1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Martin Van Buren's Hammet letter
Furthermore, annexation of Texas as a territory would proceed, tentatively, under a Van Buren administration, only when the American public had been consulted on the matter and Mexico's cooperation had been pursued to avoid an unnecessary war. A military option might be advanced if a groundswell of popular support arose for Texas, certified with a congressional mandate. In these respects, Martin Van Buren differed from Henry Clay, who would never tolerate annexation without Mexico's assent.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Martin Van Buren's Hammet letter
With the publication of Clay's Raleigh Letter and Van Buren's Hammett Letter, Van Burenite Democrats hoped that their candidate's posture on Texas would leave southern pro-annexationists with exactly one choice for president: Martin Van Buren. In this, they misjudged the political situation. Tyler and the southern pro-annexationists posed a potentially far greater threat than Clay, in that the Tyler-Calhoun treaty would put immense pressure on the northern Democrats to comply with southern Democrats' demands for Texas.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Martin Van Buren's Hammet letter
The Hammett Letter utterly failed to reassure Middle and Deep South extremists who had responded favorably to Calhoun's Pakenham Letter. A minority of the southern Democrat leadership remained obdurate that Northern Democratic legislators would ignore their constituents' opposition to slavery expansion and unite in support of Texas annexation once exposed to sufficient southern pressure.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Martin Van Buren's Hammet letter
The extent to which Southern Democrat support for Martin Van Buren had eroded over the Texas annexation crisis became evident when Van Buren's southern counterpart in the rise of the Democratic Party, Thomas Ritchie of the Richmond Enquirer, terminated their 20-year political alliance in favor of immediate annexation.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Andrew Jackson
Calhoun gained significant credibility when his former nemesis, ex-President Andrew Jackson, publicly announced his support for immediate Texas annexation in May 1844. Jackson had facilitated Tyler's Texas negotiations in February 1844 by reassuring President of the Texas Republic Sam Houston that the US Senate ratification of the Tyler treaty was likely. As the Senate debated the Tyler treaty, Jackson declared that the popular support among Texans for annexation should be respected, and any delay would result in a British dominated Texas Republic that would promote slave emancipation and pose a foreign military threat to the southwest United States.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Andrew Jackson
The former military hero went further, urging all Jacksonian Democrats to block Martin Van Buren from the party ticket and seek a Democratic presidential candidate fully committed to the immediate annexation of Texas. In doing so, Jackson abandoned the traditional Jeffersonian-Jacksonian formula that had required its Northern and Southern wings to compromise on constitutional slavery disputes.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Andrew Jackson
Texas was fracturing Van Buren's support among Democrats and would "derail" his bid for President of the United States.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Democratic Party campaign tactics
Historian Sean Wilentz describes some of the Democrat campaign tactics:


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Democratic Party campaign tactics
In the South, Democrats played racist politics and smeared Clay as a dark skin-loving abolitionist, while in the North, they defamed him as a debauched, dueling, gambling, womanizing, irreligious hypocrite whose reversal on the bank issue proved he had no principles. They also pitched their nominees to particular local followings, having Polk hint preposterously, in a letter to a Philadelphian, that he favored "reasonable" tariff protection for domestic manufactures, while they attacked the pious humanitarian Frelinghuysen as an anti-Catholic bigot and crypto-nativist enemy of the separation of church and state. To ensure the success of their southern strategy, the Democrats also muffled John Tyler.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party convention and campaign, Democratic Party campaign tactics
Beyond his actual platform, Polk pledged to serve only one term as president. He would keep this promise, and would die less than three months after leaving office.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Senate vote on the Tyler-Texas treaty
The Tyler-Texas annexation treaty, submitted to the Senate in April 1844, was defeated in the Whig controlled Senate, largely along partisan lines, 16 to 35 – a two-thirds majority against passage – on June 8, 1844. Whigs voted 27–1 against the treaty: all northern Whig Senators voted nay, and fourteen of fifteen southern Whig Senators had joined them. Democrats voted for the treaty 15–8, with a slight majority of Northern Democrats opposing. Southern Democrats affirmed the treaty 10–1, with only one slave state Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, voting against.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Senate vote on the Tyler-Texas treaty
Three days later, Tyler and his supporters in Congress began exploring means to bypass the supermajority requirement for Senate treaty approval. Substituting the constitutional protocols for admitting regions of the United States into the Union as states, Tyler proposed that alternative, yet constitutional, means be used to bring the Republic of Texas – a foreign country – into the Union.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Senate vote on the Tyler-Texas treaty
Tyler and Calhoun, formerly staunch supporters of minority safeguards based on the supermajority requirements for national legislation, now altered their position to facilitate passage of the Tyler treaty. Tyler's attempt to evade the Senate vote launched a spirited congressional debate.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign
Former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, effectively the leader of the Whig Party since its inception in 1834, was selected as the Whig presidential nominee at the party's convention in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 1, 1844. Clay, a slaveholder, presided over a party in which its Southern wing was sufficiently committed to the national platform to put partisan loyalties above slavery expansionist proposals that might undermine its north–south alliance. Whigs felt confident that Clay could duplicate Harrison's landslide victory of 1840 against any opposition candidate.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign
Southern Whigs feared that the acquisition of the fertile lands in Texas would produce a huge market for slave labor, inflating the price of slaves and deflating land values in their home states. Northern Whigs feared that Texas statehood would initiate the opening of a vast "Empire for Slavery".


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign
Two weeks before the Whig convention in Baltimore, in reaction to Calhoun's Packenham Letter, Clay issued a document known as the Raleigh Letter (issued April 17, 1844) that presented his views on Texas to his fellow southern Whigs. In it, he flatly denounced the Tyler annexation bill and predicted that its passage would provoke a war with Mexico, whose government had never recognized Texas independence. Clay underlined his position, warning that even with Mexico's consent, he would block annexation in the event that substantial sectional opposition existed anywhere in the United States.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign
The Whig party leadership was acutely aware that any proslavery legislation advanced by its southern wing would alienate its anti-slavery northern wing and cripple the party in the general election. In order to preserve their party, Whigs would need to stand squarely against acquiring a new slave state. As such, Whigs were content to restrict their 1844 campaign platform to less divisive issues such as internal improvements and national finance.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign
Whigs picked Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey – "the Christian Statesman" – as Clay's running mate. An advocate of the colonization of emancipated slaves, he was acceptable to southern Whigs as an opponent of the abolitionists. His pious reputation balanced Clay's image as a slave-holding, hard-drinking duelist. Their party slogan was "Hurray, Hurray, the Country's Risin' – Vote for Clay and Frelinghuysen!"


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign, Henry Clay's Alabama letter
On July 27, 1844, Henry Clay, in the midst of his campaign against James K. Polk, released a position statement, the so-called Alabama Letter. In it, he counseled his Whig constituency to regard Texas annexation and statehood as merely a short phase in the decline of slavery in the United States, rather than a long term advance for the Slave Power. Clay qualified his stance on Texas annexation, declaring "no personal objection to the annexation" of the republic. He would move back to his original orientation in September 1844. Northern Whigs expressed outrage at any détente with the Slave Power and accused him of equivocating on Texas annexation.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign, Henry Clay's Alabama letter
Clay's central position, however, had not altered: no annexation without northern acquiescence. Clay's commitment brought Southern Whigs under extreme pressure in their home states and congressional districts, threatening to tarnish their credentials as supporters of slavery.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign, Whig Party campaign tactics
Historian Sean Wilentz describes some of the Whig campaign tactics:


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign, Whig Party campaign tactics
"The Whigs countered Democratic attacks by revving up the Log Cabin electioneering machinery and redeploying it on behalf of the man they now celebrated as 'Ol'Coon' Clay. They also attacked former House Speaker Polk as nobody who deep down was a dangerous Loco Foco radical... With greater success, the Whigs linked up with resurgent nativist anti-Catholic movement strongest in New York and Pennsylvania, and planted stories that as president, Clay would tighten up immigration and naturalization laws.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Whig Party convention and campaign, Whig Party campaign tactics
(Too late, Clay tried to distance himself from the nativists.)" "The Liberty Party added to the confusion...Clay became the object of nasty abolitionist attacks. One notorious handbill, widely reprinted, by an abolitionist minister Abel Brown, denounced Clay as a "Man Stealer, Slaveholder, and Murdurer," and accused him of "Selling Jesus Christ!" because he dealt in slaves. With the campaign to be decided at the electoral margins, Whig managers grew so concerned that, late in the campaign, they concocted a fraudulent letter that supposedly proved that James Birney was secretly working in league with the Democrats, and circulated it in New York and Ohio."


