Processed by
Amy C. Belcher
19 September 2005
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
1 oversized folder |
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COLLECTION |
1852 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Early American History Auctions, Rancho Santa Fe, NM, March 2003 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
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RELATED |
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ACCESSION |
2003.0316 |
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NOTES: |
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Even though 1852 was the final election in which a Whig party member ran, they still held their own by capturing 43.9% of the vote. This was not good enough to top the winner however. Franklin Pierce of the Democratic Party won the election with 50.7% of the vote, and a landslide victory of 254 electoral votes. One of the main issues in this election was the Compromise of 1850, and that is what won the election for the Democrats.
The poll documents themselves do not actually list Franklin Pierce, Winfield Scott, or the Free-Soil Democratic Party candidate, John Parker Hale. Instead, they list the electors that will apply their votes to each of the candidates for the high office of president. This is all part of the Electoral College system. Instead of voting directly for the presidential nominee, a vote is cast for the elector that will apply their vote to the candidate. This system has been in place since the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although the Electoral College was not the first choice for many of the founding fathers, it was the second and most acceptable choice for the majority. It is, however, an imperfect system and in the past some electors have cast their votes for the opposite candidate. It remains the system that the United States utilizes in its presidential elections anyway.
Sources:
Binning, William C., Larry E.
Esterly and Paul A. Sracic. Encyclopedia of American
Parties, Campaigns, and Elections. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Maisel, L. Sandy, ed. Political Parties and Elections in the United States: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991.
This collection contains polling documents for Carroll County for the 1852 presidential election. It includes Tippecanoe township records and an overview of the county results.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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1852 Polling Documents, Carroll County, Indiana |
OM 0426: |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, OM0426).
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