• Source: 1854 New York gubernatorial election

    • The 1854 New York gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1854. Incumbent Governor Horatio Seymour ran for re-election to a second term in office but was defeated by Myron Clark. Clark won with only 33.38% of the vote, the lowest percentage of any successful candidate in state history.
    Like many of the elections across the country that year, the campaign was dominated by the debate over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with the Democratic Party splitting once more over the issue of slavery and opponents of the Franklin Pierce administration endorsing Clark, with the exception of the American Party, which ran Daniel Ullman and finished in a strong third.


    Democratic nominations




    = Background

    =

    In the 1840s, the New York Democratic Party split between its anti-slavery "Barnburner" wing and its conservative "Hunker" wing, culminating in the nomination of Martin Van Buren for president on a Barnburner "Free Soil" ticket in 1848.
    Following the Compromise of 1850, the two wings initially reconciled, though there was a further split in the Hunker camp between "Hard Shell" men who opposed reconciliation and "Soft Shell" men, who favored it. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, renewed attention on the issue of slavery broke this fragile truce, and all factions were once again at odds. The Hards, who believed that anti-slavery men no longer had any place in the Democratic Party, broke off to form their own "National Democratic" ticket, while many radical anti-slavery men also broke from the Democrats to join the Anti-Nebraska and Free Soil parties in 1854.


    = National Democratic convention

    =
    The National Democratic (Hard) state convention met in July and nominated Greene C. Bronson for governor. They informed the nominees by letter on July 12 of their nominations. Their letters of acceptance were published on September 11 in the New-York Daily Times.


    = Democratic convention

    =
    The regular Democratic (Soft) state convention met on September 6 at Wieting Hall in Syracuse. On September 7, the convention passed a resolution approving the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which led to the withdrawal of several Barnburner delegates, including Preston King, Charles G. Myers, Abijah Mann, and Philip Dorsheimer, all of whom would found the Republican Party in the following year. Governor Seymour was re-nominated by acclamation with a few dissenting votes, including that of Mann.


    Opposition nominations


    The Free-Soil Democratic state convention met on September 25 in Auburn.
    The Anti-Nebraska state convention met on September 26 in Auburn. Myron H. Clark was nominated for Governor by acclamation.
    The Temperance state convention met on September 27 in Auburn. Myron H. Clark was nominated for Governor by acclamation.
    The Liberty state convention met on September 28 at the Market Hall in Syracuse. William Goodell was proposed by the committee on nominations. John Thomas of New York moved to substitute Myron Clark instead of Goodell, but his motion received only one vote; many party members believed he was the representative of conservative Whig interests and insufficiently prepared to abolish slavery entirely.
    The Anti-Rent state convention met on October 26 at Beardsley's Hall in Albany.


    General election




    = Candidates

    =
    Greene C. Bronson, Collector of the Port of New York and former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals (Hard Democratic)
    Myron Clark, Assemblyman from Canandaigua (Whig)
    William Goodell, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society and nominee in 1848 (Liberty)
    Horatio Seymour, incumbent Governor since 1853 (Democratic)
    Daniel Ullman, attorney and perennial candidate (American)


    = Results

    =


    Notes




    References




    = Bibliography

    =
    Dearstyne, Bruce W. (2015). The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State's History. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-4384-5659-1 – via Google Books.
    Jenkins, John S. (1854). History of Political Parties in the State of New-York. Alden & Markham. p. 466.
    Jenkins, John S. (1851). Lives of the governors of the state of New York. Auburn, NY: Derby and Miller. p. 724.


    See also


    New York gubernatorial elections
    New York state elections

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