What did Thomas Jefferson mean when he characterized the election of 1800 as a revolution?
1. When Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams, a generation of Democratic-Republican rule arose and the Federalists began to decline. Beforehand, the Federalists had the upperhand. Moreover, the election exposed a major flaw in the constitution regarding the choosing of the Vice President. Before then, the Vice President was whoever got second place in electoral votes. However, there was a tie between Jefferson and Burr. The decision was left to the Federalist who were going bye-bye regardless and another week dragged on. You think the Election of 2000 was crazy, this was even more so. Hamilton ended up getting killed in a duel with Burr, partly because Hamilton voted for Jefferson over Burr.It lead to the ratifcation of the 12th Amendment which required that two distinct votes be cast for President and Vice President. This happened in 1804. 2. As for issues, the Federalists basically accused the Democratic-Republicans of being hostile to religion and said they would destroy the country
