The Election of 1832David Crockett and James F. Randolph (Radical Republican) 226 electors, 75.0% votes Richard Rush and Gabriel Moore (National Republican) 18 electors, 25.0% votes
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If the presidency of Henry Clay had been the death knell of the first party system, the nomination of and election of Davy Crockett was the final nail in its coffin and the morning call of a new epoch in American politics. None at the outset of the campaign saw either as a distinct possibility. As the call for delegates to a national convention went up within the Radical Republican party, the friends of Vice President Martin Van Buren set upon Crockett, an uncontroversial Western Congressman, as the ideal stalking horse to embarrass Clay —then hot in pursuit of an unprecedented third term —and clear the way for their own man.
But Crockett's candidacy had taken on a life of its own, and after trouncing Clay on the first ballot, went on to extinguish Van Buren's hopes on the second. At this point, Van Buren's surrogates approached Clay's delegates with the last, desperate hope of toppling Crockett on the third ballot; but Clay, furious with his vice president's treachery, decided he would rather Crockett have the nomination than see it fall to Van Buren, and threw his support to the Tennesseean on the condition than James F. Randolph, a New Jersey Congressman close to the administration, be nominated for vice president.
At this news, the National Republicans rejoiced, for certain were they that Crockett—all but anonymous in Washington City, with less than half a decade spent in Congress and no record to speak of—would make for quick work at the hands of their candidate, the distinguished and statesmanlike Richard Rush. This estimation proved well-near reversed of the actual result of the balloting; for rather than cripple his candidacy, Crockett's spare record and short service in government allowed him to be all things to all men, while Rush was hurt by more than a decade's exposure for his positions—particularly his opposition to slavery—that damaged his chances with various constituencies, especially in the South. In the end, despite all odds, Crockett had won a historic victory: with more than two hundred electors and three quarters of the popular vote, the largest for any candidate to that point.
It was, wrote one ecstatic admirer of the president-elect, "the greatest revolution in this country, at least, since the election of Jefferson —possibly in our history."