QUOTE from Abraham Lincoln in the campaign of 1864. "You don't want to change horses in midstream."
Abraham Lincoln took office under stresses felt by no other president, before or since. Before his inauguration seven states had seceded from the Union and a month after his inauguration, Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, and the Civil War began.
The CANDIDATES in 1864.
REPUBLICAN: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Throughout the war he was severely criticized for his conduct as Commander-in-Chief; some called him a dictator, and not a very good one. Despite the criticism, some of it from members of his own Republican Party, he was renominated at the Republican convention, in Baltimore, in June of 1864. Still, no one was at all sure that he could win the presidency again. Republicans, like Horace Greeley said, "Mr Lincoln is already beaten." And Republican Boss Weed of New York said, "I told Mr. Lincoln that his reelection was an impossibility."
So a nervous Lincoln carefully picked his running mate with the idea of balancing the ticket and getting some votes from the border states - he picked Andrew Johnson, former Democrat (he had remained loyal to the Union) and senator from Tennessee.
DEMOCRAT: GEORGE B. McCLELLAN
In 1862, Lincoln had fired McClellan as commander of the Union forces, after the bloody battle at Antietam. Lincoln had told him, "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while." After the firing the northern Democrats started talking up the embittered McClellan as their candidate in 1864 - even though he was a plodding general, insubordinate to Lincoln (whom he openly despised), and a divisive presence in the army. The Democrats still believed he was the only man capable of defeating Lincoln.
The CAMPAIGN in 1864.
The Democrats went after Lincoln in a big way. McClellan said, "The President is nothing more than a well meaning baboon, he is the original gorilla. What a speciman to be at the head of our affairs now!" The Republican newspaper, The New York World, said, "Honest Abe has few honest men to defend his honesty." Other Republican newspapers accused Lincoln of wanting only to be president in order make $25,000 a year; and that he stands 6'12" in his socks, which he changes once every ten days; and his anatomy is composed mostly of bones, and when walking he resembles the offspring of a happy marriage between a derrick and a windmill.
The Republicans and Lincoln retaliated. They said McClellan (Little Mac) kept to the rear of his army during any combat. Lincoln called the Union Army McClellan's bodyguard, and another Republican said that, during a retreat, "McClellan for the first time in his life was found in the front of his troops." Lincoln was not innocent of some political shenanigans. To please some high powered Republicans he acquiesced to their demands. There was a third party candidate named John Fremont (the 1856 Republican candidate)who was nominated by the Radical Republicans, who had splintered from the Republican Party in 1863. In order to get Fremont to drop out of the race Lincoln did what Fremont and some high-powered Republican wanted. He said he'd drop out if Lincoln would fire the Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, who hated Fremont and the Radical Republicans. On September 22. 1864, Fremont quit the race and the next day Lincoln fired Blair. Lincoln was relieved because he was very much afraid that Fremont would've taken Republican votes away from him in the November election.
The WINNER was ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Lincoln got 2,218,388 popular votes and 212 electoral.
McClellan got 1,812,807 popular and 21 electoral.
The main reason Lincoln won was that the war was turning in favor of the Union by the fall of 1864. General Sherman had taken Atlanta which was immensely popular aand very helpful for Lincoln. And General Grant's Wilderness Campaign in Virginia, in 1864, against General Robert E. Lee, had kept Lee's Army from breaking off to try and stop Sherman's march through the heart of the South to Atlanta.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
ELECTION #19, 1860. The NASTY-METER goes to 8.
QUOTE from Abraham Lincoln on June 16, 1858: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
In 1860, the U.S. population was over 31 million - and every man, woman, and child was waiting for the coming storm of a terrible war.
The issue of slavery had been a divisive issue ever since the writing of the Constitution in 1787.In the 1850s three things happened that made war inevitable. In May of 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This controversial legislation repealed the Compromise of 1820-21 and reopened the controversy over the extension of slavery in the western territories. The Missouri Compromise had prohibited slavery north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, which was the southern border of Missouri. In January of 1854, Senator Douglas of Illinois, got a bill passed dividing the land into two territories, Kansas and Missouri, and leaving the question of slavery to be settled by voting, known as POPULAR SOVEREINGTY - thus making the Missouri Compromise null and void. It enraged the antislavery north - all it did was add fuel to the fire. The sectional split between north and south was aggravated to a point that made reconciliation virtually impossible. The Republican Party was founded by opponents of this act, and the U.S., was pushed closer to civil war.
The second thing was the Supreme Court decision in 1857 called the "The Dred Scott decision" - it helped seal the deal for a future war. The decision was about a freed slave, named Dred Scott, and it said that "slaves are property and not people." It also said that slaves were not citizens and had no political rights and being slaves were property , they had to be returned to their rightful owners, even if they fled to a free state. And the Supreme Court decision continued by saying that outlawing slavery was illegal, which opened the door to slavery in the new western territories.
The third thing was the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. His win assured there would be a civil war as the slave states said if Lincoln wins we will secede (and they did).
The CANDIDATES in 1860. (there were four of them)
REPUBLICAN: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Republican convention was held in Chicago. The favorite was William Seward, the former governor of New York and a powerful antislavery speaker. But some of the delegates were afraid Seward would not be able to carry Pennsylvania and Indiana, two states considered necessary for a Republican victory. Seward led on the first ballot but Lincoln won on the third ballot.
NORTHEN DEMOCRATS: STEPHEN DOUGLAS of ILLINOIS.
SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS: JOHN C. BRECKENBRIDGE of KENTUCKY (VP under Buchanan.)
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION: JOHN BELL. (This party was composed mostly of former Whigs who had found the new Republican Party to be too radical.)
The CAMPAIGN in 1860.
The Republicans held huge rallies and had marches several miles long. Republican newspapers published countless jokes at Douglas's expense, such as: "Lincoln is like a rail; Douglas is the reverse - rail spelled backwards - liar." Lincoln said that Douglas's idea of "popular sovereignty"
meant that, "if anyone chooses to make a slave of another man, neither that man nor anybody else had a right to object." Douglas was short - 5'4" and was pretty big around his middle. Republicans described Douglas as "about five feet nothing in height and about the same in diameter the other way. He has a red face, short legs, and a large belly." Douglas didn't do himself any good by saying things like the following: "I am for the negro against the crocodile, but for the white man against the negro."
The Democrats reciprocated. They said Lincoln had participated in duels. As a congressman during the Mexican war, he had failed to vote for provisions for the troops. And they said he had slandered Thomas Jefferson by saying that Jefferson had sold his own children (by his slave Sally Hemmings) into slavery. Lincoln knew they were lies and didn't take the bait. He stayed in Springfield during the campaign while Douglas road a railcar all over the country. He said that a Lincoln victory would mean secession and said, if only Andrew Jackson were alive today, "he might hang Northern and Southern traitors on the same gallows." A Democratic newspaper in Charleston caricatured the 6'4" Lincoln with a vengeance. "He is a horrid-looking wretch, sooty and scoundrelly in aspect, a cross between the nutmeg dealer, the horse-swapper, and the nightman." The Houston paper said, "Lincoln is leanest, lankest, most ungainly mass of legs and arms and hatchet face ever strung on a single frame." In one Democratic poster Lincoln was pictured being carried into the lunatic asylum by numerous supporters.
The WINNER was ABRAHAM LINCOLN - the 16th president.
Lincoln got 1,865,908 popular votes and 180 electoral.
Douglas got 1,380,202 popular votes and 12 electoral.
Breckinridge got 848,019 popular votes and 72 electoral.
Bell got 590,901 popular votes and 39 electoral.
Lincoln had less than 40% of the popular vote but a majority of the electoral. The other three candidates had more popular votes than Lincoln but together the three had only 123 electoral to Lincoln's 180. Lincoln won over 50% of the vote in the North and West, but a measly 3% in the South. Breckinbrie won all the Southern states.
By the time Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven southern states had already seceded. The seven were S.C., Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. These seven then formed the Confederate States of America. In April, Virginia, Arkansas, N.C., and Tennessee also seceded, to make it eleven. The border states of Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware stayed in the Union, despite some opposition to this within those states. Lincoln was relieved those four stayed.
In 1860, the U.S. population was over 31 million - and every man, woman, and child was waiting for the coming storm of a terrible war.
The issue of slavery had been a divisive issue ever since the writing of the Constitution in 1787.In the 1850s three things happened that made war inevitable. In May of 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The act established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. This controversial legislation repealed the Compromise of 1820-21 and reopened the controversy over the extension of slavery in the western territories. The Missouri Compromise had prohibited slavery north of 36 degrees 30 minutes, which was the southern border of Missouri. In January of 1854, Senator Douglas of Illinois, got a bill passed dividing the land into two territories, Kansas and Missouri, and leaving the question of slavery to be settled by voting, known as POPULAR SOVEREINGTY - thus making the Missouri Compromise null and void. It enraged the antislavery north - all it did was add fuel to the fire. The sectional split between north and south was aggravated to a point that made reconciliation virtually impossible. The Republican Party was founded by opponents of this act, and the U.S., was pushed closer to civil war.
The second thing was the Supreme Court decision in 1857 called the "The Dred Scott decision" - it helped seal the deal for a future war. The decision was about a freed slave, named Dred Scott, and it said that "slaves are property and not people." It also said that slaves were not citizens and had no political rights and being slaves were property , they had to be returned to their rightful owners, even if they fled to a free state. And the Supreme Court decision continued by saying that outlawing slavery was illegal, which opened the door to slavery in the new western territories.
The third thing was the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. His win assured there would be a civil war as the slave states said if Lincoln wins we will secede (and they did).
The CANDIDATES in 1860. (there were four of them)
REPUBLICAN: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Republican convention was held in Chicago. The favorite was William Seward, the former governor of New York and a powerful antislavery speaker. But some of the delegates were afraid Seward would not be able to carry Pennsylvania and Indiana, two states considered necessary for a Republican victory. Seward led on the first ballot but Lincoln won on the third ballot.
NORTHEN DEMOCRATS: STEPHEN DOUGLAS of ILLINOIS.
SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS: JOHN C. BRECKENBRIDGE of KENTUCKY (VP under Buchanan.)
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION: JOHN BELL. (This party was composed mostly of former Whigs who had found the new Republican Party to be too radical.)
The CAMPAIGN in 1860.
The Republicans held huge rallies and had marches several miles long. Republican newspapers published countless jokes at Douglas's expense, such as: "Lincoln is like a rail; Douglas is the reverse - rail spelled backwards - liar." Lincoln said that Douglas's idea of "popular sovereignty"
meant that, "if anyone chooses to make a slave of another man, neither that man nor anybody else had a right to object." Douglas was short - 5'4" and was pretty big around his middle. Republicans described Douglas as "about five feet nothing in height and about the same in diameter the other way. He has a red face, short legs, and a large belly." Douglas didn't do himself any good by saying things like the following: "I am for the negro against the crocodile, but for the white man against the negro."
The Democrats reciprocated. They said Lincoln had participated in duels. As a congressman during the Mexican war, he had failed to vote for provisions for the troops. And they said he had slandered Thomas Jefferson by saying that Jefferson had sold his own children (by his slave Sally Hemmings) into slavery. Lincoln knew they were lies and didn't take the bait. He stayed in Springfield during the campaign while Douglas road a railcar all over the country. He said that a Lincoln victory would mean secession and said, if only Andrew Jackson were alive today, "he might hang Northern and Southern traitors on the same gallows." A Democratic newspaper in Charleston caricatured the 6'4" Lincoln with a vengeance. "He is a horrid-looking wretch, sooty and scoundrelly in aspect, a cross between the nutmeg dealer, the horse-swapper, and the nightman." The Houston paper said, "Lincoln is leanest, lankest, most ungainly mass of legs and arms and hatchet face ever strung on a single frame." In one Democratic poster Lincoln was pictured being carried into the lunatic asylum by numerous supporters.
The WINNER was ABRAHAM LINCOLN - the 16th president.
Lincoln got 1,865,908 popular votes and 180 electoral.
Douglas got 1,380,202 popular votes and 12 electoral.
Breckinridge got 848,019 popular votes and 72 electoral.
Bell got 590,901 popular votes and 39 electoral.
Lincoln had less than 40% of the popular vote but a majority of the electoral. The other three candidates had more popular votes than Lincoln but together the three had only 123 electoral to Lincoln's 180. Lincoln won over 50% of the vote in the North and West, but a measly 3% in the South. Breckinbrie won all the Southern states.
By the time Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven southern states had already seceded. The seven were S.C., Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. These seven then formed the Confederate States of America. In April, Virginia, Arkansas, N.C., and Tennessee also seceded, to make it eleven. The border states of Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware stayed in the Union, despite some opposition to this within those states. Lincoln was relieved those four stayed.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
ELECTION #18, 1856. The NASTY-METER IS 3.
QUOTE from President Pierce after he had been rejected by his own Democratic Party to run for reelection in 1856: "There's nothing left but to get drunk."
By 1856 the nation was so deeply divided over slavery that whoever became president was going to have a hell of a time.
The CANDIDATES IN 1856.
DEMOCRAT: JAMES BUCHANAN.
Buchanan was looked as the most available and least objectionable. In 1856 the Democratic Party was split over the issue of slavery. At their convention in Cincinnati in June of 1856 they settled in on a compromise candidate. They needed someone acceptable to the pro-slavery Southern wing, as well as the anti-slavery Northern wing. Buchanan was a perfect fit. He was a Northerner who personally opposed slavery but believed that the institution of slavery was constitutional. For VP they chose Kentucky Senator John C. Breckinridge.
REPUBLICAN: JOHN C. FREMONT.
In Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854 a new political party was organized. The Whig Party had disintegrated because of election losses and the party's inability to take a firm stance against slavery. So, in February of 1854, dissident Whigs and antislavery Democrats met in Ripon to form a new political party known as the Republican Party, named in honor of Thomas Jefferson's old party. They gained strength over the next two years with more former Whigs from the North and West joining them. As a result they held a convention in Philadelphia in June of 1856. They nominated John C. Fremont as their candidate for president and William Dayton of New Jersey as VP. Fremont was pretty famous for being the hero of Western exploration and was nicknamed "The Pathfinder."
The CAMPAIGN of 1856.
The campaign of 1856 revolved around the issue of slavery and outbursts of violence were common. A civil war nearly broke out in Kansas between proslavery and antislavery supporters.
Republicans held mass meetings and marched through the streets. They were joined by Northen thinkers and writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And Abraham Lincoln,who had been possible candidate for VP, beat the drums for the new party. The made fun of Buchanan because his head tilted slighted to the left due to congenital palsy. Fremont supporters claimed the tilt was really a result of Buchanan's bungled attempt to hang himself - and a man who couldn't even do away with himself could not not be president, could he?
The Democrats responded by hurling insults at Fremont. They said he was a drunkard, guilty of brutal treatment of California Indians, and that he had exaggerated and lied about some of his discoveries in the West. They also said that Fremont was "a secret Catholic." That was a pretty serious charge in the 1800s and hurt him in the election with certain political groups. But the one thing they said about Fremont that stuck with the voters was that he was too radically antislavery and his election would cause the South to secede from the Union.
The WINNER was JAMES BUCHANAN - the 15th president.
Buchanan got 1,832,955 popular votes and 174 electoral.
Fremont got 1,339,932 popular votes and 114 electoral.
Buchanan won easily with the backing of all the Southern states. Almost 80% of the elgible voters participated in this election. Remember, elgible means "white men only."
Buchanan was our only bachelor president. When he was in the Senate he shared living quarters with Senator William Rufus King of Alabama. There was speculation that they were gay and some people called Buchanan and King "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy." But there is no proof that there was any truth to this.
Buchanan was nicknamed "Ten-Cent Jimmy" when he said that he thought ten cents a day was an adequate wage for manual laborers.
By 1856 the nation was so deeply divided over slavery that whoever became president was going to have a hell of a time.
The CANDIDATES IN 1856.
DEMOCRAT: JAMES BUCHANAN.
Buchanan was looked as the most available and least objectionable. In 1856 the Democratic Party was split over the issue of slavery. At their convention in Cincinnati in June of 1856 they settled in on a compromise candidate. They needed someone acceptable to the pro-slavery Southern wing, as well as the anti-slavery Northern wing. Buchanan was a perfect fit. He was a Northerner who personally opposed slavery but believed that the institution of slavery was constitutional. For VP they chose Kentucky Senator John C. Breckinridge.
REPUBLICAN: JOHN C. FREMONT.
In Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854 a new political party was organized. The Whig Party had disintegrated because of election losses and the party's inability to take a firm stance against slavery. So, in February of 1854, dissident Whigs and antislavery Democrats met in Ripon to form a new political party known as the Republican Party, named in honor of Thomas Jefferson's old party. They gained strength over the next two years with more former Whigs from the North and West joining them. As a result they held a convention in Philadelphia in June of 1856. They nominated John C. Fremont as their candidate for president and William Dayton of New Jersey as VP. Fremont was pretty famous for being the hero of Western exploration and was nicknamed "The Pathfinder."
The CAMPAIGN of 1856.
The campaign of 1856 revolved around the issue of slavery and outbursts of violence were common. A civil war nearly broke out in Kansas between proslavery and antislavery supporters.
Republicans held mass meetings and marched through the streets. They were joined by Northen thinkers and writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And Abraham Lincoln,who had been possible candidate for VP, beat the drums for the new party. The made fun of Buchanan because his head tilted slighted to the left due to congenital palsy. Fremont supporters claimed the tilt was really a result of Buchanan's bungled attempt to hang himself - and a man who couldn't even do away with himself could not not be president, could he?
The Democrats responded by hurling insults at Fremont. They said he was a drunkard, guilty of brutal treatment of California Indians, and that he had exaggerated and lied about some of his discoveries in the West. They also said that Fremont was "a secret Catholic." That was a pretty serious charge in the 1800s and hurt him in the election with certain political groups. But the one thing they said about Fremont that stuck with the voters was that he was too radically antislavery and his election would cause the South to secede from the Union.
The WINNER was JAMES BUCHANAN - the 15th president.
Buchanan got 1,832,955 popular votes and 174 electoral.
Fremont got 1,339,932 popular votes and 114 electoral.
Buchanan won easily with the backing of all the Southern states. Almost 80% of the elgible voters participated in this election. Remember, elgible means "white men only."
Buchanan was our only bachelor president. When he was in the Senate he shared living quarters with Senator William Rufus King of Alabama. There was speculation that they were gay and some people called Buchanan and King "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy." But there is no proof that there was any truth to this.
Buchanan was nicknamed "Ten-Cent Jimmy" when he said that he thought ten cents a day was an adequate wage for manual laborers.
Friday, December 9, 2011
ELECTION #17, 1852. The NASTY-METER is 5.
QUOTE from Franklin Pierce at his inaugural address on March 4, 1853, just two months after he and his wife had watched their twelve-year son get killed in a train accident on January 6, 1853. "It is a relief to feel that no heart but my cwn can know the personal regret and bitter sorrow over which I have been borne to a position so suitable for others rather than desirable for myself...You have summoned me in my weakness; you must sustain me in my strength."
In 1852 the U.S. was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had done little more than make the antislavery and proslavery supporters angrier than ever. The Compromise of 1850, written by Henry Clay, proposed that California be admitted as a free state, that the newly acquired territories of New Mexico and Utah, be allowed to determine whether they would allow slavery, that slave trading (though not slavery itself) be ended in Washington D.C., and that the Fugitive Slave Act, which would provide for runaway slaves to be returned to their owners no matter where they were captured, become law. President Fillmore signed it into law. What it did was to temporarily relieve the tensions between North and South that will lead to the Civil War in ten years.
At the Whig convention in Baltimore in 1852 Fillmore lost the nomination because of his support for the Conpromise of 1850. A splinter group of sixty delegates threw their support to the Mexian war hero General Winfield Scott. Chaos ensued and it took 53 ballots for Scott to get the nomination over Millard Fillmore and Nathaniel Webster.
The Democrats also met in Baltimore and after much chaos and debate picked the little-known Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire over Lewis Cass and James Buchanan. Pierce was considered a compromise candidate and was finally nominated on the 49th ballot.
The CANDIDATES in 1852.
DEMOCRAT: FRANKLIN PIERCE.
Pierce was a good-looking and well-liked congressman and senator.He had fought in the Mexican War and, at age forty-eight. was a relatively young presidential candidate. Yet he was dogged by alcoholism and tragedy. which (at this pint) included the deaths of two of his three children. The third one died two months before he was inaugurated. Pierce and his party pledged to support the Compromise of 1850.
WHIG: WINFIELD SCOTT.
Scott was 66, 6'5" tall and looked every bit the war hero that he was. He was essentially against the Compromise of 1850 but was a waffler in his public pronouncements. Like Clay before him, and many a candidate after, he would pay the price for being afraid to come down clearly on one side or the other of an important issue.
The CAMPAIGN of 1852.
When a person is a war hero everyone congratulates him for his service to the country. But when his name is put on the ballot as a presidential candidate suddenly everything changes. (Think back to 2004 when the Bush forces attacked John Kerry for his Vietnam service even though Bush had never been in Vietnam). The Whigs tore into Pierce by portraying him as a coward in the war. Pierce had suffered a severe wound to his knee and had fainted from the pain, He had to be carried to safety as a result of the pain. The Whigs referred to Pierce as the "Fainting General" or "Fainting Frank" and asked voters if they wanted a coward for a president. They also knew he had an alcohol problem. The Whigs called Pierce the "hero of many a well-fought BOTTLE" and kept at it through the whole campaign.
The Democrats fought back by calling Scott "Old Fuss and Feathers," a name given to him by his officers because of his devotion to military discipline and protocol. His officers saw first hand that he was really a bit of a "pompous ass." They also attacked on his waffling on the Compromise of 1850 and said he was a puppet of N.Y. Senator William Seward. a radical antislavery Whig. Scott was made fun of for pandering to the new Irish Catholic immigrants coming to America. He told them he had a daughter,now dead, who had been a nun. (It was true but sounded so much like blatant pandering that it came across as a lie.)
He also said in a speech to an Irish crowd, "When I hear that rich Irish brogue, it makes me remember the noble deeds of Irishmen, many of whom I have led to battle and victory."
The WINNER was FRANKLIN PIERCE - the 14th president.
Pierce got 1,601,274 popular votes and 254 electoral votes.
Scott got 1,386,580 popular votes and 42 electoral.
Some historians believe that Scott lost because of his waffling on the slavery issue. At least people knew where Pierce stood on the Compromise of 1850 and that it really might put an end to the bsttling over slavery in America.
In 1852 the U.S. was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had done little more than make the antislavery and proslavery supporters angrier than ever. The Compromise of 1850, written by Henry Clay, proposed that California be admitted as a free state, that the newly acquired territories of New Mexico and Utah, be allowed to determine whether they would allow slavery, that slave trading (though not slavery itself) be ended in Washington D.C., and that the Fugitive Slave Act, which would provide for runaway slaves to be returned to their owners no matter where they were captured, become law. President Fillmore signed it into law. What it did was to temporarily relieve the tensions between North and South that will lead to the Civil War in ten years.
At the Whig convention in Baltimore in 1852 Fillmore lost the nomination because of his support for the Conpromise of 1850. A splinter group of sixty delegates threw their support to the Mexian war hero General Winfield Scott. Chaos ensued and it took 53 ballots for Scott to get the nomination over Millard Fillmore and Nathaniel Webster.
The Democrats also met in Baltimore and after much chaos and debate picked the little-known Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire over Lewis Cass and James Buchanan. Pierce was considered a compromise candidate and was finally nominated on the 49th ballot.
The CANDIDATES in 1852.
DEMOCRAT: FRANKLIN PIERCE.
Pierce was a good-looking and well-liked congressman and senator.He had fought in the Mexican War and, at age forty-eight. was a relatively young presidential candidate. Yet he was dogged by alcoholism and tragedy. which (at this pint) included the deaths of two of his three children. The third one died two months before he was inaugurated. Pierce and his party pledged to support the Compromise of 1850.
WHIG: WINFIELD SCOTT.
Scott was 66, 6'5" tall and looked every bit the war hero that he was. He was essentially against the Compromise of 1850 but was a waffler in his public pronouncements. Like Clay before him, and many a candidate after, he would pay the price for being afraid to come down clearly on one side or the other of an important issue.
The CAMPAIGN of 1852.
When a person is a war hero everyone congratulates him for his service to the country. But when his name is put on the ballot as a presidential candidate suddenly everything changes. (Think back to 2004 when the Bush forces attacked John Kerry for his Vietnam service even though Bush had never been in Vietnam). The Whigs tore into Pierce by portraying him as a coward in the war. Pierce had suffered a severe wound to his knee and had fainted from the pain, He had to be carried to safety as a result of the pain. The Whigs referred to Pierce as the "Fainting General" or "Fainting Frank" and asked voters if they wanted a coward for a president. They also knew he had an alcohol problem. The Whigs called Pierce the "hero of many a well-fought BOTTLE" and kept at it through the whole campaign.
The Democrats fought back by calling Scott "Old Fuss and Feathers," a name given to him by his officers because of his devotion to military discipline and protocol. His officers saw first hand that he was really a bit of a "pompous ass." They also attacked on his waffling on the Compromise of 1850 and said he was a puppet of N.Y. Senator William Seward. a radical antislavery Whig. Scott was made fun of for pandering to the new Irish Catholic immigrants coming to America. He told them he had a daughter,now dead, who had been a nun. (It was true but sounded so much like blatant pandering that it came across as a lie.)
He also said in a speech to an Irish crowd, "When I hear that rich Irish brogue, it makes me remember the noble deeds of Irishmen, many of whom I have led to battle and victory."
The WINNER was FRANKLIN PIERCE - the 14th president.
Pierce got 1,601,274 popular votes and 254 electoral votes.
Scott got 1,386,580 popular votes and 42 electoral.
Some historians believe that Scott lost because of his waffling on the slavery issue. At least people knew where Pierce stood on the Compromise of 1850 and that it really might put an end to the bsttling over slavery in America.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
ELECTION #16, 1848. The NASTY-METER is 3.
QUOTE from Zachary Taylor before he was elected president on November 7, 1848: "I have no private purposes to accomplish, no party projects to build up, no enemies to punish - nothing to serve but my country."
Historians all agree that James Polk was a hard working president. He worked ten to twelve hours a day and held two cabinet meetings a week. He also accomplished all four of the goals he promised in his inaugural address. He promised he would reduce the tariff, re-establish an independent treasury to get money out of the hands of private banks, acquire Oregon from the British, and acquire California from Mexico. It took a war with Mexico from 1846 to 1848 to acquire California but he did it. One of the U.S. military heroes of the Mexican War was a general named Zachary Taylor.
The CANDIDATES in 1848.
WHIG; ZACHARY TAYLOR.
U.S. wars often make heroes out of military leaders. Such was the case with Zachary Taylor. He had become well-known for his war successes in Florida against the Seminiole Indians and especially in the Mexican War. The Whigs were looking for a winner and they quickly latched unto Taylor. He didn't know if he was a Whig or not but agreed to run. The Whigs nominated Millard Fillmore as his VP candidate. Fillmore was a former congressman and comptroller of New York State. Taylor was mailed notification of his nomination for president, but because there was postage due on the letter, he refused it and did not learn of the nomination for several dys.
DEMOCRAT: LEWIS CASS,
Polk had made few friends in his own party so he decided not to run. The best the Democrats could come up with was Lewis Cass, former governor and senator from Michigan. For VP they picked General William Butler, another hero of the Mexican War.
The CAMPAIGN of 1848.
Taylor could not really be accused of anything because he had never voted. No one could tell what Tayor (nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready') was thinking, but a few suspected the answer was "not much." Taylor even said he was a Whig but "not an ultra-Whig." In the 1800s there was a system called phrenology. Phrenology was the belief that an analysis of a person's character could be made by a study of the shape and protuberances of a person's skull. The Democrats showed a cartoon of a phrenologist measuring Taylor's head with a pair of calipers. The phrenologist's judgment was that Taylor was "stubborn and obstinate as a mule" and "utterly wanting in all sympathy."
Lewis Cass was a nice fellow and had a distinguihed career, but his name rhymed with both "ass" and "gas." The Whigs depicted him in cartoons as "General Gas," with cannons farting noxious fumes out of his belly, or as "The Gas Bag," with an enormous rear end, ready to lift off into the sky, like a hot-air balloon. The Whigs also claimed that Cass had sold white men into slavery and that he was guilty of graft as superintendent of Indian Affairs. They were both lies. One final blast at Cass was that he was a "pot-bellied, mutton-headed cucumber."
The WINNER was ZACHARY TAYLOR - the 12th president.
The election was held on November 7, 1848 - this was the first time everybody voted on the same day. A law had been passed in 1845 to make the election the same for eveybody. (Keep in mind that the only people who got to vote were white men- women and slaves could not vote in 1848.)
Taylor got 1,360,967 popular votes and 163 electoral votes
Cass got 1,222,342 popular votes
and 127 electoral votes.
Taylor served only sixteen months in office. On a very hot July 4th in 1850, Taylor attended an Independence Day celebration. After the celebration Taylor took a walk, returned to the White House and ate a bowl of cherries and drank ice-cold milk. He soon developed symptoms of severe gastric distress, which continued for five days and were probably caused by cholera. After five days of illness, Taylor died on July 9, 1850. He was succeeded by his VP, Millard Fillmore.
Historians all agree that James Polk was a hard working president. He worked ten to twelve hours a day and held two cabinet meetings a week. He also accomplished all four of the goals he promised in his inaugural address. He promised he would reduce the tariff, re-establish an independent treasury to get money out of the hands of private banks, acquire Oregon from the British, and acquire California from Mexico. It took a war with Mexico from 1846 to 1848 to acquire California but he did it. One of the U.S. military heroes of the Mexican War was a general named Zachary Taylor.
The CANDIDATES in 1848.
WHIG; ZACHARY TAYLOR.
U.S. wars often make heroes out of military leaders. Such was the case with Zachary Taylor. He had become well-known for his war successes in Florida against the Seminiole Indians and especially in the Mexican War. The Whigs were looking for a winner and they quickly latched unto Taylor. He didn't know if he was a Whig or not but agreed to run. The Whigs nominated Millard Fillmore as his VP candidate. Fillmore was a former congressman and comptroller of New York State. Taylor was mailed notification of his nomination for president, but because there was postage due on the letter, he refused it and did not learn of the nomination for several dys.
DEMOCRAT: LEWIS CASS,
Polk had made few friends in his own party so he decided not to run. The best the Democrats could come up with was Lewis Cass, former governor and senator from Michigan. For VP they picked General William Butler, another hero of the Mexican War.
The CAMPAIGN of 1848.
Taylor could not really be accused of anything because he had never voted. No one could tell what Tayor (nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready') was thinking, but a few suspected the answer was "not much." Taylor even said he was a Whig but "not an ultra-Whig." In the 1800s there was a system called phrenology. Phrenology was the belief that an analysis of a person's character could be made by a study of the shape and protuberances of a person's skull. The Democrats showed a cartoon of a phrenologist measuring Taylor's head with a pair of calipers. The phrenologist's judgment was that Taylor was "stubborn and obstinate as a mule" and "utterly wanting in all sympathy."
Lewis Cass was a nice fellow and had a distinguihed career, but his name rhymed with both "ass" and "gas." The Whigs depicted him in cartoons as "General Gas," with cannons farting noxious fumes out of his belly, or as "The Gas Bag," with an enormous rear end, ready to lift off into the sky, like a hot-air balloon. The Whigs also claimed that Cass had sold white men into slavery and that he was guilty of graft as superintendent of Indian Affairs. They were both lies. One final blast at Cass was that he was a "pot-bellied, mutton-headed cucumber."
The WINNER was ZACHARY TAYLOR - the 12th president.
The election was held on November 7, 1848 - this was the first time everybody voted on the same day. A law had been passed in 1845 to make the election the same for eveybody. (Keep in mind that the only people who got to vote were white men- women and slaves could not vote in 1848.)
Taylor got 1,360,967 popular votes and 163 electoral votes
Cass got 1,222,342 popular votes
and 127 electoral votes.
Taylor served only sixteen months in office. On a very hot July 4th in 1850, Taylor attended an Independence Day celebration. After the celebration Taylor took a walk, returned to the White House and ate a bowl of cherries and drank ice-cold milk. He soon developed symptoms of severe gastric distress, which continued for five days and were probably caused by cholera. After five days of illness, Taylor died on July 9, 1850. He was succeeded by his VP, Millard Fillmore.
Monday, December 5, 2011
ELECTION #15, 1844. The NASTY-METER is 2.
ELECTION #15, 1844.
QUOTE from Andrew Jackson: "Harrison's death after one month in office was "the the deed of a kind and over-ruling Providence."
As we can see from Jackson's quote he was not in mourning about Harrison's death. And neither was Poet William Cullen Bryant who said he regretted Harrison's death only because "he did not live long enough to prove his incapacity for the office of President." Tyler succeeded to the Presidency and became an "Encedrin headache" for members of his own WHIG Party. He started acting like a Jacksonian Democrat when he vetoed a new Whig bill for a new Bank of the U.S. He so upset his fellow Whigs that Henry Clay resigned his Senate seat to protest Tyler's action and all, but one, of his cabinet resigned. The chance of Tyler being the 1844 Whig candidate for president was less than zero. So who were the candidates?
The CANDIDATES in 1844.
DEMOCRAT: JAMES K. POLK.
Polk had been Speaker of the House and was considered a loyal Democrat. He was hated by the Whigs so much that on his last day in office Henry Clay shouted from the visitor's gallery, "Go Home, God damn you. Go home where you belong."
WHIG; HENRY CLAY.
The Whigs had assembled in Baltimore in April, 1844 and nominated Henry Clay for president. To balance the ticket they picked Theodore Frelinghuysen, a so-called Christian gentleman who was supposed to balance Clay's reputation for high living, boozing, and playing cards. Clay had run for president in 1824 and 1832 and he wanted to be president. He wanted it badly.
The CAMPAIGN of 1844.
The Whigs went after Polk for being an unknown. They cried, "Who is James K. Polk?" and "Good God, what a nomination!" And they claimed that the raccoons in Tennessee were singing, "Ha, ha, ha, what a nominee / Is Jimmy Polk of Tennessee!" A Whig newspaper claimed that Polk had branded his initials J.K.P onto the shoulders of forty of his slaves. It was such an outright lie that the paper later reprinted a retraction. It was hard to slander Polk because he was so thoroughly colorness that his nickname was "Polk the Plodder."
The Democrats fired back that Clay gambled, dueled, was a womanizer and swore profusely. The Democrats also wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Twenty-one Reasons Why Clay Should Not Be Elected." Reason number two said, "Clay spends his days at the gambling table and his nights in a brothel." A Protestant minister wrote a letter published in numerous Democratic papers claiming to have heard Clay curse extensively during a steamboat trip.
The WINNER was JAMES K. POLK.
Polk got 1,338,464 popular votes and 170 electoral votes.
Clay got 1,300,097 popular votes and 105 electoral votes.
The famous phrase "Manifest Destiny" originated during Polk's term. The phrase was coined by NY journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845. It refers to the idea that it was the destiny of the U.S. to expand westward to the Pacific.
QUOTE from Andrew Jackson: "Harrison's death after one month in office was "the the deed of a kind and over-ruling Providence."
As we can see from Jackson's quote he was not in mourning about Harrison's death. And neither was Poet William Cullen Bryant who said he regretted Harrison's death only because "he did not live long enough to prove his incapacity for the office of President." Tyler succeeded to the Presidency and became an "Encedrin headache" for members of his own WHIG Party. He started acting like a Jacksonian Democrat when he vetoed a new Whig bill for a new Bank of the U.S. He so upset his fellow Whigs that Henry Clay resigned his Senate seat to protest Tyler's action and all, but one, of his cabinet resigned. The chance of Tyler being the 1844 Whig candidate for president was less than zero. So who were the candidates?
The CANDIDATES in 1844.
DEMOCRAT: JAMES K. POLK.
Polk had been Speaker of the House and was considered a loyal Democrat. He was hated by the Whigs so much that on his last day in office Henry Clay shouted from the visitor's gallery, "Go Home, God damn you. Go home where you belong."
WHIG; HENRY CLAY.
The Whigs had assembled in Baltimore in April, 1844 and nominated Henry Clay for president. To balance the ticket they picked Theodore Frelinghuysen, a so-called Christian gentleman who was supposed to balance Clay's reputation for high living, boozing, and playing cards. Clay had run for president in 1824 and 1832 and he wanted to be president. He wanted it badly.
The CAMPAIGN of 1844.
The Whigs went after Polk for being an unknown. They cried, "Who is James K. Polk?" and "Good God, what a nomination!" And they claimed that the raccoons in Tennessee were singing, "Ha, ha, ha, what a nominee / Is Jimmy Polk of Tennessee!" A Whig newspaper claimed that Polk had branded his initials J.K.P onto the shoulders of forty of his slaves. It was such an outright lie that the paper later reprinted a retraction. It was hard to slander Polk because he was so thoroughly colorness that his nickname was "Polk the Plodder."
The Democrats fired back that Clay gambled, dueled, was a womanizer and swore profusely. The Democrats also wrote a pamphlet entitled, "Twenty-one Reasons Why Clay Should Not Be Elected." Reason number two said, "Clay spends his days at the gambling table and his nights in a brothel." A Protestant minister wrote a letter published in numerous Democratic papers claiming to have heard Clay curse extensively during a steamboat trip.
The WINNER was JAMES K. POLK.
Polk got 1,338,464 popular votes and 170 electoral votes.
Clay got 1,300,097 popular votes and 105 electoral votes.
The famous phrase "Manifest Destiny" originated during Polk's term. The phrase was coined by NY journalist John O'Sullivan in 1845. It refers to the idea that it was the destiny of the U.S. to expand westward to the Pacific.
Friday, December 2, 2011
ELECTION #14, 1840. The NASTY-METER is 3.
ELECTION #14, 1840. The CANDIDATES.
DEMOCRAT: MARTIN VAN BUREN.
Van Buren was screwed from day one as far as getting reelected. His four years in office were an economic disaster. The recession was caused, in large part, by Jackson vetoing the Bank of the United States rechartering bill passed by Congress. The government was now depositing the money in Jackson's "pet banks" - run by his cronies, instead of the Bank of the United States, which Jackson had gutted. These pet banks were making large loans to speculaters, and add to this vicious high inflation, a crop failure in 1835, and a new "hard money" law forcing banks to repay money borrowed from the government in specie rather than currency. By the summer of 1837 America's economic life had ground to a standstill. The panic would last several years, forcing factories to close and sending families to beg on the streets. Van Buren was a decent guy but didn't know how to handle an economic crisis. The first cartoon portraying the Democratic Party as a donkey appeared during this election. Jackson rode the beast, Van Buren walked behind it, hat in hand, saying, "I shall tread in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessor."
Once again the Democrats held their nominating convention in Baltimore. Van Buren was easily renominated but there was a squabble again over Richard Johnson, his VP. Many Democrates balked at Johnson for "openly and shamefully living in adultery with a buxom negro," But in the end he was renominated.
WHIG: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
The WHIGS held their first nominating convention in 1839, in Harrisburg, PA. Henry Clay wanted to be the nominee but because he was a Mason, the Antomasons in the Whig Party would not support him. So they settled on William Henry Harrison, who had done well in the 1836 election. And his reputation as a war hero still inspired a great deal of loyalty and even though he was a Virginia aristocrat he managed to portray himself as a "aw-shucks" guy with a log cabin constituency. The voters bought it.
The CAMPAIGN in 1840.
The WHIGS were handed a wonderful gift at the beginning of the 1840 campaign when a newspaper article ridiculed Harrison, saying he should be given a barrel of hard cider and allowed to sit in his log cabin beside the fire. The WHIGS seized on this and turned it to advantage, portraying Harrison as a man of the people. In almost no time, Harrison became the "log cabin and hard cider" candidate, a guy who hung out with the coonskin cap boys, plowed the back forty with his own hands, and was always ready to raise a glass of cider. Never mind his Virginia ancestry and ownership of at least 2,000 acres - he was now a man of the people. The log cabin symbol was everywhere: There were log-cabin-shaped newspapers, songbooks, pamphlets, and badges. You could buy Log Cabin Emollient or whiskey in log-cabin-shaped bottles from the E.C. Booz distillery (incidentally, this is how the word "booze" entered the English language).
Harrison was the first candidate to have a campaign slogan. His slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." He was commander of U.S. forces when they defeated the Native Americans at Tippecanoe, in the Indiana Territory on November 7, 1811. The leader of the Indians was not Tecumseh, but his half brother Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh was killed in a later battle. Tyler was the name of his VP.
The Democrts protested that Harrison wasn't born in a log cabin, didn't drink hard cider, and, when you came right down to it he wasn't much of a war hero, (a mediocre strategist, Harrison sustained heavy casualties at Tippecanoe). It didn't do a bit of good as the WHIGS charged forward yelling "Tippecanue and Tyler, too."
The WINNER was WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
Harrison got 1,275,390 popular votes and 234 electoral votes.
Van Buren got 1,128,854 popular votes and only 60 electoral votes.
