United States presidential election, 1812

Infobox Election
election_name = United States presidential election, 1812
country = United States
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States presidential election, 1808
previous_year = 1808
next_election = United States presidential election, 1816
next_year = 1816
election_date = 1812


nominee1 = James Madison
party1 = Democratic-Republican Party
running_mate1 = Elbridge Gerry
home_state1 = Virginia
electoral_vote1 = 128
states_carried1 = 11
popular_vote1 = 140,431
percentage1 = 50.4%


nominee2 = DeWitt Clinton
party2 = Federalist Party (United States)
running_mate2 = Jared Ingersoll
home_state2 = New York
electoral_vote2 = 89
states_carried2 = 7
popular_vote2 = 132,781
percentage2 = 47.6%
map_

---

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

The United States presidential election of 1812 took place in the shadow of the War of 1812. It featured an intriguing competition between incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison and a dissident Democratic-Republican, DeWitt Clinton, nephew of Madison's late Vice President. The Federalist opposition threw their support behind Clinton. Nonetheless, Madison was re-elected handily.

Background

The spillover from the Napoleonic Wars had been steadily worsening throughout James Madison's first term, with the British and the French both ignoring the United States' neutral rights at sea and seizing American ships. The British provided additional provocations by impressing American seamen, by maintaining forts within United States territory in the Northwest, and by supporting American Indians at war with the United States in both the Northwest and Southwest.

Meanwhile, expansionists in the South and West of the United States coveted both British Canada and Spanish Florida, and wanted to use the provocations as a pretext to seize both areas. The pressure steadily built, and, on June 12, 1812, after Madison had been nominated by the Democratic-Republicans but before the Federalists had made their nomination, the United States declared war on Great Britain.

Nominations

Democratic-Republican Party nomination

Democratic-Republican candidates

* James Madison, President of the United States from Virginia

Candidates gallery

On May 18, a Democratic-Republican Congressional nominating caucus nominated President James Madison of Virginia. Seeking a New Englander for a running mate, the caucus initially chose New Hampshire governor John Langdon to balance the ticket, but after Langdon declined due to his age, a second caucus later nominated Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts for the Vice Presidency, which had been vacant since George Clinton's death a month earlier.

Federalist Party nomination

Federalist candidates

* DeWitt Clinton, Lieutenant Governor of New York

Candidates gallery

On May 29, a caucus of dissident Democratic-Republicans in the New York legislature nominated former Senator and current Mayor Dewitt Clinton of New York City, the nephew of the late Vice President. Clinton's campaign tailored their pamphlets and speeches by region. In the Northeast, Clinton was portrayed as the anti-War candidate. Meanwhile, in the South and West, where there were few people opposed to the war, Clinton ran on the basis of a more vigorous prosecution of the war.

In September, after fierce debate, a Federalist nominating caucus in New York City decided to support Clinton as their best chance to defeat the Democratic-Republicans since the "Revolution of 1800". The caucus then picked former United States Attorney Jared Ingersoll of Pennsylvania as his running mate.

General election

Campaign

Clinton continued his regional campaigning, anti-war in a Northeast most harmed by the war, and pro-war in the South and West. Although the Federalists made gains in Congress and although Clinton did better than any Federalist candidate since Adams, taking New York and New Jersey, Madison still won the Presidency by a comfortable margin.

Results

Source (Popular Vote): [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=59536 U.S. President National Vote] . " [http://www.ourcampaigns.com Our Campaigns] ". (February 10, 2006).
Source (Electoral Vote): National Archives EV source| year=1812| as of=July 30, 2005

^(a) "Only 9 of the 18 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 Ohio did not vote."

Source: National Archives EV source| year=1812| as of=July 30, 2005

Breakdown by ticket

The split-party ticket of the Federalist DeWitt Clinton and the Democratic-Republican Elbridge Gerry was the result of two Federalist Electors in Gerry's home state of Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire voting for the New England region's favorite.

Electoral college selection

See also

* History of the United States (1789-1849)
* United States House elections, 1812

References

; Books:* cite book |first=Paul F., Jr. |last=Boller |year=2004 |title=Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush |pages=26–28 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |id=ISBN 0-19-516716-3; Web:* cite web |title=A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College |work=The Green Papers |url=http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/ElectoralCollege.html |accessmonthday=March 20 |accessyear=2005:* cite web |title=DeWitt Clinton Candidacy |work=OurCampaigns.com |url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=263178 |accessmonthday=February 16 |accessyear=2007
* [http://dca.tufts.edu/features/aas/index.html A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825]

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