United States presidential election, 1812

United States presidential election, 1812

October 30 – December 2, 1812

All 217 electoral votes of the Electoral College 109 electoral votes needed to win   Nominee James Madison DeWitt Clinton Party Democratic-Republican Democratic-Republican Home state Virginia New York Running mate Elbridge Gerry Jared Ingersoll Electoral vote 128 89 States carried 11 7 Popular vote 140,431 132,781 Percentage 50.4% 47.6%

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

President before election James Madison Democratic-Republican Elected President James Madison Democratic-Republican

The United States presidential election of 1812 was the 7th quadrennial Federalist opposition threw their support behind Clinton. Nonetheless, Madison was re-elected with 50.4 percent of the popular vote, making the 1812 election the closest up to that point in history.

Background

Residual military conflict resulting from the Napoleonic Wars in Europe had been steadily worsening throughout James Madison's first term, with the British and the French both ignoring the neutrality rights of the United States at sea and seizing American ships, looking for supposed British deserters in a practice known as impressment. The British provided additional provocations by impressing American seamen, maintaining forts within United States territory in the Northwest, and 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 British Canada and Spanish Florida and wanted to use British provocations as a pretext to seize both areas. The pressure steadily built, and the United States declared war on the United Kingdom on June 12, 1812. This occurred after Madison had been nominated by the Democratic-Republicans, but before the Federalists had made their nomination.

Nominations

Democratic-Republican Party nomination

Democratic-Republican candidates:

• President
  James Madison
  of Virginia
• Mayor and Lt. Governor
  DeWitt Clinton
  of New York
• Vice President
  George Clinton
  of New York
  (Died April 20)

Many Democratic-Republicans in the Northern states were unhappy over the perceived dominance of the Presidency by the state of Virginia, three of the last four Presidents having been Virginians, and wished to instead nominate one of their own rather than renominate Madison. Initially these hopes were pinned upon Vice President DeWitt Clinton, would be considered their preferred candidate to move against Madison.

Hoping to forestall a serious movement against incumbent President James Madison and a division of the Democratic-Republican Party, some proposed making DeWitt Clinton the nominee for the Vice Presidency, taking the same office his uncle now held. DeWitt was not opposed to the offer, but preferred to wait until after the New York caucus to finalize his decision which due to delays would not be held until after the Congressional Caucus had met. Early caucuses were also held in the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania, both which pledged their support to Madison. On May 18 a Democratic-Republican Congressional nominating caucus was held, and James Madison was formally nominated as the candidate of his party, though divisions were quite apparent; only 86 of the 134 Democratic-Republican Senators and Congressmen had participated in the caucus. Seeking a Northerner for a running mate and with DeWitt Clinton remaining aloof, the caucus chose Governor New Hampshire John Langdon to balance the ticket. However Langdon declined due to his advanced age, at the time 70 years. A second caucus was called which nominated Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts for the Vice Presidency, though he was not much younger than Langdon at 68.

However on May 29, the New York caucus voted to nominate DeWitt Clinton for the Presidency near unanimously. Clinton's now open candidacy was opposed by many who, while not friends of James Madison, feared that Clinton was now apt to tear the Democratic-Republican party asunder. The matter of how to conduct his campaign also became a major problem for Clinton, especially with regards to the war with the British after June 12. Many of Clinton's supporters were war-hawks who advocated for more extreme measures so as to force the British into negotiations favorable to the United States, while DeWitt also knew he would have to appeal to Federalists to win, who were almost wholly opposed to the war.^[1]

Federalist nomination

Federalist candidates:

• Mayor and Lt. Governor
  DeWitt Clinton
  of New York
• Chief Justice of the United States
  John Marshall
  of Virginia
  (Declined to Contest)

Before Clinton had entered the race as an alternative to President Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall was a favorite for the Federalist nomination, a relatively popular figure who could carry much of the Northeast while potentially taking with him Virginia and North Carolina. However with Clinton in the race they could no longer count on the vote of New York being in their column, possibly throwing the election into the Democratic-Republican dominated House of Representatives where Madison would almost assuredly be elected.

In the face of these facts, the Federalist party considered for a time endorsing Clinton's candidacy, but at their Caucus in September it was decided that the party simply would not field a candidate that year and did not endorse Clinton. Though there was much support among the Federalists for Clinton, it was felt that openly endorsing him as the Party's choice for President would damage his chances in states where the Federalists remained unpopular, and drive away Democratic-Republicans who would normally be supportive of his candidacy. A Federalist caucus in Pennsylvania would chose to nominate Jared Ingersoll, the Attorney General of the state, as Clinton's running-mate, a move Clinton decided to support considering the importance of Pennsylvania's electors.^[2]

Straight-Federalist nomination

Straight-Federalist candidate:

• Former Ambassador to Great Britain
  Rufus King
  of New York

While many Federalists were supportive of DeWitt Clinton's candidacy, others were not so keen, skeptical of Clinton's positions regarding the war and other matters. Rufus King, a former Ambassador and Congressman, had led an effort at the September Caucus to nominate a Federalist ticket for the election that year, though he was ultimately unsuccessful. Still, some wished to enter King's name into the race under the Federalist label, and while very little came of it, in two states it caused problems for the Clinton campaign.

In the case of Virginia, Clinton was rejected entirely by the state Federalist Party, which instead chose to nominate Rufus King for President and William Richardson Davie for Vice President. The ticket would acquire about 27% of the vote in the state. In New York, with the Federalists having gained control of the state legislature that summer, it was planned that the Federalists would nominate a slate pledged to Rufus King now that they had the majority. However, a Coalition of Democratic-Republicans and Federalists would defeat the motion and succeed in nominating a slate pledged to Clinton.^[3]

General election

Campaign

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Madison (Democratic-Republican) and shades of yellow are for Clinton (Federalist).

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. Clintonite Democratic-Republicans in many states refused to work with their Federalist counterparts (notably in Pennsylvania) and Clinton was generally regarded by most as the Federalist candidate, though he was not formally nominated by them.^[4] Madison was the first of just four presidents in US history to win re-election with a lower percentage of the electoral vote than in their prior elections, as Madison won 69.3% of the electoral vote in 1808, but only won 58.7% of the electoral vote in 1812. The other three are Woodrow Wilson in 1916, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and 1944 and Barack Obama in 2012. Additionally, Madison was the first of only five presidents to win re-election with a smaller percentage of the popular vote than in prior elections, although in 1812, only 6 of the 18 states chose electors by popular vote. The other four are Andrew Jackson in 1832, Grover Cleveland in 1892, FDR in '40 and '44 and Obama in '12.

Results

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 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: Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (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
• Second inauguration of James Madison

References

• Boller, Paul F., Jr. (2004). Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 26–28.  
• Siry, Steven Edwin (1985). "The Sectional Politics of "Practical Republicanism": De Witt Clinton's Presidential Bid, 1810-1812". Journal of the Early Republic (Society for Historians of the Early American Republic) 5 (4): 441–462.  

External links

• "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 20, 2005. 
• "DeWitt Clinton Candidacy". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved February 16, 2007. 
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns, 1787-1825