Some of the most important presidential elections1812 The election of 1812 consisted of a battle between James Madison, and DeWitt Clinton. Madison had represented both Democratic and Republicanbeliefs, while Clinton was a Federalist.
James Madison was born in Port Conway, Va. , on March 16, 1751. APrinceton graduate, he joined the struggle for independence on his returnto Virginia in 1771. He had been an active politician in the 1770’s and1780’s. He was greatly know for championing the Jefferson reform program,and in the Continental Congress.
Madison, in collaboration, hadparticipated greatly in the, Federalist, a paper who’s main purpose was toratify the constitution. Madison first became president in 1809, when hebested Charles C. Pickney. He had led the U.
S. in a very unpopular war, inwhich the U. S. hadn’t been prepared for. . .
the War of 1812. De Witt Clinton was a Federalist, who’s main purpose of the election wasto get the U. S. out of a war in which he felt was very unnecessary. DeWittheld every major elective office in New York between 1797 and1828–assemblyman, senator, mayor of New York City, lieutenant governor,and governor. He was a philanthropist and patron of the arts and scienceand, as canal commissioner, championed construction of the Erie andChamplain canals The method in which these candidates received nomination was by theElectoral College, or by King Caucus.
The idea of political conventionshad not been present at this time. There were no third-party candidates inthis election. The major issue of this election was the War of 1812. The War of 1812, or”Mr.
Madison’s War”, had been very unpopular among different sections ofAmerica. Mainly the ship owners in New England. The war was supposed toprotect. This war was supposed to help their shipping, but instead, it hadkept them from trading and making money. The winner of the election of 1812 was James Madison. Madison collected128 electoral votes, while Clinton received 89, and the number of “No VotesCast” was 1.
The Vice-presidential candidate, who won the election wasElbridge Gerry, who received 131 electoral votes, while Jared Ingersollreceived 86. There was no record of the number of popular votes for thiselection. My opinion of why Madison had won the election is because he had led thecountry into the War of 1812, and therefore, he should be allowed to fightit. He was also much more popular than De Witt Clinton. Madison’s part inratifying the Constitution, and his other early deeds, were alsoinfluential on the voters minds. He also did pretty well during his firstterm.
1844 The candidates for the election of 1844 were James K. Polk, and HenryClay. Two very respectable men, who had great plans for the U. S.
Polkrepresented the Democratic party, while Clay represented the Whigs. James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, N. C. , on November 2, 1795.
He graduated from the University of North Carolina, from which he thenmoved to Tennessee, where he became prominent in state politics. He waselected to the house of representatives in 1825. He was elected Speaker ofthe House in 1835. Four years later, he was elected governor of Tennessee,but was beaten in tries for re-election in 1841, and 1843.
Martin VanBuren, the president prior to the 1844 election, counted on Polk as hisrunning mate; but when Van Buren’s stand on Texas alienated Southernsupport, the convention swung to Polk on the Ninth ballot. Henry Clay, a key figure in U. S. politics during the first half of the19th century, was a master of the art of political compromise. Born inHanover County, Va. , on April 12, 1777, he studied law in Richmond andmoved to the frontier state of Kentucky in 1797.
Clay became more and moreimportant in Kentucky politics, becoming speaker of the state assembly in1807, and winning election to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1811. Clay made his first try for the presidency in 1824. Four men ran,including Andrew Jackson, were on the ballot. When no candidate won amajority, Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams.
Adams won andpromptly named Clay his secretary of state. The party members won their candidacy by primary. The major upset of thistime happened during the Democratic convention. Everyone expected VanBuren to be named the Democratic candidate, but because of Van Buren’sstand on Texas, the nomination went to Polk.
This election had nothird-party candidates. The major issue of this election was the issue of Texas. Polk and theDemocrats, wanted Texas in the Union. Clay also wanted Texas, but he wasafraid that the acquisition of Texas would lead to war with Mexico. Claynever made it clear just where the Whig party stood. The Oregon territoryhad also been a big part of this election.
Oregon was the name given toall the land between Alaska and California, west of the Rocky Mountains. Both Great Britain and the U. S. claimed it.
