The Democrats followed the anti-Masons and National Republicans by calling a National Democratic convention, to meet in Baltimore in May, 1832, to nominate a candidate for Vice-President. Jackson was so universally accepted as the candidate of the Democrats for re-election that the convention was not allowed to make a nomination for the first office, but a resolution was passed declaring that the convention “cordially concurred in the repeated nominations that General Jackson had received in various parts of the country for re-election as President.” The convention adopted the two-thirds rule that has prevailed in every Democratic convention from that day until the present time, requiring that “two-thirds of the whole number of the votes in the convention shall be necessary to constitute a choice.”
Van Buren was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 208 votes to 26 for Richard M. Johnson and 49 for Philip P. Barbour. No platform of principles was adopted, nor was an address issued by the convention to the people, but a resolution was passed declaring that “in place of a general address from this body” the delegations should address their respective constituents on the political issues of the day.
Never were two candidates presented for the first office of the nation who so widely differed in their chief qualities. Jackson was a clear-headed man of rugged intellect, of inflexible purpose, a relentless opponent and a devoted friend, while Clay was the most magnetic of all the popular leaders this country has ever produced. No one before or since Clay’s time has approached him in that peculiar quality but James G. Blaine. The hero-worship of Jackson was earnest and always aggressive when summoned to battle, but Clay was beloved and idolized beyond that accorded to any leader of any party in the history of the Republic. He was a most brilliant orator, imposing in presence and gifted in every grace that attracted the multitude, and he was imperious as Cæsar in his leadership. His friends battled for him with matchless enthusiasm, but Jackson was so strongly entrenched in the confidence of the masses that he won an easy victory over the Sage of Ashland.
The contest was one of unusual violence and defamation, and it was doubtless aggravated by the personal enmity that existed between Jackson and Clay. The veto of the bill rechartering the Bank of the United States had greatly disturbed financial circles, and it was believed in the early part of the struggle that the financial and business interests of the country would endanger Jackson’s success, but the popular prejudice against banks in that day was so great that Jackson largely profited by the open opposition of his former supporters who were interested in maintaining a national financial institution. The anti-Masonic electoral ticket was adopted by the National Republicans in several of the States, and it is specially shown in the popular vote of Vermont, where Clay appears to have carried the State, and yet the electoral vote was given to William Wirt, the anti-Masonic candidate. Had it been possible for the electoral vote of that State to elect Clay President, it would have been cast for him.
The number of electors had been enlarged by the new apportionment, and Delaware had provided for the choice of electors by a popular vote, leaving South Carolina as the only State to appoint electors by the Legislature. That State continued the system of the legislative choice of electors without interruption until the civil war of 1861. Several of the States also abandoned the election of delegates by the district system, Maryland alone adhering to it. In Alabama there was no electoral ticket opposed to Jackson, and the popular vote is not attainable. Georgia was also without an anti-Jackson electoral ticket, while Missouri, that was friendly to Clay in 1824, seems to have made no battle for him against Jackson. The following is the popular vote, as nearly as it can be ascertained:
| STATES. | Jackson. | Clay. |
|---|---|---|
| Maine | 33,291 | 27,204 |
| New Hampshire | 25,486 | 19,010 |
| Vermont | 7,870 | 11,152 |
| Massachusetts | 14,545 | 33,003 |
| Rhode Island | 2,126 | 2,810 |
| Connecticut | 11,269 | 17,755 |
| New York | 168,497 | 154,896 |
| New Jersey | 23,856 | 23,393 |
| Pennsylvania | 90,983 | 56,716 |
| Delaware | 4,110 | 4,276 |
| Maryland | 19,156 | 19,160 |
| Virginia | 33,609 | 11,451 |
| North Carolina | 24,862 | 4,563 |
| South Carolina | ——— | ——— |
| Georgia | 20,750 | ——— |
| Alabama | ——— | ——— |
| Mississippi | 5,919 | ——— |
| Louisiana | 4,049 | 2,528 |
| Kentucky | 36,247 | 43,396 |
| Tennessee | 28,740 | 1,436 |
| Missouri | 5,192 | ——— |
| Ohio | 81,246 | 76,539 |
| Indiana | 31,552 | 15,472 |
| Illinois | 14,147 | 5,429 |
| Totals | 687,502 | 530,189 |
There was some ragged voting for President and much more for Vice-President. Jackson received 219 votes in the Electoral College to 49 for Clay, 11 for Floyd, and 7 for Wirt, given by Vermont, and which would have gone to Clay had they been needed. South Carolina, under the influence of Calhoun, refused to vote for either Jackson or Van Buren, but cast the electoral vote for John Floyd, of Virginia, for President, and for Henry Lee, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. Van Buren was not acceptable to all the friends of Jackson, as the Pennsylvania Democratic Convention positively instructed the electors to vote for William Wilkins for Vice-President, which instructions were obeyed in the Electoral College, and a convention of Jackson men had been held in June, in Charlottesville, Va., and nominated P. P. Barbour, of that State, for the Vice-Presidency, with Jackson for President. A like convention was held, composed of delegates from a number of counties in North Carolina, in which Jackson and Barbour were nominated, but Barbour did not reach the dignity of support in the Electoral College.
There were no disputes as to the return of the electoral colleges, and the vote was declared by Congress as follows:
| STATES. | President. | Vice-President. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Jackson, Tenn. | Henry Clay, Ky. | John Floyd, Va. | William Wirt, Md. | Martin Van Buren, N. Y. | John Sergeant, Penn. | William Wilkins, Penn. | Henry Lee, Mass. | Amos Ellmaker, Penn. | |
| Maine | 10 | — | — | — | 10 | — | — | — | — |
| New Hampshire | 7 | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — |
| Vermont | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | 7 |
| Massachusetts | — | 14 | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | — |
| Rhode Island | — | 4 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — |
| Connecticut | — | 8 | — | — | — | 8 | — | — | — |
| New York | 42 | — | — | — | 42 | — | — | — | — |
| New Jersey | 8 | — | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | — |
| Pennsylvania | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | 30 | — | — |
| Delaware | — | 3 | — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — |
| Maryland | 3 | 5 | — | — | 3 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Virginia | 23 | — | — | — | 23 | — | — | — | — |
| North Carolina | 15 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — |
| South Carolina | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | 11 | — |
| Georgia | 11 | — | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — |
| Alabama | 7 | — | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — |
| Mississippi | 4 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — |
| Louisiana | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Kentucky | — | 15 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | — |
| Tennessee | 15 | — | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — |
| Ohio | 21 | — | — | — | 21 | — | — | — | — |
| Indiana | 9 | — | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — |
| Illinois | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Missouri | 4 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — |
| Totals | 219 | 49 | 11 | 7 | 189 | 49 | 30 | 11 | 7 |
Jackson’s second administration was even more tempestuous than the first. His nullification proclamation that convulsed the country from centre to circumference, and the first “pocket veto” in the history of the country by which he had killed the Land bill, were among the later acts of his first administration, and entered very largely into the bitterness of political dispute that continued during his second term. Both were denounced as violent usurpations, and it is doubtful whether any but Andrew Jackson could have made the record he left on both of those vital issues.