 Gore ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 1807 and 1808 against a rising tide of Republicanism in the state , losing both times to moderate Republican James Sullivan . The Federalists gained control of the state legislature in 1808 in a backlash against Republican economic policies , but Gore was criticized for his failure to aggressively support state protests against the Embargo Act of 1807 , which had a major negative effect on the state 's large merchant fleet . Gore was in 1808 elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives , where he successfully led Federalist efforts to ensure the selection of a Federalist slate of presidential electors . He also spearheaded actions to drive Senator John Quincy Adams from the Federalist Party over his support of Thomas Jefferson 's foreign policy . The legislature elected Adams ' successor nine months early , and gave Adams sufficiently distasteful instructions that he resigned the post and joined with the Republicans . 
