| First. | Second. | Third. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T. Frelinghuysen, N. J. | 101 | 118 | 155 |
| John Davis, Mass. | 83 | 74 | 79 |
| Millard Fillmore, N. Y. | 53 | 51 | 40 |
| John Sergeant, Penn. | 38 | 32 | — |
| Total | 275 | 275 | 274 |
The platform adopted by the Whigs was brief but expressive. The Whig faith was tersely given in a single resolution. The other resolutions were simply eloquent tributes to Clay and Frelinghuysen, and the convention adjourned, making the welkin ring with cheers for “Harry Clay of the West” and for the “Mill Boy of the Slashes,” and absolutely confident of the triumphant election of their great leader to the highest honors of the Republic. The first Whig national platform was as follows:
Resolved, That, in presenting to the country the names of Henry Clay for President and of Theodore Frelinghuysen for Vice-President of the United States, this convention is actuated by the conviction that all the great principles of the Whig party—principles inseparable from the public honor and prosperity—will be maintained and advanced by these candidates.
Resolved, That these principles may be summed as comprising: a well-regulated currency; a tariff for revenue to defray the necessary expenses of the Government, and discriminating with special reference to the protection of the domestic labor of the country; the distribution of the proceeds from the sales of the public lands; a single term for the presidency; a reform of executive usurpations; and generally such an administration of the affairs of the country as shall impart to every branch of the public service the greatest practical efficiency, controlled by a well-regulated and wise economy.
Resolved, That the name of Henry Clay needs no eulogy. The history of the country since his first appearance in public life is his history. Its brightest pages of prosperity and success are identified with the principles which he has upheld, as its darkest and more disastrous pages are with every material departure in our public policy from those principles.
Resolved, That in Theodore Frelinghuysen we present a man pledged alike by his Revolutionary ancestry and his own public course to every measure calculated to sustain the honor and interest of the country. Inheriting the principles as well as the name of a father who, with Washington, on the fields of Trenton and of Monmouth, perilled life in the contest for liberty, and afterward, as a Senator of the United States, acted with Washington in establishing and perpetuating that liberty, Theodore Frelinghuysen, by his course as Attorney-General of the State of New Jersey for twelve years, and subsequently as a Senator of the United States for several years, was always strenuous on the side of law, order, and the Constitution, while, as a private man, his head, his hand, and his heart have been given without stint to the cause of morals, education, philanthropy, and religion.
The third national convention that presented candidates for the campaign of 1844 was that of the Abolitionists. They had grown since 1840, when they first nominated Mr. Birney as their candidate, and their platform, elaborate as it is, is well worthy of careful study. It met at Buffalo, in August, 1843, and nominated James G. Birney, of New York, for President, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for Vice-President, and it increased its vote up to 62,300, all of which were cast in the Northern States, including 15,812 for Birney in New York. As nearly all of them were of Whig antecedents, they would have preferred Clay to Polk if they had not presented a ticket of their own to divert their votes, and it was their support of Birney that gave Polk the majority over Clay in the Empire State, whose electoral vote decided the contest. The following is the full text of the first platform presented by an Abolition national convention:
Resolved, That human brotherhood is a cardinal principle of true democracy, as well as of pure Christianity, which spurns all inconsistent 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.
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.
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 principles of American liberty or the true spirit of the Constitution of the United States.