On a cold, blustery March 4, 1841, Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address of all the presidents (8,445 words and 105 minutes) wearing neither a hat or coat. He came down with a cold, developed pneumonia, and died on April 4, 1841, after one month in office. It was the shortest presidency in our history. He was succeeded by his VP, John Tyler.
A part of American folklore is that Native-Americans Tecumseh or his half-brother Tenskwatawa, put a curse on American presidents elected in the zero years. The curse has some validity - look at the following:
- Harrison, elected in 1840, died after one month.
- Lincoln, elected in 1860, was assassinated in 1865.
- Garfield, elected in 1880, was assassinated in 1881.
- McKinley, reeledcted in 1900, was assassinated in 1901.
- Harding, elected in 1920, died of natural causes in 1923.
- FDR, reelected in 1940, died of natural causes in 1945.
- JFK, elected in 1960, was assassinated in 1963.
- Reagan, elected in 1980, survived an assassination attempt in 1981.
But George W. Bush broke the curse, he was elected in 2000 and served all eight years.
(My comment about this election. One thing I've observed about human behavior in my life is that no matter what the TRUTH is, it is, many times, what people THINK the TRUTH is that counts. This 1840 election is a good example. People wanted to believe that Harrison was born in a log cabin, drank hard cider, was one of the coonskin cap boys, and plowed the back forty with his own hands, even though none of it was true. It proves my point.)
DEMOCRAT: MARTIN VAN BUREN.
Van Buren was screwed from day one as far as getting reelected. His four years in office were an economic disaster. The recession was caused, in large part, by Jackson vetoing the Bank of the United States rechartering bill passed by Congress. The government was now depositing the money in Jackson's "pet banks" - run by his cronies, instead of the Bank of the United States, which Jackson had gutted. These pet banks were making large loans to speculaters, and add to this vicious high inflation, a crop failure in 1835, and a new "hard money" law forcing banks to repay money borrowed from the government in specie rather than currency. By the summer of 1837 America's economic life had ground to a standstill. The panic would last several years, forcing factories to close and sending families to beg on the streets. Van Buren was a decent guy but didn't know how to handle an economic crisis. The first cartoon portraying the Democratic Party as a donkey appeared during this election. Jackson rode the beast, Van Buren walked behind it, hat in hand, saying, "I shall tread in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessor."
Once again the Democrats held their nominating convention in Baltimore. Van Buren was easily renominated but there was a squabble again over Richard Johnson, his VP. Many Democrates balked at Johnson for "openly and shamefully living in adultery with a buxom negro," But in the end he was renominated.
WHIG: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
The WHIGS held their first nominating convention in 1839, in Harrisburg, PA. Henry Clay wanted to be the nominee but because he was a Mason, the Antomasons in the Whig Party would not support him. So they settled on William Henry Harrison, who had done well in the 1836 election. And his reputation as a war hero still inspired a great deal of loyalty and even though he was a Virginia aristocrat he managed to portray himself as a "aw-shucks" guy with a log cabin constituency. The voters bought it.
The CAMPAIGN in 1840.
The WHIGS were handed a wonderful gift at the beginning of the 1840 campaign when a newspaper article ridiculed Harrison, saying he should be given a barrel of hard cider and allowed to sit in his log cabin beside the fire. The WHIGS seized on this and turned it to advantage, portraying Harrison as a man of the people. In almost no time, Harrison became the "log cabin and hard cider" candidate, a guy who hung out with the coonskin cap boys, plowed the back forty with his own hands, and was always ready to raise a glass of cider. Never mind his Virginia ancestry and ownership of at least 2,000 acres - he was now a man of the people. The log cabin symbol was everywhere: There were log-cabin-shaped newspapers, songbooks, pamphlets, and badges. You could buy Log Cabin Emollient or whiskey in log-cabin-shaped bottles from the E.C. Booz distillery (incidentally, this is how the word "booze" entered the English language).
Harrison was the first candidate to have a campaign slogan. His slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." He was commander of U.S. forces when they defeated the Native Americans at Tippecanoe, in the Indiana Territory on November 7, 1811. The leader of the Indians was not Tecumseh, but his half brother Tenskwatawa. Tecumseh was killed in a later battle. Tyler was the name of his VP.
The Democrts protested that Harrison wasn't born in a log cabin, didn't drink hard cider, and, when you came right down to it he wasn't much of a war hero, (a mediocre strategist, Harrison sustained heavy casualties at Tippecanoe). It didn't do a bit of good as the WHIGS charged forward yelling "Tippecanue and Tyler, too."
The WINNER was WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
Harrison got 1,275,390 popular votes and 234 electoral votes.
Van Buren got 1,128,854 popular votes and only 60 electoral votes.
On a cold, blustery March 4, 1841, Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address of all the presidents (8,445 words and 105 minutes) wearing neither a hat or coat. He came down with a cold, developed pneumonia, and died on April 4, 1841, after one month in office. It was the shortest presidency in our history. He was succeeded by his VP, John Tyler.
A part of American folklore is that Native-Americans Tecumseh or his half-brother Tenskwatawa, put a curse on American presidents elected in the zero years. The curse has some validity - look at the following:
- Harrison, elected in 1840, died after one month.
- Lincoln, elected in 1860, was assassinated in 1865.
- Garfield, elected in 1880, was assassinated in 1881.
- McKinley, reeledcted in 1900, was assassinated in 1901.
- Harding, elected in 1920, died of natural causes in 1923.
- FDR, reelected in 1940, died of natural causes in 1945.
- JFK, elected in 1960, was assassinated in 1963.
- Reagan, elected in 1980, survived an assassination attempt in 1981.
But George W. Bush broke the curse, he was elected in 2000 and served all eight years.
(My comment about this election. One thing I've observed about human behavior in my life is that no matter what the TRUTH is, it is, many times, what people THINK the TRUTH is that counts. This 1840 election is a good example. People wanted to believe that Harrison was born in a log cabin, drank hard cider, was one of the coonskin cap boys, and plowed the back forty with his own hands, even though none of it was true. It proves my point.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
