The Origins of Presidential Transitions

Though the founders declared their independence from King George and Great Britain in 1776, the first presidential transition under the U.S. Constitution did not take place until 1797 when George Washington retired, and his Vice-President John Adams took office. Like many political processes early in American history, no precedent or tradition existed until this initial act.

Historians note that John Hanson could be considered the first U.S. President since he served as the first President of the United States Congress Assembled under the Articles of Confederation. Seven other men served one-year terms after Hanson. However, Hanson and his fellow presidents served in a mostly ceremonial position as the Articles of Confederation purposely did not grant broad executive powers to those individuals who held this office. Hanson’s lasting legacy remains the establishment of Thanksgiving as holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. In fact, the lack of a strong chief executive became one of the many weaknesses of the Articles, which lead to the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

After George Washington chose to return home to his Virginia farm after serving two terms in office, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both ran for the vacant presidency. By this time, the first political parties had emerged within the cabinet established by Washington. Adams and Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s Treasury Secretary, formed the Federalist Party, while Thomas Jefferson, Washington’s Secretary of State, formed the Democratic-Republican Party with fellow Virginian James Madison.

Not anticipating the development of political parties, Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution stated the candidate with the most votes would be president and the candidate with the second most votes would be vice-president. In 1797, this resulted in John Adams winning the election and his electoral opponent Thomas Jefferson serving as vice-president.

Four years later, both candidates ran for the presidency, this time with Jefferson winning the election and presidency. Though Adams ran as the incumbent, he faced opposition from his own party as Alexander Hamilton urged Federalists to support Adams’ running mate, Charles Coteworth Pinckney. This resulted in Adams and Pinckney losing the election, while Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes. As mandated by the Constitution, the vote now went to the House of Representatives where Jefferson won on the 36th ballot. The 12th Amendment ratified in 1804 called for separate electoral counting for the president and vice-president.

With the election of Thomas Jefferson, for the first time, the United States had a presidential transition from one party to another. Before leaving office, Adams made some judicial appointments including the appointment of John Marshall as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Additional judicial appointments resulted in the landmark Marbury v. Madison (1803) Supreme Court decision that established the power of judicial review for the Supreme Court. Given the bitter nature of the campaign between Adams and Jefferson, Adams chose not to attend Jefferson’s inauguration. Ultimately, despite their differences, John Adams did provide for a peaceful transition of power to Thomas Jefferson. As the contemporary writer and memoirist Margaret Bayard Smith wrote,

I have this morning witnessed one of the most interesting scenes, a free people can ever witness. The changes of administration, which in every government and in every age have most generally been epochs of confusion, villainy and bloodshed, in this our happy country take place without any species of distraction, or disorder.

This tradition has continued for over two hundred years and remains a powerful symbol of American democracy and the rule of law.