The Election of 1852
The election of 1852 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 1852. Incumbent president Millard Fillmore, who became president upon the death of Zachary Taylor in 1850, found himself in a fight for his party's nomination. But in a very close nomination battle the Whig party opted instead for General Winfield Scott, one of the most respected military men in American History. The Democrats nominated a "dark horse" candidate, this time Franklin Pierce, someone who had served under Scott in the Mexican War.
The Democrats held their National Convention from June 1st to 5th at the Maryland Institute in the eastern downtown business district of Baltimore. Two weeks later the Whig Party would meet in the same hall for their convention. There were a number of hostile factions of the party present. They were divided over the "Compromise of 1850". Four major candidates vied for the nomination: 1. Lewis Cass of Michigan, who had been the nominee in 1848. He had the backing of northerners in support of the Compromise of 1850. 2. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania: he was popular in the South as well as in his home state. 3. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois: He was the candidate of the expansionists and the railroad interests. 4. William L. Marcy of New York: His strength was centered in his home state.
Cass led on the first 19 ballots, with Buchanan second, and Douglas and Marcy exchanging third and fourth places. Buchanan took the lead on the 20th ballot and retained it on each of the next nine ballots. Douglas managed a narrow lead on the 30th and 31st ballots. Cass then recaptured first placed through the 44th ballot. Marcy carried the next four ballots.
The eventual winner, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, a former Congressman and Senator, did not receive any votes until the 35th ballot, when the Virginia delegation brought him forward as a compromise candidate. They chose Pierce for this position by one vote over former New York Congressman and Brooklyn Mayor Henry C. Murphy. After being nominated by the Virginia delegation, Pierce gained support in each subsequent ballot and was nominated nearly unanimously on the 49th ballot, winning the nomination with 282 votes, with 14 votes spread among 12 other candidates.
Pierce's supporters allowed Buchanan's allies to fill the second position. As expected, they selected Alabama Senator William R. King, a close friend and former room-mate of Buchanan's. King won the nomination on the second ballot. During the ensuing campaign, King was prevented from any significant role due to his suffering from tuberculosis, other than writing letters to assure his region's voters with the statement that New Hampshire's Pierce was a "northern man with southern principles."
Meanwhile, the Whig party was split between those who felt that Fillmore could not win the election and those who favored the president's nomination. Northern Whigs favored Scott while Southern Whigs tended to prefer Fillmore. The party was also torn on the issue of slavery. Most in the party wanted to downplay the issue. The Whigs were split on the issue of the Compromise of 1850, proposed and designed by Whig Senator Henry Clay. President Zachary Taylor, a Southern Whig, had tried to avoid the issue altogether by proposing that California and New Mexico be admitted as free states immediately. After Taylor's death in July 1850, Fillmore, a moderate Whig, had supported Clay's compromise and was instrumental as president in its passage. Northern Whigs, led by William Henry Seward, opposed the compromise because it did not ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.
Many Southern Whigs said that they would not support Scott unless he pledged to disavow the Free Soil wing of the party and to exclude them from his administration if he was elected.The split put Scott's nomination into doubt. On the eve of the convention, the New York Times estimated that Fillmore would have the support of 133 delegates, Scott 120 and Webster 40. When the party learned of Pierce's nomination by the Democrats, supporters of Daniel Webster in the North decided that Scott would be a better candidate to field against Pierce and several switched their support.
The convention met from June 17 to June 20. Fillmore led on the first ballot, receiving 133 votes. Scott placed a close second with 131 votes. Webster received 29 votes. Five more ballots were held with little change in the vote before the convention adjourned for the night. The next day, delegates resumed voting. On the 8th ballot, Scott took the lead with 133 votes to 131 for Fillmore, but neither received the necessary majority for nomination. The convention was deadlocked, and a number of delegates unsuccessfully moved to allow a nomination with a plurality, rather than a majority, of votes. After the 46th ballot, with Scott ahead by seven votes (but still without a majority), the delegates voted to adjourn for the night. On the first ballot of the final day of the convention, the 47th overall, Scott still had not received the majority of votes necessary for nomination. Several more votes were taken. Fillmore lost votes on each successive ballot.
