Presidential Electors were chosen by the legislature.

When the legislature assembled, it was badly divided. The Federalists took control of the Assembly, but the divided Democratic Republicans controlled the Senate. In both chambers, the Clinton Republicans outnumbered the Madison Republicans, and the two factions were openly hostile.

It was not clear how the vote on Presidential Electors would turn out. The Federalists wanted to work with the Clintonians, who were unhappy with the rejection of their candidate at the National Caucus. Although it was clear that Clinton would not be able to win the national vote, the legislative Clintonians did not want to work with the Federalists; instead, they called a DR Caucus to nominate a slate of Electors. The Federalists therefore offered their own slate.

The DR Caucus met on 11/6/1808, the day before the vote. The Caucus nominated a slate of 15 Clintonian Electors and 8 Madisonian Electors to face the Federalist slate. [Note: it is not clear why the Caucus nominated 23 candidates when the state only had 19 electoral votes.]

The DR slate was chosen as seen on this page over the Federalist slate and a third slate, which received only one vote (a Monroe slate?).

The Madison campaign in other states objected to the appointment of so many Clintonian Electors, as the election was close and they wanted all of NY's electoral vote. An ensuing correspondence campaign began, in which leading DRs in other states lobbied the Cli

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Presidential Electors were chosen by the legislature.

When the legislature assembled, it was badly divided. The Federalists took control of the Assembly, but the divided Democratic Republicans controlled the Senate. In both chambers, the Clinton Republicans outnumbered the Madison Republicans, and the two factions were openly hostile.

It was not clear how the vote on Presidential Electors would turn out. The Federalists wanted to work with the Clintonians, who were unhappy with the rejection of their candidate at the National Caucus. Although it was clear that Clinton would not be able to win the national vote, the legislative Clintonians did not want to work with the Federalists; instead, they called a DR Caucus to nominate a slate of Electors. The Federalists therefore offered their own slate.

The DR Caucus met on 11/6/1808, the day before the vote. The Caucus nominated a slate of 15 Clintonian Electors and 8 Madisonian Electors to face the Federalist slate. [Note: it is not clear why the Caucus nominated 23 candidates when the state only had 19 electoral votes.]

The DR slate was chosen as seen on this page over the Federalist slate and a third slate, which received only one vote (a Monroe slate?).

The Madison campaign in other states objected to the appointment of so many Clintonian Electors, as the election was close and they wanted all of NY's electoral vote. An ensuing correspondence campaign began, in which leading DRs in other states lobbied the Clinton Electors to consider a vote for Madison.

When the Electors met, they cast 13 votes for Madison and 6 for Clinton. The Clinton press listed the six Electors who cast faithful electoral votes for Clinton rather than bowing to pressure.

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