By mid-August 1848, a total of six different political conventions have been held to select five candidates to succeed Polk.
Each gathering is marked by internal bickering and residual uncertainty about both the nominees and the platforms that emerge.
At the two extremes are the growing number of fire-eater Southerners and the awkward combination of Wilmot-men and Abolitionists. In between are the Unionists, forever seeking compromise.
The Whigs, however, have an easier time dodging it than the Democrats.
Thus Zachary Taylor is able to run simply as “Old Rough and Ready,” the heroic military general who, at age sixty-one, has defeated a much larger Mexican army by bravery and grit – to finally realize America’s Manifest Destiny.