Hippocampus United States History: Election of 1800

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As the presidential election of 1800 drew near, political maneuvering grew increasingly aggressive. The election was the first to feature the Federalists and Republicans as two national political parties. Federalists endured the wrath of angry Americans who viewed the Federalists as power-hungry bureaucrats with anti-liberty agendas. The Alien and Sedition Acts, coupled with large tax increases--which required a small army of administers to enforce--cast a dark cloud over the party. Fear grew throughout the states as Federal soldiers pursued private citizens for opposing government policies and protesting high taxes. Many Republicans, mostly from southern states, secretly planned to resist Federalist tyranny by force or secede from the union if the Federalists remained in power.

Federalists defended their political strategy and attempted to deflect the voters’ ire onto the Republican Party. They portrayed Jefferson as a godless extremist who would destroy religion, introduce immorality to society, and institute radical social reforms similar to those found in France. Federalist Alexander Hamilton thought the country should be ruled by the best people, not by the masses as Republicans believed. Hamilton worried that a full democracy would let inexperienced, easy-to-influence commoners run the country.

Those who shared most of Hamilton’s political opinions, called Hamiltonian Federalists, promoted a strong central government and limited rights for states. They supported private enterprise and believed government should protect the lives and wealth of affluent citizens. The pro-British Federalists, many of whom continued to embrace Loyalist sentiments, favored trade agreements with England. Hamilton and his followers also counted on a Federalist presidential victory because of the impending war with France. Citizens of America, he reasoned, would get swept up in waves of patriotism and support the Federalist candidates. However, President Adams was still the most visible Federalist, and his political opinions clashed with those of Hamilton. Adams broke from his party’s platform to negotiate with France. His decision to bypass war and seek peace divided the Federalist Party and most likely cost him the chance of re-election.

Members of both parties used newspapers, pamphlets, and town hall meetings to deride their opponents, although only Republicans were convicted under the Sedition Act. The behavior was standard for eighteenth-century politics, but Thomas Jefferson refused to participate in the mudslinging. Jefferson instead took his campaign to the farmers, laborers, and shopkeepers. He appealed to the common people because he sympathized with those who were oppressed and persecuted. In 1800 he wrote, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

The “commoners” Jefferson spoke of were educated white males who owned property. The illiterate and landless, he believed, could not self-govern. Many of the Virginian’s followers lived in the southern states where agriculture was the principal means of support. He championed their pleas to maintain slaveholding because he understood the importance of the black slave system to the success of the tobacco and rice farmers. Although he faced a moral issue with slavery, Jefferson realized his presidential campaign needed the support of the farmers, and it was in his best interest to help them prosper.

Jefferson also garnered support from those seeking relief from an overbearing government. The Republican Party advocated a weak central government with individual states holding the most power. By placing authority on the local level, Jefferson argued, citizens could keep a watchful eye on their representatives and avoid the potential creation of a dictatorship.

The election of 1800 included Republicans Jefferson and Aaron Burr and Federalists Adams and Charles C. Pinckney as candidates for president and vice president, respectively. The Republican effort to motivate voters paid off, as more than twice the number of people turned out for the 1800 election than for earlier elections. Jefferson collected 73 electoral votes to Adams’s 65; however, the presidency was not yet won. Burr also received 73 votes, tying him with Jefferson. At the time, candidates for president and vice president did not run on the same ticket. Rather, the person who received the most votes was named president.

The Federalists agreed to have an elector offer one vote for John Jay so that Adams would have more votes than Pinckney. Republicans, however, made no such plan and wound up with their candidates finishing in a dead heat. Since Burr refused to step aside, the decision to elect the next president was to be made by the House of Representatives, which was controlled by the Federalists.

Burr became the favorite because many Federalists believed Jefferson would dismantle Hamilton’s fiscal system and change the Washington-Adams foreign policy. The debates stretched into 1801 before Hamilton, who detested Burr, persuaded enough of his fellow party members to give Jefferson the victory. Burr was named vice president. Jefferson, who compared his victory to the historic events of 1776, called the election the “Revolution of 1800.” He may have been right in this respect since this election produced the first orderly transfer of power from one party to another.

Soon after the election, the Twelfth Amendment was created to guarantee that a voting deadlock would never occur again. It required separate balloting in the Electoral College for president and vice president. The amendment was ratified in 1804 before the next election.

The Republican victory of 1800 was the beginning of the end of the Federalist Party. For more than a decade, Federalists had held the most powerful positions in the United States government. With the defeat, John Adams became the last Federalist president. The party slowly lost its political clout and dissolved by 1830.