1852 Democratic National Convention

1852 Democratic National Convention

1852 presidential election
Nominees Pierce and King
Convention
Date(s)	June 1–5, 1852
City	Baltimore, Maryland
Venue	Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts
Candidates
Presidential nominee	Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire
Vice-presidential nominee	William R. King of Alabama

The 1852 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met from June 1 to June 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1852 election. The convention selected former Senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire for president and Senator William R. King of Alabama for vice president.

Four major candidates vied for the presidential nomination – Lewis Cass of Michigan, the nominee in 1848, who had the backing of northerners in support of the Compromise of 1850; James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, popular in the South as well as in his home state; Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, candidate of the expansionists and the railroad interests; and William L. Marcy of New York, whose strength was centered in his home state. Cass led on the first nineteen ballots of the convention, but was unable to win the necessary two-thirds majority. Buchanan pulled ahead on the twentieth ballot, but he too was unable to win a two-thirds majority. Pierce won votes for the first time on the 35th ballot, and was nominated almost unanimously on the 49th ballot.

King was nominated on the second vice presidential ballot, defeating Senator Solomon W. Downs and several other candidates. The Democratic ticket went on to win the 1852 election, defeating the Whig ticket of Winfield Scott and William Alexander Graham.

Convention proceedings

The convention took place at the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts and was called to order by Democratic National Committee chairman Benjamin F. Hallett. Romulus M. Saunders served as the temporary convention chairman and John W. Davis served as the permanent convention president. Delegates at the convention approved a platform that largely mimicked the one adopted in 1848. Two notable additions were the denouncement of a national bank and an endorsement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

Presidential nomination

Dark horse candidates

• 
  Former Senator
  Franklin Pierce
  of New Hampshire
• 
  Former Representative
  Henry C. Murphy
  of New York

Major presidential candidates

• 
  Senator
  Lewis Cass
  of Michigan
• 
  Former Secretary of State
  James Buchanan
  of Pennsylvania
• 
  Former Secretary of War
  William L. Marcy
  of New York
• 
  Senator
  Stephen A. Douglas
  of Illinois

Minor presidential candidates

• 
  Former Representative
  William O. Butler
  of Kentucky
• 
  House Delegate
  Joseph Lane
  of Oregon
• 
  Senator
  Sam Houston
  of Texas
• 
  Senator
  Henry Dodge
  of Wisconsin

Declined

• 
  Former Senator
  Daniel S. Dickinson
  of New York
  (Endorsed Cass)

Balloting

As Democrats convened in Baltimore in June 1852, four major candidates vied for the nomination – Lewis Cass of Michigan, the nominee in 1848, who had the backing of northerners in support of the Compromise of 1850; James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, popular in the South as well as in his home state; Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, candidate of the expansionists and the railroad interests; and William L. Marcy of New York, whose strength was centered in his home state. Throughout the balloting, numerous favorite son candidates received a few votes.

With a two-thirds majority required to win, Cass led on the first 19 ballots, with Buchanan second and Douglas and Marcy exchanging third and fourth places. Buchanan took the lead on the 20th ballot and retained it on each of the next nine tallies. Douglas managed a narrow lead on the 30th and 31st ballots. Cass then recaptured first place through the 44th ballot. Marcy carried the next four ballots.

Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, a former Congressman and Senator, did not get on the board until the 35th ballot, when the Virginia delegation brought him forward as a compromise choice, selecting Pierce as their dark horse by one vote over former New York Congressman and Brooklyn Mayor Henry C. Murphy, and then supporting him as a unit. After being nominated by the Virginia delegation, Pierce's support remained steady until the 46th ballot, when it began to increase at Cass's expense. Pierce's support was consolidated in subsequent voting, and he was nominated nearly unanimously on the 49th ballot.

According to Edward Stanwood, there was "no doubt that the nomination of General Pierce was carefully planned before the convention met. The originator of the scheme was James W. Bradbury, then a senator from Maine, a college mate and lifelong friend of Pierce."

Presidential Ballot
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23rd	24th	25th
Cass	116	118	119	115	114	114	113	113	112	111	101	98	98	99	99	99	99	96	89	81	60	43	37	33	34
Buchanan	93	95	94	89	89	88	88	88	87	86	87	88	88	87	87	87	87	85	85	92	102	104	103	103	101
Marcy	27	27	26	25	26	26	26	26	27	27	27	27	26	26	26	26	26	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	26
Douglas	20	23	21	31	33	34	34	34	39	40	50	51	51	51	51	51	51	56	63	64	64	77	78	80	79
Butler	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	13	15	20	23	24
Dickinson	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Lane	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Houston	8	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	8	8	8	9	10	10	10	10	9	11	9	10	9	9	10	9	10
Weller	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dodge	3	3	3	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Blank	9	9	12	12	8	11	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	8	9	8	8	8	8	8	8

