United States Presidential Election of 1852
Franklin Pierce won 254 to 42 as the Whig Party collapsed into its final campaign.
Overview
Pierce, a little-known New Hampshire Democrat nominated on the 49th ballot, obliterated Winfield Scott 254 to 42, losing only Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Compromise of 1850's finality dominated, and Scott's wavering split the Whig Party sectionally. The Free Soils faded to 5 percent. The election ended the Whigs as a national party, and within two years the Kansas-Nebraska Act had destroyed the second party system, making 1852 the last contest of the old political world.
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