A Wild Election, a Secret Treaty, and America’s Greatest Expedition

In ‘This Week in History,’ a president’s vision of the Pacific and a French offer make way for Lewis and Clark’s great adventure.
A Wild Election, a Secret Treaty, and America’s Greatest Expedition
"Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia," 1905, by Charles M. Russell. Opaque and transparent watercolor over graphite underdrawing on paper. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Public Domain
Dustin Bass
Updated:
0:00

While the election of 1800 was underway, France and Spain were in talks about Louisiana. Spain owned lands west of the Mississippi River, most importantly the port of New Orleans. The Americans had negotiated with the Spanish to ensure continued trade access to the major port city—access they had long enjoyed. With France now under Napoleon Bonaparte’s leadership, it appeared as if the situation, unbeknown to the Americans, was about to dramatically change.

As the votes began to come in to elect America’s president, France and Spain signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso, which would “retrocede to the French Republic … the colony or province of Louisiana.” Whoever was to be president for the upcoming four-year term would have a geopolitical nightmare to contend with. At the time, no American politician knew of this secret treaty. Indeed, just as with the election of 1800, the final results would be some time in coming.

A Near-Miss President’s Secretary

The election provided clarity in one way: John Adams would not be reelected. But that was hardly half the trouble. At the time, the Constitution required state electors to “vote by Ballot for two Persons … [and t]he Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President … and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President.” It was up to the political parties to identify who would be their presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and, therefore, were supposed to ensure the vice-presidential candidate received one less vote than the presidential candidate.
Dustin Bass
Dustin Bass
Author
Dustin Bass is the creator and host of the American Tales podcast, and co-founder of The Sons of History. He writes two weekly series for The Epoch Times: Profiles in History and This Week in History. He is also an author.