In 1844 a Dark Horse Won the Presidency and the Big Issue was Texas
The presidential election of 1844 dealt with a problem that had been simmering for years: what should the United States do about Texas? And after an election with some odd surprises, and a very close outcome which nearly made Henry Clay president, the relatively unknown James K. Polk won the presidency on a platform focused on annexing Texas.
After attaining its independence from Mexico in the 1830s, the logical assumption was that Texas would be added to the Union as a new state.
Yet not everyone had been happy about that idea. Northerners did not like the idea of a massive new slave state being added. And even many southerners did not like the idea.
The first president to deal with the issue, Martin Van Buren, deftly avoided the controversy. The president elected in 1840, William Henry Harrison, died before the issue reached him. But his successor, John Tyler, eventually saw the need to add Texas.
Tyler's efforts to annex Texas by submitting a negotiated treaty with the Texan government to the U.S. Senate failed in June 1844. And so the issue of Texas was essentially passed on to the voters. Whoever won the election that fall would decide whether or not Texas became a state.
Some of the presidential candidates were obvious. Henry Clay, who had run for president before, would become the nominee of the Whig Party. And Martin Van Buren saw an opportunity to regain the presidency, especially as the economic conditions which had gotten him voted out of office in 1840 had improved.
The incumbent president, John Tyler, had little support to run again.
The likely contest between Van Buren and Clay became confused when a rival of both men, John C. Calhoun threw a bomb into the race. Calhoun had become Tyler's secretary of state when a freak accident on a warship, the USS Princeton, killed Secretary of State Abel Upshur.
A vocal advocate for slavery and states' rights for years, Calhoun publicly advocated for the annexation of Texas as it would help spread American slavery westward. Notherners were offended by that, and both Van Buren and Clay were forced to respond.
Both men published letters in opposition to annexing Texas, and it doomed their chances for the presidency that year.
Van Buren failed to get the nomination of the Democratic Party at its convention in Baltimore that year. And in a series of ballots, a politician who was back home in Tennessee, James K. Polk, received the party's nomination for president.
Polk was the nation's first dark horse candidate. And when he was informed that he was running for president, he came out in favor of annexing Texas.
To make things more acceptable to the North, Polk also came out in favor of solidifying American claims to territory in the Northwest. The slogan of "Fifty-four forty or fight," which referred to the line of longitude which defined America's most northerly claims against British Canada along the Pacific Coast, became part of Polk's campaign.
In the election that fall a third-party candidate, James G. Birney of the Liberty Party, running on an anti-slavery platform, received no electoral votes. However, Birney polled surprisingly well in New York State, presumably because people opposed to the annexation of Texas voted for him.
It's probably that Birney's showing in New York cost Henry Clay the state's electoral votes, and thus cost him the election.
In the electoral college, Polk received 170 electoral votes to Clay's 105. But if the result in New York had been reversed, the states 36 electoral votes would go to Clay, and he would have received 141 electoral votes nationwide to Polk's 134. That year 138 electoral votes were required to win, so Henry Clay would have become president.
After attaining its independence from Mexico in the 1830s, the logical assumption was that Texas would be added to the Union as a new state.
Yet not everyone had been happy about that idea. Northerners did not like the idea of a massive new slave state being added. And even many southerners did not like the idea.
The first president to deal with the issue, Martin Van Buren, deftly avoided the controversy. The president elected in 1840, William Henry Harrison, died before the issue reached him. But his successor, John Tyler, eventually saw the need to add Texas.
Tyler's efforts to annex Texas by submitting a negotiated treaty with the Texan government to the U.S. Senate failed in June 1844. And so the issue of Texas was essentially passed on to the voters. Whoever won the election that fall would decide whether or not Texas became a state.
The Likely Candidates
Some of the presidential candidates were obvious. Henry Clay, who had run for president before, would become the nominee of the Whig Party. And Martin Van Buren saw an opportunity to regain the presidency, especially as the economic conditions which had gotten him voted out of office in 1840 had improved.
The incumbent president, John Tyler, had little support to run again.
The likely contest between Van Buren and Clay became confused when a rival of both men, John C. Calhoun threw a bomb into the race. Calhoun had become Tyler's secretary of state when a freak accident on a warship, the USS Princeton, killed Secretary of State Abel Upshur.
A vocal advocate for slavery and states' rights for years, Calhoun publicly advocated for the annexation of Texas as it would help spread American slavery westward. Notherners were offended by that, and both Van Buren and Clay were forced to respond.
Both men published letters in opposition to annexing Texas, and it doomed their chances for the presidency that year.
The Dark Horse Emerged
Van Buren failed to get the nomination of the Democratic Party at its convention in Baltimore that year. And in a series of ballots, a politician who was back home in Tennessee, James K. Polk, received the party's nomination for president.
Polk was the nation's first dark horse candidate. And when he was informed that he was running for president, he came out in favor of annexing Texas.
To make things more acceptable to the North, Polk also came out in favor of solidifying American claims to territory in the Northwest. The slogan of "Fifty-four forty or fight," which referred to the line of longitude which defined America's most northerly claims against British Canada along the Pacific Coast, became part of Polk's campaign.
A Close Election
In the election that fall a third-party candidate, James G. Birney of the Liberty Party, running on an anti-slavery platform, received no electoral votes. However, Birney polled surprisingly well in New York State, presumably because people opposed to the annexation of Texas voted for him.
It's probably that Birney's showing in New York cost Henry Clay the state's electoral votes, and thus cost him the election.
In the electoral college, Polk received 170 electoral votes to Clay's 105. But if the result in New York had been reversed, the states 36 electoral votes would go to Clay, and he would have received 141 electoral votes nationwide to Polk's 134. That year 138 electoral votes were required to win, so Henry Clay would have become president.