308 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE sought and used them for advancing the fortunes of their own party while attempting to check the career of their opponents. For them Oregon was an instrument for attaining other ends, as well as, for a few of them, an end in itself. In other words, the whole situation was not unlike that which is to be found in every presidential campaign, although the properties of the action had been somewhat shifted. During the preliminaries leading to the conventions of 1844 there were three clearly defined political groups to be reckoned with; the Whigs, the Democrats, and the Tyler men. The Whigs were smarting under the check administered to their plans by the death of President Harrison and the defection of Tyler. Tyler's vetoes had largely frustrated their high hopes for economic and fiscal change; the protective tariff, which took a foremost place in their campaign in 1840, had failed to materialize ; the Bank had not been restored, and internal improvements were not being made at Federal ex- pense. The Democrats were bent on recapturing the place of power which they had held uninterruptedly for many years before the inauguration of President Harrison. They were bound to prevent a radical change in the tariff policy of the United States, and the Southern Democrats were anxious for the immediate annexation of Texas, primarily for its supposed future importance in maintaining the balance of slave and free States. John Tyler had shown himself no Whig and had incurred the detestation of the party which elected him to the vice-presidency; on the other hand he was distrusted by the Democrats. Nevertheless he had a considerable personal fol- lowing, which, as his enemies alleged, he was building up by patronage. He thought that on the strength of his record as chief executive for nearly four years he should be considered among the strong candidates in 1844. Within both the Whig and Democratic parties there divi- sions, different leaders having their adherents. The Whigs, however, were not so badly off for unity as were the Demo- crats since at an early date Henry Clay was considered the most eligible standard bearer for 1844, as he had been by a large group four years before. He was a westerner and a
