After eight years as Vice President under George Washington, John Adams hoped to succeed the Father of our Country as President of the United States. His successful election in 1796 gave him his chance. Unlike our nation’s first two elections (1788-89 and 1792) in which George Washington essentially ran unopposed and was unanimously elected, the election of 1796 was America’s first contested election for President. Without Washington as a unifying symbol, the electorate and the other Founding Fathers split into two distinct camps or parties. Adams was the candidate of the Federalist party, while Thomas Jefferson emerged as the favorite of the Democratic-Republicans (commonly called Republicans). For the most part, the election split along geographic lines with Adams and the Federalists capturing the north and Jefferson’s Republicans the southern states plus Pennsylvania. The final tally of electoral votes was 71 for Adams and 68 for Jefferson. This election was held under the original rules of the Constitution in which the top vote getter (Adams) was declared President and the second highest (Jefferson) was named Vice President. Naturally, having the President and Vice President from opposing political parties was a recipe for trouble. Although this problem was fixed in 1805 with the passage of the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, it would prove to be a very real problem for the newly elected President, as Vice President Jefferson worked to undermine the Adams’ administration for the next four years. Jefferson went so far as to hire newspaper editors to run anti-administration articles, and he met secretly with French officials to keep them informed of decisions made by Adams and the federal government. Not exactly a devoted subordinate. The Federalist party tended to be pro-British and favor a strong central government. They wanted a standing army and centralized control of the economy. Conversely, Jefferson’s Republicans were fanatically pro-French despite the bloody French Revolution, and they favored strong states’ rights. It was like mixing oil and water. In any event, on March 4, 1797, John Adams was sworn in as President and began a four year stretch that would be dominated by a deteriorating relationship with France. One of President Adams’ early decisions was to retain President Washington’s cabinet officers (Timothy Pickering as Secretary of State, Oliver Wolcott as Secretary of Treasury, James McHenry as Secretary of War, Charles Lee as Attorney General). Although Adams was not close to these men, he felt keeping them would provide continuity to the country. It was a decision he would live to regret as these all but Charles Lee proved to be more loyal to Alexander Hamilton, the leader of the Federalist Party and Washington’s former Secretary of Treasury, than to Adams.
John and Abigail Adams | Article
In 1788, when John Adams returned from Europe to a hero's welcome, he came home to limitless possibilities. The presidency would belong to George Washignton, of course, but what office would suit Adams? After a month of deliberation over whether to stand for federal or state office, he decided to run for vice president. He wished to be Washington's successor.  Crushed His Highness, the President Partisan Differences Victorious
The United States presidential election of 1796 was the first contested American presidential election and the only one to elect a President and Vice President from opposing tickets. With incumbent President George Washington having refused a third term in office, incumbent Vice President John Adams of Massachusetts was a candidate for the presidency on the Federalist Party ticket with former Governor Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina as the next most popular Federalist. Their opponents were former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of Virginia along with Senator Aaron Burr of New York on the Democratic-Republican ticket. At this point, each man from any party ran alone, as the formal position of "running mate" had not yet been established.
Unlike the previous election where the outcome had been a foregone conclusion, Democratic-Republicans campaigned heavily for Jefferson, and Federalists campaigned heavily for Adams. The debate was an acrimonious one, with Federalists tying the Democratic-Republicans to the violence of the French Revolution and the Democratic-Republicans accusing the Federalists of favoring monarchism and aristocracy. In foreign policy, the Democratic-Republicans denounced the Federalists over Jay's Treaty, perceived as too favorable to Britain, while the French ambassador embarrassed the Democratic-Republicans by publicly backing them and attacking the Federalists right before the election. Although Adams won, Thomas Jefferson received more electoral votes than Pinckney and was elected Vice-President. Page 2
In the United States Presidential election of 1800, sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated incumbent president John Adams. The election was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party in the First Party System. It was a lengthy, bitter rematch of the 1796 election between the pro-French and pro-decentralization Republicans under Jefferson and Aaron Burr, against incumbent Adams and Charles Pinckney's pro-British and pro-centralization Federalists. Central issues included opposition to the tax imposed by Congress to pay for the mobilization of the new army and the navy in the Quasi-War against France in 1798, and the Alien and Sedition acts, by which Federalists were trying to stifle dissent, especially by Republican newspaper editors. While the Republicans were well organized at the state and local levels, the Federalists were disorganized, and suffered a bitter split between their two major leaders, President Adams and Alexander Hamilton. The jockeying for electoral votes, regional divisions, and the propaganda smear campaigns created by both parties made the election recognizably modern. Page 3
The United States presidential election of 1804 pitted incumbent Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson against Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Jefferson easily defeated Pinckney in the first presidential election conducted following the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Under the rules of the Twelfth Amendment, presidential electors were required to specify in their votes their choice for President and Vice President; previously, electors voted only for President, with the person who came in second becoming the Vice President. George Clinton was elected Vice President and went on to serve under both Jefferson and his successor, James Madison.
