1792 Presidential Election: Washington vs Clinton
THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1792 UNITED STATES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST THE CHALLENGER, REPRESENTING THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS, THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, GEORGEEEEEE CLINTON!!!
The challenger
The incumbent
"That damn Hamilton's not gonna get away with this!" - Thomas Jefferson
"Those sonovabitch Federalists, can't trust ANY of them!" - Aaron Burr
"Federalists controlling the country? Over my dead body!" - Thomas Jefferson
Its a landslide!
The champs retain
AND HIS OPPONENT, HE IS SEEKING RE-ELECTION. REPRESENTING THE FEDERALISTS, HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGEEEE WASHINGTONNNNNNN
Heading into the 1792 Presidential Election, it was obvious that nobody was going to top Washington, but a new party would try. After realizing that Alexander Hamilton's Federalists had essentially won by instituting a strong central government and keeping the power to the wealthy, Thomas Jefferson fired back with his own party, the Democratic Republicans. Men such as himself, New York Governor George Clinton, New York Senator Aaron Burr and even Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Samuel Adams all pledged their allegiance to Jefferson's cause. Meanwhile Washington was a Federalist and so was his vice president, John Adams. In those days, whoever came in second place was the Vice President so Jefferson's hope was that one of them could topple Adams and at least get half of the administration in their favor. You can see why they changed the rules eventually to a one party wins system.
Since it was essentially Jefferson who was the head of the Republicans, why George Clinton instead of him? The rules at the time stated that you couldn't cast your two electoral votes to two guys from the same state. Since Washington was also from Virginia, Jefferson would essentially be left out of this one. But who were these guys? Washington, Clinton and Adams we already know, but who were the others? Aaron Burr was born in 1756 in Newark, New Jersey. He had a normal education until he was 19 years old when he started studying law with his brother in law in Connecticut. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord jumpstarted the Revolution, the teenaged Burr joined the Continental Army. Burr actually served under eventual turncoat Benedict Arnold and after the Americans got their ass kicked in the Battle of Quebec, Burr tried to bring General Richard Montgomery's body back to the States. He couldn't do it due to the winter weather and the dead weight. Worse, he was a key factor in the Americans retreat from Manhattan but General Washington either forgot or refused to give Burr an accommodation. Apparently Burr took that personally and one of the main reasons he denounced the Federalists later in life, was the snub by Washington. Burr was also quite the ladies man and had an affair with military officer Jacques Prevost's wife Theodosia. After Jacques died, Aaron married her in 1782 despite her being ten years older than him. The original cougar hunter was Aaron Burr. That same year he became an attorney in New York and joined the New York Assembly in 1784, unsuccessfully trying to abolish slavery in the process. In 1791, he defeated New York Senator Phillip Schuyler to win his seat in the US Senate. Going into the 1792 election, Burr still had a grudge against Washington and didn't think highly of Hamilton or Adams either.
Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 in Virginia to a wealthy plantation owner named Peter. He spent the first 17 years of his life trying all forms of education from tutors and self teaching to clergymen. He also befriended local Native Americans but his father died when he was 14. He went to William & Mary University and graduated in 1762. He passed the Virginia bar in 1767 and joined the House of Burgesses in 1769. In 1774, he turned radical by calling for a boycott of British goods after the Intolerable Acts were passed when the British blew a gasket over the Boston Tea Party. Jefferson married his wife Martha in 1772 but she unfortunately passed in 1782. In the middle of the marriage, it was Jefferson who drafted the Declaration of Independence and was only 33 when he joined Continental Congress. During this he became friends with Massachusetts radical John Adams. He then became Governor of Virginia in 1779 and famously skipped town in 1781 when turncoat Benedict Arnold marched British forces through Virginia looking to arrest him. He escaped with his life, but Virginia wasn't happy with him running away screaming with his arms flailing over his head. They voted him out of the Governor's office shortly after. Despite the death of his wife and daughter, Thomas joined the Congress of Confederation in 1783 which passed the Treaty of Paris, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
Post-war he became the Minister to France which was one of the primary reasons he became a well known Francophile. But that's a story for another day. He left France in 1789 as the new US Constitution and the Bill of Rights needed to be ratified. Back home he became the first Secretary of State under new US President George Washington despite denouncing the Federalists and their call for a strong central government. According to Jefferson, why the hell did they fight a near 10 year war with Great Britain only to run the country exactly like them? The problem was powerful men such as Vice President John Adams and George Washington wanted independence FROM the British, but still greatly respected them enough to copy their style. This style clash led to Jefferson founding the Democratic Republicans who tried in vain to bring the power to the common man rather than the rich aristocrats. The irony is that most of the Republicans were very wealthy as well. He met with Federalist boss Alexander Hamilton and fellow Virginian diplomat James Madison in 1790 to work out a compromise. Whatever went on there died with those three men. Jefferson may have had different political views than Washington, but he knew that if the country wasn't happy about being run like the British 10 years after the War ended, then Washington could unite everyone if he was re-elected in 1792. Jefferson's real target was his friend John Adams. In those days when second place won the Vice Presidency, Jefferson wanted a Democratic Republican to win to cut the Federalist power in half. Because he happened to live in the same state as Washington, he couldn't realistically be elected. Still, he had more influence on the Democrats than anyone else.
So because Jefferson was kind of disqualified due to his Virginia connection, he and James Madison effectively lent their support to the campaign of George Clinton. New York was a very important swing state in those days and Clinton said it was him or Aaron Burr. Burr wouldn't forget THAT either. Nowadays primaries are decided four months before the election, but Clinton didn't officially get the bid until one month before.
Fight
The result? ITS A LANDSLIDE. George Washington won the re-election easily with 132 electoral votes carrying 15 states. Aaron Burr only got one electoral vote from South Carolina and Thomas Jefferson got 4 from Kentucky. So how did Adams vs Clinton turn out? Adams got 77 electoral votes and Clinton just 50, meaning Adams would retain the title of Vice President as well.
Washington and Adams retaining the tag team titles so to speak didn't come as much of a surprise. The country loved Washington as their national hero and he supported his fellow Federalist Adams. The Democratic Republicans was a relatively new party that needed to get some experience before taking on the Federalist juggernaut. Still, it wasn't a total loss. The Constitution instituted a two term presidential limit meaning if Washington was a man of his word, and many felt he was, he'd leave office after the 1796 election. With Washington out of the picture, that would give Jefferson the inside track on the Democratic nomination next time. But that was next time. As of now, Washington was still the president and Adams still the Vice President.
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