# 1808 United States presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 4 to December 7, 1808. The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively.
Madison had served as Secretary of State since President Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801. Jefferson, who had declined to run for a third term, threw his strong support behind Madison, a fellow Virginian. Sitting Vice President George Clinton and former Ambassador James Monroe both challenged Madison for leadership of the party, but Madison won his party's nomination and Clinton was renominated as vice president. The Federalists chose to re-nominate Pinckney, a former ambassador who had served as the party's 1804 nominee, again alongside Rufus King.
Despite the unpopularity of the Embargo Act of 1807, Madison won the vast majority of electoral votes outside of the Federalist stronghold of New England. Clinton received six electoral votes for president from his home state of New York. This election was the first of two instances in American history in which a new president was selected but the incumbent vice president won re-election, the other being in 1828.

## Nominations
### Democratic-Republican Party nomination

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Democratic-Republican Party1808 Democratic-Republican Party Ticket :
| James Madison | George Clinton |
| for President | for Vice President |
| 5th U.S. Secretary of State (1801–1809) | 4th Vice President of the United States (1805–1812) |

#### Presidential candidates

* James Madison (Virginia), Secretary of State
* James Monroe (Virginia), Former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain
* George Clinton (New York), Vice President of the United States
* Secretary of State James Madison from Virginia
* Former U.S. Ambassador James Monroe from Virginia
* Vice President George Clinton from New York

#### Vice-presidential candidates

* George Clinton (New York), Vice President of the United States
* John Langdon (New Hampshire), Governor
* Henry Dearborn (Massachusetts), Secretary of War
* John Quincy Adams (Massachusetts), United States Senator
* Vice President George Clinton from New York
* Governor John Langdon from New Hampshire
* Secretary of War Henry Dearborn from Massachusetts
* Senator John Quincy Adams from Massachusetts

#### Caucus

Senator Stephen R. Bradley, who had chaired the congressional nominating caucus during the 1804 presidential election, made a call for the 1808 caucus to the 146 Democratic-Republican members of the United States Congress and Federalist allies. The caucus was attended by 89 to 94 members of Congress.
The caucus was held in January 1808. With the support of outgoing President Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State James Madison won the presidential nomination over opposing candidates James Monroe and Vice President George Clinton. The caucus voted to give the vice presidential nomination to Clinton over his main opponent John Langdon, although Clinton's supporters believed Clinton would receive the Federalist Party's presidential nomination. The Federalists instead nominated Charles Cotesworth Pinckney that September. A committee of fifteen members was selected to manage Madison's campaign.
Seventeen Democratic-Republicans in Congress opposed Madison's selection and the caucus system whose authority to select presidential and vice-presidential candidates was disputed. Clinton also opposed the caucus system. Monroe, who was supported by dissident and majority leader John Randolph, was nominated by a group of Virginia Democratic-Republicans (Old Republicans), and although he did not actively try to defeat Madison, he also refused to withdraw from the race. Clinton was also supported by a group of New York Democratic-Republicans for president even as he remained the party's official vice presidential candidate.

#### Balloting

| Presidential Ballot | Total | Vice Presidential Ballot | Total |
| James Madison | 83 | George Clinton | 79 |
| James Monroe | 3 | John Langdon | 5 |
| George Clinton | 3 | Henry Dearborn | 3 |
| | | John Quincy Adams | 1 |

### Federalist Party nomination

Federalist Party1808 Federalist Party Ticket :
| Charles C. Pinckney | Rufus King |
| for President | for Vice President |
| 6th U.S. Minister to France (1796–1797) | 3rd U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1796–1803) |
The Federalist caucus met in September 1808 and re-nominated the party's 1804 ticket, which consisted of General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina and former Senator Rufus King of New York. This was the only time in American history that a defeated major party renominated its losing ticket for a second time.

## 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 by Madison, though not as badly as in 1804. Pinckney received few electoral votes outside of New England.

