ELECTION #4, 1800 - the NASTY-METER skyrockets to 10.

QUOTE from John Dawson, Republican Congressman, Virginia: "The Republic is safe....the Federalist party is in rage and despair."

ELECION #4, 1800. Thomas Jefferson is elected our nation's third president. The NASTY-METER skyrockets to 10.

In 1800 America had its first presidential free-for-all. Forget most of the really nasty elections we've experienced in our lifetime. In 1800. John Adams, the Federalist, vs Thomas Jefferson, the Republican, (or often
called the Democratic-Republican but I'll continue to only use Republican), can be ranked as one of the top five dirtiest and nastiest elections of all time - and all because of two reasons:

One: It is hard to think of two parties who hated each other more than John Adam's Federalists and Thomas Jefferson's Republicans.
Two: For the first and last time in our history, a president was running against his own vice president.

The CANDIDATES in 1800.

FEDERALIST: John Adams. There were two things that Adams did as president from 1797 to 1801 that caused him major headaches in the election of 1800. The first was trying to find a way to keep peace with Britain and France. France and Britain were at war and the U.S. was caught in a no-win situation with both of them. So he upset the Republicans and his own Federalists the way he handled things. He was called a warmonger by the Republicans and an appeasser by his own Federalists. Adams simply could not win.

Even bigger than the issue with France and Britain was Adams signing into law the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. Under this Sedition Act, anyone who criticized or sought to undermine the U.S. government could be fined or thrown in jail, and many people were. Jefferson's Republicans reviled the law as a violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. People weren't even safe in their neighborhood bar - one drunk in a New Jersey tavern was arrested and fined for saying that President Adams had a "big ass."

Many Federalists were not pleased with their president but they felt he was the only cadidate they had. The Federalists picked General Charles Pinckney, a Southern diplomt to be Adams running mate.


REPUBLICAN: Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had spent most of his four years as vice-president keeping a safe distance between himself and his boss. The troubles Adams had with France and Britain and the Sedition Act did not stick to Jefferson so he was in a good position to run against his old boss. The Republicans chose Aaron Burr to be Jefferson's running mate.


The CAMPAIGN

In 1796 the campaign lasted about 100 days. In 1800 the campaign started over a year before the election. (something like the present day, only we're worse than a year.) And it was nasty and vicious.

The Republican Jefferson made his first blasts against his boss by hiring a writer named James Callender. He was a real pro at using the english language to verbally assassinate anybody. He wrote that Adams was a "gross hypocrite," "a repulsive pedant," (a pedant is a boring speaker who says nothing of importance) and a "hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." (a hermaphrodite is a person, animal, or plant, having the reproductive organs of both sexes). It was no surprise that Callender spent nine months in jail. The Republicans now had a convenient martyr.

The Federalists fired back. They spread rumors that Jefferson had swindled his legal clients, that he was a godless atheist from whom one had to hide one's Bibles, that he had been a coward during the Revolutionary War, and that he slept with slaves while at home in Monticello.

BOTH PARTIES threw picnics and barbecues, where they plied voters with huge amounts of alcohol. At a Republican dinner in Lancaster, Penn., everyone drank sixteen toasts - one for each state of the Union - before tying into a half ton of beef and pork.


THE WINNER (eventually) THOMAS JEFFERSON

Election Day was December 3, and the electors met in their respective state capitals to cast their votes. The votes weren't officially counted until early February. The official vote was a tie between Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr - they each got 73 votes. John Adams got 65.
What happened was all 73 Republican electors voted for Jefferson and Burr which is why they each got 73. All that would have had to happen was for one Republican elector to vote for another candidate and the final tally would have been Jefferson 73 and Burr 72 or vice-versa. Jefferson would be president and Burr would be vice-president, or vice-versa.

But the tie meant that the House of Representatives had to break the tie.
One problem was that the House was controlled by the Federalists and Jefferson and Burr were Republicans. The rules stated that each state got one vote - the winner needed to get 9 of the 16 votes. Over the course of six days there were 36 ballots taken. On the first 35 ballots it was 8 for Jefferson, 6 for Burr, and 2 undecided - NO WINNER.

Then there was some backroom wheeling and dealing. The Federalista wooed Burr, but he wouldn't agree to their demands even if it meant he would be president. On February 17, Federalist Congressmen from Delaware, Maryland, Vermont, and South Carolina abstained from voting which resulted in Jefferson winning 10 states and the presidency - Burr got the second most votes and became vice-president.

Historians believe Jefferson cut a deal with the Federalists but he denied he ever did. However, his actions as president lead many historians to believe a deal did occur because he kept the Bank of the U.S. (which was set up by the Federalist Hamilton), and he kept many Federalists in office.

THE FEDERALISTS AND REPUBLICANS FINALLY FIND SOMETHING THEY AGREE ON.

As a result of the 1800 election the Federalists and Republicans finally found something they could agree on. They agreed that another election like that of 1800 had to be avoided if at all possible. So Congress passed a resolution on December 9, 1803, for a constitutional amendment stating that electors would henceforth vote SEPARATELY for president and vice-president, rather than allowing the top two vote-getters to take all. By September 24, 1804 over three fourths of the 16 state legislatures (14 0f 16) had ratified the resolution. It became the 12th Amendment to our Constitution.

This is good for a laugh!!!! Even though John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were both Federalists they hated each other. John Adams had this to say about Hamilton. Hamilton was born illegitimate and Adams didn't let him forget it. On various occasions, Adams referred to Hamilton as "a Creole bastard," "the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," and "a man devoid of every Moral principle - a bastard."