The 1844 Democratic National Convention

As the 1844 Democratic National Convention was scheduled to begin in Baltimore on Monday, May 27, Henry D. Gilpin wrote to Martin Van Buren, “we are in the midst of the most reckless and desperate system of political intrigue that I have ever witnessed.”

Several names were being considered for the party’s presidential nomination. Former president Martin Van Buren was the frontrunner, although many southern Democrats were questioning whether they wanted him after he came out publicly against the immediate annexation of Texas. Some Democrats also questioned whether his presidential record warranted a second term.

With Van Buren’s chances weakening, those of former Michigan territorial governor and Andrew Jackson cabinet officer Lewis Cass were on the rise. Cass had recently returned from a diplomatic post in France, allowing supporters to paint him as someone untainted by recent Democratic failures.

Former vice president Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky was another popular alternative to Van Buren. The purported killer of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh during the War of 1812 could draw on his military career for support, but his open engagement in relationships with enslaved women was an obstacle to his nomination. US senator James Buchanan of Pennsylvania was yet another potential nominee. Buchanan had built relationships with southern Democrats, giving himself potential national support. There were questions about his personal life, however, especially the nature of his relationship with fellow senator William Rufus King of Alabama.

Former US senator John C. Calhoun had terminated his campaign for the nomination in late 1843, but he continued to attract interest from southern Democrats for his strident support of Texas annexation as newly appointed US secretary of state & his unapologetic defense of slavery. Many Democrats, however, could not forget his support of nullification during Jackson’s presidency. Two other potential candidates mentioned prior to the convention were Commodore Charles Stewart, another War of 1812 hero and former US Treasury secretary Levi Woodbury.

At noon, DNC delegates met in the Egyptian Saloon, located at the top of the Odd Fellows Hall. One delegate reported that the room was “as hot as Belshazzar’s furnace.” Anti-Van Burenites elected a speaker who called for previous convention rules, including a 2/3s majority for nomination, to be used.

The push to institute the 2/3s rule continued that evening, leading Van Buren’s former law partner, Benjamin F. Butler, to object strenuously, according to journalist John L. O’Sullivan. Butler reportedly “became white with excitement and actually in his process of stamping on it, jumped up three or four times from the floor two or three feet high. I started up in fear that in a sudden gust of excitement Butlers’ reason had given way.”

On Tuesday morning, May 28, convention president Hendrick B. Wright began the session by reminding delegates that they needed to “abandon men, and go for measures.” Delegates responded by voting 148-116 to approve the 2/3s rule. Delegates from non-slavery states voted against the rule 64%-36%, while those from slave states voted 87%-13% in favor. Winning the nomination now required 177 votes instead of 134 votes.

During the afternoon session, Democrats undertook seven ballots. Van Buren started out with a majority but bled support on each subsequent round. By the fifth ballot, Lewis Cass had overtaken him. Gideon J. Pillow reported that by the time the delegates adjourned, “the whole convention had well-nigh got into a general pel-mell fight.”

The turning point of the 1844 DNC came on Tuesday night as two concurrent strategies played out. Benjamin F. Butler maneuvered to secure support for US senator Silas Wright Jr.’s nomination, despite the New Yorker’s insistence that he was not interested. Meanwhile, Tennessee and Massachusetts delegates, including Cave Johnson, Andrew J. Donelson, and George Bancroft, worked on a plan to offer James K. Polk as a compromise candidate.

Polk’s name first appeared on the eighth ballot, held on Wednesday morning, May 29. On the ninth ballot, New York supported Polk, signaling that Van Burenites were acknowledging the inevitable. The Tennessean’s unanimous nomination was announced via the newly installed electromagnetic telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore, over which Samuel F.B. Morse had sent the first message—“WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT”—just five days prior.

The DNC’s Wednesday afternoon session focused on choosing Polk’s running mate. Delegates selected Silas Wright Jr. on the 1st ballot. Wright, however, had adamantly refused to allow his name to be put forward for the ticket. He twice declined the VP nomination by telegraph & then sent representatives in person to Baltimore to turn down the offer via letter.

On Thursday morning, May 30, the DNC delegates outlined the platform on which their ticket would run. They passed planks opposing a national bank and supporting a limited government, fiscal responsibility, slavery, and the citizenship rights of immigrants. They also approved resolutions opposing the distribution of land revenue to the states and supporting a limited executive veto and territorial expansion in both Oregon and Texas. While discussing the party platform, delegates received Silas Wright’s definitive declination. Two more ballots resulted in former US senator and diplomat George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania winning the VP nomination.

As the DNC drew to a close, convention president Hendrick Wright charged delegates to “enter into the approaching contest with vigor, with energy, and with a determination to triumph.” But convention attendee Arthur L. Magenis, “the Missouri Earthquake,” screamed at the delegates as they streamed out of the convention hall, “You have sacrificed Mr. Van Buren by a bargain! You’ve killed Van by your damned two-third rule!” Magenis’ remarks encapsulated, in content and tone, if not in presentation, what many Van Burenites felt. The Polk-Dallas ticket faced a grim campaign if these disgruntled Democrats could not be won over.

Sources: Papers of Martin Van Buren; Library of Congress; Metropolitan Museum of Art; US Army Center of Military History; Odd Fellows Hall, James Lot Ridgely, History of American Odd Fellowship: The First Decade, p147; Washington (DC) Daily Globe, 30 May 1844, p3; National Eagle (Claremont, NH), 21Je44, p3.