Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1800'

(Tuesday, February 17, 1801, during the United States presidential election, 1800) — The U.S. House of Representatives chose incumbent Vice President Thomas Jefferson of Virginia as the third president of the United States today after he and former U.S. Senator Aaron Burr of New York tied in the Electoral College.

Jefferson headed the Democratic-Republican Party ticket with Burr as his running mate, challenging the Federalist Party ticket of incumbent President John Adams and his running mate, former Minister to France Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina.

The Jefferson-Burr ticket, which received 61.4 percent of the popular vote cast from Friday, October 31, to Wednesday, December 3, 1800, resulting in 73 electoral votes (Adams won 65 and Pinckney won 64).

But under the rules of the electoral system that were in place prior to the 1804 ratification of the 12th Amendment, each member of the Electoral College cast two votes, with no distinction made between electoral votes for president and electoral votes for vice president and the tie necessitated a contingent election in the House of Representatives.

Video: 'Revolution of 1800'

Under the terms laid out in the Constitution, the outgoing House of Representatives chose between Jefferson and Burr. Each state delegation cast one vote, and a victory in the contingent election required one candidate to win a majority of the state delegations.

Neither Burr nor Jefferson was able to win on the first 35 ballots of the contingent election, as most Federalist Congressmen backed Burr and all Democratic-Republican Congressmen backed Jefferson.

Former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton favored Jefferson over Burr, and he convinced several Federalists to switch their support to Jefferson, giving Jefferson a victory today on the 36th ballot of the contingent election.

Jefferson and Burr, who was elected vice president, would be sworn in for a four-year term on March 4, 1801.