Presidential Election of 1808

IN THE PRESIDENTIAL election of 1808 James Madison of the Democratic-Republican Party was elected president, defeating Federalist candidate Charles Cotes-worth Pinckney. George Clinton was elected vice president, in one of only two instances when a new president was elected and the incumbent vice president was re-elected; the other occasion was the re-election of John C. Calhoun in 1828.

With Thomas Jefferson about to retire, on January 23, 1808, the caucus of the Democratic-Republicans chose Secretary of State James Madison of Virginia as their candidate. Attempts to block this were led by John Randolph of Roanoke, Virginia, later its governor, but these failed, although Randolph's preferred candidate, James Monroe, did appear on the ballot in some states. Madison's family were longtime residents of Virginia, and James Madison himself had served in the House of Delegates, the Virginia State Assembly, and then in the Continental Congress. Madison named George Clinton, the vice president, as his running mate, and the Federalists decided on Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufiis King as their presidential and vice presidential candidates, the same candidates that they had chosen in 1804.

James Madison faced two major problems in getting elected. The first was that there were a number of Democratic-Republicans who disliked him, and [Page 558]had wanted Clinton to be their candidate. Most were from New York, with a few from New Jersey, and the Federalists had hoped to capitalize on this by renomi-nating Rufus King for the vice presidency. However, Madison also had a problem over the Embargo Act of 1807, which had been introduced by Jefferson, although Madison had opposed it. Congress had passed the Embargo Act on December 22, 1807, and it ended U.S. foreign trade by banning any U.S. exports by land or sea, and refused access to specified articles manufactured in Britain. The result was that any U.S. ships that were not already overseas, or could not escape and be sold, had to remain in port or carry U.S. goods to other U.S. ports. The reason for this severe measure by Jefferson and Madison was to keep the United States out of the Napoleonic Wars. With the French and the British issuing decrees banning trade with their enemies, any U.S. ships involved in trade were liable to be attacked by one side or the other. The effect of the Embargo Act was felt in the New England ports of Newburyport and New Haven, which declined quickly. Some U.S. merchants with ships in the Mediterranean continued to rely on British protection, and they made fortunes from this state of affairs. Others, whose shops were in the French West Indies, found their vessels requisitioned by the French, with Napoleon proclaiming that he wanted to help Jefferson enforce the Embargo Act.

Anger in New England over the Embargo Act meant James Madison (above) had to rely on popularity in the south.

The result of the Embargo Act, in electoral terms, was that Madison lost significant support in New England. He relied on the popularity of Thomas Jefferson, which he hoped would ensure that the south and the Mid-Atlantic states supported him. In 1808, the number of Electoral College seats remained the same (176), as in the previous presidential election, although in the end one elector from Kentucky did not vote. In order to ensure his election, the winning candidate needed 89 votes.

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