Burr

by Gore Vidal

Able to tell us the way things really were.” “ ‘Really were’? Perhaps. Yet isn’t it better that we make our own useful version of our history and put away—in the attic, as it were—the sadder, less edifying details?”

I was with Hamilton in July of ’98 when the Sedition Act was published. He affected despair. “I have spent my life trying to prop up the frail and worthless fabric of our Constitution and now that fool Adams wants to establish a tyranny.” “Don’t worry. He won’t have the opportunity. He has given us the presidency.” “I would not be so certain of that.” The rosy face was suddenly mischievous. “After all, deporting foreigners is a popular thing to do.” “What about arresting editors?” “Personally I would draw and quarter them, and so would you. But all may yet be well for us.”

Eventually all things are known. And few matter.