Changes

Most observers predicted early on that the general election would end in a Democratic victory. Though the nomination contests had revealed a lack of decisive leadership in both parties, the Democrats had mostly overcome their internal divisions over slavery and the Compromise of 1850, and united behind Pierce; the party machinery, including his rivals for the nomination, campaigned effectively on his behalf throughout the country, and successfully appealed to the large contingents of recent Irish and German immigrants. Pierce also refrained from committing himself on such controversial issues as slavery, the tariff, and homestead legislation. By contrast, the Whigs were in personal and political disarray. Both Fillmore and Webster, bitter over losing the nomination, failed to campaign strenuously for Scott; and the Northern and Southern wings were drifting further apart on the slavery issue. Though most stayed loyal to the party during the election, there were significant defections on both sides: hard-core opponents of slavery's westward expansion, angered that the Compromise had not explicitly barred slavery from the Utah and New Mexico Territories, broke away to join the [[Free Soil Party]], which nominated Senator John P. Hale of New Hampshire for President; meanwhile, a smaller group of Southern Whigs, believing Scott insufficiently devoted to upholding the Compromise, bolted and formed the Southern Rights Party, with former Georgia Senator George Troup as their presidential nominee. This disunity doomed any chance Scott might have had of winning the election. His speech-making was considered effective, and he was able to win over some industrial workers with his position on the tariff issue; but these factors were not sufficient to alter the outcome, and anti-immigration statements he had made in the past were used against him. Attacks on Pierce as a drunkard, though they gained credence later, were likewise ineffective. The results of the election , held on November 2, wereas follows: