Why did the presidential election of 1800 change the presidential elections?
Under the law applicable before that election, there was no designation on the Electoral College vote as to which candidate was supposed to be the President and which was supposed to be the Vice-President. As a result, both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received 73 electoral votes to John Adams’ 65. It took the House of Representatives to decide which would be President. Alexander Hamilton, despite his run-ins with Jefferson when they served in Washington’s cabinet together, threw his support behind Jefferson and was able to get enough states to support him to elect Jefferson President on the 36th ballot in the House. This, and a few other things, led to Burr shooting Hamilton in a duel four years later. Congress then passed and sent to the states the Twelfth Amendment, which changed the Electoral College process so that there wouldn’t be such confusion again.
