The Civil War is winding down as the Election of 1852 approaches. In the East, General Winfield Scott has driven the Confederates out of the Carolinas and is currently pressing through Georgia, while in the West General (and Vice President) Zachary Taylor has seized control of the Mississippi and is pushing towards the Confederate capital at Montgomery, Alabama. Meanwhile, President Hale has taken advantage of the patriotic spirit that has swept over the country to pass a Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery.
Fig. 1: The Southern Confederacy, 1852.
Navy indicates states under Confederate control,
blue indicates states under Union military occupation, and
light blue indicates states reclaimed by the Union in which civilian government has been restored.
The fusion of the Whig and Liberty Parties was completed during the 1850 Midterms, in which the two caucuses adopted a pro-Union, pro-emancipation platform and declared the formation of the new Republican Party. Their candidate in 1852 is General Zachary Taylor, hero of the Civil War, who has promised to secure Mexican California for the United States and, furthermore, to extend political rights to freedmen. His opponent is Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who is attempting to distance himself from the doughface campaign of Franklin Pierce four years earlier by championing an expansionist agenda similar to Taylor's. With the Democrats largely discredited from their opposition to the war, Taylor is the clear front runner; however, it is not impossible that Douglas might pull an upset.
Shall "Old Rough and Ready" or "the Little Giant" lead America through Reconstruction? Vote Now!
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