Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1852. Democratic nominee Franklin Pierce defeated Whig nominee General Winfield Scott.
Incumbent Whig President Millard Fillmore had succeeded to the presidency in 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore endorsed the Compromise of 1850 and enforced the Fugitive Slave Law. This earned Fillmore Southern voter support and Northern voter opposition. On the 53rd ballot of the sectionally divided 1852 Whig National Convention, Scott defeated Fillmore for the nomination. Democrats divided among four major candidates at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. On the 49th ballot, dark horse candidate Franklin Pierce won nomination by consensus compromise. The Free Soil Party, a third party opposed to the extension of slavery in the United States and into the territories, nominated New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale.
With few policy differences between the two major candidates, the election became a personality contest. Though Scott had commanded in the Mexican–American War, Pierce also served. Scott strained Whig Party unity as his anti-slavery reputation gravely damaged his campaign in the South. A group of Southern Whigs and a separate group of Southern Democrats each nominated insurgent tickets, but both efforts failed to attract support.
Pierce and running mate William R. King won a comfortable popular majority, carrying 27 of the 31 states. Pierce won the highest share of the electoral vote since James Monroe's uncontested 1820 re-election. The Free Soil Party regressed to less than five percent of the national popular vote, down from more than ten percent in 1848, while overwhelming defeat and disagreement about slavery soon drove the Whig Party to disintegrate. Anti-slavery Whigs and Free Soilers would ultimately coalesce into the new Republican Party, which would quickly become a formidable movement in the free states.
Not until 1876 would Democrats again win a majority of the popular vote for president, and not until 1932 would they win a majority in both the popular vote and the electoral college.
Nominations
Democratic Party nomination
thumb|right|300px|Pierce and King campaign poster
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>1852 Democratic Party ticket</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| Franklin Pierce|
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| William R. King|
|-
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|for President
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|for Vice President
|-
| center|200x200px
| center|200x200px
|-
| U.S. senator from New Hampshire<br><small>(1837–1842)</small>
| U.S. senator from Alabama<br><small>(1819–1844 & 1848–1852)</small>
|-
|}
- Franklin Pierce, former U.S. senator from New Hampshire
- Lewis Cass, U.S. senator from Michigan
- James Buchanan, former U.S. secretary of state from Pennsylvania
- William L. Marcy, former U.S. secretary of war from New York
- Stephen A. Douglas, U.S. senator from Illinois
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120">
File:Mathew Brady - Franklin Pierce (cropped).jpg|Former senator <br> Franklin Pierce <br> from New Hampshire
File:Lewis Cass circa 1855.jpg|Senator <br> Lewis Cass <br> from Michigan
File:James Buchanan (cropped).jpg|Former Secretary <br> of State <br> James Buchanan
File:William L. Marcy - Brady-Handy.jpg|Former Secretary <br> of War <br> William L. Marcy
File:BradyHandy-StephenADouglas restored.jpg|Senator <br> Stephen A. Douglas <br> from Illinois
</gallery>
The Democratic Party held its national convention in Baltimore, Maryland, in June 1852. Benjamin F. Hallett, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, limited the sizes of the delegations to their electoral votes and a vote to maintain the two-thirds requirement for the presidential and vice-presidential nomination was passed by a vote of 269 to 13.
James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, William L. Marcy, and Stephen A. Douglas were the main candidates for the nomination. All of the candidates led the ballot for the presidential nomination at one point, but all of them failed to meet the two-thirds requirement. Franklin Pierce was put up for the nomination by the Virginia delegation. Pierce won the nomination when the delegates switched their support to him after he had received the unanimous support of the delegates from New England. He won on the second day of balloting after forty-nine ballots.
The delegation from Maine proposed that the vice-presidential nomination should be given to somebody from the Southern United States with William R. King being specifically named. King led on the first ballot before winning on the second ballot.
Nine southern Whig members of Congress, including Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs, refused to support Scott.
Free Soil Party nomination
- John P. Hale, U.S. senator from New Hampshire
<gallery perrow="5">
File:JP-Hale.jpg|Senator John P. Hale <br>from New Hampshire
</gallery>The Free Soil Party was still the strongest third party in 1852. However, following the Compromise of 1850, most of the "Barnburners" who supported it in 1848 had returned to the Democratic Party while most of the Conscience Whigs rejoined the Whig Party. The second Free Soil National Convention assembled in the Masonic Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. New Hampshire senator John P. Hale was nominated for president with 192 delegate votes (sixteen votes were cast for a smattering of candidates). George W. Julian of Indiana was nominated for vice president over Samuel Lewis of Ohio and Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio.<!-- ISBN 0-674-63821-2, Pgs (495 – 500 or so) -->
Independent Whig nomination
<gallery>
File:Daniel Webster - circa 1847.jpg|Secretary of State <br> Daniel Webster <br> from Massachusetts
File:CharJenkins.jpg|Former Attorney General of Georgia <br> Charles J. Jenkins<br> from Georgia
</gallery>
A movement among disaffected Whigs to nominate Daniel Webster began in earnest following the Whig National Convention. As Webster made his way from Washington to his farm in Franklin, New Hampshire, many Whigs expressed their continued loyalty to him; some spoke of forming a new "Union" party with Webster as its presidential candidate. Webster received letters pressuring him to endorse the new party movement, hoping he'd allow his name to be used by an opposition convention. In Boston, the Webster movement was led by those who had opposed Scott's nomination, most notably George Ticknor Curtis, who had served controversially as a federal fugitive slave commissioner. These men had grown tired of military chieftains at the top of the Whig ticket and argued that the party had fallen under the control of dangerous foes of the Compromise. They lacked political experience and had little to lose.
When Webster reached Boston, the city held a huge celebration in his honor, which was "by far the most impressive and touching demonstration ever made by that people toward Mr. Webster." This outpouring of devotion, while helping to ease the sting of his defeat, alarmed some pro-Scott Whigs who feared it would lead to Webster's nomination by a "National Union Convention."
In Massachusetts, encouraged by the actions of the Georgia Union Whigs, Curtis and his followers held a convention at Faneuil Hall in Boston on September 15 and endorsed the nominations made by the Georgia Unionist convention. However, in early September, Webster's health seriously declined. During his final days, his friends attempted to persuade him to denounce the independent movement. They abandoned their efforts after Abbot, who had initially favored a formal statement of party loyalty, concluded that it was unfair for them to pressure a dying man who had lost all interest in politics. Considering it useless to trouble him further, Curtis, on October 21, ordered the Webster Executive Committee in Boston to suspend activities. Webster died nine days before the election of a cerebral hemorrhage on October 24, 1852.
Southern Rights Party nomination
The Southern Rights Party was a political party organized in several slave states to oppose the Compromise of 1850, viewing it as inadequate protection for the South, and advocate for secession from the Union, though it later abandoned serious plans for secession. It was one of two major parties in the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi in the early 1850s, alongside the Union Party. The party was made up of mostly Democrats and State Rights Whigs. By 1851, most Southern Rights Democrats had acquiesced to the compromise, believing further opposition to it was hopeless. In most states, the party was too disorganized to nominate its own candidate and have an effect on the election. The South Carolinian Southern Standard argued that the Southern Rights parties should coordinate and attempt to influence the Democratic nomination, though not by joining the Democratic convention, as that might obligate them to support an unfavorable candidate. Instead, the paper proposed holding a parallel convention at the same time and place, so they could be "prepared to act as circumstances might require".
Southern Rights Party of Alabama nomination
- George Troup, former U.S. senator from Georgia
<gallery perrow="5">
File:George M. Troup.jpg|Former senator George Troup <br>from Georgia
</gallery>
After the Democratic National Convention, the party was not sure that it wanted to support Franklin Pierce and William R. King, the Democratic nominees. Another Southern Rights Convention was held in Montgomery from July 13–15 and debated at length whether to keep up a separate organization and whether they wanted to nominate Pierce.
The convention was unable to arrive at a decision, deciding to appoint a committee to review the positions of Scott/Graham and Pierce/King, with the option of calling a "national" convention if the two major-party tickets appeared deficient. <!--[NYT 7/15-16/1852]-->The committee took its time reviewing the positions of Pierce and Scott, finally deciding on August 25 to call a convention for a Southern Rights Party ticket. Pierce had failed to answer their inquiry and on August 27 it was reported that Scort replied to the letter of the Alabama Southern Rights Central Committee, but declined giving specitic answers to their interrogatories.
The convention assembled in Montgomery, Alabama, with 62 delegates present, a committee to recommend a ticket being appointed while the delegates listened to speeches in the interim. The committee eventually recommended former senator George Troup of Georgia for president, and former governor John Quitman of Mississippi for vice president; they were unanimously nominated.
The two nominees accepted their nominations soon after the convention, which was held rather late in the season. Troup stated in a letter, dated September 27 and printed in the New York Times on October 16, that he had planned to vote for Pierce/King and had always wholeheartedly supported William R.D. King. He indicated in the letter that he preferred to decline the honor, as he was rather ill at the time and feared that he would die before the election. The state party's executive committee edited the letter to excise those portions which indicated that Troup preferred to decline, a fact which was revealed after the election.
Southern Rights Party of Georgia nomination
<gallery>
File:Mathew Brady - Franklin Pierce (cropped).jpg|Former senator <br> Franklin Pierce <br> from New Hampshire
File:James Buchanan (cropped).jpg|Former Secretary <br> of State <br> James Buchanan
</gallery>
Seeking to gain favor of the successful national party, whom would most likely be the Democrats, the Resistance Party, as the Georgian branch was known, changed its name to the Southern Rights Party and held a convention on March 31, 1852. At this convention, it nominated delegates to the national Democratic convention and an electoral ticket headed by Herschel V. Johnson and Wilson Lumpkin.
In April, the Democrats in the Constitutional Union Party had held a convention where they nominated delegates to the national Democratic convention. Both groups were seated. Following the dissolution of the Constitutional Union Party, Georgia Democrats and the Southern Rights Party met in a joint convention and attempted to consolidate support for Pierce in a combined Southern Rights-Democratic ticket.
General election
Fall campaign
thumb|Political cartoon favoring Winfield Scott
The Whigs' platform was almost indistinguishable from that of the Democrats, reducing the campaign to a contest between the personalities of the two candidates. The lack of clearcut issues between the two parties helped drive voter turnout down to its lowest level since 1836. The decline was further exacerbated by Scott's antislavery reputation, which decimated the Southern Whig vote at the same time as the pro-slavery Whig platform undermined the Northern Whig vote. After the Compromise of 1850 was passed, many of the southern Whig Party members broke with the party's key figure, Henry Clay.
Finally, Scott's status as a war hero was somewhat offset by the fact that Pierce was himself a Mexican–American War brigadier general.
The Democrats adopted the slogan: The Whigs we Polked in forty-four, We'll Pierce in fifty-two, playing on the names of Pierce and former president James K. Polk.
Just nine days before the election, Webster died, causing many Union state parties to remove their slates of electors. The Union ticket appeared on the ballot in Georgia and Massachusetts, however.
Results
right|thumb|400px|Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of blue are for Pierce (Democratic), shades of yellow are for Scott (Whig), shades of red are for Hale (Free Soil), shades of orange are for Webster (Union), shades of green are for (Independent Democrats), and shades of purple are for Troup (Southern Rights).
27.3% of the voting age population and 69.5% of eligible voters participated in the election. When American voters went to the polls, Pierce won the electoral college in a landslide; Scott won only the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Vermont, while the Free Soil vote collapsed to less than half of what Martin Van Buren had earned in the previous election, with the party taking no states. The fact that Daniel Webster received a substantial share of the vote in Georgia and Massachusetts, even though he was dead, shows how disenchanted voters were with the two main candidates.
As a result of the devastating defeat and the growing tensions within the party between pro-slavery Southerners and anti-slavery Northerners, the Whig Party quickly fell apart after the 1852 election and ceased to exist. Some Southern Whigs would join the Democratic Party, and many Northern Whigs would help to form the new Republican Party in 1854.
Some Whigs in both sections would support the so-called "Know-Nothing" party in the 1856 presidential election. Similarly, the Free Soil Party rapidly fell away into obscurity after the election, and the remaining members mostly opted to join the former Northern Whigs in forming the Republican Party.
The Southern Rights Party effectively collapsed following the election, attaining only five percent of the vote in Alabama, and a few hundred in its nominee's home state of Georgia. It would elect a number of Congressmen in 1853, but they would rejoin the Democratic Party upon taking their seats in Congress.
