Election of 1800-

Actual Events

I. The four candidates were:

Republicans: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr

Federalists: John Adams and Charles Pinckney

c. Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson tied in the Electoral College

d. Both got 73 votes

e. In the case of an electoral tie, the decision has to be made by the House of Representatives.

f. After voting over 30 times, the vote was still tied between Jefferson and Burr.

g. Finally, Alexander Hamilton stepped in. He hated Jefferson, but hated Burr even more. He persuaded Federalists to vote for Jefferson. This made Aaron Burr Vice-President.

II. Twelfth Amendment

The election of 1800 prompted Congress to propose the 12th amendment. This would require electors to vote separately for the President and the Vice-President, making another tie impossible.

Thomas Jefferson

b. Jefferson called his election a “Revolution” because it was the FIRST time that power changed peacefully from one political party (Federalists) to another (Republicans).

III. Jefferson takes office

A. Jefferson’s inauguration was celebrated by most people, but Federalists still in government were concerned. John Adams was so upset by his loss, he didn’t attend.

B. Jefferson now had to put his Republican ideas into practice. First he selected his cabinet, including James Madison as Secretary of State

C. Jefferson lowered military spending, reduced the size of the army and navy, and cut taxes.

D. He did keep some Federalist programs such as the Bank of the United States.

E. Republicans expected Jefferson to replace several Federalist held position with Republicans. Under pressure, Jefferson did appoint several Republicans into positions that had been held by Federalists.

I. Background

A. Before John Adams (Federalist) left office, the Federalist controlled Congress passed a law that increased the number of appointed federal judges and other court offices.

B. President Adams gave these new judgeships to dozens of Federalists right before he left the presidency.

C. When Jefferson entered office, several of the newly appointed Federalists had not yet received their special commissions. Without these forms, they could not begin working as judges.

D. Jefferson decided to take advantage of this situation and ordered the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to not give out the papers.

E. William Marbury was one of the newly appointed judges that had not gotten his papers. He demanded that the Supreme Court force Madison to give him his commission. He claimed the Judiciary Act of 1789 required them to do this (Judiciary Act = the Supreme Court must decide any case brought against a government official).

F.The chief justice of the Supreme Court was John Marshall, a Federalist who had disagreed with Jefferson on many issues. Jefferson thought Marshall was biased.

G. The Court’s ruling in Marbury v. Madison surprised many people, including Jefferson.

H. All the justices agreed that Marbury had been treated unfairly, and according to the Judiciary Act they had to give him his job.

I. But, the Supreme Court did not believe the Judiciary Act was legal. So, they declared it unconstitutional and established the idea of judicial review. This power allows the Supreme Court to declare an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. This made the Supreme Court a much stronger branch of government.

I. Under Napoleon, France gained control of New Orleans.

A. American merchants used the Mississippi River through New Orleans to ship their goods

B. Jefferson was afraid that Napoleon wanted to control North America as well as Europe

II. Jefferson decided to send Monroe and Livingston to make an offer to Napoleon for the port of New Orleans.

A. When Livingston and Monroe got there, Talleyrand, the French diplomat, offered to sell them all of the Louisiana Territory.

B. Monroe and Livingston agreed.

Could they do that?

III. Constitutional?

A. Nowhere does the Constitution say that the President can buy property for the country.

B. The Constitution does say that the President can negotiate and sign treaties

C. Jefferson creates a treaty between France and the United States and buys the Louisiana Purchase.

The book that the Louisiana Purchase is in:

The Louisiana Purchase Treaty

Napoleon’s Signature on theLouisiana Purchase Treaty

I. After Jefferson brought the Louisiana Purchase, he wanted to send an expedition to see what there

A. Appointed Meriwether Lewis and William Clark the job of leading the expedition

Clark Lewis

B. Jefferson expected the team to explore, document, and collect samples

II. The Route (St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean)

A. Began at St. Louis in May 1804

B. Went up the Missouri River

C. Crossed the Rocky Mountains with Sacajawea

D. Crossed the continental divide

E. Reached the Pacific Ocean on November 7, 1805

F. Got back to St. Louis almost a year later in 1806

The Translators

Pictures of Madison, Jefferson, Lewis, and Clark courtesy of

www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

Document pictures courtesy of

www.