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations, John Tyler
After the closed session Senate debates on the Tyler-Texas treaty were leaked to the public on April 27, 1844, President Tyler's only hope of success in influencing passage of his treaty was to intervene directly as candidate in the 1844 election as Kingmaker. His "Democratic-Republican Party", a recycling of the name of Thomas Jefferson's party, held its convention on May 27, 1844, in Baltimore, Maryland, a short distance from the unfolding Democratic Party convention that would select James K. Polk as nominee. Tyler was nominated the same day without challenge, accepting the honor on May 30, 1844. He designated no vice-presidential running mate.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations, John Tyler
Democratic Party nominee James K. Polk was faced with the possibility that a Tyler ticket might shift votes away from the Democrats and provide Clay with the margin of victory in a close race. Tyler made clear in his convention acceptance speech that his overriding concern was the ratification of his Texas annexation treaty. Moreover, he hinted that he would drop out of the race once that end was assured, informing Polk, through Senator Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, that his campaign efforts were simply a vehicle to mobilize support for Texas annexation. Tyler concentrated his resources in the states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all highly contested states in the election. Securing enough Democratic support, his withdrawal might prove indispensable to Polk.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations, John Tyler
Polk was receptive as long as Tyler could withdraw without raising suspicion of a secret bargain. To solidify Tyler's cooperation, Polk enlisted Andrew Jackson to reassure Tyler that Texas annexation would be consummated under a Polk administration. On August 20, 1844, Tyler dropped out of the presidential race, and Tylerites moved quickly to support the Democratic Party nominee.


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations, Liberty Party
The abolitionist lawyer and publisher James Birney ran as the candidate of the anti-slavery Liberty Party and garnered 2.3% of the popular vote overall, but over 8% of the vote in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. The votes he won were more than the difference in votes between Henry Clay and James K. Polk; some scholars have argued that Birney's support among anti-slavery Whigs in New York swung that decisive state in favor of Polk (see below).


1844 United States presidential election, Nominations, Other nominations, Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, ran as an independent with Sidney Rigdon as his running mate. He proposed the abolition of slavery through compensation by selling public lands and decreasing the size and salary of Congress; the closure of prisons; the annexation of Texas, Oregon, and parts of Canada; the securing of international rights on high seas; free trade; and the re-establishment of a national bank. His top aide Brigham Young campaigned for Smith saying, "He it is that God of Heaven designs to save this nation from destruction and preserve the Constitution." The campaign ended when he was attacked and killed by a mob while in the Carthage, Illinois, jail on June 27, 1844.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
Polk's adoption of Manifest Destiny paid dividends at the polls. No longer identified with the Tyler-Calhoun "southern crusade for slavery", the western Democrats could embrace Texas annexation. The Democrats enjoyed a huge upsurge in voter turnout, up to 20% over the figures from 1840, especially in the Northwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. The Whigs showed only a 4% increase.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
The Democrats won Michigan, Illinois and Indiana and nearly took Ohio, where the concept of Manifest Destiny was most admired.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
In the Deep South, Clay lost every state to Polk, a huge reversal from the 1840 race, but carried most of the Middle and Border South.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
Clay's "waffling" on Texas may have cost him the 41 electoral votes of New York and Michigan. The former slaveholder, now abolitionist, James Birney of the Liberty Party, received 15,812 and 3,632 votes, respectively, on the basis of his unwavering stand against Texas annexation.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
Celebratory shots rang out in Washington on November 7 as returns came in from western New York which clinched the state and the presidency for Polk. Polk won by a mere 5,106 out of 470,062 cast in New York, and only 3,422 out of 52,096 votes in Michigan. Had enough of these voting blocks cast their ballots for the anti-annexationist Clay in either state, he would have defeated Polk. Still, Clay's opposition to annexation and western slavery expansion served him well among Northern Whigs and nearly secured him the election.


1844 United States presidential election, Results
This was the last election in which Ohio voted for the Whigs. It was also the only presidential election in which the winner, Polk, lost both his birth state of North Carolina and his state of residence, Tennessee, (which he lost by only 123 votes) prior to Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election. It is the only presidential election in which both major party nominees were former Speakers of the House.


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Allegations of fraud
Upon the conclusion of the election, Whig publications disheartened at the loss of Henry Clay alleged fraud against the Clay ticket. The Whig Almanac, a yearly collection of political statistics and events of interest to the party, contained in 1845 a column alleging fraud in Louisiana. It noted that, in one Louisiana parish, Plaquemines, the vote tally exploded from a 240 to 40 vote victory for the Van Buren ticket in 1840 to a 1007 to 37 vote victory for the Polk ticket in 1844. The 970 vote margin was greater than Polk's margin statewide.


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Allegations of fraud
The 1,007 votes received by Polk exceeded the total number of all white males in the parish in 1840, despite Louisiana having a property requirement to vote. A steward, pilot, and passenger of the steamboat Agnes reportedly said that the ship ferried voters from New Orleans to Plaquemines parish where the steward was pushed by the Captain to vote for the Polk ticket three times, despite not being of voting age. A man named Charles Bruland was seen driven out of the voting booth wounded and bloody after attempting to cast a vote for the Clay ticket in Plaquemines parish.


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Allegations of fraud
Ultimately, these allegations of fraud would not have changed the election (though the Whig Almanac makes a slippery slope argument that if this fraud occurred in Louisiana, it must also have occurred in New York, which had Clay won he would have won the election), as Louisiana switching its vote would make the final count 164 electoral vote for Polk to 111 for Clay.


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Allegations of fraud
Source (Popular vote): Source (Electoral vote): (a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Cartographic gallery
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Cartographic gallery
Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Polk


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Cartographic gallery
Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Clay


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Cartographic gallery
Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for Birney


1844 United States presidential election, Results, Cartographic gallery
Results by county, shaded according to percentage of the vote for other candidates


1844 United States presidential election, Results by state
Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836-1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.


1844 United States presidential election, Consequences
Polk's election confirmed the American public's desire for westward expansion. The annexation of Texas was formalized on March 1, 1845, before Polk even took office. As feared, Mexico refused to accept the annexation and the Mexican–American War broke out in 1846. With Polk's main issue of Texas settled, instead of demanding all of Oregon, he compromised and the United States and United Kingdom negotiated the Buchanan–Pakenham Treaty, which divided up the Oregon Territory between the two countries.


1844 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1844 United States presidential election in Alabama took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Alabama by a margin of 17.98%.


1844 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1844 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Arkansas by a margin of 26.02%.


1844 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1844 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won Connecticut by a narrow margin of 4.63%.


1844 United States presidential election in Connecticut
As of 2020, this is the most recent presidential election in which the town of Woodbury voted for the Democratic nominee.


1844 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1844 United States presidential election in Delaware took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won the state by a narrow margin of 2.45%.


1844 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1844 United States presidential election in Georgia took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 10 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Georgia by a margin of 2.38%.


1844 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1844 United States presidential election in Illinois took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Illinois by a margin of 11.86%.


1844 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1844 United States presidential election in Indiana took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Indiana by a narrow margin of 1.65%.


