USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. VI > Part 6
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ter of nominations was left to the States, with a hope in some quarters that the result of 1824 might be re- peated and the election be thrown into the House of Representatives.
Daniel Webster, whose aspirations for the Presi- dency were no less ardent than Clay's, was hopeful of securing substantial party support. The Legislature of Massachusetts placed him in nomination, but this was the only State endorsement that he received.
General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, proved to be the favorite. In turning to him the Whigs ap- pear to have taken a lesson from the Democrats, with the hope that his military reputation and general rugged traits of character would appeal to the popular imagi- nation and enthusiasm in some such manner as the similar personality of Jackson had done. He was nominated for the Presidency by Whig conventions held in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Maryland, and other States. For the Vice-Presidency on the Har- rison ticket, Francis Granger, of New York, received the nomination in some of the States, and John Tyler, of Virginia, in others.
Another Whig candidate put in the field for Presi- dent was Willie P. Mangum, of North Carolina.
Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, at that time not classed as a Whig but as an anti-administration Demo- crat, was brought forward against Van Buren by some of the disaffected southern Democrats with Whig co- operation. His most important endorsement was that of Tennessee, Jackson's own State.
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The Election
For President, Electoral vote :
Martin Van Buren, Democrat :- Alabama, 7; Arkansas, 3; Con- necticut, 8; Illinois, 5; Louisiana, 5; Maine, 10; Michigan, 3; Missis- sippi, 4; Missouri, 4; New Hampshire, 7; New York, 42; North Carolina, 15; Pennsylvania, 30; Rhode Island, 4; Virginia, 23. Total, 170. Elected.
William Henry Harrison, Whig :- Delaware, 3; Indiana, 9; Ken- tucky, 15; Maryland, 10; New Jersey, 8; Ohio, 21; Vermont, 7. Total, 73.
Hugh L. White, anti-administration :- Georgia, 11; Tennessee, 15. Total, 26.
Daniel Webster, Whig :- Massachusetts, 14.
Willie P. Mangum, Whig :- South Carolina, 11.
For Vice-President, Electoral vote :
Richard M. Johnson, Democrat :- Same as Van Buren, less 23 in Virginia. Total, 147.
Francis Granger, Whig :- Delaware, 3; Indiana, 9; Kentucky, 15; Massachusetts, 14; New Jersey, 8; Ohio, 21 ; Vermont, 7. Total, 77.
John Tyler, Whig :- Georgia, 11; Maryland, 10; South Carolina, 11; Tennessee, 15. Total, 47.
William Smith, of Alabama, Democrat :- Virginia, 23. Virginia strongly opposed the nomination of Johnson by the Democratic na- tional convention, and persisted in antagonizing him at the election.
Johnson had exactly half the Electoral vote. The decision being referred to the United States Senate conformably to the Constitution, that body elected Johnson Vice-President.
Popular vote :
Van Buren, 761,549; Harrison, 549,394; White, 146,149; Web- ster, 41,093; Mangum, no popular vote reported, his 11 Electors being chosen by the South Carolina Legislature.
1840 Liberty Party
The opening of the Presidential campaign of this year was signalized by the appearance of a new politi- cal organization, the Abolition, or Liberty, party. On November 13, 1839, it held a convention at Warsaw, New York, which adopted the following :
"Resolved, That, in our judgment, every consideration of duty and expediency which ought to control the action of Christian freemen requires of the Abolitionists of the United States to organize a distinct and independent political party, embracing all the necessary means for nominating candidates for office and sustaining them by public suffrage."
James G. Birney, of New York, was nominated for President, and Francis J. Le Moyne, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President; both declined-Birney because the convention was not a national body held for nominating purposes, LeMoyne on account of modesty.1
A national nominating convention of Abolitionists met in Albany, New York, April 1, 1840, six States being represented. Nominations :- President, James G. Birney, of New York; Vice-President, Thomas Earle, of Pennsylvania.
Although the organization which originally was
1See McMaster, A History of the People of the United States, vol. vi, p. 569.
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known as the Abolition or Liberty party, and afterward was merged into the Free Soil party, participated in all the Presidential contests from 1840 until the appearance of the Republican party, neither it nor the Free Soil organization ever carried a State for President or secured a single Electoral vote. It held positive anti- slavery views, based upon moral principle; but never- theless claimed to pursue a policy of constitutional foundation and proceeding, as opposed to the avowed disunionism of the Garrisonians, who took their stand on the doctrine that the Constitution was "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell." In spite of the smallness of this new party's vote, its ideas exer- cised a growing influence upon political thought, par- ticularly as the result of the startling events that fol- lowed the Mexican War. Opinions differ concerning the extent to which the modern Republican party is to be regarded as having originated from it. In view of the historical interest of this question, the successive national platforms of the Abolitionists and Free Soil- ers will be given in full (see 1844, 1848, and 1852).
