to the Presidency by a popular whirlwind, the thoughtful student of
American politics will regard that campaign as even more memorable
because it gave birth to a party, of the humblest pretensions at the
start as a political power, that twenty years later saw its principles
triumph in the election of Lincoln, and the mastery of the party
that has controlled the policy of the Government for forty years.
The Abolition party, that was the corner-stone upon which the modern
Republican party is reared, was organized in December, 1839, at Warsaw,
Genesee County, N. Y., when, at a mass convention, with but few States
represented, it nominated James G. Birney, of New York, for President,
and Francis G. Lemoyne, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON]
This party had but one vital principle that made up its political
faith, and that was the abolition of slavery. It was looked upon as a
movement of a few political cranks, and was not regarded as a possible
factor in that or any future political contest. It cast a few votes
in 1840, but in 1844 it diverted enough votes from Henry Clay in New
York State to defeat him for the Presidency. Its total vote in 1840
aggregated only 7069, one-third of which was cast in New York and
one-fourth in Massachusetts; but it was the party of destiny, and its
origin can be studied with profit. Its few supporters of that day
who braved the prejudices of all parties were actuated by a sincere
conviction, and that conviction was made more and more acceptable from
year to year as the aggressions of slavery multiplied, until it finally
died a colossal suicide.
The divided opposition elements which had polled within 30,000 of the
vote received by Van Buren in 1836 were coerced by supreme necessities
to united action for the campaign of 1840. But three candidates were
prominently discussed. They were General William H. Harrison of Ohio,
Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Winfield Scott of Virginia. Clay was much
the ablest of them, and had the most enthusiastic and earnest friends,
but the old anti-Masonic element crucified Clay in the Whig convention
of 1839, just as Seward was crucified in the convention of 1860 by
the American sentiment that was an indispensable factor to enable the
Republicans to win. Clay was a Royal Arch Mason, and he would doubtless
have lost largely in the rank and file of the anti-Masons, who had been
educated in the fiercest strife of political contests to believe that
Masonry was incompatible with patriotism.
Harrison had been Governor of the Indiana Territory, Senator in
Congress and a successful general, having won a decisive victory over
the English and the Indians at Tippecanoe. Scott was green with the
laurels of Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane, and was regarded as the first
soldier of the Republic. One thing strongly in Harrison’s favor was the
fact that in the free-for-all race of 1836 he had largely outstripped
his anti-Jackson associate candidates for President.
The Whig National Convention was called to meet at Harrisburg on the
4th of December, 1839, just one year before the Presidential election,
and no national convention in the history of our politics ever moved
with such extreme caution. It was three days after the convention was
organized before a ballot was reached for President, the whole time
having been occupied in formal conferences of committees appointed by
each delegation to confer in the frankest way as to the best ticket to
unite the incongruous opposition elements. Clay had made exhaustive
effort to unite the opposition, even if necessary to sacrifice himself.
On repeated occasions he publicly declared that his name should not be
entertained if it was in any degree an obstacle to success, and in a
Buffalo address delivered some time before the convention met, he said:
“If my name creates any obstacle to union and harmony, away with it,
and concentrate upon some individual more acceptable to all branches of
the office.”
A Union Pennsylvania convention had been held in Harrisburg in
September, embracing representatives of the old National Republicans,
anti-Masons, and Whigs. It was largely planned and carried out by
Thaddeus Stevens, whose violent anti-Masonic convictions made him
the opponent of Clay, and that convention, while highly complimenting
Clay, declared that General Harrison was the most available of all the
candidates named for President. Governor Barbour, of Virginia, presided
over the national convention, and instead of proceeding to ballot for
candidates, the convention, after careful consideration, decided that
the delegations from the different States should confer with each
other, through sub-committees, and if possible reach a conclusion as to
the best nomination and report to the convention.
