438 
In d tana Vniv ersi ty 
veto of the Rivers and Harbors Bill, which was one of the 
things which began to loosen Democrats of the Northwest 
from old party ties and prepare them for the events of 1854- 
1856 /^ 
In 1848 the Whigs of the Northwest found the tactical 
advantage in their possession. Were it to be a battle of party 
against party, their success seemed assured. The determin- 
ing factor, however, had slipped beyond the power of control 
of either Whigs or Democrats. The result of the election 
would depend on the Free Soil vote. The conduct of the cam- 
paign was patterned after that of 1840 and 1844. 
In May, Wisconsin elected Nelson Dewey, the Democratic 
candidate for governor, and the Congressman and Senators 
chosen were also Democrats. In Ohio, politics were again 
in an uproar, as a result of the bolt of 15 Democratic Senators, 
which prevented the new Whig apportionment law from going 
into effect. The Whigs were trying to win the Free Soil vote 
in the state election by remaining silent on the slavery ques- 
tion hoping thereby to gain the state for Taylor in November. 
The result of the gubernatorial election remained in doubt 
for a time after the state election, but it seemed that Seabury 
Ford, the Whig candidate, was successful by a scant margin. 
The Democrats carried the legislature and elected 11 of the 
21 Congressmen. In Indiana, the Democrats broke the 
seven-year Whig rule and secured a majority of the legisla- 
ture, while in Illinois where the Whigs had been hurt by their 
attack on the war, the Democrats suffered no serious opposi- 
tion. 
For the first time the presidential election was held in all 
the states on the same day. The predictions of the Demo- 
crats proved correct, and Cass carried the Northwest by a 
plurality vote. In Ohio the Democrats gained about 5,600 
votes while the Whig loss was over 16,000.^" The Free Soil 
from Mexico, a political demagogue who has sought office at the sacrifice of principle 
upon almost every measure, and pledged to exercise the veto power against the voice 
of the people as expressed through their representatives in Congress, . . . there 
he stands, all steeped in political corruption, an aristocrat in feeling and practice, . . . 
and here is Old Rough and Ready, whom the people know to be an honest man — the 
noblest work of God — think you that they can be brought to support the former in 
preference to the latter? Man, thou art beside thyself.”_ 
Long John Wentworth and his Chicago Democrat, with great influence in northern 
Illinois, waged battle until the end, and his position as a loyal Democrat was made 
difficult. Democrats as well as Whigs had promoted the Rivers and Harbors Conven- 
tion at Chicago in 1847. 
Gass, 154,862; Taylor, 138,396; Van Buren, 35,456. Weekly Statesman (Columbus, 
Ohio), November 28, 1848. 
