Down to the wire

This year’s presidential election might well fi t into a storied tradition of Election Day nail-biters.

When was the first close one?

The U.S. has had close—and bitterly disputed—elections since the earliest days of the union. In 1800, Federalist incumbent John Adams was beaten by two Republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. But those two tied for the number of Electoral College votes, so it fell to Congress to decide whether the president should be Jefferson or Burr. With each of the 16 state delegations getting a single vote, Jefferson could not win a majority of states in 35 ballots cast over the course of an entire week. Finally, in the 36th round, a lone Federalist from Delaware, James Bayard, changed his vote, assuring Jefferson’s victory. Jefferson was so worried about the divisive nature of his election that he had armed soldiers escort him to his inauguration. To prevent such chaos in future elections, the states four years later ratified the 12th Amendment of the Constitution, which separated the votes for president and vice president and set out new procedures for the Electoral College.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up