Who won the election of 1800?

The election of 1800 was decided by the House of Representatives in favor of Thomas Jefferson. The election was intended to be between John Adams and Jefferson, but Jefferson's running mate, Aaron Burr, received more votes than Adams.

At that time, there was no distinction between presidential and vice-presidential votes in the electoral college. Jefferson and Burr tied with 73 electoral votes each, a majority but still technically a tie according to the Constitution. The House of Representatives, controlled by the opposing Federalist party, was not happy with either choice. It took 36 ballots for representatives to reach a decision to elect Jefferson. The 12th Amendment was passed in 1804 to prevent this problem from happening again by separating presidential and vice-presidential votes in the Electoral College.