In the election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated the incumbent president, John Adams. It was a campaign and election of many firsts for the new nation as political parties dominated a presidential contest for the first time. The House of Representatives decided its first presidential election when the Democratic-Republican Party candidates tied, and it marked the first time in U.S. history that power was peacefully transferred from one party to another. The campaign was also noteworthy for the personal attacks against Jefferson and Adams. Jefferson's opponents charged him with atheism, while Adams was attacked for being a monarchist.

Democratic-Republicans united behind Jefferson as their candidate in the belief that a victory would rescue the principles of the American Revolution from the Federalist Party. In particular, they argued that Jay's Treaty (1794), the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), and the Quasi-War (1798-1800) with France proved that the Federalist Party wished to subvert the rights that had been secured by the Revolution.

Under the Constitution, states determined how and when they chose the members of the electoral college. In 10 states--New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia--the state legislature chose electors. Thus, legislative elections were of particular importance in these states. Voters in Rhode Island and Virginia chose electors on a general ticket. In Maryland, North Carolina, and Kentucky, voters selected the electors by district, and Tennessee employed a combination of the district and legislative methods. The selection of electors for the presidential election took place from May to December 1800.

Federalists felt confident that they would win New England (with the possible exception of Rhode Island) and Delaware, and they believed they had a chance in South Carolina. Democratic-Republicans would safely capture Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. They needed to hold onto the South and win some votes in the mid-Atlantic states for victory. Because of the parties' sectional nature, the outcome of the election primarily hinged on the results in the mid-Atlantic states, particularly New York and Pennsylvania.

New York held its legislative elections in May 1800. Aaron Burr masterfully assured a Democratic-Republican victory by capturing New York City's seats and thus the legislature for the party. In doing so, he outmaneuvered his longtime rival Alexander Hamilton and earned a place for himself on the ticket with Jefferson. Because of New York's national importance, Hamilton and others entreated Governor John Jay to call the old legislature, controlled by the Federalist Party, into session to select the electors to ensure Adams's success. Jay, standing above party, rebuffed them and then stated that "I think it would not become me to adopt" such partisan methods. Though the election had hardly begun, New York was in Jefferson's column.

The Federalist Party caucused in early May and selected Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina as their candidates. Hamilton, distraught over Adams's peace overtures to France, worked secretly to arrange Pinckney's election as president. Once the electors in New England and the mid-Atlantic states had committed to Adams and Pinckney, Hamilton hoped that South Carolina's legislature would meet and provide an edge to its favorite son. At this time, there was no separate election for president and vice president. Each elector had two ballots, and whoever gained the most electoral votes would become president, while whoever had the second most votes would become vice president. Unfortunately for the Federalist Party, Adams began to suspect Hamilton and decided to purge his cabinet of Hamilton's close political allies. The president called Secretary of War James McHenry, who had long had more loyalty to Hamilton than to the president, for a private interview and launched into a vicious attack on Hamilton for losing New York and undermining his authority. He accused Hamilton of leading a "British faction" and proclaimed him "a man devoid of every moral principle," a foreigner, and a bastard. He then forced McHenry into resigning. A few days later, Adams gave Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, another supporter of Hamilton, a similar dose of invective, and when Pickering refused to resign, Adams fired him.

These actions created an open split in the Federalist Party. Hamilton wrote a "private" letter, which he published to circulate among his friends, that lambasted the president as having "great and intrinsic defects in his character, which unfit him for the office of Chief Magistrate." These defects included unsound judgment, inconsistency, vanity, and "a jealousy capable of discoloring every object." It seemed inevitable that the Democratic-Republicans would get a copy of "Hamilton's precious letter" and publish it for the entire nation to read.

Even with all of this brouhaha, Adams still almost won the election. In Pennsylvania, voting became deadlocked because the Democratic-Republican Party-controlled lower house and the Federalist Party-controlled Senate could not agree on the method for casting the state's electoral votes. Finally, on November 29, the legislature agreed to split its vote by selecting eight electors from the Democratic-Republican Party electors and seven from the Federalist Party. In New Jersey, a legislature dominated by the Federalist Party chose Adams and Pinckney electors despite the fact that Jefferson would probably have won a popular vote. Ultimately, as Hamilton had suspected, the election hinged on South Carolina. Pinckney, however, refused to allow the legislature to favor him over Adams, and after some strong politicking by the Democratic-Republicans, South Carolina gave its eight electoral votes to Jefferson and Burr.

By December 16, the nation knew the results of the election. Jefferson and Burr each captured 73 votes, Adams received 65, Pinckney won 64 votes, and Jay had one. Leaders of the Federalist Party would later call Jefferson the "Negro President" since the Three-fifths clause had contributed to the Democratic-Republican triumph by giving the region more electoral votes than it would have had if representation had been based on the free white population. (The rumors of Jefferson's sexual relationship with a slave, Sally Hemings, gave the charge added meaning.) Even with the three-fifths advantage, the victory in the electoral college was not overwhelming. Moreover, since Jefferson and Burr had tied, the results created a new crisis for the nation. Following the rules of the U.S. Constitution in the event of two candidates obtaining the same number of electoral votes, the House of Representatives--then controlled by the Federalist Party--would decide the election between Jefferson and Burr, voting by state.

Nine states were needed to win. Eight states were firmly for Jefferson, the Federalist Party controlled six state delegations, and two states were divided. Burr would be crucial to any resolution, but he seemed to hesitate, neither proclaiming that he wanted Federalist Party support and the presidency nor conceding to Jefferson. Some members of the Federalist Party saw the deadlock as an opportunity to keep control of the presidency and deny Jefferson his victory, and hence they courted Burr. The House began balloting on February 11, 1801, and agreed to remain in session until the election was decided. Congressmen were working against the deadline of March 4, when the Constitution required the next president be inaugurated, and no one knew what would happen if there was no president by that date. On the first 35 ballots, the results remained the same: eight states for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two divided. As rumors of violence and the taking up of arms ran rampant, the governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania prepared their militias for conflict if the Federalist Party seized the national government.

Finally, on February 17, the crisis was resolved. On the 36th ballot, 10 states voted for Jefferson and four for Burr, while two states did not vote. (Federalist Party congressmen from Vermont and Maryland absented themselves so that their states could move to Jefferson's column). The lone representative from Delaware, James Bayard, who had previously voted for Burr, submitted a blank ballot. South Carolina did the same. There were several reasons for the break to the deadlock. For one, Hamilton, who detested Burr more than he feared Jefferson, prevailed upon other members of the Federalist Party to end their flirtation with Burr. For another, Bayard was convinced that he had received Jefferson's assurances regarding certain policies, appointments, and the removal of Federalist Party supporters from federal offices, although Jefferson later denied agreeing to these accommodations. Most important, representatives did not want to risk civil war and disunion.

On March 4, 1801, in a relatively smooth transition, Democratic-Republicans took control of the national government for the first time. A peaceful revolution had occurred, and in his inaugural address, Jefferson pledged to restore the principles of 1776. In 1804 the Twelfth Amendment requiring separate ballots for president and vice president was ratified.

Bibliography:

1) Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)

2) John E. Ferling, The Tumultuous Election of 1800 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004)

3) James Roger Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press 1993)

4) Bernard Weisberger, America Affire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800 (New York: William Morrow, 2000)

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