Politics Were Rarely As Dirty As It Was In The Election Of 1800

The Election of 1800

The Election of 1800 was a grueling duel between longtime friends Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The only time in history where a Vice President and President were opponents, each with different visions for the United States of America. The statement “politics were rarely as dirty as it was in the Election of 1800” refers to the mud-slinging, lies, and propaganda between the two opponents.

Adams and Jefferson had different ideas about what the United States of America should look like and more specifically how it should be governed. Adams views were that of an effective central government led by a powerful president that could forge a stable secure nation from a multitude of weak wrangling states. Whereas

Another dirty tactic by Jefferson was that of a secret caucus where Republicans gathered and unanimously pledged to support Jefferson and Burr. To this day, there’s no public record of this meeting which took place on May eleventh . Interestingly the Republicans then turn the tables on the Federalist after they held their closed caucus by using again the Aurora newspaper to make a huge stink labeling it “a fractious meeting…unknown to the constitution or law”. The political campaigning in the 1800s looked much different than it does today. For example, the election of 2016 Trump attacked Clinton over BenGhazi and her emails and Clinton attacked Trump over his remarks about women. Instead, the candidates hired newspapers, other politicians and notable men to campaign for them. For Jefferson and the Republicans, the primary threat of government corruption lay in an all-powerful presidency immune from the checks and balances of congressional and state authority. Jefferson’s victory in the election of 1800 was the first time that one political party had relinquished presidential power to the opposing party. Ironically, the