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1844 Whig National Convention
1844 presidential election;
	Nominees ; Clay and Frelinghuysen
Convention
Date(s)	May 1, 1844
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Universalist Church
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Henry Clay of Kentucky
Vice-presidential nominee	Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey
Voting
Total delegates	275
Votes needed for nomination	138
Ballots	1
	‹ 1839 · 1848 ›

The 1844 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held on May 1, 1844, at Universalist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.^[2] It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1844 election. The convention selected former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky for president and former Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey for vice president.

While the Whigs had won the 1840 presidential election, the party needed a new ticket as President William Henry Harrison had died in April 1841 while his successor, John Tyler, had been expelled from the party in September 1841 for vetoing bills passed by the Whig-controlled Congress. The convention unanimously nominated Clay, a long-time party leader, for president. Frelinghuysen won the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot, defeating former Governor John Davis of Massachusetts and two other candidates. The Whig ticket went on to lose the 1844 general election to the Democratic ticket of James K. Polk and George M. Dallas.

Convention chairman

Ambrose Spencer served as chairman of the convention, taking over from Arthur S. Hopkins, who was temporary chairman in the early stages of planning.^[3]

Presidential nomination

President John Tyler had been expelled from the party and the delegates searched for a new nominee.^[4] President Tyler's break with the Whig Party, combined with Daniel Webster's decision to serve in the Tyler administration, positioned Clay as the leading contender for the Whig nomination in the 1844 presidential election.^[5] At the convention, Clay was nominated unanimously.^[6]^[7]

Platform

Clay, a slaveholder, presided over a party in which its Southern wing was sufficiently committed to the national platform to put partisan loyalties above slavery expansionist proposals that might undermine its north–south alliance.^[8]^[9] The Whig party leadership was acutely aware that any proslavery legislation advanced by its southern wing would alienate its anti-slavery northern wing and cripple the party in the general election.^[10] In order to preserve their party, Whigs would need to stand squarely against acquiring a new slave state. As such, Whigs were content to restrict their 1844 campaign platform to less divisive issues such as internal improvements and national finance.^[11]^[12]^[13] Clay himself had previously stated that he was opposed to the annexation of Texas.^[14]

Vice presidential nomination

Initially there were seven candidates for the Whig's vice-presidential nomination. They were:

John M. Clayton, former Senator from Delaware and Chief Justice of the Delaware Superior Court.^[15]^: 113
John Davis, former Senator and Governor of Massachusetts.^[15]^: 144
George Evans, Senator from Maine.^[15]^: 188
Millard Fillmore, former Representative from New York.^[15]^: 200
Theodore Frelinghuysen, former Mayor of Newark and Chancellor of New York University.^[15]^: 212
John McLean, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.^[15]^: 388
John Sergeant, former Representative from Pennsylvania.^[15]^: 514

Clayton, Evans, and McLean withdrew themselves from consideration before the first round of balloting had commenced.^[3] After three rounds of voting, Theodore Frelinghuysen – "the Christian Statesman" – was selected as Clay's running mate. An advocate of colonization of emancipated slaves, he was acceptable to southern Whigs as an opponent of the abolitionists.^[16] His pious reputation balanced Clay's image as a slave-holding, hard-drinking duelist.^[17]^[18] Their party slogan was the bland "Hurray, Hurray, the Country's Risin' – Vote for Clay and Frelinghuysen!"^[19]

The Balloting

Convention vote
Presidential vote	1	Vice presidential vote	1	2	3
Henry Clay	275	Theodore Frelinghuysen	101	116	154
		John Davis	83	75	79
		Millard Fillmore	53	51	40
		John Sergeant	38	33	0
		Abstaining	0	0	2

1st Vice Presidential Ballot
2nd Vice Presidential Ballot
3rd Vice Presidential Ballot

References

^ ^a ^b Perkins, Dexter; Van Deusen, Glyndon (1962). The United States of America: A History. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan. p. 543. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.^{[ISBN missing]}
^ "30 Apr 1844, 4 - The Baltimore Sun at Newspapers.com". The Baltimore Sun. The New York Times. 30 April 1844. Retrieved 17 July 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ ^a ^b Havel, James T. (1996). U.S. Presidential Elections and the Candidates: A Biographical and Historical Guide. Vol. 2: The Elections, 1789–1992. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 21. ISBN 0-02-864623-1.
^ Kane, Joseph (1959). Facts about the Presidents: A Compilation of Biographical and Historical Data. New York: H W Wilson. p. 79. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015.^{[ISBN missing]}
^ Heidler, David S.; Heidler, Jeanne T. (2010). Henry Clay: The Essential American. Random House. pp. 358-359. ISBN 978-1-58836-995-6.
^ Wilentz, 2008, p. 569: The Whig convention "unanimously approved Clay's nomination"..."a thoroughly joyous and exciting affair."
^ Wilentz, 2008 ,p. 569: The Whig convention [of 1844] in Baltimore, which assembled on May 1..."
^ Finkelman. 2011, p. 18: "In Congress, the Whigs had blocked Texas annexation, with southern Whigs joining their northern colleagues...who opposed Texas annexation because of slavery."
^ Wilentz, 2008, p. 569: The Whig platform "did not even mention Texas..."
^ Freehling, 1991, p. 426-427: "Southern Whigs thus had to weigh the possibility that Texas might be abolitionized [by Great Britain] against the certainty that campaigning for [Texas] annexation would split their party."
^ Wilentz, 2008, p. 568-569: "The Texas issue struck [Clay] as a giant distraction from the real issues...internal improvements, the tariff and the rest of the American System..." and "ratified a four-part unity platform" based on the "American System."
^ Freehling, 1991, p. 353, p. 355, p. 436
^ Finkelman. 2011, p. 22: "The Whigs wanted to talk about the tariff and currency, which were no longer exciting issues."
^ Freehling, 1991, p. 427: "Clay...would halt annexation unless Mexico assented. He would also deny Texas entrance in the Union, no matter whether Mexico agreed, should 'a considerable and respectable portion' of the American people "express 'decided opposition'"
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Havel, James T. (1996). U.S. Presidential Elections and the Candidates: A Biographical and Historical Guide. Vol. 1: The Candidates. New York: Simon & Schuster.
^ Finkelman, 2008, p. 21: "...as an avid colonizationist [Freylinghuysen's] conservative views on slavery made him acceptable to southerners, and at the convention, almost all southern delegates voted for him." And p. 19-20: "...he was clearly an opponest of the abolitionists."
^ Finkelman. 2011, p. 17, p. 21: Freylinghuysen "the perfect northerner to balance the somewhat sordid reputation of the slaveowning, dueling, hard-drinking Clay."
^ Wilentz, 2008, p. 569: Freylinghuysen served to "offset Clay's reputation for moral laxity..."
^ Finkelman. 2011, p. 22: The "less than snappy slogan..."