The Election of 1800

The bearer of the bad news that Adams had lost the election is Secretary of State John Marshall, whose speculation that war with France would have won Adams a second term is reasonable. Adams deserves great praise for resisting the political pressure from his party to go to war. (Although he was Jefferson's cousin, Marshall was a Federalist and, in his last days as President, lame duck Adams appointed Marshall Chief Justice, a position he would hold from 1801 until his death in 1835).

Despite the Federalist defeat, the election was far from settled as Jefferson and Burr each received every Republican Elector's two votes, creating a technical tie which would have to be broken by the House of Representatives, each of 16 states getting one vote there. The Congressional elections of 1800 had been a Republican sweep, and there was no doubt that the new House would choose Jefferson. However, newly elected House members would not take their seats until the new President was inaugurated; it would be the lame duck Congress, controlled by Federalists, that would decide the outcome, and as a Republican representative observed here, "there's danger there for us." Federalists were willing to consider bypassing the people's choice and giving the Presidency to Burr, with the states divided eight for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two states split through 35 ballots.

Jefferson's warning that armed resistance might follow was realistic. Militias were mustering in Virginia and Pennsylvania, threatening to march on the new Capital and force Jefferson's installation. As during the Newburgh Conspiracy, it appeared that America's revolutionary settlement might come through military intervention. The nation needed a hero, someone to put country ahead of party and personal pride. Adams' hesitancy to have the executive branch intervene in a legislative matter was appropriate; George Washington's prestige could have settled the matter in an instant, but he had passed away in late 1799. Who might step forward and save the American experiment in self-government? (This compilation suggests that neither Jefferson nor Adams was completely forthright. After Hamilton's intervention, Adams may have conveyed a compromise offer and Jefferson seems to have made the vague concessions necessary to overcome the impasse and save the country from this dangerous situation).

This scene in which Hamilton calls on Burr and Burr's cronies is imagined; there is no evidence that such an encounter took place. Nonetheless, it is one of your instructor's very favorite clips, and it accurately (and amusingly) conveys Hamilton's conclusion that, although he did not like Jefferson, he could not trust Burr. After requesting and apparently receiving at least vague reassurances that Jefferson would not completely dismantle Hamilton's economic programs, Hamilton intervened with Federalist Congressmen in the two evenly divided states, giving Jefferson a 10-6 victory on the 36th ballot.

Sources: HBO: John Adams (2008); Disney: Hamilton: The Musical (2020); The Magnificent Doll (1946).

Видео The Election of 1800 канала Patrick Reed