1852 Democratic National Convention

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.^[1] Romulus M. Saunders served as the temporary convention chairman and John W. Davis served as the permanent convention president.^[2] 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.^[3]

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

•  
  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

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

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

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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."^[6]

Source:^[7]

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

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

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

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

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

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

•  
  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

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

 

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."

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  1st Vice Presidential Ballot
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  2nd Vice Presidential Ballot

• 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

• Democratic Party Platform of 1852 at The American Presidency Project