Celebrations Today – February 17
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day:
- Independence Day (Kosovo), celebrates the independence declaration of Kosovo in 2008, still under dispute.
- Random Acts of Kindness Day (United States)
- Revolution Day (Libya)
Celebrations Today – USA: February 17
National Cabbage Day
National Random Acts of Kindness Day
National Caregivers Day – Third Friday in February
National Digital Learning Day
National My Way Day
National Café au Lait Day
National Champion Crab Races Day
National PTA Founders’ Day
National Public Science Day
National Who Shall I Be Day
World Human Spirit Day
Today in US History: February 17
Jefferson Victorious
On February 17, 1801, the House of Representatives, breaking a tie in the Electoral College, elected Thomas Jefferson president of the United States. Jefferson’s triumph brought an end to one of the most acrimonious presidential campaigns in U.S. history and resolved a serious Constitutional crisis.
Thomas Jefferson, photograph of a painting in U.S. Capitol, Theodor Horydczak, photographer, circa 1920-1950.
Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959
Democratic-Republican Jefferson defeated Federalist John Adams by a margin of seventy-three to sixty-five electoral votes in the presidential election of 1800. When presidential electors cast their votes, however, they failed to distinguish between the office of president and vice president on their ballots. Jefferson and his running mate Aaron Burr each received seventy-three votes. With the votes tied, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives as required by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. There, each state voted as a unit to decide the election.
Still dominated by Federalists, the sitting Congress loathed to vote for Jefferson—their partisan nemesis. For six days starting on February 11, 1801, Jefferson and Burr essentially ran against each other in the House. Votes were tallied over thirty times, yet neither man captured the necessary majority of nine states. Eventually, Federalist James A. Bayard of Delaware, under intense pressure and fearing for the future of the Union, made known his intention to break the impasse. As Delaware’s lone representative, Bayard controlled the state’s entire vote. On the thirty-sixth ballot, Bayard and other Federalists from South Carolina, Maryland, and Vermont cast blank ballots, breaking the deadlock and giving Jefferson the support of ten states, enough to win the presidency.
Jefferson was inaugurated on March 4, 1801. Ratified in 1804, the Twelfth Amendment, to the Constitution provides that electors “name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President.”
Just three years after his vice-presidential inauguration, Aaron Burr shot and fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton, a longtime political antagonist of both Burr and Jefferson, played a key role in breaking the deadlocked presidential election in Jefferson’s favor.
Capitol Building, Richmond, Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson, photographed 1909.
Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991
- Search The Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress to learn more about Jefferson and his times. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Document types in the collection include correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript volumes.
- Search the papers of George Washington and James Madison to find additional letters to, from, or referring to Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
- Research the deliberations of Congress from the Jefferson-era in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875.
- In 1807, Thomas Jefferson was served a subpoena to testify in defense of Burr, charged with treason as a consequence of additional misadventures. Search the collection Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division’s First 100 Years on Jefferson to locate this document and others including Jefferson’s drawing of a macaroni machine and instructions for making pasta.
- Today in History features related to Thomas Jefferson and his presidency include Jefferson’s birthday, the Louisiana Purchase, and the former president’s offer to sell his library to Congress.
- Learn how Jefferson’s personal vision shaped the Library of Congress in Jefferson’s Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress, an online book by John Y. Cole, Director of the Library’s Center for the Book.
- Search the American Memory pictorial collections on Monticello and University of Virginia to view many photographs of Jefferson’s Virginia home and the university that he founded in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Today in History – February 17-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia