In the middle of the 1844 presidential election, an explosive story that some believed would transform the presidential campaign appeared in the national media. Instead, it turned out to be a piece of disinformation that proved to be far less consequential than if it had been true.
The Whigs Strike Back in Nashville
The week after Democrats met in Nashville in mid-August 1844, Whigs gathered in the same city. As expected from the party that had used cultural politics to its advantage in the 1840 presidential election, Whigs used political symbols extensively. For example, they raised a 200-foot-high liberty pole, a political symbol dating from the American Revolution. … Continue reading The Whigs Strike Back in Nashville
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 … Continue reading The 1844 Democratic National Convention
The Significance of the USS Princeton Tragedy
On a cold Wednesday afternoon, as the USS Princeton passed Mount Vernon on its return to Washington, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer asked for a final demonstration of one of its new guns—the "Peacemaker"—in honor of George Washington. The gun's breech exploded to the left, killing six men, including Gilmer and Secretary of State … Continue reading The Significance of the USS Princeton Tragedy
A Historical Precedent for Dumping a Presidential Candidate
The Republican party is set to nominate Donald J. Trump as its nominee this week. Most signs indicate that a plan to derail the New Yorker's convention nomination by unbinding delegates, thus freeing them to vote for someone else, will come to naught. In 1844, another New Yorker discovered that going into a major party's … Continue reading A Historical Precedent for Dumping a Presidential Candidate
Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics 