The Revolution of 1800 was an expression of conflict between Thomas Jefferson’s political ideas and John Addams’ political views. After the election of 1800, a compromise was reached about who would become president. The United States presidential election of 1800 was the third presidential election, the incumbent John Addams of the Federalist party was defeated by Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican party. John Addams beat Jefferson in 1796 under the old electoral rules. Jefferson was vice-president and president. In 1800, unlike in 1796, both parties formally nominated tickets, The Federalist nominated a ticket consisting of Adams and Charles Pinckney, while the Democratic-Republicans nominated a ticket consisting of Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
The Democratic-Republicans favored decentralization to the state governments, and the party attacked the taxes imposed by the Federalists. The Democratic-Republicans also denounced the Alien and Sedition Acts, which the Federalists had passed to make it harder for immigrants to become citizens and to restrict statements critical of the federal government. The Federalists favored a strong central government and close relations with Great Britain, the Federalists were disorganized and suffered a bitter split between their two major leaders President Adams and Alexander Hamilton While the Democratic-Republicans were well organized at the state and local levels.At the end of the campaign, both Jefferson and Burr won 73 electoral votes, while Adams won 65 electoral votes and Hamilton won 64 electoral votes and the parties split the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Each state delegation cast one vote, and a victory in the contingent election required one candidate to win most of the state delegations, Neither Burr nor Jefferson were able to win on the first 35 ballots of the contingent election, as most Federalist Congressmen backed Burr and all Democratic-Republican Congressmen backed Jefferson. Hamilton convinced many Federalists that Jefferson should be backed, and Jefferson won on the 36th ballot.
Both Jefferson & Adams waged smear campaigns to undermine each other’s reputations during 1800’s election. The 1800 election was much more than a presidential election. The peaceful transfer of power from one party to another was the first step in modern politics. It also represented a new direction for foreign policy, a result of JeffersonaEUR(tm). Slavery could have made the conflict between Jefferson & Adams more difficult. Some claim that Adams would have won if slaves could not vote.
