If you believed the partisans from the other side, the 1800 election pitted a cabal of monarchists in thrall to Great Britain against godless revolutionaries who planned to put up a guillotine in the new capital of Washington, D.C. After a, shall we say, lengthy and difficult process, the godless revolutionary candidate prevailed. In spite of their fears, the Federalists acquiesced to the transfer of power, and Jefferson didn’t guillotine anyone; in fact, somewhat to his chagrin, most of the existing governmental machinery remained in place.
The precedents set in 1800 after an overheated election have been followed ever since and are still pertinent today, even if Trump doesn’t agree.