In the spring of 1844 expansion did not seem likely to affect the presidential election. The Whigs nominated Clay unanimously and ignored Texas in their party platform. When the Democrats gathered in convention at Baltimore in May, Van Buren appeared to have the nomination in his pocket. He too wanted to keep Texas out of the campaign. John C. Calhoun, however, was determined to make Texas a campaign issue.
That a politician of Van Buren’s caliber, controlling the party machinery, could be upset at a national convention seemed unthinkable. But upset he was, for the southern delegates rallied round the Calhoun policy of taking Texas to save it for slavery. “I can beat Clay and Van Buren put together on this issue,” Calhoun boasted. “They are behind the age.” James K. Polk of Tennessee, who favored expansion, swept the convention.
Polk was a good Jacksonian; his supporters called him “Young Hickory.” He opposed high tariffs and was dead set against establishing another national bank. But he believed in taking Texas. The Democratic platform demanded that Texas be “reannexed” (implying that it had been part of the Louisiana Purchase) and that all of Oregon be “reoccupied” (suggesting repeal of the joint occupation of the region with Great Britain, which had been agreed to in the Convention of 1818).
Texas was now in the campaign. When Clay sensed the new expansionist sentiment of the voters, he tried to hedge on his opposition to annexation, but by doing so he probably lost as many votes as he gained. The election was extremely close. The campaign followed the pattern established in 1840, with stress on parades, mass meetings, and slogans. Polk carried the country by only 38,000 of 2.7 million votes. In the Electoral College the vote was 170 to 105. Polk’s victory was nevertheless taken as a mandate for expansion. Tyler promptly called on Congress to take Texas by joint resolution, which was done a few days before Tyler left the White House. Under the resolution, if the new state agreed, as many as four new states might be carved from its territory. Polk accepted this arrangement, and in December 1845 Texas became a state.
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