Foot was a Delegate to the 1848 Whig National Convention, and was Chairman of the Vermont delegation. Abbott Lawrence of Massachusetts, who had worked diligently to obtain the Presidential nomination for Zachary Taylor, expected to be the Vice Presidential nominee, counting on the support of Thurlow Weed of New York and the southern delegates who had backed Taylor. Northern and border state delegates, who had backed Henry Clay or Daniel Webster for President, threatened to run a northern candidate in opposition to Taylor unless a northerner other than Lawrence—one seen as less willing to allow slavery—was selected for Vice President. They proposed Millard Fillmore of New York.