The man behind the Memorial

As a tour guide of Washington DC I was courious about the men our memorials are named after. The first person I choose was Thomas Jefferson. I started with the election of 1796. In the beginning of theUnited States Presidential election history the person who came in second became the Vice President. I was very courious how Jefferson who was a Democratic Republican became Vice President when John Adams who won the election was a Federalist. It seems Alexander Hamilton tried to get John Adams running mate elected President . Back in those days in the southern states chose presidential electors to the electoral college by direct vote. The northern states delegates were elected by the state legislatures.. Hamilton tried to got the South Carolina delagation to with hold votes for Adams . Hamilton hope the votes intended for Adams would go to Thomas Pinckney and Pickney would become President . Because of his tampering Adams became President and Jefferson vice president.
In the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each had won 73 votes in electoral college. It took 35 ballots to break the tie. The Congress was dominated by the Federalist. Once again Alexander Hamilton played a part in the election. He asked some federalists not to cast their vote on the 35th ballot for Burr thus that enabled Jefferson became President.