page_title: 1844 United States presidential election
section_title: Consequences
hierarchical_section_title: 1844 United States presidential election / Consequences
caption_attribution_description: English: Local victory parade in Lancaster, Pennsylvania celebrating election of James K. Polk in the United States presidential election, 1844. Parade was to take place on November 26, 1844. Store Web page states: "Original political broadside announcing a torchlight, 'Illumination and Procession In Honor of the Glorious Victory Achieved in the Election of Jas. K. Polk, On Tuesday evening, Nov. 26, 1844, in the City of Lancaster'."
context_page_description: The 1844 United States presidential election was the 15th presidential election, held from Friday, November 1 to Wednesday, December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest turning on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas.
  President John Tyler's pursuit of Texas annexation threatened the unity of both major parties. Annexation would geographically expand American slavery. It also risked war with Mexico while the United States engaged in sensitive possession and boundary negotiations with the United Kingdom, which controlled Canada, over Oregon. Texas annexation thus posed both domestic and foreign policy risks. Both major parties had wings in the North and the South, but the possibility of the expansion of slavery threatened a sectional split in each party. Expelled by the Whig Party after vetoing key Whig legislation and lacking a firm political base, Tyler hoped to use the annexation of Texas to win re-election as an independent or at least to have decisive, pro-Texas influence over the election.
context_section_description: Polk's election confirmed the American public's desire for westward expansion. The annexation of Texas was formalized on March 1, 1845, before Polk even took office. As feared, Mexico refused to accept the annexation and the Mexican–American War broke out in 1846. With Polk's main issue of Texas settled, instead of demanding all of Oregon, he compromised and the United States and United Kingdom negotiated the Buchanan–Pakenham Treaty, which divided up the Oregon Territory between the two countries.
caption: Broadside announcing torchlight victory parade in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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