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The Republican Victory
The election of 1800 marked a peaceful transition of power from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans.
Learning Objective
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Characterize the election of 1800
Key Points
- The Electoral College was charged with electing the president and vice president. The system of casting two votes for each candidate led to a tie between Burr and Jefferson, throwing the election into the House of Representative, which elected Jefferson after 35 ballots.
- This system of voting was later changed by the Twelfth Amendment of 1804, which created a "party ticket" system of voting where the candidates for president and vice president were clearly delineated and ran as a team, with each team receiving one electoral vote.
- Although the election of 1800 is sometimes labelled as the "Revolution of 1800" because it was the first major shift in power in the nation's history, Jefferson's election in no way resembled the violent revolutions and regime shifts in Europe.
- Instead, a peaceful transition of power from the Federalists to Democrat-Republicans occurred and Federalist policies (with the exception of the Alien and Sedition Acts) continued to endure.
- Adams' last act as president, the appointment of the so-called "midnight judges" to the Supreme Court, when contested by Democrat-Republicans led to Chief Justice Marshall's establishment of the powerful precedent of judicial review: giving the Supreme Court the authority to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
Terms
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Revolution of 1800
In the United States Presidential election of 1800, sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated President John Adams.
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The Electoral College
The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States.
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Twelfth Amendment
The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President.
Full Text
The Reelection Campaign and "Revolution" of 1800
In the presidential election of 1800, Adams and his fellow Federalist candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, challenged the Republican duo of Jefferson and Burr. In the end, Jefferson won a narrow victory over Adams (73 to 65 electoral votes) with New York casting the decisive vote. The Federalists were defeated because of many factors, including better organization by the Republicans, internal fighting between Adams and Hamilton supporters, and the controversy of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Other decisive factors in the Jefferson victory were Jefferson's popularity in the South, and the effective campaigning of Aaron Burr in New York State, where the legislature (which selected the electoral college) shifted from Federalist to Democratic-Republican and cast the deciding vote.
The 1800 election campaign was characterized by slander and personal attacks on both sides. Federalists spread rumors that the Republicans were radicals who would ruin the country (based on the Republican support for the French Revolution). Meanwhile, the Republicans accused Federalists of destroying republican values by favoring aristocratic, anti-republican principles. Democratic-Republicans promoted the vision of a decentralized economy that favored yeoman agriculture, minimal and simple federal government, and maximum freedom of mobility and opportunity for white men. In short, Democratic-Republicans stressed the virtues of austerity, individual labor, independence, self-reliance, and (white male) equality which they pitted against their perception of Federalists as the protectors of the wealthy, commercial, and aristocratic interests.
While Democratic-Republicans were firmly aligned behind Jefferson and Burr, the Federalists began to fracture. A faction of so-called "High Federalists" emerged under Alexander Hamilton, who strongly opposed Adams's reelection. Hamilton, in an attempt to sabotage Adams in favor of electing the vice-presidential candidate Charles Pinckney, wrote a scathing 54 page criticism of Adams that accidentally became public when it landed in the hands of the Democratic-Republicans. But rather than marshal support for Pinckney, Hamilton's criticism embarrassed Adams and the Federalist party, exposing their internal divisions to the public eye.
Because each state could choose its own election day, voting lasted from April until October. In April, Burr's successful mobilization of the vote in New York City succeeded in reversing the Federalist majority in the state legislature. With the two parties tied 65-65 in the Electoral College, the last state to vote, South Carolina, chose eight Republicans, giving the election to Jefferson and Burr. However the Republicans neglected to have one of their electors abstain from voting for Burr, which created a tie. Under the United States Constitution, each elector cast two votes and the candidate with a majority of the votes was elected president, while the candidate with the second-highest vote became the vice president. While the Federalists arranged for one of their electors to abstain for voting for Pinckney (to give Adams the presidential seat), Republicans failed to do the same, and the ensuing tie between Jefferson and Burr threw the election into the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives .
