1852 United States presidential election in Georgia

none June 2025 September 2023 1852 United States presidential election 1852 United States presidential election in Georgia presidential no 1848 United States presidential election in Georgia 1848 1856 United States presidential election in Georgia 1856 November 2, 1852 x160px Mathew Brady - Franklin Pierce (cropped).jpg Franklin Pierce Southern Rights Party Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) New Hampshire William R. King 10 34,708 55.56% Winfield Scott 1849 (cropped 3x4) REST.png Winfield Scott Scott Whigs Whig Party (United States) New Jersey William Alexander Graham 0 16,639 26.63% Mathew Brady - Franklin Pierce (cropped).jpg Franklin Pierce Union Democrats 81d0d0 Democratic Party (United States) New Hampshire William R. King 0 5,804 9.29% Daniel Webster crop.jpg Daniel Webster †(Died October 24, 1852) Union Whigs Independent Whig Massachusetts Charles J. Jenkins 0 5,321 8.52% 1852 United States presidential election in Georgia results map by county.svg 250px County resultsDubin 2002 117—119 Pierce (SR) #dee8fb 30–40% #b4c7ec 40–50% #8da9e2 50–60% #678cd7 60–70% #4170cd 70–80% #3358a2 80–90% #244079 90–100% Scott #d7c477 40–50% #c0a32f 50–60% #a88600 60–70% Pierce (UD) #daf5f5 30–40% #ace1e1 40–50% #81d0d0 50–60% #53bfbf 60–70% #1eafaf 70–80% Webster #eea3c1 40–50% #e66f9e 50–60% #db3577 60–70% #c6175d 70–80% President Millard Fillmore Whig Party (United States) Franklin Pierce Democratic Party (United States) The 1852 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 2, 1852, as part of the 1852 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President. Georgia party leaders had formed a Unionist coalition in response to what they saw as potential threats to the South, forming a majority of delegates sent to a convention called in response to the admission of California. At the convention, they issued the Georgia Platform, stating that while they supported the Compromise of 1850, it was the "final solution." Opposing them was the anti-Union "Resistance". In the aftermath of this convention, the coalition formed the Constitutional Union Party, while the resistance became the Southern Rights Party of Georgia. The former party was divided between former Democrat and former Whig factions, even sending delegates to their previous national affiliation's conventions. The Southern Rights Party also sent delegates to the Democratic convention with a slate of secessionists, though they ultimately supported the Pierce ticket. When the next Constitutional Union convention nominated Pierce, anti-Pierce/anti-Scott Whigs walked out of the convention. These dissenting Whigs hoped to nominate Daniel Webster and throw the election into the House of Representatives, which they proceeded to do at a convention in Macon without permission from Webster. Webster died of natural causes shortly before the election. Simultaneously, pro-Winfield Scott Whigs nominated their preferred candidate at a separate convention in Macon. After these conventions, the Democratic majority of the Constitutional Union Party dissolved the party. Democrats who did not wish to vote for a Southern Rights Party-sponsored ticket fielded their own Pierce ticket. In the end, the Southern Rights-Democrat ticket swept the other three competing tickets, showing that while the "majority of voters in Georgia accepted the Compromise of 1850 as a settlement of past difficulties," according to historian Murray, "they would demand more specific recognition of "Southern Rights" as a basis for future action." Background By 1849 both parties had come to see the possibility of the passage of the Wilmot Proviso, the admission of California, the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, or the refusal of Northern states to deliver up fugitive slaves as threats to the South, with the general assembly passing a bill mandating the governor to call a state convention if any of these events occurred. Meanwhile, in Congress, Georgia Whig leaders Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs divorced from their national party and entered into negotiations with Speaker Howell Cobb, a Democrat, to form a coalition supporting compromise measures aimed at preserving the Union.Murray 1945 205 In Georgia, political leaders, beginning in Macon, started a movement to unify the state parties to preserve the union, which rapidly spread across the state. Prominent Democrats such as Herschel V. Johnson, a few old SRP Whigs, and Fire-Eaters William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama and Robert Barnwell of South