| Election Name: | 1804 United States presidential election |
| Country: | United States |
| Flag Year: | 1795 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1800 United States presidential election |
| Previous Year: | 1800 |
| Next Election: | 1808 United States presidential election |
| Next Year: | 1808 |
| Votes For Election: | 176 members of the Electoral College |
| Needed Votes: | 89 electoral |
| Turnout: | 23.8%[1] 8.5 pp |
| Election Date: | November 2 – December 5, 1804 |
| Nominee1: | Thomas Jefferson |
| Party1: | Democratic-Republican Party |
| Running Mate1: | George Clinton |
| Home State1: | Virginia |
| Electoral Vote1: | 162 |
| States Carried1: | 15 |
| Popular Vote1: | 105,524 |
| Percentage1: | 73.2% |
| Nominee2: | Charles C. Pinckney |
| Party2: | Federalist Party |
| Running Mate2: | Rufus King |
| Home State2: | South Carolina |
| Electoral Vote2: | 14 |
| States Carried2: | 2 |
| Popular Vote2: | 38,519 |
| Percentage2: | 26.7% |
| Map Size: | 350px |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Thomas Jefferson |
| Before Party: | Democratic-Republican Party |
| After Election: | Thomas Jefferson |
| After Party: | Democratic-Republican Party |
The 1804 United States presidential election was the fifth quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 2, to Wednesday, 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 re-nominated 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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]
| Presidential ballot | Total | Vice-presidential ballot | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Jefferson | 108 | George Clinton | 67 | |
| John Breckinridge | 20 | |||
| Levi Lincoln | 9 | |||
| John Langdon | 7 | |||
| Gideon Granger | 4 | |||
| William Maclay | 1 |
| Federalist Party Ticket, 1804 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6thU.S. Minister to France (1796–1797) | 3rdU.S. Minister to Great Britain (1796–1803) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 2023, Jefferson was the first of seven 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, and Richard Nixon. Of these, Jackson, Cleveland, and Roosevelt also won the popular vote in at least three elections. Jefferson, Cleveland, and Roosevelt 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):
(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.
| Charles C. PinckneyFederalist | Other | Margin | Citation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |||||||
| Kentucky | 5,080 | 100.00% | No ballots | No ballots | 5,080 | 100.00% | [6] | |||
| Maryland | 7,304 | 75.92% | 2,306 | 23.97% | 11 | 0.11% | 4,987 | 51.84% | [7] | |
| Massachusetts | 29,599 | 53.58% | 25,644 | 46.42% | 2 | <0.01% | 3,953 | 7.16% | [8] | |
| New Hampshire | 9,088 | 52.01% | 8,386 | 47.99% | 0 | 0.00% | 702 | 4.02% | [9] | |
| New Jersey | 13,119 | 99.79% | 19 | 0.14% | 8 | 0.06% | 13,092 | 99.59% | [10] | |
| North Carolina | 1,644 | 486 | No ballots | [11] | ||||||
| Ohio | 2,593 | 87.69% | 364 | 12.31% | No ballots | 2,229 | 75.38% | [12] | ||
| Pennsylvania | 22,081 | 94.69% | 1,239 | 5.31% | No ballots | 20,842 | 89.38% | [13] | ||
| Rhode Island | 1,312 | 100.00% | No ballots | No ballots | 1,312 | 100.00% | [14] | |||
| Tennessee | 778 | 100.00% | No ballots | No ballots | [15] | |||||
| Virginia | 12,926 | 98.86% | 75 | 0.57% | 74 | 0.57% | 12777 | 97.72% | [16] | |
States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
States where the margin of victory was under 10%: