Changes

By 1852, the Whigs were even more seriously divided than the Democrats, their Northern wing being much stronger than that of the Democrats. Due to his determination to enforce the Compromise, Millard Fillmore, despite being the incumbent President, faced serious opposition from the party's anti-slavery element, and though he campaigned for nomination (and had the support of many Southern Whigs), he could not command a majority. Current Secretary of State [[Daniel Webster]] of [[Massachusetts]] made his own bid, but was in poor health (he would in fact die prior to the general election) and found little concrete support outside New England. By late spring, in an effort to repeat its success in 1840 and 1848, Whig leaders had coalesced around a military hero: General Winfield Scott, who had led the successful campaign against Mexico City in the Mexican War. As a career U.S. Army officer, Scott, though a native of Virginia, was not strongly tied to any state or section, and in the past had made comments that seemed to endorse the gradual abolition of slavery; he was therefore acceptable to Northern Whigs, and their Southern counterparts lacked the numbers and organization to effectively oppose him. The Whig convention met in Baltimore two weeks after the Democrats, and after a long deadlock between Fillmore and Scott, the general was finally nominated on the 53rd ballot, with current [[Secretary of the Navy]] [[William A. Graham]] of [[North Carolina]] chosen as Scott's running mate.

==General Election==