A report on 1796 United States presidential election, Federalist Party and United States Electoral College

Electoral votes, out of 538, allocated to each state and the District of Columbia for presidential elections to be held in 2024 and 2028, based on representation, which depends on population data from the 2020 census. Every jurisdiction is entitled to at least 3.

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) and shades of yellow are for Adams (Federalist).

A portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, 1806

In the 2020 presidential election (held using 2010 census data) Joe Biden received 306 and Donald Trump 232 of the total 538 electoral votes.
In Maine (upper-right) and Nebraska (center), the small circled numbers indicate congressional districts. These are the only two states to use a district method for some of their allocated electors, instead of a complete winner-takes-all.

The Apotheosis of Washington as seen looking up from the Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.

Cases of certificates of the electoral college votes confirming the results of the 2020 US election, after they had been removed from the House Chambers by congressional staff during the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.

Gilbert Stuart, John Adams, c. 1800-1815

After the popular election in November, a state's Certificate of Ascertainment officially announces the state's electors for the Electoral College. The appointed Electoral College members later meet in the state capital in December to cast their votes.

Population per electoral vote for each state and Washington, D.C. (2010 census). By 2020 estimates, a single elector could represent more than 700,000 people or under 200,000.

When the state's electors meet in December, they cast their ballots and record their vote on a Certificate of Vote, which is then sent to the U.S. Congress. (From the election of 1876)

This cartogram shows the number of electors from each state for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Following the 2010 Census, New York and Ohio lost two electoral votes, 8 states lost one, 6 states gained one, Florida gained two, and Texas gained four.

This graphic demonstrates how the winner of the popular vote can still lose in an electoral college system similar to the U.S. Electoral College.

Bar graph of popular votes in presidential elections (through 2020). Black stars mark the five cases where the winner did not have the plurality of the popular vote. Black squares mark the two cases where the electoral vote resulted in a tie, or the winner did not have the majority of electoral votes. An H marks each of two cases where the election was decided by the House; an S marks the one case where the election was finalized by the Supreme Court.

These maps show the amount of attention given to each state by the Bush and Kerry campaigns (combined) during the final five weeks of the 2004 election: each waving hand (purple map) represents a visit from a presidential or vice presidential candidate; each dollar sign (green map) represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising.

Half the U.S. population lives in 143 urban / suburban counties out of 3,143 counties or county equivalents (2019 American Community Survey)

Incumbent Vice President John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.

- 1796 United States presidential election

Under the electoral rules in place prior to the Twelfth Amendment, the members of the Electoral College each cast two votes, with no distinction made between electoral votes for president and electoral votes for vice president.

- 1796 United States presidential election

The emergence of political parties and nationally coordinated election campaigns soon complicated matters in the elections of 1796 and 1800.

- United States Electoral College

In 1796, Federalist Party candidate John Adams won the presidential election.

- United States Electoral College

The election of 1796 was the first partisan affair in the nation's history and one of the more scurrilous in terms of newspaper attacks.

- Federalist Party

Adams was the winner by a margin of three electoral votes and Jefferson, as the runner-up, became vice president under the system set out in the Constitution prior to the ratification of the 12th Amendment.

- Federalist Party

7 related topics with Alpha

John Adams

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American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.

Adams's birthplace now in Quincy, Massachusetts

Boston Massacre of 1770 by Alonzo Chappel

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence depicts the Committee of Five presenting its draft to Congress. Adams is depicted in the center with his hand on his hip.

The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

Adams frequently clashed with Benjamin Franklin over how to manage French relations.

Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West (Adams in front).

Portrait of Adams by John Trumbull, 1793

Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1795. Washington rarely consulted Vice President Adams, who often felt marginalized and overshadowed by Washington's prestige.

President's House, Philadelphia. Adams occupied this Philadelphia mansion from March 1797 to May 1800.

A political cartoon depicts the XYZ Affair – America is a female being plundered by Frenchmen. (1798)

Thomas Jefferson, Adams's vice president, attempted to undermine many of his actions as president and eventually defeated him for reelection.

Alexander Hamilton's desire for high military rank and his push for war with France put him into conflict with Adams.

