1832 Democratic National Convention

1832 Democratic National Convention

1832 presidential election
Nominees Jackson and Van Buren
Convention
Date(s)	May 21–23, 1832
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	"The Athenaeum", (first), St. Paul and East Lexington Streets Warfield's Church (First Universalist)
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Andrew Jackson of Tennessee
Vice Presidential nominee	Martin Van Buren of New York
Voting
Total delegates	283
Results (President)	Jackson (TN): 283 (100%)
Results (Vice President)	Van Buren (NY): 208 (73.5%) Barbour (VA): 49 (17.3%) Johnson (KY): 26 (9.2%)
1835 ›

The 1832 Democratic National Convention was held from May 21 to May 23, 1832, in Baltimore, Maryland. This was the first national convention of the Democratic Party of the United States; it followed presidential nominating conventions held previously by the small minority Anti-Masonic Party (in September 1831) and the National Republican Party (in December 1831). The purpose of the convention was to choose a running mate for incumbent President Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, rather than the previous methods of using a caucus of Congressional representatives and senators. The delegates nominated former Secretary of State Martin Van Buren (of New York) for Vice President to replace and succeed the earlier incumbent John C. Calhoun of South Carolina (whom Jackson had fallen out with over the nullification controversy), and endorsed Jackson's reelection.

In the summer of 1822, "Richmond Junto" leader Thomas Ritchie of Virginia began raising the idea of a national convention to resolve the issue of nomination; ultimately, the Congressional nominating caucus was appealed to by the devotees of Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford's candidacy. Following that defeat in the election of 1824, early in 1827, Van Burn privately made the argument to Richie for an exclusive national convention of Republicans to ensure Jackson's nomination. However, it did not immediately come to fruition while state conventions and legislatures took up Jackson as their presidential candidate for the election of 1828 with Vice President John C. Calhoun as his running mate. Such a type of national convention would occur after the election.