Editing 1848 United States presidential election

{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}{{for|related races|1848 United States elections}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1848 United States presidential election
| country = United States
| flag_year = 1848
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1844 United States presidential election
| previous_year = 1844
| next_election = 1852 United States presidential election
| next_year = 1852
| votes_for_election = 290 members of the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]
| needed_votes = 146 electoral
| turnout = 72.8%<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present|title=National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present|work=United States Election Project|publisher=[[CQ Press]]}}</ref> {{decrease}} 6.4 [[percentage point|pp]]
| election_date = November 7, 1848
| image_size = x150px
| image1 = Zachary Taylor restored and cropped (cropped).jpg
| nominee1 = '''[[Zachary Taylor]]'''
| party1 = Whig Party (United States)
| alliance1 = [[Know Nothing|Native American]]
| home_state1 = [[Louisiana]]
| running_mate1 = '''[[Millard Fillmore]]'''
| electoral_vote1 = '''163'''
| states_carried1 = 15
| popular_vote1 = '''1,361,396'''
| percentage1 = '''47.3%'''
| image2 = File:Lewis Cass (3x4 cropped).jpg
| nominee2 = [[Lewis Cass]]
| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
| alliance2 = 
| home_state2 = [[Michigan]]
| running_mate2 = [[William Orlando Butler|William O. Butler]]
| electoral_vote2 = 127
| states_carried2 = 15
| popular_vote2 = 1,223,460
| percentage2 = 42.5%
| image3 = Martin Van Buren daguerreotype by Mathew Brady circa 1849 - edit 1 (cropped).jpg
| nominee3 = [[Martin Van Buren]]
| party3 = Free Soil Party
| alliance3 = 
| home_state3 = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| running_mate3 = [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.|Charles F. Adams]]
| electoral_vote3 = 0
| states_carried3 = 0
| popular_vote3 = 291,501
| percentage3 = 10.1%
| map_size = 350px
| map = {{1848 United States presidential election imagemap}}
| map_caption = Presidential election results map. <span style="color:#f0c962;">Yellow</span> denotes states won by Taylor/Fillmore and <span style="color:blue;">Blue</span> by Cass/Butler. Numbers indicate the number of [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]] cast by each state.
| title = President
| before_election = [[James K. Polk]]
| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
| after_election = [[Zachary Taylor]]
| after_party = Whig Party (United States)
}}
[[United States presidential election|Presidential elections]] were held in the [[United States]] on November 7, 1848. Held in the aftermath of the [[Mexican–American War]], General [[Zachary Taylor]] of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] defeated Senator [[Lewis Cass]] of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref>[[Allan Nevins]], ''Ordeal of the Union: Volume I. Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852'' (1947).</ref>

Despite Taylor's unclear political affiliations and beliefs, and the Whig opposition to the Mexican–American War, the [[1848 Whig National Convention]] nominated the popular general over party stalwarts such as [[Henry Clay]] and [[Daniel Webster]]. For vice president, the Whigs nominated [[Millard Fillmore]], a New York Whig known for his moderate views on [[slavery in the United States|slavery]]. Incumbent President [[James K. Polk]], a Democrat, honored his promise not to seek re-election, leaving his party's nomination open. The [[1848 Democratic National Convention]] nominated Senator [[Lewis Cass]] of Michigan after former President [[Martin Van Buren]] withdrew his bid for a second term over a platform dispute. Van Buren broke from his party to lead the ticket of the [[Free Soil Party]], which opposed the extension of slavery into the [[territories of the United States|territories]].

The Whig choice of Zachary Taylor was made almost out of desperation; he was not clearly committed to Whig principles, but he was popular for leading the war effort. The Democrats had a record of prosperity and had acquired the [[Mexican Cession|Mexican cession]] and parts of [[Oregon Country|Oregon country]]. It appeared almost certain that they would win unless the Whigs picked Taylor. Taylor won a plurality of the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote, while Van Buren won 10.1% of the popular vote, a strong showing for a [[third party (United States)|third party]] candidate.

Taylor's victory made him the second and final Whig to win a presidential election, following [[William Henry Harrison]]'s victory in the [[1840 United States presidential election|1840 presidential election]]. Like Harrison, Taylor died during his term, and he was succeeded by Fillmore. Taylor was the last president elected from the [[Deep South]] until [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[1976 United States presidential election|1976]].

