Chapter
10.
5
El
ecti
on
of
1800
• With John Adams threatening American civil liberties with the Alien and Sedition Acts– It’s time for another
election…
– Who is the public going to pick this time?
Election of 1800
• Federalists– John Adams
• 1st sitting president who had to seriously campaign to keep his job
– Charles Pinckney• Picked because of success
from XYZ Affair
• Democratic –Republican– Thomas Jefferson
• VP who really wants to be POTUS
– Aaron Burr• Popular politician within
Democratic –Republican party
Election of 1800 Breakdown
• Thomas Jefferson - 73 electoral votes• Aaron Burr - 73 electoral votes• John Adams - 65 electoral votes
• Problem:– If there is a tie for 1st, who wins? • Who becomes VPOTUS?
• It goes to the House of Representatives to pick from the top 2 candidates!
In the case of a tie…House of Representatives picks the new POTUS
• In the H of Reps– Most of the majority political party is the Federalists:
• They refuse to vote for TJ– They pick Burr just because they hate Thomas Jefferson
– The Democratic-Republican’s make up the rest• They vote for Jefferson
• What happens? – It’s a tie vote 30 straight times…
» Then, it gets weird….
Enter Alexander Hamilton
The U.S. Constitution gets a new amendment
• 12th amendment– Added in 1803
• Created 2 ballots for presidential elections:
• 1 for POTUS• 1 for VPOTUS
• That way there can never be a tie again….we hope.
So what happens after the election of 1800…
• Thomas Jefferson is excited!!!– Gets to become next POTUS
• John Adams is very disappointed he took 3rd. – Goes home to Massachusetts to retire.
• Was happy that the power of the POTUS passed freely to another political party– Showed that our government was strong enough to endure.
• Aaron Burr and Alex Hamilton? – It takes 4 years, but
• It’s time to duel it out…
According to historians… this is what happened.
• http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-14-2004/sarah-vowell
The Duel at Dawn…July 11, 1804• Aaron Burr challenges
Hamilton to the duel– They are to meet in New
Jersey
• Rules of duel:– They will march off 10
paces– They will turn and present
arms– On command, they will
fire at each other• If they both miss, you
repeat…
The Death of Alexander Hamilton
• Hamilton shoots the tree next to Burr
• Burr shoots Hamilton in the chest– He dies the next day
• With his death and John Adams retirement– The Federalist party
ends.
The Life of Alexander Hamilton…in poem.
• http://www.mrbach.net/documents/multimedia_2.html
That’s it…we’re done.
• Study for your test!!!
