Studies in American History 
149 
of Clay and that he opposed his nomination because it would 
be disastrous to Clay and the Whig Party, Clay said : 
No veteran soldier, covered with scars and wounds, inflicted in many 
severe battles, and hard campaigns, ever received his discharge with 
more pleasure than I should mine. But I think that, like him, without 
presumption, I am entitled to an Honorable Discharge.^^'^ 
Up to this time, little has been said about General Win- 
field Scott, because there is little to be said. Scott had some 
claims to recognition. He had a good military record, and 
had settled some boundary questions with some degree of 
success. He had also been desirous for several years of be- 
coming president of the United States. Just before the elec- 
tion, the Seward group fell upon him as a pawn to be used, 
not for his own advancement, but to defeat Clay.^^® 
When the convention met, there were three candidates. 
These were General Winfield Scott, General William Henry 
Harrison, and Henry Clay. Clay was the favorite. All the 
South and three-fourths of the East were for him.^^® How- 
ever, a large number of his delegates were from states which 
were almost sure to go Democratic in the presidential elec- 
tion.^^^ Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania were for Harrison. 
New York was for Scott. The Anti-Masons, Abolitionists, 
and old National Republicans all went for Harrison.^^® 
There were twenty-two states represented. Each state was 
allowed as many delegates as it had senators and representa- 
tives.^^® James Barbour of Virginia was made chairman. 
A unique plan for balloting was adopted in order that there 
might not be the slightest hitch in the proceedings. First, 
a committee of states was appointed. The delegation from 
each state was then to retire privately and cast its vote, a 
majority to determine the whole vote of the state. The vote 
of the several states was to be reported by the committee of 
states, which was to report to the convention when a ma- 
Niles’ Register, LVII, 8 ff. ; The Globe, July 30, 1839, from Ontario (N,Y.) Mes- 
senger; Seward (ed.), William H. Setvard, an Autobiography, I, 432; Thurlow Weed, 
Autobiography, I, 480, 481, 
The Globe, August 15, 1839. 
^^^John S. Jenkins, History of Political Parties in New Ywk (Albany, 1846), 431; 
Sargent, Public Men and Events, II, 81 ; National Intelligencer, August 3, 1839, from 
The Globe. 
146 Weed, Autobiography, I, 481. 
Horace Greeley, Recollections of a Busy Life (New York, 1888), 130. 
Lyon Gardiner Tyler (ed.). The Letters and Times of the Tylers (Richmond, 
Va., 1884), I, 593, 594. 
Niles’ Register, LVTI, 210 ; ibid., 225, 
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