United States presidential election, 1808
< 1804  1812 > |
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| United States presidential election,
1808 |
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| 1808 | ||||
| Winner | Runner up | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
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| 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% | ||
 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. |
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Before Election |
After Election |
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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.)
Nominations
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. The Democratic-Republican caucus also nominated sitting Vice President George Clinton of New York to a second term. The Federalist caucus renominated Charles Pinckney of South Carolina and former Senator Rufus King of New York.
General election
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.
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 |
Running Mate's Electoral Vote(c) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | |||||||
| 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 | 100.0% | 175 | Total | 175 | |||
| Needed to win | 88 | Needed to win | 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.
Electoral college selection
| Method of choosing Electors | State(s) |
|---|---|
| each Elector appointed by state legislature | 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 |
See also
References
- A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College. The Green Papers. Retrieved on March 20, 2005.
- A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825
Navigation
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