| STATES. | Popular Vote. | Electors. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James K. Polk. | Henry Clay. | James G. Birney. | Polk. | Clay. | |
| Maine | 45,719 | 34,378 | 4,836 | 9 | — |
| New Hampshire | 27,160 | 17,866 | 4,161 | 6 | — |
| Vermont | 18,041 | 26,770 | 3,954 | — | 6 |
| Massachusetts | 52,846 | 67,418 | 10,860 | — | 12 |
| Rhode Island | 4,867 | 7,322 | 107 | — | 4 |
| Connecticut | 29,841 | 32,832 | 1,943 | — | 6 |
| New York | 237,588 | 232,482 | 15,812 | 36 | — |
| New Jersey | 37,495 | 38,318 | 131 | — | 7 |
| Pennsylvania | 167,535 | 161,203 | 3,138 | 26 | — |
| Delaware | 5,996 | 6,278 | —— | — | 3 |
| Maryland | 32,676 | 35,984 | —— | — | 8 |
| Virginia | 49,570 | 43,677 | —— | 17 | — |
| North Carolina | 39,287 | 43,232 | —— | — | 11 |
| South Carolina[12] | —— | —— | —— | 9 | — |
| Georgia | 44,177 | 42,100 | —— | 10 | — |
| Alabama | 37,740 | 26,084 | —— | 9 | — |
| Mississippi | 25,126 | 19,206 | —— | 6 | — |
| Louisiana | 13,782 | 13,083 | —— | 6 | — |
| Kentucky | 51,988 | 61,255 | —— | — | 12 |
| Tennessee | 59,917 | 60,030 | —— | — | 13 |
| Missouri | 41,369 | 31,251 | —— | 7 | — |
| Arkansas | 9,546 | 5,504 | —— | 3 | — |
| Ohio | 149,117 | 155,057 | 8,050 | — | 23 |
| Michigan | 27,759 | 24,337 | 3,632 | 5 | — |
| Indiana | 70,181 | 67,867 | 2,106 | 12 | — |
| Illinois | 57,920 | 45,528 | 3,570 | 9 | — |
| Totals | 1,337,243 | 1,299,062 | 62,300 | 170 | 105 |
The Whigs, in keen despair over the defeat of their ablest and most beloved champion, charged fraud as the controlling factor in giving the Democrats their victory, but the battle had been fought and lost, and there was nothing left for them but submission. The electoral count was uneventful, and Polk and Dallas were formally declared elected President and Vice-President without objection.
The most desperate contests outside of New York and Pennsylvania were made in Tennessee and Delaware. Tennessee was the home of Polk, and the “Old Hero of New Orleans” threw himself into the contest for Polk with tireless energy. He inspired his veteran followers not only because he wanted Polk elected, but because he much more wanted Clay defeated. Clay had defeated him for President in the House in 1825, and Jackson never forgot a friend and rarely forgave an enemy. It was many days after the election before the vote of Tennessee could be ascertained, and it was claimed by both parties until the official vote was declared. It was finally announced that Clay had carried the State by 113, and the success of Clay in that State was the only silver lining the Whigs had to the dark cloud of their defeat.
Another memorable battle, though not in any sense an important contest as affecting the result, was fought in Delaware. The States did not then vote for President on the same day as now. All of them voted for Presidential electors in the month of November, although at that time nearly all the States elected their State officers and Congressmen earlier in the year. Delaware, with only 3 electoral votes, held both her State and her Presidential elections on the second Tuesday of November, and when her election day came around it was known to all that Clay was absolutely defeated for President.
New York and Pennsylvania had voted for Polk a week before, and on the second Tuesday of November only Massachusetts and Delaware were left among the States that had not yet chosen electors. Massachusetts was Whig and hardly contested, but Delaware made a most heroic battle for Clay, even when it was known that a victory in the little Diamond State could not aid the election of their favorite. The Democrats, inspired by their positively assured success in the national contest, exhausted their resources and efforts to win, but in the largest vote ever cast in the State, Clay won by 287 majority, receiving a larger vote than was cast for the Whig candidates for Governor or for Congress, both of whom were successful, the first by 45 majority and the last by 173.
The Kentucky electors met at their Capitol on the day appointed for the electoral colleges to cast their votes for President, and in sorrowing devotion to their chief cast the vote of the State for Clay for President. After their official duties had been performed a committee was appointed to prepare an address to be delivered to Mr. Clay at Ashland. All the members of the college, with many other citizens, accompanied the committee, and Clay met them at his hospitable door to hear the address delivered by Mr. Underwood, the chairman. Clay’s reply was one of the most beautiful of his very many exquisite illustrations of oratory. He said he would not “affect indifference to the personal concern which I had in the political contest just terminated, but unless I am greatly self-deceived, the principal attraction to me of the office of President of the United States arose out of the cherished hope that I might be an humble instrument, in the hands of Providence, to accomplish public good,” and in conclusion he said: “I heartily thank you, sir, for your friendly wishes for my happiness in the retirement which henceforth best becomes me.” Thus closed the memorable Polk-Clay contest of 1844.
THE TAYLOR-CASS-VAN BUREN CONTEST
1848
President Polk was not blessed with a tranquil administration. The annexation of Texas had been approved by Tyler several days before Polk was inaugurated as President, and that at once made strained relations between this country and Mexico. It was an open secret then, and is now a part of the undisputed history of the country, that the election of Polk and the annexation of Texas were regarded by the friends of slavery extension as most important achievements, and that period dated the aggressive action of the South, first to extend and next to nationalize slavery. The annexation of Texas brought in a Slave State and two United States Senators, with the treaty right to add eight new Senators by the subdivision of the State.
This met Calhoun’s complaint that the South could not maintain its equilibrium in the Senate because of the growing West. The purposes of the Southern extensionists, however, went far beyond the annexation of Texas. They meant to have part of Mexico, peaceably if possible, by war if necessary; and the war was deliberately planned and precipitated upon Mexico by the action of the administration. The territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers was claimed by both Texas and Mexico, but Mexico had exercised uniform jurisdiction. Texas had never served a writ or collected a dollar of revenue on the Rio Grande, and the United States army of occupation, commanded by General Taylor, had not gone south of the Nueces. There was much violent discussion in Mexico over the annexation of Texas, whose independence Mexico disputed, and threats of war were freely made.