VOA慢速英語:John Adams Elected as Nation39's Second President -The Making of a Nation No. 27 - Adams Part 1

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20 November, 2013

From VOA Learning English, welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

In 1796 the new nation held its third presidential election. George Washington won the first two elections without opposition. But 1796 saw a change in American politics. That year, for the first time, there was more than one candidate for president.

There was also more than one political party. The Federalists were led by former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton. And the Republicans were led by former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson.

John Adams was a Federalist. Most people expected him to win. He was well known throughout the country. He had campaigned for American independence from Britain. He had served as a diplomat in Europe and as the first American minister to Britain. He was George Washington's choice for vice president and had served in that position for both of Washington's terms.

But, unlike other Federalists, Adams was not loyal to Alexander Hamilton. So Hamilton worked against Adams. Hamilton tried to win support for his own candidate for president. His choice was another Federalist named Thomas Pinckney, from South Carolina.

At last, the day arrived for counting the votes of the electors. The Federalists were shocked by the results. Seventy-one electors voted for John Adams. Sixty-eight voted for Thomas Jefferson. Only sixty voted for Hamilton's choice, Thomas Pinckney.

Under the electoral system used at that time, the candidate with the most electoral votes became president. The candidate with the next largest number of votes became vice president.

So America's second president would be John Adams, a Federalist, and his vice president would be Thomas Jefferson, a Republican.

Jefferson had resigned from public service a few years earlier. But he decided to accept his election as vice president. He wrote to his friend James Madison that he was willing to serve under Adams. Jefferson said he believed Adams was the only man who could stop Alexander Hamilton from becoming president in the next election in 1800.

To Adams himself, Jefferson wrote that he valued their long friendship and hoped it would continue. Republican newspapers carried articles that were friendly to Federalist John Adams -- the first time they had done so.

Adams and Jefferson took office in March 1797. However, some Federalists believed their party's power had come to an end. Adams was a Federalist. But, as we said, he was not loyal to the party's leader, Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton, sitting in his law office in New York City, did not lose hope. He knew he still controlled the top Federalist leaders in Congress.

More than that, he believed he knew how to control John Adams.

The new president made Hamilton's job easy. Adams kept George Washington's top advisers. The three men, who had served in Washington's cabinet, would now advise President Adams.