The House finally picks a president on the 36th ballot
On this day · 17 February 1801
A tied Electoral College threw the 1800 election to the House, which deadlocked for days before handing Jefferson the win.
On February 17, 1801, after six days and 36 ballots, the U.S. House of Representatives ended one of the strangest elections in American history. The cause was a quirk of the original Constitution: electors cast two undifferentiated votes, and Democratic-Republicans Thomas Jefferson and his intended running mate Aaron Burr each finished with 73 electoral votes. A tie sent the choice to the House, where each state delegation got a single vote and nine of sixteen were needed to win.
Ballot after ballot produced no majority. The impasse broke only when several Federalists, including James Bayard of Delaware, withheld their votes rather than back Burr.
On the 36th ballot, Jefferson at last carried ten states and the presidency.
The spectacle exposed a dangerous flaw. Congress moved quickly, and the Twelfth Amendment (ratified 1804) required electors to vote separately for president and vice president, so a running mate could never again accidentally rival the top of the ticket.
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