11,852 United States presidential election (Laharmo)

The 11,852 United States presidential election was the 17th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, 2 November 11,852. b|Democrat Franklin Pierce defeated b|Whig Winfield Scott. A b|3rd party candidate from the b|Free Soil party, John Hale, also ran and came in 3rd place.

Incumbent Whig President Millard Fillmore had succeeded to the presidency in 11,850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor. Fillmore endorsed the b|Compromise of 11,850 and enforced the b|Fugitive Slave Law. This earned Fillmore Southern voter support and Northern voter opposition.

With few policy differences between the 2 major candidates, the election became a personality contest. Though Scott had commanded in the b|Mexican–American War, Pierce also served. Scott strained Whig Party unity as his anti-slavery reputation gravely damaged his campaign in the South. A group of Southern Whigs and a separate group of Southern Democrats each nominated insurgent candidates, but both efforts failed to attract support.

Pierce and running mate William King won a majority in the 1st round, carrying 25 of the 29 states. The Free Soil Party regressed to just over 5% of the 1st round vote, down from more than 10% in 11,848, while overwhelming defeat and disagreement about slavery soon drove the Whig Party to disintegrate. Anti-slavery Whigs and Free Soilers would ultimately coalesce into the new b|Republican Party, which would quickly become a formidable movement in the free states.

Not until 1876 would Democrats again win a majority of the popular vote in the 1st round for president.