== Nominations ==

===Whig Party nomination===
{{Main|1848 Whig National Convention}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1848 Whig Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"| [[Zachary Taylor|{{color|black|Zachary Taylor}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"| [[Millard Fillmore|{{color|black|Millard Fillmore}}]]
|-  style="color:#000000; font-size:100%; background:#F0DC82;"
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Zachary Taylor cropped.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Millard Fillmore crop.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[Major general (United States)|Major general]]<br />of the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]]<br /><small>(1846–1849)</small>
| 14th<br />[[New York State Comptroller]]<br /><small>(1848–1849)</small>
|-
|}

[[File:Taylor Fillmore.png|thumb|right|200px|Grand National Whig banner]]

The Whig Party held its [[1848 Whig National Convention|national convention]] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with delegates from every state except for Texas although the Texas Whigs had selected to make the Louisiana delegates their proxies. [[Henry Clay]], [[Winfield Scott]], [[Zachary Taylor]], and [[Daniel Webster]] sought the presidential nomination and Taylor led on every ballot before winning on the fourth ballot. After Webster turned down the vice presidential candidacy, [[Millard Fillmore]] received the party's vice-presidential nomination on the second ballot after defeating [[Abbott Lawrence]], a Massachusetts politician whose mild opposition to slavery led him to be dubbed a "Cotton Whig". An attempt was made to make both nominations unanimous, but it was unsuccessful due to Taylor's support for the Whig Party being seen as dubious.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Luthin|first1=Richard H.|title=Abraham Lincoln and the Massachusetts Whigs in 1848|journal=The New England Quarterly|date=December 1941|volume=14|issue=4|pages=621–622|doi=10.2307/360598|jstor=360598}}</ref><ref name="nomination" />

===Democratic Party nomination===
{{Main|1848 Democratic National Convention}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1848 Democratic Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Lewis Cass|{{color|white|Lewis Cass}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[William O. Butler|{{color|white|William O. Butler}}]]
|-
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File: Lewis Cass circa 1855.jpg|200x200px]]
| [[File:William Orlando Butler - Brady-Handy.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Michigan]]<br /><small>(1845–1848)</small>
| [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]]<br />for [[Kentucky's 13th congressional district|Kentucky's 13th]]<br /><small>(1839–1843)</small>
|-
|}
[[File:Polk crop.jpg|thumb|228x228px|[[James K. Polk]], the incumbent president in 1848, whose term expired on March 4, 1849]]
[[File:1848DemocraticPoster.png|thumb|right|200px|Cass/Butler campaign poster]]

The Democratic Party held its [[1848 Democratic National Convention|national convention]] in Baltimore, Maryland. There was a credentials dispute over the New York delegation between the [[Barnburners and Hunkers]] factions with the Barnburners being anti-slavery. The delegates voted 126 to 125 to seat both delegations and share their control of New York's votes, but the Barnburners left the convention in disagreement with the compromise while the Hunkers refused to vote. The withdrawal of the Barnburners effectively removed former President [[Martin Van Buren]], who had already become unenthusiastic about trying to win the party's nomination after the convention had voted to endorse a platform supporting [[Popular sovereignty in the United States|popular sovereignty]], from contention.<ref name="nomination">{{cite book |date=1979 |title=National Party Conventions, 1831-1976 |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]]}}</ref>

As a result of Van Buren's withdrawal, U.S. Senator [[Lewis Cass]] and Secretary of State [[James Buchanan]] were seen as the only serious contenders for the presidential nomination, with a draft effort also focusing on Supreme Court associate justice [[Levi Woodbury]]. In stark contrast to the highly contested and protracted convention at the previous election, Cass held a wide lead on all four ballots, only being denied victory on the third due to the convention rules requiring a two-thirds majority, before the Buchanan and Woodbury campaigns quietly released enough delegates to allow Cass victory on the fourth ballot. [[William Orlando Butler]] won the vice-presidential nomination on the second ballot against [[John A. Quitman]].<ref name="TheyAlso">{{cite book |title=They Also Ran: The Story of the Men who were Defeated for the Presidency |first=Irving |last=Stone |location=Garden City, NY |publisher=Doubleday |year=1966 |page=262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RBCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA262 }}</ref><ref name="nomination" />

=== Free Soil Party nomination ===
{{Main|1848 Free Soil & Liberty national conventions}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1848 Free Soil Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#CCCC66; width:200px;"| [[Martin Van Buren|{{color|white|Martin Van Buren}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#CCCC66; width:200px;"| [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.|{{color|white|Charles F. Adams}}]]
|-  style="color:#000000; font-size:100%; background:#008000;"
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#F2F2B5; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#F2F2B5; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Portrait of Martin Van Buren (cropped).jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:Charles Francis Adams crop.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| [[List of presidents of the United States|8th]]<br />[[President of the United States]]<br /><small>(1837–1841)</small>
| [[Massachusetts Senate|Massachusetts State Senator]]<br /><small>(1844–1845)</small>
|-
|}

