Part 7

The Democrats were very much disturbed, as signs of disintegration were visible to all. Jackson was the most potent of any of our retiring Presidents, with the exception of Washington, and he dictated Van Buren for the succession. Without the omnipotent power of Jackson, Van Buren could not have been nominated or elected. Jackson had the Democracy thoroughly organized, and he wielded all the official power of his administration relentlessly to carry out his political aims. There was much hesitation about the Democrats accepting a national convention, because of the opposition to Van Buren, but Jackson personally importuned the leading Democrats to summon a convention at an early period, and a convention was finally called, to be held in Baltimore on the 20th of May, 1835, nearly a year and a half before the Presidential election.

It was not a representative convention, as although over six hundred delegates attended, a majority of them were from Maryland alone, but each State was allowed to cast the vote corresponding with its representation in Congress. Van Buren was nominated unanimously on the 1st ballot, and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was made the candidate for Vice-President, receiving 178 votes, with 87 cast for William C. Rives, of Virginia. The two-thirds rule was reaffirmed in the convention, and even after Johnson had been nominated under the rule Virginia refused to approve the action of the convention presenting him as the candidate for Vice-President. No platform was adopted and no address was issued by the body to the people of the country.

The prominent candidates presented in opposition to Van Buren were General William H. Harrison and Judge John McLean, of Ohio; Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, and Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee. Willie P. Mangum, who received the electoral vote of South Carolina chosen by the Legislature, was not a candidate before the people, and it is remarkable that South Carolina, at war with Jackson on the right of nullification, cast her electoral vote for Mangum, who was one of the leaders of the Whig party and afterward distinguished as a Whig United States Senator.

No attempt was made to bring these opposing opposition elements together. Harrison was first nominated at Harrisburg, Penn., by two State conventions, both meeting ostensibly as anti-Masons, the one being Democratic and the other inclining to the new Whig organization, and he was also presented by Legislatures and mass-meetings in other States. Webster was nominated by the Whig Legislature of Massachusetts, and Judge White was nominated by the Legislatures of Tennessee and Alabama, and by mass-meetings in different sections of the South. He was then a United States Senator from Tennessee, but at war with Jackson, and he was confessedly the strongest opponent of Jackson in the entire South. The fact that he could command a nomination from the Democratic Legislature of Tennessee while Jackson was President is the best evidence of his exceptional popularity with the people, and it was proved also by him carrying the electoral vote of the State over Van Buren by a decided majority. Judge McLean gradually dropped out of the fight, as he was from Harrison’s State, and Harrison soon developed as much the strongest candidate of the entire opposition competitors.

The contest was one of intense bitterness. There were no conflicting opposition tickets run against Van Buren. In States where White was strongest the opposition united on White electoral tickets, where Harrison was strongest they united on Harrison electoral tickets, and where Webster was strongest they united on Webster electoral tickets. The campaign was thus shrewdly managed by the opposition, and it gave some promise of success, as if a majority of the electoral votes had been chosen against Van Buren, they would doubtless have been united upon one candidate before the time for meeting of the electoral colleges. In Clay’s State the battle was made for Harrison with him in the forefront of the fight, and Harrison carried the State by a safe majority.

The defamation of the contest of 1836 was equal to any of the malignant contests of the early days of the Republic. Van Buren, Harrison, White, and Webster were most vindictively assailed, and their public and private lives criticised far beyond the lines of decent disputation. Van Buren was proclaimed the mere puppet of Jackson; Harrison was denounced as a failure in field and forum, where he had been General, Governor, and Senator; Webster was defamed as an old blue-light Federalist, and White was assailed in the South as an ingrate who had sacrificed his self-respect to ambition.

There were twenty-six States to participate in the election of 1836. Arkansas had come into the Union on the 15th of June, and Michigan, where electors were chosen before the admission of the State, was formally admitted into the Union on the 26th of January, 1837, before the electoral count took place in Congress, and the precedent in the Missouri case in 1821 settled the right of Michigan to participate in the election. In all of the States, with the single exception of South Carolina, the electors were chosen by popular vote and by general ticket. The following was the popular vote as returned for the several candidates, taking the vote of the opposition electors chosen as an indication of the choice of their respective States:

