1844 presidential election | |
Convention | |
---|---|
Date(s) | May 1, 1844[1] |
City | Baltimore, Maryland[1] |
Venue | Universalist Church |
Candidates | |
Presidential nominee | Henry Clay of Kentucky |
Vice-presidential nominee | Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey |
Voting | |
Total delegates | 275 |
Votes needed for nomination | 138 |
Ballots | 1 |
The 1844 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held on May 1, 1844, at Universalist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1844 election. The convention selected former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky for president and former Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey for vice president.
While the Whigs had won the 1840 presidential election, the party needed a new ticket as President William Henry Harrison had died in April 1841 while his successor, John Tyler, had been expelled from the party in September 1841 for vetoing bills passed by the Whig-controlled Congress. The convention unanimously nominated Clay, a long-time party leader, for president. Frelinghuysen won the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot, defeating former Governor John Davis of Massachusetts and two other candidates. The Whig ticket went on to lose the 1844 general election to the Democratic ticket of James K. Polk and George M. Dallas.