Whig Party
National convention held at Harrisburg, Pennsylva- nia, December 4-7, 1839; temporary chairman, Isaac C. Bates, of Massachusetts; permanent chairman, James Barbour, of Virginia; twenty-two States repre- sented.
A novel method of nomination was adopted. In- stead of balloting in the full convention, a "committee
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of the whole" was appointed, consisting of not more than three delegates from each State; these delegates then met, received the ballots of their respective States, and made the footings but did not report to the con- vention until a nomination was effected. After a pro- tracted struggle William Henry Harrison was chosen as the candidate, receiving on the final ballot 148 votes to 90 for Henry Clay and 16 for Winfield Scott, of New Jersey. John Tyler was unanimously nominated for Vice-President.
No platform.
Democratic Party
National convention met in Baltimore, May 5, 1840; temporary chairman, Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire; permanent chairman, William Carroll, of Tennessee ; twenty-one States represented.
Martin Van Buren was renominated for President unanimously. Owing to serious disagreements about the Vice-Presidency, no one was named for that office, but a resolution was adopted which left the decision to the States, the hope being expressed "that before the election shall take place this opinion will become so concentrated as to secure the choice of a Vice-President by the Electoral College."
The first national platform to be promulgated by the Democratic party was adopted by this convention, as follows :
"1. Resolved, That the Federal government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments
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and agents of the government, and that it is inexpedient and danger- ous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers.
"2. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer upon the general government the power to commence and carry on a general system of internal improvements.
"3. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several States contracted for local internal improvements or other State purposes; nor would such assumption be just or ex- pedient.
"4. Resolved, That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of an- other, or to cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of an- other portion of our common country; that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an equal- ity of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of person and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression.
"5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the govern- ment to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government.
"6. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a United States Bank; that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power and above the laws and the will of the people.
"7. Resolved, That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every- thing appertaining to their own affairs not prohibited by the Constitu- tion; that all efforts by Abolitionists or others, made to induce Con- gress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the
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stability and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be counte- nanced by any friend of our political institutions.
"8. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the govern- ment from banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people.
"9. Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitu- tion, which make ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the op- pressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Demo- cratic faith; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the Alien and Sedition laws from our statute-book."
The most significant feature of this platform was its recognition of the anti-slavery agitation, which, on account of the continual presentation of petitions to Congress with special reference to the demanded aboli- tion of slavery in the District of Columbia and the cir- culation of Abolitionist literature through the mails, had begun to rise to national prominence. In addition to the direct expression on the subject made in the seventh resolution, other planks were so worded as authoritatively to establish the Democratic creed of strict adherence to the Constitution and the protection of property rights accordingly.
The Election
The Democratic party suffered from a widespread reaction of popular sentiment, resulting in its first national defeat. An aggressive campaign was waged by the Whigs from the start, which soon became marked by immense popular enthusiasm for Harrison. This
.
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was the famous "log cabin and hard cider campaign, "1 with the rallying cry of "Tippecanoe, and Tyler too."
For President, Electoral vote :
William Henry Harrison, Whig :- Connecticut, 8; Delaware, 3; Georgia, 11; Indiana, 9; Kentucky, 15; Louisiana, 5; Maine, 10; Maryland, 10; Massachusetts, 14; Michigan, 3; Mississippi, 4; New Jersey, 8; New York, 42; North Carolina, 15; Ohio, 21; Pennsyl- vania, 30; Rhode Island, 4; Tennessee, 15; Vermont, 7. Total, 234. Elected.
Martin Van Buren, Democrat :- Alabama, 7; Arkansas, 3; Illinois, 5; Missouri, 4; New Hampshire, 7; South Carolina, 11; Virginia, 23. Total, 60.
For Vice-President, Electoral vote :
John Tyler, Whig :- Same as Harrison, 234. Elected.
Richard M. Johnson, Democrat :- Same as Van Buren, less 11 in South Carolina and 1 in Virginia. Total, 48.
Littleton W. Tazewell, of Virginia, Democrat :- South Caro- lina, 11.
James K. Polk, of Tennessee, Democrat :- Virginia, 1.
Popular vote :
Harrison, 1,275,017 ; Van Buren, 1,128,702; Birney, 7,059.
