Hello and welcome to a history of the United States, Episode 187, The Election of 1800. Last time out,

we covered the final few years of the Adams administration. Adams found himself overwhelmed

by events following the XYZ affair as the United States became engulfed in a quasi-war with France.

Hamilton took advantage of the situation to step in as Washington's second in command for the new

army, but once Nelson defeated the French fleet in the Battle of the Noel, the French threat

dissipated.

Adams took action and sent a mission to Paris, which would ultimately agree a deal with Napoleon.

But today I want to focus on the repercussions of this mission domestically,

specifically how it divided the Federalists. Factions within the Federalist Party weren't exactly a new thing.

We've already talked about the Hamiltonians in Adams' cabinet.

However, Adam's mission to France turned the fracture into a gaping chasm.

Federalists split into the moderates who supported the president

and the altrues who supported Hamilton. Adams finally forced the altrues, McEnry and Pickering,

out of his cabinet, but it was Hamilton who enraged him.

Adams told Buchnery, quote,

Hamilton is an intrigant, the greatest intrigant in the world, a man devoid of every moral principle, a bastard,

and as much a foreigner as a Galatian.

Mr. Jefferson is an infinitely better man,

a wiser one, I am sure, and if president, will act wisely. I know it, and would rather be vice-president under him, or even Minister-resident at the Hague, than indebted to such a being as Hamilton

for the presidency. But I can retire to Quincy, and, like Washington, write letters and leave

them behind me." End quote. Hamilton was, as you might expect, livid. Now, to explain what happened next, we have to consider that the election of 1800 was looming.

As you'll remember from episode 184, elections worked a bit differently to how they do now.

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