Editing Richard Mentor Johnson (section)

===Election of 1836===
After the [[1832 United States presidential election|election of 1832]], Johnson continued to campaign for the vice presidency which would be available in [[1836 United States presidential election|1836]]. He was endorsed by the New York labor leader [[Ely Moore]] on March 13, 1833, nine days after Jackson and Van Buren were inaugurated. Moore praised his devotion to [[freedom of religion]] and his opposition to imprisonment for debt.<ref>Emmons, pp. 61''ff'', which abstracts Moore's speech and other documents.</ref>{{efn|Note that Emmons, like Langworthy, was published in New York City.}}

William Emmons, the [[Boston]] printer, published a [[biography]] of Johnson in New York dated July 1833.<ref>Emmons, p. 4; Schlesinger, p. 142.</ref> Richard Emmons, from Great Crossing, Kentucky, followed this up with a play entitled ''Tecumseh, of the Battle of the Thames'' and a poem in honor of Johnson. Many of Johnson's friends and supporters&nbsp;– [[Davy Crockett]] and [[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]] among them&nbsp;– encouraged him to run for president. Jackson, however, supported Vice President Van Buren for the office. Johnson accepted this choice, and worked to gain the nomination for vice president.<ref name=hatfield />

Emmons's poem provided the line that became Johnson's campaign slogan: "Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh."<ref name=hatfield /> Jackson supported Johnson for vice-president, thinking that the war hero would balance the ticket with Van Buren, who had not served in the War of 1812.<ref name=uva /> Jackson made his decision based on Johnson's loyalty but also the president's anger at the primary rival candidate, [[William Cabell Rives]].<ref name=hatfield />

Despite Jackson's support, the party was far from united behind Johnson. Van Buren preferred Rives as a running mate.<ref name=hatfield /> In a letter to Jackson, [[Tennessee Supreme Court]] justice [[John Catron]] doubted that "a lucky random shot, even if it did hit Tecumseh, qualifies a man for the vice presidency."<ref name=stillman /> Although Johnson was a "widower" after Chinn's death in 1833, there was still dissension related to Johnson's open relationship with a slave.<ref name=burke /> The [[1835 Democratic National Convention]], in [[Baltimore]], in May 1835, was held under the [[two-thirds rule]], largely to demonstrate Van Buren's wide popularity. Although Van Buren was nominated unanimously, Johnson barely obtained the necessary two-thirds of the vote. (A motion was made to change the rule, but it obtained only a bare majority, not two-thirds.)

Tennessee's delegation did not attend the convention. Edward Rucker, a Tennessean who happened to be in Baltimore, was picked to cast its 15 votes, so that all the states would endorse Van Buren. Senator [[Silas Wright]], of New York, prevailed upon Rucker to vote for Johnson, giving him just more than twice the votes cast for Rives, and the nomination.<ref>Lynch, pp. 383''ff''</ref>

Jackson's faith in Johnson to balance the ticket proved misplaced. In the general election, Johnson cost the Democrats votes in the [[Southern United States|South]], where his relationship with Chinn was particularly unpopular. He also failed to garner much support from the West, where he was supposed to be strong due to his reputation as an Indian fighter and war hero.<ref name=stillman /> He even failed to deliver his home state of Kentucky for the Democrats.<ref name=stillman /> Regardless, the Democrats still won the popular vote.

When the electoral vote was counted in Congress on February 8, 1837, Van Buren was found to have received 170 votes for president, but Johnson had received only 147 for vice-president.<ref name=stillman /> Although [[Virginia]] had elected electors pledged to both Van Buren and Johnson, the state's 23 "[[faithless elector]]s" refused to vote for Johnson, leaving him one electoral vote short of a majority.<ref name=hatfield /> For the only time, the Senate was charged with electing the vice president as [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment]] required the Senate to choose the vice president from the top two candidates if none of them received a majority. The vote on February 8, 1837 divided mostly along party lines, with Johnson becoming vice-president by a vote of 33, as opposed to 16 for [[Francis Granger]]; three senators were absent.<ref>{{cite web| title=24th Congress Senate Vote 334 (1837)| url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0240334| website=voteview.com| publisher=UCLA Department of Political Science and Social Science Computing| location=Los Angeles, California| access-date=October 17, 2024}}</ref>