The presidential election of 1800 ended in a tie, as the two Democratic-Republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, each received 73 electoral votes. Burr had been added to the ticket to carry his home state of New York, but it was assumed that nationally Jefferson would get the most votes and Burr the second most. When that did not happen, the election moved to the United States House of Representatives in accordance with Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution.

The presidential election of 1800 was one of the most controversial and consequential in the history of the United States. It represented a true changing of the guard as the Federalist party of Washington, Hamilton, and Adams gave way to the Democratic-Republican ideals of Jefferson and Madison and took the United States in a different direction for a generation to come.

John Adams faced many difficulties during his presidency, including a vice president from an opposing party trying to undermine his administration and rising tensions with France.

The election of 1796 was America’s first contested presidential election. With George Washington’s retirement, the electorate split into two camps. Under the original rules of the Constitution, the top vote getter, John Adams, a Federalist, was declared President and the second highest, Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, was named Vice President.

In the first Presidential election, the Electoral College met on February 4, 1789, and unanimously selected George Washington as President. The second highest vote getter was John Adams, thus becoming America’s first Vice President.

From 1800-1824, the Democratic-Republicans dominated the American political landscape like no party has ever done, making America essentially a one-party country. This period of unity and dominance came to a crashing halt with the bitter Presidential election of 1824.

From the First Continental Congress in 1774 until the election of 1824, America was more politically united than at any other time in our nation’s history. While there were differences of opinion, the Founders had a common goal of gaining our independence from England. Only after England was defeated and the new Constitution took effect did their unity begin to splinter.