[[File:Free Soil campaign banner.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Van Buren/Adams]]

Members of the Whig Party who opposed slavery, New York Barnburners, and members of the Liberty Party met in August 1848 in Buffalo, New York, to found a new political party. The Barnburners made a call for the formation of an anti-slavery party at their conclave in June, and by the People's Convention of Friends of Free Territory, which was organized by [[Salmon P. Chase]], in Columbus, Ohio. The convention was attended by 165 delegates from eight states to form the [[Free Soil Party]].<ref name="nomination" />

Van Buren won the party's presidential nomination against [[John P. Hale]] on the first ballot with 244 votes against Hale's 181 votes. Hale had been nominated by the Liberty Party in October 1847, but withdrew from the election after the Free Soil Party gave its presidential nomination to Van Buren. [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.|Charles F. Adams]] won the party's vice-presidential nomination.<ref name="nomination" />

Van Buren knew that the Free Soilers had not the slightest chance of winning, rather that his candidacy would split the Democratic vote and throw the election to the Whigs. Bitter and aging, Van Buren did not care despite the fact that his life had been built upon the rock of party solidarity and party regularity. He loathed Lewis Cass and the principle of [[Popular sovereignty in the United States|popular sovereignty]] with equal intensity.<ref>They Also Ran, Irving Stone, pg. 263</ref>

=== Liberty Party nomination ===
<!-- Reference for Material regarding Hale's nomination; ISBN 0-70797862 Pg 870. If more information is required I can grant it. -->
{{Main|1848 Free Soil & Liberty national conventions}}
Despite their significant showing in the prior presidential election, certain events would conspire to remove the [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty Party]] from political significance.

Initially, the party's presidential nomination was to be decided in the fall of 1847 at a Convention in Buffalo, New York. There, Senator [[John P. Hale]] was nominated for president over [[Gerrit Smith]], brother-in-law to the party's previous presidential nominee [[James G. Birney]]. [[Leicester King]], a former judge and state senator in Ohio, was nominated for vice president. Anti-slavery Democrats and Whigs, disappointed with their respective nominees, would form a new movement in conjunction with members of the Liberty Party such as John Hale and Salmon Chase to form the Free Soil Party that summer. At this point, both Hale and King withdrew in favor of a Free Soil ticket led by former President Martin Van Buren, and the great majority of members of the Liberty Party followed them into the new political party.

====National Liberty Party nomination====
A small faction refused to support Van Buren for the presidency, however. They held another convention in June 1848 as the ''"National Liberty Party."'' Gerrit Smith was nominated for president with [[Charles C. Foote]], a [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] minister from Michigan, as his vice presidential running mate.<ref>{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the National Liberty Convention |date=1848 |publisher=S.W. Green |location=Utica, NY |pages=4–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZU-AAAAYAAJ}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+ Convention vote
|-
! Presidential vote
!  
! Vice presidential vote
!
|-
|align=left| [[Gerrit Smith]]
| 99
|align=left| [[Charles C. Foote]]
| 44
|-
|align=left| [[Beriah Green]]
| 2
|align=left| [[George Bradburn]]
| 12
|-
|align=left| [[Frederick Douglass]]
| 1
|align=left| [[Samuel Ringgold Ward]]
| 12
|-
|align=left| [[Charles C. Foote]]
| 1
|align=left| [[Lucretia Mott]]
| 5
|-
|align=left| Amos A. Sampson
| 1
|align=left| John Curtis
| 3
|-
|colspan=2|
|align=left| [[Beriah Green]]
| 3
|-
|colspan=2|
|align=left| Charles O. Shepard
| 3
|-
|colspan=2|
|align=left| [[Frederick Douglass]]
| 1
|-
|colspan=2|
|align=left| Edward Smith
| 1
|}

=== Other nominations ===
<!-- Reference for Material regarding Taylor's nomination; ISBN 0-70797862 Pg 879–880. If more information is required I can grant it. -->
The Native American Party, a precursor to the [[Know Nothing]]s, which had split from the Whig Party in 1845, met in September 1847 in [[Philadelphia]], where they nominated [[Zachary Taylor]] for president and [[Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn|Henry A. S. Dearborn]] of Massachusetts for vice president.  However, when the Whig Party nominated Taylor for the presidency with Millard Fillmore as his running mate the following year, this rendered his previous nomination moot and the Native American Party failed to make an alternate nomination.

