[FONT="]Part 6 – Unconventional Conventions[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The Mexican-American War and Civil War collided in 1852, but the latter caused the former to be put off indefinitely, even as President Buchanan refused to call the latter a war.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]President Buchanan wasn't sitting idly. Fearing the stigma of being the first president to get impeached around the New Year, before cooler heads (and those afraid of Atchison) prevailed, he tried to bring the wayward states back, though with promises he had little chance to fulfill. Although, one he did try to urge adoption of was giving Texas their New Mexico territory. That had support from many Northerners, since it would mean one fewer slave state, so once again, only California was a new state, as Northerners now had the support of Buchanan in not letting New Mexico become a slave state. However, while Sam Houston approved, few Southerners did.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Entering 1852, Lewis Cass seemed the clear favorite, but he had detractors. He was rather old. Plus, some Northerners like Bright preferred just letting the South go. Others felt Stephen Douglas would be better at working a compromise with the South or that his desire for expansion would work better with or without the South. William Marcy was also possible.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Douglas had wanted to work with passing the Compromise of 1850 as separate bills, but never got around to it because of the mess surrounding Senator Benton’s death and other issues. He had a variety of clever ideas, but his support of slavery in territories via popular sovereignty came with accepting restrictiosn on it, which Southerners disliked. Lewis Cass was more willing to accept it without restrictions, but it was clear that even Sam Houston, a dark horse contender as the leader of Texan Unionists, would have trouble appealing to Fire-Eaters, though at least he was clearly back in the fold with Texas promised the New Mexico territories. (Part of the argument between Douglas and Cass was that Douglas felt popular sovereignty could make New Mexico free, while Cass wanted it to be slave no matter what.)[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The Republicans, meanwhile, actually looked hard at Former President Mangum. As news of the new nation that was slowly being formed in the Deep South came up their way, some felt a Southerner would be best to balance the ticket and also to prevent talk of totally giving up on Mexico; Mangum had privately supported Texas annexation in some ways and might be willing to accept some more added territory as slave states.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]However, the vast majority of the new Republicans didn’t want that. In fact, with most slaveholding states out of the Union, they began to propose laws providing for gradual compensated emancipation. While these weren’t out of committee yet by any means, it showed that there was a good cross-section of people who sorely wanted to end slavery.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]This, in turn, led to concerns on the part of some. They wanted to keep the slave states which had remained firmly in the fold. On the other hand, abolitionists claimed that the “United States, right now, does not stand for anything, it is just standing around waiting for the election, which is almost a year away, to see what should be done.” John Fremont brought men back East who were prepared to not only attack Missouri secessionists as requested but to free the slaves which were in them, which brought contention between Fremont and Buchanan and led to Atchison bolting the Senate in early May of 1852..[/FONT]
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[FONT="]General William O. Butler finally took command of the army group which had camped near Mexico City as General Scott was asked to come and settle the disturbances in Virginia, which had grown into a full-scale civil war of its own. Scott and men like Ulysses S. Grant wound up fighting for what they claimed was the rightfully elected government in Virginia, but the outgoing Governor Floyd, who was supposed to have left office earlier that year, claimed that his side had won, which created a huge mess.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]At the same time, Fremont’s men arrived in Missouri in early May of 1852 and firmly defeated General Price. After a few more defeats, Price was forced to retreat to Arkansas, but in chasing him down there, he might have touched off even more hostilities.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Tennessee was the only place where the secessionists clearly lost, as they were routed in Memphis by forces led by Thomas Childs, who had been assigned to Florida but had left with his men when Florida seceded.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Childs and Fremont wanted to launch into the Deep South, they simply awaited word from Buchanan. Buchanan sent Fremont a harsh warning insisting that he stop freeing slaves in the rebel-held areas of Missouri.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Meanwhile, Democrats meeting in Baltimore had problems of their own. They couldn’t agree on a candidate.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Remaining, loyal Southern Democrats, fearing Douglas’ strong support combined with Marcy in New York and a few others, introduced a rule requiring that 2/3 of the convention agree on one candidate.(1) They were mostly supporters of Cass, who didn’t even have a majority at first, but would be willing to go for Houston or even Buchanan, each of whom got some votes. After a few ballots, nobody even had a clear majority.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]For one thing, William Marcy of New York had a large number of supporters in his own state. For another, Hosuton and even House Speaker Boyd drew quite a bit of support from the Southern wing. Noting that Polk had also been Speaker at one point, it was noted that Polk “could have kept this country together, and Boyd can do the same.”[/FONT]