1844 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1844 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won his home state by a margin of 8.18%.


1844 United States presidential election in Kentucky
With 54.09% of the popular vote, Clay's home state would be his third strongest victory after Rhode Island and Vermont.


1844 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1844 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Louisiana by a narrow margin of 2.6%.


1844 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1844 United States presidential election in Maine took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Maine by a margin of 13.35%.


1844 United States presidential election in Maine
With 5.69% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be James G. Birney's fifth strongest state after New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Michigan.


1844 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1844 United States presidential election in Maryland took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won Maryland by a margin of 4.78%.


1844 United States presidential election in Maryland
With 52.39% of the popular vote, Maryland would prove to be Henry Clay's fifth strongest state after Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky and North Carolina.


1844 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1844 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk and Liberty candidate James G. Birney. Clay won Massachusetts by a margin of 10.62%.


1844 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With 8.20% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would prove to be James G. Birney's second strongest state after neighboring New Hampshire.


1844 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1844 United States presidential election in Michigan took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay and Liberty candidate James G. Birney. Polk won Michigan by a margin of 6.03%.


1844 United States presidential election in Michigan
With 6.53% of the popular vote, Michigan would prove to be Jame G. Birney's fourth strongest state after New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont.


1844 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1844 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Mississippi by a margin of 14.86%.


1844 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1844 United States presidential election in Missouri took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Missouri by a margin of 13.96%.


1844 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1844 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay and Liberty candidate James G. Birney. Polk won New Hampshire by a margin of 18.9%.


1844 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
With 8.46% of the popular vote, New Hampshire would prove to be James G. Birney's strongest state.


1844 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1844 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won New Jersey by a margin of 1.09 percent; however, Polk would be the last Democrat to carry Cape May County until Woodrow Wilson in 1912.


1844 United States presidential election in New York
The 1844 United States presidential election in New York took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 36 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in New York
New York voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won New York by a margin of 1.05%. New York was decisive; if Clay had won the state, he would have received 141 electoral votes, more than the 138 needed to win at the time.


1844 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1844 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 11 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won North Carolina by a margin of 4.63%.


1844 United States presidential election in North Carolina
With 52.39% of the popular vote, North Carolina would be Henry Clay's fourth strongest state after Rhode Island, Vermont and Kentucky. This was also the last presidential election until 1992 when a Democrat would win without carrying the state of North Carolina.


1844 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1844 United States presidential election in Ohio took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 23 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Ohio
Ohio voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won Ohio by a narrow margin of 1.94%.


1844 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1844 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 26 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over the Whig candidate, Henry Clay. Polk won Pennsylvania by a margin of 1.91%.


1844 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1844 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won Rhode Island by a margin of 19.97%.


1844 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
With 59.55% of the popular vote, Rhode Island would prove to be Henry Clay's strongest state in the nation.


1844 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1844 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose 9 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in South Carolina
South Carolina cast 9 electoral votes for the Democratic candidate James K. Polk. These electors were chosen by the South Carolina General Assembly, the state legislature, rather than by popular vote.


1844 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1844 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Despite being Polk's home state and the state he once served as the governor of, Tennessee voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk. Clay won Tennessee by a very narrow margin of 123 votes (0.10%). James K. Polk is one of 4 presidents to lose his home state in a successful presidential bid. The others are Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and Donald Trump.


1844 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1844 United States presidential election in Vermont took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont voted for the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, over Democratic candidate James K. Polk and Liberty candidate James G. Birney. Clay won Vermont by a margin of 17.88%.


1844 United States presidential election in Vermont
With 54.84% of the popular vote, Vermont would prove to be Henry Clay's second strongest state after Rhode Island. The Green Mountain State would also prove to be James G. Birney's third strongest state after New Hampshire and Massachusetts.


1844 United States presidential election in Virginia
The 1844 United States presidential election in Virginia took place between November 1 and December 4, 1844, as part of the 1844 United States presidential election. Voters chose 17 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.


1844 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia voted for the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, over Whig candidate Henry Clay. Polk won Virginia by a margin of 6.10%.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model
The 1844 Victoria One Penny Model was a model coin issued by Birmingham medallist Joseph Moore (1817–1892) between 1844 and 1848, during a period in which the British Government were considering the notion of replacing the heavy copper coinage then in use.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model
Their popularity with the public led to the Royal Mint  to make a statement declaring that it was not responsible for their production.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model
A feature that sets them apart from other coins of their age is that they were bimetallic. The outer part was made of copper, and the inner part was originally composed of silver to make up for the small intrinsic value of copper — but in most cases 60 percent zinc and 40 percent nickel were used.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model
The design features an outer ring in which on the obverse and reverse the words 'ONE PENNY MODEL' are printed and an inner circle on the obverse of which a youthful portrait of Queen Victoria is shown with the words 'VICTORIA REG', and on the reverse is shown a numeral 1.


1844 Victoria One Penny Model
There are four known locations for the 1844 model pennies; all the rest are Model Pennies which do not have 1844 on them.


1844 Whig National Convention
The 1844 Whig National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held on May 1 in Baltimore, Maryland. It nominated the Whig Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1844 election. The convention selected former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky for president and former Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey for vice president.


1844 Whig National Convention
While the Whigs had won the 1840 presidential election, the party needed a new ticket as President William Henry Harrison had died in April 1841 while his successor, John Tyler, had been expelled from the party in September 1841 for vetoing bills passed by the Whig-controlled Congress. The convention unanimously nominated Clay, a long-time party leader, for president. Frelinghuysen won the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot, defeating former Governor John Davis of Massachusetts and two other candidates. The Whig ticket went on to lose the 1844 general election to the Democratic ticket of James K. Polk and George M. Dallas.


1844 Whig National Convention, Presidential nomination
President John Tyler had been expelled from the party and the delegates searched for a new nominee. President Tyler's break with the Whig Party, combined with Daniel Webster's decision to serve in the Tyler administration, positioned Clay as the leading contender for the Whig nomination in the 1844 presidential election. At the convention, Clay was nominated unanimously.


1844 Whig National Convention, Platform
Clay, a slaveholder, presided over a party in which its Southern wing was sufficiently committed to the national platform to put partisan loyalties above slavery expansionist proposals that might undermine its North-South alliance. The Whig party leadership was acutely aware that any proslavery legislation advanced by its southern wing would alienate its anti-slavery northern wing and cripple the party in the general election. In order to preserve their party, Whigs would need to stand squarely against acquiring a new slave state. As such, Whigs were content to restrict their 1844 campaign platform to less divisive issues such as internal improvements and national finance. Clay himself had previously stated that he was opposed to the annexation of Texas.


1844 Whig National Convention, Vice presidential nomination
Whigs picked Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey – "the Christian Statesman" – as Clay's running mate. An advocate of colonization of emancipated slaves, he was acceptable to southern Whigs as an opponent of the abolitionists. His pious reputation balanced Clay's image as a slave-holding, hard-drinking duelist. Their party slogan was the bland "Hurray, Hurray, the Country's Risin' – Vote for Clay and Frelinghuysen!"


