424 
Indiana University 
Harrison, and 96,238 for Van Buren. The voters of Indiana, 
hero-worshippers before they were partisans, gave the 
General 41,283 votes and 32,772 to Van Buren. The change 
from a decisive Democratic victory in 1832 to a Whig success 
in 1836 by 8,500 votes was remarkable but not hard to ex- 
plain. The spell of the name of one hero had been broken and 
that of another had taken its place. The Democrats were put 
on the defensive, and with few exceptions have remained 
in that position since. In Illinois, Van Buren polled 18,459 
and the opposition ticket 15,240 votes. It is hard to deter- 
mine the Harrison vote in Illinois for there were both a Harri- 
son and Tyler and a White and Tyler ticket and a variety 
of ways of voting. Sometimes the county clerks indicated 
the intentions of the voters in their returns, more often not. 
In Michigan the Harrison vote made a surprising showing 
but totalled only 4,045 to 7,332 for the Van Buren electors. 
Michigan was not officially admitted until January 26, 1837, 
but Congress added a resolution on the counting of the votes 
which disposed of her 3 votes in the same manner that was 
applied to those of Missouri in 1821. The total Whig vote 
in the Northwest in 1836 was 165,526 compared to 154,801 
for the Democrats, and by the electors 30 to 8. The vote of 
Ohio and Indiana represented in part personal sentiment for 
Harrison, but this does not explain the majority of Whig 
votes in state and congressional elections. The two frontier 
states of Illinois and Michigan did not yet possess enough of 
the class of people who constituted the backbone of the Whig 
party, and the more popular doctrines and better organiza- 
tions of the Van Buren party still prevailed. 
Congressmen were elected in Ohio and Illinois. In the 
former state the Whigs elected 11 of the 19 representatives, 
but in Illinois all 3 of the Democratic candidates were suc- 
cessful. The Indiana election took place in 1837, and a clear 
party distinction in all districts was made for the first time. 
The Democratic party, which had slipped in 1836, in the fol- 
lowing year met with disaster. From a unanimous election of 
7 Congressmen in the Twenty-fourth Congress, the Democrats 
were able to return but 1 to the next Congress.^® With the 
representatives from Michigan the Democrats of the North- 
Ratliff Boone in the second district. “Indiana now commences a new era in 
Congress. Her delegation will find themselves natural allies of the destructive nulli- 
fiers of the South and Bare Bones’ puritans of the North.’’ Ohio Statesman (Columbus, 
Ohio) , July 12, 1836. . .• 