1The eastern end of General Harrison's house at North Bend consisted of a log cabin that had been built by one of the first settlers of Ohio, but which had long since been covered with clapboards. The republican simplicity of his home was extolled by his admirers, and a political biography of that time said that "his table, instead of being covered with exciting wines, is well supplied with the best cider." Log cabins and hard cider, then, became the party's emblems, and both were features of all the political demonstra- tions of the canvass, which witnessed the introduction of the enormous mass- meetings and processions that have since been common just before Presi- dential elections .- Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, vol. iii, p. 98.
1844 Liberty-Abolitionist Party
National convention held in Buffalo, August 30, 1843 ; chairman, Leicester King, of Ohio; twelve States were represented by 148 delegates.
Nominations :- For President, James G. Birney, of New York; for Vice-President, Thomas Morris, of Ohio.
Platform :
"1. Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal principle of true democracy, as well as of pure Christianity, which spurns all in- consistent limitations; and neither the political party which repudiates it, nor the political system which is not based upon it, can be truly democratic or permanent.
"2. Resolved, That the Liberty party, placing itself upon this broad principle, will demand the absolute and unqualified divorce of the general government from slavery, and also the restoration of equality of rights among men in every State where the party exists or may exist.
"3. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized for any temporary purpose by interested politicians, but has arisen from among the people in consequence of a conviction, hourly gaining ground, that no other party in the country represents the true princi- ples of American liberty or the true spirit of the Constitution of the United States.
"4. Resolved, That the Liberty party has not been organized merely for the overthrow of slavery; its first decided effort must, indeed, be directed against slaveholding as the grossest and most re-
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volting manifestation of despotism, but it will also carry out the principle of equal rights into all its practical consequences and appli- cations, and support every just measure conducive to individual and social freedom.
"5. Resolved, That the Liberty party is not a sectional party, but a national party ; was not originated in a desire to accomplish a single object, but in a comprehensive regard to the great interests of the whole country ; is not a new party, nor a third party, but is the party of 1776, reviving the principles of that memorable era and striving to carry them into practical application.
"6. Resolved, That it was understood in the times of the Declara- tion and the Constitution that the existence of slavery in some of the States was in derogation of the principles of American liberty, and a deep stain upon the character of the country; and the implied faith of the States and the nation was pledged that slavery should never be extended beyond its then existing limits, but should be gradually, and yet at no distant day wholly, abolished by State authority.
"7. Resolved, That the faith of the States and the nation thus pledged was most nobly redeemed by the voluntary abolition of slavery in several of the States, and by the adoption of the Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, then the only Territory in the United States, and consequently the only Territory subject in this respect to the control of Congress, by which Ordinance slavery was forever excluded from the vast regions which now compose the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and the Territory of Wisconsin, and an incapacity to bear up any other than free men was impressed on the soil itself.
"8. Resolved, That the faith of the States and the nation, thus pledged, has been shamefully violated by the omission on the part of many of the States to take any measures whatever for the abolition of slavery within their respective limits; by the continuance of slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of Louisiana and Florida; by the legislation of Congress; by the protection afforded by national legislation and negotiation of slaveholding in American vessels, on the high seas, employed in the coastwise slave traffic; and
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by the extension of slavery far beyond its original limits by acts of Congress admitting new slave States into the Union.
"9. Resolved, That the fundamental truth of the Declaration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, was made the fundamental law of our national government by that amendment of the Constitution which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
"10. Resolved, That we recognize as sound the doctrine main- tained by slaveholding jurists, that slavery is against natural rights and strictly local, and that its existence and continuance rest on no other support than State legislation, and not on any authority of Congress.
"11. Resolved, That the general government has, under the Con- stitution, no power to establish or continue slavery anywhere, and therefore that all treaties and acts of Congress establishing, continuing, or favoring slavery in the District of Columbia, in the Territory of Florida, or on the high seas are unconstitutional, and all attempts to hold men as property within the limits of exclusive national juris- diction ought to be prohibited by law.
"12. Resolved, That the provisions of the Constitution of the United States which confer extraordinary political powers on the owners of slaves, and thereby constituting the two hundred and fifty thousand slaveholders in the slave States a privileged aristocracy; and the provision for the reclamation of fugitive slaves from service, are anti-republican in their character, dangerous to the liberties of the people, and ought to be abrogated.
"13. Resolved, That the practical operation of the second of these provisions is seen in the enactment of the act of Congress re- specting persons escaping from their masters, which act, if the con- struction given to it by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania be correct, nullifies the habeas corpus acts of all the States, takes away the whole legal security of personal freedom, and ought, therefore, to be immediately repealed.