The Industrial Congress held in Philadelphia on June 13, 1848, nominating [[Gerrit Smith]] (nominee of the National Liberty Party) for president, and William S. Wait of Illinois for vice president.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Havel |first=James T. |title=U.S. Presidential Elections and the Candidates: A Biographical and Historical Guide |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1996 |isbn=0-02-864623-1 |volume=2: The Elections, 1789-1992 |location=New York |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=23}} This meeting, inspired by the [[National Reform Association (1844)|National Reform Association]], was primarily focused on workers rights. It established a platform that included planks on land limitation, the reduction of public official's salaries, abolition of the standing army, tariff reduction, and a reduced work week.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Commons |first=John R. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflabouri01commuoft/page/550/mode/2up |title=History of labour in the United States |publisher=Macmillan |year=1918 |location=New York |pages=547–550 |access-date=June 8, 2022}}</ref>

== General election ==

=== Campaign ===
The campaign was fought without much enthusiasm, and practically without an issue. Neither of the two great parties made an effort to rally the people to the defense of any important principle.

Whig campaigners, who included future presidents [[Abraham Lincoln]] and [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], talked up Taylor's "antiparty" opposition to the [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian]] commitment to the [[spoils system]] and yellow-dog partisanship. In the South, they stressed that he was a Louisiana slaveholder, while in the North they highlighted his Whiggish willingness to defer to Congress on major issues (which he subsequently did not do).

Democrats repeated, as they had for many years, their opposition to a national bank, high tariffs, and federal subsidies for local improvements. The Free Soilers branded both major parties lackeys of the [[Slave Power]], arguing that the rich planters controlled the agenda of both parties, leaving the ordinary white man out of the picture. They had to work around Van Buren's well-known reputation for compromising with slavery.

The Whigs had the advantage of highlighting Taylor's military glories. With Taylor remaining vague on the issues, the campaign was dominated by personalities and personal attacks, with the Democrats calling Taylor vulgar, uneducated, cruel and greedy, and the Whigs attacking Cass for graft and dishonesty. The division of the Democrats over slavery allowed Taylor to dominate the Northeast.<ref>Silbey (2009)</ref>

The Free Soilers were on the ballots in only 17 of the 29 states with the popular vote, making it mathematically possible for Van Buren to win the presidency, but he had no real chance. Still, the party campaigned vigorously, particularly in the traditional Democratic strongholds in the northeast.

While some Free Soilers were hopeful of taking enough states to throw the election into the House of Representatives, Van Buren himself knew this was a long shot and that the best that his party could do was lay the groundwork for a hopefully improved showing in 1852.

==== 1848 campaign artwork ====
{{gallery|align=center
|Fort Harrison March.jpg|Artwork for "[[Media:Fort Harrison March.mid|Fort Harrison March]]," a campaign song for Zachary Taylor's presidential campaign which recalled his triumph at the [[Siege of Fort Harrison]] in 1812.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1848.672000|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710164447/http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1848.672000|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-10|title=Image 1 of Fort Harrison march|first1=C. H.|last1=Weber|publisher=Balmer and Weber}}</ref>
|3b10318u.jpg|Political cartoon about the election campaign, titled "Shooting the Christmas Turkey"
|Grand Presidential sweep-stakes for 1849.jpg|"Grand Presidential sweep-stakes" - political cartoon of the three main candidates
}}

===Records===
This was the first time in the [[Second Party System]] in which the victorious party failed to gain at least a plurality of the counties as well as of the popular vote.

This was the last election in which Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island voted for the Whigs. It was also the last time that Georgia voted against the Democrats until 1964, the last time Delaware and Louisiana did so until 1872, and the last time Florida and North Carolina did so until 1868.

