Nick Flanagan The Revolution of 1800 was monumental in the development of the United States as a nation. It proved to other nations that the republican experiment began by the revolutionary idea of independence could not only thrive, but succeed. In the fierce political battles of Adam’s term this orderly exchange of power seemed impossible to ever achieve but this election proved all the skeptics wrong. The Revolution of 1800 was so named by the winner of the 1800 election, Thomas Jefferson.
He called this election a revolution because his party, the Republicans, peacefully and orderly received the power with nothing but acceptance by the federalists. This was how the founding fathers designed the government to be but could never be sure it would truly work. This was certainly well named a revolution but only in respect to the political and judiciary factors. The transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans in a completely peaceful and respectful manner was by far the most significant and shocking change in the election.
It was almost an immediate disconnect from the precedents set by the Europeans where nearly every single change of power were violent and deadly. Another step forward from your standard politics was the much greater appearance of popular democracy. The vote itself ended up being decided by the House of Representatives in which of course members are chosen directly by the people. The entire election although not the most respectful campaign from the candidates did end with something entirely deserving the title of a revolution.
No one was sure if this transfer could work without some major dispute and the success of this election proved not only to us but the rest of the world that democracy could and did work. This was also an advance in the fact that once we realized that it did in fact work people could become much more for it and not be of the fear that it could all collapse. It enforced a sort of stability in the whole process and created a confidence of the people that the country was secure and could run without someone never stepping down or overstepping their powers.
The judiciary factors came in the form of the election having exposed a major flaw in the original Constitution. Members of the Electoral College could only for president while having two votes. This would of course make the second highest voted candidate be the vice president. A plan made by the Republicans ended up resulting in a tied electoral vote, the election was then put into the hands of the outgoing House of Representatives, which elected Jefferson.
This was an example of a victory of the laws in-place and how they made bounds and leaps towards being better than any other system in-place at the time. Just like the political factors this was an example of the system working, simple as that. Things people couldn’t be sure would really work did work and they worked well. To fix the voting flaw in the original presidential election mechanism the Twelfth Amendment ratified in 1804 was added to the United States Constitution, stipulating that electors make a discrete choice between their selections for president and vice-president.
This was another example of the judiciary systems making more and more progress to making the entire process more efficient, fair, and effective in the long run. All of the examples above show that the Revolution of 1800 was named quite accurately in respect to the implications that election had on the judiciary and political factors of the day. Politics were immediately pushed onto a whole new level and our country as a whole took a high ground of achievement because the political system we had worked.
We would not be destined to become Europe and murder each other every time power shifted. The judiciary revolution came along with the closely related political revolution and it fixed the flaws that there were in the laws of the time and made the system as a whole better. It may not have been a literal revolution but it was certainly worthy of the name considering the enormous step forward that it was for the United States.
