1836 presidential election |
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Nominees
Van Buren and Johnson |
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Convention | |
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Date(s) | May 20–22, 1835 |
City | Baltimore, Maryland |
Venue | Fourth Presbyterian Church |
Candidates | |
Presidential nominee | Martin Van Buren of New York |
Vice Presidential nominee | Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky |
The 1835 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from May 20 to May 22, 1835, in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the second national convention of the Democratic Party of the United States. The delegates nominated Vice President Martin Van Buren for President and Representative Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky for Vice President.
President Andrew Jackson wrote on February 23, 1835, to James Gwin of Tennessee and claimed a preference for someone who would "most likely to be the choice of the great body of republicans" in regard to his successor. He expressed the desire to hold another national convention to nominate candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. He instructed Gwin to show the letter to the editor of the Nashville Republican. The newspaper later reprinted the letter.
Tennessee, Illinois, South Carolina, and Alabama sent no delegates to the convention. Andrew Stevenson of Virginia served as the chairman and convention president. Six convention vice presidents and four secretaries were appointed.
President Jackson had long planned for Vice President Martin Van Buren to succeed him, and Van Buren was the unanimous choice of the delegates for the presidency. Jackson and other major Democrats had settled on Richard Mentor Johnson, a Kentucky congressman who had fought in the War of 1812, as Van Buren's running mate. Many Virginia Democrats instead backed William Cabell Rives, the former Ambassador to France, but Johnson narrowly won the required 2/3 of the vote on the first vice presidential ballot.