Jefferson's 45.6 percentage point victory margin remains the highest victory margin in a presidential election in which there were multiple major party candidates. Page 4
In the United States presidential election of 1808, the Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Madison had served as United States Secretary of State under incumbent Thomas Jefferson, and Pinckney had been the unsuccessful Federalist candidate in the election of 1804. Sitting Vice President George Clinton, who had served under Thomas Jefferson, was also a candidate for President, garnering six electoral votes from a wing of the Democratic-Republican Party that disapproved of James Madison.
This election was the first of only two instances in American history in which a new President would be selected but the incumbent Vice President would continue to serve. (The re-election of John C. Calhoun in 1828 was the other instance.) Page 5
The United States presidential election of 1812 took place in the shadow of the War of 1812. It featured an intriguing competition between incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison and a dissident Democratic-Republican, DeWitt Clinton, nephew of Madison's late Vice President. The Federalist opposition threw their support behind Clinton. Nonetheless, Madison was re-elected handily. Page 6
The United States presidential election of 1816 came at the end of the two-term presidency of Democratic-Republican James Madison. With the opposition Federalist Party in collapse, Madison's Secretary of State, James Monroe, had an advantage in winning the nomination against a divided opposition. Monroe won the electoral college by the wide margin of 183 to 34. The previous four years were dominated by the War of 1812. While it had not ended in victory, the peace was nonetheless satisfactory to the American people, and the Democratic-Republicans received the credit for its prosecution. The Federalists had been discredited by their opposition to the war and secessionist rhetoric from New England. Furthermore, President Madison had adopted such Federalist policies as a national bank and protective tariffs, which would give the Federalists few issues to campaign on. Page 7
The United States presidential election of 1820 was the third and last presidential election in United States history in which a candidate ran effectively unopposed. (The previous two were the presidential elections of 1789 and 1792, in which George Washington ran without serious opposition.) President James Monroe and Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins were re-elected without a serious campaign. Despite the continuation of single party politics (known in this case as the Era of Good Feelings), serious issues emerged during the election in 1820. The nation had endured a widespread depression following the Panic of 1819 and the momentous issue of the extension of slavery into the territories was taking center stage. Nevertheless, James Monroe faced no opposition party or candidate in his reelection bid, although he did not receive all the electoral votes (see below). Page 8
In the United States presidential election of 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, after the election was decided by the House of Representatives. The previous few years had seen a one-party government in the United States, as the Federalist Party had dissolved, leaving only the Democratic-Republican Party. In this election, the Democratic-Republican Party splintered as four separate candidates sought the presidency. Such splintering had not yet led to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party, while the factions led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would become the National Republican Party and later the Whig Party. This election is notable for being the only time since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in which the presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives, as no candidate received a majority of the electoral vote. This presidential election was also the only one in which the candidate receiving the most electoral votes did not become president (because a majority, not just a plurality, is required to win). It is also often said to be the first election in which the president did not win the popular vote, although the popular vote was not measured nationwide. At that time, several states did not conduct a popular vote, allowing their state legislature to choose their electors. Page 9
The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between John Quincy Adams, now incumbent President, and Andrew Jackson. As incumbent Vice President John C. Calhoun had sided with the Jacksonians, the National Republicans led by Adams, chose Richard Rush as Adams' running mate. Unlike the 1824 election, no other major candidates appeared in the race, allowing Jackson to consolidate a power base and easily win an electoral victory over Adams. The Democratic Party drew support from the existing supporters of Jackson and their coalition with the supporters of Crawford (the "Old Republicans") and Vice President Calhoun. Page 10