Discounting [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] Abraham Lincoln's [[1864 United States presidential election|1864 re-election]] on the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union]] ticket, Taylor is the most recent individual who was not a member of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party to win a presidential election. The contest was the first presidential election that took place on the same day in every state, and it was the first time that Election Day was statutorily a Tuesday.<ref>{{citation|url=http://presidentelect.org/trivia.html|title=President Elect – Previous Trivia Of The Week|access-date=September 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811035134/http://presidentelect.org/trivia.html|archive-date=August 11, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It is also the first election in which the two candidates that received electoral votes carried the same number of states and the only time that it happened between Democrat and Whig candidates. This would only happen again twice, in [[1880 United States presidential election|1880]] and [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]].<ref>Source: Data from [[Walter Dean Burnham]], ''Presidential ballots, 1836–1892'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.</ref>

===Results===
[[File:PresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|right|thumb|400px|Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of yellow are for Taylor (Whig), shades of blue are for Cass (Democrat), and shades of green are for Van Buren (Free Soil).]]
[[File:Zachary Taylor - Cock of the walk.jpg|thumb|"Cock of the walk" - Zachary Taylor as victor]]

28.6% of the voting age population and 72.8% of eligible voters participated in the election.{{sfn|Abramson|Aldrich|Rohde|1995|p=99}} With Taylor as their candidate, the Whigs won their second and last victory in a presidential election. Taylor won the electoral college by capturing 163 of the 290 electoral votes. Taylor out-polled Cass in the popular vote by 138,000 votes, winning 47% of the popular vote, and was elected president.

A shift of less than 6000 votes to Cass in Georgia and Maryland would have left the electoral college in a 145–145 tie, while a shift of less than 27,000 votes to Van Buren in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts would have left both Taylor and Cass short of the 146 electoral votes required to win, forcing a contingent election in the House of Representatives.

A study of the county returns reveals that Free Soil strength drawn at the expense of the major parties differed by region. In the [[East North Central states|East North Central States]], it appears at least the majority of the Free Soil strength was drawn from the Whig Party.

Conversely, in the [[Mid-Atlantic (United States)|Middle Atlantic region]], Free Soil bases of strength lay in the areas which had hitherto been Democratic, particularly in New York and [[Northern Tier (Pennsylvania)|northern Pennsylvania]]. The Free Soil Democrats nomination of Van Buren made the victory of Taylor nearly certain in New York. On election day, enough Democratic votes were drawn away by Van Buren to give the Whig ticket all but two Democratic counties, thus enabling it to carry hitherto impregnable parts of [[Upstate New York|upper New York state]]. The Democrats, confronted with an irreparable schism in New York, lost the election.

In [[New England]], the Democratic vote declined by 33,000 from its 1844 level, while the Whig vote likewise declined by 15,000 votes. The third-party vote tripled, and the total vote remained nearly stationary: a partial indication, perhaps, of the derivation of the Free Soil strength in this section. For the first time since the existence of the Whig Party, the Whigs failed to gain an absolute majority of the vote in Massachusetts and Vermont. In addition, the Democrats failed to retain their usual majority in Maine; thus only New Hampshire (Democratic) and Rhode Island (Whig) of the states in this section gave their respective victorious parties clear-cut majorities.

Of the 1,464 counties/independent cities making returns, Cass placed first in 753 (51.43%), Taylor in 676 (46.17%), and Van Buren in 31 (2.12%). Four counties (0.27%) in the West split evenly between Taylor and Cass.

The election has sometimes been described as "a contest without an issue," as both major candidates sought to steer clear of divisive subjects. The historian George Pierce Garrison famously quipped that "practically the only thing it decided was that a Whig general should be made President because he had done effective work in carrying on a Democratic war."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garrison |first1=George Pierce |title=Westward Extension, 1841-1850 |date=1906 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |page=284 |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ACA4285.0017.001/319?rgn=full+text;view=image}}</ref>

[[File: United States Electoral College 1848.svg]]

{{start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>|ev_footnote=}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Zachary Taylor]]|vp_name=[[Millard Fillmore]]|party=[[United States Whig Party|Whig]]|state=[[Louisiana]]|vp_state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|pv=1,361,393|pv_pct=47.28%|ev=163}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Lewis Cass]]|vp_name=[[William Orlando Butler]]|party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]|state=[[Michigan]]|vp_state=[[Kentucky]]|pv=1,223,460|pv_pct=42.49%|ev=127}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Martin Van Buren]]|vp_name=[[Charles Francis Adams Sr.]]|party=[[United States Free Soil Party|Free Soil]]|state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|vp_state=[[Massachusetts]]|pv=291,501|pv_pct=10.12%|ev=0}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[Gerrit Smith]]|vp_name=[[Charles C. Foote]]|party=[[Liberty Party (1840s)|Liberty]]|state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|vp_state=[[Michigan]]|pv=2,545|pv_pct=0.09%|ev=0}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other|footnote=|pv=285|pv_pct=0.01%|ev=0}}
{{end U.S. presidential ticket box|pv=2,879,184|ev=290|to_win=146}}
'''Source (Popular Vote):''' {{Leip PV source| year=1848| as of=July 27, 2005}}
'''Source (Electoral Vote):''' {{National Archives EV source| year=1848| as of=July 31, 2005}}
<sup>(a)</sup> ''The popular vote figures exclude [[South Carolina]] where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.''

