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him. On the other hand, many of the Democrats of the 
Northwest had been opposed to annexation.®® To join success- 
fully the issue the Democrats had to be brought around to 
Polk and annexation and the Whigs to a position of out-and- 
out opposition. Clay saw the danger of this, and in his efforts 
to steer clear of the question he became badly entangled and 
lost votes in both sections. The Liberty vote was much 
coveted by both Whigs and Democrats, yet at the same time 
each tried to place on the other the onus of being in coalition 
with the Abolitionists.®^ If the Whigs seemed to have the 
best claims to the Free Soil vote, the Democrats had an ad- 
vantage in their bids for the immigrant and foreign votes, 
especially the German and Irish.®® The campaign tactics 
of 1840 were again tried by the Whigs, but the novelty had 
worn off. The cartoons which had appeared in 1840 now 
became common, and county newspapers could break the 
monotony of their closely packed political discussions with cuts 
and drawing of coons, roosters, horses, jackasses, and double- 
faced Henry Clays. British gold and Polk votes and the 
never-ending discussion of Clay’s morals filled many columns 
when other news was lacking. 
The August elections in Indiana and Illinois disclosed 
opposite tendencies. The Whigs elected the majority of the 
legislators in Indiana, but, in Illinois, only 1 of the 7 Con- 
gressmen. In the Ohio October election the Whigs elected the 
See Resolutions of Central Democratic Club of Indianapolis, Whig Rifle (Indian- 
apolis), June 13, 1844. The radical Democratic faction in Michigan was opposed to 
slave extension and annexation. The conservative faction led hy Cass and Lucius Lyon 
were in control in 1844 and gave their best efforts for Polk. The Daily F^-ee Press 
(Detroit, Mich.), Michigan Argus (Detroit), and Grand Rapids Enquirer reasoned that 
annexation would cause slavery to move southward and thus hasten its decease in the 
border states. Daily Free Press, April 17, June 28, 1844. The anti-English argument 
was also used. 
The Ohio Statesman was always associating Whiggery and Abolitionism. The 
Ohio State Journal (Columbus, Ohio) alternately wooed and threatened the Abolitionists. 
Just before the election Birney’s “Garland” letter was published, and the Ohio Whig 
central committee had it sent to all corners of the state so as to scare Liberty men 
into voting the Whig ticket. O. H. Smith, Indiana chairman, published a two-column 
appeal to the Free Seilers to support Clay. The Michigan Abolitionists, however, had 
been working with great zeal against Clay. Ohio Statesman, November 6 ; Cleveland 
Plain Dealer, November 1 ; Indiana State Journal, November 2, 1844. 
“We sympathize with all mankind struggling for liberty, whether in Canada, 
South America, Greece, Ireland, England, France, Germany, or any other portion of 
God’s earth. And we are free, willing, ready to bear the scurrility of upstart fanatics, 
the miserable remnants of coon skins and cider barrels, the bastard imitators of a 
haughty, big’oted, fire arid faggot aristocracy, for the glory, honor, and heart-felt con- 
solation of doing right, of wishing the oppressors’ iron bands broken asunder, whether 
here or anywhere else.” Ohio Statesman, May 8, 1844. 
