Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

===Presidential election of 1836===
{{Main|1836 United States presidential election|Second Party System}}
President [[Andrew Jackson]] declined to seek another term in the [[1836 United States presidential election|1836 presidential election]], but he remained influential within the [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] as his second term came to an end. Jackson was determined to help elect Van Buren in 1836 so that the latter could continue the Jackson administration's policies. The two men—the charismatic "Old Hickory" and the efficient "Sly Fox"—had entirely different personalities but had become an effective team in eight years in office together.<ref>Thomas Brown, "From Old Hickory to Sly Fox: The Routinization of Charisma in the Early Democratic Party." ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 11.3 (1991): 339–369 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3123484 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221234949/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3123484 |date=February 21, 2022 }}.</ref> With Jackson's support, Van Buren won the presidential nomination of the [[1835 Democratic National Convention]] without opposition.<ref name=JRIrelan>{{cite web |title=History of the Life, Administration and Times of Martin Van Buren, Eighth President of the United States |last=Irelan |first=John Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g4_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA3
|publisher=Fairbanks and Palmer Publishing Company |location=Chicago |year=1887 |page=230 |access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref> Two names were put forward for the vice-presidential nomination: Representative [[Richard M. Johnson]] of Kentucky, and former Senator [[William Cabell Rives]] of Virginia. Southern Democrats, and Van Buren himself, strongly preferred Rives. Jackson, on the other hand, strongly preferred Johnson. Again, Jackson's considerable influence prevailed, and Johnson received the required two-thirds vote after New York Senator [[Silas Wright]] prevailed upon non-delegate Edward Rucker to cast the 15 votes of the absent Tennessee delegation in Johnson's favor.<ref name=RMJ9th>{{cite web |title=Richard Mentor Johnson, 9th Vice President (1837–1841) |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Richard_M_Johnson.htm |publisher=United States Senate, Office of the Historian |location=Washington |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-date=April 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415204938/https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/general/one_item_and_teasers/file_not_found.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=JRIrelan/>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1836.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|1836 electoral vote results]]

Van Buren's competitors in the [[1836 United States presidential election|election of 1836]] were three members of the Whig Party, which remained a loose coalition bound by mutual opposition to Jackson's anti-bank policies. Lacking the party unity or organizational strength to field a single ticket or define a single platform,<ref name=RMJ9th/> the Whigs ran several regional candidates in hopes of sending the election to the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite book |last= Nelson |first= Michael |date= 2013 |title= Guide to the Presidency and the Executive Branch |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4iNzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1962 |publisher= CQ Press |page= 1962|isbn= 978-1-4522-3428-1}}</ref> The three candidates were [[Hugh Lawson White]] of Tennessee, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, and [[William Henry Harrison]] of Indiana. Besides endorsing [[internal improvements]] and a national bank, the Whigs tried to tie Democrats to [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]] and sectional tension, and attacked Jackson for "acts of aggression and usurpation of power".<ref name=preselections>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-elections |title=Presidential Elections |website=history.com |publisher=A+E Networks |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-date=June 14, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614071704/https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-elections |url-status=live }}</ref>

Southern voters represented the biggest potential impediment to Van Buren's quest for the presidency, as many were apprehensive at the prospect of a Northern president.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=17–18}} Van Buren moved to obtain their support by assuring them that he opposed abolitionism and supported maintaining slavery in states where it already existed.{{sfn|Howe|2007|pp=508–509}} To demonstrate consistency regarding his opinions on slavery, Van Buren cast the tie-breaking Senate vote for a bill to subject abolitionist mail to state laws, thus ensuring that its circulation would be prohibited in the South.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Martin_VanBuren.htm |title= Martin Van Buren, 8th Vice President (1833–1837) |publisher= United States Senate, Office of the Historian |location= Washington |access-date= November 8, 2014 |archive-date= November 8, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141108201603/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Martin_VanBuren.htm |url-status= live }}</ref> Van Buren considered slavery to be immoral but sanctioned by the Constitution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singer |first=Alan J. |date=2008 |title= New York and Slavery: Time to Teach the Truth |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FPu_UBY0pjYC&pg=PA80 |location=Albany |publisher=State University of New York Press |page=80 |isbn=978-0-7914-7509-6}}</ref>

Van Buren won the election with 764,198 popular votes, 50.9% of the total, and 170&nbsp;[[electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]]. Harrison led the Whigs with 73&nbsp;electoral votes, White receiving 26, and Webster&nbsp;14.<ref name=preselections/> [[Willie Person Mangum]] received South Carolina's 11 electoral votes, which were awarded by the state legislature.{{sfn|Howe|2007|p=487}} Van Buren's victory resulted from a combination of his attractive political and personal qualities, Jackson's popularity and endorsement, the organizational power of the Democratic Party, and the inability of the Whig Party to muster an effective candidate and campaign.<ref name=MVelections>{{cite web| url=https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/campaigns-and-elections| title=Martin Van Buren: Campaigns and Elections| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| access-date=March 7, 2017| date=October 4, 2016| archive-date=March 3, 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303005956/https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/campaigns-and-elections| url-status=live}}</ref> Despite their lack of organization, the Whigs came close to their goal of forcing the election into the House of Representatives, with Van Buren winning the decisive state of Pennsylvania by a little over 4,000 voters, indicating the fragility of the voting coalition that Van Buren had inherited from Jackson.<ref name=MVelections/> Virginia's presidential electors voted for Van Buren for president, but voted for [[William Smith (South Carolina senator)|William Smith]] for vice president, leaving Johnson one electoral vote short of election.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/03/how-a-faithless-elector-in-georgia-could-cost-donald-trump-an-electoral-college-vote-explained/?noredirect=on |title=How a 'faithless elector' in Georgia could cost Donald Trump an electoral college vote |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |last=Blake |first=Aaron |date=August 3, 2016 |access-date=January 16, 2019 |archive-date=January 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116100323/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/03/how-a-faithless-elector-in-georgia-could-cost-donald-trump-an-electoral-college-vote-explained/?noredirect=on |url-status=live }}</ref> In accordance with the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment]], the Senate elected Johnson vice president in a contingent vote.<ref>{{cite web |title=The one election where Faithless Electors made a difference |date=December 19, 2016 |last=Bomboy |first=Scott |url=http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2016/12/the-one-election-where-faithless-electors-made-a-difference/ |work=Constitution Daily |publisher=The National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia |access-date=March 7, 2017 |archive-date=March 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308134731/http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2016/12/the-one-election-where-faithless-electors-made-a-difference/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The election of 1836 marked an important turning point in American political history because it saw the establishment of the [[Second Party System]]. In the early 1830s, the political party structure was still changing rapidly, and factional and personal leaders continued to play a major role in politics. By the end of the campaign of 1836, the new [[Second Party System]] was almost complete, as nearly every faction had been absorbed by either the Democrats or the Whigs.{{sfn|Cole|1984|p=279}}