### Results

Pinckney retained the electoral votes of the two states that he carried in 1804 (Connecticut and Delaware), and he also picked up New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and three electoral districts in North Carolina besides the two electoral districts in Maryland that he carried earlier. Except for the North Carolina districts, all of the improvement was in New England.
Monroe won a portion of the popular vote in Virginia and North Carolina, while the New York legislature split its electoral votes between Madison and Clinton.
Electoral results :
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote$^{(a),(b)}$ | Popular vote$^{(a),(b)}$ | Electoral vote$^{(c)}$ | Running mate | Running mate | Running mate |
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Count | Percentage | Electoral vote$^{(c)}$ | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote$^{(c)}$ |
| James Madison | Democratic-Republican | Virginia | 124,964 | 64.97% | 122 | George Clinton (incumbent) | New York | 113 |
| James Madison | Democratic-Republican | Virginia | 124,964 | 64.97% | 122 | John Langdon | New Hampshire | 9 |
| Charles Cotesworth Pinckney | Federalist | South Carolina | 60,976 | 31.70% | 47 | Rufus King | New York | 47 |
| George Clinton | Democratic-Republican | New York | — | — | 6 | James Madison | Virginia | 3 |
| George Clinton | Democratic-Republican | New York | — | — | 6 | James Monroe | Virginia | 3 |
| James Monroe | Democratic-Republican | Virginia | 5,618 | 2.92% | 0 | None | N/A | 0 |
| Unpledged electors | None | N/A | 776 | 0.40% | 0 | N/A | N/A | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 192,334 | 100% | 175 | | | 175 |
| Needed to win | Needed to win | Needed to win | Needed to win | Needed to win | 89 | | | 89 |
Source (Popular Vote): A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 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.

### Maps

* Electoral College map
* Map of presidential election results by county, shaded according to the vote share of the highest result for an elector of any given candidate
* Map of presidential election results by electoral district, shaded according to the vote share of the highest result for an elector of any given candidate. Electoral boundaries for Maryland could not be found

## Popular vote by state

The popular vote totals used are the elector from each party with the highest total of votes. The vote totals of Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee appear to be incomplete.
| State | James Madison Democratic-Republican | James Madison Democratic-Republican | Charles C. Pinckney Federalist | Charles C. Pinckney Federalist | James Monroe Democratic-Republican | James Monroe Democratic-Republican | Other | Other | Margin | Margin |
| Kentucky | 2,679+ | 76.89% | 54 | 1.55% | No ballots | No ballots | 751 | 21.56% | 1,874 | 53.78% |
| Maryland | 15,336 | 67.30% | 7,433 | 32.62% | No ballots | No ballots | 18 | 0.08% | 7,885 | 34.60% |
| New Hampshire | 12,793 | 47.59% | 14,085 | 52.40% | No ballots | No ballots | 4 | 0.01% | -1,288 | -4.8% |
| New Jersey | 18,670 | 55.97% | 14,687 | 44.03% | No ballots | No ballots | 3 | 0.01% | 3,980 | 11.93% |
| North Carolina | 9,932+ | 52.70% | 7,975+ | 42.32% | 939+ | 4.98% | No ballots | No ballots | 1,018 | 5.40% |
| Ohio | 3,645 | 60.82% | 1,174 | 19.59% | 1,174 | 19.59% | No ballots | No ballots | 2,471 | 41.23% |
| Pennsylvania | 42,518 | 78.37% | 11,735 | 21.63% | No ballots | No ballots | No ballots | No ballots | 30,783 | 56.74% |
| Rhode Island | 2,692 | 46.70% | 3,072 | 53.30% | No ballots | No ballots | No ballots | No ballots | -380 | -6.60% |
| Tennessee | 1,016 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Virginia | 15,683 | 78.62% | 761 | 3.81% | 3,505 | 17.57% | No ballots | No ballots | 12,178 | 61.05% |

### States that flipped from Democratic-Republican to Federalist

* Massachusetts
* New Hampshire
* Rhode Island

### Close states

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
* New Hampshire, 4.8% (1,288 votes)
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
* Rhode Island, 6.6% (380 votes)
* North Carolina, 5.40% (1,018 votes)
Popular vote
Madison
65.0%
Pinckney
31.7%
Monroe
2.9%
Unpledged electors
0.4% :
Electoral vote—President
Madison
69.7%
Pinckney
26.9%
Clinton
3.4% :
Electoral vote—Vice President
Clinton
64.6%
King
26.9%
Langdon
5.1%
Madison
1.7%
Monroe
1.7% :

## 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 two electoral districts and half the electors are chosen from each district. | Kentucky |
| State is divided into electoral districts, with one Elector chosen per district by the voters of that district | Maryland North Carolina Tennessee |