While there is no official record of the action of these committees,
it is known that at the start more favored Clay than any of the two
other candidates, as one of the known facts relating to their action
gave Clay 103 votes to 94 for Harrison and 57 for Scott. This vote is
based on the assumption that the entire delegation of each State would
vote in harmony with its committee, as the resolution under which the
committees were appointed provided that “each State represented shall
vote its full electoral vote by such delegation in the committee.”
After three days of conference, the joint committees reported to the
convention that they had decided in favor of Harrison by a vote of 148
to 90 for Clay and 16 for Scott.
On the following day the convention accepted the report of the
committees by adopting a resolution declaring General Harrison the
candidate of the convention, and it was unanimously approved amidst
great enthusiasm. The friends of Clay gave very prompt and cordial
support to the action of the convention, and the friends of Harrison
proved their appreciation of the magnanimity of Clay’s friends by
unanimously nominating John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-President, who
was the leader of the Clay forces in the convention. No platform or
expression of principles was given in any manner. Indeed, none of the
political questions of the day diverted the convention at any time from
the supreme purpose of uniting the opposition to Van Buren on a single
ticket.
It was the vote of Virginia that finally decided the question of
making Harrison the candidate of the convention. The three prominent
candidates were all sons of Virginia, and had Clay been available he
would doubtless have been preferred. A very earnest effort was made
to force the nomination of General Scott when Clay was conceded to be
unavailable, and the Virginia delegates long hesitated in making a
choice between Harrison and Scott. Both were of Old Dominion birth, and
the pride of the Mother of Presidents would have been gratified with
the nomination of either.
It was at this stage of the contest that Thaddeus Stevens, who was the
leading delegate from Pennsylvania, controlled the Virginia delegation
by a scheme that was more effective than creditable. Scott, who was
quite too fond of writing letters, had written a letter to Francis
Granger, of New York, in which he evidently sought to conciliate the
antislavery sentiment of that State. It was a private letter, but
Granger exhibited it to Stevens and permitted Stevens to use it in his
own way. As the headquarters of the Virginia delegation were the centre
of attraction, they were always crowded, and Stevens called there along
with many others. Before leaving he dropped the Scott letter on the
floor, and it was soon discovered and its contents made known to the
Virginians. That letter decided the Virginians to support Harrison
and to reject Scott. Either could have been elected if nominated, as
the Van Buren defeat of 1840 was one of the most sweeping political
hurricanes in the history of the country.
My authority for this is Mr. Stevens himself. He disliked Scott on
general principles through his great aversion to all men whose vanity
was conspicuous, but he had a much stronger reason for nominating
Harrison in his possession of an autograph letter from General
Harrison, assuring Stevens that if he, Harrison, was elected President,
Stevens would be a member of his Cabinet. After the election Stevens
said nothing and made no movement to make himself prominent as a
candidate for the Cabinet, as he felt entirely secure, while Josiah
Randall, father of the late Samuel J. Randall, and then a prominent
Whig, and Charles B. Penrose, grandfather of the present United
States Senator Penrose, entered the field aggressively as candidates
for a Cabinet portfolio. When the Cabinet was announced, Stevens was
dumbfounded to find his name omitted. He never forgave Webster, who was
made the head of the Cabinet, for the failure, and he believed until
the day of his death that Webster had prevented his appointment.
There was much dissatisfaction with the Van Buren administration. The
severe business and industrial depression which came upon the country
about the middle of Van Buren’s term was very disastrous, and the
financial troubles were largely charged to the arbitrary financial
system introduced by Jackson and maintained by Van Buren. Labor was
largely unemployed and business was paralyzed. So grave were the
financial disturbances that several of the States were swept from their
honest moorings by the cheap money craze, and irresponsible banks were
created almost without limit or restraint, all of which brought speedy
and fearful disaster to the people.
