Southern Rights National Ticket, 1852
Presidential Nominee	Vice Presidential Nominee
Former U.S. Sen. George M. Troup GA	Governor John A. Quitman MS

Formation of the Southern Rights Party

The Southern Rights Party was formed in 1850 following the Compromise of 1850. Many politicians in the deep South believed that the Compromise favored the North. As a result, the two old parties dissolved completely in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, being replaced by two new parties: the Union Party and the Southern Rights Party. The Southern Rights Party made the off-year election of 1851 a referendum on whether or not southern states should secede from the Union. Their gambit was unsuccessful, as they were defeated in all three states. The party won five of the nineteen seats in the U.S. House from these three states.

The National Convention

It was unclear in early 1852 if the SRP would contest the presidential election. When the Alabama state convention was held in early 3/1852, only nine counties were represented. The party decided to see who was nominated by the two major national parties and support one of them if possible [NYT 3/20/1852]. When the Georgia SRP held its state convention, it acted as the state Democratic Party and sent delegates to the national convention [NYT 4/3/1852].

After the Democratic National Convention, the SRP was not sure that it wanted to support Pierce. The Alabama SRP held a state convention on 7/13-15/1852 and discussed at length the options of running a separate ticket or supporting Pierce. The convention was unable to arrive at a decision, so it appointed a committee to review the positions of Scott and Pierce with the option of calling a “national” convention of the SRP if the two major party candidates appeared deficient. [NYT 7/15-16/1852]. The committee took its time reviewing the positions of Pierce and Scott, finally deciding on 8/25/1852 to call a convention for a SRP ticket. [NYT 8/27/1852].

The convention assembled in Montgomery, Alabama. There were 62 delegates present. The convention appointed a committee to recommend a ticket and listened to speeches in the interim. The committee recommended George M. Troup for President and John A. Quitman for Vice President; they were unanimously nominated.

The Campaign

The two nominees accepted their nominations soon after the convention, which was held rather late in the season. Troup stated in his letter, dated 9/27/1852 and printed in the New York Times on 10/16/1852, that he had planned to vote for Pierce and had always wholeheartedly supported William R.D. King. He indicated in the letter that he preferred to decline the honor, as he was rather ill at the time and feared that he would die before the election. The SRP executive committee edited the letter to excise those portions which indicated that Troup preferred to decline, a fact which was revealed after the election [NYT 11/22/1852].

The result of the election was lethal to the party. It was held to just 5% of the vote in Alabama and only polled 126 votes in Georgia. In the midterm election of 1853, the party fielded four candidates for the U.S. House in Alabama, three of whom were elected. All three joined the Democratic Party in the 34th Congress.

Popular Vote of 1852

Electoral Vote of 1852