The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970 Page: 21
605 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Whig Party of Texas in Elections of 1848 and 1852
In spite of having to defend against these attacks, leaders like
Ochiltree and Epperson found time to voice support of such tra-
ditional Whig principles as a national bank, federal internal improve-
ments, and the protective tariff. Internal improvements such as
river and harbor development seem to have been, logically enough,
the traditional policy given the most emphasis by the Texas Whigs
in 1848."
The results of the election in Texas showed Taylor and Fillmore
gaining 5,281 votes or 31 percent of the total cast. The Whigs ran
strongest in the northeastern area including Harrison, Rusk, Cass,
Bowie, Red River, and Lamar counties; in the southeastern coastal
area including Jefferson, Liberty, Galveston, and Harris counties;
and in coastal regions from Matagorda to the Rio Grande where
they carried Victoria, Nueces, and Cameron counties."' Charles De-
Morse, the avidly Democratic editor of the Clarksville Northern
Standard, gloated that "a perfect Waterloo defeat, very unexpected
by the Whigs, has been the result of their efforts in this region,"'"
but the Houston Telegraph and Texas Register concluded that the
Whigs had hoped only for a decent showing and had made it. Both
papers agreed that the Texas Whigs had become a very zealous mi-
nority requiring vigilance on the part of the Democrats.'
It seems fair then, considering the record of the national party
on Texas questions and the personal unpopularity of Taylor with
some Texans, to conclude that the Whig vote was large." In Gal-
veston at least, the election was contested hotly enough to lead at
one point to violence. During a riot between Whigs and Democrats
in November, the "Rough and Ready Club" was burned to the
ground. Even DeMorse thought this a little beyond the necessary
"vigilance.""
Texas Whigs were far from disheartened by the election of 1848.
A new Whig paper, the Mercantile Advertiser, appeared in Houston
Register, September 21, October 12, 1848; Galveston News, November io, 1848; Galveston
Civilian and Galveston Gazette, September 28, 1848.
e6Houston Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register, August 31, 1848; Clarksville
Northern Standard, September 9, 1848; Clarksville Western Star, October 7, 1848.
17W. Dean Burnham, Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892 (Baltimore, 1955), 764-813.
18Clarksville Northern Standard, November 11, 1848.
'9Clarksville Northern Standard, November 25, 1848; Houston Democratic Telegraph
and Texas Register, November 9, 1848; Ernest Wallace, Charles DeMorse: Pioneer Editor
and Statesman (Lubbock, 1943), 30, 10o3-104.
20Winkler, Platforms of Parties in Texas, 21.
21Clarksville Northern Standard, November 25, 1848.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970, periodical, 1970; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117147/m1/37/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.