THE PIVOTAL ELECTION OF 1844

Democrat James K. Polk was elected president in 1844. Polk was the first American dark-horse candidate for president, as he was not one of the announced candidates before the Democratic convention of that year. The campaign of that year showed several trends that would be pivotal to American political life in the 1840s and 1850s. The South and Southern interests increasingly influenced and were reflected in Democratic policies, and the Walker Tariff of 1846 established a very low tariff on imported goods, delighting many in the South and disgusting many Northern industrialists.

Abolitionism officially entered presidential politics in 1844. The Liberty party, with James Birncy as its presidential candidate, was an abolitionist party. Although Birney attracted only 62,000 votes, abolitionism, and the sectional divisions it would help to foster, became a permanent part of the political landscape until the Civil War.

The 1844 election also demonstrated that desire for manifest destiny was the most important issue facing America at the time; most historians credit Polk’s support of American expansionism as the major reason for his election. Polk was inaugurated in March of 1845. By December Texas had entered the Union. Expansionism and slavery also became increasingly intertwined as a single issue. The status of slavery in each newly acquired territory would have enormous political consequences, as forces in the North and the South were determined that the number of slave and free states remain equal.