Should the election of 1796 be considered a contest between two political parties? why or why not?

No, the 1796 election should not be considered a contest between two political parties. The reasons why not are:  

1. The Constitution did not considerate political parties, stated that the second highest voted candidate would become vice president, no matter if his or her party would be different than elected President. The Constitution saw the president’s role as a conciliator who tried to bring people together despite their disagreements.

2. Each party did have an intended presidential candidate, which was Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson for the Republicans and Vice President John Adams for the Federalists. All candidates ran for president, but each party also had an intended vice president, which was Aaron Burr for the Republicans and Thomas Pinckney for the Federalists. As stated in Article Two, each elector had two votes to cast and did not have to indicate which ballot was for president nor which was for vice president.

3. President Adams had to deal not only with the opposition from Jefferson and the Republicans but also from other politicians from his own party, led by Alexander Hamilton.

the earth’s crust is broken into separate pieces called tectonic plates (fig. 7.14). recall that the crust is the solid, rocky, outer shell of the planet. it is composed of two distinctly different types of material: the less-dense continental crust and the more-dense oceanic crust. both types of crust rest atop solid, upper mantle material. the upper mantle, in turn, floats on a denser layer of lower mantle that is much like thick molten tar.

each tectonic plate is free-floating and can move independently. earthquakes and volcanoes are the direct result of the movement of tectonic plates at fault lines. the term fault is used to describe the boundary between tectonic plates. most of the earthquakes and volcanoes around the pacific ocean basin—a pattern known as the “ring of fire”—are due to the movement of tectonic plates in this region. other observable results of short-term plate movement include the gradual widening of the great rift lakes in eastern africa and the rising of the himalayan mountain range. the motion of plates can be described in four general patterns:

collision: when two continental plates are shoved together

subduction: when one plate plunges beneath another (fig. 7.15)

spreading: when two plates are pushed apart (fig. 7.15)

transform faulting: when two plates slide past each other (fig. 7.15)