![]() Polk was nominated with two-thirds of the vote. Polk, a protege of Andrew Jackson, who supported annexation. It was not until the ninth ballot that the Democrats turned their sights to the "dark horse" James K. At the Democratic convention, Van Buren failed to win the necessary super-majority of Democratic votes, and he slowly fell in the ranking. They gave Tyler their own nomination, and in the process convinced Democrats that there was huge public support for Texas annexation. The Tyler supporters, held their nominating convention in Baltimore in May 1844, at the same time as the Democratic Party was holding its presidential nomination. He generated some support, not only from the officeholders he had appointed. A chain of pro-Tyler newspapers across the country put out editorials promoting his candidacy throughout the early months of 1844. He formed a third party, the Democratic-Republicans, using the officeholders and political networks he had built over the previous year. Tyler believed that the only chance he had for re-election was to move public opinion in favor of the annexation of Texas issue. Nevertheless, Tyler sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification in April 1844, but he did not expect it to pass.ĭespite Tyler's roots in the Democratic party, party members, especially the followers of Van Buren, were not ready to follow Tyler. ![]() They believed that this would make Texas a non-issue in the upcoming election. They also feared a confrontation with Mexico.īoth Clay and Van Buren, the respective frontrunners for the Whig and Democratic nominations, met privately at Van Buren's home and agreed that each would come out publicly against annexation. The Whigs opposes anything that might enhance Tyler's profile. But when details of the treaty were leaked to the public, it generated political opposition from the Whigs. ![]() Calhoun negotiated an annexation treaty with Texas. Calhoun was a leading advocate of slavery, and was anxious to see the annexation of Texas, which he viewed as a potential slave state. Later that year, following the death of Secretary of State Abel Upshur in the Princeton disaster (a canon on the USS Princeton exploded, killing a number of people on board including Upshur), Tyler appointed former Vice President John C. Wright found the notion laughable, and Tyler's plan failed. Van Buren was the leading candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 1844 and Tyler believed that by dangling this carrot under Van Buren's nose, he could rid himself of his most serious rival. (This is wonderfully described in the opening to Bicknell's book.) Tyler wasn't being magnanimous, he had an ulterior motive. He was already thinking in those terms when, on New Year's Day of 1844 he sent John Thompson Mason of Virginia to see New York Senator Silas Wright, to float the idea of Tyler appointing Martin Van Buren to fill a vacant seat on the US Supreme Court. ![]() At the beginning of 1844, Tyler believed that he could run for re-election as a Democrat. Tyler left the Democrats for the Whigs and ended up in the second spot on the Whig ticket that won the election of 1841. Tyler was a man without a party, but he had been a member of the Democratic Party before growing dissatisfied with the Andrew Jackson as President. His tenacity set the precedent for succession following the death of a president that would be followed thereafter, but in the course of doing so, he alienated his own party. ![]() Tyler believed that he was President, with the full privileges of the office. Some, like Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, thought that Tyler was merely the "acting president", a placeholder until the next election and someone expected to follow the dictates of his party. No one knew what that meant in terms of succession. John Tyler had ascended to the Presidency in April of 1841 when William Henry Harrison died, a month and a day into his term. I'm looking forward to reading about this extraordinary year. It tells the story of the political and social climate in the United States in 1844 as the nation approached what would become a very transformative election. I've finally started reading John Bicknell's new book America 1844: Religious Fervor, Western Expansion and the Presidential Election That Transformed The Nation and so far it's great. ![]()
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