Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr ran on the Republican ticket, though not together against John Adams and Charles Pickney, the Federalists. Jefferson and Burr received the same number of votes, so the decision went to the House of Representatives. After a deadlock, Alexander Hamilton finally threw his support to Jefferson, and so Jefferson became president, Burr the vice president. Though it was a Republican president and vice president, the Judiciary Act of 1801 and former president John Adams created last minute commissions, including the appointing of John Marshall as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, thus guaranteeing the continuation of Federal policies in the high court.

Jefferson's presidency is often branded with his dream of Republican Agrarianism. Jefferson envisioned a nation of independent farmers living under a central government that had little control over their lives and liberties (but just served to protect those liberties guaranteed in the...