A large portion of the Democratic party had not at any time heartily
favored Van Buren, and only their devotion to Jackson made them accept
Van Buren as their candidate. The Democratic leaders of a number of the
States openly declared that they would not participate in the national
convention. A convention was finally called, and met in Baltimore on
the 5th of May, 1840, with Connecticut, Delaware, Virginia, South
Carolina, and Illinois not represented, while some of the other States
had but one or two delegates. Governor William Carroll, of Tennessee,
presided over the convention, and Van Buren was renominated by the
adoption of a resolution declaring that as he was the unanimous choice
of the party and the convention, “he should be presented as the
Democratic candidate for the office of President.” Another resolution,
offered at the same time and by the same man, Mr. Clay, of Alabama,
was as follows: “That the convention deem it expedient at the present
time not to choose between the individuals in nomination, but to leave
the decision to their Republican Democratic fellow-citizens in the
several States, trusting that before the election shall take place
their opinions shall become so concentrated as to secure the choice of
a Vice-President by the electoral colleges.”
There was positive opposition to the election of Vice-President
Johnson in 1836, as was shown by his failure to command a majority of
the electoral votes, while Van Buren was elected President, and that
opposition seems to have increased rather than diminished. There was
much discussion in the convention after it had unanimously adopted the
first resolution declaring Van Buren the candidate for President as
to what action the convention should take on the Vice-Presidency, and
finally the resolution before quoted was unanimously adopted, leaving
the party without a formally nominated candidate for the second place
on the ticket.
This convention for the first time presented a national party platform
as follows:
1. _Resolved_, That the Federal Government is one of limited powers
derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power shown
therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and
agents of the Government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to
exercise doubtful constitutional powers.
2. _Resolved_, That the Constitution does not confer upon the General
Government the power to commence and carry on a general system of
internal improvement.
3. _Resolved_, That the Constitution does not confer authority upon
the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts
of the several States, contracted for local internal improvements, or
other State purposes; nor would such assumption be just or expedient.
4. _Resolved_, That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal
Government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of
another, or to cherish the interest of one portion to the injury of
another portion of our common country; that every citizen and every
section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an
equality of rights and privileges, and to complete an ample protection
of person and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression.
5. _Resolved_, That it is the duty of every branch of the Government
to enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our
public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is
required to defray the necessary expenses of the Government.
6. _Resolved_, That Congress has no power to charter a United States
Bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility
to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our Republican
institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place
the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money
power, and above the laws and the will of the people.
7. _Resolved_, That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to
interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several
States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of
everything appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the
Constitution; that all efforts of the Abolitionists or others, made
to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take
incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the
most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts
have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people,
and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not
to be countenanced by any friend to our political institutions.
8. _Resolved_, That the separation of the moneys of the Government
from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds
of the Government and the rights of the people.
9. _Resolved_, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in
the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution,
which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed
of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic
faith; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege of
becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us ought to be resisted
with the same spirit which swept the Alien and Sedition laws from our
statute book.
[Illustration: JOHN TYLER]
The campaign of 1840 was the most unique of our political history. The
Democrats, in attempting to belittle General Harrison, declared that
he lived in a “log cabin” and drank hard cider. Instead of resenting
these expressions, intended to prejudice the public against the Whig
candidate, the Whigs at once took up the log cabin as one of the great
illustrative features of the contest, and when the battle reached its
zenith, and the people gathered by thousands at the mass-meetings, the
log cabin was always in the procession as the symbol of the simplicity
of the party candidate for President. It was a campaign of speeches and
songs, and it developed a new class of campaign orators, of which the
then celebrated and long after well-known Buckeye Blacksmith was a type.
It was the first national campaign in which the masses of the people
took intense interest, and alike in the cities of the East, the
prairies of the West, and the savannas of the South the people were
singing and shouting for “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” The Whig campaign
culminated in a tempest against the Democrats, and resulted in the
overwhelming defeat of Van Buren, and General Harrison certainly
contributed largely to the result by taking the stump in Ohio in
September and October, to vindicate himself against the accusations
made that he was a mere puppet in the hands of political leaders and
unable to speak for himself. The following was the popular vote for
Harrison and Van Buren:
═══════════════════╤═══════════╤═══════════╤════════
STATES. │ Harrison. │ Van Buren.│ Birney.