Polk said that the Oregonterritory would be America’s, even if it led to war. The winner of the election was James K. Polk. He pulled in 170 electoralvotes, while Henry Clay received 105. There is no record of the number ofpopular votes for this election.
My opinion of why Polk won this election is because of his stand on land. He believed greatly in “Manifest Destiny”, and this was very popular at thetime. Clay, and the Whig party never made it clear as to where they stoodon Texas. Perhaps if the voters had known for sure on which side of theline they stood, this election might have had a different outcome. 1912 The election of 1912 was a three-man race between Theodore Roosevelt, whowas a Progressive, William H.
Taft, a Republican, and Woodrow Wilson, aDemocrat. Each one had their own ideas on how to change America, but onlyone would get a chance to do so. Born in NYC on October in 1858, Theodore Roosevelt was a Harvard graduate. His interests included ranching, politics, and writing. Roosevelt was aRepublican member of the New York assembly from 1882-1884.
He was anunsuccessful candidate for mayor of NYC in 1886, but became policecommissioner of NYC in 1895. Roosevelt assumed the job of president in1901, after the assassination of McKinley. Theodore Roosevelt embarkedmainly on conserving natural resources. He was very anit-big-buisness. After his term was up, he was defeated in presidential primary as aRepublican, so he chose to start his own party, known as the”Progressives”. Teddy pulled most of the votes in election of 1912, butthe split between him and Taft caused Wilson to become president.
Born in Cincinnati on September 15, 1857, William Taft was a Yalegraduate, who went on to serve for the Ohio supreme court from 1890-92. Hebecame the Secretary of war under President Roosevelt. Taft won therepublican nomination over Roosevelt during their political convention,causing Roosevelt to form Progressive party. Lost election, thus causingWilson to become president. Taft had been chosen by Roosevelt essentiallyto carry on Roosevelt’s progressive policies.
In a certain sense he did:he instituted and completed more antitrust cases than his “trust-busting”predecessor; he supported the proposed income-tax amendment to the U. S. Constitution; he helped enact a system of postal savings and a measure,the Mann-Elkins Bill, to regulate the railroads more effectively; and hebacked several social reforms, including an employer’s liability law forwork done on government jobs and a mandatory 8-hour day in federalemployment. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Va. , on Dec. 28, 1856.
Hewas profoundly influenced by a devoutly religious household headed by hisfather, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, and his mother,Janet Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of a minister. Wilson studied at theUniversity of Virginia Law School, briefly practiced law in Atlanta, and in1883 entered The Johns Hopkins University for graduate study in politicalscience. His book, Congressional Government, was published a year beforehe received his doctoral degree. Success in New Jersey made him acontender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Although Wilsonentered the 1912 Democratic National Convention a poor second to Speaker ofthe House Champ Clark, his strength increased as Clark’s faded, and he wonthe nomination after 46 ballots.
Offering a program of reform that hecalled the New Freedom, Wilson ran against a divided Republican party. InNovember, with only 42 percent of the popular vote, he won 435 electoralvotes to 88 for Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt and 8 for theRepublican candidate, President William Howard Taft. The candidates for this election, excluding Roosevelt, were all elected ina convention. Because Roosevelt lost his convention, he formed his ownparty, allowing him a place on the ballot. The third party candidate for this election was Theodore Roosevelt.
Hisparty, the Progressives main issue were, they believed that abuses of powerby government and business could be ended (i. e. , bribery and corruption),business regulations, importance of technology. The main issues in this election were Big Business abusing powers bymonopolizing others. “Trust Busting” was the major idea of this period.
Many felt that government should get involved to stop power abusing. Theidea of regulations, such as the on the meat packing industry, were verymuch supported, after being exposed by the muckrakers of the time. The winner of this election was Woodrow Wilson. Wilson received a totalpopular vote count of 6,286,214, and a total electoral vote count of 435. Roosevelt’s popular vote total was 4,126,020, with an electoral vote countof 88.
Finally, Taft’s popular vote accumulations were 3,483,922, and 8electoral votes. The main reason Woodrow Wilson won the election in my opinion, was becauseRoosevelt took many votes away from Taft. As is in many third-partyelections, the number of votes significantly changes, thus causing somemajor upsets. Wilson won because congress voted him in, not because he waselected. If Roosevelt hadn’t formed his own party, Taft would have had abetter chance of becoming President of the United States.
