00000230 |
Previous | 230 of 866 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
THE RUIN OF THE WHIG PARTY. 199
motion and excitement. For a time, business appeared to be paralyzed; the
most important commercial transactions were suspended until after the contest ; the public institutions, hotels, places of amusement, etc., were neglected,
and even the sanctity of the domestic hearth was invaded by party rancor.
However, the great political question which had so long agitated the
country, was brought to a close on the 2d of November, by the election of
General Harrison. Van Buren's majority in the City of Baltimore was thirty-
one; but John Leeds Kerr, Theodore R. Lockerman, John P. Kennedy, George
Howard, Jacob A. Preston, James M\ Coale, William T. Wroton, David Hoffman, Richard J. Bowie and Thomas A. Spence, the Harrison electors, carried
the State by a majority of four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. In
the election for members of the General Assembly, the whigs gained twenty-
seven delegates in the House and three Senators. In the electoral colleges,
General Harrison received two hundred and thirty-four electoral votes and
John Tyler the same.1
Martin Van Buren received sixty electoral votes for president, and for
vice-president, R. M. Johnson received forty-eight, Z. Wr. Tazewell, eleven,
and James K. Polk, one.
The election of General Harrison was a gross mistake, and led*to the ruin
of the whig party. Before his administration could be said to have acquired
any positive character it was terminated. After a brief illness, the new
President died on the 4th of April, just one month after his inauguration,
which threw the administration into the hands of the Vice President, John
Tyler, who soon found himself at war with the whig party. Although the
whigs, during the administration of Mr. Tyler, were unable to establish a
United States Bank, they were successful in passing a protective tariff, which
has since been much talked of as the tariff of 1842; and they repealed the
sub-treasury Act.
In the State election for governor in the fall of 1841, Francis Thomas,
democrat, was elected over Johnson, whig, by a majority of six hundred and
thirty-nine. The democrats also secured the House of Delegates by a majority
of six members. By a resolution adopted by the Legislature in 1841, Baltimore City was allowed five members in the House of Delegates and the
counties their proportionate number under the new reform Constitution in
the ensuing Assembly.
The democrats continued their political ascendency in the State, until
the fall elections of 1843, when the political parties were reversed. At the
October election for members of the General Assembly, the whigs secured a
majority of twelve in the House of Delegates, and a majority of seventeen on
joint ballot, thus securing the election of James A. Pearce, of Kent County,
for United States Senator, in place of John Leeds Kerr, whose term expired
on the 4th of March, 1843, and who declined renomination.
1 The nomination of Harrison and Tyler was came from a delegate from Frederick County-
first made by Maryland, at the Whig State Con- to that convention,
vention, in 1835. The proposition originally
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000230 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE RUIN OF THE WHIG PARTY. 199 motion and excitement. For a time, business appeared to be paralyzed; the most important commercial transactions were suspended until after the contest ; the public institutions, hotels, places of amusement, etc., were neglected, and even the sanctity of the domestic hearth was invaded by party rancor. However, the great political question which had so long agitated the country, was brought to a close on the 2d of November, by the election of General Harrison. Van Buren's majority in the City of Baltimore was thirty- one; but John Leeds Kerr, Theodore R. Lockerman, John P. Kennedy, George Howard, Jacob A. Preston, James M\ Coale, William T. Wroton, David Hoffman, Richard J. Bowie and Thomas A. Spence, the Harrison electors, carried the State by a majority of four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. In the election for members of the General Assembly, the whigs gained twenty- seven delegates in the House and three Senators. In the electoral colleges, General Harrison received two hundred and thirty-four electoral votes and John Tyler the same.1 Martin Van Buren received sixty electoral votes for president, and for vice-president, R. M. Johnson received forty-eight, Z. Wr. Tazewell, eleven, and James K. Polk, one. The election of General Harrison was a gross mistake, and led*to the ruin of the whig party. Before his administration could be said to have acquired any positive character it was terminated. After a brief illness, the new President died on the 4th of April, just one month after his inauguration, which threw the administration into the hands of the Vice President, John Tyler, who soon found himself at war with the whig party. Although the whigs, during the administration of Mr. Tyler, were unable to establish a United States Bank, they were successful in passing a protective tariff, which has since been much talked of as the tariff of 1842; and they repealed the sub-treasury Act. In the State election for governor in the fall of 1841, Francis Thomas, democrat, was elected over Johnson, whig, by a majority of six hundred and thirty-nine. The democrats also secured the House of Delegates by a majority of six members. By a resolution adopted by the Legislature in 1841, Baltimore City was allowed five members in the House of Delegates and the counties their proportionate number under the new reform Constitution in the ensuing Assembly. The democrats continued their political ascendency in the State, until the fall elections of 1843, when the political parties were reversed. At the October election for members of the General Assembly, the whigs secured a majority of twelve in the House of Delegates, and a majority of seventeen on joint ballot, thus securing the election of James A. Pearce, of Kent County, for United States Senator, in place of John Leeds Kerr, whose term expired on the 4th of March, 1843, and who declined renomination. 1 The nomination of Harrison and Tyler was came from a delegate from Frederick County- first made by Maryland, at the Whig State Con- to that convention, vention, in 1835. The proposition originally |