───────────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────
Maine │ 46,612 │ 46,201 │ 194
New Hampshire │ 26,163 │ 32,761 │ 126
Vermont │ 32,440 │ 18,018 │ 319
Massachusetts │ 72,874 │ 51,944 │ 1,621
Rhode Island │ 5,278 │ 3,301 │ 42
Connecticut │ 31,601 │ 25,296 │ 174
New York │ 225,817 │ 212,527 │ 2,808
New Jersey │ 33,351 │ 31,034 │ 69
Pennsylvania │ 144,021 │ 143,672 │ 343
Delaware │ 5,967 │ 4,874 │ ―――――
Maryland │ 33,528 │ 28,752 │ ―――――
Virginia │ 42,501 │ 43,893 │ ―――――
North Carolina │ 46,376 │ 33,782 │ ―――――
South Carolina[11] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― │ ―――――
Georgia │ 40,261 │ 31,921 │ ―――――
Alabama │ 28,471 │ 33,991 │ ―――――
Mississippi │ 19,518 │ 16,995 │ ―――――
Louisiana │ 11,296 │ 7,616 │ ―――――
Kentucky │ 58,489 │ 32,616 │ ―――――
Tennessee │ 60,391 │ 48,289 │ ―――――
Missouri │ 22,972 │ 29,760 │ ―――――
Arkansas │ 5,160 │ 6,766 │ ―――――
Ohio │ 148,157 │ 124,782 │ 903
Indiana │ 65,302 │ 51,604 │ ―――――
Illinois │ 45,537 │ 47,476 │ 149
Michigan │ 22,933 │ 21,131 │ 321
├───────────┼───────────┼────────
Totals │ 1,275,016 │ 1,129,102 │ 7,069
═══════════════════╧═══════════╧═══════════╧════════
[11] Chosen by Legislature.
There was nothing to quibble about in declaring the count in Congress,
as Harrison had nearly three-fourths of the electoral vote, with a
very large popular majority. While the Democrats had not nominated
any candidate for Vice-President, and as a division of the vote would
be of little consequence, the Democratic electors generally voted for
Vice-President Johnson for re-election. Virginia, that cast a solid
vote against him four years before, gave him 22 of the 23 votes, and
South Carolina, while voting for Van Buren, gave its 11 votes to L. W.
Tazewell, of Virginia, for Vice-President, leaving Johnson with only 48
of the 294 electoral votes.
The following is the vote as cast in the electoral colleges:
═══════════════╤════════════════════╦══════════════════════════════════
│ PRESIDENT. ║ VICE-PRESIDENT.
├─────────┬──────────╫──────┬────────┬─────────┬────────
STATES. │W. H. │Martin ║John │R. M. │L. W. │James K.
│Harrison,│Van Buren,║Tyler,│Johnson,│Tazewell,│Polk,
│Ohio. │N. Y. ║Va. │Ky. │Va. │Tenn.
