1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
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 County results Dewey: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Tweedy: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Wisconsin |
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The 1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on May 8, 1848. This was the election for the first Governor of Wisconsin, which became a U.S. state that year, as it was held concurrent with a public referendum to ratify the Constitution of Wisconsin.
Democrat Nelson Dewey, of Grant County, won the election with nearly 56% of the vote. Dewey defeated Whig Party candidate John Hubbard Tweedy, of Milwaukee.[1] This is one of only three gubernatorial elections in which Walworth County has voted for a Democrat; it would not do so again until 1920.
Democratic Party
[edit]Nelson Dewey was a prominent lawyer and real-estate investor in Grant County, Wisconsin. He did extensive business with the lead-mining industry, which was a major component of the economy of the Wisconsin Territory. He had been a member of nearly every session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, first as a member of the Territorial Assembly, from 1838 to 1842, then as a member of the Territorial Council from 1842 to 1846. He served as Speaker of the Territorial Assembly in 1840, and President of the Territorial Council in 1846.[2]
Dewey was chosen as a compromise candidate at the Democratic Party Convention after delegates became deadlocked between the lead-mining region's preferred candidate, Hiram Barber, and the eastern region's preferred candidate, Morgan Lewis Martin.[3]
Other candidates
[edit]- Hiram Barber, of Dodge County, was a businessman and investor. He had been a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention in 1846.[2] Prior to moving to Wisconsin, he had been a Judge in Warren County, New York, for 14 years.
- Morgan Lewis Martin, of Brown County, had most recently served as President of Wisconsin's second constitutional convention.[2] Prior to this, he had served as the Wisconsin Territory's non-voting representative to the United States House of Representatives for the 29th Congress. He served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature from 1838 to 1844,[2] and had served in the Michigan Territorial Legislature from 1831 to 1835, when the land which is now Wisconsin was a part of the Michigan Territory.
Whig Party
[edit]John Hubbard Tweedy was, at the time of the 1848 election, the non-voting representative of the Wisconsin Territory to the United States House of Representatives for the 30th Congress. He had been a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention, and had served in the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly during the second session of the third legislature (Winter of 1841-1842).[2]
Independent candidate
[edit]Charles Durkee was a merchant, and one of the founders of Southport (now Kenosha, Wisconsin). He was a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly for the first legislature (1836 to 1838).[2]
General election
[edit]Results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Nelson Dewey | 19,538 | 55.62% | ||
| Whig | John H. Tweedy | 14,449 | 41.14% | ||
| Independent | Charles Durkee | 1,134 | 3.23% | ||
| Scattering | 4 | 0.01 | |||
| Majority | 5,089 | 14.49% | |||
| Total votes | 35,125 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratic win (new seat) | |||||
Results by county
[edit]| County[4] | Nelson Dewey Democratic |
John H. Tweedy Whig |
Charles Durkee Independent |
Scattering Write-in |
Margin | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Brown | 311 | 69.42 | 137 | 30.58 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 174 | 38.84 | 448 |
| Calumet | 113 | 63.13 | 66 | 36.87 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 47 | 26.26 | 179 |
| Columbia | 328 | 44.38 | 411 | 55.62 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | -83 | -11.23 | 739 |
| Crawford[a] | 270 | 71.62 | 107 | 28.38 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 163 | 43.24 | 377 |
| Dane | 1,098 | 58.94 | 751 | 40.31 | 13 | 0.70 | 1 | 0.05% | 347 | 18.63 | 1,863 |
| Dodge | 1,116 | 59.55 | 706 | 37.67 | 52 | 2.77 | 0 | 0.00% | 410 | 21.88 | 1,874 |
| Fond du Lac | 622 | 49.05 | 510 | 40.22 | 136 | 10.73 | 0 | 0.00% | 112 | 8.83 | 1,268 |
| Grant | 1,199 | 44.92 | 1,467 | 54.96 | 3 | 0.11 | 0 | 0.00% | -268 | -10.04 | 2,669 |
| Green | 481 | 53.44 | 406 | 45.11 | 13 | 1.44 | 0 | 0.00% | 75 | 8.33 | 900 |
| Iowa[b] | 847 | 53.20 | 745 | 46.80 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 102 | 6.41 | 1,592 |
| Jefferson | 1,157 | 54.81 | 893 | 41.19 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 369 | 17.61 | 2,095 |
| Lafayette | 1,232 | 58.81 | 863 | 41.19 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 369 | 17.61 | 2,095 |
| Marquette | 230 | 45.01 | 258 | 50.49 | 23 | 4.50 | 0 | 0.00% | -28 | -5.48 | 511 |
| Milwaukee | 2,201 | 63.17 | 1,194 | 34.27 | 89 | 2.55 | 0 | 0.00% | 1,007 | 28.90 | 3,484 |
| Portage | 160 | 51.12 | 153 | 48.88 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 7 | 2.24 | 313 |
| Racine | 1,765 | 54.90 | 1,209 | 37.60 | 238 | 7.40 | 3 | 0.09% | 556 | 17.29 | 3,215 |
| Rock | 1,394 | 48.04 | 1,475 | 50.83 | 33 | 1.14 | 0 | 0.00% | -81 | -2.79 | 2,902 |
| Sauk | 187 | 52.97 | 157 | 44.48 | 9 | 2.55 | 0 | 0.00% | 30 | 8.50 | 353 |
| Sheboygan | 554 | 57.77 | 384 | 40.04 | 21 | 2.19 | 0 | 0.00% | 170 | 17.73 | 959 |
| Walworth | 1,478 | 49.12 | 1,356 | 45.06 | 175 | 5.82 | 0 | 0.00% | 122 | 4.05 | 3,009 |
| Washington | 1,598 | 85.87 | 263 | 14.13 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.00% | 1,335 | 71.74 | 1,861 |
| Waukesha | 1,197 | 49.81 | 938 | 39.03 | 268 | 11.15 | 0 | 0.00% | 259 | 10.78 | 2,403 |
| Total | 19,538 | 55.62% | 14,449 | 41.14% | 1,134 | 3.23% | 4 | 0.01% | 5,089 | 14.49% | 35,125 |
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, Wisconsin Legislature (2015). Wisconsin Blue Book 2015–2016. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Department of Administration. pp. 699–701. ISBN 978-0-9752820-7-6.
- ^ a b c d e f Heg, J.E., ed. (1882). "Annals of the legislature". The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin, 1882 (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 161–171, 175–176. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
- ^ Toepel, M. G.; Kuehn, Hazel L., eds. (1960). "Wisconsin's former governors, 1848-1959". The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1960 (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. p. 73. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
- ^ a b Wisconsin State Assembly. "Appendix "A"". Journal of the Assembly of the First Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, Held at Madison June 5th, A.D. 1848. Madison, Wisconsin.