United States presidential election, 1836

United States presidential election, 1836

November 3 – December 7, 1836

All 294 electoral votes of the Electoral College 148 electoral votes needed to win Turnout 57.8%[1]   Nominee Martin Van Buren William H. Harrison Hugh L. White Party Democratic Whig Whig Home state New York Ohio Tennessee Running mate Richard Mentor Johnson Francis Granger John Tyler Electoral vote 170 73 26 States carried 15 7 2 Popular vote 764,176 550,816 146,109 Percentage 50.83% 36.63% 9.72%   Nominee Daniel Webster Willie Person Mangum Party Whig Whig Home state Massachusetts North Carolina Running mate Francis Granger John Tyler Electoral vote 14 11 States carried 1 1 Popular vote 41,201 - Percentage 2.74% -

Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Van Buren and Johnson or Smith, pale grey-purple denotes those won by Harrison and Granger or Tyler, purple denotes those won by White/Tyler, coral pink denotes those won by Webster/Granger, and bluegrass green denotes those won by Mangum/Tyler. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.

President before election Andrew Jackson Democratic Elected President Martin Van Buren Democratic

The United States presidential election of 1836 was the 13th quadrennial presidential election, held from Thursday, November 3, to Wednesday, December 7, 1836. As the third consecutive election victory for the Democratic Party, it ushered incumbent Vice-President Martin Van Buren into the White House with 170 electoral votes to 124 electoral votes for William Henry Harrison and other Whigs. The popular vote was closer; Martin Van Buren attracted 764,000 votes to the 738,000 won by the various Whig candidates.

The election of 1836 is principally remembered for three distinctive circumstances. The most important was the strategy of the Whig party in running several presidential candidates simultaneously. No major party before or since ever attempted this. In 1836, the Whigs ran four candidates in different parts of the country in hopes that each would be popular enough to defeat Democrat Martin Van Buren in their respective regions. In that case, it would have been left to the House of Representatives to decide between the competing Whig candidates. This strategy failed: Van Buren won a majority of electoral (and popular) votes and became president. The election of 1836 was also the last until 1988 to result in the elevation of an incumbent vice-president to the nation's highest office through means other than the president's death or resignation, and the only one in which a vice-presidential election was thrown into the United States Senate.

Nominations

Democratic Party nomination

Democratic candidates

• Martin Van Buren, Vice President of the United States from New York

Candidates gallery

• 

  Vice President Martin Van Buren

Incumbent President Andrew Jackson decided to retire after two terms and supported his vice-president, Martin Van Buren, to serve as the next president. Although Southerners disliked the New Yorker Van Buren as well as his intended running mate, Colonel Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky, Van Buren secured the nomination at the 1835 Democratic National Convention held in Baltimore, Maryland.

Convention vote

Presidential vote		Vice Presidential vote
Martin Van Buren	265	Richard M. Johnson	178
		William C. Rives	87

Whig Party nomination

Whig candidates

• William Henry Harrison, former United States senator from Ohio
• Daniel Webster, U.S. senator from Massachusetts
• Hugh L. White, United States senator from Tennessee
• Willie Person Mangum, United States senator from North Carolina

Candidates gallery

• 

  William Henry Harrison from Ohio

• 

  Senator Daniel Webster from Massachusetts

• 

  Senator Hugh Lawson White from Tennessee

• 

  Senator Willie Person Mangum from North Carolina

The Whig Party emerged during the 1834 mid-term elections as the chief opposition to the Democratic Party. It absorbed the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party and 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, were temporarily part of the Whig coalition.

Southern Nullifiers placed Tennessee Senator Hugh Lawson White into contention for the presidency in 1834 soon after his break with Jackson. White was a moderate on the states' rights issue, which made him acceptable in the South, but not in the North. The state legislatures of Alabama and Tennessee officially nominated White. By early 1835, Whigs in the North were lining up behind Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster. Both Webster and White used debates in the Senate to establish their positions on the issues of the day, and newspapers nationwide carried the text of their speeches. Beginning at the end of 1835, some Whig state conventions in the North began to shift from Webster to popular former general William Henry Harrison. By mid 1836, the Northern free states except for Massachusetts and three border states supported Harrison as the Whig candidate. Southern Whigs felt betrayed by Northern Whigs for abandoning White, who was still very popular there.

Unable to agree on a single candidate, the Whigs ended up with two primary tickets: William Henry Harrison for president and Francis Granger for vice-president in the North and the border states, and Hugh Lawson White for president and John Tyler for vice-president in the middle and lower South. In Massachusetts, the ticket was Daniel Webster and Granger. In South Carolina, the ticket was Willie P. Mangum for president and Tyler for vice-president.

