Van Buren’s letter was made public just about one month before the meeting of the Democratic National Convention, and it was severely criticised by Southern newspapers and Democratic leaders generally, and with great severity by those who desired his defeat. The Richmond Enquirer, then one of the ablest and most influential of the Democratic organs of the country, edited by Mr. Ritchie, demanded that the instructions which had been given to the Virginia delegates to support Van Buren should be rescinded. In some instances delegates did disobey Van Buren instructions and others resigned rather than support him.

The convention met in Baltimore on the 27th of May, South Carolina being the only State not represented. The first important movement made in the body after its organization was the readoption of the two-thirds rule, which all understood meant the defeat of Van Buren, notwithstanding that a majority of the delegates would vote for him. The sincere and earnest friends of Van Buren battled earnestly against the adoption of the rule, but it finally prevailed by a vote of 148 to 118, and a large majority of the votes in favor of the rule were cast by Southern delegates. It was claimed by his friends, and I doubt not with reason, that had the delegates in the convention voted as they had been instructed to vote, Van Buren would have received within a very few votes of the necessary two-thirds to make a nomination on the 1st ballot.

The convention was anything but harmonious, and stormy debates were common from the beginning to the end of the proceedings of the convention. Finally the convention reached the ballot for President, and Van Buren received on the 1st ballot 146 votes to 120 for all others, giving him a clear majority of 26 of the whole convention, but under the two-thirds rule it required 178 to nominate him. The following table shows the nine ballots in detail, the last resulting in the nomination of James K. Polk, of Tennessee:

1st.2d.3d.4th.5th.6th.7th.8th.9th.
M. Van Buren, N. Y.146127121111103101991042
L. Cass, Mich.83949210510711612311429
R. M. Johnson, Ky.24333832292321——
J. Buchanan, Pa.4911172625222—
L. Woodbury, N. H.212——————
Com. Stewart, Pa.11———————
J. C. Calhoun, S. C.612————2—
J. K. Polk, Tenn.———————44233

Mr. Polk was the first “dark-horse” candidate ever nominated by any hopeful party for the Presidency. He had not been discussed as a candidate for President, but had been pressed by some of his political friends as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. He had been long in Congress, was distinguished for his ability and impartiality as Speaker of the House, and had been elected Governor of his State in 1841, but had been defeated in the contest for re-election in 1843, only one year before his nomination for President. Although his nomination for President seemed to be a spontaneous movement of the convention to rescue the party from its bitter factional feuds and the wrangling ambitions of its leaders, there is little doubt that the slavery managers of the South would be satisfied with none other than a positive Texas annexationist, and secretly but systematically prepared a number of the delegates to accept Polk as a compromise when the convention should come to a deadlock on the other candidates. Polk was heralded as the special friend and protégé of Jackson, who was yet living, and those who paved the way for his nomination had very plausible arguments to offer, especially to Southern men, with whom the slavery issue had become vital. However the nomination of Polk may have been organized, it had all the appearance of a spontaneous stampede in the convention. He had only 44 votes on the 8th ballot, the first in which his name appears. While the 9th ballot was in progress the delegates began to change their votes to Polk, and the result was that before its close the chairmen of delegations were jostling each other to get their votes recorded early for the successful candidate. The Morse experimental telegraph line had just been completed between Washington and Baltimore, and the Democratic leaders at Washington were advised by telegraph of Polk’s nomination, to which a congratulatory response was promptly given.

Although the Van Buren men had finally voted for Polk, preferring him to any of the candidates who had aggressively opposed the success of Van Buren, they were profoundly grieved at Van Buren’s defeat. They believed that slavery had crucified Van Buren, and it was their purpose, during the flush of their anger, to allow Polk to suffer a humiliating disaster. The friends of Polk well understood the deep disaffection that would confront them among the friends of Van Buren, and they adopted the very shrewd policy of taking Van Buren’s ablest lieutenant as the candidate for Vice-President. Silas Wright, of New York, Van Buren’s own State, was then one of the ablest of the Democratic Senators of that day, and a most zealous supporter of Van Buren. He was nominated for Vice-President by practically a unanimous vote, only eight of the Georgia delegates preferring Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire. Mr. Wright, being in the Senate at Washington, was at once informed by telegraph of his nomination, but smarting under what he believed to be the betrayal of Van Buren, he promptly sent a curt and peremptory declination back on the wire. Had there been no electric telegraph, Mr. Wright would have accepted the nomination for Vice-President and been elected to that position, but the success of Morse’s great invention, that had been completed between Washington and Baltimore only a few days before the convention met, changed his political destiny.

After mature reflection the friends of Van Buren were brought to terms by the Democratic leaders in the interest of Polk, and they decided to give a cordial support to the national ticket, but New York was regarded as certain to vote against Polk unless some extraordinary measures were adopted to save it. It was finally decided that only by nominating Senator Wright for Governor could the vote of the State be assured to Polk, and the man who had declined the Vice-Presidency that was within his reach, because he expected and really desired the ticket to be defeated, was compelled to resign his seat in the Senate to accept the Democratic nomination for Governor of New York. He was admittedly the strongest man in the party, and it was that nomination that saved the Democrats of New York from demoralization and made Mr. Polk President.

Two years later Wright suffered a humiliating defeat in a contest for re-election, and thus ended a political career that should have been rounded out in the second office of the Government. Jackson was made President because there were no steamers, cables, or telegraphs to advise him on the 8th of January, 1815, when he fought and won the battle of New Orleans, that peace had been declared between the two nations a fortnight before, and Silas Wright lost the Vice-Presidency and ended his political career in disaster because the telegraph had just been invented and put into operation between Washington and Baltimore.

The convention then proceeded to a second nomination for Vice-President, with the following result:

1st Ballot.2d Ballot.
John Fairfield, Maine10730
Levi Woodbury, New Hampshire446
Lewis Cass, Michigan39—
R. M. Johnson, Kentucky26—
Com. Stewart, Pennsylvania23—
Geo. M. Dallas, Pennsylvania13220
Wm. L. Marcy, New York5—