Presidential election in the United States 1848

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16. Presidential election
November 7, 1848
			Whig
			Zachary Taylor / Millard Fillmore
			electors					163
			be right				1,361,393
									47.3%
			Democratic Party
			Lewis Cass / William O. Butler
			electors					127
			be right				1,223,460
									42.5%
			Free soil
			Martin Van Buren / Charles F. Adams
			electors					0
			be right				291.501
									10.1%
Election results by state
15 states   Taylor / Fillmore						15 states   Cass / Butler
0   Van Buren / Adams
President of the United States
Before the election James K. Polk Democratic Party						Elected Zachary Taylor Whig

The 16th election of the President of the United States took place on November 7, 1848 . The Whig candidate Zachary Taylor emerged as the election winner . The opposing candidates were: Lewis Cass ( Democrats ) and Martin Van Buren ( Free Soil Party ) . Taylor succeeded the Democrat James K. Polk , who had not run for a second term.

This election was the first to be held nationwide on the same day.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Democratic candidates:

• 

  Senator Lewis Cass

• 

  Constitutional Judge Levi Woodbury

• 

  Secretary of State James Buchanan

• 

  Ex-President Martin Van Buren

The Democrats held their nomination convention in Baltimore in May 1848 . Since the incumbent President James K. Polk achieved both his main political goals such as the conquest of further territories in the west of the continent and had to contend with increasing health problems, he waived a possible re-election. As four years before, the former President Martin Van Buren again sought the candidacy of his party (Van Buren was US head of state from 1837 to 1841; however, was defeated by Whig William Henry Harrison in his candidacy for a second term in 1840 ). However, Van Buren failed again to bring a sufficient number of delegates behind him. Instead, he appeared as a candidate for the Free Soil Party, a splinter party. The Democrats finally set up Senator Lewis Cass , who was able to prevail against the Secretary of State and later President James Buchanan , among others . General William Orlando Butler became a vice-presidential candidate .

Whigs

Whigs Candidates:

• 

  General Zachary Taylor

• 

  Senator Henry Clay

• 

  General Winfield Scott

• 

  Senator Daniel Webster

The Whigs saw no gain in re-establishing their most prominent politician, Senator Henry Clay . He ran for the presidency in 1824 , 1832 and 1844 in vain. The delegates at the Whigs nomination convention held in Philadelphia in June 1848 voted in the fourth ballot for the popular general from the Mexican-American War Zachary Taylor as a candidate. As deemed appropriate at the time, he himself was not present as a candidate at the Whig National Convention . The Democrats, too, could imagine a candidacy by Taylor; however, he stated that he was more inclined to the Whigs. Although the general did not appear politically before, the attempt was made to repeat the election success of 1840 by setting up a popular military commander in William Henry Harrison. Taylor, who had not actively sought the office of president before, triumphed at the party congress alongside Clay as well as Senator Daniel Webster and General Winfield Scott . Millard Fillmore was nominated as a candidate for Vice President . This should appeal in particular to voters for the Whigs from his home state New York . The main supporters of Taylor's nomination and the later election campaign were John J. Crittenden , who was considered the kingmaker within the Whigs and at the same time was elected governor of Kentucky , the party leader of New York, Thurlow Weed , and Thomas Ewing in Ohio.

Free Soil Party

Candidates:

• 

  Ex-President Martin Van Buren

Former Democratic President Martin Van Buren ran for the Free Soil Party . One of the goals of the Freesoilers was to prevent the spread of slavery in the newly-added states .

Election campaign

Democrats poster for the 1848 election

Whigs election poster for the 1848 presidential election

The election campaign of 1848 was conducted with comparatively little polarization . There was no central theme. The Democrats repeated their demands from previous campaigns; such as their opposition to the establishment of a new national bank. They also spoke out in favor of lowering tariffs , while the Whigs, who traditionally represented the interests of industry in the northern states , took a more protectionist approach to economic policy. The Whigs tried to score points as a war hero in particular through the popularity of their candidate Zachary Taylor. Therefore, they did not comment on controversial issues.

The Free Soil Party and its candidate tried to win over potential Democratic voters in the Northeast and Midwest with their anti-slavery stance. In most of the southern states they were not on the ballot at all. While the electors from the 17 states in which they ran would have been able to win, this was viewed as extremely unlikely due to their structural weakness.

Result

For the first time in American history, the nationwide presidential election took place on the same day. The individual states, which are responsible for the right to vote, had set their election date on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The election date fell on November 7, 1848. Taylor was able to win the election for his party, which meant the second and last victory of the Whigs in a presidential election. He received 47.3 percent of the votes in the popular vote; 42.5 percent of the electorate voted for Cass. With 10.1 percent, Van Buren was a beaten third. Since he did not get a majority of the votes in any state, he also received no vote in the Electoral College . Taylor won several key populous states such as New York and Pennsylvania . Even in the South, which was traditionally democratic at that time, he succeeded in winning some states; on the other hand, Cass won a majority in some northern states such as Ohio and Illinois . Both ended up with a majority in 15 states each. However, since Taylor's states were mostly more populous and therefore had more electors to assign, he was able to win the election with 163 votes to 127 and take up the presidency in March 1849.

candidate	Political party	Popular voices	Electoral votes
Zachary Taylor	Whig	1,361,393 (47.3%)	163
Lewis Cass	Democrats	1,223,460 (42.5%)	127
Martin Van Buren	Free soil	291,501 (10.1%)	0
Others		2,830 (0.1%)	0

literature

• Donald Richard Deskins, Hanes Walton, Sherman C. Puckett: Presidential Elections, 1789-2008: County, State, and National Mapping of Election Data. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2010, ISBN 978-0-472-11697-3 , pp. 135-144 (= Chapter 18: Zachary Taylor's Initial Election. ).
• Joel H. Silbey: Party Over Section: The Rough and Ready Presidential Campaign of 1848. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence 2009, ISBN 978-0-7006-1640-4 .
• John S. D. Eisenhower : Zachary Taylor (= The American Presidents Series. Ed. By Arthur M. Schlesinger , Sean Wilentz . The 12th President). Times Books, New York City 2008, ISBN 978-0-8050-8237-1 , pp. 73-87 (= 8. The Election of 1848 ).
• K. Jack Bauer: Zachary Taylor: Soldier, planter, statesman of the old Southwest. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 1985, ISBN 0-8071-1237-2 , pp. 215-255 (= Chapter XI: The Soldier becomes a Politician , Chapter XII: The General becomes President ).
• Joseph G. Rayback: Free Soil: The Election of 1848. University Press of Kentucky, Lexington 1970, LCCN  79-111514

Web links

Commons : US Presidential Election 1848  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ^ John SD Eisenhower : Zachary Taylor. P. 82f.
2. ↑ Christof Mauch (ed.): The American Presidents. 44 historical portraits from George Washington to Barack Obama. 6th, continued and updated edition. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-58742-9 , p. 153 f.
3. ^ John S. D. Eisenhower : Zachary Taylor (= The American Presidents Series. Ed. By Arthur M. Schlesinger , Sean Wilentz . The 12th President). Times Books, New York City 2008, ISBN 978-0-8050-8237-1 , pp. 77f, 86.
4. ↑ Christof Mauch (ed.): The American Presidents. 44 historical portraits from George Washington to Barack Obama. 6th, continued and updated edition. CH Beck, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-58742-9 , p. 153 ff.
5. ^ American President: Zachary Taylor - Campaigns and elections ( July 2, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive )