How influential Hamilton’s opinion was is debated. After 36 different ballots, Jefferson finally won the presidency.
#TAKE A BREAK LYRICS HAMILTON SERIES#
Unexpectedly, Hamilton wrote a series of letters calling on his fellow Federalists to vote for Jefferson over Burr.
Whilst their paths didn’t cross as often as the musical suggests, Burr had previously defeated Hamilton’s father-in-law Philip Schuyler in a race for the New York Senate. However, Hamilton felt that Burr was a man of little principle, who simply wanted to be president as a matter of personal ambition. Whilst Cutterham states that “Burr certainly didn't run a "man of the people" campaign”, he does acknowledge that Burr’s “wing of the Democratic-Republicans in the north of the country did appeal to artisans and poorer folks more than those who voted Federalist.”Īs shown in the musical, there was no love lost between Hamilton and Jefferson. There are references to Jefferson being elitist, while Burr is approachable and someone you can grab a beer with. Listening to The Election of 1800, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were describing a modern election and all their cliches. Burr himself refused to confirm that he would turn down the presidency if offered, fuelling suspicions that he could betray Jefferson. Most Federalists disliked Jefferson and so planned to prevent him becoming president by voting for Burr.
It was up to the House of Representatives, dominated by the opposition Federalists (Hamilton’s party), to break the deadlock.Įach of the 16 states got one vote. With an equal number of votes, the two tied for the presidency. All the electors who favoured the Democratic-Republican party simply gave both their votes to Jefferson and Burr. When casting their two votes on the ballot, the electors had no way of distinguishing between who they wanted as president and who they wanted as vice-president.
Aaron Burr, a lawyer and a former Senator, was to be Jefferson’s vice-president, and so needed to come second in the ballot. This is not mentioned in the musical.Įach political party had put up two candidates, one that they intended to be president and the other vice-president. They worked on his Virginia plantation, as well as his home in Philadelphia. George Washington, the famed general and first President of the United States, owned over 300 enslaved people by the time he died in 1799. “It's highly likely Hamilton did legal work for slaveowners (including his father-in-law), and of course he was a close friend of George Washington.”
However, he did retain links with slavery and some of the society’s members were themselves slaveholders.Ĭutterham highlights how slavery featured in Hamilton’s personal life: “Hamilton's close family relations, such as his father-in-law Philip Schuyler, owned dozens of enslaved people, and I've never seen any evidence Hamilton criticised him about it. Hamilton himself was a member of the New York Manumission Society, a group which provided financial and legal assistance to the abolitionist cause. He furiously accuses Thomas Jefferson of using slave labour to pay off the South’s debts and keep the economy afloat. In the musical, Hamilton is portrayed as being a firm abolitionist, someone who wanted to end slavery. Hamilton wasn’t as anti-slavery as he first appears
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