation centered around the Mississippi River and parts of Texas and Mexico, then maybe conquer the United States. Keep in mind that he was still the vice president when he started working on this.

Anyway, he got a US army general on board, but the general got cold feet and told Jefferson. Burr was arrested, but the prosecution dropped the ball at his trial and he was acquitted. He fled to England, where he moved in with Jeremy Bentham (!) and they became best friends (!!), then visited Napoleon asking him for military support for some cryptic project (likely invasion of the US); when Napoleon said no Burr returned to the US under a fake identity and went back to practicing law as if nothing had happened.

So “dare every thing in the sanguine hope of effecting every thing“ was pretty much exactly on the mark.

(via slatestarscratchpad)