Editing John C. Breckinridge (section)

===Early political career===
Breckinridge campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee [[James K. Polk]] in the [[1844 United States presidential election|1844 election]].{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=30}} He decided against running for county clerk of [[Scott County, Kentucky|Scott County]] after his law partner complained that he spent too much time in politics.{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=31}} In 1845, some local Democrats encouraged him to seek the [[Kentucky's 8th congressional district|Eighth District]]'s congressional seat, but he declined, supporting [[Alexander Keith Marshall]], the party's unsuccessful nominee.{{sfn|Heck|1976|p=20}}{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=31}} As a private citizen, he opposed the [[Wilmot Proviso]] that would have banned slavery in the territory acquired in the war with Mexico.{{sfn|Davis|2010|p=33}} In the [[1848 United States presidential election|1848 presidential election]], he backed the unsuccessful Democratic ticket of [[Lewis Cass]] and William Butler.{{sfn|Heck|1976|p=20}} He did not vote in the election. Defending his decision during a speech in Lexington on September 5, 1860, Breckinridge explained:
{{blockquote|But it so happened that there were six or eight gentlemen also accompanying me, all of them belonging to the Whig Party, and they proposed to me that if I would not return to my own town and vote, they would not. If they would, there would be six or seven votes cast for Taylor and but one cast for Cass. I accepted the proposition, and we went hunting; and had every man done as well as myself, we should have carried the State by 40,000 majority.<ref name="THE PRESIDENCY.; Speech of Hon. John C. Breckinridge, at Lexingtion, Ky.">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/09/06/news/presidency-speech-hon-john-c-breckinridge-lexingtion-ky-discussion-issues.html?pagewanted=all |title=The Presidency.; Speech of Hon. John C. Breckinridge, at Lexingtion, Ky. |last=Breckinridge |first=John C. |date=September 5, 1860 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-date=August 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814145032/http://www.nytimes.com/1860/09/06/news/presidency-speech-hon-john-c-breckinridge-lexingtion-ky-discussion-issues.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref>}}