This set up what is sometimes known as the Revolution of 1800 – the very first time one group in political power peacefully ceded that power to another group, based on the results of an election. The election ended in an Electoral College tie. The two used proxies to level vicious personal attacks against one another in the press. Jefferson’s allies called Adams “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”Īn Adams ally with the pseudonym of Burleigh, meanwhile, offered an omen if Jefferson won the presidency: “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes,” Burleigh wrote. Until 1804, the person who came in first in a presidential election became commander in chief, while the person who brought in the second-most votes became vice president.Īnd so when Adams ran for reelection, Jefferson ran against him in one of the most notorious races in American history. Adams had won the presidency in 1796, and Jefferson was runner-up, making him vice president. In the election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson challenged incumbent President John Adams. There is one other time in history when a vice president ran against the president he served with in office. Win McNamee/Getty Images Name-calling in 1800 Mike Pence, left, is the second vice president to run against his former boss for election.
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