John A. Quitman had been the original candidate of the "so-called Resistance Party" but "capitalizing on the inflammatory rhetoric of Quitman, the Unionists charged with considerable justification that the governor was plotting secretly with the
South Carolinians to destroy the Union." Quitman dropped out in September and handed over the party to Jefferson Davis in hopes of saving the governor's mansion, but two months of campaigning was not enough time to avert a loss. Following the controversial
Compromise of 1850,
Mississippi voters considered this election to be an extension of their approval or disapproval of the compromise. Unionist Democratic Party nominee
Henry S. Foote defended the compromise, while
Southern Rights Party nominee
Jefferson Davis campaigned vigorously against the compromise, suggesting that it put the
South at a political disadvantage. The election was held during a time of increasing sectional tension in the United States; Davis voiced his concern over the alleged infringement of southern constitutional rights by the federal government. Although he only started his campaign six weeks before election day, Davis was considered the favorite to win the election. However, on election day, November 4, 1851, Foote won by a margin of 999 votes and would go on to become the 19th Governor of Mississippi. Meanwhile, Davis turned down an offer from outgoing Governor
James Whitfield to be reappointed to his seat in the
US senate. Davis would go on to serve as the
President of the Confederacy during the
civil war from 1861 to 1865.
Results == References ==