On the 52nd ballot, Scott received exactly half of the vote. Scott was finally nominated on the next ballot, obtaining a majority when several delegates from New England and Virginia switched their support. Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham was nominated unanimously by the convention on the second ballot.
The election featured a number of third parties running in the election. The Free Soil Party was the strongest, though many who supported it in 1848 had returned to the Democratic Party. The second Free Soil National Convention assembled in the Masonic Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale was nominated for president with 192 delegate votes (16 votes were cast for a smattering of candidates). George Washington Julian of Indiana was nominated for vice-president over Samuel Lewis of Ohio and Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio. The Union party was formed in 1851, an offshoot of the Whig party in several Southern states, including Georgia. They wanted to nominate Daniel Webster. Many in this movement strenuously opposed Winfield Scott's nomination. Webster said that hepreferred not to be nominated, but decided to let Americans vote for him should the Party chose to nominate him. The Union Party held its Georgia state convention on August 7, 1852, and nominated Webster for president and Charles J. Jenkins of Georgia for vice-president. A formal convention was held at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on September 15, affirming these nominations.
The American Republican party was formed in 1843. It was composed of those who opposed immigration and Catholicism. In 1845, the party changed its name to the Native American Party. Their opponents nicknamed them the "Know Nothings". In 1852, the original candidate planned by the Native American Party was Daniel Webster, the nominee of the Union party as well as Secretary of State. They nominated Webster without his permission, with George C. Washington (grandnephew of George Washington) as his running mate. Webster died of natural causes a little more than a week before the election, and the Know Nothings quickly replaced Webster by nominating Jacob Broom as president and replaced Washington with Reynell Coates.
The Southern Rights Party was an offshoot of the Democratic party in several Southern states which advocated secession from the Union. After the Democratic National Convention, the Party was not sure that it wanted to support Franklin Pierce. On August 25 a convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, with 62 delegates being present. They unanimously nominated former Senator George Troup of Georgia for President, and former Governor John Quitman of Mississippi for Vice President. Troup stated in his acceptance letter, dated September 27 and printed in the New York Times on October 16, that he had planned to vote for Pierce and had always wholeheartedly supported William R.D. King. He indicated in the letter that he preferred to decline the honor, as he was rather ill at the time and feared that he would die before the election. The Party's executive committee edited the letter to excise those portions which indicated that Troup preferred to decline, a fact which was revealed after the election.
Most of the members of the Liberty Party had joined the Free Soil Party in 1848. Those left over held a Liberty Party National Convention in Buffalo, New York. The Convention recommended Gerrit Smith of New York for president and Charles Durkee of Wisconsin for vice-president. A second convention was held in Syracuse, New York, in early September 1852, but it too failed to draw enough delegates to select a nominee. A third convention gathered in Syracuse later that month and nominated William Goodell of New York for president and S.M. Bell of Virginia for vice-president.
During the campaign the Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, and the campaign came down to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates. The lack of clear-cut issues between the two parties drove voter turnout down to its lowest level since 1836. Scott's anti-slavery reputation decimated the Southern Whig vote, while the pro-slavery Whig platform undermined the Northern Whig vote. Scott's status as a war hero was somewhat offset by the fact that Pierce was himself a Mexican-American War brigadier general. Scott's efforts to portray Pierce as a coward appeared to gain little traction.
Shortly before the election, Union Party candidate Daniel Webster died, causing many Union state parties to remove their slates of electors. The Union ticket did appear on the ballot in Georgia and Massachusetts, however.
When voters went to the polls, Pierce won in a landslide. Scott won only four states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The Free Soil vote collapsed and the party did not win any states. As a result of this defeat, and because of the growing tensions within the party between pro-slavery Southerners and anti-slavery Northerners, the Whig Party quickly fell apart after the 1852 election and ceased to exist. Some Southern Whigs would join the Democratic Party, and many Northern Whigs would help to form the new Republican Party in 1854. Some Whigs in both sections would support the so-called "Know-Nothing" party in the 1856 presidential election. Similarly, the Free Soil Party rapidly fell away into obscurity after the election, and the remaining members mostly opted to join the former Northern Whigs in forming the Republic Party. The Southern Rights Party also effectively collapsed following the election, only attaining five percent of the vote in Alabama, and a few hundred in its nominees home state of Georgia.