Kentucky and Tennessee were the only slave states that Scott won. None of the future Confederate states elected governors in the 1852 and 1853 gubernatorial elections, and the Whigs only won 14 of the South's 65 seats in the U.S. House. The party held no state legislatures in the South except in Tennessee. The Democrats, who carried all but two northern states, would see a decline in the north following the 1854 elections due to controversy around the Kansas–Nebraska Act. They lost control of all free state legislatures except for two, and their seats in the U.S. House from the north fell from 93 to 23.
The four elections from 1840 to 1852 saw the incumbent party defeated each time; the only other such streak was from 1884 to 1896. This was the last election in which the Democrats won Michigan until 1932, the last in which the Democrats won Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio or Rhode Island until 1912, the last in which the Democrats won Wisconsin until 1892, the last in which the Democrats won Connecticut until 1876 and the last in which the Democrats won New York until 1868. It was, however, the last election in which the Democrats' chief opponent won Kentucky until 1896, and the last until 1928 in which the Democrats' opponent obtained an absolute majority in Kentucky.
File: United States Electoral College 1852.svg
Source (Popular Vote): Dubin, Michael J. United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860 pp 115-134
Source (Electoral Vote):
- The leading candidates for vice president were both born in North Carolina and in fact both attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, albeit two decades apart. While there, they were members of opposing debate societies: the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. Both also served in North Carolina politics: King was a representative from North Carolina before he moved to Alabama, and Graham was a governor of North Carolina.
Geography of results
Cartographic gallery
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
1852 Presidential Election Results By County.svg|Map of presidential election results by county
DemocraticPresidentialCounty1852Colorbrewer.png|Map of Democratic presidential election results by county
WhigPresidentialCounty1852Colorbrewer.png|Map of Whig presidential election results by county
FreeSoilPresidentialCounty1852Colorbrewer.png|Map of Free Soil presidential election results by county
OtherPresidentialCounty1852Colorbrewer.png|Map of "Other" presidential election results by county
</gallery>
Results by state
Source: Data from Dubin, Michael J. United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860 pp 115-134 with differences with Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57 noted.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
|States/districts won by Pierce/King
|-
|States/districts won by Scott/Graham
|}<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! colspan=2 |
! align=center colspan=3 | Franklin Pierce<br />Democratic
! align=center colspan=3 | Winfield Scott<br />Whig
! align=center colspan=3 | John P. Hale<br />Free Soil
! align=center colspan=3 | Others
! colspan="2" |Margin
! align=center colspan=2 | State Total
|-
! align=center | State
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
!#
!%
! align=center | #
!
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Alabama
! 9
| 26,881
| 60.89
| 9
| 15,061
| 34.12
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| 2,205
| 4.99
| -
| 11,820
| 26.77
| 44,147
! AL
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Arkansas
! 4
| 12,179
| 62.11
| 4
| 7,430
| 24.22
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|4,749
|24.36
|19,609
! AR
|-
! style"text-align:left" | California
! 4
| 40,585
| 53.12
| 4
| 35,752
| 46.79
| -
| 62
| 0.09
| -
| 56
|
| -
|4,833
|6.33
|76,337
! CA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Connecticut
! 6
| 33,249
| 49.79
| 6
| 30,359
| 45.56
| -
| 3,161
| 4.73
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|2,890
|4.23
|66,769
! CT
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Delaware
! 3
| 6,330
| 49.87
| 3
| 6,299
| 49.63
| -
| 63
| 0.50
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|31
|0.24
|12,692
! DE
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Florida
! 3
| 4,318
| 60.03
| 3
| 2,875
| 39.97
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|1,443
|20.06
|7,193
! FL
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Georgia
! 10
| 34,708
| 55.56
| 10
| 16,639
| 26.63
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| 11,125
| 17.81
| -
|18,069
|28.93
| 62,472
! GA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Illinois
! 11
| 80,368
| 51.86
| 11
| 64,733
| 41.77
| -
| 9,863
| 6.36
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|15,635
|10.09
|154,964
! IL
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Indiana