{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Taylor'''|{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}|47.28}}
{{bar percent|Cass|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|42.49}}
{{bar percent|Van Buren|{{party color|Free Soil Party}}|10.12}}
{{bar percent|Others|#777777|0.11}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Taylor'''|{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}|56.21}}
{{bar percent|Cass|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|43.79}}
}}

=== Geography of results ===

==== Cartographic gallery ====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
1848 US Presidential Election Results.svg|Map of presidential election results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
WhigPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Whig presidential election results by county
DemocraticPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Democratic presidential election results by county
FreeSoilPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Free Soil presidential election results by county
LibertyPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Liberty presidential election results by county
OtherPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Map of "Other" presidential election results by county
CartogramPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|[[Cartogram]] of presidential election results by county
CartogramWhigPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Whig presidential election results by county
CartogramDemocraticPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county
CartogramFreeSoilPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Free Soil presidential election results by county
CartogramLibertyPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Liberty presidential election results by county
CartogramOtherPresidentialCounty1848Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of "Other" presidential election results by county
</gallery>

== Results by state ==
{|class="wikitable"
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
|States/districts won by [[Lewis Cass|Cass]]/[[William Orlando Butler|Butler]]
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
|States/districts won by [[Zachary Taylor|Taylor]]/[[Millard Fillmore|Fillmore]]
|}<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! colspan=2 |
! align=center colspan=3 | Zachary Taylor<br />Whig
! align=center colspan=3 | Lewis Cass<br />Democratic
! align=center colspan=3 | Martin Van Buren<br />Free Soil
! colspan="2" |Margin
! align=center colspan=2 | State Total
|-
! align=center | State
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
!#
!%
! align=center | #
!
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Alabama|Alabama]]
! 9
| <span style="display:none">00013618</span>30,482
| 49.44
| -
| <span style="display:none">00048669</span>31,173
| 50.56
| 9
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -691
| -1.12
| 61,655
! AL
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Arkansas|Arkansas]]
! 3
| 7,587
| 44.93
| -
| 9,301
| 55.07
| 3
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -1,714
| -10.14
| 16,888
! AR
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Connecticut|Connecticut]]
! 6
| 30,318
| 48.59
| 6
| 27,051
| 43.35
| -
| 5,005
| 8.02
| -
|3,267
|5.24
| 62,398
! CT
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Delaware|Delaware]]
! 3
| 6,440
| 51.80
| 3
| 5,910
| 47.54
| -
| 82
| 0.66
| -
|530
|4.26
| 12,423
! DE
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Florida|Florida]]
! 3
| 4,120
| 57.20
| 3
| 3,083
| 42.80
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|1,037
|14.40
| 7,203
! FL
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Georgia|Georgia]]
! 10
| 47,532
| 51.49
| 10
| 44,785
| 48.51
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|2,747
|2.98
| 92,317
! GA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Illinois|Illinois]]
! 9
| 52,853
| 42.42
| -
| 55,952
| 44.91
| 9
| 15,702
| 12.60
| -
| -3,099
| -2.49
| 124,596
! IL
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Indiana|Indiana]]
! 12
| 69,907
| 45.77
| -
| 74,745
| 48.93
| 12
| 8,100
| 5.30
| -
| -4,838
| -3.16
| 152,752
! IN
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Iowa|Iowa]]
! 4
| 9,930
| 44.59
| -
| 11,238
| 50.46
| 4
| 1,103
| 4.95
| -
| -1,308
| -5.87
| 22,271
! IA
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Kentucky|Kentucky]]
! 12
| 67,145
| 57.46
| 12
| 49,720
| 42.54
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|17,425
|14.92
| 116,865
! KY
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Louisiana|Louisiana]]
! 6
| 18,487
| 54.59
| 6
| 15,379
| 45.41
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|3,108
|9.18
| 33,866
! LA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Maine|Maine]]
! 9
| 35,273
| 40.25
| -
| 40,195
| 45.87
| 9
| 12,157
| 13.87
| -
| -4,922
| -5.62
| 87,625
! ME
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Maryland|Maryland]]
! 8
| 37,702
| 52.10
| 8
| 34,528
| 47.72
| -
| 129
| 0.18
| -
|3,174
|4.38
| 72,359
! MD
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
! 12
| 61,072
| 45.32
| 12
| 35,281
| 26.18
| -
| 38,333
| 28.45
| -
|22,739
|16.87
| 134,748
! MA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan]]
