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An Anti-Slavery Crusade; a chronicle of the gathering storm by Jesse Macy
page 63 of 165 (38%)
have been chosen President. The Birney vote was over sixty-two
thousand. The Liberty party, therefore, held the balance of power
and determined the result of the election.

The Liberty party has often been censured for defeating the Whigs
at this election of 1844. But many incidents, too early forgotten
by historians, go far to justify the course of the leaders.
Birney and Clay were at one time members of the same party. They
were personal friends, and as slave holders they shared the view
that slavery was a menace to the country and ought to be
abolished. It was just fourteen years before this election that
Birney made a visit to Clay to induce him to accept the
leadership of an organized movement to abolish slavery in
Kentucky. Three years later, when Birney returned to Kentucky to
do himself what Henry Clay had refused to do, he became convinced
that the reaction which had taken place in favor of slavery was
largely due to Clay's influence. This was a common impression
among active abolitionists. It is not strange, therefore, that
they refused to support him as a candidate for the Presidency,
and it is not at all certain that his election in 1844 would have
prevented the war with Mexico.

Northern Whigs accused the Democrats of fomenting a war with
Mexico with the intention of gaining territory for the purpose of
extending slavery. Democrats denied that the annexation of Texas
would lead to war, and many of them proclaimed their opposition
to the farther extension of slavery. In harmony with this
sentiment, when President Polk asked for a grant of two million
dollars to aid in making a treaty with Mexico, they attached to
the bill granting the amount a proviso to the effect that slavery
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