OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 233 
manufactures, the excise tax system, and finally on the public 
credit and extinction of the national debt. 
Politically he was very active, incurring the enmity of THomas 
JEFFERSON, JAMEs Mapison and James Monroe. In 1795 he 
withdrew from the cabinet in order to recuperate his personal 
finances and became New York’s leading attorney. On the elec- 
tion of Joun Apams he clashed repeatedly with the new president, 
but on being created inspector-general of the new army and war 
department, he found so much of organization necessary, that his 
politics for a time were laid aside. However, due to JEFFERSON 
and AARON Burr, the Federal party was defeated in New York 
and he was forced to come to the front once more to defend his 
party. A widening breach developed between Burr and JEFFER- 
son, but the former’s intrigues against the latter for president 
were too much for HAMILTon’s tastes and he was led to support 
JEFFERSON. The quarrel was made personal by Burr, and in 
July, 1804, he was challenged by the latter to a duel. Hami.ton’s 
common sense prompted him to refuse it, but, as he feared that 
the country was approaching the chaotic condition of France 
under the Revolution, and as he felt his services for order might 
be hampered if he appeared a coward, he accepted. Burr was 
acquitted of treachery in prematurely firing, although Hamitton’s 
friends have never accepted the verdict. The wound was mortal, 
and his tragic fate evoked a universal burst of grief. He became 
the country’s first political martyr, and his fame has grown with 
the years. 
