The American Vote
First Party SystemCycle 4 / 60Decided by House

1800

A peaceful transfer under stress.
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied with 73 electoral votes each under the original two-vote rules, and the House of Representatives chose Thomas Jefferson; John Adams received 65.

Turnout was 32.3%. The cycle falls in the First Party System era of American electoral history.

Jefferson
73 EV
Adams
65 EV
070 to win138
The map · 1800
9 states for D-R · 7 for Fed
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Open the what-if calculator → — flip states and re-count. A toy, not history.

Narrative

A peaceful transfer under stress

Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes, creating a tie that threw the election to the House of Representatives. After 36 ballots, Alexander Hamilton's behind-the-scenes support for Jefferson over the scheming Burr broke the deadlock. Jefferson's victory marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties, later called the 'Revolution of 1800.' The 12th Amendment was subsequently passed to prevent future ties between running mates.

Key issue

Federalist power vs. Democratic-Republican principles; Alien and Sedition Acts

Notable

Tie between Jefferson and Burr sent election to the House; led to the 12th Amendment

This summary was drafted with AI tools and has not yet been checked sentence by sentence. The vote table and the National Archives note on this page come from named sources; where they differ from the summary, rely on them. Tell us about an error.

From the National Archives

Prior to ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, each elector was given two votes and required to cast each for a different person. The person with the highest total of votes was elected President and the person with the second highest total was elected Vice President. Even though John Adams ran as Jefferson's main opponent in the general election, Jefferson and Burr tied with the highest number of electoral votes. The election was decided in the House of Representatives, with 10 State delegations voting for Jefferson, 4 voting for Burr and 2 making no choice.

National Archives, Electoral College results for 1800, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.

States · 16 reporting

State results · 1800

Electoral votes by state. State popular votes for 1800 are not yet published here.
1800 presidential election results by state: electoral votes
StateElectoral votesPopular vote
Connecticut1
9 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 9, John Adams 9
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Delaware2
3 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 3, John Adams 3
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Georgia3
4 electors
Aaron Burr 4, Thomas Jefferson 4
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Kentucky4
4 electors
Aaron Burr 4, Thomas Jefferson 4
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Maryland5
10 electors
Aaron Burr 5, Charles C. Pinckney 5, John Adams 5, Thomas Jefferson 5
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Massachusetts6
16 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 16, John Adams 16
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New Hampshire7
6 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 6, John Adams 6
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New Jersey8
7 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 7, John Adams 7
State popular vote not yet sourced.
New York9
12 electors
Aaron Burr 12, Thomas Jefferson 12
State popular vote not yet sourced.
North Carolina10
12 electors
Aaron Burr 8, Thomas Jefferson 8, Charles C. Pinckney 4, John Adams 4
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Pennsylvania11
15 electors
Aaron Burr 8, Thomas Jefferson 8, Charles C. Pinckney 7, John Adams 7
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Rhode Island12
4 electors
John Adams 4, Charles C. Pinckney 3, John Jay 1
State popular vote not yet sourced.
South Carolina13
8 electors
Aaron Burr 8, Thomas Jefferson 8
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Tennessee14
3 electors
Aaron Burr 3, Thomas Jefferson 3
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Vermont15
4 electors
Charles C. Pinckney 4, John Adams 4
State popular vote not yet sourced.
Virginia16
21 electors
Aaron Burr 21, Thomas Jefferson 21
State popular vote not yet sourced.

Notes on the figures

  1. Connecticut State popular vote not yet sourced.
  2. Delaware State popular vote not yet sourced.
  3. Georgia State popular vote not yet sourced.
  4. Kentucky State popular vote not yet sourced.
  5. Maryland State popular vote not yet sourced.
  6. Massachusetts State popular vote not yet sourced.
  7. New Hampshire State popular vote not yet sourced.
  8. New Jersey State popular vote not yet sourced.
  9. New York State popular vote not yet sourced.
  10. North Carolina State popular vote not yet sourced.
  11. Pennsylvania State popular vote not yet sourced.
  12. Rhode Island State popular vote not yet sourced.
  13. South Carolina State popular vote not yet sourced.
  14. Tennessee State popular vote not yet sourced.
  15. Vermont State popular vote not yet sourced.
  16. Virginia State popular vote not yet sourced.

SourceNo state popular-vote figures for 1800 are published here yet. How these figures were compiled