Hamilton And The Election of 1800.

[Activity: Make a Campaign Button]

By Brandon Marie Miller

Four men ran for president in 1800. Except back then it looked bad for a gentleman to really "run" for president. Candidates "stood" for office. They didn't debate one another or make speeches. Instead, friends and newspapers fought on their behalf.

President John Adams, a Federalist, hoped he'd be re-elected. Another Federalist, Charles Pinckney was also in the race. Adams's main foe was Thomas Jefferson, a Republican (a different political party from today's modern one). New Yorker Aaron Burr also ran as a Republican. But it was a man not running for president who'd affect the election: Alexander Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton

Make Some Campaign Buttons

        Looking ahead the presidential election -- are you talking with your kids about the process?  Do they have a favorite candidate?

        
        Buried deep in my dresser drawers are campaign buttons I kept from when I was a kid and when I first voted.

        
 The oldest is a great big one with a rose on it and the name Margaret Chase Smith--one of the first women to run for the presidential nomination. My mother was on her campaign committee in 1963.  
        
      There are others -- Rocky, HHH, McGovern…and of course a whole group of them for Theodore Roosevelt that I used in my book Theodore Roosevelt for Kids.

       
      TR’s campaign buttons are collectibles now.  Some of them are quite fancy and still have ribbons attached to them, though they are now more than 100 years old. Click on the photo to see them in detail.

        
       As Chicago Review Press publisher Cynthia Sherry was looking through my manuscript, she wrote up an activity for the book -- something she’d done with her two daughters.  Thanks to Cynthia, here’s a recipe for making your own campaign button!