146 
Indiana University 
national convention. With a few exceptions, the Whig meet- 
ings were harmonious. A Clay meeting at the Masonic Hall 
in New York made up largely of ‘"Conservatives”, pledged 
itself to support either Clay, Webster, or Harrison.^^® A 
meeting in Maryland would do the same, but indorsed Henry 
Clay, “that pure statesman and devoted patriot”.^"^® The Whig 
state convention at Staunton, Va., passed resolutions favoring 
Clay for president and N. P. Tallmadge for vice-president, 
but would vote for the Harrisburg nominees. Conventions 
at Jefferson, Mo.; Utica, N.Y. ; Dover, Del.; and others chose 
delegates, but made no nominations. The convention at 
Springfield, 111., gave its confidence to Henry Clay or Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, “both favorite ‘Harries of the West’.” 
New Jersey selected delegates to choose a candidate in opposi- 
tion to Martin Van Buren.^^® 
With all these signs of harmony, there were now and then 
opposite tendencies. Clay, because of his position, was likely 
to have undue influence in the choice of delegates. Ohio 
seemed to have come out strongly for him.^^^ The Harrison 
Whigs talked of “the uncertain decision of a far distant na- 
tional convention”,^22 Harrison’s friends in 
Ohio agreed to abide by the decision of a convention “fairly 
constituted”. This was due to some supposed irregularities 
in the choice of Clay delegates in Louisiana and Maryland. 
A letter which Jefferson had written on May 25, 1823, con- 
cerning Clay saying he hoped Clay would sometime become 
the chief executive was freely published.^^^ The Globe, how- 
ever, denied the authenticity of the letter. The final state- 
ment of Harrison’s position in regard to his accepting the 
decision of the national convention is in the report of a Harri- 
son committee appointed at Harrisburg during the preceding 
September. It said: 
Resolved, That while the convention entertain the belief that no 
other candidate for the presidency, but General William Henry Harrison, 
of Ohio, can unite the anti- Van Buren party, and by that union rescue 
the country from misrule, they feel entire respect and admiration for 
the great talents and public and private virtues of Henry Clay, of 
National Intelligencer, June 1, 1838. 
Ihid., June 5, 1838. 
Niles’ Register, LVII, 125-127, 135, 138, 154, 167, 187, 199, 215. 
121 The Globe, November 20, 1838 ; Colton, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, 
427 . 
The Globe, November 20, 1838 (from Ohio Statesman). 
^^-^Ibid., July 18, 1838. 
