1844 Whig National Convention

1844 presidential election
Nominees Clay and Frelinghuysen
Convention
Date(s)	May 1, 1844[1]
City	Baltimore,Maryland[1]
Venue	Universalist Church
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Henry Clay ofKentucky
Vice-presidential nominee	Theodore Frelinghuysen ofNew Jersey
Voting
Total delegates	275
Votes needed for nomination	138
Ballots	1
‹ 1839 · 1848 ›

The1844 Whig National Convention was apresidential nominating convention held on May 1, 1844, atUniversalist Church inBaltimore,Maryland.^[2] It nominated theWhig Party's candidates forpresident andvice president in the1844 election. The convention selected former SenatorHenry Clay ofKentucky for president and former SenatorTheodore Frelinghuysen ofNew Jersey for vice president.

While the Whigs had won the1840 presidential election, the party needed a new ticket as PresidentWilliam Henry Harrison had died in April 1841 while his successor,John Tyler, had been expelled from the party in September 1841 for vetoing bills passed by the Whig-controlled Congress. The convention unanimously nominated Clay, a long-time party leader, for president. Frelinghuysen won the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot, defeating former GovernorJohn Davis of Massachusetts and two other candidates. The Whig ticket went on to lose the 1844 general election to theDemocratic ticket ofJames K. Polk andGeorge M. Dallas.

Ambrose Spencer served as chairman of the convention, taking over from Arthur S. Hopkins, who was temporary chairman in the early stages of planning.^[3]

PresidentJohn Tyler had been expelled from the party and the delegates searched for a new nominee.^[4] President Tyler's break with the Whig Party, combined withDaniel Webster's decision to serve in the Tyler administration, positioned Clay as the leading contender for the Whig nomination in the1844 presidential election.^[5] At the convention, Clay was nominated unanimously.^[6][7]

Presidential nomination^[8]

Resolution	Voice vote
Resolved, That this convention do unanimously nominate and recommend to the people of the United States,Henry Clay, ofKentucky,for next President of the United States.

Source:^[9]

• 
  FormerMayor
  Theodore Frelinghuysen
  ofNew Jersey
• 
  Governor
  John Davis
  ofMassachusetts
• 
  FormerRepresentative
  Millard Fillmore
  ofNew York
• 
  FormerRepresentative
  John Sergeant
  ofPennsylvania
• 
  FormerSenator
  John M. Clayton
  ofDelaware
  (Withdrawn)
• 
  Senator
  George Evans
  ofMaine
  (Withdrawn)
• 
  FormerAssociate Justice
  John McLean
  ofOhio
  (Withdrawn)

Clayton, Evans, and McLean withdrew themselves from consideration before the first round of balloting had commenced.^[3] After three rounds of voting, Theodore Frelinghuysen – "the Christian Statesman" – was selected as Clay's running mate. An advocate ofcolonization of emancipated slaves, he was acceptable to southern Whigs as an opponent of the abolitionists.^[10] His pious reputation balanced Clay's image as a slave-holding, hard-drinking duelist.^[9][11]Their party slogan was the bland "Hurray, Hurray, the Country's Risin' – Vote for Clay and Frelinghuysen!"^[12]

• 
  1st vice presidential ballot: results by state
• 
  2nd vice presidential ballot: results by state
• 
  3rd vice presidential ballot: results by state

Clay, a slaveholder, presided over a party in which its Southern wing was sufficiently committed to the national platform to put partisan loyalties above slavery expansionist proposals that might undermine its north–south alliance.^[15][16] The Whig party leadership was acutely aware that any proslavery legislation advanced by its southern wing would alienate its anti-slavery northern wing and cripple the party in the general election.^[17] In order to preserve their party, Whigs would need to stand squarely against acquiring a new slave state. As such, Whigs were content to restrict their 1844 campaign platform to less divisive issues such asinternal improvements and national finance.^[18][19][20] Clay himself had previously stated that he was opposed to theannexation of Texas.^[21]

• List of Whig National Conventions
• U.S. presidential nomination convention
• 1844 United States presidential election
• 1844 Democratic National Convention

• Haynes, Stan M. (2012).The First American Political Conventions: Transforming Presidential Nominations, 1832–1872. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.
• Holt, Michael F. (1999).The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press.

• Chester, Edward WA guide to political platforms (1977)online
• Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds.National party platforms, 1840-1964 (1965)online 1840-1956

• 1844 United States presidential election
• 1840s in Baltimore
• Whig National Conventions
• Political conventions in Baltimore
• 1844 in Maryland
• 1844 conferences
• May 1844
• 19th-century political conferences
• Henry Clay

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