Election of 1800 A New Era: Parties and Platforms Text Credit: 2003 Teacher Fellows Candidates: Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican (pictured), and John Adams, Federalist C-SPAN Video Clip | Fun Fact | Historically Significant Elections Campaign Overview | Electoral Overview

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW President John Adams ran for re-election under the newly formed Federalist Party. Thomas Jefferson, who had been vice president under Adams ran against him as the Democratic-Republican party candidate. This was the only time that a vice president ever ran against the president with whom he served. Each party also selected a vice-presidential nominee. Aaron Burr was nominated to run as Thomas Jefferson's vice president, and Charles Pinckney for John Adams. In 1800, the candidate who received the second-highest number of votes (no matter the party of the winner) in the electoral system won the vice presidency. Putting up a vice-presidential candidate was essentially a race for second place. In the News Jefferson supported the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures' efforts to nullify the Federalist-sponsored Alien and Sedition Acts, which President Adams signed into law. As a result, states' rights became an issue that divided the two candidates. Tactics/Strategy Jefferson's camp attacked the Federalists for deficit spending and their unfocused foreign policy. Federalists began attacking Jefferson for his "un-Christian deism," attempting to bring his character into question among voters. Platforms The election of 1800 was the first time candidates ran on issue platforms and also the first time parties nominated candidates. Discussions focused on states' rights rather than on foreign policy as they had in the previous three presidential elections. Slogans During the campaign, Federalists urged that voting for a Federalist (Adams) was a vote for "God- and a Religious President" over "Jefferson-and no God."

ELECTORAL OVERVIEW President John Adams lost the election to both Jefferson and Burr who each received 73 votes in the Electoral College. Although the Democratic-Republicans intended for Burr to be their vice-presidential candidate, the current electoral system provided no way to elect the president and vice president independently. The tied election then went to the House of Representatives where each state had one vote. The sixteen states deadlocked through several ballots and over several days. Finally, after thirty-six rounds of ballots, and internal politicking by former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and others, Jefferson received ten votes, Burr received four (thus becoming the vice president), with two states abstaining. Electoral College Results Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) 73 Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican) 73 John Adams (Federalist) 65 Charles Pinckney (Federalist) 64 John Jay (Federalist) 1 Aftermath After the debate surrounding the rightful president and vice president during the election of 1800, Congress understood that the electoral process needed tweaking. On September 25, 1804, just before the election of 1804, the Twelfth Amendment went into effect, which changed the presidential electoral process. Instead of the original method of awarding the presidency to the candidate receiving the most votes and the vice-presidency to the candidate receiving the second-highest total, electors now cast separate ballots electing a president and vice president.