Who Won the Election of 1800?

In this video, the pivotal election of 1800 is discussed. A new political party was started (the Republicans) and was headed by Thomas Jefferson. They were in favor of very limited government. The Federalists wanted a strong central government. These two views of American government were vying for control of the country in this Election. The Federalists ran John Adams as their candidate and the Republicans ran Thomas Jefferson as theirs. Before this time, the constitution stipulated that the candidate with the most votes would be president and the one with the second highest number of votes would be vice-president. If there was a tie, then the House of Representatives would decide the election. It was understood that once it was clear that the candidate and his running mate would win the electoral college vote, that at least one elector would not vote ensuring that there would not be a tie. In the event of a tie the House could easily throw the election to the Federalists. The one elector who was supposed to refrain from voting forgot, thus causing the tie vote. When it went to the house, Alexander Hamilton helped sway things towards Jefferson because of his absolute hatred for Aaron Burr (Jefferson’s running mate). It took over 35 votes to finally break the tie. It led to the 12th amendment to our constitution.