---
title: '1800: Thomas Jefferson'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/1800/
description: Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) defeated the incumbent John Adams (Federalist) after a tie with his running mate was settled in the House; the…
section: US presidential elections
---

![Illustration: a pre-1914 imperial intelligence-dossier collage of colonial telegraph logs, sepia field photography and empire maps.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-pre1914.jpg)

[US presidential elections](https://propagandaarchive.org/elections/us-presidential/)

# 1800: Thomas Jefferson

- **When:** 1800

On this page

**In one line:** Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) defeated the incumbent John Adams (Federalist) after a tie with his running mate was settled in the House; the archive holds two partisan newspaper pages, one from each side, and a case study.

## Context

Jefferson and Aaron Burr, his Democratic-Republican running mate, each received 73 electoral votes. John Adams received 65, Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist) 64 and John Jay 1, of 138 cast. The tie went to the House of Representatives, where 10 state delegations voted for Jefferson, 4 for Burr and 2 made no choice [1]. The American Presidency Project gives the electoral shares between Jefferson and Adams as 52.9 and 47.1 per cent [2].

Wikipedia reports that both parties formally nominated tickets for the first time, and that the issues were the French Revolution and the Quasi-War, the Federalists' taxes, and the Alien and Sedition Acts [3]. The contest was fought largely in partisan newspapers, pamphlets and prints, which is what the archive holds [4].

## Campaign literature

| Candidate (party) | Objects in the archive |
| --- | --- |
| Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) | 1 (issued in support) |
| Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican) | 0 |
| John Adams (Federalist) | 1 (issued in support) |
| Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist) | 0 |

Each of the two newspaper entries is counted under the candidate its issuing paper backed, as its entry records; each also targets the other side's candidate. Jefferson and Adams therefore have one entry each, and Burr and Pinckney have none because no item naming them as the subject was located. A search of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs catalogue by candidate name with "campaign", "ticket", "broadside" and "cartoon" (6 queries) found no further item tied to the campaign beyond those already in the archive.

The case study [The 1800 election: "Jefferson and no God" and "squints at monarchy"](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/us-election-1800-adams-jefferson/) holds three further objects as images, not as separate entries: the Federalist etching *The Providential Detection*, Callender's Republican book *The Prospect Before Us* (title page), and a Federalist Gazette page, "The Grand Question Stated" [4].

### Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican)

- [The Virginia Argus, "Letter to Mazzei" and rebuttal, 16 September 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/virginia-argus-letter-to-mazzei-1800/) (newspaper-page, September 16, 1800): a Republican Richmond paper reprints the "Mazzei letter" with a rebuttal, calls the papers that circulated it "aristocratical", and lists Washington- and Adams-era ceremonies and Adams quotations as proof of an "English monarchical party".

### Aaron Burr (Democratic-Republican)

No objects catalogued.

### John Adams (Federalist)

- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (newspaper-page, August 14, 1800): a Federalist Philadelphia daily carries "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, calls the Mazzei letter evidence of an "abominable faction" with a "Jacobin chieftain", and warns that the other party aims to "overturn and destroy" the constitution.

### Charles C. Pinckney (Federalist)

No objects catalogued.

## Techniques visible

- [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/): Federalist Gazette entry ("abominable faction", "Jacobin chieftain", "hypocrites") and Republican Argus entry ("aristocratical" papers, "enemies of liberty"). The tell is the same for each: a party label or epithet used as the argument.
- [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/): Federalist Gazette entry (the closing warning that the other party aims to "overturn and destroy" the constitution). The tell is a staged threat to the constitution.
- [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/): Republican Argus entry (selected ceremonies of the Washington and Adams administrations and quotations from Adams, presented without the opposing reading). The tell is selected items presented as proof with no opposing reading.

The same definitions apply to both sides; each entry carries the tags listed in its record, and no tag is compared across entries.

## Sources

1. National Archives, "1800 Electoral College Results", https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1800
2. American Presidency Project, "1800", https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1800
3. Wikipedia, "1800 United States presidential election" (cross-check only): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800_United_States_presidential_election
4. Case study: [The 1800 election](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/us-election-1800-adams-jefferson/)
5. Objects: [Gazette of the United States, 14 August 1800](https://archive.org/details/per_gazette-of-the-united-states-daily-advertiser_1800-08-14_1); [The Virginia Argus, 16 September 1800](https://archive.org/details/per_viriginia-argus_the-virginia-argus_1800-09-16_8_42) (both Internet Archive, not Library of Congress records)