John Bull's Revenge – 1832 election

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

After a pair of grueling national conventions, the choice of Henry Clay's successor is before the country.

David Crockett and James F. Randolph (Radical Republican) – In a sequence of events none predicted and a few still refuse to believe, Crockett's dark horse candidacy took the Radical party by storm, as the Tennessee Congressman bested President Clay and Vice President Van Buren in turn. Formally nominated on the third ballot after Clay's delegates chose to back the insurgent rather than allow Van Buren's nomination (and in return received Clay ally James Randolph of New Jersey as the vice presidential nominee), Crockett now finds himself leader of the governing party in a presidential election. The platform adopted by the convention is essentially an affirmation of the policies of the Clay Administration, endorsing the National Bank, a conciliatory attitude to Britain, and internal improvements financed by federal levies. In a notable breech with the president, the convention resolved itself against the continuation of protectionism. Though the official platform makes no mention of Indian Removal, Crockett is known to support the plight of the Five Civilized Tribes and voted against the Indian Removal Act in Congress, a fact Radicals hope will be outweighed by his reputation as a heroic frontiersman in the states where Removal is popular.

Richard Rush and Gabriel Moore (National Republican) – The nomination of Rush, a distinguished lawyer who served as Attorney General for two administrations, signals an effort by the National Republicans to moderate their image and appeal to Protestant reformers and a rising middle class in the states of the Middle Atlantic. Their platform calls for a slew of traditional National ideas combined with several proposals designed to set them apart from the Whiggish Radicals: protectionism, support for public education, federal funds for an expedition to map the lands west of the Mississippi and a national observatory among other projects to promote scientific progress, and the reclamation of Michigan "peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must." While Rush is known to personally oppose Indian Removal, the party as a whole supports it; on the stump, the candidate's surrogates order these facts according to their audience.

Two days.

[Kingpoleon]

Richard Rush, the only man who will take on slavery.

((Which of the Founding Father’s are still alive? It could be interesting to have, say, Madison run in 1836 and serve a final four-year term...))

[Intell]

Crockett.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The Election of 1832

David Crockett and James F. Randolph (Radical Republican) 226 electors, 75.0% votes Richard Rush and Gabriel Moore (National Republican) 18 electors, 25.0% votes

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."