! 13
| 94,890
| 51.93
| 13
| 80,901
| 44.28
| -
| 6,928
| 3.79
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|13,989
|7.65
|182,719
! IN
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Iowa
! 4
| 17,824
| 50.02
| 4
| 16,195
| 45.45
| -
| 1,612
| 4.52
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|1,629
|4.57
|35,631
! IA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Kentucky
! 12
| 53,807
| 48.40
| -
| 57,108
| 51.37
| 12
| 256
| 0.23
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| -3,301
| -2.97
| 111,171
! KY
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Louisiana
! 6
| 18,653
| 51.95
| 6
| 17,255
| 48.05
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|1,398
|3.90
|35,908
! LA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Maine
! 8
| 41,609
| 50.63
| 8
| 32,543
| 39.60
| -
| 8,030
| 9.77
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|9,066
|11.03
| 82,182
! ME
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Maryland
! 8
| 40,428
| 53.50
| 8
| 35,080
| 46.42
| -
| 56
| 0.07
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|5,348
|7.08
|75,564
! MD
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Massachusetts
! 13
| 45,875
| 35.72
| -
| 52,863
| 41.16
| 13
| 28,023
| 21.82
| -
| 1,670
| 1.30
| -
| -6,988
| -5.44
| 128,431
! MA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Michigan
! 6
| 41,842
| 50.45
| 6
| 33,860
| 40.83
| -
| 7,237
| 8.73
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|7,982
|9.62
| 82,939
! MI
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Mississippi
! 7
| 26,110
| 60.89
| 7
| 16,773
| 39.11
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|9,337
|21.78
|42,883
! MS
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Missouri
! 9
| 38,610
| 56.32
| 9
| 29,947
| 43.68
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|8,663
|12.64
|68,557
! MO
|-
! style"text-align:left" | New Hampshire
! 5
| 28,503
| 56.40
| 5
| 15,486
| 30.64
| -
| 6,546
| 12.95
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|13,017
|25.76
|50,535
! NH
|-
! style"text-align:left" | New Jersey
! 7
| 44,301
| 52.79
| 7
| 38,551
| 45.93
| -
| 336
| 0.40
| -
|738
|0.88
| -
|5,750
|6.86
|83,926
! NJ
|-
! style"text-align:left" | New York
! 35
| 262,083
| 50.12
| 35
| 234,896
| 44.92
| -
| 25,435
| 4.86
| -
| 459
| 0.08
| -
|27,187
|5.20
|522,873
! NY
|-
! style"text-align:left" | North Carolina
! 10
| 39,784
| 50.39
| 10
| 39,108
| 49.53
| -
| 59
| 0.07
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|676
|0.86
|78,951
! NC
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Ohio
! 23
| 169,190
| 47.94
| 23
| 152,577
| 43.24
| -
| 31,133
| 8.82
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|16,613
|4.70
|352,900
! OH
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Pennsylvania
! 27
| 198,591
| 51.17
| 27
| 179,216
| 46.18
| -
| 8,596
| 2.22
| -
| 1,677
| 0.43
| -
|19,375
|4.99
|388,080
! PA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Rhode Island
! 4
| 8,735
| 51.37
| 4
| 7,626
| 44.85
| -
| 644
| 3.79
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|1,109
|6.52
| 17,005
! RI
|-
! style"text-align:left" | South Carolina
! 8
| colspan=2 align=center | no popular vote
| 8
| colspan=3 align=center | no popular vote
| colspan=3 align=center | no popular vote
| colspan=3 align=center | no popular vote
| -
| -
| -
! SC
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Tennessee
! 12
| 57,056
| 49.27
| -
| 58,807
| 50.73
| 12
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| -1,751
| -1.46
|115,863
! TN
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Texas
! 4
| 11,519
| 73.34
| 4
| 4,187
| 26.66
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|7,332
|46.68
|15,706
! TX
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Vermont
! 5
| 13,044
| 29.77
| -
| 22,156
| 50.56
| 5
| 8,621
| 19.67
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| -9,112
| -20.79
| 43,821
! VT
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Virginia
! 15
| 73,833
| 55.70
| 15
| 58,732
| 44.30
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|15,101
|11.40
|132,565
! VA
|-
! style"text-align:left" | Wisconsin
! 5
| 33,658
| 52.04
| 5
| 22,240
| 34.34
| -
| 8,842
| 13.63
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | no ballots
|11,418
|17.70
| 64,682
! WI
|-
! TOTALS:
! 296
! 1,598,363
! 50.82
! 254
! 1,385,255
! 43.88
! 42
! 155,441
! 4.92
! -
! 17,741
! 0.56
! -
! 213,108
! 6.94
! 3,156,800
! the US
|-
! TO WIN:
! 149
! colspan="17" |
|}</div>
States that flipped from Whig to Democratic
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Florida
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
Close states
States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
- <span style="color:blue;">Delaware 0.24% (31 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">North Carolina 0.86% (676 votes)</span>
