Episode 2 of 3
Hamilton's Effort to Deny Adams Votes
- When
- 1796
- Where
- Electoral College voting
- Part of
- Inauguration of John Adams
Hamilton convinced at least 7 of 69 electors to withhold votes from Adams, seeking an overwhelming victory for Washington's preferred outcome.
In an effort to ensure that Adams did not accidentally become president and that Washington would have an overwhelming victory, Alexander Hamilton convinced at least 7 of the 69 electors not to cast their vote for Adams. This maneuver shaped the result of the 1796 election that brought Adams to the presidency.
Sources
- John Adams Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.