By Harold Braverman and Christine Johnson
2008-5-21
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – an American history series in VOA Special English.
The presidential election of eighteen hundred is our subject this week. The candidates included President John Adams of the Federalist Party and Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Republican Party. Here with our story are Frank Oliver and Shep O'Neal.
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VOICE TWO:
As president, John Adams was head of the Federalist Party. But the power of that position belonged, in fact, to former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton.
For this and other reasons, Adams did not like Hamilton. He said: "Thomas Jefferson will be a good president, if elected. I would rather be a minister to Europe under Jefferson than to be a president controlled by Hamilton."
Hamilton did not like Adams. He did everything he could to block Adams from becoming president again. He gave his support to another Federalist candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina.
Under the electoral system of that time, the candidate with the most votes became president. The candidate with the second highest number of votes became vice president.
VOICE ONE:
A Federalist victory in the election of eighteen hundred would not be easy. The Republicans had a very strong and popular candidate -- Thomas Jefferson. So, Federalist Party leaders attempted to change the electoral system.
The Constitution said state legislatures were to choose electors to vote for president. The Federalists tried to gain control over the legislatures' decisions.
They wanted Congress to create a special committee to rule if an elector had -- or did not have -- the right to vote. The committee could say if an elector's vote should be counted or thrown away.
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