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[FONT="]However, all were wary of who the Republicans might choose. They cried “treason” every chance they could when it came to the secession crisis. When Buchanan met with Senator William R. King of the new Confederation Of America, or COA, many cried out that he was “in bed with the treasonous enemy.”[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Finally, in order to simply get a candidate decided upon before the Republicans started their convention, Virginia delegates voted on supporting Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn.(2) Murphy promised to oppose the secession, thus supporting the War Democrats, but also promised to try and make peace in a reasonable manner and even work with Mexico to do so. However, the split in New York itself kept him from getting more than 1/3 – some were even afraid his name could imply he was Irish and Catholic though he wasn’t. It was mostly the new York problem.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]His numbers declining, Douglas realized he had little chance of being nominated without someone’s support. Trying to depict himself as a young henry Clay, he pushed more and more compromise ideas forward. When the Texas legislature only promised to return if Houston won, he pledged to push for Houston as his running mate. This was accepted, and Cass threw his support behind Douglas in return for appointment as Secretary of state. There would at least be popular sovereignty as he’d wanted. A message was sent to the Texas legislature that they would do “all they could” to get Texas admitted as one large state, a slave one. Douglas would then work for more states from Mexican cessions and Cuba, which could become two states.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Republicans derided the choice. The new coalition complained that the Democrats were “still in the control of the slaveocrats” and that a man “from a rebel state” being a “heartbeat away,” as the phrase they coined went, “was the great natural disaster possible, the most horrible running mate when it comes to human decency since Ahab chose that wicked Jezebel.” It didn’t matter to them that Sam Houston supported the Union, the stigma they tried to create was huge. While Sam Houston tried hard to dispel it, and it likely didn’t cost them the election, it was still one more thing that showed how trucky the situation had become for the Democrats.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]This galvanized the coalition, which Democrats felt would fall apart, into selecting the best man possible for the job. Senators from North Carolina and Tennessee (including former President Mangum) were deemed too willing to accept the continuation of slavery by those who opposed slavery; even the harshest critics of emancipation opposed men like John Bell of Tennessee, although Tennessee’s governor, William Campbell, was acceptable to some as Vice President.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]On the other hand, John Fremont was seen as too inexperienced politically and too brash; Thaddeus Stevens and William Seward seemed quite radical, although Seward was drawing a few votes. They preferred someone who had been more neutral on slavery, or at least not as vocal. Amazingly, some espoused former President Van Buren as someone who would draw Democrats – and who had drawn a fair amount of support in 1844 even with Cass opposing him.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Van Buren, to end to the madness that had crept into the Democratic Party, announced he would accept “if the situation was most dire.” He recognized that it might be needed, but there was a better man for the job, anyway, he felt.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]John McLean, a Supreme Court Justice, was willing to run if nominated. One Deep Southern justice had remained on the court but the one from Alabama had resigned, letting Buchanan nominate one more. McLean was concerned that his seat could go to a pro-slavery judge, but the way things were going, Buchanan wouldn’t have any nominations accepted. He was right.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]McLean, an Ohioan, was acceptable to all parties of the coalition. A very well-versed jurist, he easily used his quick legal mind to develop sound concepts for fighting the war and for governing the compensated emancipation proposal which they wanted but which would only be discussed later. He would gladly work as a moderating influence.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]There was concern that an Easterner was needed for the Vice Presidency. Still, Congressman Lincoln, also adept politically, was heavily considered. Seward declined to be Vice President, but George Briggs, former governor of Massachusetts, was considered much more a “man of the people” than his fellow Massachusetts Whigs, and had gained notoriety for his toughness on crime in capital murder cases. Although, some states’ rights advocates were leery of Briggs for having agreed that the Federal government should be allowed to call on states to send troops even if they didn’t favor a war, such as the Mexican one, all agreed that the Southern rebellion should have the Federal government able to compel states to send troops. Another interesting possibility was John P. Hale, a Congressman and Senator (currently serving there from New Hampshire) who had been a Democrat and switched parties to the coalition a few years earlier.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]In the end, though, needing a bright young mind with McLean older, they chose Hamilton Fish, a New York Senator and former governor and Congressman, with New York a pressing need.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]A historian later wrote, “It was really hard - a person couldn’t easily avoid the topic like they used to, even a decade earlier – one had to take some sort of stand. However, they still didn’t have to admit to wanting gradual emancipation, and those who did could promise a hefty amount.” Indeed, Salmon P. Chase, a fellow Ohioan, was already drafting plans.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]In the end, their quietness on that part helped them still win the slave states of Delaware and Kentucky, though a split in the former Whigs led to Democrats taking Tennessee. North Carolina was up for grabs right to the end. Fish did indeed secure New York for them, with Van Buren’s support also helping. “I had not sought this office,” Fish said, “but if it is the wish of my nation to elevate me to it, then I will certainly do the best I can to ensure that the values of our people are upheld.” He would have been in the Senate till 1857, anyway, after all.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]In not picking someone like Hale, the Republicans had had to make a deal. The Free Soilers would remain within the party, and would see for certain an end to slavery in any territory “not now a State,” and also – though word of it would not get out before the election – an attempt toward gradual compensated emancipation.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]In the end, the McLean-Fish ticket won, with the Free Soilers helping them carry New England and Michigan, the latter of which was a narrow win(3) partly because of anti-Cass sentiment. Pennsylvania also became a Republican win partly because Buchanan was so unpopular, partly because McLean had made the choice to abandon some of the Know-Nothing ideals to win some of the immigrant vote in places like New York City and Philadelphia, and partly because the Democrats didn’t have an Easterner.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]Frustration over the war’s handling was mitigated by Douglas’ popularity in Illinois gave him wins in Indiana and Illinois. And, Mangum wasn’t quite able to give them North Carolina, as he also lost his Senate seat that year. It wasn’t as close as the 2 northernmost Great Lakes states, but a touch closer than Pennsylvania. Still, it was a very close contest in many states, with McLean being elected the new President with 156 electoral Votes to 89 for Douglas.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]McLean CT 6, DE 3, IA 4, KY 12, ME 8, MA 13, MI 6, NH 5, NY 35, OH 23, PA 27, RI 4, VT 5, WI 5[/FONT]
[FONT="]Murphy CA 4, IL 11, IN 13, MD 8, MO 9, NC 10, NJ 7, TN 12, VA 15[/FONT]
[FONT="]Not voting – seceded AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, SC, TX[/FONT]
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[FONT="]As one historian wrote, “Some blame the lack of the “Deep South” states, but that might not have made a big difference, too pro-Southern a candidate rather than Douglas – who would not have won with the Deep South at that convention - would have pushed Indiana and Illinois into McLean’s camp, and maybe New Jersey. The real fault lay in the 1852 Democratic Convention, where there was such uncertainty and bitterness that the candidates’ words were often used against them by the Republicans in the general election.”[/FONT]
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[FONT="]However, now it was the job of President John McLean to start putting things back together. And, of Hamilton Fish to do a variety of things in support of it. The Civil War would keep everyone quite busy. COA President Qutiman already stated, upon learning of McLean’s election, “We shall no longer be allowed to go freely.” Jefferson Davis, who had been elevated from his position in the military to Governor of Mississippi(4) when Quitman was elected as COA President, began to prepare the state for a potential invasion.[/FONT]
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[FONT="](1) A number of Southern states still remain TTL, including some from Virginia, and they would be trying to avoid war in their states as well as war in general.[/FONT]
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[FONT="](2) OTL Murphy lost to Pierce by one vote in a decision by Virginia delegates of who to push as a compromise candidate. Here, Pierce is fighting and Murphy is the man. A short bio as probably almost nobody knows who he is. [/FONT]
[FONT="]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_C._Murphy[/FONT][FONT="][/FONT]
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[FONT="](3) They would have combined to make it very close OTl in 1852, and Cass’ support of the South here is seen as more extreme.[/FONT]
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[FONT="](4) OTL he lost to the Unionist Foote, who here was disgraced by his near killing of Benton.[/FONT]