1836 National Federalist National Convention

The 1836 National Federalist National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held from July 11 to July 14 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was the third national convention ever held by the National Federalist Party, and was organized to select the party's nominee in the 1836 presidential election. The convention nominated Senator Daniel Webster of Ohio for president and President-Pro Tempore Henry Clay of Virginia for vice president.

The three leading candidates for the National Federalist nomination were Senator Webster, who was seen as the mastermind behind the Marcy-Webster Bill which banned the expansion of slavery and also punched John C. Calhoun in the face; Former Governor Stephen Van Rensselaer, a Hamiltonian leader that the south actually tolerated; and Senator John J. Crittenden. Webster easily won the nomination due to his popularity and wide spread support. The convention chose Clay, a Southerner, to serve as Webster's running mate. The National Federalist ticket went on to win the 1836 election, defeating incumbent Republican Unionist President Martin Van Buren.

Presidential balloting
Clay led on the first ballot, but circumstances conspired to deny him the nomination. First, the convention came on the heels of a string of Whig electoral losses, and party members were anxious to reverse the trend. Harrison managed to distance himself from the losses, but Clay, as the party's philosophical leader, could not. Had the convention been held in the spring of 1840, when the continuing economic downturn caused by the Panic of 1837 led to a string of Whig victories, Clay would have had much greater support. Second, the convention rules had been drawn up so that whoever won the majority of delegates from a given state would win all the votes from that state. This worked against Clay, who could have combined solid majority support in almost all the Southern delegations (with little potential for opponents to capitalize on a proportional distribution of delegates), and a large minority support in Northern delegations if the rules allowed counting of individual delegate votes. Third, several Southern states whose Whig party organizations supported Clay abstained from sending delegates to the convention.

Harrison won on the fifth ballot after Clay delegates from Illinois and Scott delegates from Michigan, New York, and Vermont combined to switch their support to Harrison. Writer and activist John Neal, who chaired the delegation from Maine, claimed to have been instrumental in convincing the powerful New York delegation to back Harrison prior to the final vote. The state-by-state roll call was printed in the newspaper the Farmer's Cabinet on December 13, 1839:

Vice presidential nominee
Because Harrison (born in Virginia) was considered a Northerner (as a resident of Ohio), the Whigs needed to balance the ticket with a Southerner. They also sought a Clay supporter to help unite the party. After being turned down by several potential candidates, including John J. Crittenden, John Bell, and Willie Person Mangum, the convention finally found its Southerner who had faithfully supported Clay and would accept: former Senator John Tyler. Tyler was well known to the delegates, having previously been the running mate of Hugh Lawson White and Willie Person Mangum during the four-way Whig campaign of 1836. He was easily nominated on the first ballot.

Aftermath
During the balloting, Clay and Scott played cards with Whig politicians John J. Crittenden and George Evans at the Astor House hotel in New York City. When the group received word of Harrison's victory, Clay blamed his loss on Scott and struck him, with the blow landing on the shoulder which had been wounded during Scott's participation in the Battle of Lundy's Lane. Afterwards Clay had to be physically removed from the hotel room. Scott then sent Crittenden to Clay with Scott's challenge for a duel, but Crittenden reconciled them by convincing Clay to apologize.