Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 1808
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| Charles Cotesworth Pinckney |
One thing you can say about Ol’ Pinckney: he was no quitter. He lost in big in 1804, and by golly, he came right back in 1808 and lost big again. He even stuck with his same running mate, determined that someone named Rufus would be in the executive branch. He didn’t lose quite as big this time; he was helped by a trade embargo that had pissed off the New England States. Also, the Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison wasn’t quite the superstar Jefferson had been. Pinckney never ran again, I’m sorry to say. But… on July 4, 1726 – precisely half a century after the signing of the Declaration of Independence – former presidents, long-time rivals, and founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, neither one probably aware that Charles Cotesworth Pinckney had
also died, exactly eleven months and nineteen days earlier: August 1, 1825! Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.
Results
James Madison: 122
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney: 47
