Election of 1800

        Vicious political mud-slinging. Campaign attacks and counterattacks. Outrageous newspaper articles. Dire predictions of warfare and national collapse. One candidate said to be a hypocritical, wild tempered elitist; the other an impractical, rabble-rousing atheist. Welcome to the election of 1800. It was a contest of titans, former friends who were now bitter enemies. John Adams, Federalist, and Thomas Jefferson, Republican, two heroes of the American Revolution, were locked in a fierce battle for the future of the United States.
It would be a battle of differing principle and style. The Federalists believed that a strong federal government was America’s best hope, as it would discourage internal conflicts. The Federalists distrusted the public, thought the elite the people best suited to govern and hold political office, regarding ordinary men as too easily led astray. They wanted a strong chief executive who could remain above the fray and act in the best interest of all citizens. They wanted a strong, powerful federal government, which encouraged manufacturing and domestic trade as ways to keep the U.S. independent of foreign nations.
        Jefferson and the Republicans on the other hand, disagreed. The greatest threat to the U.S. came from those who wanted a strong central government. The best national government was a small one, allowing power to rest with the states. The Republicans regarded the elites with suspicion, believing they were too likely to pursue their own self-interest rather than the national interest. They felt that the future national success was best guaranteed by remaining a nation of small farmers who did not rely on others for their livelihoods and hence, were not easily swayed as voters.
        The Founding Fathers, in creating a new nation, earnestly hoped that political parties would not arise, fearing that parties were a dangerous institution that represented a corrupting self-interest. However, parties unanticipated by the Constitution emerged by the end of Washington’s second term, with both parties announcing candidates. In 1796, Adams won in a close election, but under the existing terms of the Constitution, his opponent from the opposite party received the second highest votes and was named Vice-president.
        During Adams first term foreign affairs led to a series of crises that divided Americans. Fears of war with France led to the founding of the U.S. Navy and the creation of an additional army. While people had rallied behind the administration against France, both measures were extremely unpopular with the Republicans, who feared a standing army and resented the increase in taxes to fund the national defense. As war fever gripped the young Republic, the Federalists, claiming national security, passed the Alien and Sedition Acts that allowed foreigners to be evicted from the country and prohibited criticism of the government by the press. With the passage and use of these Acts, the Republicans were now able to portray the Federalists as would-be tyrants.
        With the election of 1800 near, and with the nation in crisis, Jefferson was again the Republican candidate. The incumbent, Adams, in an attempt to keep the country out of war, went against Hamilton and other party leaders by sending a peace mission to France causing Hamilton to lead an unsuccessful attempt to dump him. These splits in the Federalist Party doomed Adams, and the election, held over the course of May to December 1800, resulted in a Republican victory. Under the Constitution at that time, each elector was to vote for two candidates without specifying who was to be president or vice president. By mistake, Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, received the same number of votes from the Republican electors, forcing the election into the House of Representatives. Burr refused to step aside and the election was deadlocked for almost a week. After making some concessions to the Federalists, on the 36th ballot, Jefferson was finally elected President of the United States.