A presidential election was held in Rhode Island on November 20, 1816 as part of the 1816 United States presidential election. The Democratic-Republican ticket of U.S. Secretary of State James Monroe and Governor of New York Daniel D. Tompkins was elected unopposed. The Federalist Party failed to nominate a candidate. In the national election, Monroe easily defeated the senior U.S. senator from New York, Rufus King, who received 34 votes from unpledged electors despite not being a candidate.
General election Summary Rhode Island chose four electors on a statewide general ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to vote directly for members of the Electoral College rather than for president. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party. This table shows the votes for the most popular elector pledged to the Democratic-Republican ticket to give an approximate sense of the statewide result.
Results + 1816 United States presidential election in Rhode Island Party Candidate Votes Democratic-Republican James Fenner Democratic-Republican Thomas G. Pitman Democratic-Republican Edward Wilcox Democratic-Republican Dutee Arnold
Results by county This table records the result for the most popular Democratic-Republican elector in each county with surviving returns. The totals presented thus differ slightly from the statewide results summary, which records the result for the most popular elector statewide.
County James MonroeDemocratic-Republican Total Votes Percent Bristol Kent Newport 162 100.00 162 Providence Washington TOTAL 162 100.00 162
Electoral college + 1816 United States Electoral College vote in Rhode Island For president For vice president Candidate Party Home state Electoralvote Candidate Party Home state Electoralvote James Monroe Democratic-Republican Virginia 4 Daniel D. Tompkins Democratic-Republican New York 4
See also United States presidential elections in Rhode Island
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