Recap of the Popular Vote
President James Madison appeared favored to win re-election after the popular vote was counted. He had won 84 Electors to 39 for DeWitt Clinton; the straight Federalist ticket of Rufus King lost in its only race (VA). Overall, Madison won by a narrow 50-48% margin in the popular vote.
Legislative Selection of Electors
Nine states chose Presidential Electors through their legislature in 1812: CT, DE, GA, LA, NJ, NY, NC, SC, and VT. Of these, Clinton was certain to win NY, CT, and DE (good for 42 electoral votes) to Madison's GA and SC (good for 19 electoral votes). Thus Madison was leading for a 103-81 electoral vote margin, with 34 to be selected in four key states: LA, NJ, NC, and VT.
The vote in New York State turned out to be more difficult for Clinton than anyone realized. The Federalists gained control of the state assembly in the elections in the spring of 1812, but they did not have full control of the legislature. Just after the legislature assembled, the Madisonians proposed to choose the Electors by district. The Clintonians realized they needed all Electors from the state to have a chance to win statewide, so they called a DRP caucus which nominated a slate of Clinton Electors. The Federalists, with the largest number of seats in the legislature, abandoned Clinton and nominated a slate of King Electors. When the [More...]
Recap of the Popular Vote
President James Madison appeared favored to win re-election after the popular vote was counted. He had won 84 Electors to 39 for DeWitt Clinton; the straight Federalist ticket of Rufus King lost in its only race (VA). Overall, Madison won by a narrow 50-48% margin in the popular vote.
Legislative Selection of Electors
Nine states chose Presidential Electors through their legislature in 1812: CT, DE, GA, LA, NJ, NY, NC, SC, and VT. Of these, Clinton was certain to win NY, CT, and DE (good for 42 electoral votes) to Madison's GA and SC (good for 19 electoral votes). Thus Madison was leading for a 103-81 electoral vote margin, with 34 to be selected in four key states: LA, NJ, NC, and VT.
The vote in New York State turned out to be more difficult for Clinton than anyone realized. The Federalists gained control of the state assembly in the elections in the spring of 1812, but they did not have full control of the legislature. Just after the legislature assembled, the Madisonians proposed to choose the Electors by district. The Clintonians realized they needed all Electors from the state to have a chance to win statewide, so they called a DRP caucus which nominated a slate of Clinton Electors. The Federalists, with the largest number of seats in the legislature, abandoned Clinton and nominated a slate of King Electors. When the vote was taken, the Clintonian "Coalition" slate won with 74 votes to 43 for King and 23 for Madison.
Madison won three of the four battleground states and thereby won the presidency. In legislative elections, Clintonians gained in LA, NJ, and NC, while the Madisonians gained in VT. Madison won Louisiana by a vote of 23-16 and North Carolina by a margin of 130-60. The vote in NC was particularly bitter, with both sides issuing charges of bribery and malfeasance. In the end, Madison received the vote of at least two dozen men elected to the NC legislature on the Clinton ticket. It was the last time NC would choose Electors by the legislature. Vermont had shifted towards Madison in the legislative election, and he won the vote there. New Jersey moved in the opposite direction and gave its vote to Clinton by a majority of seven.
The end result of the legislative selection was a slight Clinton victory of 50-46. It was not enough to overturn Madison's lead in the Electors chosen by popular vote, and Madison was headed for a 129-89 vote victory.
Casting the Electoral Vote
The Presidential Electors gathered in their respective state capitals on 12/2/1812 to cast the electoral vote. These gatherings, which were not given a name in the Constitution, were coming to be called the "electoral colleges" of the states by this time. The vote was mostly as expected. One Ohio Madison Elector did not appear, and his vote was lost because the state did not have legislation for filling vacancies. In Pennsylvania, four Madison Electors failed to appear; the legislature went into joint session and appointed four Madison Electors to fill the vacancies. Three Clinton Electors in New England gave their VP vote to Gerry instead of Ingersoll.
The result: Madison received 128 electoral votes for president to 89 for Clinton, and Gerry received 131 votes to 86 for Ingersoll. At the end of each electoral gathering, one person was chosen to carry out the highly desirable duty of the messenger, who was to deliver the result to Washington for the joint session of Congress.
Joint Session of Congress
Congress met in joint session in the U.S. House chamber at noon on 2/10/1813 to count the electoral votes. VP Clinton having died the previous year, President pro tempore William H. Crawford presided. The tellers were U.S. Senator Jesse Franklin NC and U.S. Reps. Nathaniel Macon NC and Benjamin Tallmadge CT. After all certificates of vote had been read, Crawford declared Madison and Gerry to have been elected, and the Senate returned to its chamber. [Alexandria Daily Gazette, 2/11/1813]
Popular Vote of 1812
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