States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
- <span style="color:#F0C862;">Tennessee 1.46% (1,751 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:#F0C862;">Kentucky 2.97% (3,301 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Louisiana 3.90% (1,398 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Connecticut 4.23% (2,890 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Iowa 4.57% (1,629 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Ohio 4.70% (16,613 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Pennsylvania 4.99% (19,375 votes)</span>
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
- <span style="color:blue;">New York 5.20% (27,187 votes)</span> (tipping point state)
- <span style="color:#F0C862;">Massachusetts 5.44% (6,988 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">California 6.33% (4,833 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Rhode Island 6.52% (1,109 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">New Jersey 6.86% (5,750 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Maryland 7.08% (5,348 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Indiana 7.65% (13,989 votes)</span>
- <span style="color:blue;">Michigan 9.62% (7,982 votes)</span>
Electoral college selection
See also
- History of the United States (1849–1865)
- Inauguration of Franklin Pierce
- Second Party System
- 1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections
- 1852–53 United States Senate elections
Notes
References
Works cited
Further reading
- Blue, Frederick J. The Free Soilers: Third-Party Politics, 1848-54 (U of Illinois Press, 1973).
- Chambers, William N., and Philip C. Davis. "Party, Competition, and Mass Participation: The Case of the Democratizing Party System, 1824–1852." in The history of American electoral behavior (Princeton University Press, reprinted 2015) pp. 174–197.
- Foner, Eric. "Politics and prejudice: The Free Soil party and the Negro, 1849–1852." Journal of Negro History 50.4 (1965): 239–256. online
- Gara, Larry. The Presidency of Franklin Pierce (UP of Kansas, 1991).
- Gienapp, William E. The origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (Oxford UP, 1987).
- Holt, Michael F. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. (Oxford University Press, 1999).
- Holt, Michael F. Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857 (Macmillan, 2010).
- Marshall, Schuyler C. "The Free Democratic Convention of 1852." Pennsylvania History 22.2 (1955): 146–167. online
- Morrison, Michael A. "The Election of 1852." American Presidential Campaigns and Elections (Routledge, 2020) pp. 349–366.
- Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union: A house dividing, 1852–1857. Vol. 2 (1947) pp 3–42.
- Nichols, Roy Franklin. The Democratic Machine, 1850–1854 (1923) online
- Riddle, Wesley Allen. "Unrestraint Begets Calamity: The American Whig Review, 1845–1852." Humanitas 11.2 (1998). online
- Wilentz, Sean. The rise of American democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2006) pp 659–667.
States
- Baum, Dale. "Know-Nothingism and the Republican majority in Massachusetts: The political realignment of the 1850s." Journal of American History 64.4 (1978): 959–986. online
- Beeler, Dale. "The Election of 1852 in Indiana." Indiana Magazine of History (1915): 301–323. online
- Campbell, Randolph. "The Whig Party of Texas in the Elections of 1848 and 1852." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 73.1 (1969): 17–34. online
- Huston, James L. "The Illinois Political Realignment of 1844–1860: Revisiting the Analysis." Journal of the Civil War Era 1.4 (2011): 506–535. online
- Morrill, James R. "The Presidential Election of 1852: Death Knell of the Whig Party of North Carolina." North Carolina Historical Review 44.4 (1967): 342–359 online.
- Rosenberg, Morton M. "The Iowa Elections of 1852." Annals of Iowa 38.4 (1966). online
- Solomon, Irvin D. "The Grass Roots Appearance of a National Party: The Formation of the Republican Party in Erie, Pennsylvania, 1852–1856." Western Pennsylvania History (1983): 209–222. online
- Sweeney, Kevin. "Rum, Romanism, Representation, and Reform: Coalition Politics in Massachusetts, 1847–1853." Civil War History 22.2 (1976): 116–137.
- Walton, Brian G. "Arkansas Politics during the Compromise Crisis, 1848–1852." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 36.4 (1977): 307–337. online
Primary sources
- Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) online
- Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840-1964 (1965) online 1840-1956
Web sites
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External links
- Presidential Election of 1852: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
- 1852 popular vote by counties
- 1852 state-by-state popular vote
- Election of 1852 in Counting the Votes