═══════════════════╤════════════╤═══════════╤═════════╤═════════ STATES. │ Van Buren. │ Harrison. │ White. │ Webster. ───────────────────┼────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼───────── Maine │ 22,990 │ 15,239 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― New Hampshire │ 18,722 │ 6,228 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Vermont │ 14,039 │ 20,996 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Massachusetts │ 34,474 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― │ 42,247 Rhode Island │ 2,964 │ 2,710 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Connecticut │ 19,291 │ 18,749 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― New York │ 166,815 │ 138,543 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― New Jersey │ 25,592 │ 26,137 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Pennsylvania │ 91,475 │ 87,111 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Delaware │ 4,153 │ 4,733 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Maryland │ 22,168 │ 25,852 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Virginia │ 30,261 │ ―――――― │ 23,468 │ ―――――― North Carolina │ 26,910 │ ―――――― │ 23,626 │ ―――――― South Carolina[10] │ ―――――― │ ―――――― │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Georgia │ 22,104 │ ―――――― │ 24,876 │ ―――――― Alabama │ 20,506 │ ―――――― │ 15,612 │ ―――――― Mississippi │ 9,979 │ ―――――― │ 9,688 │ ―――――― Louisiana │ 3,653 │ ―――――― │ 3,383 │ ―――――― Arkansas │ 2,400 │ ―――――― │ 1,238 │ ―――――― Kentucky │ 33,025 │ 36,687 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Tennessee │ 26,129 │ ―――――― │ 36,168 │ ―――――― Missouri │ 10,995 │ ―――――― │ 7,337 │ ―――――― Ohio │ 96,948 │ 105,404 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Indiana │ 32,478 │ 41,281 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Illinois │ 17,275 │ 14,292 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― Michigan │ 7,332 │ 4,045 │ ―――――― │ ―――――― ├────────────┼───────────┼─────────┼───────── Totals │ 762,678 │ 548,007 │ 145,396 │ 42,247 ═══════════════════╧════════════╧═══════════╧═════════╧═════════

[10] Chosen by the Legislature.

As Van Buren was successful, not only by a small popular majority, but by a clear majority of the electoral vote, no effort was necessary to unite the opposition electoral colleges, and they divided their votes between Harrison, White, and Webster, according to the preferences of the respective States. Virginia refused to give her electoral vote to Johnson for Vice-President, and that left him without an election, as he had not a majority of the whole Electoral College. He was, however, promptly elected by the Senate, receiving 33 votes to 16 for Francis Granger. He was the only Vice-President in the history of the Republic who was not elected by the Electoral College. When Adams, Jackson, Crawford, and Clay ran in 1824, and there was no choice for President in the Electoral College, John C. Calhoun received a decided majority in the college and was elected without an appeal to the Senate. The following is the vote as cast for President and Vice-President in the electoral colleges:

══════════════╤════════════════════════════════════════════════╦══════════════════════════════════ │ PRESIDENT. ║ VICE-PRESIDENT. ├──────────┬──────────┬───────┬────────┬─────────╫──────────┬────────┬──────┬─────── STATES. │Martin │William H.│Hugh L.│Daniel │Willie P.║Richard M.│Francis │John │William │Van Buren,│Harrison, │White, │Webster,│Mangum, ║Johnson, │Granger,│Tyler,│Smith, │N. Y. │O. │Tenn. │Mass. │N. C. ║Ky. │N. Y. │Va. │Ala. ──────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼───────┼────────┼─────────╫──────────┼────────┼──────┼─────── 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 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 23 North Carolina│ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― South Carolina│ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ 11 ║ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ―― Georgia │ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 11 │ ―― Alabama │ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 7 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Mississippi │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Louisiana │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Arkansas │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Kentucky │ ―― │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― Tennessee │ ―― │ ―― │ 15 │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ ―― │ 15 │ ―― Missouri │ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 4 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Ohio │ ―― │ 21 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 21 │ ―― │ ―― Indiana │ ―― │ 9 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ ―― │ 9 │ ―― │ ―― Illinois │ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 5 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― Michigan │ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ║ 3 │ ―― │ ―― │ ―― ├──────────┼──────────┼───────┼────────┼─────────╫──────────┼────────┼──────┼─────── Totals │ 170 │ 73 │ 26 │ 14 │ 11 ║ 147 │ 77 │ 47 │ 23 ══════════════╧══════════╧══════════╧═══════╧════════╧═════════╩══════════╧════════╧══════╧═══════

THE HARRISON-VAN BUREN CONTEST

1840

Memorable as was the campaign of 1840 that called General Harrison 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.