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217 members of the Electoral College 109 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 16.9% [1] 23.5 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Monroe and Light Orange denotes states won by King. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 4, 1816. In the first election following the end of the War of 1812, Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe defeated Federalist Rufus King. The election was the last in which the Federalist Party fielded a presidential candidate.
As President James Madison chose to retire after serving two terms, the Democratic-Republicans held a congressional nominating caucus in March 1816. With the support of Madison and former President Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State Monroe defeated Secretary of War William H. Crawford to win his party's presidential nomination. Governor Daniel D. Tompkins of New York won the Democratic-Republican vice presidential nomination, continuing the party's tradition of balancing a presidential nominee from Virginia with a vice presidential nominee from either New York or New England. The Federalists did not formally nominate a ticket, but Senator King of New York emerged as the de facto Federalist candidate.
The previous four years of American politics were dominated by the effects of the War of 1812. Its drawn outcome and the peace concluded in 1815 were satisfactory to the American people, and the Democratic-Republicans received credit for the results. Federalists were discredited by having opposed the war and by radical rhetoric from New England Federalists at the Hartford Convention. Also, President Madison had adopted certain measures favored by Federalists, including a national bank and protective tariffs. The Federalists had little to campaign on, and Monroe easily won the Electoral College, carrying 16 of the 19 states.
1816 Democratic-Republican Party Ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
James Monroe | Daniel D. Tompkins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th U.S. Secretary of State (1811–1817) | 4th Governor of New York (1807–1817) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
James Monroe was the favorite candidate of both former President Jefferson and retiring President Madison. However, Monroe faced stiff competition from Secretary of War William H. Crawford of Georgia. Also, there was widespread sentiment, especially in New York, that it was time to end the Virginia dynasty of presidents, resulting in Daniel D. Tompkins and Simon Snyder, the governors of New York and Pennsylvania respectively, briefly considering running for the presidential nomination. But Monroe's long record of service at home and abroad made him a fitting candidate to succeed Madison. Crawford never formally declared himself a candidate, because he believed that he had little chance against Monroe and feared such a contest might deny him a place in the new cabinet. Tompkins and Snyder realized they had even less chance of beating Monroe to the nomination, and instead positioned themselves to run for the vice presidency. Still, Crawford's supporters posed a significant challenge to Monroe. [2]
Fifty-eight of the Democratic-Republican members of the United States Congress attended the first nominating caucus. A second caucus in March 1816 was attended by one hundred nineteen members of Congress. Monroe won the presidential nomination against Crawford by a vote of sixty-five to fifty-four while Tompkins won the vice-presidential nomination against Snyder by a vote of eighty-five to thirty. [3]
Presidential Ballot | Vice Presidential Ballot | ||
---|---|---|---|
James Monroe | 65 | Daniel D. Tompkins | 85 |
William H. Crawford | 54 | Simon Snyder | 30 |
1816 Federalist Party Ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rufus King | John Eager Howard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U. S. Senator from New York (1789–1796, 1813–1825) | U. S. Senator from Maryland (1796–1803) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In hopes of uniting with disaffected Democratic-Republicans, as they had in the previous election, the Federalists initially planned to hold their own congressional nominating caucus after that of the Democratic-Republicans. With the end of the war and the nomination of Monroe, the Federalists abandoned their hopes of another fusion ticket, and the demoralized party failed to formally nominate a candidate. Senator Rufus King of New York, who had been the party's 1804 and 1808 vice presidential nominee, and who had been nominated for president by a dissident faction of the party in 1812, eventually emerged as the de facto Federalist presidential nominee. Several Federalists would receive electoral votes for vice president, with former Senator John Eager Howard of Maryland receiving the most votes. [4] The Federalists did not formally select a vice-presidential candidate. [5]
On February 12, 1817, the House and Senate met in joint session to count the electoral votes for president and vice president. The count proceeded without incident until the roll came to the last state to be counted, Indiana. At that point, Representative John W. Taylor of New York objected to the counting of Indiana's votes. He argued that Congress had acknowledged the statehood of Indiana in a joint resolution on December 11, 1816, whereas the ballots of the Electoral College had been cast on December 4, 1816. He claimed that at the time of the balloting, there had been merely a Territory of Indiana, not a State of Indiana. Other representatives contradicted Taylor, asserting that the joint resolution merely recognized that Indiana had already joined the Union by forming a state constitution and government on June 29, 1816. These representatives pointed out that both the House and Senate had seated members from Indiana who had been elected prior to the joint resolution, which would have been unconstitutional had Indiana not been a state at the time of their election. Representative Samuel D. Ingham then moved that the question be postponed indefinitely. The House agreed almost unanimously, and the Senate was brought back in to count the electoral votes from Indiana. The issue had no bearing on the final result.
