# 1833–34 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

"none" is preferred when the title alone is adequate; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
Elections in Massachusetts :
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Federal government
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U.S. Senate
Class 1: 1788
1790
1796 (S)
1796
1798
1800 (S)
1803
1808 (S)
1810 (S)
1811
1813 (S)
1815
1815 (S)
1816 (S)
1818 (S)
1820
1820 (S)
1822
1826
1827
1829 (S)
1833
1839
February 1841 (S)
1845
1851
1851 (S)
1857
1863
1869
1874 (S)
1875
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1916
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1928
1934
1940
1946
1952
1958
1962 (S)
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1976
1982
1988
1994
2000
2006
2010 (S)
2012
2018
2024
Class 2: 1788
1793
1796
1800 (S)
1803 (S)
1805
1810
1811 (S)
1816
1822 (S)
1826 (S)
1828
1835
January 1841 (S)
1841
1845 (S)
1847
1853
1855 (S)
1859
1865
1871
1873 (S)
1877
1883
1889
1895
1901
1905 (S)
1907
1913
1918
1924
1930
1936
1942
1944 (S)
1948
1954
1960
1966
1972
1978
1984
1990
1996
2002
2008
2013 (S)
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2020
U.S. House
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1790/1792
1792/1793
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1796/1797
1798/1799
1800/1801
1802/1803
1804
1806
1808
1810/1811
1812/1813
1814/1815
3rd
1816/1817
1818/1819
1820/1821
1822/1823
1824/1825
1826/1827
1828
1830/1832
1833/1834
1834/1835
1836
1838/1839
1840/1841
1842/1844
1844/1846
1846
1848/1850
1850/1851
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1886
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1912
1914
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1920
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1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
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1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
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1968
1970
1972
1974
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1986
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2002
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2024 :
State government
Governor
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Apr. 1831
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Ballot measures
1980: Proposition 2½
2002: English Language Education in Public Schools
2006: 2008
Greyhound Protection
Sensible Marijuana Policy
State Income Tax Repeal
2010: No Sales Tax for Alcohol
Sales Tax Relief
Comprehensive Permits and Regional Planning
2012: Right to Repair
Death with Dignity
Medical Marijuana
2014: Automatic Gas Tax Increase Repeal
Expansion of Bottle Deposits
Casino Repeal
Paid Sick Days
2016: Expand Slot Machine Gaming
Charter School Expansion
Farm Animal Confinement
Legalization, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana
2018: Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination
2020: pending :
Boston
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Springfield
Mayor
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Worcester
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Massachusetts portal :
vte :
The 1833–34 Massachusetts gubernatorial election consisted of a popular election (direct election) held on November 11, 1833, and a legislative vote held in January 1834. The task of electing the governor fell to the Massachusetts General Court because no candidate received the constitutionally required majority of the popular vote.
National Republican Governor Levi Lincoln Jr. did not run for a tenth term in office. Elected to succeed him was John Davis, a National Republican. Davis defeated former United States president John Quincy Adams, Democrat Marcus Morton, and Working Men's candidate Samuel Allen.

## Nominations
### Anti-Masonic

In March, Representative Edward Everett approached John Quincy Adams to inform him that Governor Levi Lincoln Jr. would not seek a tenth term in office and that a union of the National Republican Party and Anti-Masonic Party could be effected to ensure Adams's election.
A group of Anti-Masons traveled to Washington to appeal to Adams in July but found him reluctant to accept their nomination without guarantee of a National Republican alliance. They gave him the assurance that National Republicans would unite with them in his nomination as they had in support of Senator Daniel Webster. He remained skeptical, aware that many conservatives and Masons within the state National Republican Party were opposed to his candidacy.
Because of his reluctance, Adams suggested Edward Everett himself seek the endorsement, but when he attempted to gain Anti-Masonic support with a speech denouncing Masonic influence, he was informed he could no longer secure the National Republican endorsement and declined to seek either party's nomination. Given Everett's withdrawal and Samuel Lathrop's refusal to run as the party's nominee for a third time, Adams resolved to accept, expecting that he would also receive the National Republican endorsement. He was formally endorsed at the Anti-Masonic convention in September.

### National Republican

However, the Everett brothers approached Adams once more to ask him to withdraw in favor of John Davis at the behest of George Bancroft, Davis's brother-in-law. Adams faced an uphill battle for the National Republican nomination; 35 of the 63 delegates from Boston were influential Masons.
Davis, a moderate critic of Masonry, was nonetheless reluctant to accept the National Republican nomination. He did so only at the urging of Governor Lincoln and was nominated at the National Republican convention in October.

