John Adams Sworn in as President of the United States (1797)
On March 4, 1797, John Adams was sworn in as President of the United States in the first peaceful transfer of power between elected officials in the United States. He succeeded George Washington to become the second President of the United States.
The election of 1796 was the second presidential election in U.S. history and set the standard for the transfer of power in the United States. John Adams was the candidate of the Federalist Party. At the time, the vice president was whoever came in second in votes, so Adams had no running mate. His biggest competition was Thomas Jefferson of the Democrat-Republican party.
Adams won the election by a narrow vote of 71 electoral votes for him to 68 electoral votes for Jefferson. So, on March 4, 1797, Adams was sworn in as President and George Washington stepped down. Jefferson became Adams’ Vice President.
In addition to this date marking the first peaceful transfer of power in America, it was also the only time a President and Vice President were elected from opposing tickets. – i.e. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson was a Domocrat-Republic. This eventually provided the fuel for the 12th Amendment, which states that presidential electors must designate between the President and Vice President on their ballots.