A Look Into History: U.S. Presidential Election of 1844

 Even though Harrison managed to beat Van Buren in a impressive election last time, he died shortly after taking office. His vice president John Tyler became president after that. Except he wasn't very popular and dropped out of the general election.

Democrats then threw their support to James K. Polk, the former Governor of Tennessee. 

Martin Van Buren tried to get the Democratic nomination, but failed in the long-run to Polk.  Though pretty rare for a former president to seek a nomination after losing.

Senator Henry Clay once again tried to become president by becoming the Whig candidate.  The main issue of the campaign was the issue of Western expansion and the annexation of Texas. Which Polk supported, and Clay had a weak stance on.

Despite a rather odd primary, the general election was rather bland and unbiased in comparison to recent elections. Therefore it was rather half and half. The popular vote was close between Polk, and Clay, however Polk had the obvious edge in the electoral vote. Polk beat Clay 170-105.

A Look Into History: U.S. Presidential Election of 1832

The 1832 election saw Jackson's attempt to get a 2nd term as president. He ran on the Democratic party ticket. 

Former Speaker of the House, and then-Senator Henry Clay became the National Republican nominee. His successful attempt to deny Jackson his first presidential win 8 years before brought this election into a fitting political battle.

 William Wirt also ran on the Anti-Masonry party. They were a single-issue party who were opposed to the Freemason society.

 John Floyd was also listed as a nominee for the Nullifier party, a short-lived states rights party.

The main issue of the campaign was against Jackson's veto against the renewing the charter for the 2nd Bank of the United States (similar to the present Federal Reserve) with him being portrayed as being "too powerful". Jackson denied this and went on a platform about protecting citizens from being ruled by a rich elite within the 2nd Bank of the United States.

Despite some strong tactics by Clay, it was an almost all out win for Jackson. Jackson had 219 electoral votes versus Clay's 49. Floyd got 11, and Wirt got 7 which is admirable for distant 3rd parties.

A Look Into History: U.S. Presidential Election of 1824

The election of 1824 saw the spilt between the Democratic-Republican party with the nomination of 4 candidates. The first was John Q. Adams who was the son of the 2nd President, and the then-current Secretary of State. 

Running against him first was General Andrew Jackson, who was the hero of the War of 1812. 

 Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford also ran.

Lastly Speaker of the House Henry Clay ran as well. 

 

The funny thing was that all 4 candidates spilt the vote in certain areas. Jackson got 99 electoral votes, Adams had 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. Someone needed 131 votes total to win the election thus the results were put on hold.

The vote officially moved to the House of Representatives. Jackson strolled up and expected to win easy since he had the clear advantage in the general election. However Henry Clay was ousted from the vote, and used his power as Speaker of the House to influence the vote to give Adams the presidency. Let's just say Jackson was not happy.