1852 Whig National Convention - Pre-Convention

Pre-Convention

In late 1851 and early 1852, state conventions began to meet to select delegates to the national convention. The party was split between those who felt that Fillmore could not win the election and those who favored the president's renomination. Northern Whigs favored Scott while Southern Whigs tended to prefer Fillmore.

The party was also torn on the issue of slavery. Most in the party wanted to prevent slavery from becoming the dominating issue in the election. However, the Whigs were split on the issue of the Compromise of 1850, proposed and designed by Whig Senator Henry Clay. President Zachary Taylor, a Southern Whig, had tried to avoid the issue altogether by proposing that California and New Mexico be admitted as free states immediately. After his death in July 1850, Fillmore, a moderate Whig, had supported Clay's compromise and was instrumental as president in its passage. Northern Whigs, led by William Henry Seward, adamantly opposed the compromise because it did not apply the Wilmot Proviso (which banned slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico) to the western territories.

Northern Whigs launched an effort to associate Scott with the Free Soil wing of the party. Scott did not agree with the Free Soilers, who opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Just days before the convention was scheduled to begin, Southern Whigs warned that they would not support Scott unless he pledged to disavow the Free Soilers and to exclude them from his administration if he was elected.

The split between the Northern and Southern Whigs put Scott's nomination into doubt. State Whig conventions in the South selected solid Fillmore delegations while state conventions in the North selected strong Scott delegations. On the eve of the convention, the New York Times estimated that Fillmore would have the support of 133 delegates, Scott 120 and Webster 40.

Two weeks before the Whig convention was set to begin, the Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, a northerner from New Hampshire. Supporters of Daniel Webster in the North decided that Scott, not Fillmore, could defeat Pierce in the general election, and several switched their support.