1796 United States presidential election

The 1796 United States presidential election was between Federalist John Adams and Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson. It was the first election where there was competition for the presidency. Adams and Jefferson became political enemies. However, because it used to be that the second place person would be vice president, it caused Jefferson to awkwardly be Adams' vice president for four years. It would be the reason why the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed later.

Background

George Washington was president during this election, and everyone liked him. However, he said no to running for a third term. This would become a tradition where every president would only serve two terms, known as the "two-term tradition". After it was broken by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and 1944, it became a Constitutional amendment. The two political parties, the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party, all had people who wanted to be president. However, the two most popular people wthe ere John Adams, a Federalist who was the vice president, and Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, who was the Secretary of State.

 Candidates 
With Washington retiring after two terms, both parties had sought the presidency for the first time. 

Before the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, each elector was allowed to vote for two people, but was not able to indicate which vote was for president and which for vice president. 

Instead, the winner of the most electoral votes would become president, and the second most would become vice president. As a result, both parties ran multiple candidates for president, in hopes of keeping one of their opponents from being the runner-up. These candidates were the equivalent of modern-day running mates, but under the law, they were all candidates for president. 

Because of this, both Adams and Jefferson were technically opposed by several members of their own parties. The plan was for one of the electors to vote for the main party nominee (Adams or Jefferson) and a candidate besides the primary running mate, Pinckney or Burr, thus ensuring that the main nominee would have one more vote than his running mate.

 Federalist Candidates 

 John Adams, 1st Vice President of the United States from Massachusetts (1789-1797) (Nominee; unofficial)
 Thomas Pinckney, 2nd U.S. Minister to Great Britain from South Carolina (1792-1796) (Adams' running mate; unofficial) (Brother of Charles C. Pinckney)
 Oliver Ellsworth, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (1796-1800)
 John Jay, 2nd Governor of New York (1795-1801) and 1st Chief Justice of the United States (1789-1795)
 James Iredell, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from North Carolina (1790-1799)
 Samuel Johnston, U.S. senator from North Carolina (1789-1793)
 Charles C. Pinckney, 6th United States Minister to France from South Carolina (1796-1797) (1800 VP Nominee) (1804 & 1808 Nominee) (Brother of Thomas Pinckney)

 Democratic-Republican Candidates 

 Thomas Jefferson, 1st U.S. Secretary of State from Virginia (1789-1797) (Nominee; unofficial) (1800 Nominee) (Became POTUS in 1801)
 Aaron Burr, U.S. senator from New York (Jefferson's running mate; unofficial) (1800 VP Nominee) (Became VP in 1801)
 Samuel Adams, 4th Governor of Massachusetts (1793-1797)
 George Clinton, 1st Governor of New York (1777-1795) (1804 & 1808 VP Nominee) (Became VP in 1805)

 Results 
John Adams ended up winning, getting 71 electoral votes. This made him the new president. Thomas Jefferson became vice president, getting 68 electoral votes. For the next four years, the bitter enemies had to work side-by-side. In a speech by George Washington, he urged people to not resort to political parties as they would just divide people. This election would lead to the election of 1800 that was also called the "Revolution of 1800".

Notes

References

Other websites

Category:1796
Category:United States presidential elections
Category:1790s in the United States