What is now the system of elections was demanded by the
Democratic and Free-soil parties. The change was resisted by the
Whig Party. In 1849 I was nominated by the Democratic Party for the
office of Governor, and a resolution was adopted denouncing the
system of slavery. In that year coalitions were formed in counties and
in cities and towns between Democrats and Free-soilers, which
demonstrated the possibility of taking the State out of the hands of
the Whig Party, if the coalitions could be made universal. This was
accomplished in 1850, and in 1851 I became Governor by the vote of the
Legislature, and Mr. Sumner was elected to the United States Senate.
It was the necessity of the situation that the two offices should be
filled, and the necessity was not less mandatory that one of the
places should be filled by a Democrat, and the other by a member of the
Free-soil Party. There were expectations and conjectures, no doubt,
but until the Legislature assembled in 1851 no one knew what the
arrangement would be. I am sure that I had no assurance that either
place would be assigned to me. The leaders of the Free-soil Party were
resolute in demanding the place in the Senate, so that their views on
the subject of slavery might be there set forth, and there were many
Democrats who preferred the control of the State.
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