1836 United States presidential election

The **1836 United States presidential election** was the 13th election in the history of the United States. It occurred on November 4 to December 6, 1836.

This election was a five-way race between the Democratic nominee, Vice President Martin Van Buren of New York and the four Whig nominees, those being General and former Minister to Gran Colombia William Henry Harrison of Ohio, Senator Hugh L. White of Tennessee, Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Willie P. Mangum of North Carolina. Van Buren won the election with 170 electoral votes, while Harrison got 73 electoral votes, White got 26 electoral votes, Webster got 14 electoral votes, and Mangum got 11 electoral votes.

While Van Buren won 170 electoral votes (22 more then needed to win), no vice presidential nominee won the required 148 electoral votes needed to become Vice President, as there were three nominees for VP, those being Congressman Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky, Congressman Francis Granger of New York, and former Senator John Tyler of Virginia.

However, the final results would show that the 23 members of the electoral college from Virginia would not vote for Johnson, instead voting for former Senator William Smith of South Carolina due to dissent from the electors related to Johnson's interracial relationship with a slave.

Due to this, the final results for the vice-presidential candidates would be that Johnson would get 147 electoral votes, while Granger would get 77 electoral votes, Tyler would get 47 electoral votes, and Smith would get 23 electoral votes. Thus, under the 12th amendment, the U.S. senate would meet on February 8, 1837 and would elect Johnson as VP in a 33-16 vote.

Van Buren would be the third incumbent vice president in U.S. history to win the presidency (after John Adams in 1796 and Thomas Jefferson in 1800) and would be the last VP to achieve this until the election of George H. W. Bush in 1988. Van Buren and Harrison would both run against each other again in 1840, and Harrison would be elected as the 9th President.

Van Buren is also the most recent Democrat in U.S. history to replace a two-term Democratic president, and the only incumbent Democratic vice president to win the presidency. This also marks the last time that a sitting vice president was elected president after only serving for one term.

### Democratic Party

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"|:en:Martin_Van_Buren|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"|:en:Richard_Mentor_Johnson|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|**<big>1836 Democratic Party ticket</big>**|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|8th Vice President of the United States <small>(1833–1837)</small>|U.S. Representative from Kentucky <small>(1807–1819, 1829–1837)</small>|||

#### Presidential

- Martin Van Buren, 8th Vice President of the United States <small>(1833–1837) _(Nominee)_</small>

#### Vice Presidential

- Richard Mentor Johnson, U.S. Representative from Kentucky <small>(1807–1819, 1829–1837) _(Vice presidential nominee)_</small>
- William C. Rives, U.S. senator from Virginia <small>(1832-1834, 1836-1839)</small>

### Whig Party

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"|William Henry Harrison|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**1836 Whig Party ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|U.S. Minister for Gran Columbia <small>(1829)</small>|U.S. Representative from New York <small>(1835-1837, 1839-1841, 1841-1843)</small>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#800080; width:200px;"||style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#800080; width:200px;"|John Tyler|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**1836 Whig Party ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:DAB1DA; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:DAB1DA; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|U.S. Senator from Tennessee <small>(1825-1840)</small>|U.S. Senator from Virginia <small>(1827-1836)</small>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F88379; width:200px;"|Daniel Webster|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F88379; width:200px;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**1836 Whig Party ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightsalmon; width:200px;"|***for President***|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightsalmon; width:200px;"|***for Vice President***|
|U.S. Senator from Massachusetts <small>(1827-1841)</small>|U.S. Representative from New York <small>(1835-1837, 1839-1841, 1841-1843)</small>|||

|style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#006D61; width:200px;"||style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#006D61; width:200px;"|John Tyler|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="30" style="background:#f1f1f1;"|<big>**1836 Whig Party ticket**</big>|||
|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:teal; width:200px;"|******|style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:teal; width:200px;"|******|
|U.S. Senator from North Carolina <small>(1831-1840, 1840-1853)</small>|U.S. Senator from Virginia <small>(1827-1836)</small>|||