The Democrats held their National Convention from June 1st to 5th at the Maryland Institute in the eastern downtown business district of Baltimore. Two weeks later the Whig Party would meet in the same hall for their convention. There were a number of hostile factions of the party present. They were divided over the "Compromise of 1850". Four major candidates vied for the nomination: 1. Lewis Cass of Michigan, who had been the nominee in 1848. He had the backing of northerners in support of the Compromise of 1850. 2. James Buchanan of Pennsylvania: he was popular in the South as well as in his home state. 3. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois: He was the candidate of the expansionists and the railroad interests. 4. William L. Marcy of New York: His strength was centered in his home state.
Cass led on the first 19 ballots, with Buchanan second, and Douglas and Marcy exchanging third and fourth places. Buchanan took the lead on the 20th ballot and retained it on each of the next nine ballots. Douglas managed a narrow lead on the 30th and 31st ballots. Cass then recaptured first placed through the 44th ballot. Marcy carried the next four ballots.
The eventual winner, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, a former Congressman and Senator, did not receive any votes until the 35th ballot, when the Virginia delegation brought him forward as a compromise candidate. They chose Pierce for this position by one vote over former New York Congressman and Brooklyn Mayor Henry C. Murphy. After being nominated by the Virginia delegation, Pierce gained support in each subsequent ballot and was nominated nearly unanimously on the 49th ballot, winning the nomination with 282 votes, with 14 votes spread among 12 other candidates.
Pierce's supporters allowed Buchanan's allies to fill the second position. As expected, they selected Alabama Senator William R. King, a close friend and former room-mate of Buchanan's. King won the nomination on the second ballot. During the ensuing campaign, King was prevented from any significant role due to his suffering from tuberculosis, other than writing letters to assure his region's voters with the statement that New Hampshire's Pierce was a "northern man with southern principles."
Meanwhile, the Whig party was split between those who felt that Fillmore could not win the election and those who favored the president's nomination. Northern Whigs favored Scott while Southern Whigs tended to prefer Fillmore. The party was also torn on the issue of slavery. Most in the party wanted to downplay the issue. The Whigs were split on the issue of the Compromise of 1850, proposed and designed by Whig Senator Henry Clay. President Zachary Taylor, a Southern Whig, had tried to avoid the issue altogether by proposing that California and New Mexico be admitted as free states immediately. After Taylor's death in July 1850, Fillmore, a moderate Whig, had supported Clay's compromise and was instrumental as president in its passage. Northern Whigs, led by William Henry Seward, opposed the compromise because it did not ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.
Many Southern Whigs said that they would not support Scott unless he pledged to disavow the Free Soil wing of the party and to exclude them from his administration if he was elected.The split put Scott's nomination into doubt. On the eve of the convention, the New York Times estimated that Fillmore would have the support of 133 delegates, Scott 120 and Webster 40. When the party learned of Pierce's nomination by the Democrats, supporters of Daniel Webster in the North decided that Scott would be a better candidate to field against Pierce and several switched their support.
The convention met from June 17 to June 20. Fillmore led on the first ballot, receiving 133 votes. Scott placed a close second with 131 votes. Webster received 29 votes. Five more ballots were held with little change in the vote before the convention adjourned for the night. The next day, delegates resumed voting. On the 8th ballot, Scott took the lead with 133 votes to 131 for Fillmore, but neither received the necessary majority for nomination. The convention was deadlocked, and a number of delegates unsuccessfully moved to allow a nomination with a plurality, rather than a majority, of votes. After the 46th ballot, with Scott ahead by seven votes (but still without a majority), the delegates voted to adjourn for the night. On the first ballot of the final day of the convention, the 47th overall, Scott still had not received the majority of votes necessary for nomination. Several more votes were taken. Fillmore lost votes on each successive ballot.
On the 52nd ballot, Scott received exactly half of the vote. Scott was finally nominated on the next ballot, obtaining a majority when several delegates from New England and Virginia switched their support. Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham was nominated unanimously by the convention on the second ballot.
