1836 United States presidential election

1836 United States presidential election
James Lambdin · Public domain · source
Election name	1836 United States presidential election
Country	United States
Flag year	1822
Type	presidential
Previous election	1832 United States presidential election
Previous year	1832
Next election	1840 United States presidential election
Next year	1840
Election date	November 3 – December 7, 1836
Nominees	Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Hugh Lawson White, Daniel Webster, Willie Person Mangum
Party1	Democratic Party (United States)
Party2	Whig Party (United States)
Home state1	New York
Home state2	Ohio; Tennessee; Massachusetts; North Carolina
Running mate1	Richard Mentor Johnson
Running mate2	Francis Granger; John Tyler; John Tyler; John Tyler
Electoral vote1	170
Electoral vote2	73
Title	President
Before election	Andrew Jackson
Before party	Democratic Party (United States)
After election	Martin Van Buren
After party	Democratic Party (United States)

1836 United States presidential election

The 1836 presidential contest pitted Vice President Martin Van Buren against a coalition of Whig candidates, producing a campaign that tested the legacy of Andrew Jackson, reshaped alignments in the Second Party System, and produced an Electoral College decision that implicated the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The election featured sectional coalitions, multiple presidential tickets, and debates over public banking, Indian Removal, and federal appointments, with results that confirmed Democratic dominance but exposed Whig strategy and the role of the vice presidency.

Background

By 1836 the national political landscape was dominated by leaders and institutions shaped by conflicts from the Nullification Crisis and disputes over the Second Bank of the United States. The outgoing president Andrew Jackson had defeated Henry Clay in 1832 and engineered the dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States, elevating allies such as Martin Van Buren and opponents such as William H. Crawford and John C. Calhoun remained influential. Factions around Daniel Webster, Hugh Lawson White, Willie Person Mangum, and William Henry Harrison coalesced under the emergent Whig Party to oppose Jacksonian Democrats led by Van Buren and state bosses including Van Buren supporters in New York and the Albany Regency. Economic issues stemming from Specie Circular policy and the recharter controversies over the Second Bank of the United States dominated elite debate in state legislatures such as those in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.

Candidates

The Democratic nomination effectively fell to Martin Van Buren, who served as United States Secretary of State and United States Minister to the United Kingdom and who was Jackson's vice president. Van Buren's ticket featured Richard Mentor Johnson, a controversial Kentucky congressman noted for his role in the War of 1812 and conflicts over slaveholding politics in Kentucky. The Whig strategy produced multiple regional nominees: military hero William Henry Harrison (popular in the Old Northwest and associated with the Battle of Tippecanoe), Senator Hugh Lawson White (backed in the South and parts of the Border States), Senator Daniel Webster (appealing in New England), and former senator Willie Person Mangum (drawing support in North Carolina). Running mate arrangements varied: Whig electors in some states paired Harrison with Francis Granger, in others paired with John Tyler or other figures, reflecting decentralized Whig organization.

Campaign

The campaign unfolded without modern mass media but with vigorous activity through newspapers such as the Albany Argus, the Richmond Enquirer, the National Intelligencer, and numerous partisan presses. Democrats emphasized continuity with Andrew Jackson on issues like the dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States and enforcement of the Indian Removal Act, while Whigs criticized executive power and advanced policies favoring a stabilized national banking system and internal improvements championed by leaders such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The Whigs pursued a multi-candidate, regional strategy to deny any one candidate an Electoral College majority, hoping to throw the election to the United States House of Representatives where the coalition believed it could prevail under the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Campaign events featured stump speeches, parades, and the cultivation of regional elites in states like Ohio, Virginia, South Carolina, and Massachusetts. Controversies included attacks on Johnson's personal life, debates over tariff policy linked to positions held by William Lowndes Yancey and Daniel Webster, and factional disputes among state Whig organizations in New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

Results

In the electoral count held under the procedures of the Electoral College, Martin Van Buren carried large parts of the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and key states in the South, securing 170 electoral votes to the combined Whig total of 73. Van Buren won the popular vote pluralities in states including New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Georgia (U.S. state), while Whig candidates split victories: William Henry Harrison won several Northwest and Old Northwest states such as Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky; Hugh Lawson White carried portions of the South; Daniel Webster captured Massachusetts; and Willie Person Mangum took North Carolina. No candidate besides Van Buren approached an outright consensus in the Electoral College outside regional strengths; the Democratic ticket's victories reflected the durable Jacksonian coalition across the Second Party System. The vice-presidential electoral vote presented a complication: Richard Mentor Johnson failed to secure a majority when several electors abstained, sending the decision to the United States Senate under the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, where Johnson was selected.

Aftermath and impact

Van Buren's inauguration continued the Jacksonian policy trajectory but the administration soon faced economic turmoil culminating in the Panic of 1837, a crisis tied to Specie Circular effects, speculation in land speculation and international credit conditions involving Great Britain and banking ties to the Bank of England. The Whig experiment of running multiple regional candidates exposed both the strengths and limits of coalition politics in the Second Party System and set the stage for the consolidated Whig effort in the 1840 United States presidential election behind William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. The election reinforced the prominence of the Electoral College and the role of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution in resolving vice-presidential disputes, while reshaping state party machines in New York, invigorating anti-Jackson factions in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and affecting political careers of figures like Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun.

Category:United States presidential elections