1844 Election
In 1844, the United States was divided over the issue of Texas. The Whig candidate, Henry Clay, was anti-annexationist and was seen as waffling on Texas while Democrat James Polk was pro-annexation.
Polk managed to link Texas to Oregon, with Democrats shouting "54 40 or fight!"(a reference to the Anglo-American dispute over the Oregon territory.
Whigs were confident that Clay could repeat their 1840 landslide. However, the election was in fact very close. Clay managed to prevent Southern Whigs supporting expansionism overtly and undermining the platform. Many people supported Polk's expansionism but many also did not want slavery to expand. As a result, Clay won with 141 electoral votes and 49.5% of the popular vote.
Clay Administration
On March 4, 1845, Henry Clay was inaugurated President of the United States. After Clay's election, lame-duck Tyler made a last-ditch effort to annex Texas. The Tyler-Texas treaty went to both houses of Congress. The Democrat House of Representatives complied and passed an amended version of the treaty. However, in the Whig-dominated Senate, with support for annexation 'perishing', the treaty looked unlikely to pass. Partisan divisons became clear in the following vote. All 28 Senate Whigs voted against the treaty and all 24 Senate Democrats voted in favour.
Texian President Anson Jones recieved the news and therefore accepted the 'Diplomatic Act'. Mexico recognised Texas and Britain and France mediated the border dispute between the two countries. Mexico claimed the boundary was the Nueces River and the Texians claimed the boundary was the Rio Grande. In 1846, the British ruled the boundary was the Rio Grande and gave Texas a bailout to help its struggling economy. In 1847, Sam Houston was elected President of Texas.
In Oregon, a dispute emerged between the Americans and the British. For several decades, pioneers had settled in the Oregon Territory. Expansionists had shouted"54 40 or fight!" referencing an extreme American claim. Secretary of State Webster negotiated with the British and a settlement was reached. The boundary was set as the Columbia River, with all of Oregon south going to the Americans and the rest, including San Juan Islands, going to the British.
In 1845, Florida was admitted into the Union.
Domestically, President Clay implemented the American System. Initially opposed by the Democrats, in 1846 the Whigs gained the House of Representatives and 4 Senate seats. President Clay created the Fiscal Bank of the United States to replace the Second Bank of the United States that had been destroyed by Andrew Jackson. Clay also created higher tariffs and sold federal land to increase commerce. In this, Clay was successful.
1848 Election
In 1848, Clay followed Whig principle and declined to run for a second term. Webster and Winfield Scott competed for the nomination. Scott was nominated as he was a war-hero, and picked Abbott Lawrence as his running mate. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan who picked John Quitman as his running mate to secure southern support.
The issues of the 1848 election were Clay's American System, the status of Oregon and the issue of California, which many expansionists wanted to seize from Mexico and fulfill the Manifest Destiny. The personality of the candidates also became an important issue and Scott ran on Clay's popularity and his status as a war-hero. The Whigs opposed slavery expanding to Oregon. Scott won 149 to 133 with 50.7% of the popular vote.
------------------
The PoD is James Birney has a heart attack and dies in October. His VP Thomas Morris becomes the Liberty Party candidate but only gets 22,000 votes. Clay therefore wins New York and gets a narrow electoral and popular vote victory. The objective of this TL is to have a surviving Whig party. Enjoy!