The 1804 presidential election was the fifth presidential election in the United States. It was the first election following the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which altered the election process.
The election was between the incumbent President Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, and Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Jefferson received 162 electoral votes and was elected the President of the United States for his second successive term. Jefferson’s running mate in this election was George Clinton, who became the vice president.
Before the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment on June 15, 1804, presidential electors were allowed to vote only for the office of the president. The candidate who received the second highest number of electoral votes would become the vice president. The Twelfth Amendment, which modified Article II of the U.S. Constitution, and allowed the electors to cast two distinct votes: one for the president and one for the vice president.
During Thomas Jefferson’s first term, the U.S. economy prospered and trade flourished. The French Revolutionary War in Europe came to an end, and the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803, which was a divisive issue for the United States. Many Americans disagreed with the purchase, and even Jefferson believed the purchase was outside his rights as president. Jefferson thought that securing his country’s access to the port at the mouth of the Mississippi River, which France had previously controlled, was more important. Jefferson also decided to allow slavery in the territory, leading to further disputes. Jefferson’s vice president during his first term was Aaron Burr, but for the 1804 election he chose George Clinton as his running mate instead.
In the 1804 presidential election, Thomas Jefferson received 162 electoral votes, while Charles Cotesworth Pinckney received fourteen electoral votes. There were a few methods of choosing electors in the 1804 election that varied from state to state.
Some states had electors appointed by the state legislature, and some states allowed voters to choose the electors. Some states allowed electors to be voted on by the individual districts within the state, and Massachusetts divided its electors, giving some to the winner of the statewide vote and some to the winner of each district.
The electoral votes for the 1804 election were distributed as follows:
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