A presidential election was held in Pennsylvania on November 2, 1804, as part of the 1804 United States presidential election.[1] The Democratic-Republican Party's ticket of incumbent president Thomas Jefferson and former New York governor George Clinton defeated the Federalist Party's ticket.[2]

The Democratic-Republican members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly held a caucus on March 22 and nominated electors pledged to Jefferson and Clinton. The Federalists were disorganized and pessimistic about their ability to carry the state. A gathering of Federalists met in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on October 25 and belatedly nominated electors; although a clandestine meeting of Congressional Federalists had nominated Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for president in February, the Federalist ticket was formally unpledged. Predictions that the Federalists would seek to exploit factionalism within the Pennsylvania Democratic-Republican Party proved unfounded, for Jefferson carried all but one of the state's 32 counties with nearly 95 percent of the votes.[3]

General election

Summary

Pennsylvania chose 20 electors on a statewide general ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to elect the members of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a block. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential nominee, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.[4] The following table compares the votes for the leading Democratic-Republican and Federalist electors to give an approximate sense of the statewide popular vote.

1804 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson
George Clinton 		22,081 94.69
Federalist Unpledged electors 1,239 5.31
Total votes 23,320 100.00

Electors

Complete returns from all but a few counties have been lost. The results published in the Lancaster Intelligencer and the Philadelphia Aurora compare the votes for the leading electors in each county. Twenty electors were named on each ticket, in addition to write-in candidates who received scattering votes in a few counties; two Federalist tickets received votes in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, including the ticket nominated by the Federalist convention and an alternate ticket with only 15 electors. All 20 electors on the Democratic-Republican ticket were elected.[2]

Thomas Jefferson and
George Clinton
Democratic-Republican Party		 Unpledged electors
Federalist Party		 Unpledged electors
Federalist Party
(Northampton County)

Results by county

1804 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania by county[2]
County Thomas Jefferson
Democratic-Republican		 Unpledged electors
Federalist		 Margin Total
Votes % Votes % Votes %
Adams 208 45.41 250 54.59 -42 -9.17 458
Allegheny 526 100.00 — 526 100.00 526
Beaver 202 100.00 — 202 100.00 202
Bedford 174 90.62 18 9.38 156 81.25 192
Berks 2,779 97.20 80 2.80 2,699 94.40 2,859
Bucks 1,129 96.41 42 3.59 1,087 92.83 1,171
Butler 86 100.00 — 86 100.00 86
Centre 378 93.10 28 6.90 350 86.21 406
Chester 1,402 94.73 78 5.27 1,324 89.46 1,480
Crawford 208 100.00 — 208 100.00 208
Cumberland 668 88.71 85 11.29 583 77.42 753
Dauphin 569 95.95 24 4.05 545 91.90 593
Delaware 244 85.31 42 14.69 202 70.63 286
Erie 112 100.00 — 112 100.00 112
Fayette 173 100.00 — 173 100.00 173
Franklin 509 72.10 197 27.90 312 44.19 706
Greene 105 84.00 20 16.00 85 68.00 125
Huntingdon 409 71.75 161 28.25 248 43.51 570
Lancaster 1,262 97.53 32 2.47 1,230 95.05 1,294
Luzerne 276 97.18 8 2.82 268 94.37 284
Lycoming 259 100.00 — 259 100.00 259
Mercer 74 100.00 — 74 100.00 74
Mifflin 429 92.06 37 7.94 392 84.12 466
Montgomery 1,197 100.00 — 1,197 100.00 1,197
Northampton 1,670 98.18 31 1.82 1,639 96.36 1,701
Northumberland 1,138 99.56 5 0.44 1,133 99.12 1,143
Philadelphia 3,333 99.97 1 0.03 3,332 99.94 3,334
Somerset 247 88.21 33 11.79 214 76.43 280
Washington 881 100.00 — 881 100.00 881
Wayne 18 100.00 — 18 100.00 18
Westmoreland 474 98.54 7 1.46 467 97.09 481
York 942 94.01 60 5.99 882 88.02 1,002
TOTAL 22,081 94.69 1,239 5.31 20,842 89.37 23,320

See also

References

Bibliography


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_United_States_presidential_election_in_Pennsylvania