FEBRUARY 17

On this date in 1801, Thomas Jefferson was named winner of the 1800 presidential election.  He became the third US President and Aaron Burr the third Vice-President.  Not everything in our government went real smoothly back then (still doesn't, I guess you could say).  Here's the way it went.

Jefferson and Burr ran on the Democratic-Republican Party ticket against incumbent President John Adams and Charles Pinckney for the Federalist Party.  The election was held from October 31 to December 3 (it wasn't as easy to get to the polls in those days).  There were just 16 states at the time and 70 electoral votes were required to win.

The Jefferson/Burr ticket won the electoral vote with 73 but when the electoral college met, they mistakenly voted for Jefferson AND Burr as President (they could vote for two at that time).  Big SNAFU.  According to the Constitution, that meant that the House of Representatives would have to vote to elect a President.

Well, the House could vote for whomever they pleased.  They took 35 votes and no one had a majority.  On the 36th ballot, February 17, 1801, Jefferson was named President.  Burr became the Vice-President but Jefferson never trusted him.

Three years later, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted which further defined how the President would be elected and we haven't had that problem since.
O.O