Wednesday, February 13, 2008

1808

United States presidential election, 1808
1808




Nominee James Madison Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Party Democratic-Republican Federalist
Home state Virginia South Carolina
Running mate George Clinton, John Langdon Rufus King
Electoral vote 122 47
States carried 12 5
Popular vote 124,732 62,431
Percentage 64.7% 32.4%


United States presidential election, 1808

Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Madison, Brown denotes states won by Pinckney, Cream denotes states won by Clinton. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.


Incumbent
Thomas Jefferson
Democratic-Republican


Successor
James Madison
Democratic-Republican

In the United States presidential election of 1808, the Democratic- Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Madison had served as United States Secretary of State under incumbent Thomas Jefferson, and Pinckney had been the unsuccessful Federalist candidate in the election of 1804.

Sitting Vice President George Clinton, who had served under Thomas Jefferson, was also a candidate for President, garnering six electoral votes from a wing of the Democratic-Republican Party that disapproved of James Madison.

This election was the first of only two instances in American history in which a new President would be selected but the incumbent Vice President would continue to serve. (The re-election of John C. Calhoun in 1828 was the other instance.)

Contents

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[edit] Democratic-Republican Party Nomination

Nominations were done by caucus. With Thomas Jefferson ready to retire, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated Secretary of State James Madison of Virginia to succeed him. James Monroe was also a candidate for the nomination with the support of States Rights Republicans. Vice President George Clinton was also a candidate for the nomination with support from New York Republicans. The caucus also re-nominated Clinton for a second term as Vice President.

[edit] Federalist Party Nomination

The Federalist caucus renominated General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina and former Senator Rufus King of New York.

[edit] General election

[edit] Campaign

The election was marked by opposition to Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a halt to trade with Europe that disproportionately hurt New England merchants and was perceived as favoring France over Britain. Nonetheless, Jefferson was still very popular with Americans generally and Pinckney was soundly defeated, though not as badly as in 1804. Pinckney carried only a handful of votes outside New England.

[edit] Results

Pinckney received all the electoral votes that he had received in 1804, and he also picked up New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and three electoral districts in North Carolina. Except for the North Carolina districts, all of the improvement was in New England.

The faithless electors who voted for George Clinton for President were all from New York.

Presidential Candidate Party Home State Popular Vote(a), (b) Electoral
Vote(c)
Running Mate Running Mate's
Home State
RM's Electoral
Vote(c)
Count Pct
James Madison Democratic-Republican Virginia 124,732 64.7% 122 George Clinton New York 113
John Langdon New Hampshire 9
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Federalist South Carolina 62,431 32.4% 47 Rufus King New York 47
George Clinton Democratic-Republican New York 6 James Madison Virginia 3
James Monroe Virginia 3
James Monroe Democratic-Republican Virginia 4,848 2.5% 0 (none) (n/a) 0
(unpledged electors) (none) (n/a) 680 0.4% 0 (n/a) (n/a) 0
Total 192,691 100 % 175
175
Needed to win 88
88

Source (Popular Vote): U.S. President National Vote. Our Campaigns. (February 10, 2006).

Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 30, 2005).

(a) Only 10 of the 17 states chose electors by popular vote.
(b) Those states that did choose electors by popular vote had widely varying restrictions on suffrage via property requirements.
(c) One Elector from Kentucky did not vote.

[edit] Electoral college selection

Method of choosing Electors State(s)
Each Elector appointed by state legislature Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Massachusetts
New York
South Carolina
Vermont
Each Elector chosen by voters statewide New Hampshire
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia
State is divided into electoral districts, with one Elector chosen per district by the voters of that district Kentucky
Maryland
North Carolina
Tennessee

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Navigation

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