The
Democratic Convention nominated
Van Buren by a unanimous vote. Because
Jackson's influence in the party and his popularity with the people was still at a high level, his preference for Van Buren assured him of the
candidacy. Sometimes Van Buren is referred to as the "
Crown Prince" because he "
inherited" the presidency from his predecessor. The same could be said of
William Howard Taft who was the choice of the 1908 of President
Theodore Roosevelt.
The Whig Party nominated two candidates, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts to represent the northern faction, and Hugh L. White of Tennessee to appeal to the anti-Jackson southerners. A third group, the Anti-Masons, nominated William Henry Harrison of Ohio. All three of these candidates knew they had no chance to win a majority of the electoral vote, but they did hope to split the vote enough to throw the election into the House of Representatives. If each could draw a solid vote in his own section, Van Buren might fall short of a majority vote in the Electoral College.
No party issued a platform. The Whigs coudln't afford to and Van Buren didn't need to. As Jackson's choice, everyone took it for granted that he opposed any Bank of the United States, would not tolerate nullification, opposed internal improvements at federal expense, and favored political power being used in the interests of the common people. The election returns were as follows:
Van Buren - Popular Vote 762,678 Electoral Vote 170
Harrison - Popular Vote 518,007 Electoral Vote 73
White - Popular Vote 145,396 Electoral Vote 26
Webster - Popular Vote 41,287 Electoral Vote 14
*(South Carolina's 11 votes went to W. Magnum who was not a candidate.) (Vice-President Richard Johnson was elected by the Senate)