When the votes were counted, Monroe had won all but three of the nineteen states. King thought that a Monroe victory was inevitable, and did not seriously contest the election. [6]
Each of the three states that were won by King voted for a different person for vice president. Massachusetts electors voted for former United States Senator (and future Governor) John Eager Howard of Maryland. Delaware chose a different Marylander, sitting United States Senator Robert Goodloe Harper. Connecticut split its vote between James Ross of Pennsylvania and Chief Justice John Marshall.
Maryland did not choose its electors as a slate; rather, it divided itself into electoral districts, with each district choosing one elector. Three of Maryland's eleven districts were won by Federalist electors. However, these electors did not vote for King or for a Federalist vice president, instead casting blank votes as a protest.[ of what? ][ citation needed ]
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote(a), (b) | Electoral vote(c) | Running mate | |||
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Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote(c) | ||||
James Monroe | Democratic-Republican | Virginia | 93,871 | 72.9% | 183 | Daniel D. Tompkins | New York | 183 |
Rufus King | Federalist | New York | 16,983 | 13.2% | 34 | John E. Howard | Maryland | 22 |
James Ross | Pennsylvania | 5 | ||||||
John Marshall | Virginia | 4 | ||||||
Robert Goodloe Harper | Maryland | 3 | ||||||
Unpledged electors | None | N/A | 17,997 | 14.0% | 0 | N/A | N/A | 0 |
Total | 128,851 | 100% | 217 | 217 | ||||
Needed to win | 109 | 109 |
Source (Popular Vote):A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825 [7]
(a)Only 10 of the 19 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 Delaware and three Electors from Maryland did not vote.
Elections in this period were vastly different from modern day presidential elections. The actual presidential candidates were rarely mentioned on tickets and voters were voting for particular electors who were pledged to a particular candidate. There was sometimes confusion as to who the particular elector was actually pledged to. Results are reported as the highest result for an elector for any given candidate. For example, if three Monroe electors received 100, 50, and 25 votes, Monroe would be recorded as having 100 votes. Confusion surrounding the way results are reported may lead to discrepancies between the sum of all state results and national results.
The Federalist parties of New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania did not provide a slate of electors, and as such Monroe was virtually unopposed in most of these states with the exception of Federalist unpledged electors who received a handful of votes. [8] [9] [10] In Pennsylvania, the Federalists supported Monroe electors with opposition coming from an independent ticket of unpledged electors. [10]
Tennessee's voting records appear to have been lost. [11]
James Monroe Democratic-Republican | Rufus King Federalist | Other | Margin | Not cast | Citation | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State | Electoral vote | # | % | Electoral vote | # | % | Electoral vote | # | % | Electoral vote | # | % | # | |
Connecticut | 9 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 9 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Delaware | 4 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 3 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 1 | |||||
Georgia | 8 | no popular vote | 8 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Indiana | 3 | no popular vote | 3 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Kentucky | 12 | 1,864+ | 100% | 12 | no ballots | 0 | no ballots | 0 | 1,864 | 100% | - | [12] | ||
Louisiana | 3 | no popular vote | 3 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Maryland | 11 | 7,426 | 70.72% | 8 | 3,048 | 29.03% | - | 26 | 0.25% | 0 | 4,352 | 41.44% | 3 | [13] |
Massachusetts | 22 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 22 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
New Hampshire | 8 | 15,225 | 53.17% | 8 | 13,338 | 46.58% | 0 | 74 | 0.26% | 0 | 1,813 | 6.33% | - | [14] |
New Jersey | 8 | 5,441 | 97.46% | 8 | no ballots | 0 | 142 | 2.54% | 0 | 5,299 | 94.92% | - | [8] | |
New York | 29 | no popular vote | 29 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
North Carolina | 15 | 9,549 | 98.37% | 15 | no ballots | 0 | 158 | 1.63% | 0 | 9,391 | 96.74% | - | [15] | |
Ohio | 8 | 3,326 | 84.87% | 8 | 593 | 15.13% | 0 | no ballots | 0 | 2,733 | 69.74% | - | [16] | |
Pennsylvania | 25 | 42,945 | 70.93% | 25 | no ballots | 0 | 17,597 | 29.07% | 0 | 25,348 | 52.28% | - | [10] | |
Rhode Island | 4 | 1,236+ | 100% | 4 | no ballots | 0 | no ballots | 0 | 1,236 | 100% | - | [9] | ||
South Carolina | 11 | no popular vote | 11 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Tennessee | 8 | no data | 100% | 8 | no ballots | 0 | no ballots | 0 | no data | - | [11] | |||
Vermont | 8 | no popular vote | 8 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | 0 | no popular vote | - | |||||
Virginia | 25 | 6,859 | 99.94% | 25 | 4 | 0.06% | 0 | no ballots | 0 | 6,855 | 99.88% | - | [17] |
Method of choosing electors | State(s) |
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Each Elector appointed by state legislature | |
Each Elector chosen by voters statewide | |
State is divided into three electoral districts, with four Electors chosen per district by the voters of each district | |
