1832 United States presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 2 to December 5, 1832. Incumbent president Andrew Jackson, candidate of the Democratic Party, defeated Henry Clay, candidate of the National Republican Party. The election saw the first use of the presidential nominating conventions, and the Democrats, National Republicans, and the Anti-Masonic Party all used conventions to select their candidates. Jackson won renomination with no opposition, and the 1832 Democratic National Convention replaced Vice President John C. Calhoun with Martin Van Buren. The National Republican Convention nominated a ticket led by Clay, a Kentuckian who had served as Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams. The Anti-Masonic Party, one of the first major U . third parties, nominated former Attorney General William Wirt. Jackson faced heavy criticism for his actions in the Bank War, but remained popular among the general public. He won a majority of the popular vote and 219 of the 288 electoral votes, carrying most states outside New England. Clay won 37 % of the popular vote and 49 electoral votes, while Wirt won 7 % of the popular vote and carried the state of Vermont. Though he had not actively campaigned, Virginia Governor John Floyd received the electoral votes of South Carolina, which remained the only state where presidential electors were appointed at the discretion of the state legislature rather than by popular vote (and would continue to be in every presidential election through 1860). After the election, members of the National Republican Party and the Anti-Masonic Party formed the Whig Party, which became the Democrats' primary opponent over the next two decades.