1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:	1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Next Election:	1849 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
Next Year:	1849
Election Date:	May 8, 1848
Nominee1:	Nelson Dewey
Party1:	Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:	19,538
Percentage1:	55.62%
Nominee2:	John H. Tweedy
Party2:	Whig Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:	14,449
Percentage2:	41.14%
Governor
After Election:	Nelson Dewey
After Party:	Democratic Party (United States)

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

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

• 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

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

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

Results by county

County	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		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		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 and References

1. Book: Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, Wisconsin Legislature . 2015 . Wisconsin Blue Book 2015–2016 . Madison, Wisconsin . Wisconsin Department of Administration . 699–701 . 978-0-9752820-7-6.
2. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1882 . The Blue Book of the state of Wisconsin, 1882 . 1882 . Heg . J.E.. State of Wisconsin . Annals of the legislature . 161–171, 175–176 . June 15, 2019.
3. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBk1960 . The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1960 . Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau . Toepel . M. G. . Kuehn . Hazel L. . 1960 . Wisconsin's former governors, 1848-1959. 73 . June 15, 2019.