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 29th Congress were held at various dates in different states from July 1844 to November 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections
All 224 elected members took their seats when Congress convened December 1, 1845. The House elections spanned the 1844 Presidential election, won by dark horse Democratic candidate James K. Polk, who advocated territorial expansion. The new states of Texas and Iowa were added during this Congress, with Florida admitted on the last day of the previous Congress.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections
Democrats lost six seats but retained a large majority over the rival Whigs. The new American Party, based on the nativist "Know Nothing" movement characterized by opposition to immigration and anti-Catholicism, gained six seats.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Election summaries
One seat was added for the new State of Florida. Texas and Iowa were admitted during this next Congress, but their initial elections were held in 1846.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Alabama
Elections were held August 4, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Connecticut
Elections were held April 7, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Indiana
Elections were held August 4, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Kentucky
Elections were held August 4, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Maryland, Late elections to the 28th Congress
Maryland elected its members to the 28th Congress on February 14, 1844, after that Congress had already convened in 1843 and long after the 1842–1843 election cycle.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Maryland, Regular elections to the 29th Congress
Maryland's October 1, 1845 elections were after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the new term, but still before the Congress convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Massachusetts
Elections were held November 11, 1844. At least one district, however, had multiple ballots stretching into 1846.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Mississippi
Elections were held November 3–4, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Missouri
Elections were held at-large on a general ticket August 5, 1844.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, New Hampshire
Elections were held at-large on a general ticket March 11, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, North Carolina
Elections were held August 7, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Rhode Island
Elections were held April 2, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States House of Representatives elections, Virginia
Elections were held April 24, 1845, after the March 4, 1845 beginning of the term, but before the House first convened in December 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections
The United States Senate elections of 1844 and 1845 were elections which, coinciding with James K. Polk's election, had the Democratic Party retake control of the United States Senate, gaining a net total of eleven seats from the Whigs.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections
As these elections were prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, Senators were chosen by state legislatures.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Special elections during the 28th Congress
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1844 or in 1845 before March 4; ordered by election date.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Races leading to the 29th Congress
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1845; ordered by state.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Special elections during the 29th Congress
In these special elections, the winners were elected in 1845 after March 4; ordered by election date.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York
There were three elections: Two special elections were held on January 18, 1845 and one regular election was held on February 4, 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York
The 68th New York State Legislature met from January 7 to May 14, 1845.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York, New York (Special, Class 1)
Nathaniel P. Tallmadge had been re-elected in 1840 to the Class 1 seat (term 1839-1845), but resigned June 17, 1844 to become Governor of Wisconsin Territory. On November 30, Governor of New York William C. Bouck appointed his Democratic Lieutenant Governor Daniel S. Dickinson to fill the vacancy temporarily, and Dickinson was seated December 9, 1844.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York, New York (Special, Class 3)
Silas Wright Jr. had been re-elected in 1843 to the Class 3 seat (term 1843-1849), but resigned November 26, 1844, when elected Governor of New York. On November 30, Governor Bouck appointed Democratic State Senator Henry A. Foster to fill the vacancy temporarily, and Foster took his seat on December 9, 1844.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York, New York (Special, Class 3)
Dix took his seat on January 27, 1845, and remained in office until March 3, 1849, when his term expired.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, New York, New York (Regular)
Dickinson re-took his seat under the new credentials on January 27, 1845, and re-elected, remained in office until March 3, 1851, when his term expired.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Regular)
The regular election was held January 14, 1845. Incumbent Daniel Sturgeon was re-elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate. The Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, convened on January 14, 1845, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1845. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Special)
A special election was held March 13, 1845. Simon Cameron was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate. Democratic future-U.S. president James Buchanan was elected in an 1834 special election and was re-elected in 1836 and 1843.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Special)
Senator Buchanan resigned on March 5, 1845, after being appointed U.S. Secretary of State by President James K. Polk.


1844 and 1845 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Special)
Following the resignation of senator Buchanan, the Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on March 13, 1845, to elect a new Ssenator to fill the vacancy and serve the remainder of the term set to expire on March 4, 1849. Five ballots were recorded. The results of the fifth and final ballot of both houses combined are as follows:


1844 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1844 in Australia.


1844 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1844 in Chile.


1844 in India
Events in the year 1844 in India. Dwarkanath Gangopadhyay (also spelt as Dwarkanath Ganguly) was born on 20 April 1844 . Dwarkanath was a Brahmo reformer in Bengal of British India. He made substantial contribution towards the enlightenment of society and the emancipation of women. He dedicated his whole life for the cause of women emancipation and encouraged them to participate in every walk of life be it politics, social services etc and even helped them to form organizations of their own. He was the husband of the first Indian practising lady doctor, Kadambini Ganguly.


1844 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1844 in New Zealand.


1844 in New Zealand, Population
The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1844 is 73,900 Māori and 12,447 non-Māori.


1844 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1844 in South Africa.


1844 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1844 to Wales and its people.


1844 in architecture
The year 1844 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1844 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1844.


1844 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1844.


1844 in paleontology, Archosauromorphs, Newly named phytosaurs
Actually a dubious genus of crocodile-like phytosaur, similar to the Rutiodon pictured to the right.


1844 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1844 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1844 in poetry, Deaths
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1844 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1844.


1844 in science
The year 1844 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.


1844 in sports
1844 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1845
1845 (MDCCCXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1845th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 845th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 45th  year of the 19th century, and the  6th   year of the 1840s decade. As of the start of 1845, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1845 Alabama gubernatorial election
The 1845 Alabama gubernatorial election took place on August 4, 1845, in order to elect the Governor of Alabama. Term started on December 10, 1845. Independent Joshua L. Martin won his only term as Governor with 53.5% of the vote.


1845 Belgian general election
Partial legislative elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 1845 in which 48 of the 95 seats in the Chamber of Representatives were elected. Voter turnout was 77.0%, although only 22,771 people were eligible to vote.


1845 Belgian general election
Under the alternating system, Chamber elections were held in only five out of the nine provinces: Antwerp, Brabant, Luxembourg, Namur and West Flanders. The Senate was not up for election this year.


1845 Chicago mayoral election
In the Chicago mayoral election of 1845, Democratic nominee Augustus Garrett defeated Whig nominee John H. Kinzie and Liberty nominee Henry Smith by a 7.5% margin.


1845 Chicago mayoral election
All candidates had previously run in Chicago mayoral elections, Garrett in 1842, 1843, and both 1844 elections; Smith in 1842, 1843 and both 1844 elections; Kinzie in 1837.


1845 Connecticut gubernatorial election
The 1845 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on April 2, 1845. Incumbent governor, Amistad lawyer and Whig nominee Roger Sherman Baldwin was re-elected, defeating former congressman and Democratic nominee Isaac Toucey with 51.00% of the vote.


1845 East Cornwall by-election
The East Cornwall by-election of 1845 was an uncontested election held on 20 February 1845. The by-election was brought about due to the vacation from the seat of the incumbent Conservative MP, Edward Eliot, who succeeded to the peerage as the Earl of St Germans. It was won by the Conservative candidate William Pole-Carew, who was the only declared candidate.


1845 Florida gubernatorial election
The 1845 Florida gubernatorial election was held on May 26, 1845 to elect the first Governor of Florida. Democratic nominee William Dunn Moseley defeated Whig nominee Richard Keith Call with 55.14% of the vote.


1845 Florida's at-large congressional district special election
A special election to the United States House of Representatives for Florida's at-large congressional district was held October 6, 1845.


1845 Florida's at-large congressional district special election
The winning candidate would serve a two-year term in the United States House of Representatives to represent Florida in the 29th Congress from December 1, 1845, to March 4, 1847.


1845 Florida's at-large congressional district special election
The election was initially called for the Whig candidate, Edward Carrington Cabell, and Cabell was seated in the House of Representatives. However, a recount found the winner to actually be the Democratic candidate, William Henry Brockenbrough. Brockenbrough was seated immediately on January 24, 1846.


1845 Florida's at-large congressional district special election, Background
In the 1845 congressional election, David Levy Yulee, a Democrat, was elected to the United States House of Representatives. However, Yulee was jointly elected by the Florida Legislature to the United States Senate, and so resigned from the House of Representatives before taking his seat in order to take his seat in the Senate.


1845 Georgia gubernatorial election
The 1845 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on October 4.


1845 Georgia gubernatorial election
The incumbent governor, George W. Crawford, was re-elected to a second term in office. The election was decided by 1,919 votes.


1845 Grand National
The 1845 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the seventh annual running of a Handicap Steeple-chase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase, a horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on Wednesday 5 March 1845 and attracted a field of 15 runners. It was won by the unconsidered outsider Cure-All, ridden by William Loft in a record time of 10 minutes, 47 seconds.