General election

Campaign

Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Van Buren (Democratic), shades of orange are for Harrison (Whig), shades of green are for White (Whig), and shades of red are for Webster (Whig).

The Whigs attacked Van Buren on all sides, even disrupting the Senate where he presided. Harrison was the most effective of his opponents, but Van Buren's superior party organization carried the day, earning him a majority of the popular vote. Van Buren defeated Harrison by a margin of (51.4%) to (48.6%) in the North, and he defeated White by a similar margin of (50.7%) to (49.3%) in the South.

Disputes

A dispute similar to that of Indiana in 1817 and Missouri in 1821 arose during the counting of the electoral votes. Michigan only became a state on January 26, 1837, and had cast its electoral votes for president before that date. Anticipating a challenge to the results, Congress resolved on February 4, 1837, that during the counting four days later the final tally would be read twice, once with Michigan and once without Michigan. The counting proceeded in accordance with the resolution. The dispute had no bearing on the final result: either way Van Buren was elected, and either way no candidate had a majority for vice-president.^[2]

Results

Virginia's 23 electors were all pledged to Van Buren and his running mate, Richard Mentor Johnson. However, all 23 of them became faithless electors and refused to vote for Johnson. This left Johnson one vote short of the 148-vote majority required to elect him. Under the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Senate decided between the top two vote-getters and chose Johnson over Francis Granger.

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote^(a)		Electoral vote
			Count	Percentage
Martin Van Buren	Democratic	New York	764,176	50.8%	170
William Henry Harrison	Whig	Ohio	550,816	36.6%	73
Hugh Lawson White	Whig	Tennessee	146,107	9.7%	26
Daniel Webster	Whig	Massachusetts	41,201	2.7%	14
Willie Person Mangum	Whig	North Carolina	—^(b)	—	11
Other			1,234	0.1%	0
Total			1,503,534	100.0%	294
Needed to win					148

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1836 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005. Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

^(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
^(b) Mangum received his electoral votes from South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislatures rather than by popular vote.

Popular vote
Van Buren			50.83%
Harrison			36.63%
White			9.72%
Webster			2.74%
Others			0.08%

Electoral vote
Van Buren			57.82%
Harrison			24.83%
White			8.84%
Webster			4.76%
Mangum			3.74%

Vice Presidential candidate	Party	State	Electoral vote
Richard Mentor Johnson	Democratic	Kentucky	147
Francis Granger	Whig	New York	77
John Tyler	Whig	Virginia	47
William Smith	Democratic	South Carolina	23
Total			294
Needed to win			148

Source: "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.

Geography of results

Cartographic gallery

• 

  Map of presidential election results by county.

• 

  Map of Democratic presidential election results by county.

• 

  Map of Harrison Whig presidential election results by county.

• 

  Map of White Whig presidential election results by county.

• 

  Map of Webster Whig presidential election results by county.

Results by state

Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836-1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247-57.

		Martin Van Buren Democratic			William Henry Harrison Whig			Hugh L. White Whig			Daniel Webster Whig			Willie Person Mangum Whig			State Total
State	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#	%	electoral votes	#
Alabama	7	20,638	55.34	7	no ballots			16,658	44.66	-	no ballots			no ballots			37,296	AL
Arkansas	3	2,380	64.08	3	no ballots			1,334	35.92	-	no ballots			no ballots			3,714	AR
Connecticut	8	19,294	50.65	8	18,799	49.35	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			38,093	CT
Delaware	3	4,154	46.70	-	4,736	53.24	3	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			8,895	DE
Georgia	11	22,778	48.20	-	no ballots			24,481	51.80	11	no ballots			no ballots			47,259	GA
Illinois	5	18,369	54.69	5	15,220	45.31	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			33,589	IL
Indiana	9	32,478	44.03	-	41,281	55.97	9	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			73,759	IN
Kentucky	15	33,229	47.41	-	36,861	52.59	15	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			70,090	KY
Louisiana	5	3,842	51.74	5	no ballots			3,583	48.26	-	no ballots			no ballots			7,425	LA
Maine	10	22,825	58.92	10	14,803	38.21	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			38,740	ME
Maryland	10	22,267	46.27	-	25,852	53.73	10	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			48,119	MD
Massachusetts	14	33,486	44.81	-	no ballots			no ballots			41,201	55.13	14	no ballots			74,687	MA
Michigan	3	7,122	56.22	3	5,545	43.78	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			12,667	MI
Mississippi	4	10,297	51.28	4	no ballots			9,782	48.72	-	no ballots			no ballots			20,079	MS
Missouri	4	10,995	59.98	4	no ballots			7,337	40.02	-	no ballots			no ballots			18,332	MO
New Hampshire	7	18,697	75.01	7	6,228	24.99	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			24,925	NH
New Jersey	8	25,592	49.47	-	26,137	50.53	8	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			51,729	NJ
New York	42	166,795	54.63	42	138,548	45.37	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			305,343	NY
North Carolina	15	26,631	53.10	15	no ballots			23,521	46.90	-	no ballots			no ballots			50,153	NC
Ohio	21	96,238	47.56	-	104,958	51.87	21	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			202,333	OH
Pennsylvania	30	91,457	51.18	30	87,235	48.82	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			178,692	PA
Rhode Island	4	2,964	52.24	4	2,710	47.76	-	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			5,674	RI
South Carolina	11	no popular vote			no popular vote			no popular vote			no popular vote			no popular vote		11	-	SC
Tennessee	15	26,170	42.08	-	no ballots			36,027	57.92	15	no ballots			no ballots			62,197	TN
Vermont	7	14,037	40.07	-	20,994	59.93	7	no ballots			no ballots			no ballots			35,031	VT
Virginia	23	30,556	56.64	23	no ballots			23,384	43.35	-	no ballots			no ballots			53,940	VA
TOTALS:	294	763,291	50.79	170	549,907	36.59	73	146,107	9.72	26	41,201	2.74	14	-	-	11	1,502,811	US
TO WIN:	148