1936 The candidates in the election of 1936 were, Franklin D. Roosevelt, aDemocrat, Alfred M. Landon, a Republican, and Norman Thomas, a Socialist. Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, at Hyde Park, N. Y. , to JamesRoosevelt.
He was an average student at Harvard University, edited theHarvard Crimson in his senior year, and after graduation attended ColumbiaLaw School. He dropped out of law school upon admission to the New Yorkbar and worked for a Wall Street law firm. Franklin married a distantcousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, on March 17, 1905. Her uncle, PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, gave the bride away. Their children were Anna Eleanor,James, Elliott, Franklin Delano, Jr. , and John; a sixth child died ininfancy.
The Roosevelt’s were active in New York social circles but at thesame time devoted considerable energy to the plight of the less fortunate. Franklin’s handling of small-claims cases in the municipal court systemdeepened his concern for the common people. Although a Democrat, he admiredthe progressivism of Uncle Teddy and decided early upon a political career. Alfred Mossman Landon, born in West Middlesex, Pa. , on September 9,1887, was a key figure in the U.
S. Republican party in the 1930s and ranunsuccessfully for president in 1936. “Alf” Landon first entered thenational political arena in 1912, campaigning for Theodore Roosevelt, whowas that year the Progressive party candidate for president. Landoncontinued to be associated with progressive politics within the Republicanparty. In 1932, Landon was elected governor of Kansas, and two years laterhe was the only incumbent Republican governor to be reelected in anotherwise Democratic landslide.
This success made Landon a strongcandidate to oppose President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. Although hewon 17,000,000 votes, Landon carried only two states, Maine and Vermont. Following his defeat Landon retired from national politics.
Norman Mattoon Thomas, born in Marion, Ohio, November 20, 1884, was sixtimes an unsuccessful Socialist Party candidate for president of the UnitedStates between 1928 and 1948. A Presbyterian minister in East Harlem’sslums, he became a pacifist and opposed American entry into World War I. In 1917 he helped found what became the American Civil Liberties Union. Thomas joined the Socialist party in 1918 and became its leader in 1926. Defending a moderate, non-Marxist brand of socialism, he failed (except inthe 1932 election) to halt the decline of his party.
Each candidate in this election, won his nomination via a presidentialconvention. The third party candidate, Norman Thomas, was a Socialist. Socialist’sbelieved mainly in public ownership of the means by which goods andservices are produced, distributed, and exchanged. The main issue of the day for this election was the Great Depression.
People were living in the hardest economic times America had ever seen, andwere looking for someone to get them out of it. The winner of the election was F. D. R.
Roosevelt received a popular votetotal of 27,751,597, and an electoral vote total of 523. Landon received16,679,583 popular votes, and 8 electoral votes, and Thomas received884,781 popular votes, and 0 electoral votes. Why F. D. R.
won the election in my opinion is because he was a greatpresident. The American people loved him, and his style of government. Hegained the trust of the American people, by getting them out of the GreatDepression. That is why he was elected to the presidency more than anyother president before his time.
1964 The election of 1964 was a contest between Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat,and Barry M. Goldwater, a Republican. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Texas, the eldestson of Sam Early Johnson, Jr. , and Rebekah Baines Johnson.
Johnsonattended public schools in Johnson City and received a B. S. degree fromSouthwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. He then taught for ayear in Houston before going to Washington in 1931 as secretary to aDemocratic Texas congressman, Richard M.
Kleberg. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. Johnson greatly admired the president,who named him, at age 27, to head the National Youth Administration inTexas.
In 1937, Johnson sought and won a Texas seat in Congress, where hemastered public works, reclamation, and public power programs. When warcame to Europe he backed Roosevelt’s efforts to aid the Allies. DuringWorld War II he served a brief tour of active duty with the U. S.
