1820 United States presidential election

The 1820 United States presidential election was the ninth quadrennial presidential election. It saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win re-election without a major opponent. Monroe and George Washington remain the only presidential candidates to run without any major opposition.

About 1820 United States presidential election in brief

The 1820 United States presidential election was the ninth quadrennial presidential election. It saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win re-election without a major opponent. Monroe won every state and received all but one of the electoral votes. Monroe and George Washington remain the only presidential candidates to run without any major opposition. No new states would participate in American presidential elections until 1836, after the admission to the Union of Arkansas in 1836 and Michigan in 1837. The Federalist Party had fielded a presidential candidate in each election since 1796, but the party’s already-waning popularity had declined further following the War of 1812. Despite the continuation of single party politics, serious issues emerged during the election in 1820. The nation had endured a widespread depression following the Panic of 1819 and momentous disagreement about the extension of slavery into the territories was taking center stage. In the run-up to the caucus, Daniel D. Tompkins made another run for his former post of Governor of New York, leading to potential replacements being informally discussed among the party leadership. The matter was ultimately rendered moot when Tompkin lost the election shortly before the nominating caucus took place.

Since President Monroe’s re-nomination was never in doubt, few Republicans bothered to attend the nominating caucuses in April 1820, with few or no delegates from the large states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Missouri participated in their first presidential election in1820, Missouri with controversy, since it was not yet officially a state. By the time Congress was due to meet to count electoral votes from this election, the dispute had lasted over two months. Proponents claimed that Missouri had fulfilled the conditions of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and therefore was a state and therefore a candidate for the presidency. After Congress reconvened in November, the issue of Missouri became an issue of contention and was resolved by a vote in the House of Representatives. The vote was held on November 9, a day before the end of the first session of Congress. It was the last of six straight victories by Virginians in presidential elections. Monroe was the first presidential candidate to receive at least 200 electoral votes in a victorious campaign. No other post-Twelfth Amendment presidential candidate has matched Monroe’s share of the Electoral Vote.

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