Hello and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series for today will be focusing on the Election of 1796. George Washington is leaving after two successful terms and the political woes that’ve been building for years are now taking center stage in the first ever contested presidential election in U.S. History.

Washington Bids Farewell

After giving his famous farewell address to the American People, George Washington steps down after eight solid years that have seen him and his allies create a blueprint for the nation while also setting the foundation for many political roles within the executive branch.

While Washington’s time in office did see a period of unity for the new country, the rise of political parties are becoming more evident despite the president’s warnings against them.

By 1796, the Federalist Party and Democratic Republicans are preparing themselves for the next general election to see which party would lead America in the coming years.

The Federalists 

The Federalists were seen as the incumbents so to speak as many of their key players like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton held high positions in Washington’s administration.

As mentioned in the 1792 article, the Federalists believed in a strong federal government and economic growth through a national bank. Even though the candidates running in this election are from the same parties, all of them are pretty much running their own campaigns with both sides having a large field of candidates.

On the Federalists side you have:

• John Adams- Vice President
• Charles Pinckney- U.S. Minister of France
• Samuel Johnston- Former Senator and Governor of North Carolina
• John Jay- Governor of New York
• Oliver Ellsworth- Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
• Thomas Pinckney- Governor of South Carolina
• James Irdell- The Associate Justice from North Carolina

The Democratic Republicans

Created by then Congressmen, James Madison and Washington’s former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republicans believed in limited goverment power, opposing the national bank, agrarianism (aka small farming) and supporting the French Revolution which had previously occurred in 1792.

WIth Washington refusing to run for a third term, the door was now opened for Thomas Jefferson to run in the general election as his previous efforts were foiled by way of the U.S. Constitution prohibiting voters from electing people who come from the same place as both Jefferson and Washington hailed from Virginia.

The candidates for the Democratic Republicans were:

• Thomas Jefferson- Former Secretary of State
• Aaron Burr- Senator of New York
• George Clinton- Former Governor of New York
• Samuel Adams- Governor of Massachusetts and cousin of John Adams
• John Henry- Senator from Maryland

While all of the candidates on both sides were looking to become President and or Vice President, most of their support was towards John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who seemed to be the front runners for their respective parties.

Political Attacks 

Most people tend to believe that the elections back in the day were more civil than the politics of today, but that simply isn’t the case as this election proves that mudslinging has been a part of U.S. politics for a very long time.

The Federalists are making claims that the Democratic Republicans (and Jefferson especially) were too supportive of France, even going so far as to favor the violence that’s taking place within the French Revolution. There also attacking Jefferson’s views on religion, claiming that he was an atheist which wouldn’t go over well with many religious voters in some very important swing states.

The Democratic Republicans for their part are hitting back with claims that the Federalists were cozying up to Great Britain and the Republicans are also using Jay’s Treaty (which eased tensions with Britain and the United States) to back up these ideas that the Federalists will turn the United States into a monarchy or aristocracy much like Britain.

Hamilton’s Plan 

Despite being a member of the Federalist Party, Alexander Hamilton had concocted a plan that would’ve denied John Adams the opportunity to become president; The reasoning behind this was due to political disagreements between Hamilton and Adams.

Hamilton’s plan was to persuade enough voters to cast their votes not for Adams but for Jefferson, with the hope that Jefferson would get enough votes to become the Vice President thereby denying John Adams the chance to keep his old job.

Not only that, but the other part of this plan would see Thomas Pinckney get enough votes to become the President since some Democratic Republicans liked Pinckney and felt that he could be the one to keep the two political parties from further dividing themselves and the country as a whole.

In other words, this would prevent Adams from winning while also making sure that some mutual bipartisanship could be reached between the two political parties…But did the plan work?

The Electoral Results & the 12th Amendment

John Adams emerged as the winner with 71 electoral votes making him the second U.S. President and the first Vice President to become President in American history.

Thomas Jefferson walks away with 68 electoral votes leaving him in second place, which means that Jefferson is now the VP to John Adams and spoiler alert, their working relationship is going to be an absolute disaster.

Thomas Pinckney came in third with 59 electoral votes, Aaron Burr came in fourth receiving 30 electoral votes and all the other candidates either got 15 or less votes.

Because of the results of this election, the 12th Amendment would soon be ratified into the Constitution to prevent something like this from happening again, however that ratification wouldn’t happen until 1804, which means we have time for one more election left where the results will be put into heavy scrutiny.

If you like this kind of content, be sure to leave your thoughts down below and be sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on Twitter @laceemupoffice and you can follow me also on Twitter @hakeemfullerton and I’ll see you in the next article.