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The date is February 8, 1797. Washington's second term in office will end in only a few weeks. In his farewell address, given a few months before, he warned America about political parties and to avoid foreign entanglements. Philadelphia is a very busy place. Today, a joint session of Congress will convene to open up the certificates of the electoral votes from each state. It is expected that Vice President John Adams will win, however, others dispute this. There has been a growing rumour that the four votes cast from Vermont are invalid. In a series of letters to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson urges not to press the issue to prevent a "pseudo-President" from taking office. Madsion, the de-facto leader of the Democratic-Republicans in Philadelphia, is taking orders from Jefferson, who is at Monticello in Virginia via letters. He instructs all DR members of Congress to do as Jefferson says. The joint session of Congress then begins.

It first starts with the counting of votes from Tennessee. There are no objections, and the process continues all the way up to Vermont. Right after the tellers state the votes, John Adams, who is presiding over the event, asks, "For what purpose does the gentleman from Vermont arise?" Rep. Matthew Lyon, a Democratic-Republican, rises and approaches the front of the House chamber in Congress Hall. "I object to the certificate from Vermont because the electors were not chosen in accordance with the Constitution." John Adams then says "Does the gentleman from Vermont have a member of the Senate's signature on the written objection?" "Yes, Mr. President. I have Senator Aaron Burr's signature." John Adams then instructed the joint session to vote on separately whether to sustain the objection. After hours of vigorous debate, both houses agree to sustain the objection, discounting Vermont's electoral votes. The results call for a Congressional runoff between Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Pinckney, Aaron Burr, and Samuel Adams.


Rules:
Do not create random PODS.
Assume all natural disasters in OTL occur.
Feel free to continue and to choose a winner based on some kind of reasoning.
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