John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and one of Adams's few dependable allies

John Adams, c. 1816, by Samuel Morse (Brooklyn Museum)

Tombs of John and Abigail Adams (far) and John Quincy and Louisa Adams (near), in family crypt at United First Parish Church

John Adams by Gilbert Stuart (1823). This portrait was the last made of Adams, done at the request of John Quincy.

Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was elected as the United States' second president in 1796.

He was the only president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party.

Each state's presidential electors gathered on February 4, 1789, to cast their two votes for the president.

Democratic-Republican Party

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American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed republicanism, agrarianism, political equality, and expansionism.

Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the 1800 presidential election, thereby becoming the first Democratic-Republican president.

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 totaled 827,987 sqmi, doubling the size of the United States.

Albert Gallatin served as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison.

James Monroe, the third Democratic-Republican president

Four Democratic-Republicans sought the presidency in 1824: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay.

John Quincy Adams won the 1824 presidential election as a Democratic-Republican after leaving the Federalist Party earlier in his career.

Presidential election results from 1796 to 1824. Darker shades of green indicate that the state generally supported the Democratic-Republicans, and darker shades of brown indicate that the state generally supported the Federalists.

John Randolph of Roanoke was a prominent member of a group of Southern plantation owners known as the Old Republicans.

Andrew Jackson led a faction of Democratic-Republicans that ultimately coalesced into the Democratic Party.

The party became increasingly dominant after the 1800 elections as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed.

Though he was defeated by Federalist John Adams in the 1796 presidential election, Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican allies came into power following the 1800 elections.

In the 1788–89 presidential election, the first such election following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, George Washington won the votes of every member of the Electoral College.

1800 United States presidential election

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The fourth quadrennial presidential election.

Aaron Burr tied Jefferson in the Electoral College vote

In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800", Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party defeated incumbent President John Adams of the Federalist Party.

Adams had narrowly defeated Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Under the rules of the electoral system in place before the 1804 ratification of the 12th Amendment, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes, with no distinction made between electoral votes for president and electoral votes for vice president.

Aaron Burr

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American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805.

Burr's maternal grandfather Jonathan Edwards

The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775, oil on canvas by John Trumbull, 1786

Aaron Burr and Theodosia Bartow Prevost, portrait by Henry Benbridge

Burr, Hamilton, and Philip Schuyler strolling on Wall Street

Early twentieth-century illustration of Burr (right) dueling with Hamilton

St. James Hotel, Burr's final home and place of death, in a late 19th-century photograph (Staten Island Historical Society)

An unintentional electoral college tie between Burr and presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson resulted in the House of Representatives voting in Jefferson's favor, with Burr becoming Jefferson's vice president due to receiving the second-highest share of the votes.

Burr ran for president in the 1796 election and received 30 electoral votes, coming in fourth behind John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Pinckney.

However, he had moderate Federalist allies such as Senator Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey.

The Twelfth Amendment in the National Archives

Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president.

Certificate for the electoral vote for Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler for the State of Louisiana

It replaced the procedure provided in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3, by which the Electoral College originally functioned.

The experiences of the 1796 and 1800 presidential elections – showing that the original system caused the election of a President and Vice-President who were political opponents of each other, constantly acting at cross-purposes – spurred legislators to amend the presidential election process to require each member of the Electoral College to cast one electoral vote for president and one electoral vote for vice president.

In the 1796 election, John Adams, the Federalist Party presidential candidate, received votes from a majority of electors.

Alexander Hamilton

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American revolutionary, statesman and Founding Father of the United States.

Coat of arms of the Hamiltons of Grange in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The Hamilton House, Charlestown, Nevis. The current structure was rebuilt from the ruins of the house where it was thought that Alexander Hamilton was born and lived as a young child.

Kings College c. 1756, adjacent to the New York Commons where City Hall Park is today

Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery, by Alonzo Chappel (1828–1887)

Aides-de-camp's office inside Washington's Headquarters at Valley Forge. General Washington's staff officers worked in this room, writing and copying the letters and orders of the Continental Army.

