Studies in American History 
433 
groups. In 1841 conservative Whigs combined with the Demo- 
crats to elect the senator and a governor. Thruout the forties 
factional fights within the party kept the Michigan Whigs 
out of office. ' I 
After the elections of 1842-1843 the two parties began prep- 
arations for the presidential campaign. The Whig committee 
of Illinois in 1843 laid down six articles of faith including the 
tariff, Bank, and Clay land policy.®^ The Ohio convention of 
January, 1844, resolved against the Sub-Treasury and for a 
protective tariff, a currency of national character, and the 
distribution of the proceeds of the public lands to the states 
as a matter of right. Neither party possessed outstanding 
leaders capable of taking the country by storm as had Jack- 
son or Harrison. The Whigs gave little consideration to any 
other candidate than Henry Clay, but the old issues which he 
had promoted so steadily since 1824 had lost much of their 
appeal,®^ and the Whigs could not well use the only new one 
that presented itself. The Democrats, with a group of 
younger men in the lead, found new interests to hold the 
people. In Indiana, Joseph A. Wright, Andrew Kennedy, 
Robert Dale Owen, John W. Davis, and James Whitcomb were 
busy arousing interest in human rights, individual liberty, 
and private initiative. They felt that the efforts and finances 
of the state should be expended in caring for the unfortunate 
and the feeble, educating the children, and fostering individual 
development rather than promoting industry, banking, and 
transportation. 
The Whigs assumed that Van Buren would again be the 
Democratic candidate and from him they had little to fear 
on the annexation question, but with Polk annexation of 
Texas was no idle dream. Since Polk had often acted with 
the Whigs on the tariff. Bank, and internal improvements ques- 
tions, it was difficult to advance effective arguments against 
“Address to the People of Illinois”, by A. Lincoln, S. T. Logan, and A. T. Bledsoe, 
in J. G. Nicolay and John Hay (eds.), Lincoln, Complete Works (New York, 1920), I, 
72 ff. 
^ Scioto Gazette, January 18, 1844. The Democrats called this the “lawyers’ con- 
vention”. 
Internal Improvements had proved a sad and costly experiment, and the Demo- 
crats were convincing the farmers that the tariff was not in their interest. Interest in 
the state hank had supplanted that of the Bank of the United States in the minds of 
many Whigs, especially in Indiana, They feared the competition of a national Bank. 
Besides there was the opposition of the churches to Clay’s life and morals. For tariff 
discussions see Indiana State Journal (Indianapolis), April 11, May 12, 19, 23, and 28, 
1843. On Clay and the Methodists, Ohio Statesman, October 30, 1844. 
