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The Campaign and Election of 1844
When the Democrats gathered in Baltimore in May 1844, no one expected the outcome that eventually emerged. Martin Van Buren came to Baltimore with a clear majority of delegates pledged to him on the first ballot, but many active Democrats opposed the former President for a variety of reasons. Some simply thought Van Buren was a losing candidate given his unpopularity in 1840, when he had lost decisively to William Henry Harrison. Also, many "Young Democrats" judged Van Buren as a member of the "old dynasty" associated with "old politics." Others were southern men enraged that Van Buren had come out opposed to the annexation of Texas just a few weeks before the convention. It was this concern for victory and new faces that moved anti-Van Buren forces to insist that the convention follow the precedent of previous Democratic conventions by requiring a two-thirds majority for nomination.
When Van Buren announced his opposition to the annexation of Texas, he committed political suicide. It was one of the most careful decisions that he had ever made, one that he knew would make it very difficult to bring southern Democrats to his side. He had reasoned, however, that to support the annexation -- which President John Tyler had surprisingly proposed -- would lose him his home state (New York) and any chance for soothing the growing antislavery sentiments of the Northeast. His only hope when the convention opened was that while he could not easily get the two-thirds vote required, no other candidate stood any better chance. His strongest opponent, Lewis Cass of Michigan, the former minister to France and Jackson's secretary of war, came to the convention with the solid support of Delaware, Virginia, Mississippi, and Tennessee but far behind in the actual delegate count.
When the balloting began, Van Buren peaked on the first ballot, then fell downward while Cass moved up. On the fifth ballot, Cass overtook Van Buren. Seeing that he would never be nominated and furious with Cass for having robbed him of the nomination, Van Buren threw his support behind the first dark-horse candidate ever to be nominated by a major political party: James K. Polk. It had happened on the ninth ballot at 2 p.m. on May 30, 1844.
Early the next morning, the Democrats nominated George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania for vice president and presented the expected party platform: strict construction of the U.S. Constitution and opposition to a national bank, excessive tariffs, internal improvements, and federal interference with "the domestic institutions of the several States" -- meaning slavery. On the Texas issue, the platform committed the party to the "reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period." This was a compromise between southern Democrats who wanted immediate annexation and northern Democrats who had their doubts about any annexation treaty at all.
The Whigs also met in Baltimore and nominated Henry Clay on the first ballot. It was a bold attempt to distance the party from President John Tyler, whose fight with his cabinet and his party had left him without a trace of support from the party whose ticket he had run on in 1840. (See the Tyler biography, 1844 campaign and election section for details on this incredible episode.) When Tyler, having succeeded the dead President Harrison to office, vetoed in succession two Whig bills creating a new national bank, his entire cabinet -- except for Daniel Webster -- resigned in protest. Hoping to create a new constituency for himself, Tyler then endorsed, contrary to Whig sentiments, the immediate annexation of Texas, sending a hastily drawn treaty to the Senate for its consent. When the Whig-controlled Senate refused to consent to the treaty, Texas was pushed into the forefront as an issue in the 1844 election.
By the time of the Whig convention, no self-respecting party regular would even speak about the possibility of supporting Tyler, who after all was actually a Democrat who had accepted the Whig vice presidential nomination and had no real ties to the Whig Party. After nominating Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey as their vice presidential candidate, the party issued the first platform ever adopted by the Whigs. It supported high tariffs, restrictions on the presidential veto, and a one-term presidency. Convinced that the election would propel the well-known Clay into the White House, the Whigs paid little attention at first to a splinter third party, called the Liberty Party, which nominated James G. Birney of Michigan on an antislavery platform.
Because Clay came out decisively against the immediate annexation of Texas, and because Polk just as firmly supported it, the campaign presented clear issues to the American electorate. Once Clay realized that the Liberty Party might pull away enough Whigs to hurt him, he tried to present himself as an enemy of slavery by the mere fact that he opposed the immediate annexation of Texas. The fact that he was a slave owner convinced most abolitionists, however, that Clay was not being honest in his assertions. On the other hand, the more he tried to identify himself as an opponent of slavery expansion, the less chance he had -- despite being a slave owner -- for winning in the South.
Polk, also a slaveholder, vowed to serve only one term as President and restated his commitment to the annexation of Texas but also to obtaining clear title (from the British) to all of the Northwest between the latitude of 54' north and 40' south -- present day Oregon and Washington. Vowing to have all of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight," which became his campaign slogan, Polk balanced the idea of a new slave state (Texas) entering the union with the idea of a new free state (Oregon) joining as well.
