The Nation Learns to Move On

I have been thinking about presidential elections and presidential succession, and about the adage that the United States has had the longest uninterrupted history of peaceful transitions of power in the world. What does it take to lay down a track record like that? A lot of choices by a lot of people.

• The election of 1788 was the first under the new Constitution, immediately after the Articles of Confederation had failed badly. The Constitution created a much stronger executive; George Washington had a lot of freedom to decide what the presidency would look like in practice. He chose to limit his own power. He didn’t have to.
• The election of 1796 was the first orderly succession from one president to the next. Washington chose to retire. He didn’t have to. It was also the first seriously contested partisan presidential election. Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans accepted the results. They didn’t have to.
• The election of 1800 was the first orderly succession from one party to another. John Adams and the Federalists had tried to suppress the Democratic-Republican press while in office, and the lame-duck Adams administration tried to stuff the federal judiciary with the “midnight judges,” touching off the near constitutional crisis of Marbury v. Madison. But they accepted the results and Adams left office without a fight. He didn’t have to. The election of 1800 was also by far the most closely contested election to date: the Electoral College vote was a tie, and the House of Representatives required thirty-six ballots over seven days to settle on Jefferson instead of his nominal running mate, Aaron Burr. While serving as vice-president, Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel; he was charged with murder but never tried. I’m not sure whether letting Burr walk counts as a contribution to or against governmental stability.
• The election of 1804 was not itself closely contested or controversial. But the Democratic-Republicans used the election to replace Burr with George Clinton as vice-president. After the election, Burr traveled and schemed extensively in the West, was tried for treason and acquitted, and lived in exile for several years. Both Burr and Jefferson accepted an outcome that must have satisfied neither.
• The election of 1808 made a genuine precedent out of Washington’s choice to limit himself to two terms. Thomas Jefferson chose to retire. He didn’t have to.
• The election of 1812 took place during the War of 1812. James Madison went ahead with the election during wartime. He didn’t have to.
• The election of 1824 was the the first election in which the winner of a clear plurality of the popular vote and of the electoral vote was not elected president. The Twelfth Amendment (which had been enacted to prevent messes like the one of 1800 and only partially succeeded) sent the election to the House, which chose John Quincy Adams. Andrew Jackson’s supporters denounced the “corrupt bargain,” but Jackson accepted the outcome. He didn’t have to.
• The election of 1840 itself was not a crisis, but it created one when William Henry Harrison died barely a month after taking office. The rest of the government accepted that John Tyler would be the president, rather “Vice President acting as President.” It didn’t have to. Then Tyler provoked his own crisis by vetoing legislation to create a national bank. His cabinet resigned in an unsuccessful attempt to force his own resignation, and the Whigs expelled him from the party. But they didn’t try to push the issue further. They could have.
• The election of 1852 featured a candidate who was an active-duty general. Winfield Scott was Commanding General of the United States Army when he ran as a Whig. He didn’t order soldiers to put him in office after his defeat. He could have.
• The election of 1860 is the exception that proves the rule. After Abraham Lincoln’s victory, the southern states refused to accept the legitimacy of his presidency and seceded from the union. It took the Civil War to settle that Lincoln really was the president of all of the United States.
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