Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson: The Most Divisive Election in American History-1800

From the beginning, the stage was set for a serious political showdown. Thomas Jefferson, then vice president, was running against incumbent President John Adams. Jefferson was a Democratic Republican, Adams a Federalist.

It was a rematch of the 1796 presidential election, when Adams emerged victorious. This time around, many believed Jefferson would have the edge, thanks to a shifting mood across the country.

The stakes could not have been higher. The Constitution was 11 years young. The national government was a democratic experiment yet untested in other corners of the world. There was genuine concern that the transfer of power from one political faction to another might lead to civil war. Jeffersonian Republicans knew they would have to carry New York to win the election, so they chose the U.S. senator from New York, Aaron Burr, as Jefferson's running mate. Adams and the Federalists selected Charles Pinckney of South Carolina.

In 1800, the battle for the presidency wasn't waged on the debate stage or in the town hall meetings. The candidates themselves were conspicuously absent from the discourse over who should be elected. Instead, mud was slung in all the newspapers of the day - partisan publications that favored either the Federalist president or his Republican contender.

The question of that day was, "Shall I continue in allegiance to God-and a religious president, or impiously declare for Jefferson-and no God!" Such smear tactics were considered politics as usual at the turn of the century. In a 1798 letter to his daughter Martha, Jefferson wrote of the nation's capitol, "politics and party hatred destroy the happiness of every being here. They seem, like salamanders, to consider fire as their element."

In the end, the 1800 election resulted in a surprising tie in the electoral college between Jefferson and running mate Aaron Burr. If fell to Congress to determine the final outcome. In a letter dated December 23, 1800, Alexander Hamilton wrote, "in a choice of Evils let them take the least - Jefferson is in every view less dangerous than Burr."

Some 200 years later, a pessimist might say that given our track record, there's little hope for civility in American politics. But Jefferson offered a different view. In his 1801 inaugural address, with the vitriol of the campaign still fresh in his mind, he expressed conviction that the American people could find common ground:

"...every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principles. We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists."

After retiring from public office, Jefferson took his own advice to heart, rekindling his friendship with Adams. In Jefferson's words, "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend" (1800)

JOHN ADAMS

Age:   65

Political Party:   Federalist

Prior Experience: 2nd U.S. President; 1st U.S. Vice President; U.S. Minister to GB; Founder

Education: Harvard College

Religion:  Unitarian

Hometown:  Braintree (now Quincy) MA

Famous Phrase: "Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."

Nickname:  Atlas of Independence

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Age:  57

Political Party:  Democratic Republican

Prior Experience:  2nd U.S. Vice President; 1st U.S. Secretary of State; Minister to France; Founder; Author of Declaration of Independence

Education:  College of William and Mary

Religion:  No Formal Affiliation

Hometown:  Charlottesville, VA

Famous Phrase:  "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal..."

Nickname:  Sage of Monticello
~

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