THE PRESIDENTIAL LINE OF SUCCESSION: WHO'S NEXT?: Re: Re: Presidential Line of Succession

» Mugwump53 - Re: Re: Presidential Line of Succession

I can only assume you meant to type Andrew Jackson rather than Alexander Hamilton, since Hamilton was ineligible in 1824 for two important reasons. One was that as a foreign born person, he was not eligible to be president, and two, he had been dead for twenty years as he was killed in 1804 by Aaron Burr in a duel. {G}

Since the 12th Amendment, Congress has had to choose a president or vice president twice.

In 1824, as you described, the House chose 2nd place finisher J.Q. Adams (84 electoral votes) over Andrew Jackson (99 electoral votes) and William Crawford (41 electoral votes) Henry Clay, with 37 electoral votes was not eligible, and the House must choose from the top three candidates in the Electoral College.

John C. Calhoun had run as the Vice Presidential candidate on both Adams' and Jackson's tickets, and so had an absolute majority of electoral votes for Vice President.

In 1836, Democrat Martin Van Buren won a clear majority in the Electoral College. But his Vice Presdiential candidate, Richard Johnson, was so unpopular that many of the Electors declined to vote for him, and threw ther election of VP into the Senate. Although the Democratic-controlled Senate seriously considered selecting the Whig candidate, they eventually chose Johnson......and regretted it for the next four years. Johnson was so unpopular by the end of his term, that the Democratic convention refused to renominate him. They ajourned without nominating anyone, and Martin Van Buren became the only major party candidate to run without a running-mate. (He lost)

Check out my article on the Electoral College for more details.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/4996...

Thanks for the trivia question.

-- posted by Mugwump53