The United States presidential election of 1832 saw incumbent President Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, easily win reelection against Henry Clay of Kentucky. Jackson won 219 of the 286 electoral votes cast, defeating Clay, the candidate of the National Republican party, and Anti-Masonic Party candidate William Wirt. John Floyd, who was not a candidate, received the electoral votes of South Carolina. This was the first national election for Martin Van Buren of New York, who was put on the ticket to succeed John Caldwell Calhoun and four years later would succeed Jackson as President. Van Buren faced opposition for the Vice Presidency within his own party, however, and as a result all 30 Pennsylvania electors cast ballots for native son William Wilkins. Page 11
The United States presidential election of 1836 is predominantly remembered for three reasons:
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The United States presidential election of 1840 saw President Martin Van Buren fight for re-election against an economic depression and a Whig Party unified for the first time behind war hero William Henry Harrison. Rallying under the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too,†the Whigs easily defeated Van Buren. This election was unique in that electors cast votes for four men who had been or would become President of the United States: current President Martin Van Buren; President-elect William Henry Harrison; Vice-President-elect John Tyler, who would succeed Harrison upon his death; and James K. Polk, who received one electoral vote for Vice President. Page 13
The United States presidential election of 1844 saw Democrat James Knox Polk defeat Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on foreign policy, with Polk favoring the annexation of Texas and Clay opposed. Democratic nominee James K. Polk ran on a platform that embraced American territorial expansionism, an idea soon to be called Manifest Destiny. At their convention, the Democrats called for the annexation of Texas and asserted that the United States had a “clear and unquestionable†claim to “the whole†of Oregon. By informally tying the Oregon boundary dispute to the more controversial Texas debate, the Democrats appealed to both Northern expansionists (who were more adamant about the Oregon boundary) and Southern expansionists (who were more focused on annexing Texas as a slave state). Polk went on to win a narrow victory over Whig candidate Henry Clay, in part because Clay had taken a stand against expansion, although economic issues were also of great importance.
This was the last presidential election to be held on different days in different states, as starting with the presidential election of 1848 all states held the election on the same date in November. Page 14
The United States presidential election of 1848 was an open race. President James Polk, having achieved all of his major objectives in one term and suffering from declining health that would take his life less than four months after leaving office, kept his promise not to seek re-election. The Whigs in 1846-47 had focused all their energies on condemning Polk's war policies. They had to quickly reverse course. In February 1848 Polk surprised everyone with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican-American War and gave the U.S. vast new territories (including California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico). The Whigs in the Senate voted 2-1 to approve the treaty. Then in the summer the Whigs nominated the hero of the war, Zachary Taylor. While he did promise no more future wars, he did not condemn the war or criticize Polk, and Whigs had to follow his lead. They shifted their attention to the new issue of whether slavery could be banned from the new territories. The choice of Taylor was almost in desperation--he was not clearly committed to Whig principles, but he was popular for leading the war effort. The Democrats had a record of victory, peace, prosperity, and the acquisition of both Oregon and the Southwest; they appeared almost certain winners unless the Whigs picked Taylor. Taylor's victory made him one of only two Whigs to be elected President before the party ceased to exist in the 1850s; the other Whig to be elected President was William Henry Harrison, who had also been a general and war hero, but died a month into office. Page 15
