Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1852'

(Tuesday, November 2, 1852; during the 1852 presidential election) — Former Democratic U.S. Senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire was elected the 14th president of the United States today, defeating Whig Party nominee Winfield Scott, Commanding General of the U.S. Army from New Jersey.

Pierce and his running mate, U.S. Senator William R. King of Alabama, received 50.8 percent of the popular vote compared to 43.9 percent for Scott and his running mate, Secretary of the Navy William Alexander Graham of North Carolina.

Free Soil Party nominee John P. Hale of New Hampshire and his running mate, George Washington Julian of Indiana, received 4.9 percent of the popular vote. The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party active from 1848 to 1854, largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States.

Video: 'The Election of 1852 Explained'

The Democratic ticket was officially elected on Dec. 1, 1852, when members of the Electoral College met and cast 254 votes for Pierce and King and 42 votes for Scott and Graham. The electors’ votes were tabulated and certified on Feb. 9, 1853, during a joint session of Congress. Pierce and King were inaugurated on March 4, 1853.

Incumbent Whig President Millard Fillmore had succeeded to the presidency in 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore endorsed the Compromise of 1850 and enforced of the Fugitive Slave Law. This earned Fillmore Southern voter support and Northern voter opposition. On the 53rd ballot of the sectionally divided 1852 Whig National Convention, Scott defeated Fillmore for the nomination.

This would be the last presidential election for the Whig Party, which would be replaced by the Republican Party as the Democratic Party’s primary opposition, starting in the 1856 presidential election.