1845 Grand National, The Course
The report published by the reporter of the Liverpool Mercury was the only contemporary record of both the course and the race. It stated that the course had not changed from the previous year and was completely run on grass with the exception of the starting field and a large field near the Canal bridge. The fourteenth fence, which had been an artificial hurdle at the distance judges chair was replaced with a stone wall


1845 Grand National, The Course
Start - Just beyond the Melling Road. Fence 1 [17] on the second circuit] Plain good fence. Fence 2 [18] Plain good fence. Fence 3 [19] Plain good fence. Fence 4 [20] Plain good fence. Fence 5 [21] The Upper Brook, where Captain Beecher fell in 1839. Fence 6 [22] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side. Fence 7 [23] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side. Fence 8 [24] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side.


1845 Grand National, The Course
Fence 9 [25] A large water jump. Fence 10 [26] Out of the second field along the Canal. Fence 11 [27] Out of the third field along the Canal. Fence 12 [28] A fence into the Anchor Bridge Road. Fence 13 An artificial hurdle leaving the training ground on the racecourse proper. Fence 14 A stone wall [reintroduced after having been removed the previous year for an artificial hurdle]. Fence 15 An artificial brook twelve feet wide with a three-foot rail [this description being a foot narrower than the previous reported description]. Fence 16 A bank into the Melling Road. Fence 29 An artificial hurdle adjacent to the distance chair on the run in.


1845 Grand National, The Course
On jumping fence twelve the runners would continue onto the widest part of the course, known as the training ground, making the straight along the stands as long as possible a run before starting the second circuit. After jumping fence twenty-eight the runners would turn towards the racecourse at an earlier point, this time jumping the hurdle on the other side of the distance judge's chair.


1845 Grand National, Details
The race was delayed due to a protest from the owners of Cure-All and Crocus over the condition of the course. Heavy rain, followed by a sharp overnight frost left parts of the course in a very hard condition, which the two owners felt was unsafe for racing. The race commenced at 5pm after the remaining owners had voted to race. The owner of Crocus, Mr Robson withdrew his horse while Cure-All went on to win.


1845 Grand National, Details
Only the first four horses to pass the finishing post were recorded as official finishers to the race. Another seven horse were recorded by the press as having passed the post but they were so far behind that they all finished among the many spectators who would follow the race on horse back and would enter the course when the winner passed the post. It may be that some, if not all of those who finished outside the first four bypassed the final obstacles.


1845 Grand National, Details
Another possible reason why they were not recorded as finishers is that a distance judge used to sit at a position beside the modern day chair fence and would declare any horse who had not reached his position by the time the previous horse passed the post as being distanced and would pull them up.


1845 Grand National, Details
The winning owner and rider was William loft from Healing, Lincolnshire near Grimsby, although he leased the ownership of the horse to Mr Sterling Crawford for the Grand National. Loft also officially trained the horse as well but this duty was more likely handled by Christopher Crisp, known as Kitty. Crisp actually walked every step of the road from Grimsby to Liverpool with the horse and after their victory they returned home the same way with the Healing church bells sounded in their honour upon their arrival.


1845 Grand National, Details
Loft was one of nine riders making their debut in the race while Tom Olliver was taking a record seventh ride in the race.


1845 Grand National, Details
Clansman's fatal fall at the Canal Turn was the second equine fatality in the history of the race and the first for six years.


1845 Helewalda
1845 Helewalda, provisional designation 1972 UC, is a carbonaceous Eoan asteroid in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland, on 30 October 1972. The asteroid was named after Helen Gachnang, a friend of the discoverer.


1845 Helewalda, Orbit and classification
Helewalda is a member of the Eos family (606), the largest asteroid family in the outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.8–3.1 AU once every 5 years and 1 month (1,868 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.06 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory in 1931, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 41 years prior to its discovery.


1845 Helewalda, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Based on observations made by French astronomer René Roy in March 2010, Helewalda has a well-determined rotation period of 7.2786±0.0002 hours with a brightness variation of 0.26 in magnitude (U=3-).


1845 Helewalda, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Between 2009 and 2015, other lightcurves were obtained at the Oakley Southern Sky Observatory in Australia (E09), the Via Capote Observatory at Thousand Oaks, California (G69), and the Palomar Transient Factory at Palomar Observatory. They gave a similar period of 7.399±0.004, 7.4±0.1 and 7.3985±0.0098 hours with a corresponding amplitude of 0.20, 0.28 and 0.15, respectively (U=2/2+/2).


1845 Helewalda, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link calculates a diameter of 32.0 kilometers, based on an assumed standard albedo for carbonaceous C-type asteroids of 0.057, while the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer measured a higher albedo of 0.134 and 0.129 and a corresponding diameter of 19.9 and 20.4 kilometers in diameter, respectively.


1845 Helewalda, Naming
The discoverer, Paul Wild, named a pair of asteroids after two of his former schoolmates, Susi and Helen, both from the small village of Wald, Zürich in Switzerland. This one was dedicated to Helen Gachnang, while the previously numbered asteroid 1844 Susilva was given to Susi Petit-Pierre. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 April 1977 (M.P.C. 4156).


1845 Iowa Council election
In the 1845 Iowa Territory Council elections, electors selected councilors to serve in the eighth and final Iowa Territory Council before Iowa attained statehood in 1846. All 13 members of the Territory Council were elected. Councilors served until the organization of the Iowa General Assembly in 1846 as the legislative branch of the new state of Iowa.


1845 Iowa Council election
The Iowa Territory existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when Iowa was admitted to the Union as a state. At the time, the Iowa Territory had a Legislative Assembly consisting of an upper chamber (i.e., the Territory Council) and a lower chamber (i.e., the Territory House). Since statehood in 1846, the General Assembly has served as the legislative branch of Iowa. The Territory Council was the predecessor to the Iowa State Senate, the upper chamber of the Iowa state legislature.


1845 Iowa Council election
Following the previous election in 1844, Democrats held a majority with 11 seats to Whigs' two seats.


1845 Iowa Council election
To claim a majority of seats, the Whigs needed to net five seats from Democrats.


1845 Iowa Council election
Democrats maintained a majority of seats in the Iowa Territory Council following the 1845 general election with the balance of power remaining unchanged with Democrats holding 11 seats and Whigs having two seats. Democratic Councilor Stephen Hempstead was chosen as the President of the eighth Territory Council to succeed Democratic Councilor Serranus Clinton Hastings in that leadership position.


1845 Liverpool Town Council election
Elections to Liverpool Town Council were held on Wednesday 1 November 1845. One third of the council seats were up for election, the term of office of each councillor being three years.


1845 Liverpool Town Council election, Election result
Given that ten of the sixteen seats were uncontested, these statistics should be taken in that context.


1845 Liverpool Town Council election, Ward results, Rodney Street
Because there was a tie, the casting vote of the presiding alderman (Richard Smethurst Crook, Conservative) went to John Nelson Wood (Conservative).


1845 Michigan gubernatorial election
The 1845 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1845. Democratic nominee Alpheus Felch defeated Whig nominee Stephen Vickery with 50.94% of the vote.


1845 Naval Air Squadron
1845 Naval Air Squadron (1845 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.


1845 Philadelphia mayoral election
The Philadelphia mayoral election of 1845 saw John Swift return to office for a ninth overall non-consecutive term.


1845 Philadelphia mayoral election, Electoral system
Beginning in 1839, the city operated under a mixed electoral system. Citizens voted for mayor in a general election. If a candidate receive a majority of the vote, they would be elected mayor. However, if no candidate received a majority, the City Council would select a mayor from the top-two finishers.


1845 Portuguese legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 3 and 17 August 1845.


1845 Portuguese legislative election, Electoral system
The elections were held under the Constitutional Charter of 1826, and in accordance with a decree issued on 28 April 1845. Members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected in an indirect system in which voters elected provincial assemblies, who in turn elected members of the Chamber.


