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1848 Democratic Convention Electoral Votes Popular Votes States Covered Zachary Taylor, the Amercian general who led the war against the Mexican, as a war hero, was a clear favorite at the Whig convention in June of 1848. He received the needed two thirds of the votes on the fourth ballot. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass as their presidential candidate. The major issue in the election campaign was slavery, and this centered on the issue of whether to allow the areas acquired because of the Mexican War to allow slavery. Taylor said very little on the matter, but he himself owned 200 slaves. Cass, on the other hand, supported the idea that each territory should decide for itself whether to allow slavery. Van Buren ran as a third party candidate on the Free Soil ticket in opposition totally to the expansion of slavery. Although Van Buren did not carry any states the 10% of the vote that he received was enough to insure Taylor's victory. Taylor won 139,000 more votes then Casss. His victory was national carrying both Northern and Southern states.

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