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| 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. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The United States presidential election of 1836 ushered Martin Van Buren into the White House. It is predominantly remembered for three reasons:
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Democratic candidates
Incumbent president Andrew Jackson decided to retire after two terms and supported his vice-president, Martin Van Buren. 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 a meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, at the 1835 Democratic National Convention.
| Presidential vote | Vice Presidential vote | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Van Buren | 265 | Richard M. Johnson | 178 |
| William C. Rives | 87 |
Whig candidates
The Whig Party emerged during the 1834 mid-term elections as the chief opposition to the Democratic Party. It absorbed the National Republican Party and the Anti-Masonic 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 the middle of 1836, Harrison had replaced Webster as the Whig nominee in all "free" states except Massachusetts. Harrison also replaced White in three border states. 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.
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. Van Buren defeated Harrison by a 51-49% vote in the North, and he defeated White by a similar 51-49% margin in the South.
A dispute similar to that of Indiana in 1817 and Missouri in 1821 arose during the counting of the electoral votes. Michigan had only become 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 one had a majority for vice-president.[1]
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, refusing to vote for Johnson. This left Johnson one vote short of the 148-vote majority required to elect him. Under the Twelfth Amendment, 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 (July 27, 2005). Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (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.
| Vice Presidential Candidate | Party | State | Electoral Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Mentor Johnson | Democratic | Kentucky | 147 |
| Francis P. 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. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).
| Presidential Candidate | Running Mate | Electoral Vote |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Van Buren | Richard Mentor Johnson | 147 |
| William Henry Harrison | Francis P. Granger | 63 |
| Hugh Lawson White | John Tyler | 26 |
| Martin Van Buren | William Smith | 23 |
| Daniel Webster | Francis P. Granger | 14 |
| Willie Person Mangum | John Tyler | 11 |
| William Henry Harrison | John Tyler | 10 |
The Senate was required to choose which of Richard Johnson and Francis Granger would be the next Vice President. Johnson was elected easily in a single ballot by 33 to 16.
| Method of choosing Electors | State(s) |
|---|---|
| Each Elector appointed by state legislature | South Carolina |
| Each Elector chosen by voters statewide | (all other States) |
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