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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.

1796 United States presidential election
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← 1792 November 4 – December 7, 1796 1800 →
138 members of the Electoral College[a]
70 eìectoral votes needed to win
Turnout20.1%[1] Increase 13.8 pp
  style="text-align:center;border-bottom: 6px solid Template:United States political party color" | File:Official Presidential portrait of John Adams (by John Trumbull, circa 1792).jpg x200px
Nominee John Adams Thomas Jefferson

(Elected Vice President)

Party Federalist Democratic-Republican
Home state Massachusetts Virginia
Running mate Thomas Pinckney Aaron Burr
Electoral vote 71 68
States carried 9 7
Popular vote 35,726 31,115
Percentage 53.4% 46.6%
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Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Jefferson and burnt orange denotes states won by Adams. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state.
President before election

George Washington
Independent

Elected President

John Adams
Federalist

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

Democratic-Republican Candidates

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".

1796 United States Presidential Election Media

Notes

  1. ↑ One Maryland elector cast his two votes for Adams and Jefferson, bringing the total between them to 139 votes.

References

  1. ↑ "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present". United States Election Project. CQ Press.

Other websites

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