Election Battles of Verbal Attacks
Although where each candidate stood on Texas was clear, both candidates danced around other issues. For example, Polk -- who had always opposed high tariffs -- confused matters when he tried to assure eastern Democrats that he understood their needs to have protective tariffs imposed on foreign goods. As a result, much of the campaign centered on personal attacks on each candidate. Polk was attacked for being the candidate known by no one in the nation. "Who is James K. Polk?" the Whigs asked again and again. One prominent Whig answered the question thusly: "A blighted burr that has fallen from the mane of the war-horse of the Hermitage." The Whigs blanketed the nation with eight hundred thousand anti-Polk tracts, accusing him of being a puppet of the "slaveocracy" who would destroy the United States over Texas. They circulated a false story alleging that Polk had sold many of his slaves to slave traders over the years -- and in those days no category of individuals held a more negative reputation than did the roaming slave traders of the old South.
The Democrats threw back the personal attacks in kind, slandering Clay as a man "notorious for his fiendish and vindictive spirit, for his disregard of the most important moral obligations, for his blasphemy, for his gambling propensities, and for his frequent and blood-thirsty attempts upon the lives of his fellow-men." They claimed that Clay had purposefully and systematically violated every one of the Ten Commandments. Especially played up were the rumors of his womanizing habits in Washington brothels. According to the Democratic press, no sin had gone untried by candidate Clay.
When the balloting finished, the "dark horse" candidate had won over Clay by a razor thin margin -- 1,338,464 popular votes to Clay's 1,300,097 -- a difference of 38,367 votes, although Polk won 170 votes in the electoral college while Clay only received 105. Birney won 62,300 votes, just enough former Whigs opposed to slavery in pivotal states like New York to have given the election to Clay had they remained loyal to the Whig party. Polk would assume the presidency without having won a majority of the popular vote, though he did win a plurality. It was the closest election in history, and it demonstrated that a mature two-party system had emerged out of the tumultuous Jacksonian years. Party newspapers, machinery, and organizations were fully operational at the town and county level, and a great deal of party loyalty dominated the election. Most voters, it seems clear, had voted less for the candidates or on immediate issues than according to party identification.
When the Democrats gathered in Baltimore in May 1844, no one expected the outcome that eventually emerged. Martin Van Buren came to Baltimore with a clear majority of delegates pledged to him on the first ballot, but many active Democrats opposed the former President for a variety of reasons. Some simply thought Van Buren was a losing candidate given his unpopularity in 1840, when he had lost decisively to William Henry Harrison. Also, many "Young Democrats" judged Van Buren as a member of the "old dynasty" associated with "old politics." Others were southern men enraged that Van Buren had come out opposed to the annexation of Texas just a few weeks before the convention. It was this concern for victory and new faces that moved anti-Van Buren forces to insist that the convention follow the precedent of previous Democratic conventions by requiring a two-thirds majority for nomination.
When Van Buren announced his opposition to the annexation of Texas, he committed political suicide. It was one of the most careful decisions that he had ever made, one that he knew would make it very difficult to bring southern Democrats to his side. He had reasoned, however, that to support the annexation -- which President John Tyler had surprisingly proposed -- would lose him his home state (New York) and any chance for soothing the growing antislavery sentiments of the Northeast. His only hope when the convention opened was that while he could not easily get the two-thirds vote required, no other candidate stood any better chance. His strongest opponent, Lewis Cass of Michigan, the former minister to France and Jackson's secretary of war, came to the convention with the solid support of Delaware, Virginia, Mississippi, and Tennessee but far behind in the actual delegate count.
When the balloting began, Van Buren peaked on the first ballot, then fell downward while Cass moved up. On the fifth ballot, Cass overtook Van Buren. Seeing that he would never be nominated and furious with Cass for having robbed him of the nomination, Van Buren threw his support behind the first dark-horse candidate ever to be nominated by a major political party: James K. Polk. It had happened on the ninth ballot at 2 p.m. on May 30, 1844.
Early the next morning, the Democrats nominated George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania for vice president and presented the expected party platform: strict construction of the U.S. Constitution and opposition to a national bank, excessive tariffs, internal improvements, and federal interference with "the domestic institutions of the several States" -- meaning slavery. On the Texas issue, the platform committed the party to the "reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period." This was a compromise between southern Democrats who wanted immediate annexation and northern Democrats who had their doubts about any annexation treaty at all.