The United States presidential election of 1852 was in many ways a replay of the election of 1844. Once again, the incumbent President was a Whig who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of his war hero predecessor; in this case, it was Millard Fillmore who followed General Zachary Taylor. The Whig party passed over the incumbent for nomination — casting aside Fillmore in favor of General Winfield Scott. The Democrats nominated a "dark horse" candidate, this time Franklin Pierce. The Whigs again campaigned on the obscurity of the Democratic candidate, and once again this strategy failed. Pierce and running mate William King went on to win what was at the time one of the nation's largest electoral victories, trouncing Scott and his vice presidential nominee, William Graham of North Carolina, 254 electoral votes to 42. After the 1852 election the Whig Party quickly collapsed, and the members of the declining party failed to nominate a candidate for the next presidential race; it was soon replaced as the Democratic Party's primary opposition by the new Republican Party. Page 16
The United States presidential election of 1856 was an unusually heated election campaign that led to the election of James Buchanan, the ambassador to the United Kingdom. Republican candidate John C. Frémont condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and crusaded against the Slave Power and the expansion of slavery, while Democrat James Buchanan warned that the Republicans were extremists whose victory would lead to civil war. The Democrats endorsed the moderate “popular sovereignty†approach to slavery expansion utilized in the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Former President Millard Fillmore represented a third party, the relatively new American Party or “Know-Nothingsâ€. The Know Nothings, who ignored the slavery issue in favor of anti-immigration policies, won a little over a fifth of the vote. The incumbent President, Franklin Pierce, was defeated in his effort to be renominated by the Democrats (their official party slogan that year was "Anybody but Pierce"), who instead selected James Buchanan of Pennsylvania; this was thanks in part to the fact that the Kansas-Nebraska Act divided Democrats. The Whig Party had disintegrated over the issue of slavery, and new organizations such as the Republican Party and the American Party competed to replace them. The Republicans nominated John Frémont of California as their first standard bearer, over Senator William H. Seward, and the Know-Nothings nominated former President Millard Fillmore of New York. Perennial candidate Daniel Pratt also ran. Page 17
The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War. The nation had been divided throughout most of the 1850s on questions of states' rights and slavery in the territories. In 1860, this issue finally came to a head, fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic Party into Southern and Northern factions and bringing Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party to power without the support of a single Southern state. Hardly more than a month following Lincoln's victory came declarations of secession by South Carolina and other states, which were rejected as illegal by the then-current President, James Buchanan and President-elect Abraham Lincoln. Page 18
In the United States Presidential election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. Lincoln ran under the National Union banner against his former top Civil War general, the Democratic candidate, George B. McClellan. McClellan was the "peace candidate" but did not personally believe in his party's platform. The 1864 election occurred during the Civil War; none of the states loyal to the Confederate States of America participated.
Republicans loyal to Lincoln, in opposition to a group of Republican dissidents who nominated John C. Frémont, joined with a number of War Democrats to form the National Union Party. The new political party was formed to accommodate the War Democrats. On November 8, Lincoln won by over 400,000 popular votes and easily clinched an electoral majority. Several states allowed their citizens serving as soldiers in the field to cast ballots, a first in United States history. Soldiers in the Army gave Lincoln more than 70% of their vote. This was the first election since the re-election of Andrew Jackson in 1832 that an incumbent president won re-election. Lincoln's second term was ended just 6 weeks after inauguration by his assassination. Page 19
The United States presidential election of 1868 was the first presidential election to take place during Reconstruction. Three of the former Confederate states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet restored to the Union and therefore could not vote in the election. The incumbent President, Andrew Johnson (who had ascended to the Presidency in 1865 following the assassination of President Lincoln), was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive the Democratic presidential nomination because he had alienated so many people and had not built up a political base. Instead the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was one of the most popular men in the North due to his effort in winning the Civil War.
