On this day in 1801, Thomas Jefferson – a Virginia native – was elected as the third president of the United States. This election represents the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another in the U.S., despite an acrimonious presidential campaign. Also, this election resolved a serious Constitutional crisis, resulting in the creation of ballots that would discriminate between president and vice-presidential candidates.
Vicious partisan warfare characterized the campaign of 1800 between Democratic-Republicans Jefferson and Aaron Burr and Federalists John Adams, Charles C. Pinckney and John Jay. The election highlighted the ongoing battle between Democratic-Republican supporters of the French, who were embroiled in their own bloody revolution, and the pro-British Federalists who wanted to implement English-style policies in American government.
According to the Library of Congress:
Republican Jefferson defeated Federalist John Adams by a margin of 73 to 65 electoral votes. When presidential electors cast their votes, however, they failed to distinguish between the office of president and vice president on their ballots. Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr each received 73 votes. With the votes tied, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. There, each state voted as a unit to decide the election.
Still dominated by Federalists, the sitting Congress loathed to vote for Jefferson – their partisan nemesis. For six days, Jefferson and Burr essentially ran against each other in the House. Votes were tallied over thirty times, yet neither man captured the necessary majority of nine states. Eventually, a small group of Federalists, led by James A. Bayard of Delaware, reasoned that a peaceful transfer of power required the majority choose the President, and a deal was struck in Jefferson’s favor.
Thomas Jefferson, a native of Albemarle County, Virginia, defeated the incumbant, John Adams, who succeeded George Washington. Jefferson’s terms as president ran from 1801 to 1809.
