This Day in History February 17, 1801

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I thought this would be a rather timely feature since President's Day is tomorrow.  Th election of 1800 featured Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.  There was no majority winner between the two.  Therefore it was up to the House of Representatives to pick a winner.  The House was dominated by the Federalists, and  they didn't like either candidate.  There was some heated debate for about a week, and scandal was possible if a president was not chosen soon.  After all, the electoral process was still in its infancy (as was our country).  It was finally determined that Jefferson was the lesser of two evils, and so on this date in 1801, Thomas Jefferson was chosen as our third president.  Aaron Burr became his vice-president (that was how things were decided back then--most votes=president; runner-up=vice-president).

For more information:
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/ff_t_jefferson.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson
http://famousdaily.com/history/thomas-jefferson-became-the-3rd.html