Carolina, also met in Macon, forming the Anti-Union or "Resistance" group.Murray 1945 205 Thus, by the time Governor George W. Towns called a state convention in response to the admission of California, party lines had already fractured and reorganized. In the ensuing election of delegates to the convention, acting as a referendum for the Compromise of 1850, Unionists outnumbered the resistance nine to one. At the convention, Unionists issued the Georgia Platform, which affirmed support for the Compromise of 1850 but warned that it was the "final solution" to the issue of slavery's expansion. In three evening caucuses held from December 11-13, Whigs and Democrats formalized their coalition by creating a new party: the Constitutional Union Party.Murray 1945 206 At its first convention in June 1851, while agreeing to replace Senator Berrin, who drifted into the resistance, with former Whig Toombs, the governor nomination was given to former Democrat Cobb, and the executive committee of the new party of made up of mostly former Democrats. With their new majority in the general assembly, the Constitutional Union Party split spoils as agreed but the party was divided between "Union Democrats" and "Union Whigs." Each faction sent delegates to their respective national party conventions for 1852. The resistance party changed its name to the Southern Rights Party and sent delegates to the Democratic convention with an electoral ticket of secessionists.Murray 1945 207 In the following Constitutional Union convention, the dominant Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, causing anti-Pierce/anti-Scott Whigs to walk out of the convention. These dissenting Whigs hoped to nominate Daniel Webster and throw the election into the House of Representatives, which they proceeded to do at a convention in Macon without permission from Webster. Webster died of natural causes shortly before the election.Ogg, Frederic Austin (1914). Daniel Webster. p. 407.Murray 1945 208—210 Simultaneously, pro-Winfield Scott Whigs nominated their preferred candidate at a separate convention in Macon. Following these conventions, the Democratic majority on the Constitutional Union Party's executive committee declared the party dissolved. Union Democrats who refused to support the Southern Rights Party-sponsored Pierce ticket fielded their own Pierce ticket.Murray 1945 208—210 Results and aftermath In the end, the Southern Rights-Democrat ticket won the 1852 election over the other three competing tickets, showing that while the "majority of voters in Georgia accepted the Compromise of 1850 as a settlement of past difficulties," according to historian Murray, "they would demand more specific recognition of "Southern Rights" as a basis for future action." In the aftermath, the Southern Rights Party of Georgia was absorbed into the national Democratic Party, dropping its former title and uniting with the other Democratic faction.Murray 1945 208—210Holt 1999 797—798 Georgia Whigs leaders refused to align themselves with the national party again, with state Whig leader Toombs stating "if the Whig is incapable of rising to the same standard of notoriety as the motley crew, which offers peace under the name of the Democracy, it is entitled to no resurrection [and] it will have none!" Instead, despite warnings from Cobb it was impossible, they reorganized the Constitutional Union Party, nominating Jenkins for the 1853 gubernatorial election. Not all pro-Scott Whigs followed into this party.Holt 1999 797—798 1852 United States presidential election in GeorgiaDubin 2002 117—119 Southern Rights Party Franklin Pierce New Hampshire William R. King Alabama 34,708 55.56% 10 100.00% Whig Party (United States) Winfield Scott New Jersey William Alexander Graham North Carolina 16,639 26.63% 0 0.00% Union Democrats #ffaadd Franklin Pierce New Hampshire William R. King Alabama 5,804 9.29% 0 0.00% Union Party (United States, 1850) Daniel Webster Massachusetts 5,321 8.52% Charles J. Jenkins Georgia 0 0.00% 62,626 100.00% 10 100.00% See also United States presidential elections in Georgia References Works cited Murray Paul 1945 Party Organization in Georgia Politics 1825–1853 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40576991 The Georgia Historical Quarterly 29 4 195–210 40576991 Holt Michael F. 1999 The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War Oxford University Press 9780195161045 Dubin Michael J. 2002 United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860: The Official Results by County and State McFarland 9780786454518 Georgia 1852 Category:1852 Georgia (U.S. state) elections