Navy inthe Pacific, but returned to Capitol Hill when Roosevelt recalled membersof Congress from active duty. Johnson continued to support Roosevelt’smilitary and foreign-policy programs. In 1953 he won the job of SenateDemocratic leader. The next year he was easily reelected as senator andreturned to Washington as majority leader, a post he held for the next 6years despite a serious heart attack in 1955. Barry Morris Goldwater, born in Phoenix, Arizona on January 1, 1909, wasthe unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate in 1964. Goldwater waselected to the Senate from Arizona in 1952.
A firm conservative, he becamea spokesman for right-wing Republicans in their campaign against biggovernment, advocating instead greater state and local powers. Hevigorously opposed federal welfare appropriations as socialistic and soughtto curb public ownership of utilities. A strong anti-Communist, Goldwatersupported American military intervention in Vietnam and criticized effortsto achieve detente with the USSR. He was decisively defeated by LyndonJohnson in the 1964 presidential election. Goldwater served in the Senateuntil retirement in 1987.
Each candidate won his nomination by a Presidential Convention, with theprocess of primary elections. There were no third-party candidates in thiselection. The main issue of this election was civil rights. Many people opposedLyndon B. Johnson’s laws, claiming them to be too “pro-black”. Manyliberals and blacks themselves believed that the laws didn’t go far enough.
Race riots broke out in a number of cities because of these conflicts. The winner of the election was Johnson, by a landslide. He brought in apopular vote total of 43,129,484, and an electoral vote total of 486. Goldwater, on the other hand, won a popular vote total of 27,178,188, andan electoral vote total of 52. The reason Johnson won the election of 1964, in my opinion is because ofhis prior term. He was able to regain control of the White House, aftertaking over for the assassinated John F.
Kennedy. It was a time ofequality and civil rights, and many people liked and agreed with where hestood on these issues. 1988 The election of 1988 was a contest between George Bush, and MichaelDukakis. Bush was a Republican, while Dukakis was a Democrat.
Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Dorothy Walker Bush,daughter of a wealthy investor, and Prescott Sheldon Bush, a banker andlater Republican U. S. senator from Connecticut, George Bush grew up in theNew York City suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut and attended PhillipsAcademy in Andover, Mass. During World War II he became the navy’syoungest bomber pilot. Shot down over the Pacific island of Chichi Jimaand rescued by a submarine, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Crossand three Air Medals.
In 1945 he married Barbara Pierce and thenmatriculated at Yale University, where he majored in economics, was captainof the baseball team, and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1948. Michael Stanley Dukakis, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, November 3,1933, a three-term governor of Massachusetts, was the Democraticpresidential candidate in 1988. The son of immigrants from Greece, Dukakisgraduated from Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School. He was electedto the Massachusetts legislature in 1962, serving four terms. Electedgovernor of Massachusetts in 1974, Dukakis was denied re-nomination in1978. Re-elected in 1982 and 1986, he claimed credit for part of theperiod’s economic resurgence–the “Massachusetts miracle.
” The state’seconomy had soured when he declined to run again in 1990. Stressing”competence” over “ideology,” Dukakis campaigned for the presidency in 1988in a manner that many observers found uninspiring. He and his runningmate, Sen. Lloyd Bensten of Texas, lost to the Republican team, George Bushand Dan Quayle, by 46% to 54% of the popular vote.
After leaving office asgovernor of Massachusetts, Dukakis declared that he planned to do somelecturing and teaching, as well as encouraging young people to enter publicservice. Each candidate in this election was elected by the process of primaryelections, and nominated at their Presidential Convention. There were nothird-party candidates in this election. The main issue of this election was taxes.
Bush’s promise of “no newtaxes” won over the American public. Bush won the election with a popular vote total of 48,886,097, and anelectoral vote of 426. Dukakis received a popular vote total of41,809,074, and an electoral vote total of 111. The reason Bush won the election in my opinion was because of his promiseof “no new taxes. ” The American people just came off of a “Regan High”,with good economic times. People thought the things would remain like theydid during the “Reagan Era” if they elected Bush.
The most important election in my opinion of all of these was theelection of 1812. America was heading into a war which we weren’t preparedfor. This was a crucial time for someone to take the reigns, and leadAmerica into a situation in which we would come out on top. Madison wasthe right man for the job, at such a crucial time in American History.
