31 oct 1800 año - Election of 1800

Descripción:

An election in which Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson beat incumbent Federalist John Adams and became the 3rd president. Referred to as the Revolution of 1800, the campaign was fraught with more insults and accusations. The Federalists warned that the Democratic-Republicans would ruin the country with their radical and pro-French policies. The Republicans countered by bringing up the Alien and Sedition Acts, claiming that Adams was unconstitutionally suppressing the freedom of the press, as well as claiming the Federalists supported the despotic British who the country had just fought a devastating war with.

Alexander Hamilton, head of the Federalist Party, had originally had hopes of influence in the Adams Administration. However, after the Election of 1796 he found that Adams was more independent than he would have liked. To make sure he still had influence in the government, Hamilton put his support behind the more partisan Charles C. Pinckney, who became Adams' running mate. Hamilton's plan backfired when Republican press got hold of a letter he wrote criticizing Adams, which lost support for himself, Adams, and the Federalist Party. Jefferson, meanwhile, chose to run with Aaron Burr again. When the votes were cast, Jefferson and Burr took the lead, but there was a problem. Each electoral delegate was allotted two votes, which were meant to be used for a presidential candidate and his respective running mate, but in reality either could be used for anyone. One delegate was supposed to throw away one of his votes which would ensure that the presidential candidate always got at least one more vote than his running mate. For example, one Federalist delegate voted for Adams, but cast his second vote for John Jay, a Federalist who was not even running. This ensured that Pinckney got at least one vote less than Adams. However, the designated delegate for the Democratic-Republicans failed to do so, creating a tie between Jefferson and Burr. In these circumstances, it was up to the Federalist-controlled House of Representatives to break the tie, with each state being allowed to cast one vote. All seven Republican-controlled delegations voted for Jefferson, in addition to the Federalist-controlled Georgian delegation. Six Federalist-controlled delegations voted for Burr, and Vermont and Maryland were unable to come to a consensus, forcing them to cast a blank ballot. This left Jefferson with eight states to Burr's six, but neither had the nine necessary for a majority. The ballots were cast 34 more times, each resulting in the same number of states for each candidate. Finally, Hamilton intervened. He despised Jefferson's viewpoints, but saw him as the lesser of two evils. In the 36th ballot, he instructed his Federalist allies in the Maryland and Vermont delegations not to vote, giving the vote in both states to Jefferson, netting him the presidency.

The election was viewed as a constitutional crisis. The government decided that an incident like that ought not to happen again, and so worked to pass the 12th Amendment, which resolved the issue by requiring the two votes of each delegate to be for a presidential and vice presidential candidate, respectively. This would eliminate the "throwing away votes" pseudo-rule implemented before.

When Adams' term expired, he peacefully stepped down and allowed the opposition party to take power. This was an important step for the fledgling republic, whose integrity is tested most when the party in power is voted out. Adams stepped down instead of remaining in office and mobilizing the military to take out the opposition leaders. The election results established a precedent for the party in power peacefully giving up when they are not re-elected.

Main issues: Alien and Sedition Acts, XYZ Affair
Turnout: 32.3% (record)
Significance: Brought about the passage of the 12th Amendment
Peaceful transition of power to the opposition party
Only election in which the incumbent vice president ran against the incumbent president

Electoral Votes:
Thomas Jefferson (D-R): 73
Aaron Burr (D-R): 73
John Adams (F): 65
Charles C. Pinckney (F): 64
John Jay (F): 1

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