Presidential election in the United States 1836

‹  1832  •   •  1840 ›
13th presidential election
November 3 - December 7, 1836
			Democratic Party
			Martin Van Buren / Richard Johnson
			electors					170
			be right				764.176
									50.8%
			Whig
			William H. Harrison / Francis Granger
			electors					73
			be right				550.816
									36.6%
			Whig
			Hugh White / John Tyler
			electors					26th
			be right				146.109
									9.7%
			Whig
			Daniel Webster / Francis Granger
			electors					14th
			be right				41,201
									2.7%
			Whig
			Willie Person Mangum / John Tyler
			electors					11
			be right				-
									0.1%
Election results by state
15 states   Van Buren / Johnson						7 states   Harrison / Granger
2 states   White / Tyler						1 State of   Webster / Granger
1 state   Magnum / Tyler
President of the United States
Before the election Andrew Jackson Democratic Party						Elected Martin Van Buren Democratic Party

The 1836 presidential election in the United States took place between November 3 and December 7, 1836. It marked the end of the eight-year presidency of Andrew Jackson , who was the first head of state appointed by the Democratic Party . His successor was the previous Vice President Martin Van Buren , who defeated several Whigs candidates with a comfortable margin.

Candidates

Democratic Party

• 

  Vice President Martin Van Buren ( New York )

After two terms in office, President Andrew Jackson did not stand for re-election. The party's only candidate was incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren. At the nomination party convention of the Democrats, which took place in late 1835, the Van Buren favored by Jackson was elected as a candidate without opposition. His running mate became Richard Johnson's mentor .

Whig party

• 

  Former Senator William Henry Harrison ( Ohio )

• 

  Senator Hugh Lawson White ( Tennessee )

• 

  Senator Daniel Webster ( Massachusetts )

• 

  Senator Willie Person Mangum ( North Carolina )

The Whigs , which emerged as the successor to the National Republican Party in 1833/34 and strictly opposed Jackson’s policies, put four candidates from different parts of the country for election. It was the only time a large political party purposely ran with multiple candidates. They hoped that each one would be popular enough to defeat Democrat Martin Van Buren in their respective states. The House of Representatives would then have a choice of choosing between the Whig candidates.

Result

The Whigs' strategy failed in the end, Martin Van Buren was able to secure almost 51 percent of the vote and won 170 electors and was thus elected president. William Henry Harrison , who won the second most votes, won around 36 percent and 73 electors. Martin Van Buren was sworn in as the new president on March 4, 1837.

It was the last election until 1988 that elected an incumbent vice president to the highest office in the United States. This election is the first and to date the only one in which the election of the vice president was not decided until the Senate , as Richard M. Johnson obtained one less elector, namely 147 electors, than required (148) after the 23 electorates from Virginia for Van Buren had voted unanimously against Johnson. William Smith received the votes he was entitled to . The vice presidential election decided Richard M. Johnson with 33 to 16 Senate votes against the Whig Francis Granger in his favor.

candidate	Political party	be right		electors
		number	percent
Martin Van Buren	democrat	764.176	50.8%	170
William Henry Harrison	Whig	550.816	36.6%	73
Hugh Lawson White	Whig	146.107	9.7%	26th
Daniel Webster	Whig	41,201	2.7%	14th
Willie Person Mangum	Whig	-	-	11
total		1,286,700	99.4% *	286

* to 100% missing percent: invalid votes / votes for other candidates

literature

• Donald Richard Deskins, Hanes Walton, Sherman C. Puckett: Presidential Elections, 1789-2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2010, ISBN 978-0-472-11697-3 , pp. 106-114 (= Chapter 15: Martin Van Buren's Election. ).
• Gail Collins: William Henry Harrison. (= The American Presidents Series. ). Times Books, New York City 2012, ISBN 978-0-8050-9118-2 , pp. 73-77 (= 6. The First Campaign ).
• Donald B. Cole: Martin Van Buren and the American Political System. New edition of the first edition from 1984. Eastern National, Fort Washington 2004, ISBN 1-59091-029-X , pp. 256–284 (= 9. Jacksonian Democracy in the Election of 1836 ).

Web links

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