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"14. Resolved, That the peculiar patronage and support hitherto extended to slavery and slaveholding by the general government ought to be immediately withdrawn, and the example and influence of na- tional authority ought to be arrayed on the side of liberty and free labor.
"15. Resolved, That the practice of the general government, which prevails in the slave States, of employing slaves upon the public works, instead of free laborers, and paying aristocratic masters, with a view to secure or reward political services, is utterly indefensible and ought to be abandoned.
"16. Resolved, That freedom of speech and of the press, and the right of petition, and the right of trial by jury, are sacred and in- violable; and that all rules, regulations, and laws in derogation of either are oppressive, unconstitutional, and not to be endured by a free people.
"17. Resolved, That we regard voting, in an eminent degree, as a moral and religious duty, which, when exercised, should be by voting for those who will do all in their power for immediate emancipation.
"18. Resolved, That this convention recommend to the friends of liberty in all those free States where any inequality of rights and privileges exists on account of color, to employ their utmost energies to remove all such remnants and effects of the slave system.
"Whereas, The Constitution of these United States is a series of agreements, covenants, or contracts between the people of the United States, each with all and all with each; and
"Whereas, It is a principle of universal morality that the moral laws of the Creator are paramount to all human laws; or, in the language of an Apostle, that 'we ought to obey God rather than men', and
"Whereas, The principle of common law that any contract, cove- nant, or agreement to do an act derogatory to natural right is vitiated and annulled 'by its inherent immorality, has been recognized by one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, who in a recent case expressly holds that 'any contract that rests upon such a basis is void' ; and
"Whereas, The third clause of the Second section of the Fourth
0
JAMES MONROE
James Monroe, 5th president; born in Westmoreland County, Va., April 28, 1758; lawyer; served in war of the revolution; member of state assembly, 1786; United States senator, Novem- ber 9, 1790 until resignation in 1794; appointed by President Jefferson minister plenipotentiary to France, England and Spain successively; governor of Virginia, 1811; secretary of state under Madison from November, 1811 to March, 1817; president 1817-1825; died in New York City, July 4, 1831.
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article of the Constitution of the United States, when construed as providing for the surrender of a fugitive slave, does 'rest upon such a basis,' in that it is a contract to rob a man of a natural right- namely, his natural right to his own liberties-and is, therefore, absolutely void; therefore,
"19. Resolved, That we hereby give it to be distinctly under- stood by this nation and the world that, as Abolitionists, considering that the strength of our cause lies in its righteousness, and our hope for it in our conformity to the laws of God and our respect for the rights of man, we owe it to the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe as a proof of our allegiance to Him, in all our civil relations and offices, whether as private citizens or public functionaries sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, to regard and treat the third clause of the Second section of the Fourth article of that instrument, whenever applied to the case of a fugitive, as utterly null and void, and consequently as forming no part of the Constitution of the United States, whenever we are called upon or sworn to support it.1
"20. Resolved, That the power given to Congress by the Constitu- tion to provide for calling out the militia to suppress insurrection does not make it the duty of the government to maintain slavery by military force, much less does it make it the duty of the citizens to form a part of such military force. When freemen unsheathe the sword it should be to strike for liberty, not for despotism.
"21. Resolved, That to preserve the peace of the citizens and secure the blessings of freedom, the Legislature of each of the free States ought to keep in force suitable statutes rendering it penal for any of its inhabitants to transport, or aid in transporting, from such State, any person sought to be thus transported merely because subject to the slave laws of any other State; this remnant of independence being accorded to the free States by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Prigg v. the State of Pennsylvania."
1This extreme declaration was adopted to satisfy the more radical Aboli- tionists. It was a subject of much disputation among the anti-slavery people, some of whom repudiated it as a plain defiance of the Constitution while others insisted that it was truly interpretive of the Constitution's spirit. The Free Soil party refused to accept it, even after the passage of the Fugitive Slave law of 1850.
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Whig Party
National convention met in Baltimore, May 1, 1844; temporary chairman, Andrew F. Hopkins, of Ala- bama; permanent chairman, Ambrose Spencer, of New York; all the States were represented by full delega- tions.
For President, Henry Clay was nominated by accla- mation. For Vice-President, Theodore Frelinghuy- sen, of New Jersey, was nominated on the third ballot by 155 votes to 79 for John Davis, of Massachusetts, and 40 for Millard Fillmore, of New York.
The platform consisted principally of eulogies of the candidates, who were pledged to maintain "all the great principles of the Whig party"-these principles being summed up as follows :
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