--- title: The 2016 Presidential Campaign Is Way Less Crazy Than 1836's description: One party, four candidates—what could go wrong? canonical: https://time.com/4070370/2016-1836-presidential-election/ author: Erin Blakemore article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-13T20:00:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:17.447Z article:section: History og:title: The 2016 Presidential Campaign Is Way Less Crazy Than 1836's og:description: One party, four candidates—what could go wrong? og:url: https://time.com/4070370/2016-1836-presidential-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc97c24c3f2d76506/698867e9f887dc3c1de92d34/1836.jpeg?branch=production&width=682&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 682 og:image:height: 384 og:image:alt: Martin Van Buren og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 2016 Presidential Campaign Is Way Less Crazy Than 1836's twitter:description: One party, four candidates—what could go wrong? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc97c24c3f2d76506/698867e9f887dc3c1de92d34/1836.jpeg?branch=production&width=682&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Election Season That Was Weirder Than 2016 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Erin Blakemore](https://time.com/author/erin-blakemore/) ## Erin Blakemore Oct 13, 2015 8:00 PM UTC  Martin Van Buren (1782 - 1862), the 8th President of the United States of America Martin Van Buren (1782 - 1862), the 8th President of the United States of AmericaHulton Archive—Getty Images by [Erin Blakemore](https://time.com/author/erin-blakemore/) ## Erin Blakemore Oct 13, 2015 8:00 PM UTC It’s still over a year until the United States votes on its next president, and all signs point to a wild and wooly election season. But even if the 2016 election turns out to be breathtakingly chaotic, it will have nothing on 1836 — one of the weirdest election seasons in the country’s history. Blame Andrew Jackson for the strangeness of the 1836 election: By the time he had served out the end of his two-term presidency, he was among the most polarizing figures in United States history. ([He still is](http://time.com/3656271/old-hickory-in-a-new-century/).) As President, Jackson not only [waged war on his own bank](http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2008/januaryfebruary/feature/king-andrew-and-the-bank), but also infuriated Southern states when he asked Congress to allow him to use federal troops [to enforce federal tariff laws](http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Nullification.html) within their borders. The nullification crisis—so called because South Carolina tried to nullify the tariff—was sidestepped at the last minute by a compromise tariff, but Jackson was so hated that his opponents formed an entire political party, the Whigs, to oppose his successor, Vice President Martin Van Buren. The Whig Party was a motley crew — a bizarre coalition of the National Republican Party, leftover Federalists, opponents of Freemasonry and states’ rights activists. A contentious bunch, the Whigs could only agree on what they _weren’t_ for: Jackson. They knew it wouldn’t be enough to complain bitterly about Jackson’s policies: To beat his heir apparent, they’d have to come together. That…didn’t go so well. The strategy the Whigs ended up using [wasn’t a formal strategy at all](http://www.jstor.org/stable/3122854%20). Rather, infighting, power plays and internal chaos led to an unusual predicament: no national convention, no political platform and not one, but four nominees for President. That’s right — William Henry Harrison, Daniel Webster, Hugh L. White and Willie P. Mangum were all the Whig Party’s presidential candidate at the same time. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but it was one that just might have worked. By running four candidates in four different parts of the country, the Whigs might have been able to prevent a single candidate from getting a majority of electoral votes. If that had happened, the election would have been thrown to the House of Representatives to decide — a fluke [with precedents](https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/electoral-tally/) in both 1800 and 1824. For a few minutes, it looked like running four candidates might work. All told, the Whig candidates garnered over 738,000 votes. But though that number came unsettlingly close to the 762,678 popular votes garnered by Van Buren, the Whigs were only able to snag 124 electoral votes to Van Buren’s 170\. “We are to be cursed with Van Buren for President,” [said a New York Whig leader](https://books.google.com/books?id=Ra8-AAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA374&ots=lG%5FcR5uEQ%5F&dq=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20to%20be%20cursed%20with%20Van%20Buren%20for%20President.%E2%80%9D&pg=PA374#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20to%20be%20cursed%20with%20Van%20Buren%20for%20President.%E2%80%9D&f=false) after the results came back. “This certainly makes me hate \[him\] the more….I have no confidence in a People who can elect Van Buren President.” Despite their epic defeat, the Whigs learned from their failure. Though the Whigs’ attempt to sway voters from Van Buren with no real consensus or policies failed, it actually managed to win a future election. William Henry Harrison proved to be such a charismatic candidate that he never really stopped running. In 1840, he managed to [defeat Van Buren](http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/vote/1840/) in the infamous “Log Cabin Election” — only to die 31 days after his inauguration. ### See the 2016 Candidates Looking Very Presidential  Sen. Ted Cruz is surrounded by stars and stripes at the 2014 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. on September 26, 2014. Mark Peterson—Redux  Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton gazes pensively into the distance at Iowa Senator Tom Harken'a annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 14, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis for TIME  Jeb Bush Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush flashes a power watch before giving his keynote address at the National Summit on Education Reform in Washington on Nov. 20, 2014. Susan Walsh—AP  Bernie Sanders waves to supporters after officially announcing his candidacy for the U.S. presidency during an event at Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont, on May 26, 2015. Win McNamee—Getty Images  Chris Christie New Jersey Governor Chris Christie strikes a presidential power stance at the ceremony for the opening of the 206 bypass in Hillsborough, New Jersey on October 28, 2013. Mark Peterson—Redux  Former Hewlett-Packard Co Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina listens to her introduction from the side of the stage at the Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 24, 2015. Jim Young—Reuters  Rand Paul Sen. Rand Paul works a crowd during a campaign stop on October 24, 2014 in McDonough, Georgia. Jessica McGowan—Getty Images  Rick Perry Texas Gov. Rick Perry looks powerfully patriotic during the National Anthem before an NCAA college football game on Nov. 27, 2014, in College Station, Texas. David J. Phillip—AP  Bobby Jindal Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal looks to the future during The Family Leadership Summit on Aug. 9, 2014, in Ames, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP  Martin O'Malley Maryland Governor Martin OíMalley ponders decorating ideas in front of his possible future home on CBS's Face the Nation on Feb. 23, 2014. Chris Usher—AP  Marco Rubio Sen. Marco Rubio looks determined the morning after the State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. on January 29, 2014. Melissa Golden—Redux  Ben CarsonBen Carson at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference on March 8, 2014. Susan Walsh—AP  Jim Webb Retiring Sen. Jim Webb imitates the presidential wave during a rally in Virginia Beach, Va. on Sept. 27, 2012. Steve Helber—AP  John Kasich Ohio Gov. John Kasich practices his presidential victory pose at the Ohio Republican Party celebration on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Columbus, Ohio. Tony Dejak—AP  Rick Santorum Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum looks resolute at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 7, 2014. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Scott Walker Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker practices the presidential point on March 3, 2014 in Milwaukee. Jeffrey Phelps—AP  Mike Huckabee Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee fine-tunes his presidential oratory at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference in National Harbor, Md. on March 7, 2014. Susan Walsh—AP  Lincoln Chafee, Former Rhode Island Governor, poses for a selfie with a student after announcing he will seek the Democratic nomination for president in Arlington, Va. on June 3, 2015. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters  Lindsey Graham Lindsey Graham announced his plans to join the 2016 presidential race. Alex Wong—Getty Images  George Pataki Former New York governor George Pataki listens to a question at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire, in this April 17, 2015 file photo. 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