1836 United States presidential election

1836 United States presidential election

The 1836 United States presidential election was the 13th quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren defeated four candidates fielded by the nascent Whig Party. The election of 1836 was crucial in developing the Second Party System and a stable two-party system.

About 1836 United States presidential election in brief

Summary 1836 United States presidential electionThe 1836 United States presidential election was the 13th quadrennial presidential election. Incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren defeated four candidates fielded by the nascent Whig Party. The election of 1836 was crucial in developing the Second Party System and a stable two-party system more generally. The Whigs emerged during the 1834 mid-term elections as the chief opposition to the Democratic Party. By the end of the election, nearly every independent faction had been absorbed by either the Democrats or the Whigs. The 1835 Democratic National Convention chose a ticket of Van Buran, President Andrew Jackson’s handpicked successor, and US Representative Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky. Despite facing multiple candidates, van Buren won a majority of the electoral vote, and he won amajority of the popular vote in both the North and the South. In the South, the ticket was Daniel Webster and Francis Granger for president and John Tyler for vice-president. Of the four Whig candidates, there was only one Whig ticket in each state: William Henry Harrison for president, and Hugh Lawson White for vice president. The Pennsylvania legislature nominated popular general William Henry. Harrison, who had led American forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe, finished second in the popular and electoral vote. Harrison’s strong performance helped him win the Whig nomination in the 1840 presidential election, when he was elected to a second term as president.

He was the third incumbent Vice President to win election as President, an event which would not happen again until 1988. The party was formed from members of the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, disaffected Jacksonians, and small remnants of the Federalist Party. Some Southerners who were angered by Jackson’s opposition to states’ rights, including Sen. John C. Calhoun and the Nullifiers, also temporarily joined theWhig coalition. Unlike the Democrats, the Whigg Party did not hold a national convention. The state legislatures of Alabama and Tennessee officially nominated White. The South Carolina state legislature nominated Senator Willie Person Mangum of North Carolina. In the North, the state legislatures nominated popular Senator Daniel Webster for president and Senator John Lawson. White was a moderate on the states’ rights issue, which made him acceptable in the South but not in the North. The Southern Nullifiers placed Tennessee Senator Hugh LawsonWhite into contention for the presidency in 1834 soon after his break with Jackson. In 1836, the Southern Nullifier’s position was weakened by the election of John Tyler as president, who was seen as a more moderate candidate. The Nullifiers supported the ticket of Senator John Witherspoon for president.