## Infobox (election)

- **child**: yes
- **election name**: 1837 contingent U.S. vice presidential election
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: no
- **election date**: February 8, 1837
- **votes for election**: 52 United States Senate, United States senators
- **needed votes**: 27
- **vote type**: Senate
- **image1**:
- **candidate1**: **Richard Mentor Johnson**
- **party1**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **popular vote1**: **33**
- **percentage1**: **63.46%**
- **image2**:
- **candidate2**: Francis Granger
- **party2**: Whig Party (United States)
- **popular vote2**: 16
- **percentage2**: 30.77%
- **map size**: 350px
- **map image**: File:1837 US Contingent VP Election.svg
- **map caption**: Senate by state. <span style="color:#698dc5;">Blue</span> denotes states that voted for Johnson, <span style="color:#f0c862;">Yellow</span> denotes those that voted for Granger, <span style="color:#5fd35fff;">Green</span> denotes those that did not vote. State with multiple colors had Senators that voted differently from each other.


## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 1836 United States presidential election
- **type**: presidential
- **ongoing**: No
- **previous year**: 1832
- **previous election**: 1832 United States presidential election
- **next year**: 1840
- **next election**: 1840 United States presidential election
- **turnout**: 56.5%  0.5 percentage point, pp
- **votes for election**: 294 members of the Electoral College (United States), Electoral College
- **needed votes**: 148 electoral
- **flag year**: 1836
- **country**: United States
- **image1**: File:Martin Van Buren circa 1837 crop.jpg
- **nominee1**: **Martin Van Buren**
- **party1**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **image size**: 150x150px
- **home state1**: **New York (state), New York**
- **running mate1**: **Richard Mentor Johnson, Richard M. Johnson**
- **electoral vote1**: **170**
- **percentage1**: **50.8%**
- **popular vote1**: **764,176**
- **image2**: File:William Henry Harrison by James Reid Lambdin, 1835 crop.jpg
- **nominee2**: William Henry Harrison
- **party2**: Whig Party (United States)
- **home state2**: Ohio
- **running mate2**: Francis Granger
- **electoral vote2**: 73
- **states carried2**: 7
- **popular vote2**: 550,816
- **percentage2**: 36.6%
- **alliance2**: Anti-Masonic Party, Anti-Masonic
- **states carried1**: **15**
- **image3**: File:Unsuccessful 1836 2.jpg
- **nominee3**: Hugh Lawson White, Hugh L. White
- **party3**: Whig Party (United States)
- **colour3**: 800080
- **home state3**: Tennessee
- **running mate3**: John Tyler
- **popular vote3**: 146,109
- **percentage3**: 9.7%
- **states carried3**: 2
- **states carried4**: 1
- **states carried5**: 1
- **electoral vote3**: 26
- **electoral vote4**: 14
- **electoral vote5**: 11
- **percentage4**: 2.7%
- **percentage5**: _N/A_
- **popular vote5**: _N/A_
- **popular vote4**: 41,201
- **running mate5**: John Tyler
- **running mate4**: Francis Granger
- **home state4**: Massachusetts
- **home state5**: North Carolina
- **party4**: Whig Party (United States)
- **party5**: Whig Party (United States)
- **colour4**: F88379
- **colour5**: 006D61
- **nominee4**: Daniel Webster
- **nominee5**: Willie Person Mangum, Willie P. Mangum
- **image5**:
- **image4**: File:Black Dan (cropped).jpg
- **map size**: 350px
- **map image**: File:ElectoralCollege1836.svg
- **map caption**: Presidential election results map. <span style="color:blue;">Blue</span> denotes states won by Van Buren/Johnson, <span style="color:#e3af2a;">Yellow</span>  denotes those won by Harrison/Granger, <span style="color:#981e51;">Maroon</span> denotes those won by White/Tyler, <span style="color:#E14370;">Pink</span> denotes those won by Webster/Granger, and <span style="color:#006D61;">Teal</span> denotes those won by Mangum/Tyler. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state.
- **title**: President
- **before election**: Andrew Jackson
- **before party**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **after election**: Martin Van Buren
- **after party**: Democratic Party (United States)
- **alliance5**: Nullifier Party