President Infinity 1816 Election

1816 US Election

*This scenario was greatly updated by the Historical Scenario Commission on July 19, 2017 and again on February 8, 2018. Version 3.0 can be downloaded here: United States – 1816Final

Background:This election follows the end of the War of 1812, a stalemate which was spun as a victory, since Andrew Jackson won the last battle of the war. Pres. James Madison and his administration realized that the Jeffersonian theory of government was at odds with a modernizing world. As such, Madison evolved to support several Federalist programs, such as a high tariff and a national bank.

Meanwhile, the Federalist Party was rapidly losing support, as its Pro-British tendencies were tantamount to treason. As such, they couldn’t expect to win.

Heading into the election, Madison’s Secretary of War, James Monroe, was heir apparent. However, Northern Republicans tiring of Virginians running the country, drafted Georgian William H. Crawford as an alternate candidate, hoping that he would get Southern and Northern support. Two other potentially strong candidates, Daniel Tompkins and Simon Snyder, withdrew before the nomination caucus.

What Really Happened?

Crawford nearly defeated Monroe for the nomination, despite refusing to exert himself. Crawford neither personally campaigned against Monroe, but he also didn’t prevent supporters from campaigning on his behalf. Monroe later made Crawford his Secretary of State, and Crawford assumed he would be Monroe’s heir in eight years.

Federalist were so disorganized that they failed to hold a convention, but Rufus King, through his own effort, emerged as the candidate of their party.

As could be expected, Monroe won in a landslide. Only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware voted for King.

This election includes the following candidates:
ON Republicans:
Sec. of State James Monroe
Sec. of War William Crawford
Gov. Daniel Tompkins of NY
Gov. Simon Snyder of PA
OFF Republicans
Gen. Andrew Jackson
Speaker Henry Clay of KY
Rep. John Randolph of VA
Gen. William Henry Harrison
Amb. John Quincy Adams
Pres. James Madison
Fmr Pres. Thomas Jefferson
Mayor DeWitt Clinton of NYC
Fmr VP Aaron Burr
ON Federalists
Sen. Rufus King of NY
OFF Federalist Party
Rep. Daniel Webster of NH
Chief Justice John Marshall
Fmr Gov. John Jay
Fmr Rep. Harrison Gray Otis
Fmr Sec. Alexander Hamilton
Rep. Timothy Pickering of MA
ON Pennsylvania Unpledged Federalists
Sec. of War William Crawford w/ Federalist VP

Feedback is desired.

14 thoughts on “President Infinity 1816 Election”

  1. Really nice work you’ve been doing on these scenarios! In this one I could actually win as a Federalist!

  2. @Keith

    By what margin were you able to win as the Federalists? Was it easy?

    I just ask because I am yet to get to play any of my scenarios to see how challenging or accurately the play out (that is, other than space-barring through elections as a 3rd party).

  3. I literally won with a less than 1% margin. Each got 50% of the vote. The Electoral College actually was tied at 105 each, but I won anyway. So, pretty challenging I’d say. It wasn’t close until I was able to surge near the end based on multiple Monroe scandals and the fact that I was targeting every state since I ran from the beginning of the primaries without any nomination fight.

  4. John Jay. The resume and comeback story seemed better than any of the others for 1816

  5. @Jonathan
    You should probably put the Republicans as the majority in Congress.

  6. It’d probably make it more realistic. I was projected beforehand to win 109 exactly but lose the popular vote, but while I won the popular vote Rhode Island went to Monroe even though I’d been leading there, so I guess it worked out. Otherwise I’d have been beaten by Monroe in the House after pulling of the coolest comeback ever.

  7. @Keith
    Actually you would have won without a tie. I realized I didn’t update Massachusetts to 22 EVs for 1816. I just made the change and it will be shown when I update all the scenarios. You can make the edit yourself until then.

  8. That makes sense, since it doesn’t seem like the EC should be able to deadlock with only two candidates winning states. I’ll keep it for now though, since I probably won’t do another 1816 Federalist campaign for a while, and you’ll have probably updated it by then

  9. @Keith
    It would take a very rare election for there to be a tie but it is possible since you need over half. If split 50-50, then it would be sent to the House.

  10. I wonder what would happen if the election were a tie and the House was tied? I guess it then goes down the line of succession until someone budges in the house. That would be hilarious if that happened in a Trump election. The House plans to tie so as not to allow Trump to take the presidency. Imagine all the expletives that would come out of his mouth.

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