1845 Portuguese legislative election, Electoral system
The 142 members of the Chamber of Deputies included 119 representing the mainland and 10 representing islands (all elected in multi-member constituencies), with another 13 representing overseas colonies (three elected in single-member constituencies and ten in multi-member constituencies).


1845 Portuguese legislative election, Results
The result was a victory for the Cabralistas, with Miguelistas advising voters to boycott the elections. The opposition won only six seats in Alentejo.


1845 Texas gubernatorial election
The 1845 Texas gubernatorial election was held on December 15, 1845, to elect the first Governor of Texas. The election was held in preparation for the annexation of Texas by the United States and resulted in the election of James Pinckney Henderson, who received 82% of the vote and became the first governor of the new state.


1845 United States House of Representatives election in Florida
The 1845 United States House of Representatives election in Florida was held on Monday, May 26, 1845 to elect the single United States Representative from the state of Florida, one from the state's single at-large congressional district, to represent Florida in the 29th Congress. The election coincided with the elections of other offices, including the gubernatorial election, the senatorial elections, and various state and local elections.


1845 United States House of Representatives election in Florida
The winning candidate would serve a two-year term in the United States House of Representatives from December 1, 1845, to March 4, 1847.


1845 United States House of Representatives election in Florida, Background
Florida was admitted to the Union as a slave state on March 3, 1845, the last day of the 28th Congress, along with Iowa. Neither state was represented in the 28th Congress. Florida held its elections on May 26, 1845.


1845 United States House of Representatives election in Florida, Aftermath
Because Yulee was jointly elected to both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate and a person cannot hold both offices at the same time, he resigned from the House before taking his seat. A special election was held later in 1845 to elect his replacement, electing Whig Edward Carrington Cabell, though after a recount, Democrat William Henry Brockenbrough was found to be the winner instead.


1845 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1845 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on January 14, 1845. Incumbent Daniel Sturgeon was re-elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.


1845 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, Results
The Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, convened on January 14, 1845, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1845. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:


1845 United States Senate elections in New York
The 1845 United States Senate special election in New York was held on January 18, 1845 by the New York State Legislature to elect two U.S. Senators (Class 1 and Class 3) to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate. The regular 1845 United States Senate election in New York was held on February 4, 1845, to elect a U.S. Senator (Class 1) to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Background
Nathaniel P. Tallmadge had been re-elected in 1840 to the Class 1 seat (term 1839-1845), but resigned on June 17, 1844, to be appointed Governor of Wisconsin Territory by President John Tyler. On November 30, Governor William C. Bouck appointed Lieutenant Governor Daniel S. Dickinson to fill the vacancy temporarily, and Dickinson took his seat on December 9, 1844.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Background
Silas Wright, Jr. had been re-elected in 1843 to the Class 3 seat (term 1843-1849), but resigned on November 26, 1844, after his election as Governor of New York. On November 30, Governor William C. Bouck appointed State Senator Henry A. Foster to fill the vacancy temporarily, and Foster took his seat on December 9, 1844.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Background
At the State election in November 1844, Democrat Silas Wright was elected Governor; 70 Democrats, 44 Whigs, and 14 Anti- Renters and Native Americans were elected to the Assembly; and 6 Democrats, 1 Whig and 1 American Republican were elected to the State Senate. The 68th New York State Legislature met from January 7 to May 14, 1845, at Albany, New York. At this time the Democratic Party was split in two factions: the "Hunkers" and the "Barnburners". At the Democratic caucus for Speaker, Hunker Horatio Seymour received 35 votes against 30 for Barnburner William C. Crain. Both temporarily appointed U.S. Senators, Dickinson and Foster, were Hunkers, but the Barnburners claimed one of the seats.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Candidates
A Democratic caucus to nominate candidates for the U.S. Senate met in January 1845, with 93 State legislators present.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Candidates
To fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Silas Wright, John Adams Dix (Barnburner) was nominated, winning by a vote of 51 against 41 for Chief Justice Samuel Nelson (Hunker). To fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, for the remainder of the term that would expire on March 3, the incumbent Daniel S. Dickinson (Hunker) was re-nominated. After these nominations were made, the legislature moved to adjourn, and to postpone the nomination of a candidate for the full term beginning on March 4; this motion was rejected by a vote of 55 to 37.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Candidates
Then, Daniel S. Dickinson was nominated to succeed himself for a full term (1845-1851). The vote was 54 for Dickinson, 13 for Ex-Congressman Michael Hoffman (Barnb. ), 3 for Ex-Congressman Freeborn G. Jewett (Barnb. ), 1 for Samuel Nelson (Hunker), and 4 blanks. As many Barnburners refused to vote on this nomination, they opposed a motion to "make the nomination unanimous."


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Aftermath
Dickinson re-took his seat under the new credentials on January 27, 1845, and re-elected, remained in office until March 3, 1851, when his term expired.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Aftermath
Dix took his seat on January 27, 1845, and remained in office until March 3, 1849, when his term expired.


1845 United States Senate elections in New York, Aftermath
The defeated Hunkers' candidate for the Class 3 seat, Justice Samuel Nelson was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court on February 27, 1845, one week before the end of President John Tyler's term.


1845 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania
The 1845 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania was held on March 13, 1845. Simon Cameron was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.


1845 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania, Background
Democrat and future President of the United States James Buchanan was elected to the United States Senate by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, in an 1834 special election and was re-elected in 1836 and 1843. Sen. Buchanan resigned on March 5, 1845, after being appointed U.S. Secretary of State by President James K. Polk.


1845 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania, Results
Following the resignation of Sen. Buchanan, the Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on March 13, 1845, to elect a new Senator to fill the vacancy and serve the remainder of the term set to expire on March 4, 1849. Five ballots were recorded. The results of the fifth and final ballot of both houses combined are as follows:


1845 West Suffolk by-election
The 1845 West Suffolk by-election was held on 7 July 1845 after the death of the incumbent Conservative MP, Robert Rushbrooke. It was retained by the unopposed Conservative candidate Philip Bennet, who was elected on a platform of support for agriculture and the Church of England.


1845 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 1845 in Australia.


1845 in Chile
The following lists events that happened during 1845 in Chile.


1845 in New Zealand
The following lists events that happened during 1845 in New Zealand.


1845 in New Zealand, Population
The estimated population of New Zealand at the end of 1845 is 72,500 Māori and 12,774 non-Māori.


1845 in South Africa
The following lists events that happened during 1845 in South Africa.


1845 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1845 to Wales and its people.


1845 in architecture
The year 1845 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1845 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1845.


1845 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1845.


1845 in poetry
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil — prophet still, if bird or devil!


1845 in poetry
By that Heaven that bends above us — by that God we both adore —Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."


1845 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1845 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1845 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1845 in rail transport
This article lists events related to rail transport that occurred in 1845.


1845 in science
The year 1845 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.


1845 in sports
1845 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1845 to 1868 in baseball
The following are the baseball events of the years 1845 to 1868 throughout the world.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records
At its December 1868 annual meeting, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) permitted professional clubs. Twelve existing members did "go pro" and constitute the professional field for 1869.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1868 records of major clubs
Marshall Wright publishes 1868 season records for 98 teams, many of them incomplete ("(inc)" in the table). Bill Ryczek calls 15 of that season's teams "major" (not marked). This table covers all of those "majors" (not marked), all of the 1869 "pros" (*), all 14 member clubs with at least twelve wins on record, and a few others. For the seven listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1868 records of major clubs
At least four Association clubs not listed here would someday try professionalism: Riverside of Portsmouth, Ohio (1870); Kekionga of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1871); Middletown of Mansfield, Connecticut (1872); Resolute of Elizabeth, New Jersey (1873).


