1804 United States presidential election

1804 United States presidential election

← 1800 November 2 – December 5, 1804 1808 →
176 members of the Electoral College 89 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout	23.8%[1] 8.5 pp
Nominee Thomas Jefferson Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Home state Virginia South Carolina Running mate George Clinton Rufus King Electoral vote 162 14 States carried 15 2 Popular vote 105,524 38,519 Percentage 73.2% 26.7%
Presidential election results map. Green denotes states won by Jefferson and Light Orange denotes states won by Pinckney. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state.
President before election Thomas Jefferson Democratic-Republican Elected President Thomas Jefferson Democratic-Republican

The 1804 United States presidential election was the fifth quadrennial presidential election, taking place 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.

Jefferson was renominated by his party's congressional nominating caucus without opposition, and the party nominated Governor George Clinton of New York to replace Aaron Burr as Jefferson's running mate. With former president John Adams in retirement, the Federalists turned to Pinckney, a former ambassador and Revolutionary War hero who had been Adams's running mate in the 1800 election.

Though Jefferson had only narrowly defeated Adams in 1800, he was widely popular due to the Louisiana Purchase and a strong economy. He carried almost every state, including most states in the Federalist stronghold of New England.

Although the 1800 presidential election was a close one, Jefferson steadily gained popularity during his term. American trade boomed due to the temporary suspension of hostilities during the French Revolutionary Wars in Europe, and the Louisiana Purchase was heralded as a great achievement.

Democratic-Republican Party Ticket, 1804
Thomas Jefferson	George Clinton
for President	for Vice President
3rd President of the United States (1801–1809)	1st Governor of New York (1777–1795, 1801–1804)

The congressional nominating caucus of the Democratic-Republican Party was held in February 1804, with 108 members of the United States Congress in attendance and Senator Stephen R. Bradley as its chair. Jefferson was renominated by acclamation while Vice President Aaron Burr was not considered for renomination. The caucus selected to give the vice-presidential nomination to Governor George Clinton whose main opponent was Senator John Breckinridge. A thirteen-member committee was selected to manage Jefferson's presidential campaign.^[2][3]

• John Breckinridge (Kentucky), U.S. Senator
• George Clinton (New York), Governor
• Gideon Granger (Connecticut), Postmaster General
• John Langdon (New Hampshire), former U.S. Senator
• Levi Lincoln (Massachusetts), U.S. Attorney General
• William Maclay (Pennsylvania), former U.S. Senator

• 
  Senator
  John Breckinridge
  from Kentucky
• 
  Governor
  George Clinton
  of New York
• 
  Postmaster General
  Gideon Granger
  from Connecticut
• 
  Former Senator
  John Langdon
  from New Hampshire
• 
  Attorney General
  Levi Lincoln
  from Massachusetts
• 
  Former Senator
  William Maclay
  from Pennsylvania

Federalist Party Ticket, 1804
Charles Cotesworth 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 Federalists did not hold a nominating caucus, but Federalist congressional leaders informally agreed to nominate a ticket consisting of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina and former Senator Rufus King of New York.^[2] Pinckney's public service during and after the American Revolutionary War had won him national stature, and Federalists hoped that Pinckney would win some Southern votes away from Jefferson, who had dominated the Southern vote in the previous election.^[4]

Federalist leader Alexander Hamilton's death in July 1804 following the Burr–Hamilton duel destroyed whatever hope the Federalists had of defeating the popular Jefferson. Leaderless and disorganized, the Federalists failed to attract much support outside of New England. The Federalists attacked the Louisiana Purchase as unconstitutional, criticized Jefferson's gunboat navy, and alleged that Jefferson had fathered children with his slave, Sally Hemings, but the party failed to galvanize opposition to Jefferson. Jefferson's policies of expansionism and reduced government spending were widely popular. Jefferson was aided by an effective Democratic-Republican party organization, which had continued to develop since 1800, especially in the Federalist stronghold of New England.^[2]

Jefferson's victory was overwhelming, and he even won four of the five New England states. Pinckney won only two states, Connecticut and Delaware. This was the first election where the Democratic-Republicans won in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

As of 2024, Jefferson was the first of eight presidential nominees to win a significant number of electoral votes in at least three elections, the others being Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump. Of these, Jackson, Cleveland, and Roosevelt also won the popular vote in at least three elections. Jefferson, Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Trump were also their respective party's nominees for three consecutive elections.

Source (Popular Vote): A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825^[5]
Source (electoral vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 30, 2005.

^(a) Only 11 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.

The popular vote totals used are the elector from each party with the highest total of votes. The vote totals of North Carolina and Tennessee appear to be incomplete.

• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• Rhode Island
• Vermont

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

1. New Hampshire, 4.02% (702 votes)

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Massachusetts, 7.16% (3,953 votes)

• 
  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 (includes rejected votes)
• 
  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 (includes rejected votes)

• Bibliography of Thomas Jefferson
• History of the United States (1789–1849)
• Second inauguration of Thomas Jefferson
• 1804–05 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1804–05 United States Senate elections

• "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 20, 2005.
• A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825
• Presidential Election of 1804: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress

Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States presidential election, 1804.

• Election of 1804 in Counting the Votes Archived September 30, 2019, at the Wayback Machine