! 5
| 23,947
| 36.80
| -
| 30,742
| 47.24
| 5
| 10,393
| 15.97
| -
| -6,795
| -10.44
| 65,082
! MI
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Mississippi|Mississippi]]
! 6
| 25,911
| 49.40
| -
| 26,545
| 50.60
| 6
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -634
| -1.20
| 52,456
! MS
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Missouri|Missouri]]
! 7
| 32,671
| 44.91
| -
| 40,077
| 55.09
| 7
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -7,406
| -10.18
| 72,748
! MO
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
! 6
| 14,781
| 29.50
| -
| 27,763
| 55.41
| 6
| 7,560
| 15.09
| -
| -12,982
| -25.91
| 50,104
! NH
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in New Jersey|New Jersey]]
! 7
| 40,015
| 51.48
| 7
| 36,901
| 47.47
| -
| 819
| 1.05
| -
|3,114
|4.01
| 77,735
! NJ
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in New York|New York]]
! 36
| 218,583
| 47.94
| 36
| 114,319
| 25.07
| -
| 120,497
| 26.43
| -
|98,086
|21.51
| 455,944
! NY
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in North Carolina|North Carolina]]
! 11
| 44,054
| 55.17
| 11
| 35,772
| 44.80
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|8,282
|10.37
| 79,826
! NC
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Ohio|Ohio]]
! 23
| 138,359
| 42.12
| -
| 154,773
| 47.12
| 23
| 35,347
| 10.76
| -
| -16,414
| -5.00
| 328,479
! OH
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
! 26
| 185,313
| 50.28
| 26
| 171,976
| 46.66
| -
| 11,263
| 3.06
| -
|13,337
|3.62
| 368,552
! PA
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]]
! 4
| 6,779
| 60.77
| 4
| 3,646
| 32.68
| -
| 730
| 6.54
| -
|3,133
|28.09
| 11,155
! RI
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina]]
! 9
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| colspan=2 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| 9
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| -
| -
| -
! SC
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
! 13
| 64,321
| 52.52
| 13
| 58,142
| 47.48
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|6,179
|5.04
| 122,463
! TN
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Texas|Texas]]
! 4
| 4,509
| 29.71
| -
| 10,668
| 70.29
| 4
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -6,159
| -40.58
| 15,177
! TX
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Vermont|Vermont]]
! 6
| 23,132
| 48.27
| 6
| 10,948
| 22.85
| -
| 13,837
| 28.87
| -
|9,295
|19.40
| 47,922
! VT
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Virginia|Virginia]]
! 17
| 45,265
| 49.20
| -
| 46,739
| 50.80
| 17
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -1,474
| -1.60
| 92,004
! VA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1848 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|Wisconsin]]
! 4
| 13,747
| 35.10
| -
| 15,001
| 38.30
| 4
| 10,418
| 26.60
| -
| -1,254
| -3.20
| 39,166
! WI
|-
! TOTALS:
! 290
! 1,360,235
! 47.28
! 163
! 1,222,353
! 42.49
! 127
! 291,475
! 10.13
! -
!
!
! 2,876,818
! US
|-
! TO WIN:
! 146
! colspan="17" |
|}</div>

===States that flipped from Democratic to Whig===
*[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
*[[Louisiana]]
*[[New York (state)|New York]]
*[[Pennsylvania]]

===States that flipped from Whig to Democratic===
*[[Ohio]]

===Close states===
States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Alabama 1.12% (691 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Mississippi 1.20% (634 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Virginia 1.60% (1,474 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Illinois 2.49% (3,099 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Georgia 2.98% (2,747 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Indiana 3.16% (4,838 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Wisconsin 3.20% (1,254 votes)</span>'''
#'''''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Pennsylvania 3.62% (13,337 votes)</span>''' (tipping point state)''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">New Jersey 4.01% (3,114 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Delaware 4.26% (530 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Maryland 4.38% (3,174 votes)</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Ohio 5.00% (16,414 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Tennessee 5.04% (6,179 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Connecticut 5.24% (3,267 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Maine 5.62% (4,922 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Iowa 5.87% (1,308 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Louisiana 9.18% (3,108 votes)</span>'''

=== Electoral college selection ===
{{start electoral college selection}}
{{electoral college selection row|method=Each Elector appointed by state legislature|states=[[South Carolina]]}}
{{electoral college selection row|method=Each Elector chosen by voters statewide|states=''(all other States)'' *}}
{{end electoral college selection}}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> ''[[Massachusetts]] law provided that the state legislature would choose the Electors if no slate of Electors could command a majority of voters statewide. In 1848, this provision was triggered, although the legislature ultimately chose the electors of the plurality vote winner, Taylor.''