State is divided into electoral districts, with one Elector chosen per district by the voters of that district |
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 2 to December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college, while John Adams was reelected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Adams faced a competitive re-election against Governor George Clinton of New York.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 4 to December 7, 1796, when electors throughout the United States cast their ballots. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent vice president John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from October 31 to December 3, 1800. In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800", the Democratic-Republican Party candidate, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, defeated the Federalist Party candidate and incumbent, President John Adams. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership. This was the first presidential election in American history to be a rematch. It was also the first election in American history where an incumbent president did not win re-election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 2 to December 5, 1804. Incumbent Democratic-Republican president Thomas Jefferson defeated Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. It was the first presidential election conducted following the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reformed procedures for electing presidents and vice presidents.
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.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from October 30 to December 2, 1812. In the shadow of the War of 1812, incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Madison defeated DeWitt Clinton, the lieutenant governor of New York and mayor of New York City, who drew support from dissident Democratic-Republicans in the North as well as Federalists. It was the first presidential election to be held during a major war involving the United States.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 6, 1820. Taking place at the height of the Era of Good Feelings, the election saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win reelection without a major opponent. It was the third and the most recent United States presidential election in which a presidential candidate ran effectively unopposed. James Monroe's re-election marked the first time in U.S. history that a third consecutive president won a second election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from October 26 to December 2, 1824. Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford were the primary contenders for the presidency. The result of the election was inconclusive, as no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote. In the election for vice president, John C. Calhoun was elected with a comfortable majority of the vote. Because none of the candidates for president garnered an electoral vote majority, the U.S. House of Representatives, under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, held a contingent election. On February 9, 1825, the House voted to elect John Quincy Adams as president, ultimately giving the election to him.
The 1816 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place as part of the 1816 United States presidential election. Voters chose 25 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1956 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The 1820 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place between November 1 to December 6, 1820, as part of the 1820 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1820 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place between November 1 to December 6, 1820, as part of the 1820 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1820 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place between November 1 to December 6, 1820, as part of the 1820 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1812 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on an unknown date in 1812, as part of the 1812 presidential election. Voters chose eleven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1816 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on an unknown date in 1816, as part of the 1816 presidential election. Voters chose eleven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1820 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on an unknown date in 1820, as part of the 1820 presidential election. Voters chose eleven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1820 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place between 1 November and 6 December 1820, as part of the 1820 United States presidential election. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1816 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place between 1 November and 4 December 1816, as part of the 1816 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1816 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place between 1 November and 4 December 1816, as part of the 1816 United States presidential election. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.
The 1816 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place as part of the 1816 United States presidential election. Voters chose 4 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College who voted for president and vice president.
Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration . Retrieved July 30, 2005.