The bloodless transfer of power from one political party to its bitter rival in the 1800 presidential election signified the success of the new two-party system in the United States, and President-Elect Thomas Jefferson would go on to oversee some of the most significant developments in his young nation’s history.
The presidential campaign of 1800 pitted President John Adams, a Federalist, against Vice President Thomas Jefferson, a Republican who was an old political adversary and an even older friend of Adams. Adams had defeated Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election by the slim margin of three electoral votes. New England seemed to be solidly Federalist and the South seemed to be solidly Republican. The critical states were Pennsylvania and New York. Jefferson had carried Pennsylvania in 1796; he hoped to maintain his position there and to win New York to his side. South Carolina was also an important state, for the Federalists enjoyed strong support there.
Deteriorating U.S. relations with France dominated the Adams administration and came to a showdown over the XYZ affair
For a time, in 1799, it seemed that the Republicans, damned by their opponents as pro-French, would be out of the running in the 1800 election. However, the popular mood changed as the war fever declined, as opposition to the military program and taxes increased, and as Adams himself became less aggressive, and Republican chances proportionately improved. When the president suddenly decided to send a new peace mission to France, the High Federalists realized that they were doomed. Peace was now the major theme, and the Republicans had been committed to peace all along.
President Thomas Jefferson.
Adams’s peace policy split the Federalist Party. Alexander Hamilton
In 1800, the popular vote was conducted in the states at various times during October and November. In the majority of states, however, the state legislatures, not the voters, selected the presidential electors. Significantly, although the Federalists maintained control over the national government, in 1800 the Republicans controlled a majority of the state governments.
In New York, for example, Aaron Burr
The Federalist Party
Hamilton,
Jefferson considered the election of 1800 “as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 1776 was in its form.” Jefferson’s view was supported by some Federalists. Many High Federalists were positive that Jefferson would lead the nation into chaos and anarchy. However, Jefferson, in his inaugural address, spoke of conciliation and moderation rather than revolution.
The most concrete issue separating Adams’s from Jefferson’s policy toward France evaporated when Adams came out for peace. Jefferson, in later days, charged Adams with monarchist and antirepublican tendencies. There was little substance to those charges. Jefferson did articulate a greater confidence in popular government than did Adams, and the former was more suspicious of centrist tendencies in government. Both men were nationalists, however, devoted to representative government, determined to disengage the United States from European politics, and convinced of the future greatness of the republic. Although Adams lost the election to Jefferson, he also defeated the High Federalists in his own party. In so doing, Adams closed the already narrow gap between him and Jefferson.
Historians consider the political campaign and election of 1800 to be highly significant. The election ushered in the basic strategies of modern electoral campaigning. Jefferson, in particular, was instrumental in clearly defining the principles and objectives of Republicanism. He and his associates effectively used the press and pamphleteers to disseminate their appeals to farmers, laborers, and townsfolk. More important, the election demonstrated that the peaceful transfer of political power between rival ideologies was possible without bloodshed or revolution. The Federalists—the party that favored a strong, centralized government and served the needs of rich merchants, speculators, and landed gentry—gave way to the Republicans, who were later called Democratic Republicans and who were the forerunners of the modern Democratic Party.
Under the Republican banner, Jefferson campaigned in 1800 on a platform calling for change: promoting individual and political liberties, safeguarding states’ rights against an encroaching central government, protecting the freedoms of press and religion, ensuring the right to dissent and criticize government, and encouraging free trade abroad but avoiding inappropriate alliances with European powers. During his two-term administration, Jefferson tried to keep those campaign promises.
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Cunningham, Noble E. In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. Details Jefferson’s public carer. Provides critical resources on Jefferson’s faith in human reason, progress, and education. -
Elkins, Stanley, and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Re-creates the political climate in the 1790’s leading up to the election of 1800. Focuses on the conflicting visions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. -
Fleming, Thomas J. Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Fleming sets the rivalry between Hamilton and Burr firmly within the chaotic political environment of the time. -
Mayer, David N. The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994. Shows how Jefferson’s constitutional thinking evolved from Whig to Federalist to Republican. Scholarly but highly readable. -
Morgan, Edmund Sears. The Meaning of Independence: John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. Rev. ed. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2004. First published in 1976, this brief volume has become a standard work on the early U.S. presidents. This edition includes a new preface in which the author reflects on his thoughts about the subject over the previous quarter century. -
Randall, Willard S. Thomas Jefferson: A Life. New York: Henry Holt, 1993. Challenges the assumptions offered by earlier scholars on the influences of Jefferson’s revolutionary political thinking. -
Risjord, Norman K. Thomas Jefferson. Madison, Wis.: Madison House, 1994. A concise bundling of existing scholarship on Jefferson’s evolving political philosophy, with Risjord’s own view that Jefferson never successfully developed a coherent ideology. -
Tucker, Robert, and David Hendrickson. Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Examines Jefferson’s ideas and his impact on U.S. foreign policy. Useful in understanding the American response to the world at large. -
Weisberger, Bernard A. America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800. New York: William Morrow, 2000. Engagingly written analysis of the 1800 election that examines the politics and personalities of both major candidates.
Marbury v. Madison
Twelfth Amendment Is Ratified
Burr’s Conspiracy
U.S. Election of 1824
U.S. Election of 1828
U.S. Election of 1840
Aaron Burr.