Jefferson Ties Burr: House Decides the Presidency

The Electoral College produced an unprecedented tie between Thomas Jefferson and his own running mate Aaron Burr, each receiving 73 votes. The deadlock threw the presidential election to the House of Representatives, where 36 grueling ballots over seven days finally gave Jefferson the presidency and exposed a fatal flaw that led to the Twelfth Amendment. The crisis originated in the Constitution's original design, which did not distinguish between votes for president and vice president. Each elector cast two votes, and the candidate with the most votes became president while the runner-up became vice president. The Republican Party intended Jefferson for president and Burr for vice president, but their disciplined voting produced an exact tie because every Republican elector voted for both men. The election moved to the House of Representatives, where each state delegation cast a single vote, with nine of sixteen states needed for a majority. Federalist representatives, who despised Jefferson but feared Burr even more, held the balance. Through 35 ballots over seven days in February 1801, neither candidate reached nine states. The standoff raised genuine fears of constitutional collapse: some states threatened to arm their militias if a president was not chosen before inauguration day. Alexander Hamilton, despite his personal enmity toward Jefferson, lobbied Federalist congressmen to break the deadlock in Jefferson's favor, arguing that Jefferson at least had principles while Burr had none. On the 36th ballot, enough Federalist delegates abstained to give Jefferson the majority. The crisis prompted the Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, which required separate electoral votes for president and vice president. Burr, who blamed Hamilton for his political destruction, killed Hamilton in a duel in July 1804.