Electoral College 1800
Presidential election results where green denotes states won by Jefferson, orange denotes states won by Adams, and gray denotes non-voting territories. Figures indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
The members of the House of Representatives balloted as states to determine whether Jefferson or Burr would become president. There were sixteen states, and an absolute majority—in this case, nine—was required for victory. Over the course of seven days, the House cast a total of thirty-five ballots, with Jefferson receiving the votes of eight state delegations each time—one short of the necessary majority of nine. During the contest, Hamilton wrote a frenzy of letters to Federalist representatives arguing that they should support Jefferson over Burr (Hamilton considered Jefferson the lesser evil of the two) and, his campaign led to Jefferson's election to the presidency. In the process, Hamilton's personal attacks on Burr's character would eventually lead to their duel . Furthermore, this system of balloting was changed by the Twelfth Amendment (1804), which called for a "party ticket" (one president and one vice-presidential candidate) that the Electoral College had to cast votes for, rather than selecting individuals.
Portrait of Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr tied Jefferson in the Electoral College vote
The transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans in a peaceful manner was the most significant and surprising outcome of the election. It was singled out as a break from European precedent, in which power transfers were often violent and bloody. In part, this was because this regime change did not necessarily signal a complete overhaul of Federalist policies. Despite the partisan polarization that occurred in the election of 1800, Jefferson's early presidency embodied both Federalist and Democratic-Republican policies that facilitated a stable transition of power in this otherwise volatile political period .
Thomas Jefferson
Founding Father and Third President of the United States
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Key Term Reference
- Aaron Burr
- Appears in these related concepts: The Election of 1796, In Quest of Freedom, and The Burr Conspiracy
- Alexander Hamilton
- Appears in these related concepts: The Federalist Papers, A New Nation, and The Confederation's Problems
- Chief Justice Marshall
- Appears in these related concepts: McCulloch v. Maryland, The Last Days of the Federal Presidency: The Midnight Judges, and The Marshall Court
- Democrat-Republicans
- Appears in these related concepts: Foreign and Domestic Crises, The Adams Presidency, and The Transfer of Power between the Federalists and the Republicans
- New York
- Appears in these related concepts: Land Policy, Settlers and Native Americans, and The Conquest of New York
- Republicans
- Appears in these related concepts: Economic Hardship and Labor Upheaval During the Transition to Peace, Reform and the Election of 1872, and The Sectional Crisis Deepens
- Sedition Act
- Appears in these related concepts: Nativism, Setbacks for Unions, and The War at Home
- Transfer of Power
- Appears in these related concepts: The Republican Alternative, Incorporating Louisiana, and The Election of 1800 and the Federalist Legacy
- United States Constitution
- Appears in these related concepts: The 11th Amendment, Democracy v. Republicanism, and The Constitution
- agriculture
- Appears in these related concepts: The Four Social Revolutions, Productivity Gains in Agriculture, and Poverty in the Colonies
- amendment
- Appears in these related concepts: Congressional Terms and Term Limits, The Bill of Rights, and The Ratification of the Constitution
- economy
- Appears in these related concepts: The Disadvantages of Socialism, The Baby Boom, and The Economy
- electoral college
- Appears in these related concepts: The Structure of the Government, The General Election Campaign, and Debate over the Presidency and the Judiciary
- faction
- Appears in these related concepts: "Extend the Sphere", Political Parties and Elections, and Student Subcultures
- federal
- Appears in these related concepts: Social Security and Tax Reform, Empowering Labor, and The U.S. Constitution
- federalist
- Appears in these related concepts: The Anti-Federalists, The Holdouts: Virginia and New York, and The Role of the Government
- legislature
- Appears in these related concepts: How a Bill Becomes Law, The 17th Amendment, and The Structure of Government
- majority
- Appears in these related concepts: Americanization and Pluralism, Neglected Americans and the New Deal, and The Election of 1824
- precedent
- Appears in these related concepts: The Impact of Court Decisions, Cases and the Law, and The Expansion of the Federal Government
- republican
- Appears in these related concepts: Party Identification, Political Parties from 1800–1824, and Hamilton's Political Vision and the Federalist Papers
- virtue
- Appears in these related concepts: Johnson's Plan, Women and Church Governance, and American Republicanism
- yeoman
- Appears in these related concepts: White Society in the South, The Colonial Elite, and The Rise of the West
Sources
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Cite This Source
Source: Boundless. “The Republican Victory.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 19 Sep. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-federalist-era-1789-1801-10/the-adams-administration-93/the-republican-victory-515-2482/