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1868 records of major clubs
Meanwhile, only two brand new professional baseball clubs would be established in the next three years, the Chicago White Stockings for 1870 and the Boston Red Stockings for 1871. Their commercial origins may be related to their survival alone by 1877, and on to 2010, while all of their rivals with older and amateur roots fell away.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1867 records of major clubs
Marshall Wright publishes 1867 season records for 89 teams, many of them incomplete ("(inc)" in the table). Bill Ryczek calls 17 of that season's teams "major" (not marked). This table covers all of those "majors", all 13 member clubs with at least fourteen wins on record, and a few others. For the nine listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1867 records of major clubs
Star (*) marks ten clubs among twelve who would go pro in 1869. Excelsior of Chicago and Buckeye of Cincinnati are listed because they were probably the strongest teams in the west after the Cincinnati Red Stockings.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1866 records of major clubs
Marshall Wright publishes 1866 season records for 58 of 93 association members, said to be complete for games between two member clubs. Bill Ryczek calls 20 of that season's teams "major" including three old New York rivals of the Knickerbockers.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1866 records of major clubs
This table covers all of those "majors", all 14 members with at least eight wins on record, and a few others. For the fifteen listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1866 records of major clubs
Star (*) marks eight clubs among twelve who would go pro in 1869, three seasons later.


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1865 and earlier clubs
For the preceding 1865 season Marshall Wright lists 30 members with supposedly complete records for most of them. Twenty-two of the thirty were in Greater New York. Bill Ryczek calls 19 teams "major" in the first season that he covers: sixteen of the members and three others (Lowell, Harvard, and Camden).


1845 to 1868 in baseball, Season records, 1865 and earlier clubs
No one traveled much and membership was still depressed by the Civil War. There had been 59 delegates at the March 1860 annual meeting, and 55 at the next annual meeting that December (on a new baseball calendar), who thereby intended to play during the 1861 season that the war curtailed. Nine of 59 and eleven of 55 were from outside Greater New York.


1846
1846 (MDCCCXLVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1846th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 846th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th  year of the 19th century, and the  7th   year of the 1840s decade. As of the start of 1846, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1846 Bengt
1846 Bengt, provisional designation 6553 P-L, is a dark asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 11 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by the Palomar–Leiden survey in 1960, it was named for Danish astronomer Bengt Strömgren.


1846 Bengt, Discovery
Bengt was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten in collaboration with Tom Gehrels, who took the photographic plates at Palomar Observatory in California.


1846 Bengt, Discovery
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.


1846 Bengt, Discovery
The asteroid was first identified as 1951 CW1 at McDonald Observatory in 1951. The observation arc starts 3 years prior to its official discovery observation, with its first used identification 1957 YP made at Goethe Link Observatory in 1957.


1846 Bengt, Orbit and classification
Bengt orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,306 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.14 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.


1846 Bengt, Physical characteristics
Based on preliminary results by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Bengt measures 10.998 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.047, which is typical for carbonaceous C-type asteroids. As of 2017, no rotational lightcurve has been obtained.


1846 Bengt, Naming
This minor planet was named after renowned Danish astronomer Bengt Strömgren (1908–1987), on the occasion of his 70th birthday. He was an authority in the field of stellar structure and stellar evolution, director of the Yerkes Observatory from 1951 to 1957, and president of the International Astronomical Union (1970–1973). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 1 November 1978 (M.P.C. 4547).


1846 Chicago mayoral election
In the Chicago mayoral election of 1846, Whig nominee John P. Chapin defeated Democratic nominee Charles Follansbee and Liberty nominee Philo Carpenter by a landslide 22 point margin.


1846 Chicago mayoral election, Campaign
Follansbee, a former Chicago alderman from the 1st ward, failed to garner the support of Irish Democrats, an important constituency for the Democratic Party in Chicago. These voters rejected him because he was a champion of the "Native American  Act", which would require a period of 21 years of residency before any immigrant could become a naturalized citizen.


1846 Chicago mayoral election, Campaign
Chapin was also a former alderman from the 1st ward.


1846 Chilean presidential election
The Chilean presidential election of 1846 took place through a system of electors, and resulted in the unanimous election as President of General Manuel Bulnes.


1846 Connecticut gubernatorial election
The 1846 Connecticut gubernatorial election was held on April 1, 1846. Former congressman and Democratic nominee Isaac Toucey was elected, defeating former state legislator and Whig nominee Clark Bissell with 47.54% of the vote.


1846 Connecticut gubernatorial election
Although Bissell won a plurality of the vote, he did not win a majority. The state constitution at the time required that in such a case, the Connecticut General Assembly decides the election. The state legislature voted for Toucey, 124 to 117, and Toucey became the governor.


1846 Delaware gubernatorial special election
The 1846 Delaware gubernatorial special election was held on November 3, 1846. A year into the term of Whig Governor Thomas Stockton, elected in 1844, he died, elevating State Senate Speaker Joseph Maull to the governorship. Maull, in turn, also died, making State House Speaker William Temple Governor. Former State Representative Peter F. Causey ran as the Whig nominee to succeed Temple, and faced former State Senator William Tharp, the Democratic nominee from 1844. Tharp narrowly defeated Causey, returning the Governorship to the Democratic Party.


1846 Delaware gubernatorial special election, Bibliography
This Delaware elections-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .


1846 East Suffolk by-election
The 1846 East Suffolk by-election was held on 19 February 1846 after the resignation of the incumbent Peelite MP, John Henniker-Major. He was succeeded by the unopposed Protectionist Conservative candidate, Edward Sherlock Gooch who was backed by the other Suffolk MP, Lord Rendlesham.


1846 French legislative election
The 1846 general election organized the seventh legislature of the July Monarchy. The election was held on 1 August.


1846 Grand National
The 1846 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase, was the eighth official annual running of a handicap steeplechase. It took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 4 March 1846 and attracted a then-record field of 22 entrants. It was won by the unconsidered outsider Pioneer.


1846 Grand National
Veluti, ridden by Jem Mason, a rider who had previously won the race in 1839 was sent off as the 11/2 favourite to win while the top weight of 12 stone 8 lbs was given to Firefly, the mount of Larry Byrne.


1846 Grand National, The course
The only contemporary report of the event was syndicated by the reporter of the Liverpool Mercury who recorded that the course consisted of thirty-one obstacles. This differed from the previous year in that a thorn fence had been installed in place of the wall jump at the distance chair in front of the stands. The competitors also now jumped three hurdles on the finishing straight where previously only one had stood. The fences that were noted were a large brook with a fence on the leading side, which was not yet officially described as Beecher's Brook and a high artificial thorn fence with a five foot wide and four foot deep water jump beyond.


1846 Grand National, The course
Start - Just beyond the Melling Road. Fence 1 [17 on the second circuit] Plain good fence. Fence 2 [18] Plain good fence. Fence 3 [19] Plain good fence. Fence 4 [20] Plain good fence. Fence 5 [21] Large brook with a fence on the landing side. Fence 6 [22] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side. Fence 7 [23] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side. Fence 8 [24] A fence inclined to the left that takes the runners towards the Canal side.


1846 Grand National, The course
Fence 9 [25] A large water jump. Fence 10 [26] Out of the second field along the Canal. Fence 11 [27] Out of the third field along the Canal. Fence 12 [28] A fence into the Anchor Bridge Road. Fence 13 [29] An artificial hurdle leaving the training ground on the racecourse proper. Fence 14 [30] An artificial hurdle, replacing the wall at the distance judge's chair, which stood here the previous year. Fence 15 A high artificial thorn fence with a water jump five foot wide and four foot deep. Fence 16 A bank into the Melling Road. Fence 31 An artificial hurdle adjacent to the water jump.


1846 Grand National, The race
The course for this race was incorrectly flagged with the result that as much as half a mile was added to the distance.


