National tension over slavery spiked again in mid-1842 when the Federalist-dominated Massachusetts legislature passed a new law placing a trade tariff on all goods produced by slave labor. This was the brainchild of Benjamin Gallup, the brother of former Massachusetts governor and former Federalist presidential candidate Peter Gallup, who represented central Boston in the state house. Gallup stated that he believed this law would allow the abolitionist cause to strike a financial blow against the slaver powers in the South. Almost immediately, the states of Georgia and Virginia filed suit against Massachusetts's new law, challenging its constitutionality. The case would wind its way through the lower courts over the next two years, and in the meantime, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut had all enacted similar measures modeled off the Massachusetts law. It was announced that the Supreme Court would hear the case in the Spring of 1845, just after the upcoming presidential election, meaning that the aftermath of the ruling would be one of the first things Yates’ successor would have to deal with.

In June of 1843, tensions again began to flair back up in the southwest, when Mexican President Manuel Ortega died of a heart attack.. His successor, Deputy President Miguel Landavazo, was unpopular and nowhere near as effective an administrator as Ortega, and things quickly began to fray. By the end of the year, Landavazo had survived two assassination attempts - neither sponsored by the imperials to the south - and many saw him as inept and wanted a replacement. A coup was attempted in November, and failed, but barely, and much of Santa Fe is damaged. In response, the Mexican Empire announced on December 3 that they planned to “restore order in their former territories.” War had returned to the troubled Mexican lands, and the embattled President Landavazo could not cope. Within weeks, Stephen Austin convinced the Texan Provincial Assembly to declare independence and began to organize a resistance to the Imperial Army. Alta California will follow suit by the February of 1844. The “Texan Free State” immediately calls on the United States to help stop the imperial advances northwards.

President Yates’ hands were tied. There was not enough political support for another war in Mexico less than a decade after the first one. He does what he can to ensure that armaments are sent to the Texan forces but cannot convince enough members of Congress to agree to vote for a declaration of war against Imperial Mexico. It quickly became apparent that this issue would dominate the upcoming election. Vice President Wilbur Haines quickly moved to the fore as the likely candidate for the Democratic candidate, and he walked a fine line. Like President Yates, Haines privately thought that the United States should assist the Texans and fight Imperial Mexico, but knew this was unpopular among many of his fellow party members, so he refused to commit to action. The Federalists remain vocally opposed to military intervention in Mexico, while the Republicans argue for at least limited military involvement with the navy and possibly some soldiers on the ground.

The other issue to come to the foreground in the election of 1844 would be the Massachusetts Tariff. This debate showed the early divisions within the Democratic Party that would come to prominence in little over a decade. Abolitionism was a slowly growing force among Democrats, though they mostly favored a state-by-state manumission program, not something forced from the federal level, like the Federalists. Despite this, many felt that the tariff was unconstitutional, violating the federal government’s purview over interstate commerce. At the party convention in August, much of the debate over the party platform centered on whether or not to include language that opposed the tariff action or not. In the end, the anti-tariff faction won out. Republicans, of course, where vehemently opposed to the law and were hoping that the Supreme Court would strike it down in the following year.

In July, the Federalists would vote to nominate pro-tariff Victor Lang, the senior senator from Rhode Island, with Representative Jacob North of Pennsylvania, who was against the tariff, as Lang’s running mate. The Federalists had an older, so-called “traditionalist” wing that worried that the tariff might be unconstitutional, but the abolitionists had greater control of their party. The following month, both the Democrats and the Republicans would meet to nominate their candidates. Vice President Haines unsurprisingly swept his party’s nomination, picking Clifford Bates, Governor of New York for the vice presidential slot. Republicans would end up nominating William Rutherford, Senator of Virginia, though Robert Lee, who was serving as the Lt. Governor of Virginia at the time, gave a good challenge to Rutherford. The party nominated South Carolina Governor Thomas Kent for the vice presidency.

The final result from the election that fall was extremely close. Vice President Haines received 164 electoral votes, with Senator Rutherford receiving 159 electoral votes, and Lang trailing with 82 electoral votes. Thanks to the 16th Amendment, Haines won the race even though he fell short of the 203 votes needed for a majority, to the frustration of the South. Many southern and pro-Republican newspapers called on Rutherford to challenge the results in some of the states that allocated their electoral votes by congressional district, but he refused, knowing that the Federalists would also likely fight any challenge he put forth. Though not as sour as a result of the 1826 election of Alexander Hamilton, Jr., many throughout the country were uneasy that the final tally had been so close.

The Election of 1844