Constitutional Studies

The Oligarchy of Rich White Men

The Election of 1800

The population of the United States in 1800 was 5,308,483. The President was elected by an oligarchy of 41,300 white men. Less than 2% of the people voted in the election of 1800.


Nominee	Thomas Jefferson	John Adams
Party	Democratic-Republican	Federalist
Home state	Virginia	Massachusetts
Running mate	Aaron Burr	Charles C. Pinckney
Electoral vote	73	65
States carried	9	7
Popular vote	41,330	25,952
Percentage	61.4%	38.6%

1 member likes this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Morton Thomson Jr. on November 27, 2018 at 10:49am

I disagree,

The President is elected by electors. Only 173 people elected the President in 1800. That would be derived at by adding the number of Representatives and Senators that the states were entitled to in 1800. At the time, that would have been 141 Representatives and 32 Senators.

So you see, electing the President is not really supposed to be that big of a deal or that important to the nation as a whole. The President is not supposed to be wielding the power of a King, nor should his office carry much authority until he is called into service as CIC of the armed forces.