A Nation Divided: The Election of 1800

The United States Presidential election of 1800 became one of the most radical elections of its time. This election’s candidates were Thomas Jefferson a Democratic-Republican, Aaron Burr a Democratic-Republican, John Adams a Federalist, C. C. Pinkney a Federalist, and John Jay who was a Federalist also. This was the first election where people ran for the election. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied the Electoral College Votes at 73 due to the Republican voters giving all their votes to Jefferson and Burr.

This was made possible because there was only one ballot to cast the Vice President and the President on. This was the first time an election was determined by the House of Representatives. Because of this, there was The Twelfth Amendment was created.

This amendment made it possible to provide the district ballots for two electoral offices. The House had to choose who would be selected. After the decision, Aaron removed himself which left the Federalists in charge of the House.

While the leadership power struggle was happening there was a man by the name of Gabriel. He was a slave and he lead a rebellion in Virginia. He got this idea from the Haitian Revolution. He wanted to take over the governor. He put together a group of slaves to march on the state capital in Richmond, Virginia. He took James Monroe into custody. He was caught, and he went to jail and trial due to the slaves he rounded up for the capture sharing the information with authorities.

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This was the first rebellion under Jefferson. Now that Jefferson is in office he started creating his cabinet and his administration. While serving as president he wanted to create a smaller government. So, he cut the government budget and pulled back on Federalist building plans for Washington. He wasn’t big on hosting weekly formal gatherings he rather has smaller parties where he picked the political people that he wanted to host, either Federalists or Republicans but the attendees were all male. This is how he built his political relationships this way which made those relationships stronger and it helped him with governing. Jefferson’s next order of business as president was to break apart the Federalist modernizations by reducing the size of the military, downsizing the number of navy ships, and with congress’s support, he removed all federal taxes that were based on population or whiskey.

Revenue for the government would now be obtained through sales of the western expansion and custom duties. By end of Jefferson’s first term, he reduced the national debt. He only wanted the federal government to maintain the postal system, federal courts (the Judicial System), the coastal lighthouse, and conduct a census. As much as Jefferson wanted to make changes the constitution doesn’t render all the power to be only the president. The Department of State started to employ individuals for their positions within the White House. John Adams made all the appointments for the military and judicial at the last minute before leaving office. Jefferson ignored the judges who were hired and haven’t fully gone through the process. This is what sparked the Supreme Court Case Marbury v. Madison in 1803. This case created the Judicial Review. The case was also a part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and it placed the powers of the constitutional interpretation with the Supreme Court. This case forces Jefferson to honor those midnight judges who were hired under John Adams. This case settled the constitutional issue within the political parties, the Federalists and the Republicans. The Supreme Court decided that any unconstitutional federal law will not have any bearing on decisions within the courts. Jefferson’s next order of business was expanding the American territory westward. He was interested in Louisiana. Jefferson had Robert Livingston to reached out to the French negotiator. The negotiator asked him to name the price for the entire territory. The Territory stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. He offered $15 million for the land. Jefferson gains congressional approval for the purchase of Louisiana but without the support of the Federalist’s votes. This purchase also offered several benefits. The benefits were securing the Mississippi River for America for shipping purposes, doubling the size of the US, and opening uncharted new expanses for settlement happened yeoman farmers. Since the French were close to going to war with the British and in need of money they accepted the offer. This purchase doubles the size of America for the settlement to expand westward and the military took formal control of the Louisiana Territory to protect the home front. Once the land purchase was completed, Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis to head the exploration of the land along with his counterpart William Clark. He wanted to know about the Indian cultures, their plants, and animals, and to keep a record of the geography of the West.

Congress wanted to know the military post locations, fur trade agreements, and find out the routes of the rivers throughout the land. Lewis and Clark came back as national heroes. They created great relationships with the Indians and collected valuable information about the land. As the westward expansion happened there were also overseas and home front issues as well which lead up to the war of 1812. The war between the British and the French put America in the middle. During this war, the British warned the US to not ship military arms to the French. The British begin to stop US ships for inspections to check to see if they were carrying cargo for military aid to France. If anything was found the British would keep the items and use them for their military. America fought back against the impressment against American Sailors. Jefferson influenced congress to pass the nonimportation law to ban British goods. Which lead to the Embargo Act of 1807 after the British opened fired and killed three Americans on US Territory. The Embargo Act prohibited U S Ships from traveling to all foreign ports and banning overseas trade. This Act put a hardship on Americans and the British. Next, became the battle of Tippecanoe on the home front where the Indians and the Americans are fought. The battle lasted for two hours and 62 men died on the American side and 40 Indian men died, This American won this was due to the Prophet’s forces the flee. The Indian’s conflicts in the old Northwest merged with the British. This was known as the war of 1812. In March of 1811, Congress brought in several Republicans from the West and the South who would come to be known as the War Hawks. They were led by Henry Clay and John C Calhoun.

They wanted a war that would end the impressments, the fight against the Indians, and expand into the British Territory which was Canada. So, the War Hawks, welcomed the war on the British just to justify the attack on the Indians who they wanted to move off their land and the invasion on British soil. In 1812 Congress declared war on the British. The war lasted for two years with a win for the Americans after several small victories at sea. The Americans became more Independent as a country with the removal of the Monroe Doctrine, increased the western expansion, increase national pride, and gained notoriety throughout the world. A few other issues that surrounded Jefferson were slavery, women’s rights and equality, and religion. Jefferson was strong-minded when it came to slavery although some legislative things were done to remove slavery. He stated that “all men are created equal” but he kept thousands of slaves himself. He didn’t see African Americans as equals, nor did he believe that African Americans and whites could live together and in interracial marriages. He wrote about this in his Notes on the state of Virginia. One special slave he kept was by the name of Sally. She was his concubine who mothered some of his children. She was given to him as a gift from his wife’s father. Jefferson knew that for the country to be united slaves would have to be free. Women during this time did not have true freedom especially slave women. Women were not allowed to divorce, had no legal ability to testify against their husbands, and unless they were never marred the rights belonged to their father or their husband. Because of female education, there was a private school and public school. Women who had access to education became leaders and they learned how to behave in social settings.