Presidential Election of 1800
A New Display of the United States, by Amos Doolittle, 1799 (Library of Congress)
In 1800, the nation had four major candidates for president—John Adams (Federalist), Charles Pinckney (Federalist), Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican), and Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican). Adams’s own Federalist Party was split, and he came in third. Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received the same number of votes in the Electoral College. Under the Constitution, the election was then thrown into the House of Representatives.
After six days and thirty-six ballots, the House of Representatives chose Thomas Jefferson to be the third President of the United States. This was the first time that the presidency had passed from one party to another, and no one was sure whether the transition would be peaceful.
Hamilton’s Letter on the Election of 1800
Daveed Diggs reads and discusses a letter from Hamilton to Harrison Gray Otis.
