A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign

The all-important state senate election in New York boiled down to a political faceoff between the two men organizing the local New York City politics on behalf of the Republicans and the Federalists. The Republican figure was Aaron Burr, and the High-Federalist standard bearer was Alexander Hamilton.

The two men both served under Washington in the Revolutionary War, and both were ambitious, but of the two, only Hamilton earned Washington’s respect. After independence, they became rivals in New York’s political scene, and as the election of 1800 approached, they were eager to face off as competitors in organizing the election of the New York House of Representatives campaigns.

New York, which gave the right to pick the all-important electoral college representative to the incoming state representatives, had long been a Federalist stronghold. Almost all of the seats were districted in populous New York City, making that city’s election the deciding front for the battle for the statehouse.

Hamilton expected that Federalists would build on a long history of success in New York and would again win a majority of seats in the state house, enabling them to select a pro-Federalist electoral college voter. But he let the opportunity go to his head.