1840 Democratic National Convention

U.S. political event held in Baltimore, Maryland February 2026 January 2025 1840 Democratic Bust Portrait of Martin Van Buren.jpg Noimage.png Nominees Van Buren and None May 5–6, 1840 The Assembly Rooms Baltimore, Maryland Martin Van Buren of New York None 1835 1844 The 1840 Democratic National Convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland, from May 5 to May 6. The Democratic Party re-nominated President Martin Van Buren by acclamation, but failed to select a nominee for vice president. Van Buren is the only major party presidential nominee since the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment to seek election without a running mate. Dragged down by the unpopularity of the Panic of 1837, Van Buren was defeated by the Whig Party's ticket in the 1840 presidential election.https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/martin-van-buren Martin Van Buren History Delegates Delegates from 21 of 26 states were in attendance. States not in attendance were Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, South Carolina and Virginia.https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030799376 Proceedings of the National democratic convention, held in the City of Baltimore, on the 5th of May, 1840 1840 The Office of the Republican 7–8 Baltimore, Maryland Platform Conspectus of the History of Political Parties and the Federal Government/1840 Democratic Party Platform 1840 Democratic Party Platform The 1840 convention was the first at which the party adopted a platform. Delegates reaffirmed their belief that the Constitution was the primary guide for each state's political affairs. To them, this meant that all roles of the federal government not specifically defined fell to each respective state government, including such responsibilities as debt created by local projects. Decentralized power and states' rights pervaded each and every resolution adopted at the convention, including those on slavery, taxes, and the possibility of a central bank.https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/polcon/democraticindex.html 1840 Democratic Convention Library of Congress February 27, 2017https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030799376 Proceedings of the National democratic convention, held in the City of Baltimore, on the 5th of May, 1840 1840 The Office of the Republican 9 Baltimore, Maryland Regarding slavery, the Convention adopted the following resolution:Resolved, That congress has no power under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several states, and that such states are the sole and proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution: that all efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions.1840 Proceedings of the National democratic convention, held in the City of Baltimore, on the 5th of May, 1840 Baltimore The Office of the Republican 2027/mdp.39015030799376 free Vice presidential nomination Candidates Vice President Richard M. Johnson was not retained on the ticket, as he was largely seen as a liability in the 1836 election and had focused much of his time as vice president on his own economic affairs. Former president Andrew Jackson backed James K. Polk for the position of vice president, but Van Buren supported his vice president's renomination. Prior to the convention, several prominent Democrats sought the vice presidential nomination. Among them were Polk; Senator William R. King of Alabama; and Secretary of State John Forsyth of Georgia.Ellis Richard J. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Old_Tip_vs_the_Sly_Fox/gkGTEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA173&printsec=frontcover Old Tip vs. the Sly Fox: The 1840 Election and the Making of a Partisan Nation 2025-08-19 University Press of Kansas 978-0-7006-4076-8 en The convention ultimately failed to nominate a running mate for Van Buren. Van Buren remains the only major party presidential nominee since the passage of the Twelfth Amendment to seek election without a running mate.Witcover Jules The American Vice Presidency 2014 Smithsonian Books 91–95 Polk, Johnson, and Littleton Tazewell would all receive electoral votes for vice president in the general election.https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1840 1840 Electoral College Results National Archives and Records Administration July 29, 2026 See also History of the United States Democratic Party 1839 Whig National Convention 1840 United States presidential election U.S. presidential nomination convention List of Democratic National Conventions References External links Democratic Party Platform of 1840 at The American Presidency Project 1835Baltimore, Maryland Democratic National Conventions 1844Baltimore, Maryland Category:1840 conferences Category:1840 United States presidential election Category:1840 in Maryland Category:1840s in Baltimore Category:United States presidential nominating conventions in Baltimore Category:Maryland Democratic Party Category:Political events in Maryland Category:Democratic National Conventions Category:May 1840 Category:19th-century political conferences Category:Richard Mentor Johnson