───────────────┼─────────┼──────────╫──────┼────────┼─────────┼────────
Maine │ 10 │ ―― ║ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
New Hampshire │ ―― │ 7 ║ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ ――
Vermont │ 7 │ ―― ║ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Massachusetts │ 14 │ ―― ║ 14 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Rhode Island │ 4 │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Connecticut │ 8 │ ―― ║ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
New York │ 42 │ ―― ║ 42 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
New Jersey │ 8 │ ―― ║ 8 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Pennsylvania │ 30 │ ―― ║ 30 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Delaware │ 3 │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Maryland │ 10 │ ―― ║ 10 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Virginia │ ―― │ 23 ║ ―― │ 22 │ ―― │ 1
North Carolina │ 15 │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
South Carolina │ ―― │ 11 ║ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ――
Georgia │ 11 │ ―― ║ 11 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Alabama │ ―― │ 7 ║ ―― │ 7 │ ―― │ ――
Mississippi │ 4 │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Louisiana │ 5 │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Kentucky │ 15 │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Tennessee │ 15 │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Missouri │ ―― │ 4 ║ ―― │ 4 │ ―― │ ――
Arkansas │ ―― │ 3 ║ ―― │ 3 │ ―― │ ――
Ohio │ 21 │ ―― ║ 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Indiana │ 9 │ ―― ║ 9 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
Illinois │ ―― │ 5 ║ ―― │ 5 │ ―― │ ――
Michigan │ 3 │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ――
├─────────┼──────────╫──────┼────────┼─────────┼────────
Totals │ 234 │ 60 ║ 234 │ 48 │ 11 │ 1
═══════════════╧═════════╧══════════╩══════╧════════╧═════════╧════════
Harrison was in feeble health when he was called from the clerkship of
the Cincinnati courts, that he had held for many years, to the highest
civil trust of the world, and the intense pressure upon him after his
election so impaired his vitality that he died a little more than a
month after his inauguration. Harrison’s death was the first break in
the Presidency since the organization of the Government. John Tyler was
Vice-President, and was living quietly on his farm on the Virginia
Peninsula. He could not be reached by railways, and telegraphs were
unknown. He had no knowledge that he had become President through the
death of Harrison until late the next day, when Webster and another
member of the Cabinet finally found their way to his home, partly by
water and partly overland, and formally announced to him the death of
the President and the new duties which devolved upon him. He hastened
to Washington to find a very grave dispute among the leading statesmen
of both parties as to whether he became President or simply Acting
President. It was important to determine whether he was President with
the full title. The question was brought up in Congress, and in the
midst of a discussion on the subject a message was received from the
Executive Mansion signed “John Tyler, President.” The dispute was at
once ended, and the question settled for all time.
THE POLK-CLAY CONTEST
1844
President Tyler wrecked the Whig party and defeated Henry Clay for
President in 1844. The Whigs had carried a majority in both Senate and
House in the Harrison sweep of 1840, and they confidently expected that
the Whig policy of a national bank to take the place of the bungling
Sub-Treasury, of aid to public improvements, and of a protective
tariff to stimulate our industries, would inaugurate a Whig political
system that could be permanently maintained by the American people.
President Harrison died only a little more than a month after he had
been inaugurated. He was the oldest President at the time of his
inauguration that the country has had, either before or since, and
he was physically unequal to the severe exactions put upon him by
the clamor for political positions. Civil service reform had then no
part in the politics of the country, and as Jackson and Van Buren
had been vindictively proscriptive in Federal appointments, it was
logically expected that there would be a general removal of the Van
Buren favorites. Harrison exhausted his vitality by trying to meet his
friends and confer with them about political appointments, in addition
to the important questions of State which demanded his attention, and
he literally wore himself out and died from exhaustion.
[Illustration: JAMES K. POLK]
John Tyler, who had been one of the most ardent of the Clay Whigs, was
confidently expected to maintain the policy of Harrison. The public
measures advocated by Clay were well understood by all, and it was
reasonable to assume that Tyler, who had been long one of his most
earnest supporters, was in entire accord with his chief. A special
session of Congress was summoned to meet on the 31st of May, 1841, and
the Whigs expected to carry all their political theories into practical
effect by national statutes at an early day. To the surprise of some of
the leaders, President Tyler exhibited some measure of unsoundness on
the question of the United States Bank, but after repeated conferences
with him they believed that they could frame a bill that would entirely
meet his views and command his approval. The bill was passed by a
decided majority in both branches, and the Whigs were dumbfounded by a
prompt veto from the President. Other conferences followed, and a new
bill was framed, to which the President assented, and although it was
passed without amendment, another veto followed. The first veto of the
Bank bill brought out very angry criticisms from a number of the Whig
leaders, and one of the most earnest and aggressive of Tyler’s critics
was John Minor Botts, then a Whig Congressman from Virginia, and one of
the most brilliant and erratic of the Whig leaders of his day. It was
believed that the irritation of the President, caused by the criticisms
of leading Whigs, finally decided the President to veto the second Bank
bill.