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| Elections in Massachusetts |
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The 1837 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 13.
Incumbent Whig Governor Edward Everett was re-elected to a third term in office, defeating Democrat Marcus Morton.
The campaign was dominated by the Panic of 1837, which was blamed on President Martin Van Buren and erased much of the gains made by the Democratic Party in the decade prior. Van Buren's call for a system of independent treasuries was unpopular in the state. [1]
Francis Baylies and Richard Fletcher also took active part in the Whig campaign, attacking former President Andrew Jackson and President Van Buren for causing the panic with their attacks on the national bank. [2]
Morton declined to take any active role in the campaign. Nonetheless, the Whig Atlas assailed him as a "political" judge and called for his impeachment and removal from the bench. [3] Democrats countered the Whig campaign by linking the Boston banking interests and Governor Everett to Masonic influence. [2]
On November 11, Whigs held a rally at Faneuil Hall with national leaders including Daniel Webster, John Bell, William J. Graves, Joseph R. Underwood and Ogden Hoffman. [2]
This was also among the first elections in Massachusetts to feature slavery as an issue. Late in the campaign, William Ellery Channing joined the anti-slavery cause with an epistle against the annexation of Texas, arguing that it was a theft of Mexican territory, an extension of the slave system, and risked angering Great Britain by threatening their position in the Caribbean. He appealed to Henry Clay and Governor Everett to abandon pro-business orientation toward the plantation system. Morton, by contrast, had been among the most anti-slavery members of the Democratic Party. [4] Benjamin F. Hallett of the Advocate soon thereafter published a review of Everett's 1826 declaration in favor of the slave system and contrasted it to Morton's 1827 declaration in opposition to slavery. [5] [4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whig | Edward Everett (incumbent) | 50,565 | 60.31% |  6.53 | |
| Democratic | Marcus Morton | 32,987 | 39.35% |  6.57 | |
| Write-in | 286 | 0.34% | 0.04 | ||
| Total votes | 83,838 | 100.00% | |||
Martin Van Buren was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he served as New York's attorney general, U.S. senator, then briefly as the ninth governor of New York before joining Andrew Jackson's administration as the tenth United States secretary of state, minister to Great Britain, and ultimately the eighth vice president when named Jackson's running mate for the 1832 election. Van Buren won the presidency in 1836, lost re-election in 1840, and failed to win the Democratic nomination in 1844. Later in his life, Van Buren emerged as an elder statesman and an important anti-slavery leader who led the Free Soil Party ticket in the 1848 presidential election.
The Whig Party was a conservative political party that existed in the United States during the mid-19th century. Alongside the slightly larger Democratic Party, it was one of the two major parties in the United States between the late 1830s and the early 1850s as part of the Second Party System. Four presidents were affiliated with the Whig Party for at least part of their terms. Other prominent members of the Whig Party include Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, William Seward, John J. Crittenden, and John Quincy Adams. The Whig base of support was centered among entrepreneurs, professionals, planters, social reformers, devout Protestants, particularly evangelicals, and the emerging urban middle class. It had much less backing from poor farmers and unskilled workers.
The 1836 United States presidential election was the 13th quadrennial presidential election, held from Thursday, November 3 to Wednesday, December 7, 1836. In the third consecutive election victory for the Democratic Party, incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren defeated four candidates fielded by the nascent Whig Party.
The 1840 United States presidential election was the 14th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, October 30 to Wednesday, December 2, 1840. Economic recovery from the Panic of 1837 was incomplete, and Whig nominee William Henry Harrison defeated incumbent President Martin Van Buren of the Democratic Party. The election marked the first of two Whig victories in presidential elections, but was the only one where they won a majority of the popular vote.
The 1844 United States presidential election was the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 1 to Wednesday, December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest turning on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. This is the only election where both major party nominees served as Speaker of the House at one point, and the first where both candidates were not in an elected office at the time.
The 1848 United States presidential election was the 16th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1848. In the aftermath of the Mexican–American War, General Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party defeated Senator Lewis Cass of the Democratic Party.
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States.
Marcus Morton was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Taunton, Massachusetts. He served two terms as Governor of Massachusetts and several months as Acting Governor following the death in 1825 of William Eustis. He served for 15 years as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, all the while running unsuccessfully as a Democrat for governor. He finally won the 1839 election, acquiring exactly the number of votes required for a majority win over Edward Everett. After losing the 1840 and 1841 elections, he was elected in a narrow victory in 1842.
John Davis was an American lawyer, businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He spent 25 years in public service, serving in both houses of the United States Congress and for three non-consecutive years as Governor of Massachusetts. Because of his reputation for personal integrity he was known as "Honest John" Davis.
The presidency of Martin Van Buren began on March 4, 1837, when Martin Van Buren was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1841. Van Buren, the incumbent vice president and chosen successor of President Andrew Jackson, took office as the eighth United States president after defeating multiple Whig Party candidates in the 1836 presidential election. A member of the Democratic Party, Van Buren's presidency ended following his defeat by Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in the 1840 presidential election.
The 1839 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was a tightly-contested race won by Marcus Morton. Under Massachusetts law at the time, a majority of the votes cast was required to win, and Morton received exactly half the votes cast. Despite the presence of some irregularities, incumbent Whig Governor Edward Everett refused to contest the results once a legislative committee dominated by his party accepted a report giving Morton 51,034 votes out of 102,066 cast.
The Free Soil Party was organized for the 1848 US election to oppose further expansion of slavery into the western territories. It included anti-slavery members of the Whigs, and drew much of its support anti-slavery Democrats, including former President Martin Van Buren.
The 1840 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 9.
The 1838 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 12.
The 1836 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 14.
The 1835 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 9.
The 1834 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 10.
The 1832 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 12.
The second 1831 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 14.
The 1833–34 Massachusetts gubernatorial election consisted of a popular election held on November 11, 1833 that was followed by a legislative vote held in January 1834. The ultimate task of electing the governor had been placed before the Massachusetts General Court because no candidate received the majority of the vote that was constitutionally required for a candidate to be elected through the popular election.
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