Taylor was favored to win the presidential nomination. The Whigs wanted a candidate who would not divide the party. Taylor had no experience in politics. He had no political record. But he did have a heroic military record. To avoid controversy over slavery, the Whigs did not adopt a party platform.
Taylor was nominated on the fourth ballot. MILLARD FILLMORE was nominated for vice president.
The Democrats
The Democratic Party was sharply divided on slavery. ANDREW JACKSON's supporters were strongly proslavery. Democratic liberals opposed slavery. (They were called Proviso Democrats because they supported the Wilmot Proviso. The proviso had been introduced in Congress to bar new slave states from entering the Union.)
Democratic Party leaders nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan. (Cass was a moderate on the slavery issue. He supported "popular sovereignty." That is, voters in each new state could decide the slavery issue for themselves.) Liberal Democrats opposed the Cass nomination. They left the party and joined the Free Soil Party. The Free Soilers nominated former president MARTIN VAN BUREN for president.
The Election Results
Taylor defeated Cass by 140,000 popular votes. He won 163 electoral votes. Cass won 127 electoral votes. Van Buren won 291,000 popular votes. (Van Buren's popular vote victory was larger than Taylor's winning margin.)
