U.S. presidential election, 1852
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Image:ElectoralCollege1852-Large.png The U.S. presidential election of 1852 was in many ways a replay of the election of 1844. Once again, the incumbent President was a Whig who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of his war hero predecessor; in this case, it was Millard Fillmore who followed General Zachary Taylor. Once again, the Whig party would pass over the incumbent for nomination — this time, casting aside Fillmore in favor of General Winfield Scott. Once again, the Democrats would nominate a "dark horse" candidate, this time Franklin Pierce. Once again, the Whigs would campaign on the obscurity of the Democratic candidate, and once again, this strategy failed.
Pierce and running mate William King would go on to win what was at the time one of the nation's largest electoral victories, trouncing Scott and his vice presidential nominee, William Graham of North Carolina, 254 electoral votes to 42.
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Nominations
Whig Party nomination
The Whigs, seeking the second coming of Zachary Taylor, pushed aside President Fillmore in a 159-133 delegate vote, selecting another Mexican War general with a heroic record, General Winfield Scott of Virginia. Scott had earned the nickname of "Old Fuss and Feathers" due to his insistence on military appearance and discipline, and while respected, was also seen by the people as somewhat foppish. William Alexander Graham was chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee with no substantive opposition.
Democratic Party nomination
The Democrats, anticipating a loss in the general election but not wanting to re-nominate 1848 nominee Lewis Cass, instead nominated the virtually unknown Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. Pierce was a former Congressman and Senator known as much for his alcoholic tendencies as for his statesmanship.
General election
Campaign
The Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, reducing the campaign to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates. This helped drive down electoral turnout to its lowest level since 1836. The decline was further exacerbated by Scott's anti-slavery reputation, which decimated the Southern Whig vote at the same time as the pro-slavery Whig platform undermined the Northern Whig vote.
Finally, Scott's status as a war hero was somewhat offset by the fact that Pierce was himself a Mexican War brigadier general, leading to an overwhelming defeat for Scott, who won only the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Results
| Presidential Candidate | Party | Home State | Popular Vote(a) | Electoral Vote | Running Mate | Running Mate's Home State | Running Mate's Electoral Vote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | |||||||
| Franklin Pierce | Democratic | New Hampshire | 1,607,510 | 50.8% | 254 | William Rufus deVane King | Alabama | 254 |
| Winfield Scott | Whig | New Jersey | 1,386,942 | 43.9% | 42 | William Alexander Graham | North Carolina | 42 |
| John Parker Hale | Free Soil | New Hampshire | 155,210 | 4.9% | 0 | George Washington Julian | Indiana | 0 |
| Daniel Webster | Whig | Massachusetts | 6,994 | 0.2% | 0 | 0 | ||
| Other | 5,174 | 0.2% | 0 | Other | 0 | |||
| Total | 3,161,830 | 100.0% | 296 | Total | 296 | |||
| Needed to win | 149 | Needed to win | 149 | |||||
Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1852 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).
(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
Electoral college selection
| Method of choosing Electors | State(s) |
|---|---|
| each Elector appointed by state legislature | South Carolina |
| each Elector chosen by voters statewide | (all other states) |
See also
| U.S. presidential elections | |
|---|---|
|
1789–1799: 1789 | 1792 | 1796 | |
References
- Books
- Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. Oxford University Press, New York, New York: 1999.
- Web sites
- "A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College". The Green Papers. URL accessed on September 17, 2005.
