Hail, Columbia! (The Election of 1836)

The foremost casualty of the 1832 presidential campaign was the two party system so carefully constructed by Martin Van Buren in the waning days of his presidency. The killer was former New Hampshire Governor Jeremiah Smith, leader of the abolitionist Liberal Party, who combined support for the most popular aspects of the Continental System with populist calls for democratization and defanging the "slave power." Though Smith would fall short of the presidency in 1832, his strong performance against Henry Clay of the Continental's cemented his party as a legitimate third force in national politics and proved near-fatal to Whig fortunes in the Northwest, where the Liberals proved unexpectedly popular.

From the outset, newly inaugurated President Henry Clay recognized that the success of his Administration would depend on his ability to play the Liberals off the Whigs, maneuvering debate and proposals in Congress to ensure that one of the two opposition parties would support his agenda. In this way, Clay successfully engineered the passage of much of his 1832 platform, expanding internal improvement projects on the frontier, strengthening the protective tariff, funding scientific expeditions to probe the Western territories, and establishing the National Astronomical Observatory. In exchange for Liberal support, Clay supported efforts to expand the African Squadron (the part of the navy charged with chasing down and intercepting slave ships) and enacting a voluntary compensated emancipation bill.

As the 1836 election approaches, the Commonwealth is now one province larger, with the admission of Lafayette in 1835 increasing the size of the Electoral Council by one vote. Similarly notable is the fact that, for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth, electors will be selected by popular vote in nearly every province, with only South Carolina, Yucatan, and East Florida vesting the choice of electors in the legislature. Of the 32 provinces, three - Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina - continue to allow the buying and selling of slaves.

President Henry Clay of Kentucky [Continental]
Nominated for a second term by the Continental Party's delegation in Congress, Clay is running on the successes of his first term, namely the combined efforts to expand internal improvements and centralize national financial policy that are being called the "Continental System." He opposes efforts to acquire Cuba for the Commonwealth and has likewise been hesitant to endorse the annexation of Oregon, which he considers likely to provoke a war with Britain. He is popular in the provinces of the Northeast, whose growing industries have benefitted from his protectionist policies, and his Kentucky roots appeal to voters on the frontier. In an attempt to cut into the support of the Liberal Party, Clay has cautiously expressed a desire to abolish slavery throughout the Commonwealth, though he has been silent on whether freed slaves would be granted citizenship, relocated to the West, or "returned" to Africa.

Governor William Lyon Mackenzie of Niagara [Whig]
To challenge Clay, the Whigs have nominated Scottish-born William Lyon Mackenzie, a leading advocate for governmental reform and the popular governor of Niagara. Casting himself as the champion of the common man, Mackenzie has called for the elimination of virtually all barriers to universal free manhood suffrage, calling for the abolition of the property requirement in the provinces where it still exists, relaxing laws on naturalization that bar many new immigrants from voting, and a nationwide popular vote for president. Mackenzie likewise supports lowering the price of western land to $1.00 an acre, the annexation of Cuba and Oregon, and the repeal of the Second Bank Law that established the national bank. He has opposed the decommission of the Indian Territory, a sore point for Southerners, but supports withdrawing the territory's right to Congressional representation. Fiercely anti-British, Mackenzie has called for wresting Oregon from Britain by force if necessary and supports closer ties with the French Republic.

Governor Arthur Tappan of Ohio [Liberal]
Unimpressed by Clay's hedging on the slavery issue, the Liberal Party has nominated Ohio Governor Arthur Tappan as its candidate for president. In addition to a plan to gradually emancipate the Commonwealth's remaining slaves and resettle them in territories to the West, Tappan has called for maintaining the protective tariff, publicly-funded grammar schools in all 32 provinces, and continuing the scientific expeditions begun by Clay. Devoutly religious, Tappan has called for an end to mail service on Sundays and, controversially, supports the prohibition of "intoxicating beverages."

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