Although Seymour gave Grant a good race in the popular vote, he was buried in the electoral college. The popular vote was close, despite Grant benefiting from many advantages such as massive popularity in the North, freedmen voting in the South, and the disenfranchisement of many Southern whites. Page 20
In the United States presidential election of 1872, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant, leader of the Radical Republicans, was easily elected to a second term in office with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts as his running mate, despite a split within the Republican Party that resulted in a defection of many Liberal Republicans to opponent Horace Greeley. The other major political party, the Democratic Party, also nominated the candidates of the Liberal Republican ticket that year. On November 29, 1872, after the popular vote but before the Electoral College cast its votes, Greeley died. As a result, electors previously committed to Greeley voted for four different candidates for President, and eight different candidates for Vice President. Greeley himself received three posthumous electoral votes, but these votes were disallowed by Congress. It is so far the only election in which a Presidential candidate died during the electoral process. Page 21
The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes uncounted. These 20 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina), each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (as an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The 20 disputed electoral votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter legal and political battle, giving him the victory. Many historians believe that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute: the Compromise of 1877. In return for the Democrats' acquiescence in Hayes' election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers. Page 22
The United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the Republicans' relaxation of Reconstruction efforts in the southern states. There were no pressing issues of the day save tariffs, with the Republicans supporting higher tariffs and the Democrats supporting lower ones. Incumbent President Rutherford Hayes did not seek re-election, keeping a promise made during the 1876 campaign. The Republican Party eventually chose another Ohioan, James A. Garfield, as their standard-bearer. The Democratic Party meanwhile chose Civil War General Winfield S. Hancock as their nominee. Despite capturing fewer than 2,000 more popular votes than Hancock, Garfield was easily elected, capturing 214 of the states' 369 electoral votes. It is to date the smallest popular vote victory in American history. Page 23
The United States presidential election of 1884 featured excessive mudslinging and personal acrimony. On November 4, 1884, New York Governor Grover Cleveland narrowly defeated Republican former United States Senator James G. Blaine of Maine to become the first Democrat elected President of the United States since the election of 1856, before the American Civil War. New York decided the election, awarding Governor Cleveland the state's 36 electors by a margin of just 1,047 of 1,167,003 votes cast. Page 24
The United States Presidential Election of 1888 was held on November 6, 1888. The tariff was the main issue in the election of 1888. Benjamin Harrison, the Republican candidate, opposed tariff reduction. Neither Cleveland nor the Democratic Party waged a strong campaign. Cleveland's attitude toward the spoils system had antagonized party politicians. His policies on pensions, the currency, and tariff reform had made enemies among veterans, farmers, and industrialists. Even with these enemies, Cleveland had more popular votes than Harrison. However, Harrison received a larger electoral vote and won the election. Page 25
The United States presidential election of 1892 was held on November 8, 1892. Former President Grover Cleveland ran for re-election against the incumbent President Benjamin Harrison also running for re-election. Cleveland defeated Harrison, thus becoming the only person in US history to be elected to a second, non-consecutive presidential term. Cleveland, who had won the popular vote against Harrison in 1888, lost the electoral vote which cost him re-election. He won both the popular and electoral vote in the rematch election. The campaign centered mainly on the issue of a sound currency. The new Populist Party, formed by groups from the Grange, the Farmers' Alliances, and the Knights of Labor, polled more than a million votes. But Cleveland won easily.
Cleveland also became the first Democrat to be nominated by his party three consecutive times, a distinction that would be equaled only by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and then exceeded by him in 1944. Although William Jennings Bryan was nominated for a third time in 1908 it was not consecutive with his two other nominations in 1896 and 1900. Page 26
The United States presidential election of November 3, 1896, saw Republican William McKinley defeat Democrat William Jennings Bryan in a campaign considered by historians to be one of the most dramatic and complex in American history. The 1896 campaign is often considered by political scientists to be a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.[1] McKinley forged a coalition in which businessmen, professionals, skilled factory workers and prosperous farmers were heavily represented; he was strongest in the Northeast, Upper Midwest, and Pacific Coast. Bryan was the nominee of the Democrats, the Populist Party, and the Silver Republicans. He was strongest in the South, rural Midwest, and Rocky Mountain states.
Economic issues including bimetallism, the gold standard, free silver, and the tariff, were crucial. Republican campaign manager Mark Hanna pioneered many modern campaign techniques, facilitated by a $3.5 million budget. He outspent Bryan by a factor of five. The Democratic Party's repudiation of the Bourbon Democrats (their pro-business wing, represented by incumbent President Grover Cleveland), set the stage for 16 years of Republican control of the White House, ended only by a Republican split in 1912 that resulted in the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Although Bryan lost the election, his coalition of "outsiders" would dominate the Democratic Party well into the twentieth century, and would play a crucial role in the liberal economic programs of Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. McKinley did win, and his policies of promoting pluralism, industrial growth, and the gold standard determined national policies for two decades. |
How was the vice president chosen in 1796
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