1840 United States presidential election in Indiana

1840 United States presidential election in Indiana

November 2, 1840
 
Nominee William Henry Harrison Martin Van Buren
Party Whig Democratic
Home state Ohio New York
Running mate John Tyler N/A[a]
Electoral vote 9 0
Popular vote 65,237 51,691
Percentage 55.0% 45.0%

County Results

President before election

Martin Van Buren
Democratic

Elected President

William Henry Harrison
Whig

A presidential election was held in Indiana on November 2, 1840 as part of the 1840 United States presidential election.[1] The Whig ticket of the former major general William Henry Harrison and the former U.S. senator from Virginia John Tyler defeated the incumbent Democratic president Martin Van Buren.[2] Harrison defeated Van Buren in the national election with 234 electoral votes.[3]

General election

Summary

Indiana chose nine electors on a statewide general ticket. Nineteenth-century election laws required voters to elect each member of the Electoral College individually, rather than as a group. This sometimes resulted in small differences in the number of votes cast for electors pledged to the same presidential candidate, if some voters did not vote for all the electors nominated by a party.[4] This table compares the votes for the most popular elector pledged to each ticket, to give an approximate sense of the statewide result.

1840 United States presidential election in Indiana[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Whig William Henry Harrison
John Tyler
63,237 55.01 0.96
Democratic Martin Van Buren
N/A[a]
51,691 44.96 0.93
Liberty James G. Birney
Thomas Earle
30 0.03 0.03
Total votes 114,958 100.00

Results

1840 United States presidential election in Indiana[2]
Party Candidate Votes
Whig James H. Cravens 63,237
Whig John W. Payne 63,237
Whig Caleb B. Smith 63,237
Whig Richard W. Thompson 63,235
Whig Joseph L. White 63,235
Whig William Herod 63,227
Whig Joseph G. Marshall 63,225
Whig Samuel C. Sample 63,217
Whig McCarty Jonathan 63,216
Democratic William Hendricks 51,691
Democratic Robert Dale Owen 51,690
Democratic Thomas J. Henley 51,688
Democratic Andrew Kennedy 51,688
Democratic John L. Robinson 51,687
Democratic William J. Peaslet 51,676
Democratic John M. Lenon 51,642
Democratic Henry Secrest 51,494
Democratic Tilghman Howard 51,339
Democratic George W. Ewing (withdrawn)[5] 351
Democratic George Boon (withdrawn)[6] 196
Unpledged J. M. Simmons 51
Liberty Lesmon Basye 30
Liberty James Clayton 30
Liberty Cyrus Hamilton 30
Liberty Thomas Hicklin 30
Liberty Thomas Johns 30
Liberty Thomas Maxwell 30
Liberty William Smith 30
Liberty Samuel Stephenson 30
Liberty Daniel Worth 30
Total
≈114,958

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b No candidate was formally nominated.

References

  1. ^ Dubin 2002, p. xvi.
  2. ^ a b c Riker & Thornbrough 1960, pp. 29–37.
  3. ^ "1840 Electoral College Results". National Archives. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  4. ^ Lampi n.d.; Ratcliffe 2014, p. 57.
  5. ^
  6. ^ "To the Democratic Republicans of Indiana". Vevay Times and Switzerland County Democrat. May 28, 1840.

Bibiliography