1848 United States elections
←18461847184818491850→ Presidential election year | |
Election day | November 7 |
---|---|
Incumbent president | James K. Polk(Democratic) |
Next Congress | 31st |
Presidential election | |
Partisan control | Whig gain |
Popular vote margin | Whig +4.8% |
Electoral vote | |
Zachary Taylor(W) | 163 |
Lewis Cass(D) | 127 |
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1848 presidential election results.Bluedenotes states won by Cass,buffdenotes states won by Taylor. Numbers indicate theelectoral voteswon by each candidate. | |
Senate elections | |
Overall control | Democratic hold |
Seats contested | 19 of 60 seats[1] |
Net seat change | Whig +4[2] |
House elections | |
Overall control | Democratic gain[3] |
Seats contested | All 237 voting members |
Net seat change | Democratic +3[2] |
The1848 United States electionselected the members of the31st United States Congressand the 12th president of the United States. The election took place during theSecond Party System,nine months after theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgoended theMexican–American War.With the issue ofslavery(and its extension into western territories) dividing the nation, theFree Soil Partyestablished itself as the third most powerful party in Congress.Californiajoined the union before the next election, and elected its first congressional delegation to the 31st Congress. Whigs won the presidency, but Democrats won a plurality in the House and retained control of the Senate.
In the presidential election,WhigGeneralZachary TaylordefeatedDemocraticformer senatorLewis CassofMichiganand theFree Soilcandidate, former PresidentMartin Van Buren.[4]Taylor won most of the Northeast and several Southern states, giving him a fairly comfortable majority in both the electoral and popular vote. One-term incumbent Democratic PresidentJames K. Polkchose to retire rather than seek re-election (becoming the first elected president to do so), and Cass defeated Supreme Court JusticeLevi Woodburyand Secretary of StateJames Buchananon the fourth ballot at the1848 Democratic National Convention.Van Buren, the former Democratic president, ran against Cass for political reasons (Cass was a prominent supporter of slavery) and possibly for personal reasons (Cass helped defeat Van Buren's 1844 bid for the Democratic nomination).[5]Taylor was recruited by the Whigs to replicate the success of the Whig's only previous successful candidate, GeneralWilliam Henry Harrison,and he easily triumphed over other Whig candidates. Taylor's win made him the last president to win election as neither aDemocratnor aRepublican.
In theHouse,Democrats picked up a small number of seats, taking the plurality. The Whigs lost a small number of seats but remained the second largest party, while theFree Soil Partypicked up a handful of seats.[6]The House elected DemocratHowell CobbasSpeakerafter sixty-three ballots.[7]In theSenate,the Whigs won minor gains, cutting into the Democratic majority.[8]
Since 1836, this is the only time the presidency and one house of Congress flipped control to different parties, as well as the only time that a party flipped a chamber of Congress despite losing the presidency.
Results[edit]
Campaign[edit]
The main two parties failed to rally the people to any important issue, and as such both campaigns were fought without much enthusiasm.
Whig campaigners, who includedAbraham LincolnandRutherford B. Hayes,talked up Taylor's "antiparty' opposition to theJacksoniancommitment to thespoils systemand yellow-dog partisanship. In the South, they stressed that he was a Louisiana slaveholder, while in the North they highlighted his Whig-like willingness to defer to Congress on major issues (which he subsequently did not do).
Results[edit]
With Taylor as their candidate, the Whigs won their second and last victory in a presidential election. Taylor won 163 of the 290Electoral Collegevotes, although the popular vote was much closer: Taylor won only 1,360,099 votes (47%), outvoting Cass, (who won 42.5 of the vote) by 137,933 votes.
A shift of less than 6000 votes to Cass in Georgia and Maryland would have left the electoral college in a 145–145 tie, while a shift of less than 27,000 votes to Van Buren in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts would have left both Taylor and Cass short of the 146 electoral votes required to win, forcing a contingent election in the House of Representatives.[9]
See also[edit]
- 1848 United States presidential election
- 1848–49 United States House of Representatives elections
- 1848–49 United States Senate elections
References[edit]
- ^Not counting special elections.
- ^abCongressional seat gain figures only reflect the results of the regularly-scheduled elections, and do not take special elections into account.
- ^No party won a majority in the House of Representatives, but a Democrat was elected as Speaker of the House.
- ^"1848 Presidential Election".The American Presidency Project.Retrieved25 June2014.
- ^Reichley, James (1992).The Life of the Parties: A History of American Political Parties.Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 86.ISBN0-7425-0888-9.
- ^"Party Divisions of the House of Representatives".United States House of Representatives.Retrieved25 June2014.
- ^Jenkins, Jeffery A.; Stewart III, Charles (April 2001).Sophisticated Behavior and Speakership Elections: The Elections of 1849 and 1855–56.Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, IL. p. 29.RetrievedJanuary 8,2013.
- ^"Party Division in the Senate, 1789–Present".United States Senate.Retrieved25 June2014.
- ^"1848 Election Results".Archived fromthe originalon 2018-09-21.Retrieved2021-08-10.