1832 Federal Election

Date: From 1832-11-02 to 1832-12-05

Coming on the heels of President Andrew Jackson's veto of the re-charter bill for the Second Bank of the United States, the presidential election of 1832 became a referendum on the Jackson's policy and views on the Bank. The campaign witnessed a number of firsts: all the parties involved used nominating conventions to select their respective presidential candidates, and the Anti-Masonic Party became the first third party to put forth a candidate. The Democratic National Convention re-nominated Jackson, replacing Vice-President John C. Calhoun with Martin Van Buren. The National Republican Convention tabbed Henry Clay and John Sergeant for president and vice-president, respectively. The Anti-Masonic Convention selected William Wirt to carry its standard. Though facing heavy criticism for his veto of the Bank charter, Jackson remained immensely popular, and won a near-landslide majority in the Electoral College and a comfortable majority of the popular vote.

In the accompanying U.S. House of Representatives elections, the Democratic-Republicans extended their majority, picking up seventeen seats, with the National Republicans losing three seats. The Anti-Masonic Party and the Nullifer Party of Vice-President Calhoun won an additional eight and five seats, respectively. In the Senate, however, the National Republicans took control, gaining one seat as the Democratic Republicans lost four seats.

Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 383-86; Michael F. Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 11-18; Daniel Feller, The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815-1840 (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 169-70, 185-87; Kenneth C. Martis, The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 (New York: MacMillan, 1989), 91, 92.