==See also==
* [[1848–49 United States House of Representatives elections]]
* [[1848–49 United States Senate elections]]
* [[American election campaigns in the 19th century]]
* [[History of the United States (1789–1849)]]
* [[Inauguration of Zachary Taylor]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last1=Abramson |first1=Paul |last2=Aldrich |first2=John |last3=Rohde |first3=David |title=Change and Continuity in the 1992 Elections |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=0871878399}}
* Blue, Frederick J. ''The Free Soilers: Third Party Politics, 1848–54'' (1973).
* [[Gabor Boritt|Boritt, G. S.]] "Lincoln's Opposition to the Mexican War," ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' Vol. 67, No. 1, Abraham Lincoln Issue (Feb. 1974), pp.&nbsp;79–100 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40191441 online]
* Campbell, Randolph. "The Whig Party of Texas in the Elections of 1848 and 1852." ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 73.1 (1969): 17–34. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30238045 online]
* Earle, Jonathan H. ''Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, 1828–1854'' (2004).
* Eyal, Yonatan. "The 'Party Period' Framework and the Election of 1848", ''Reviews in American History'' Volume 38, Number 1, March 2010,  in [[Project MUSE]]
* Graebner, Norman A. "Thomas Corwin and the Election of 1848: A Study in Conservative Politics." ''Journal of Southern History'', 17 (1951), 162–79. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2198262 in JSTOR]
* Hamilton, Holman. ''Zachary Taylor: Soldier in the White House'' (1951)
* Holt; Michael F. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.'' (1999). [https://www.questia.com/library/book/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-whig-party-jacksonian-politics-and-the-onset-of-the-civil-war-by-michael-f-holt.jsp online edition]
* Mieczkowski, Yanek. "The Election of 1848." in ''The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections'' (Routledge, 2013) pp.&nbsp;45–46.
* Morrison, Michael A. "New Territory versus No Territory": The Whig Party and the Politics of Western Expansion, 1846–1848," ''Western Historical Quarterly,'' Vol. 23, No. 1 (Feb. 1992), pp.&nbsp;25–51 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/970250 in JSTOR]
* [[Allan Nevins|Nevins, Allan]]. ''Ordeal of the Union: Volume I. Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852'' (1947).
* Quist, John W. "The Election of 1848." in ''American Presidential Campaigns and Elections'' (Routledge, 2020) pp.&nbsp;328–348.
* [[Joseph Rayback|Rayback, Joseph G.]] ''Free Soil: The Election of 1848''. (1970).
* Silbey, Joel H. ''Party Over Section: The Rough and Ready Presidential Election of 1848'' (2009). 205 pp.

===Primary sources===
* Chester, Edward W  ''A guide to political platforms'' (1977) [https://archive.org/details/guidetopolitical0000ches online]
* Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. ''National party platforms, 1840-1964'' (1965) [https://archive.org/details/nationalpartypla00port online 1840-1956]
*  Serio, Anne Marie. ''Political cartoons in the 1848 election campaign'' (1972) [https://archive.org/details/politicalcartoon0000seri online]

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/election1848.html Presidential Election of 1848: A Resource Guide] from the Library of Congress
* [http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1848.htm 1848 popular vote by counties]
* [http://www.multied.com/elections/1848Pop.html 1848 Election State-by-State popular results] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930152514/http://www.multied.com/elections/1848Pop.html |date=September 30, 2007 }}
* [http://www.countingthevotes.com/1848/ Election of 1848 in Counting the Votes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203013818/http://www.countingthevotes.com/1848/ |date=December 3, 2017 }}

{{Zachary Taylor}}
{{Martin Van Buren}}
{{1848 United States presidential election}}
{{State Results of the 1848 U.S. presidential election}}
{{1848 United States elections}}
{{USPresidentialElections}}
{{US Third Party Election}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1848 United States presidential election| ]]
[[Category:Martin Van Buren]]
[[Category:Millard Fillmore]]
[[Category:Zachary Taylor]]
[[Category:Presidency of Zachary Taylor]]
[[Category:November 1848]]