Antebellum Politics in Tennessee by Paul H. Bergeron

Author:Paul H. Bergeron [Bergeron, Paul H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History & Theory, American Government, 19th Century, United States, Political Science, History, State
ISBN: 9780813187877
Google: joIwEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 4579517
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 1982-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Table 5.1. Total Votes, 1851–59

In the 1850s intraparty factionalism was not as prominent in the gubernatorial battles as it earlier had been. This is partly attributable to the breakup of the Whig party after 1853 and the emergence of two new parties in its place. William G. Brownlow and his East Tennessee allies assumed positions of leadership in the Know Nothing and Opposition parties. Whig Senator James C. Jones, who disliked this turn of events, denounced the Know Nothings in the 1855 contest and cast his lot with the Democrats. Jones was not the only dissatisfied old-line Whig to make this leap into the arms of the former enemy, and the departure of such Whigs enabled the Know Nothing and the Opposition parties to put up a fairly solid front. Meanwhile, the Democratic party was a veritable paradigm of harmony in the various elections. The easy selection of Johnson and Harris as the nominees, for example, was a good indication of the absence of internal friction. Johnson’s nomination did not elicit one hundred percent approval from all of the Democratic leaders, but for the most part they kept a civil tongue, recognizing the widespread following that Johnson had cultivated in the state. One might argue, somewhat facetiously, that much of the intraparty discord had been siphoned off into the Senate contests and the presidential campaigns so that there was not much left for the gubernatorial races.

The decade’s first statewide electoral contest occurred in 1851, when both parties fielded contenders for the governor’s office. In the second week of February, the Democrats’ State Central Committee issued a call for a state convention in Nashville on February 25. As the Nashville Union indicated, there really was no question that incumbent governor William Trousdale would be chosen by the party to seek reelection. The proceedings of the convention bore out the newspaper’s belief, for Trousdale was nominated without opposition. The convention’s president, Aaron V. Brown, not only established the central committees for the campaign but also influenced greatly the party’s platform. With the meeting coming only about five months after the final adoption by Congress of the Compromise of 1850, it is not surprising that the platform dealt mainly with that topic. The Brown-Nicholson conflict over the southern conventions of 1850 may have spilled over somewhat into the gubernatorial arena, causing Trousdale to run without the energetic backing of all of the Democratic leaders.30

Meanwhile in the Whig camp problems arose over securing someone willing to forego his ambition for the U.S. Senate seat, about to become available, in order to seek the gubernatorial office. This led to the somewhat comical situation of potential candidates pushing Campbell’s nomination in order to free themselves for the Senate contest. This struggle may have been largely responsible for the Whigs’ decision to delay their convention until late March, a full month after the Democrats. Although reluctant to become the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Campbell accepted the nomination. Thereafter the party published an extensive address or platform which devoted attention to the Compromise of 1850 and also to internal improvements.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.