1846 Grand National, The race
Peter Simple led for the majority of the first circuit, which four of the competitors failed to negotiate. The Scavenger refused the first jump and did not continue, Mameluke and Hornihihharriho failed to reach Becher's Brook for the first time when the pair collided at an early jump while where the latter's rider, Lee-Carter suffered a heavy facial wound. Lancet's rider, William McDonough, was knocked from his horse by a mounted spectator as the field were turning to enter the race course proper and was badly bruised.


1846 Grand National, The race
The second circuit saw many of the runners meet with accidents as Peter Simple fell to leave Culverthorpe in the lead. Last year's winner, Cure-All was pulled up by his rider when it became apparent that he would not repeat his success and Perambulator soon did the same, Golden Pippen bolted off the course. Regalia, Troubadour, Carlow, Brenda, Tinderbox and Lady Grey all fell before the survivors came back into sight of the spectators in the stands.


1846 Grand National, The race
Only eight runners remained in the race when they came back onto the race course and when the stated distance was completed Veluti led from Culverthorpe. Veluti broke down and had to be pulled up, leaving Culverthorpe to jump the final flight in the lead only to be caught on the run to the finish line by the rank outsider Pioneer.


1846 Grand National, The race
Pioneer won the race by three lengths with Culverthorpe second, three lengths in front of Switcher in third. Although an unconsidered outsider, Pioneer was quoted at a price of 200/10 the evening before the race although few, if any bets were known to have been struck and few bookmakers offered a price. He proved himself to be a very good horse by winning a prestigious race at Leamington Spa the following week.


1846 Grand National, The race
His rider, William Taylor was a twenty-seven-year-old vet and was one of nine riders making their Grand National debut while the owner, a Mr Adams had been very clear before the race that he would not risk a penny of his own money on his own horse and indeed had made no effort to have the horse trained for racing.


1846 Grand National, The race
At the time, Allen McDonough and Horatio Powell were both taking a record eighth ride in the race, however the 1836 race, in which Powell took part was discounted as an official National in the 1860s and the races of 1837 and '38, in which McDonough took part were also discounted during the Second World War.


1846 Havana hurricane
The 1846 Havana hurricane (also known as the Great Havana hurricane of 1846, San Francisco de Borja hurricane and The Great Gale of 1846) was the most intense tropical cyclone in recorded history for 78 years and the first known Category 5-strength hurricane to strike Cuba. The first indications of the formation of a disturbance were first noted on 5 October in the Caribbean Sea, but little else was known until the storm approached Cuba on 10 October.


1846 Havana hurricane
There, it brought extreme winds and the lowest known atmospheric pressure of the time – 938 mbar (27.70 inHg) – a record which remained unbroken until the development of a later cyclone in 1924. It soon curved toward Florida, where it maintained its intensity, continuing to rapidly hasten northward along the East Coast of the United States to New England. It entered an extratropical transition while situated over New York on 13 October, producing intense Category 2-force winds and unusually little precipitation. Eventually, the gale dissipated over the Canadian Maritimes the following day as a markedly weaker storm.


1846 Havana hurricane
In Cuba, the storm caused hundreds of deaths, capsized dozens of ships, obliterated buildings, uprooted trees, and ruined crops. Many towns were wholly destroyed or flattened and never recovered, while others disappeared entirely. Damage in the United States was considerably better-chronicled despite being less severe. In Key West, widespread destruction was noted, with 40 deaths, many vessels rendered unfit, and widespread structural damage, with several buildings swept off of their foundations and hundreds of others flattened. Few supplies arrived in the following days and relief efforts were gradual, with few resources within the town's vicinity.


1846 Havana hurricane
Along other sections of the Southeastern U.S. coast, copious rainfall and moderate winds impacted agriculture, shipping, and residences. As the storm tracked along the Middle-Atlantic coast, similar effects were reported: there, the gale inundated many areas, impeded communications, destroyed railroads and canals, and flattened structures. Despite extensive damage, only two deaths were recorded outside Cuba and Florida. Along its entire track, the hurricane caused $338,000 in losses and at least 164 deaths.


1846 Havana hurricane
Unusual in many aspects, the 1846 Havana hurricane was the most intense of its time. Though atmospheric pressure readings in Cuba reached as low as 916 mbar (27.06 inHg), the meteorological historian Jose Fernandez-Partagás re-evaluated several possible pressure records, concluding that the cyclone's minimum pressure was likely closer to 938 mbar (27.70 inHg); even so, it maintained the title of having the lowest recorded pressure measurement until 1924, 78 years later.


1846 Havana hurricane
Although no reliable wind measurements were available at the time, a separate study also estimated that it produced Category 5-strength winds, making it the first known storm to strike Cuba at such an intensity. As a result of the tropical cyclone's extreme intensity, ecological and geographical features were permanently altered in many areas. Sand Key, which completely submerged during the course of the hurricane, wholly re-emerged by December of that year, albeit not in its original position; meanwhile, ecological damage remained evident for decades in Key West.


1846 Havana hurricane, Meteorological history
The hurricane's origins can be traced to the central Caribbean Sea on 5 October. The following day, its passage south of Jamaica was observed, and soon later, the hurricane transited across the Cayman Islands, producing relatively high winds. During the late evening of 10 October, winds began to increase on the island of Cuba, culminating the following morning; while the strongest winds were originally in the storm's northeastern sector, they were later noted in its northwest. Its eye presumably passed slightly east of Havana while maintaining an atmospheric pressure of 916 mbar (27.06 inHg).


1846 Havana hurricane, Meteorological history
This was accompanied by Category 5-force winds on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, defined as 1-minute maximum sustained winds of at least 157 mph (252 km/h). Despite the reading, a 1993 analysis by weather historian José Fernández-Partagás calculated a corrected sea-level pressure at 938 mbar (27.70 inHg); even so, the value maintained the hurricane as the most intense in recorded history. It arrived at Key West the morning of 11 October, soon after its departure from Cuba, with undiminished intensity.


1846 Havana hurricane, Meteorological history
The storm gradually meandered toward Tampa Bay, and eventually arrived on that afternoon of 11 October, its effects persisting through the following morning. Winds, which initially swept northeasterly at force 4 during the early evening, veered toward the southeast and peaked at force 8 the following morning. Weather historian David Ludlum tracked the hurricane's path past Cedar Key, noting the disturbance's northeastward curve as it neared Jacksonville.


1846 Havana hurricane, Meteorological history
Advancing northward over land, the once-powerful hurricane weakened, with somewhat higher atmospheric pressures and winds of less severity reported at Charleston, South Carolina. Paralleling the coast while situated inland, it hastened quickly toward the north, swiftly passing through North Carolina and arriving in the Chesapeake Bay region by 13 October. Southeasterly gusts persisted as the storm continued its northerly progression inland along the course of the East Coast of the United States. After reaching Washington, D.C., in the early morning, it arrived near New York City by sunrise, and transited across Boston during the afternoon of 13 October.


1846 Havana hurricane, Meteorological history
The storm likely underwent an extratropical transition by the time it arrived in New York state, elongating linearly east-to-west. The gale's winds swept toward the southeast with a brief hiatus in the early evening. As it neared New England, it produced little precipitation yet intense gusts, which peaked at force 9-strength in the vicinity of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The cyclone's diameter over New England, at its largest point, reached 120 mi (200 km), accompanied by Category 2-force winds. The system was last sighted on the morning of 14 October, rapidly weakening as it meandered into the Canadian Maritimes.


1846 Havana hurricane, Impact
In Cuba, the hurricane's impact was extremely severe: the storm destroyed nearly a hundred ships and likely killed hundreds of individuals across the island, and also inflicted extensive crop damage and widespread flooding. The hurricane capsized nearly all crafts docked at Havana Harbor, and of the 104 boats in the harbor prior to the storm's arrival, only 12 remained after it subsided. Between 40 and 50 other cargo vessels were impaired, with significant structural damage in the city proper also observed.