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A Look Into Our History
What Contentious Elections Teach Us About The Strength of Our Republic
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Photo: REUTERS / JEENAH MOON - stock.adobe.com
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As the count continues and the presidential race tightens, the prospect of an extended battle looms. America is no stranger to contentious elections. Regardless of how bitter and divisive these elections were, we came together as a country and as history tells us, we will no doubt do the same now.
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Below, we revisit four key points in our country's electoral history where the results and process were anything but conventional.
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Four Consequential Elections
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1800 Election
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) vs. John Adams (Federalist)
The election of 1800 spurred the first contingent election in U.S. history and led to the writing of the 12th Amendment. Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson ran against incumbent Federalist John Adams for the presidency.
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Jefferson beat Adams outright but unexpectedly tied with Aaron Burr, his own running mate, at 73 electoral votes. At this time, the second place winner in the Electoral College became VP. Because no candidate received an electoral majority, a contingent election was held to resolve the dispute, now between Jefferson and Burr.
According to the Constitution, contingent elections for president are decided by the House of Representatives, where representatives vote by state for the president.
Despite the vote being tallied 30 times, neither candidate seized the necessary House majority. The tie was broken by James A. Bayard of Delaware, who led a coalition to cast blank ballots. Jefferson took the presidency. To prevent such disputes in the future, the 12th Amendment was soon ratified to specify that electors must vote separately for president and vice president.
Though a contentious election, the election of 1800 showed the strength of the American republic at one of its earliest trials.
From Rivals to Friends
In spite of their bitter rivalry, Jefferson and Adams eventually became close friends and corresponded with one another throughout the rest of their lives. Adams's last words were reputedly, "Thomas Jefferson survives," though Jefferson had passed away earlier that same day: July 4, 1826.
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1824 Election
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican) vs. Andrew Jackson (Democratic-Republican)
In the 1824 election, Andrew Jackson won 99 electoral votes and the popular vote, but neither he nor the other candidates managed to secure a majority of the 261 electoral votes required to win the presidency outright, spurring another contingent election and a decision by the House.
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When House Speaker Henry Clay (who also ran and had the least electoral votes), was eliminated from the running, Clay's supporters threw their support behind John Quincy Adams rather than Andrew Jackson, giving Adams the presidency. When Clay became Adams's secretary of state after the election, Jacksonians called it a "corrupt bargain" and the incident in part inspired the creation of the Democratic Party, which still exists today.
In spite of a starkly divided electorate and amid claims of corruption, the American system endured. Jackson, for his part, bided his time and won the presidency in 1828.
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1876 Election
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
A controversially close race and accusations of voter fraud dominated the 1876 presidential election.
Samuel Tilden appeared to receive a majority of the country's popular votes but was one vote shy of an electoral majority with 20 votes still uncounted from Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon.
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With conflicting reports coming in from the three southern states, suspicions of widespread voter suppression and fraud came to light. Instead of a contingent election process, Congress chose to employ a bipartisan commission of congressmen and Supreme Court justices to have the final say. In an 8-7 decision, they awarded the votes to Hayes.
The Democrats however, closely aligned with southern interests at this time, would not take the decision lying down and threatened a filibuster. To keep the peace, a compromise was struck behind closed doors. Tilden supporters conceded the election in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South.
The removal of the troops (who had been there since the end of the Civil War), effectually ended Reconstruction, removing protections for southern African-American voters.
Americans worried that the election of 1876 would result in a second Civil War. Though that did not occur, the setback to civil rights was a historic wrong that took a hundred years to make right. But it was the survival of our founding principles through hardship that inspired the civil rights movement in the 20th century. And it is this well of history that we draw on to continue working toward equality and opportunity for African-Americans, and indeed all Americans.
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2000 Election
George W. Bush (Republican) vs. Al Gore (Democrat)
Most recently, the 2000 presidential election hung completely on a recount of Florida votes. No longer in use now, potentially misleading punch card ballots were used in several Florida towns, resulting in more than 60,000 uncounted ballots that still held onto "hanging chads" (small pieces of punched paper that had failed to detach).
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A recount of the defective ballots soon began, but ceased five weeks after Election Day, on December 12, 2000, when the Supreme Court ruled, firstly, that the recount was being conducted with no clear standards and, secondly (and more controversially), that it must cease on the constitutional basis that all votes be treated equally. Despite losing the national popular vote, Bush won the presidency with 271 electoral votes, one of the narrowest margins in history.
Even in recent memory, we as a country have endured disputed, contentious, and unusual elections. Through such times of uncertainty, the strength of our Constitution ensured the resilience of our republic.
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History can always teach us something about the present, but only if it remains a priority. Without knowledge of our past, we have no basis to make important decisions about our country's future.
JMC supports those teachers who are championing education in America's history and its founding principles. Our growing network of nearly 1,000 dedicated professors are making a difference on hundreds of campuses across the country. So far, they have taught more than one million students. Will you help us reach more?
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
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