United States Presidential Election of 1820

Monroe re-elected with 231 of 232 electoral votes, the nearest thing to unanimity since Washington.

Overview

Monroe faced no organized opposition, and only New Hampshire elector William Plumer withheld his vote, nominally to preserve Washington's unique honor, giving Monroe 231 of 232 though three electors died and never voted. The Federalist Party fielded no candidate and vanished as a national force. Yet the calm was deceptive, as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had just papered over slavery's expansion, and the 1824 free-for-all among Monroe's own cabinet and heirs would end the one-party era.