Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/173

THOMAS JEFFERSON 137 the rejection of the treaty, and he remained al ways of the opinion that by its rejection the gov ernment of the United States might at length have secured "a respect for our neutral rights" with out a war. Jefferson had a narrow escape from being elected to the presidency in 1796. John Adams received seventy-one electoral votes, and Jefferson sixty-eight, a result that, as the law then stood, gave him the vice-presidency. In view of the duties about to devolve upon him, he began to prepare, chiefly for his own guidance in the chair of the senate, his "Manual of Par liamentary Practice," a code that still sub stantially governs all our deliberative bodies. He deeply felt the importance of such rules, believing that when strictly enforced they operated as a check on the majority, and gave "shelter and pro tection to the minority against the attempts of power." Jefferson much enjoyed the office of vice- president, partly from the interest he took in the art of legislation and partly because his presidency of the Philosophical society brought him into agree able relations with the most able minds of the coun try. He took no part whatever in the administra tion of the government, as Mr. Adams ceased to consult him on political measures almost immediate ly after his inauguration. The administration of Adams, so turbulent and eventful, inflamed party