Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 4, 1804. The Democratic-Republican Party's ticket of incumbent president Thomas Jefferson and former New York governor George Clinton defeated the Federalist Party's ticket of former U.S. minister to France Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and former U.S. minister to the United Kingdom Rufus King. This was the first election held under the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which required separate ballots for president and vice president.
Jefferson was unanimously renominated by his party's congressional nominating caucus in February; the caucus selected Clinton to succeed the outgoing vice president, Aaron Burr. A "semisecret" Federalist caucus elevated Pinckney and King as the party's national candidates; while news of the caucus was widely circulated, in states where electors were chosen by popular vote, the Federalist ticket was formally unpledged. Federalists in several states chose not to nominate electors, resulting in a lopsided popular vote margin for Jefferson.
Jefferson was widely popular and considered unbeatable by many observers, following his narrow election four years earlier. Economic prosperity, the expansion of voting rights, and the disorganized state of the opposition all benefited his campaign. The Federalists portrayed Jefferson as a demagogue for his embrace of populist, democratic politics, and a dictator for his use of patronage and reforms to the federal judiciary. Jefferson's complicity in slavery did little to damage his candidacy even in New England, where he carried the Federalist stronghold of Massachusetts.
Jefferson won the election in a landslide, carrying every state and all but two electoral districts where electors were chosen by popular vote. Pinckney received the electoral votes of Connecticut and Delaware, where electors were appointed by the legislature, and two votes from unpledged electors in Maryland. Jefferson polled more than 106,000 popular votes, representing 73 percent of the total, compared with fewer than 40,000 votes for the Federalist electors.
Background Incumbent Federalist president John Adams sought re-election in 1800, but was defeated by Democratic-Republican challenger Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's running mate, Aaron Burr, was elected vice president following a contingent election in the United States House of Representatives.
Suffrage The right to vote was widespread in the United States during the Early Republic, including the large majority of adult white men. Roughly 80 percent of adult white men were eligible to vote in the late 1780s; suffrage requirements varied dramatically by state, with roughly 60 percent of adult white men eligible to vote in New York and Virginia versus around 90 percent in Georgia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. The expansion of voting rights during Jefferson's first term included the establishment of universal white male suffrage in Maryland in 1801. Propertied, single women retained the right to vote in New Jersey, while Black men who met all other property and taxpaying requirements were eligible in New England, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
In most places, voting was by secret ballot. (Kentucky and Virginia retained the English custom of oral voting.) Eligible individuals voted using paper tickets, typically handwritten, listing the voter's choice for the various offices. Enforcement of property and taxpaying qualifications was generally lax, in part due to the frequency of land sales, which outpaced officials' ability to keep accurate records of ownership. In other cases, local opinion or the threat of rioting might compel election officials to permit veterans and small landholders to vote when otherwise disenfranchised by state law.
Twelfth Amendment
Congress passed the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was ratified by the states prior to the election. The Amendment instructed the United States Electoral College to elect the president and vice president on separate ballots. Previously, electors voted for two presidential candidates, with the runner-up in the presidential election becoming vice president; this system produced a tied vote in the 1800 United States presidential election, resulting in a protracted contest between Jefferson and Burr in the House of Representatives. The Federalists opposed ratifying the Amendment, hoping to exploit the original electoral system to sow discord in the Democratic-Republican ranks. During the campaign, some Federalists encouraged the Democratic-Republican electors from New York to support Clinton for president over Jefferson. Efforts to delay ratification of the Amendment were unsuccessful, and the new system took effect in September 1804 in time for the election.
Nominations Democratic-Republican Party Caucus Jefferson faced no internal opposition to his bid for re-election; the Democratic-Republican congressional caucus nominated him unanimously on February 25. The outgoing vice president, Aaron Burr, was not a candidate in the caucus, following his controversial role in the 1801 contingent election; Burr himself had anticipated that he would not be re-selected as Jefferson's running mate, and was instead focused on an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become governor of New York. With Burr out of the running, the selection of the vice-presidential candidate was the caucus's main responsibility.
George Clinton and John Breckinridge were the leading contenders for the vice presidential nomination. Clinton had served as governor of New York for most of the last thirty years and was a veteran of the American Revolutionary War; he had received 50 electoral votes in the 1792 United States presidential election, and declined a place on the Democratic-Republican ticket in 1800. Although of advanced age, his political views aligned with Jefferson's, and he remained popular with Democratic-Republicans in his home state.
