Which made their rivalry even more intense. Hamilton was an intense Federalist in favor of a very powerful federal government. Madison was a Democratic-Republican, so he was in favor of states rights. Burr was a little different, he mostly cared about how to gain power and once joined the other party to improve his chances of becoming president he stayed with Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans for most of his political career. The first rift between Hamilton and Jefferson started when they were selected to serve as cabinet members, Hamilton as Treasury secretary and Jefferson as Secretary of State. Since they had such wildly different viewpoints they often fought. Hamilton, a very egotistical person, sometimes even called a narcissist, attacked Jefferson’s character to demean him during cabinet meetings. Burr and Hamilton were both very well known public figures who were even friends until Burr ran for a Senate seat and beat out Hamilton's father in law. In the article Mr. Kennedy explains how he believes this wasn't a direct act of aggression to Hamilton, as some historians believe, showing just one claim of bias in this analysis. Burr and Jefferson's conflict started in the election of 1800. To make it brief, The voting process was different back then. Jefferson and Burr tied for the most votes and instead of stepping aside for Jefferson, Burr made an attempt at the Presidency. And in order to break the tie, Hamilton endorsed Jefferson, which made electors swing their vote to Jefferson, breaking the tie. This was just one reason Burr challenged Hamilton to duel. Hamilton saw Jefferson as the lesser of two evils, even going as far as saying Burr was a “mischievous enemy.” The 18th century equivalent of calling someone a liar and a fraud on television today. These three men disliked each other a great deal and showed it to the press, and to one…