The Whigs also met in Baltimore and nominated Henry Clay on the first ballot. It was a bold attempt to distance the party from President John Tyler, whose fight with his cabinet and his party had left him without a trace of support from the party whose ticket he had run on in 1840. (See the Tyler biography, 1844 campaign and election section for details on this incredible episode.) When Tyler, having succeeded the dead President Harrison to office, vetoed in succession two Whig bills creating a new national bank, his entire cabinet -- except for Daniel Webster -- resigned in protest. Hoping to create a new constituency for himself, Tyler then endorsed, contrary to Whig sentiments, the immediate annexation of Texas, sending a hastily drawn treaty to the Senate for its consent. When the Whig-controlled Senate refused to consent to the treaty, Texas was pushed into the forefront as an issue in the 1844 election.
By the time of the Whig convention, no self-respecting party regular would even speak about the possibility of supporting Tyler, who after all was actually a Democrat who had accepted the Whig vice presidential nomination and had no real ties to the Whig Party. After nominating Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey as their vice presidential candidate, the party issued the first platform ever adopted by the Whigs. It supported high tariffs, restrictions on the presidential veto, and a one-term presidency. Convinced that the election would propel the well-known Clay into the White House, the Whigs paid little attention at first to a splinter third party, called the Liberty Party, which nominated James G. Birney of Michigan on an antislavery platform.
Because Clay came out decisively against the immediate annexation of Texas, and because Polk just as firmly supported it, the campaign presented clear issues to the American electorate. Once Clay realized that the Liberty Party might pull away enough Whigs to hurt him, he tried to present himself as an enemy of slavery by the mere fact that he opposed the immediate annexation of Texas. The fact that he was a slave owner convinced most abolitionists, however, that Clay was not being honest in his assertions. On the other hand, the more he tried to identify himself as an opponent of slavery expansion, the less chance he had -- despite being a slave owner -- for winning in the South.
Polk, also a slaveholder, vowed to serve only one term as President and restated his commitment to the annexation of Texas but also to obtaining clear title (from the British) to all of the Northwest between the latitude of 54' north and 40' south -- present day Oregon and Washington. Vowing to have all of "Fifty-four Forty or Fight," which became his campaign slogan, Polk balanced the idea of a new slave state (Texas) entering the union with the idea of a new free state (Oregon) joining as well.
Election Battles of Verbal Attacks
Although where each candidate stood on Texas was clear, both candidates danced around other issues. For example, Polk -- who had always opposed high tariffs -- confused matters when he tried to assure eastern Democrats that he understood their needs to have protective tariffs imposed on foreign goods. As a result, much of the campaign centered on personal attacks on each candidate. Polk was attacked for being the candidate known by no one in the nation. "Who is James K. Polk?" the Whigs asked again and again. One prominent Whig answered the question thusly: "A blighted burr that has fallen from the mane of the war-horse of the Hermitage." The Whigs blanketed the nation with eight hundred thousand anti-Polk tracts, accusing him of being a puppet of the "slaveocracy" who would destroy the United States over Texas. They circulated a false story alleging that Polk had sold many of his slaves to slave traders over the years -- and in those days no category of individuals held a more negative reputation than did the roaming slave traders of the old South.
The Democrats threw back the personal attacks in kind, slandering Clay as a man "notorious for his fiendish and vindictive spirit, for his disregard of the most important moral obligations, for his blasphemy, for his gambling propensities, and for his frequent and blood-thirsty attempts upon the lives of his fellow-men." They claimed that Clay had purposefully and systematically violated every one of the Ten Commandments. Especially played up were the rumors of his womanizing habits in Washington brothels. According to the Democratic press, no sin had gone untried by candidate Clay.
When the balloting finished, the "dark horse" candidate had won over Clay by a razor thin margin -- 1,338,464 popular votes to Clay's 1,300,097 -- a difference of 38,367 votes, although Polk won 170 votes in the electoral college while Clay only received 105. Birney won 62,300 votes, just enough former Whigs opposed to slavery in pivotal states like New York to have given the election to Clay had they remained loyal to the Whig party. Polk would assume the presidency without having won a majority of the popular vote, though he did win a plurality. It was the closest election in history, and it demonstrated that a mature two-party system had emerged out of the tumultuous Jacksonian years. Party newspapers, machinery, and organizations were fully operational at the town and county level, and a great deal of party loyalty dominated the election. Most voters, it seems clear, had voted less for the candidates or on immediate issues than according to party identification.