Breckinridge, a Kentuckian, was the choice of Western Democratic-Republicans concerned with regional representation. Other candidates included the U.S. attorney general, Levi Lincoln Sr.; the former U.S. senator from New Hampshire, John Langdon; and the U.S. postmaster general, Gideon Granger. Thomas McKean was discussed as a possible contender, but withdrew prior to the caucus.
The caucus was attended by 110 Democratic-Republican members of Congress. Clinton won the nomination with 67 votes.
Nominees 1804 Democratic-Republican Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 3rdPresident of the United States(1801–09) 1stGovernor of New York(1777–95, 1801–04)
Vice presidential candidates U.S. Senator from Kentucky 4thU.S. Attorney General New Hampshire Representative U.S. Postmaster General Pennsylvania Representative 2ndGovernor of Pennsylvania : February 25 : February 25 : February 25 : February 25 : February 25 : before February 25
Federalist Party Caucus Congressional Federalists did not meet formally to nominate a ticket, as they had done in the previous election. The party was ill-prepared to mount a national campaign, and few believed Jefferson could be defeated. Instead, a "semisecret caucus" in Washington proposed Pinckney and King as the party's national candidates on February 22. Although this meeting was widely reported, significant uncertainty persisted concerning the identities of the Federalist candidates throughout the campaign. In states where electors were chosen by popular vote, the Federalist electors remained formally unpledged. Pinckney's biographer states that Pinckney "had the dubious honor of being the least publicized candidate in the brief history of American presidential party elections." The nomination of the inoffensive but otherwise unremarkable southerner, who did little to appeal to voters outside his own region, amounted to a public admission of Jefferson's invincibility.
Nominees 1804 Federalist Party ticket for Presidentfor Vice President 6thU.S. Minister to France(1796–97) 3rdU.S. Minister to the United Kingdom(1796–1803)
Campaign issues Campaigns Jefferson's campaign The Democratic-Republicans established a vast network of state, county, town, and ward committees to conduct the campaign. In states such as Ohio, the overriding importance of the presidential election was an agent of party unity. Democratic-Republicans organized celebrations to commemorate the anniversary of Jefferson's first inauguration on March 4 and the Louisiana Purchase on May 11. Parades, dinners, and toasting were the mainstays of such events. Supporters sang campaign songs such as "Jefferson and Liberty," written to commemorate the last election. Democratic-Republican militia units, professional associations, benevolent societies, and partisan groups like the Young Men of Democratic Principles were visible supporters of the president's re-election campaign. The Democratic-Republicans made effective use of the partisan press. The party's national paper, the National Intelligencer, was widely circulated and supported a vast array of state and local print publications.
The Democratic-Republican campaign catered to the nation's developing white male democracy. The abandonment of property requirements for voting in Maryland and New Jersey benefited Jefferson, whose economic policies were considered favorable to working people. Democratic-Republican newspapers and broadsides were written in plain language accessible to the average person. The themes of "simplicity and frugality" and equality of opportunity were central to the party's appeal to voters, contrasted against Federalist elitism.
Federalist campaign In contrast to the Democratic-Republicans, the Federalists entered the campaign demoralized and to some degree leaderless. Pinckney displayed little interest in the election and devoted most of 1804 to a local campaign against dueling. The party lost its most influential leader in July, when Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel by the outgoing vice president, Burr. Hamilton's former deputy, Timothy Pickering, saw no hope for the presidential election and instead advocated for New England to secede from the United States. Other Federalists simply withdrew from politics rather than endure a seemingly inevitable defeat.
A few Federalists, such as James A. Bayard, advocated for the party to update its tactics. The growth of mass politics in the early nineteenth century made the Federalists' reliance on elite relationships increasingly obsolete. Federalists held celebrations on the anniversary of Washington's birthday and organized groups like the Washington Benevolent Societies. The effectiveness of the party press was hindered by the stilted, formal style of many Federalist newspapers.
Criticism of Jefferson, rather than enthusiasm for Pinckney, characterized the Federalist campaign. In states where the party nominated electors, its ticket was formally unpledged. The Federalist press generally avoided mention of Pinckney and King; the Boston Columbian Centinel denied that the Federalist electors were pledged to Pinckney. Manning J. Dauer argues that the uncertainty surrounding the Federalist ticket cost the party the electoral votes of Massachusetts.
Attacks on Jefferson
Allegations of despotism