1836 United States presidential election in Tennessee

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1836 United States presidential election in Tennessee
  1832 November 7, 1836 1840  
  NH
VA  
  HLWhite.jpg Martin Van Buren circa 1837 crop.jpg
Nominee Hugh L. White Martin Van Buren
Party Whig Democratic
Home state Tennessee New York
Running mate John Tyler Richard M. Johnson
Electoral vote150
Popular vote36,02726,170
Percentage57.92%42.08%

Tennessee Presidential Election Results 1836.svg
County results

President before election

Andrew Jackson
Democratic

Elected President

Martin Van Buren
Democratic

The 1836 United States presidential election in Tennessee was held on November 7, 1836 as part of the 1836 United States presidential election. [1] Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Contents

The Whig Party, unable to agree on a candidate, ran four candidates against Democratic nominee Martin Van Buren: Hugh Lawson White, William Henry Harrison, Daniel Webster, and Willie Person Mangum. Tennessee Senator Hugh Lawson White was the Whig Party nominee in Tennessee.

During the campaign trail, Andrew Jackson actively campaigned against White in Tennessee and accused him of being a federalist who was opposed to states' rights. [2]

In spite of opposition from Jackson, Tennessee Whig nominee White won Tennessee, defeating Democratic nominee Van Buren, by a margin of 15.84%.

White also won Georgia, giving him 26 electoral votes, the third highest total behind Van Buren's 170, and Harrison's 73. [3]

Background

The 1835 Democratic National Convention chose a ticket of Van Buren (President Andrew Jackson's handpicked successor) and U.S. Representative Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky. The Whig Party, which had only recently emerged and was primarily united by opposition to Jackson, was not yet sufficiently organized to agree on a single candidate. Hoping to compel a contingent election in the House of Representatives by denying the Democrats an electoral majority, the Whigs ran multiple candidates. Most Northern and border state Whigs supported the ticket led by former Senator William Henry Harrison of Ohio, while most Southern Whigs supported the ticket led by Senator Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee. Two other Whigs, Daniel Webster and Willie Person Mangum, carried Massachusetts and South Carolina respectively on single-state tickets.

Results

1836 United States presidential election in Tennessee [4]
PartyCandidateRunning matePopular voteElectoral vote
Count%Count%
Whig Hugh White of Tennessee John Tyler of Virginia 36,02757.92%15100.00%
Democratic Martin Van Buren of New York Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky 26,17042.08%00.00%
Total62,197100.00%15100.00%

See also

References

  1. "Presidential Elections". Weekly Messenger. November 12, 1836.
  2. Nancy Scott, A Memoir of Hugh Lawson White (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Company, 1856).
  3. Election of 1836, The American Presidency Project website, University of California, Santa Barbara. Accessed September 13, 2011.
  4. "1836 Presidential General Election Results - Tennessee". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.