### Democratic

The Democrats largely avoided the conflict over Masonry and perennial nominee Marcus Morton publicly declared that he would not join the Anti-Masonic movement nor publicly discuss Freemasonry.
In June, the party was buoyed by the personal presence of President Andrew Jackson in the state, which he toured with Josiah Quincy as his aide-de-camp en route to Harvard to accept an honorary doctorate of letters. Jackson's tour drew large crowds of supporters and caused at least one National Republican publication, the Boston Courier, to remark that as president, Jackson deserved the honor.
At the party convention in September, Morton was nominated again without opposition, though the convention's resolutions against John C. Calhoun and nullification may have caused a stir and the beginnings of a rift between the conservative urban faction led by David Henshaw, who was friendly with Calhoun, and the liberal rural faction led by Morton.

### Working Men's

The Working Men's Party was formed in a separate convention held in Boston on October 2. Samuel Allen, a graduate of Dartmouth and Congregationalist minister, was selected as the new party's nominee. He declared that the party was on the side of "producers" against "accumulators" and those who controlled "associated wealth."

## General election
### Candidates

* John Quincy Adams, U.S. Representative from Quincy and former President of the United States (Anti-Masonic)
* Samuel Allen, Congregationalist minister from Northfield (Working Men's)
* John Davis, U.S. Representative from Worcester, Massachusetts (National Republican)
* Marcus Morton, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, former acting Governor and nominee since 1828 (Democratic)

### Campaign

A major issue in the campaign was President Jackson's cancellation of government deposits in the U.S. Bank in September, outraging conservative supporters of the Bank. Democrats continued to remain silent on Masonry throughout the election, and focused on absorbing the Allen's supporters by declaring his principles as identical to those of Jackson.
The last days of the campaign were particularly intense as National Republicans bitterly attacked Adams and Morton. The Morning Post published a report on the eve of the election claiming that Morton was the preferred candidate of National Republican leaders, suggesting that both Davis and Adams lacked support from the party leadership. With the Democrats focused on the Working Men and Adams appeal to individual National Republicans, the Anti-Mason's felt their chances of winning were strong.

### Results

Though Davis won a plurality of the vote, he did not secure a majority necessary to secure his election. Adams made large gains for the Anti-Masons in the eastern part of the state, chiefly at the expense of the National Republicans. The conservative National Republicans had lost more than a quarter of their votes to the three liberal parties.
Allen drew support from Democrats and rural National Republicans; his support was preponderantly rural.
Morton carried Dukes and Essex counties because Adams took enough National Republican votes to leave Democratic pluralities, but did increase his vote overall despite Allen's presence in the race.
1833 Massachusetts gubernatorial election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | National Republican | John Davis | 25,149 | 40.26% | 12.75 |
| | Anti-Masonic | John Quincy Adams | 18,274 | 29.25% | 6.17 |
| | Democratic | Marcus Morton | 15,493 | 24.80% | 1.05 |
| | Working Men's | Samuel Allen | 3,459 | 5.54% | N/A |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 99 | 0.16% | 0.01 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 62,474 | 100.00% | |

## Legislative vote

Because no candidate secured a majority, the election was decided by the General Court. The newly formed 1834 Massachusetts House of Representatives would choose two candidates and the Senate would select one as Governor.
Negotiations ensued between the Anti-Masons and Democrats in the House to present Morton and Adams; Morton would then be elected by the Senate on the ground that he was more friendly to the Anti-Masons than Davis.
On November 26, Edward Everett visited Adams to prevail upon him to withdraw and endorse Davis. Despite some private resistance, Adams eventually did so, possibly out of fear that Morton's election would be seen as a victory for President Jackson or possibly from reluctance to leave his district without a Representative in Congress.
Davis was elected by an alliance of National Republicans and Anti-Masons, who went on to form the bulk of the new Whig Party, though not without shedding some dissenters.
Adams endorsed an amendment to the state constitution which would abandon the majority requirement; this amendment would not come until May 1855.
House Ballot 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | National Republican | Davis | 327 | 59.78 |
| | Democratic | Morton | 199 | 36.38 |
| | Anti-Masonic | Adams | 18 | 3.29 |
| | Working Men's | Allen | 3 | 0.55 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 547 | 98.38 |
| Blank votes | Blank votes | Blank votes | 9 | 1.62 |
| Total | Total | Total | 556 | 100 |
House Ballot 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Morton | 267 | 74.79 |
| | Working Men's | Allen | 64 | 17.93 |
| | Anti-Masonic | Adams | 26 | 7.28 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 357 | 100 |
| Total | Total | Total | 357 | 100 |
Senate Ballot :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | National Republican | Davis | 30 | 81.08 |
| | Democratic | Morton | 4 | 10.81 |
| Blank | Blank | Blank | 3 | 8.11 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 37 | 100 |
| Total | Total | Total | 37 | 100 |