United States presidential election, 1820
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The United States presidential election of 1820 was the third and last presidential election in United States history in which a candidate ran effectively unopposed. (The previous two were the presidential elections of 1789 and 1792, in which George Washington ran without serious opposition.)
President James Monroe and Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins were re-elected without a serious campaign.
Background
The previous four years had coincided with the start of the Era of Good Feeling. International tensions were at a minimum with the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The federal government had become effectively single-party, as the Federalist Party had collapsed as a national party, and no new opposition party had arisen to take its place.
The United States had expanded in the previous four years as well. Florida Territory had been bought from Spain, and five new states had been admitted to the union: Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Missouri (1820), and Maine (1820).
Nominations
The (Democratic-)Republican Congressional nominating caucus renominated the incumbent President James Monroe and the incumbent Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins. The Federalist caucus did not nominate anyone.
General election
Campaign
There was effectively no campaign, since there was no serious opposition to Monroe and Tompkins.
Results
In all, 235 electors were appointed, but three deceased electors, one each from Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and Tennessee, were not replaced prior to votes being cast.
The sole electoral vote against Monroe came from William Plumer, an elector from New Hampshire and former United States senator and New Hampshire governor. Plumer cast his electoral ballot for then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. While some accounts say that this was to ensure that Washington remained the only American president unanimously chosen by the Electoral College, others claim it was out of a sincere belief that Monroe was not the best choice. Plumer also eschewed voting for Tompkins for Vice President, instead voting for Richard Rush.
Even though every member of the Electoral College was pledged to James Monroe, there were still a number of Federalist electors who voted for a Federalist vice president. The votes for Richard Stockton came from Massachusetts. The entire Delaware delegation voted for favorite son Daniel Rodney for Vice President. Finally, Robert Goodloe Harper's vice presidential vote was cast by an elector from his home state of Maryland.
Source (Popular Vote): [U.S. President National Vote]. [Our Campaigns]. (February 9, 2006).
Source (Electoral Vote): [Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996]. [Official website of the National Archives]. (July 30, 2005).
(a) Only 15 of the 24 states chose electors by popular vote; moreover, those states that did choose electors by popular vote often restricted the vote via property requirements.
Source: [Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996]. [Official website of the National Archives]. (July 30, 2005).
Breakdown by ticket
{| class="wikitable" ! Presidential Candidate ! Running Mate ! Electoral Vote |- | James Monroe | Daniel D Tompkins | 218 |- | James Monroe | Richard Stockton | 8 |- | James Monroe | Daniel Rodney | 4 |- | James Monroe | Robert Goodloe Harper | 1 |- | John Quincy Adams | Richard Rush | 1- redirect
Electoral college selection
| Method of choosing Electors | State(s) |
|---|---|
| each Elector appointed by state legislature | Alabama Delaware Georgia Indiana Louisiana Missouri New York South Carolina Vermont |
| each Elector chosen by voters statewide | Connecticut Mississippi New Hampshire New Jersey North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Virginia |
| state is divided into electoral districts, with one Elector chosen per district by the voters of that district | Illinois Kentucky Maryland Tennessee |
| Maine Massachusetts |
See also
References
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