The 1800 Presidential Election and Its Aftermath
To understand this wild story fully it is important to note that the presidential election in 1800 happened before the 12th Amendment. This meant that there were no official tickets, and whoever had the most votes for them won the presidency and the vice president position went to whoever was in second place. Previous to the 1800 election John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had run against each other with Adams winning the match therefore making Jefferson his vice president. In 1800 it was time for the rematch with Adams on the Federalist side with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Jefferson on the Democratic-Republican side with Aaron Burr. When the votes from the Electoral College came in there were seventy-three votes for both Jefferson and Burr while Adams only had sixty-five. This put Jefferson and Burr in an obvious tie, the solution of which was to bring Congress into the matter. Alexander Hamilton despite disliking all the candidates decided to back Jefferson and try to persuade the