Political upsets
A guided tour, 1801 CE – 2016 CE, in 13 stops.
Ten US elections that went against the odds or turned the country over, and how the map changed with them, from Jefferson's revolution of 1800 to 2016.
The stops
Jefferson ousts Adams (1801 CE)
John Adams became the first president voted out. Jefferson then tied with his own running mate, Aaron Burr, and the House needed 36 ballots to choose him. Power passed between rival parties without a shot, and the Federalists never won the presidency again.
The country doubles (1803 CE)
Two years in, Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon and roughly doubled the United States. France's claim goes from the map; Spain still holds Texas and the West.
Polk, the dark horse (1844 CE)
The Democrats passed over their favourites and chose James K. Polk on the ninth ballot. The Whigs mocked “Who is James K. Polk?”, but he beat Henry Clay on a promise to take Texas and Oregon. Texas is still a country of its own here.
Polk's war (1848 CE)
Texas joined the Union and war with Mexico followed. American troops took Mexico City in 1847, and the peace of 1848 moved the border to the Pacific: California and the whole Southwest changed hands.
Lincoln wins with 40% (1860 CE)
In a four-way race, the candidate of a party just six years old won with under 40% of the vote. He wasn't even on the ballot in most of the South. Within weeks South Carolina left the Union.
The country splits (1861 CE)
Seven states had left before Lincoln took office and formed the Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis sworn in at Montgomery. Four more followed when war broke out in April 1861.
The Bull Moose split (1912 CE)
Denied the Republican nomination, Theodore Roosevelt walked out and ran for his new Progressive Party. He beat the sitting president, Taft, who carried just Utah and Vermont, but the split handed the White House to Woodrow Wilson. No third party has done as well since.
Roosevelt's landslide (1932 CE)
Four years after Herbert Hoover's own landslide, the Depression turned the country over. Franklin Roosevelt, governor of New York, carried 42 of the 48 states, and the Democrats held the White House for the next twenty years.
Dewey Defeats Truman (1948 CE)
The polls had Thomas Dewey far ahead, and with his own party split three ways Truman was written off. The Chicago Tribune printed its headline before the count was in. The next day, at St. Louis Union Station, the winner held it up.
The Watergate midterms (1974 CE)
Richard Nixon had won 49 states in 1972. Two years later he resigned rather than face impeachment, and that November voters gave the Democrats 49 more seats in the House.
Reagan's landslide (1980 CE)
The polls had the race close until the final week. Then Ronald Reagan swept 44 states, NBC called it before polls had closed in the West, and Republicans took the Senate for the first time since the 1950s.
The Republican Revolution (1994 CE)
Two years into Bill Clinton's presidency, Republicans gained 54 seats and the House for the first time in 40 years. Speaker Tom Foley lost his own seat in Spokane, the first sitting Speaker defeated since 1862, and Newt Gingrich took the gavel.
Trump beats the forecasts (2016 CE)
Most forecasts favoured Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by under a point each, and with them the presidency, while losing the popular vote by almost three million. Two days later he met Barack Obama in the Oval Office.