11. Attempting on two separate occasions to defeat the Democratic-Republicans, Charles C. Pinckney was unable to dethrone the ascendancy of Jefferson and his allies
A veteran of the Revolutionary War, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, along with other members of his immensely powerful and affluent family, represented the interests of the South Carolinian aristocratic elite at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. Declining to serve in Washington’s administration at first, Pinckney later accepted the position of Minister to France. Gradually identifying with the Federalist Party following his return from the continent, the celebrated general was selected by John Adams as his running mate in his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1800. With Jefferson immensely popular following the Louisiana Purchase, the Federalists, as a formality, nominated Pinckney as their candidate in 1804.
Not running a serious campaign, believing Jefferson to be unbeatable at that time, Pinckney carried just two states to the incumbent’s fifteen. Selecting Pinckney again in 1808, believing that the winds had shifted and Jeffersonian economic policies were now contestable, the Federalist sought once again to claim the White House. Although performing better than four years earlier, winning five states and forty-seven electoral votes to Madison’s twelve and one-hundred-and-twenty-two, Pinckney failed and Madison became the first individual to succeed a president of his own political party.