electoral college should be president; the person receiving the next highest, vice-president. When the electoral votes nad been counted, it was found that Jefferson and Burr had each received seventy-three votes-thereby tying the two candidates on the Democratic-Republican ticket. Under the constitution, it now devolved upon the house of representatives to make the choice between these two candidates. As the time for the election by the house drew near, the excitement became intense. The Federalists, hoping to defeat Jefferson, decided to throw their votes to Burr. A bitter contest resulted, ending in the election of Jefferson for president and Burr for vice-president.

This unfortunate contest led to the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment to the constitution, which provides that the votes of the electoral college shall be cast separately for president and for vice-president.

JEFFERSON'S ADMINISTRATION

DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN: 1801-1809

321. Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, was the first president to be inaugurated at the new national capital-the city of Washington having become the seat of government in 1800. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence; he had served several terms in the Continental Congress; and had been governor of Virginia. In 1785 he succeeded Benjamin Franklin at the court of France. On his return to America, he became secretary of state under Washington, and later served as vice-president during the administration of John Adams. He founded the Democratic party, and was its undisputed leader even after he had retired to private life. As a protest against the Alien and Sedition laws, he drafted the Kentucky resolutions of 1798.

He was a graduate of William and Mary College, and was a believer in the education of the masses. He founded the University of Virginia a few years before his death. On his

retirement to private life, on his estate at Monticello, he carried on an extensive correspondence with prominent personages in Europe and America.

On account of his

learning he was called "The Sage of Monticello."

On assuming the presidency, he held that it was unbecom

annual messages

to congress by

MONTICELLO

messenger, reduced the number of foreign ministers, reduced the navy, and advocated the greatest economy in the public expenditures.

Provoked by the fact that Adams, just before retiring from office, had appointed many Federalists to government positions, Jefferson began the system of the removal of political opponents from office, which afterwards became known as the "spoils system"-sometimes referred to as "rotation in office."

On becoming president, he appointed as his secretary of state, James Madison, whom he had selected to succeed him. in office.

Jefferson served two terms as president, being reëlected in 1804 by a vote, in the electoral college, of one hundred sixty-two to fourteen. He was born in Virginia in 1743, and died at Monticello, that state, in 1826.

322. The Louisiana Purchase-1803: Territorial Expansion. The greatest event of Jefferson's administration was

the purchase of Louisiana (1803) from the French government under Napoleon Bonaparte. Spain had owned this territory from the close of the French and Indian War to the year 1800, when she secretly transferred it to France. This vast territory consisted of New Orleans and its adjacent territory, and extended westward from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico and Texas on the south to the British possessions on the north,though its northern and southern boundaries were not definitely established. Jefferson, in order to accomplish this purchase, had to depart from his "strict construction" theory, but he recognized that the possession of this territory was of vital importance to the future of the United States. The government had always had more or less trouble with Spain on account of Spanish interference in the navigation of the Mississippi River, and it was well known that France would be no less troublesome.

James Monroe, whom Jefferson appointed as special envoy, closed the negotiations for the purchase already completed by Livingston, the regular minister at the court of France. Though Napoleon had agreed with Spain never to cede the territory to any other power, he was so pressed for money on account of the wars in which he was engaged, that Livingston succeeded in making the purchase for $15,000,000. In addition to this sum, the United States agreed to pay all debts due from the French government to the American citizens.

Although little was known of this vast territory at that time, later years demonstrated the wisdom of Jefferson's purchase. By this purchase, the United States secured the absolute control of the Mississippi River, and came into possession of that rich and valuable territory from which has been carved a large number of the best states of the American Union.

323. The "Territory of Orleans" and the "District of Louisiana."-Soon after the purchase of this territory, congress divided it into the Territory of Orleans and the District

of Louisiana. The boundary line between the two was the 30th parallel of north latitude.

The Territory of Orleans had at that time a population of fifty thousand people, one-half of whom were slaves. The city of New Orleans itself numbered eight thousand. The settlers were engaged in the cultivation of the cotton and the sugar plant-the latter had but recently been introduced from the West Indies. From the production of these two plants vast fortunes were being made by the planters of that section. New Orleans was rapidly becoming a center of wealth, and a tide of immigration accordingly set in toward the new territory.

In the District of Louisiana the white population did not exceed five thousand people. This was now set apart as an "Indian country," and a movement was set on foot to induce the Indians to receive it in exchange for land east of the Mississippi River-a policy which succeeded only in later years. For purposes of government, the District of Louisiana was attached to the Territory of Indiana.

the exploration of the territory thus acquired. Under this act, the Lewis and Clark expedition was organized in 1803. Starting at the city of St. Louis, in 1804, Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, with a small company of men, ascended the Missouri River to its source in the Rocky Mountains; crossed to the head-waters of the Columbia River, and floated down that stream to the Pacific Ocean. After an absence of two years, they safely made the return trip, reaching St. Louis in 1806. All the members of this courageous little band of explorers were granted large tracts of public land by the government, and the officers were given additional remuneration. Lewis became governor of the Territory of Louisiana, which was organized shortly after his return.

325. The Oregon Country and Astoria.-On the strength of Lewis and Clark's report, the United States at once laid claim to that stretch of country since known as the "Oregon