Hello and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series for today we will be going over the Election of 1848. It’s a three-way battle for the Presidency as Military General Zachary Taylor takes on Michigan Senator Lewis Cass and former Democratic President Martin Van Buren.

President Polk and The Mexican-American War

After winning the election of 1844, President James Polk established an Independent Treasury in order to manage government funds, he reduced the prices on tariffs and increased the amount of revenue and trade within the United States.

Polk was also responsible for creating what would be ‘The Smithsonian Institute’ and negotiated a treaty with Britain in order to get the Oregon territories which would become free states or states that didn’t allow slavery.

Yet despite all of this, Polk’s biggest accomplishment would be acquiring the areas of Texas and California from Mexico due in no small part to some falsified claims he made about Mexican forces near the Rio Grande attacking American soldiers. Many (including a young Abraham Lincoln) disputed this as that area of land wasn’t owned by the United States.

Fabricated or not, this would result in the ‘Mexican-American War’ with the U.S. not only claiming victory over the Mexican Army but acquiring the areas of Texas, California and other bits of land that would eventually become New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada thru a series of treaties.

Believing he had achieved everything he wanted in just four years in office, Polk decided to honor his promise and did not seek another term; Tragically, James Knox Polk contracted Cholera after leaving the White House and died from the disease at just the age of 53.

Zachary Taylor: Old Rough and Ready

The Whig Party were against the Mexican-American War as some believed that the war would only fan the flames of sectionalism and the expansion of slavery in the United States.

By the time the conflict reached its conclusion however, the Whigs changed their opinions about the war in the hopes of avoiding the same fate the Federalists suffered after voicing their displeasure with the War of 1812.

Following their loss in 1844, the Whigs believed they had another shot at regaining the Oval Office and there were a few names that were considered or ran for the nomination. One of these names that were considered was Zachary Taylor, a Louisiana slave owner who was born in Kentucky and whose claim to fame saw him lead the U.S. to victory in the ‘Mexican-American War’.

Taylor was such a popular figure at this time that both the Whigs and Democrats tried to persuade him to be their party’s nominee as the man nicknamed ‘Old Rough and Ready’ was vague on his political beliefs and had never even voted in an election.

Ultimately, Taylor decided he would run as part of the Whig Party and he soon became their nominee after defeating names like Winfield Scott, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster with the latter being given the opportunity to become Taylor’s running mate in the election, but he declined, so instead the Whigs chose Millard Fillmore, who was the State Comptroller of New York and former Representative of New York as Taylor’s running mate.

Divided Democrats

With Polk stepping down after one term and his VP George Dallas deciding not to run for president, a number of Democrats were considered but the one person many expected to win the nomination was the former president and co-founder of the party Martin Van Buren.

Those ideas changed when it became clear that Van Buren wouldn’t be able to get enough delagate votes from the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic Party who never really trusting Van Buren in the first place.

While other names like Levi Woodbury and James Buchanan also ran, the party’s nominee in 1848 would ultimately be Lewis Cass, who was not only the Senator of Michigan but had previously held positions like Minister to France and Secretary of War in the Jackson and Van Buren administrations. The Democrats nominated William Orlando Butler as Cass’ running mate as Butler was from Kentucky, he also served in the ‘Mexican-American War’ and he had moderate views on slavery.

Even though Lewis Cass was a Northerner at a time when Northern states were getting louder about their dislike of slavery expansion, Cass believed in the idea of “Popular Sovereignty” which was the idea of allowing the states to decide their verdict on the issue of slavery rather than allowing the government to figure it out.

The Birth of The Free Soil Party

Initially, Lewis Cass and the Democrats believed they could beat the Whigs in the 1848 election, but Martin Van Buren had other ideas and decided to create another political party along with some influential politicians like Salmon Chase, Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner, John Hale and Hannibal Hamlin.

This new political party was called ‘The Free Soil Party’ and their platform in the 1848 election was supporting the passage of the Wilmont Proviso, which called for the abolishment of the Missouri Compromise which allowed slavery in states below the northern parallel west of the Mississippi River.

Van Buren decided to run for President with yet another party he created and brought along with him Charles Francis Adams, who was a former State Senator from Massachusetts and the son of former President John Quincy Adams and grandson to Founding Father and President John Adams.

Although the Free Soil Party were only on the ballot in a few states and therefore unlikely to win the election, Van Buren decided to run anyway mostly because he didn’t want Lewis Cass to become the next President. He decided to play the role of ‘spoiler’ in this election by getting as much support from Northern states who were against slavery expanding out West.

The Campaigns

Much like what they’ve done in 1840, the Whigs are going to ignore the issue of slavery and instead try to focus more on Taylor’s success as a General much like what they did with William Henry Harrison. This combined with Taylor’s vagueness and lack of political experience made him look like an appealing candidate to many, including those in the North.

The Democrats are also trying to avoid any talks about slavery with Lewis Cass trying to appeal to the Southern Democrats with his support of ‘Popular Sovereignty’ while also hoping that the Northerners will still fall in line and support him.

The Free Soilers as mentioned aren’t on the ballot in every state so their influence is smaller than they’d hope for; Still, Martin Van Buren is running on the idea of firing up the abolitionists and anti-slavery supporters in the North in hopes of denying Cass the chance to become President. Many within the Free Soil Party felt that ‘Popular Sovereignty’ was nothing more then a temporary solution to a much larger problem.

The Election of 1848: The Results

With four new states (Florida, Wisconsin, Texas and Iowa) being added to the Union, the electoral votes needed to win this race was 146 or more.

In the end, Zachary Taylor won and became the Twelfth President of the United States. ‘Old Rough and Ready’ received 163 electoral votes and 47.3% of the popular vote while Lewis Cass finished pretty strong in second place, getting 127 electoral votes and 42.5% of the popular vote.

Martin Van Buren didn’t receive any electoral votes but did pull an impressive 10.1% of the popular vote, the best performance by a third-party candidate in terms of the popular vote up to that point.

While he failed to win back the presidency, Van Buren’s plan to play spoiler in this election worked as he and the Liberty Party (who also ran in this election) gathered enough support in the North to prevent places like New York from voting for Lewis Cass.

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