Breakdown by ticket

	Total	Martin Van Buren	William Henry Harrison	Hugh Lawson White	Daniel Webster	Willie Person Mangum
Electoral Votes for President	294	170	73	26	14	11
For Vice President, Richard Mentor Johnson	147	147
For Vice President, Francis Granger	77		63		14
For Vice President, John Tyler	47		10	26		11
For Vice President, William Smith	23	23

Contingent election

The Senate was required to choose between Richard Johnson and Francis Granger as the next vice-president. Johnson was elected easily in a single ballot by 33 to 16.^[3]

for Richard M. Johnson

for Francis Granger

Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri John Black of Mississippi Bedford Brown of North Carolina James Buchanan of Pennsylvania Alfred Cuthbert of Georgia Judah Dana of Maine William Lee Davidson Ewing of Illinois William Savin Fulton of Arkansas Felix Grundy of Tennessee William Hendricks of Indiana Henry Hubbard of New Hampshire William Rufus de Vane King of Alabama John Pendleton King of Georgia Lewis Fields Linn of Missouri Lucius Lyon of Michigan Samuel McKean of Pennsylvania Gabriel Moore of Alabama Thomas Morris of Ohio Alexander Mouton of Louisiana Robert Carter Nicholas of Louisiana John Milton Niles of Connecticut John Norvell of Michigan John Page of New Hampshire Richard Elliott Parker of Virginia William Cabell Rives of Virginia John McCracken Robinson of Illinois John Ruggles of Maine Ambrose Hundley Sevier of Arkansas Robert Strange of North Carolina Nathaniel Pitcher Tallmadge of New York John Tipton of Indiana Robert John Walker of Mississippi Silas Wright, Jr. of New York

Richard Henry Bayard of Delaware Henry Clay of Kentucky Thomas Clayton of Delaware John Jordan Crittenden of Kentucky John Davis of Massachusetts Thomas Ewing of Ohio Joseph Kent of Maryland Nehemiah Rice Knight of Rhode Island Samuel Prentiss of Vermont Asher Robbins of Rhode Island Samuel Lewis Southard of New Jersey John Selby Spence of Maryland Benjamin Swift of Vermont Gideon Tomlinson of Connecticut Garret Dorset Wall of New Jersey Daniel Webster of Massachusetts

Electoral college selection

Method of choosing Electors	State(s)
Each Elector appointed by state legislature	South Carolina
Each Elector chosen by voters statewide	(all other States)

See also

• Inauguration of Martin Van Buren
• History of the United States (1789-1849)
• United States House elections, 1836
• United States Senate elections, 1836

References

1. "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara.
2. United States Congress (1837). Senate Journal. 24th Congress, 2nd Session, February 4. pp. 203–204. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
3. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsj&fileName=026/llsj026.db&recNum=227&itemLink=r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(sj02650)):%230260228&linkText=1

Bibliography

• "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College". The Green Papers. Retrieved March 20, 2005.
• "U.S. President - Whig Nominees 1836". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
• How close was the 1836 election? — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Presidential Election of 1836: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress

External links

• Election of 1836 in Counting the Votes

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