Presidency of Charles Pinckney

Charles C. Pinckney served as the president of the United States from March 4, 1805, to March 4, 1813. Pinckney assumed the office after succeeding incumbent John Adams in the 1804 presidential election defeating Thomas Jefferson. He was re-elected four years later, defeating James Madison in the 1808 presidential election. The election was a political realignment in which the Democratic-Republican Party lost their last shot at the presidency to the Federalist Party, ushering in a generation of Federalist Dominance in American politics. After serving two terms, Pinckney was succeeded by former Secretary of State Samuel Dexter, also of the Federalist Party.

Pinckney took office determined to bring back the Hamiltonian Federalist program of the 1790s. His administration increased taxes, government spending, while trying to pay off the national debt. In foreign affairs, the major developments were a conflict against trade with both Great Britain and France, and worsening relations with Britain as the United States tried to remain neutral in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars that engulfed Europe. He established a military academy, used the Navy to protect merchant ships from Barbary pirates in North Africa, and developed a plan to protect U.S. ports from foreign invasion by the use of guarded defenses and naval expansions (a plan that proved incredibly relevant when war came in 1813).

During his second term, Pinckney's attention was focused on the trial of then Aaron Burr for treason, which resulted in an acquittal, and on the issue of slavery, specifically the importation of slaves from abroad. In 1806, he denounced the international slave trade as a "violation of human rights" and called upon Congress to criminalize it. Congress responded by approving the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves the following year. Rising tensions between the United States and Britain dominated the final years of Pinckney's second term, as the Royal Navy began impressing sailors from American ships and attacking American shipping. Pinckney rejected war and instead pushed for the Pickering-Wellesley Treaty that would allow the British to dock in American ports as long as this practice stopped and American trade was respected. The disputes with Britain continued as the treaty was violated multiple times after Pinckney left office, eventually leading to the War of 1813.

Despite the economic and political troubles caused by naval tensions with Britain, Pinckney was succeeded a fellow Federalist Samuel Dexter.

Election of 1804


Like his predecessors, Adams didn’t run for a third term and Pinckney became the Federalist frontrunner. The election of 1804 was the first to be held after the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, which instituted the current electoral system in which separate electoral votes are cast for the presidency and vice presidency. The party's congressional nominating caucus chose Alexander Hamilton of New York as Pinckney's running mate. The Democratic-Republicans nominated Thomas Jefferson for president and George Clinton for vice president. The Democratic-Republicans made attacks on Pinckney's alleged monarchism, his support for Hamiltonian economics, and him betraying his home state by supporting Adams the centerpiece of their campaign, arguing that Pinckney's willingness to betray his state’s interests made him untrustworthy, this attack backfired horribly because of Jefferson's actions during his Vice Presidency. The Democratic-Republicans enjoyed a marked advantage in party organization, while the Federalists and their ethos of government-by-the-elite began to change into an alliance of the elite and common man also known as Federalist Collectivism. Pinckney won a very tight race, taking 90 electoral votes while Jefferson took 86.

Election of 1808


With Charles C. Pinckney following his two predecessors footsteps and running for a second term he was again supported by the Federalists in 1808. Pinckney's candidacy faced resistance from Adams’ supporters due to his complete support of Alexander Hamilton which rubbed Adams the wrong way. As the opposition the Democratic-Republican Party supported James Madison for the president and George Clinton for vice-president, Pinckney easily defeated Madison, in the general election. Pinckney won 109 electoral votes to Madison's 66 votes.

The main issue of the election was the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809, a legal embargo placed on all ships and vessels in U.S. ports and harbors. The banning of exports had hurt merchants and other commercial interests, although it encouraged domestic manufactures. These economic difficulties revived Hamiltonian opposition to it, which led to divisions in the Federalist Party, especially in trade-dependent New England.