United States presidential election, 1808

Infobox Election
election_name = United States presidential election, 1808
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States presidential election, 1804
previous_year = 1804
next_election = United States presidential election, 1812
next_year = 1812
election_date = 1808


nominee1 = James Madison
party1 = Democratic-Republican Party
running_mate1 = George Clinton, John Langdon
home_state1 = Virginia
electoral_vote1 = 122
states_carried1 = 12
popular_vote1 = 124,732
percentage1 = 64.7%


nominee2 = Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
party2 = Federalist Party (United States)
running_mate2 = Rufus King
home_state2 = South Carolina
electoral_vote2 = 47
states_carried2 = 5
popular_vote2 = 62,431
percentage2 = 32.4%
map_

---

map_size = 350px
map_caption = Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Madison, burnt orange denotes states won by Pinckney, cream denotes states won by Clinton. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
title = President
before_election = Thomas Jefferson
before_party = Democratic-Republican Party
after_election = James Madison
after_party = Democratic-Republican Party

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

Democratic-Republican Party nomination

Democratic-Republican candidates

* James Madison, U.S. Secretary of State from Virginia
* James Monroe, former Governor of Virginia
* George Clinton, Vice President of the United States from New York

Candidates gallery

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. 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.

Federalist Party nomination

Federalist candidates

* Charles C. Pinckney, former U.S. Minister to France from South Carolina

Candidates gallery

The Federalist caucus renominated General Charles Cotesworth 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.

Source (Popular Vote): [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=59537 U.S. President National Vote] . " [http://www.ourcampaigns.com Our Campaigns] ". (February 10, 2006).
Source (Electoral Vote): National Archives EV source| year=1808| as of=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

See also

* History of the United States (1789-1849)
* United States House elections, 1808

References

*
* [http://dca.tufts.edu/features/aas/index.html A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825]

Navigation