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U.S. Presidential Election: 1800
October 31 – December 3, 1800
276 electoral votes of the Electoral College
138 votes possible for each candidate
70 electoral votes needed to become President
Winners:
Thomas Jefferson, Incumbent Vice President
Aaron Burr
Electoral vote 73 65
States carried 9 7
The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods.
Jefferson and Burr each won 73 electoral votes, resulting in a tie, which necessitated a contingent election in the House of Representatives.
John Adams, Incumbent President
from Massachusetts
Thomas Jefferson, Incumbent Vice President
from Virginia
Former U.S. Senator Aaron Burr
from New York
Former Minister to France Charles C. Pinckney
from South Carolina
John Jay, New York
Because each state could choose its own election day in 1800, voting lasted from April to October.
Electoral Vote Count
276 electoral votes of the Electoral College
138 votes possible for each candidate
70 electoral votes needed to become President
Thomas Jefferson - 73
Aaron Burr New York — 73
John Adams 65
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney — 64
John Jay — 1
Vote Count = 276
Popular Vote = 102 = 37 percent
Non-Popular Vote = 174 = 63 percent
Connecticut - Legislative selection - 9
Delaware - Legislative selection - 3
Georgia - Legislative selection - 4
Massachusetts - Legislative selection - 16
New Hampshire - Legislative selection - 6
New Jersey - Legislative selection - 7
New York - Legislative selection - 12
Pennsylvania - Legislative selection - 15
South Carolina - Legislative selection - 8
Vermont - Legislative selection - 4
Kentucky - Popular Vote by District - 4
Maryland - Popular Vote by District - 10
North Carolina - Popular Vote by District - 12
Rhode Island - Popular Vote overall - 4
Virginia - Popular Vote overall - 21
Tennessee - Hybrid system - 3
change: Georgia - Popular Vote overall to Legislative selection
change: Massachusetts - Hybrid system to Legislative selection
change: New Hampshire - Hybrid system to Legislative selection
change: Pennsylvania - Popular Vote overall to Legislative selection
change: Rhode Island - Legislative selection to Popular Vote overall
change: Virginia - Popular Vote by District to Popular Vote overall
Under the terms laid out in the Constitution,
the outgoing House of Representatives would choose between Jefferson and Burr.
All representatives of a state would become a single delegation for the state,
and each state delegation cast one vote,
and a victory in the contingent election required one candidate to win a majority of all state delegations.
In February 1801, the members of the House of Representatives balloted as states to determine whether Jefferson or Burr would become president.
There were sixteen states, each with one vote;
an absolute majority of nine was required for victory.
1st Round of Balloting:
Jefferson = 8
Burr = 6
No Vote = 2
35 more rounds of balloting took place between February 11 and 17.
36th Round:
Jefferson = 10
Burr = 4
No Vote = 2
Jefferson wins Presidency, Burr wins Vice Presidency
Below are the vote counts for each round of balloting:
Georgia Jefferson (1–0) Jefferson (1–0) Jefferson (1–0)
Kentucky Jefferson (2–0) Jefferson (2–0) Jefferson (2–0)
New Jersey Jefferson (3–2) Jefferson (3–2) Jefferson (3–2)
New York Jefferson (6–4) Jefferson (6–4) Jefferson (6–4)
North Carolina Jefferson (9–1) Jefferson (6–4) Jefferson (6–4)
Pennsylvania Jefferson (9–4) Jefferson (9–4) Jefferson (9–4)
Tennessee Jefferson (1–0) Jefferson (1–0) Jefferson (1–0)
Virginia Jefferson (16–3) Jefferson (14–5) Jefferson (14–5)
Maryland no result (4–4) no result (4–4) Jefferson (4–0–4)
Vermont no result (1–1) no result (1–1) Jefferson (1–0–1)
Delaware Burr (0–1) Burr (0–1) no result (0–0–1)
South Carolina Burr (0–4) Burr (1–3) no result (0–0–4)
Connecticut Burr (0–7) Burr (0–7) Burr (0–7)
Massachusetts Burr (3–11) Burr (3–11) Burr (3–11)
New Hampshire Burr (0–4) Burr (0–4) Burr (0–4)
Rhode Island Burr (0–2) Burr (0–2) Burr (0–2)
Even though Georgia had two representatives apportioned, one seat was vacant due to the death of James Jones.
Even though South Carolina had six representatives apportioned, Thomas Sumter was absent due to illness, and
Abraham Nott departed for South Carolina between the first and final ballots.
(When the electoral ballots were opened and counted on February 11, 1801, it turned out that the certificate of election from
Georgia was defective.
While it was clear that the electors had cast their votes for Jefferson and Burr,
the certificate did not take the constitutionally mandated form of a "List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each".
Vice President Jefferson, who was counting the votes in his role as President of the Senate, immediately counted the votes
from Georgia as votes for Jefferson and Burr. No objections were raised. If the disputed Georgia ballots were
rejected on these technicalities, Jefferson and Burr would have lost 4 electoral votes, leaving them each with 69 electoral votes,
each one short vote of a majority needed,
causing a constitutionally mandated Congressional runoff among the top five finishers,
meaning that any of the candidates could have been chosen as President and Vice President by the state legislatures.)
