It’s said every day, “This election is an election for the history books.” However, it’s important to realize that the book shouldn’t just be opened to write down Hillary’s historic nomination, it should be opened to restudy the Election of 1800.
Now, I know what you’re thinking when you read this, you’re going to teach me about History on Her Campus? And, what does an election when our country was only eleven years into the presidency have to do with anything? It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but at least listen to the song, “The Election of 1800,” from the musical Hamilton, or watch the Drunk History episode on it, to know at least a little bit of what happened.
Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Why is an election that happened 216 years ago important to this election? It’s important to realize the similarities of the 2016 election to the election of 1800. There were three candidates in the election, the incumbent John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Of course things were different then, it was only 1800, but just assume everyone was just as confused on the truth back then from their only reliable source, the paper, as we are now from our vast array of media outlets. The three candidates should stick out to you, we have three official candidates now like they did in this History changing election. As politics is, to each their own on who they would compare each candidate too, but the fact of the matter is there was a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. Not to mention all three candidates were viewed as a less than diserable pick for the country, they had to pick the lesser of the evils, sound familar yet?
Photo courtsey of MSNBC
Now if everyone could go back to where they buried their American Government class they had to have in high school, the Constitution says if there’s a tie that the House of Representatives picks the president, which currently would only be 435 of our 538 electoral college members. It took 3 months for the House to officially decide in the case of the election of 1800. And, despite all that, Thomas Jefferson was elected president. However because the 12th amendment hadn’t been set in place yet, Aaron Burr became the president.
I tell you all this because of how random and tightly this race seems to be going. With three candidates it’s very likely two could end up in a tie. While yes, we won’t have one candidate as President and the other as Vice President since the 12th amendment fixed that issue. There is a possibility that we could have a two different parties as President and Vice President. That’s why you need to open up your History Books for this election besides to write in them. With this election you need to read your history. And with a significant number of people voting third party the vote will be split up even more than usual. As we all go to vote in two weeks, remember this history lesson, and remember that despite how far off it seems, history does repeat itself and with this election anything is possible.
Make sure you go exercise your right to vote on Tuesday, November 8th, 2016, collegiettes!