The election featured a number of third parties running in the election. The Free Soil Party was the strongest, though many who supported it in 1848 had returned to the Democratic Party. The second Free Soil National Convention assembled in the Masonic Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale was nominated for president with 192 delegate votes (16 votes were cast for a smattering of candidates). George Washington Julian of Indiana was nominated for vice-president over Samuel Lewis of Ohio and Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio. The Union party was formed in 1851, an offshoot of the Whig party in several Southern states, including Georgia. They wanted to nominate Daniel Webster. Many in this movement strenuously opposed Winfield Scott's nomination. Webster said that hepreferred not to be nominated, but decided to let Americans vote for him should the Party chose to nominate him. The Union Party held its Georgia state convention on August 7, 1852, and nominated Webster for president and Charles J. Jenkins of Georgia for vice-president. A formal convention was held at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts on September 15, affirming these nominations.
The American Republican party was formed in 1843. It was composed of those who opposed immigration and Catholicism. In 1845, the party changed its name to the Native American Party. Their opponents nicknamed them the "Know Nothings". In 1852, the original candidate planned by the Native American Party was Daniel Webster, the nominee of the Union party as well as Secretary of State. They nominated Webster without his permission, with George C. Washington (grandnephew of George Washington) as his running mate. Webster died of natural causes a little more than a week before the election, and the Know Nothings quickly replaced Webster by nominating Jacob Broom as president and replaced Washington with Reynell Coates.
The Southern Rights Party was an offshoot of the Democratic party in several Southern states which advocated secession from the Union. After the Democratic National Convention, the Party was not sure that it wanted to support Franklin Pierce. On August 25 a convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, with 62 delegates being present. They unanimously nominated former Senator George Troup of Georgia for President, and former Governor John Quitman of Mississippi for Vice President. Troup stated in his acceptance letter, dated September 27 and printed in the New York Times on October 16, that he had planned to vote for Pierce and had always wholeheartedly supported William R.D. King. He indicated in the letter that he preferred to decline the honor, as he was rather ill at the time and feared that he would die before the election. The Party's executive committee edited the letter to excise those portions which indicated that Troup preferred to decline, a fact which was revealed after the election.
Most of the members of the Liberty Party had joined the Free Soil Party in 1848. Those left over held a Liberty Party National Convention in Buffalo, New York. The Convention recommended Gerrit Smith of New York for president and Charles Durkee of Wisconsin for vice-president. A second convention was held in Syracuse, New York, in early September 1852, but it too failed to draw enough delegates to select a nominee. A third convention gathered in Syracuse later that month and nominated William Goodell of New York for president and S.M. Bell of Virginia for vice-president.
During the campaign the Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, and the campaign came down to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates. The lack of clear-cut issues between the two parties drove voter turnout down to its lowest level since 1836. Scott's anti-slavery reputation decimated the Southern Whig vote, while the pro-slavery Whig platform undermined the Northern Whig vote. Scott's status as a war hero was somewhat offset by the fact that Pierce was himself a Mexican-American War brigadier general. Scott's efforts to portray Pierce as a coward appeared to gain little traction.
Shortly before the election, Union Party candidate Daniel Webster died, causing many Union state parties to remove their slates of electors. The Union ticket did appear on the ballot in Georgia and Massachusetts, however.
When voters went to the polls, Pierce won in a landslide. Scott won only four states: Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The Free Soil vote collapsed and the party did not win any states. As a result of this defeat, and because of the growing tensions within the party between pro-slavery Southerners and anti-slavery Northerners, the Whig Party quickly fell apart after the 1852 election and ceased to exist. Some Southern Whigs would join the Democratic Party, and many Northern Whigs would help to form the new Republican Party in 1854. Some Whigs in both sections would support the so-called "Know-Nothing" party in the 1856 presidential election. Similarly, the Free Soil Party rapidly fell away into obscurity after the election, and the remaining members mostly opted to join the former Northern Whigs in forming the Republic Party. The Southern Rights Party also effectively collapsed following the election, only attaining five percent of the vote in Alabama, and a few hundred in its nominees home state of Georgia.