# 1812 Presidential Election [[James Madison]]'s reelection, held during the **[[War of 1812]]** (declared by Madison's request, June 18, 1812). Madison defeated DeWitt Clinton — Mayor of New York City running as a fusion candidate of Federalists and anti-war Democratic-Republicans — by 128 to 89 electoral votes. The first wartime presidential election in American history. The war ended in stalemate in 1815, the Federalists' opposition to the war (culminating in the Hartford Convention of 1814–1815) destroyed the party's national reputation, and the country emerged from the war with renewed nationalist sentiment that produced the "Era of Good Feelings" under Monroe. ## Result - **[[James Madison]]** (Democratic-Republican) — 128 electoral votes - **DeWitt Clinton** (Federalist-Republican fusion, anti-war) — 89 electoral votes - Total: 217 electoral votes ## Right-wing relevance The 1812 election's right-wing relevance is primarily as the case study of a wartime election survived by an unpopular incumbent — a precedent invoked in various subsequent "rally around the flag" arguments (Lincoln 1864, FDR 1944). The Hartford Convention's secession-discussion fallout has been cited by contemporary right-wing constitutional commentators as a historical case where regional dissatisfaction approached but did not cross the secession threshold. ## Connections - [[James Madison]] — Reelected during the War of 1812. ---