The Federalist Caucus re-nominated President John Adams with Charles C. Pinckney as his running mate. See the story of the caucus for an overview of the Adams administration. The Democratic Republican Caucus nominated VP Thomas Jefferson with Aaron Burr as his running mate.

The Campaign of 1800

The presidential campaign of 1800 was one of the nastiest in American history. In a race in which the two major candidates (Adams and Jefferson) were both Deists, the more evangelical religions lambasted Jefferson for his religious beliefs and overlooked Adams’s similar beliefs. Supporters of Jefferson criticized Adams for being a monarchist who sought to install himself as the President for Life. While Adams remained silent during the campaign, Jefferson wrote a series of letters in which he discussed the key issues of reducing the national debt, reducing the military, emphasizing peaceful commerce, and freedom of religion and the press.

Immediately after the Federalist Caucus, Adams learned that his SOS Pickering and SOW McHenry were scheming with the Hamilton faction of the party to have C.C. Pinckney elected President and him elected Vice President. As a result, Adams dismissed Pickering on 5/12/1800 and then dismissed McHenry. He replaced them with Federalists from Virginia in an attempt to gain favor with the voters in Jefferson’s home state.

One way in which the campaign was waged was through changing the way the Electors were chosen. At the beginning of 1800, Virginia switched to the General Ticket (At Large) method in an attempt to preclude Adams from winning any individual electoral districts. Massachusetts responded by adopting a legislative appointment to ensure that Adams would gain its entire vote. New Hampshire and Georgia also shifted from the General Ticket to legislative selection. Rhode Island was the only state to switch from legislative appointment to the General Ticket. The legislature of Pennsylvania was divided between the Federalists and DRs, and the two sides agreed only that the legislature would make the selection.

The Federalists needed to gain 11 electoral votes for a win. The loss of New York gave Jefferson a tentative lead of 80-59. Of the sixteen states in the Union, the battleground states were three choosing Electors by popular vote (MD, NC, and RI) and three choosing by the legislature (GA, PA, and SC).

An interesting development in the middle of the campaign was the resumption of normal diplomatic relations with France on 9/30/1800.

The saddest event in the race was a pamphlet on President Adams written by Alexander Hamilton. Entitled The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President of the United States, the document was widely distributed through the press. It appeared in the newspapers one week before the popular election. The purpose of the pamphlet was to convince voters to choose Pinckney for President over Adams. However, Hamilton’s rhetoric was so acerbic that it backfired.

Popular Vote. Five states chose Presidential Electors in the popular election in early 11/1800. As expected, Jefferson easily won KY and VA. The three contested states were extremely close. Adams carried RI by 194 votes to gain those four electoral votes. Jefferson narrowly won both MD and NC, but Adams scored a net gain of one electoral vote in those two states choosing Electors by districts. Adams thus was leading for 58 electoral votes (45 from legislative selections, 13 from popular elections) versus 53 for Jefferson (19 from legislative selections, 34 from popular elections). The three remaining battleground states would choose 27 Electors by legislatures in early 12/1800: GA, PA, and SC.

Electoral vote of 1800

Contingent Election of 1801

Key sources

The Glorious Burden, pp. 57-60.

The Presidential Game, pp. 65-67.