Presidential Ballot
	26th	27th	28th	29th	30th	31st	32nd	33rd	34th	35th	36th	37th	38th	39th	40th	41st	42nd	43rd	44th	45th	46th	47th	48th	49th
Pierce	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	30	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	44	49	55	282
Cass	33	32	28	27	33	65	98	123	130	131	122	120	107	106	107	107	101	101	101	96	78	75	72	2
Buchanan	101	98	96	93	91	78	74	72	49	39	28	28	28	28	27	27	27	27	27	27	28	28	28	0
Marcy	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	25	33	44	58	70	84	85	85	85	91	91	91	97	98	95	89	0
Douglas	80	85	88	91	92	92	80	60	53	52	43	34	33	33	33	33	33	33	33	32	32	33	33	2
Butler	24	24	25	25	20	17	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Dickinson	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	16	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
Lane	13	13	13	13	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Houston	10	9	11	12	12	9	8	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	1
Boyd	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
King	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Ingersoll	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Blank	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Source:

1st Day of Presidential Balloting / 3rd Day of Convention (June 3, 1852)

• 
  1st Ballot
• 
  2nd Ballot
• 
  3rd Ballot
• 
  4th Ballot
• 
  5th Ballot
• 
  6th Ballot
• 
  7th Ballot
• 
  8th Ballot
• 
  9th Ballot
• 
  10th Ballot
• 
  11th Ballot
• 
  12th Ballot
• 
  13th Ballot
• 
  14th Ballot
• 
  15th Ballot
• 
  16th Ballot
• 
  17th Ballot

2nd Day of Presidential Balloting / 4th Day of Convention (June 4, 1852)

• 
  18th Ballot
• 
  19th Ballot
• 
  20th Ballot
• 
  21st Ballot
• 
  22nd Ballot
• 
  23rd Ballot
• 
  24th Ballot
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  25th Ballot
• 
  26th Ballot
• 
  27th Ballot
• 
  28th Ballot
• 
  29th Ballot
• 
  30th Ballot
• 
  31st Ballot
• 
  32nd Ballot
• 
  33rd Ballot

3rd Day of Presidential Balloting / 5th Day of Convention (June 5, 1852)

• 
  34th Ballot
• 
  35th Ballot
• 
  36th Ballot
• 
  37th Ballot
• 
  38th Ballot
• 
  39th Ballot
• 
  40th Ballot
• 
  41st Ballot
• 
  42nd Ballot
• 
  43rd Ballot
• 
  44th Ballot
• 
  45th Ballot
• 
  46th Ballot
• 
  47th Ballot
• 
  48th Ballot
• 
  49th Ballot

Vice presidential nomination

Vice presidential candidates

• 
  Senator
  William R. King
  of Alabama
• 
  Senator
  Solomon W. Downs
  of Louisiana
• 
  Senator
  John B. Weller
  of California
• 
  Senator
  David Rice Atchison
  of Missouri
• 
  Major General
  Gideon J. Pillow
  of Tennessee
• 
  Former Senator
  Robert Strange
  of North Carolina

Declined

• 
  Former Representative
  William O. Butler
  of Kentucky
• 
  Senator
  Thomas J. Rusk
  of Texas
• 
  Former Senator
  Jefferson Davis
  of Mississippi
• 
  Governor
  Howell Cobb
  of Georgia

Democratic Pierce/King campaign poster

In a peace gesture to the Buchanan wing of the party, Pierce's supporters allowed Buchanan's allies to fill the second position, knowing that they would select Alabama Senator William R. King, to whom Pierce had no objections. King won the nomination on the second ballot. During the ensuing campaign, King's tuberculosis, which he believed he had contracted while living in Paris, denied him the active behind-the-scenes role that he might otherwise have played, although he worked hard to assure his region's voters with the statement that New Hampshire's Pierce was a "northern man with southern principles."

Vice Presidential Ballot
	1st	2nd
King	125	277
Downs	30	0
Weller	28	0
Atchison	25	0
Pillow	25	0
Strange	23	0
Butler	13	0
Rusk	13	0
Davis	2	11
Cobb	2	0
Not Voting	2	0
Not Represented	8	8

• 
  1st Vice Presidential Ballot
• 
  2nd Vice Presidential Ballot

See also

• History of the Democratic Party (United States)
• 1852 Whig National Convention
• List of Democratic National Conventions
• U.S. presidential nomination convention
• 1852 United States presidential election

External links

• Democratic Party Platform of 1852 at The American Presidency Project

Preceded by 1848 Baltimore, Maryland

Democratic National Conventions

Succeeded by 1856 Cincinnati, Ohio