The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.

Years later when told that Hamilton may have misled him at the duel the ever-laconic Burr replied "Contemptible if true. Even though Hamilton did not like Jefferson and disagreed with him on many issues he viewed Jefferson as the lesser of two evils. Jay was president and Hamilton was the first secretary and later became president.

He attended King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City. When in the same contest Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for the presidency in the electoral college Hamilton helped defeat Burr whom he found unprincipled and elect Jefferson despite philosophical differences. However the Quasi-War although hard-fought at sea was never officially declared.