This is absolutely false. No
proposition of any kind was ever made to me on that occasion by General
Smith, nor any answer authorized by me. And this fact General Smith
affirms at this moment.
For some matters connected with this, see my notes of February the 12th
and 14th, 1801, made at the moment. But the following transactions
took place about the same time, that is to say, while the Presidential
election was in suspense in Congress, which, though I did not enter at
the time, they made such an impression on my mind, that they are now
as fresh, as to their principal circumstances, as if they had happened
yesterday. Coming out of the Senate chamber one day, I found Gouverneur
Morris on the steps. He stopped me, and began a conversation on the
strange and portentous state of things then existing, and went on to
observe, that the reasons why the minority of States was so opposed to
my being elected, were, that they apprehended that, 1. I would turn all
federalists out of office; 2. put down the navy; 3. wipe off the public
debt. That I need only to declare, or authorize my friends to declare,
that I would not take these steps, and instantly the event of the
election would be fixed. I told him, that I should leave the world
to judge of the course I meant to pursue, by that which I had pursued
hitherto, believing it to be my duty to be passive and silent during the
present scene; that I should certainly make no terms; should never go
into the office of President by capitulation, nor with my hands tied by
any conditions which should hinder me from pursuing the measures which
I should deem for the public good.
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