The 1848 Election would thrust the American Nation into on-going debates regarding the Extension of slavery. The Civil War rumblings could be Heard in the Hall of Congress

By 1848, Manifest Destiny had run full cycle. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War, was ratified in March by the U.S. Senate, vastly enlarging the nation. President Polk’s vision had been fulfilled. But the new territories rapidly divided a nation already acutely aware of the emerging issue of extending slavery into the newly acquired lands, a point illustrated by the furor over the earlier Wilmot Proviso. As the political parties maneuvered in the face of an important presidential campaign, the central issue would become the extension of slavery.

 

Choosing the Candidates in 1848

 

Foreshadowing the dramatic political realignments of the mid to late 1850s, dissention within the Democrats would create a third party. These “barnburners” rejected the selection of Michigan’s Lewis Cass and formed the Free Soil Party. Nominating former President Martin Van Buren, they took as their slogan, “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.” There were fifteen slave states at the time and the Free Soilers were determined not to add to that number.

 

Lewis Cass promoted his idea of “popular” or “squatter” sovereignty, which would allow territorial settlers to decide on the issue themselves. Popular sovereignty would become the cornerstone of Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas even after the Supreme Court deemed the proposition unconstitutional in 1857 with the Dred Scott Decision.

 

Although the leadership of the Whig Party had fallen on Daniel Webster, delegates were looking for a winning formula to capture the White House. The Mexican War had produced two national heroes, generals of dubious Whig credentials: Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor. Taylor, a Kentucky planter with over 300 slaves, had been the hero of the Battle of Buena Vista. Never having voted before and having had no interest in politics, he was the perfect apolitical general. Additionally, Taylor had opposed the Mexican War.

 

Having chosen Zach Taylor – “old rough n’ ready,” the Whigs looked forward to winning the election. This was a replay of the Whig victory in 1840 when they nominated another general, William Henry Harrison of Indiana.

 

A New President and a New Congress

 

Taylor defeated Cass by 861,375 popular votes out of a total 2,874,572 cast in 1848. Of those, 291,263 voted for Martin Van Buren. The Free Soil Party received no electoral votes. Taylor was expected to favor the South, being a slaveholder himself and the father-in-law of Jefferson Davis (his first wife who died shortly after they were married). The closeness in votes, although more than the 1844 election, highlighted the impact of the three-fifths compromise that counted slaves toward representation (more electoral votes).

 

The newly elected Congress, which would meet for the first time in December 1849, included the old Senate stalwarts, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and Thomas Hart Benton. At the same time new Senators were making a first appearance in the distinguished chamber: Stephen Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and William Henry Steward, all men with extreme convictions regarding the extension of slavery into the new territories.

 

The Constitutional issue regarding the territories was whether the Congress had the power under Article IV, Section 3 to regulate slavery in the territories. What exactly was meant by the “Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory…?” The ambiguity of this phrase opened wide the door to often rancorous debate. Southerners like Calhoun interpreted the phrase as “administrative” power while men like Webster favored the notion of an “absolute” power.

 

Southerners believed that the Constitution protected the right of slavery to exist anywhere and were outraged when President Taylor favored admitting California as a free state and opposing the extension of slavery. The Election of 1848 paved the way toward the Compromise of 1850 and a decade of growing violence centered on the slavery issue.

 

Sources:

 

Paul F. Boller, Jr. Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George W. Bush (Oxford University Press, 2004) see p 84ff.

Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The American Constitution: Its Origins & Development 5^th ed. (W. W. Norton & Company, 1976).

William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996).

Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years Vol. 4 (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981).

Published April 2, 2009 in Suite101 by M.Streich. copyright.