The Storming of Redoubt #10, an 1840 painting by Eugene Lami

Detail of Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull, showing Colonels Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, and Walter Stewart

Miniature of Hamilton attributed to Charles Shirreff, c. 1790

A Turban Head eagle, one of the first gold coins minted under the Coinage Act of 1792

A painting of a Revenue Marine cutter, which may be of either the Massachusetts (1791), or its replacement, the Massachusetts II

Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by Walter Robertson. Circa 1794

A statue of Hamilton by Franklin Simmons, overlooking the Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey, where Hamilton envisioned using the falls to power new factories

Aaron Burr, Hamilton and Philip Schuyler strolling on Wall Street, New York, 1790

Alexander Hamilton by William J. Weaver, ca. 1794-1806

A statue of Hamilton in the United States Capitol rotunda

Detail of 1802 portrait by Ezra Ames, painted after death of Hamilton's eldest son Philip

Hamilton's tomb in Trinity Church's first burial grounds at Wall Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan

Drawing (c. 1902) of the Burr–Hamilton duel, from a painting by J. Mund

This July 25, 1804 article reflected extreme lamentation over Hamilton's death, and described the plan for his funeral procession and other tributes, including a 30-day wearing of a commemorative black armband ("crape") by members of the Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania of which Hamilton had been President General.

Elizabeth Schuyler, portrait by Ralph Earl

Distinctive unit insignia of the United States Army 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment (i.e. Alexander Hamilton Battery). The crest at center is that of Clan Hamilton, with the addition of 13 gold acorns representing the original 13 states.

USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753) seal. The two colors on the coat of arms represent the aspects of Alexander Hamilton's life: military and civilian. The white demarcation line is a virtual diagram of the trenches converging on the British redoubt #10 at Yorktown. Surmounting the crossed bayonets symbolizing Hamilton's taking of the redoubt is a Doric column which represents Hamilton's service as a statesman. The crest shows an ermine cinquefoil, which is the principal charge on the Hamilton family coat of arms and is worn by a unicorn, taken from the hand-carved powder horn Hamilton is believed to have owned. The motto, "Vigilant Sentinel," is derived from a quote in Federalist No. 12: "A few armed vessels, judiciously stationed at the entrance of our ports, might at a small expense be made useful sentinels of the law."

A starboard view of the nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN-617) underway.

Alexander Hamilton on the Series 2004A U.S. $10 bill

The Hamilton Grange National Memorial in St. Nicholas Park

A statue of Hamilton outside Hamilton Hall, overlooking Hamilton Lawn at Columbia University in New York City

Image of the statue of Alexander Hamilton created by William Ordway Partridge, commissioned for the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn. The statue later stood in front of Hamilton Grange when the house was located at 287 Convent Ave.

A view of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge from the south

Lin-Manuel Miranda performs the title role in the 2015 musical Hamilton.

He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, and was the founder of the Federalist Party, the nation's financial system, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper.

Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for the presidency in the electoral college, and Hamilton helped to defeat Burr, whom he found unprincipled, and to elect Jefferson despite philosophical differences.

In the election of 1796, under the Constitution as it stood then, each of the presidential electors had two votes, which they were to cast for different men.

Adams c. 1843–48, photographed by
Mathew Brady

John Quincy Adams

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American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829.

Adams's birthplace in Quincy, Massachusetts

1815 US passport issued by John Quincy Adams at London.

Painting of John Quincy Adams by Thomas Sully, 1824

In the Adams–Onís Treaty, the United States acquired Florida and set the western border of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

General Andrew Jackson, Adams's opponent in the 1824 and 1828 United States presidential elections

Painting of Quincy Adams by Charles Osgood, 1828

Quincy Adams appointed Henry Clay as Secretary of State

Daguerreotype of Quincy Adams by Philip Haas, 1843

Portrait of Quincy Adams by William Hudson, 1844

John Quincy Adams, c. 1840s, Unknown author

BEP engraved portrait of Adams as president

Adams's portrait at the U.S. National Portrait Gallery by George Bingham c. 1850 copy of an 1844 original

Adams's cenotaph at the Congressional Cemetery

John Quincy Adams's original tomb at Hancock Cemetery, across the street from United First Parish Church

Presidential Dollar of John Quincy Adams

Official portrait of Adams by George Peter Alexander Healy, c. 1858

Tombs of Presidents John Adams (far left) and John Quincy Adams (right) and their wives Abigail and Louisa, in a family crypt beneath the United First Parish Church.

Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and in the mid-1830s became affiliated with the Whig Party.

Because no candidate won a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives held a contingent election, which Adams won with the support of Speaker of the House Clay, whom Adams would go on to controversially appoint as his Secretary of State.

Later that year, John Adams defeated Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election.