1848 Democratic National Convention


The 1848 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that met from May 22 to May 25 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1848 election. The convention selected Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan for president and former Representative William O. Butler of Kentucky for vice president.
As incumbent Democratic President James K. Polk declined to seek re-election, the Democratic Party nominated a new presidential candidate for the 1848 election. The major competitors for the presidential nomination were Cass, Secretary of State James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, and Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire. Cass led on the first presidential ballot, and he continued to gain delegates until he clinched the nomination on the fourth ballot. Butler won the vice presidential nomination on the second ballot, defeating former Governor John A. Quitman of Mississippi and several other candidates. The Democratic ticket was defeated in the 1848 election by the Whig ticket of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.

Proceedings

Former Speaker of the House Andrew Stevenson of Virginia was made the president of the convention. After readopting the two-thirds rule for selecting the nominee, the assembly turned to the thorny problem of competing delegations representing different factions of the New York party. The convention adopted a compromise of splitting the thirty-six votes between the pro-Van Buren faction and the Hunkers that opposed them. Unsatisfied, the pro-Van Burenite Barnburners withdrew and the remaining New Yorkers refused to vote.
The Democratic National Committee was established at this convention.

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

The major competitors for the nomination were Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, Secretary of State James Buchanan from Pennsylvania, and Supreme Court Justice Levi Woodbury from New Hampshire. On the first ballot Cass received a big lead with 125 of the 290 delegate votes with Buchanan and Woodbury trailing with 55 and 53 votes, respectively. On the next two ballots Cass's total went up while the other candidates began to fall. With 179 votes out of 255 actually voting on the fourth ballot, the chair declared Cass the presidential nominee, having surpassed the two-thirds majority of 170 votes.
Ballots1234
Lewis Cass125133156179
Levi Woodbury53565338
James Buchanan55544033
John C. Calhoun9000
William Jenkins Worth6551
George M. Dallas3300
William Orlando Butler0003
Abstaining39393636

Vice Presidential nomination

Vice Presidential candidates

Declined

Turning to the choice of a vice presidential running mate, the convention picked General William O. Butler of Kentucky over General John A. Quitman of Mississippi, former Senator and Minister to France William R. King of Alabama, Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason of Virginia, and Representative James Iver McKay of North Carolina. Before it adjourned on May 25, this convention also appointed the first Democratic National Committee.
1st2nd
Before shifts		2nd
After shifts
William Orlando Butler114179254
John A. Quitman74620
William R. King2680
John Y. Mason2450
James Iver McKay1300
Jefferson Davis100
Abstaining383636