6876. PRESIDENT, Election of.—[continued].
That great opposition is
and will be made by federalists to this
amendment [to the Constitution], is certain.
They know that if it prevails, neither a President
nor Vice-President can ever be made
but by the fair vote of the majority of the nation,
of which they are not. That either their
opposition to the principle of discrimination
now, or their advocation of it formerly was
on party, not moral motives, they cannot
deny. Consequently, they fix for themselves
the place in the scale of moral rectitude to
which they are entitled. I am a friend to
the discriminating principle; and for a reason
more than others have, inasmuch as the discriminated
vote of my constituents will express
unequivocally the verdict they wish to
cast on my conduct.—
To Thomas McKean.
Ford ed., viii, 292.
(W.
Jan. 1804)
