Jefferson made clear that he and his party had won, and that the Federalists had lost. But he vowed that he would not be vindictive. The will of the majority would prevail, but “the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” He promised “equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Indeed, anti-Republicanism views would be left to “stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated.”
