The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-04

country. Never before had popular interest
been so aroused. All this was reflected in
the result. The popular vote reached
total of 2,410.7s, an increase over 1886 of
912,57S. or more than 60 per cent No such
rate of increase had been seen in the pop
ular vote before that year, none has been
seen since Harrison had 1275,017; Van
Buren,, LBS. 7O2: Birney, 7,059. Harrison's
plurality was 146,s15, his majority 1926.
ORIGINAL DARK HORSE
At the fifteenth election-1s44-for the last
time only twenty-six States voted The
same three parties were in the field as four
years before. all properly provided with
candidates and platforms. The Wings NOM
mated their idol, Henry Clay, of Kentucky,
and with him Theodore Freylinghuysen, OF
New Jersey; the Democrats, James X.
Polk, of Tennessee, and George NJ Dallas.
of Pennsylvania; the Abolitionists. James
G. Birney, then domiciled in Michigan, and
Thomas Norris of Ohio. Polk was the
original dark horse Of American politics.
The total popular vote was 2,69S.611, an in
crease over 1910 of 2S7, 1888, little more than
10 per cent Polk had 1,s37.243 Clay 1,299. 06S,
Birney $3.50. Folks plurality was 3S,173.
but Clay and Birney combined had 2i125
more than Polk. Polk was therefore the
first man to receive majority Of the cleo
toral vote and at the same time have a
minority of the popular vote 1t was a
close race, decided by the vote of one State
New York.
In 1s4S, at the sixteenth election, thirty
States voted. Florida, Texas, Iowa and
Wisconsin having been admitted. The
Wings, taking lesson from expediency,
they had done in 1910, nominated Zachary
Taylor, of Louisiana, the hero of Buena
Vista, and with him Willard Fillmore, Of
New York The Democrats nominated
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, and William o.
Butler. of Kentucky, the latter a volunteer
major general in the Mexican war. Martin
Van Buren, combined his faction of Demo-
Gratis with the Abolitionists and ran as the
Free Soil candidate for President, with
Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts,,
as his running mate. The total popular
vote was 2,S7l,9OS an increase over 1874 Of
49, 97, a little more than 6 per cent Tay
Tor had 1,36O.1O1, Cass 1,22O5i4. Van Buren,
1853. Taylor's plurality was 1887, but
the vote of Cass and Van Buren, combined
exceeded his by 151,7O6. Thus did Van
Buren, even up with the people who pre-
vented his nomination four years before.
Taylor being dead. the Wings in 1852, at
the seventeenth election, tried Winfield
Scott of New Jersey, the second conquerer
of Mexico, nominating with him William
| A Graham. of North Carolina. The DEM
ocrats took another dark horse, Franklin
| Pierce of New Hampshire, who had been
| a United States senator and volunteer
| brigadier general under Scott in the Next
| can war, nominating with him William r.
| King of Alabama. Van Buren, had re-
turned to his party, so the Free Sellers
| nominated John p. Hale, of New Hamp-
shire, then a United States senator. and
George w. Julian, of Indiana, who had
| been in Congress for one term from 1919
To 1851 California having been admitted,
tbirty-one States voted, casting S,144,2Ol pop
| ular votes, an increase over 1S4S of 272, 293,
less than 10 per cent. Pierce had 1,6o1, Az;
Scott, 1,3S6,57S; Hale, 1919. Pierce's plural
| ity was 2l4,S96; his majority, 5S,747.
| The year 1856, the eighteenth election, is
rotable for the appearance of the Repub-
! hcan party IN The fie5d OF national politics
| and for the great increase in the popular
! vote caused by the intense interest felt by
| the people in the issues at stake. Tho
| Democrats nominated James Buchanan, of
| Pennsylvania, for President, and John c.
| Breckenridge, of Kentucky, fog Vice Pres
/ ident, the former one of the old, the latter
/ enc of the new, leaders of his party. The
| Republican candidates were John G. FIRE.
mont. of California, and William l.. Day
| ton, of New Jersey. The American, or
4 NOfl oItr rd Il
more, of New York, former Vice Presi-
! cent and President, and Andrew Donelson,
| OF Tennessee. The total popular vote.
| thirty-one States voting as in 1852, was A.
c53 967, an increase over 1852 of 900, 1885, nearly
| 50 per cent Buchanan had 1888, 1859; FIRE.
mont, 1,341, 264: Fillmore, S74,534. Buchanan;
| plurality was 4969o5, but the combined vote
| of Fremont and Fillmore exceeded his by
| 377629
! FIRST FOUR-CORNERED FIGHT.
| In 1860, at the nineteenth election, there
| were four tickets in the field-Abraham
| Lincoln, of Illinois, and Hannibal Hamlin,
| of Maine, Republican; Stephen A. Douglas.
| of Illinois, and IIersche V. Johnson, of
| Georgia, Democrat; John c. Breckenridge,
| Of Kentucky, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon,
| Democrat; John Bell, of Tennessee, and Ed
| ward Everett of Massachusetts. Constitu-
tional Union Minnesota and Oregon hav-
| ing been admitted, thirty-three States
| voted. The popular vote was 4,676,S53 an
| increase over 1856 of CD $50, more than Is
per cent Lincoln had 1,S65,913 Douglas,
1,37i,66i: Breckenridge. S4s,404; Bell. 591, 900.
Lincoln's plurality was 491, 1875, but less than
| Douglas and Breckenridge combined by
| 354,56S, and less than they and Bell COM
bined by 944,149. Lincoln had at this cleo
| ton the smallest percentage (999D of the
| popular vote of any President ever elected
| by the Electoral Colleges. Douglas had the
| highest percentage GAO of any candidate
who received so few electoral votes O2);
| Breckenridge had the lowest percentage
| G3.OS) of any candidate who ever received
| so many electoral votes CID, while Bell,
| who received less than half as many pop
ular votes than Douglas. had 80 electoral
| votes or more than three times as many
| as he.
When the twentieth election came, in 1864.
the country was in the midst OF civil war,
so that, notwithstanding three new States
had been acknowledgements, West Virginia
and Nevada-but twenty-five States voted