Westward extension, 1841-1850, by George Pierce Garrison.

284

WESTWARD EXTENSION

[1848

crats. The result for the whole country was a
serious illustration of the political inertia of the
period, against which the tremendous economic and
social forces working for sectionalization exerted
themselves for the moment in vain. Eight free
and seven slave states were for Cass, while for Taylor these figures were exactly reversed. Disunion
was still a question for the future.
The result of the congressional elections was, on
the whole, in favor of the Democrats, who elected 112 congressmen, against 105 Whigs.1 The FreeSoilers held the balance of power with thirteen members. In the New York delegation the defection of
the Barnburners was notably apparent; among its
thirty-four members there were one Free-Soiler and
one Democrat, and the rest were Whigs. The Federal Senate, however, remained Democratic by a
majority of ten.
It would hardly be speaking too strongly to characterize the election of i848 as a contest without an
issue. Neither of the two great parties which alone
might expect to win sought to rally the people to
the defence of any important principle. Practically
the only thing it decided was that a Whig general
should be made president because he had done effective work in carrying on a Democratic war. It
was only an eddy in the historical current in which
force and direction seemed to have been lost.
1 Cong. Globe, 31 Cong., i Sess., i.