The 1851 Mississippi gubernatorial election was held on 4 November 1851 in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Democratic US Senator for Mississippi

Henry S. Foote Henry Stuart Foote (February 28, 1804May 19, 1880) was a United States Senator from Mississippi and the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1847 to 1852. He was a Unionist Governor of Mississippi from 1852 to ...

, who ran on a Unionist platform, defeated the Southern Rights Party nominee and fellow Democratic US Senator for Mississippi before resigning on 23 September 1851 to run in the gubernatorial election,

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

General election

Following the controversial Compromise of 1850, Mississippi voters considered this election to be an extension of their approval or dissaproval of the compromise.

Union Democratic Party The Union Democratic Party ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုဒီမိုကရေစီပါတီ, abbreviated UDP) is a Burmese political party founded in 2008. It was formally registered in May 2010, with headquarters in Bahan Township, ...

nominee

defended the compromise, while Southern Rights Party nominee

campaigned vigorously against the compromise, suggesting that it put the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

at a political disadvantage. The election was held during a time of increasing sectional tension in the South and therefor Jefferson voiced his concern over the usurpation of southern constitutional rights by Washington. Eventhough he only started his campaign 6 weeks before election day, Davis was favourited to win the election. However, on election day, 4 November 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 infamously serve as the

President of the Confederacy The president of the Confederate States was the head of state and head of government of the Confederate States. The president was the chief executive of the federal government and was the commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army and the Confe ...

during the civil war from 1862 to 1865.

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Works cited

* * {{cite book , last=Davis , first=William C. , year=1991 , title=Jefferson Davis: The Man and his Hour , publisher=Harpercollins , url=https://archive.org/details/jeffersondavisma00davi , url-access=registration , isbn=0-06-016706-8 , oclc=1150103061 Mississippi gubernatorial elections 1851 Mississippi elections November 1851 events 1851 United States gubernatorial elections United States gubernatorial elections in the 1850s 1851 in Mississippi 1851 elections 1851 elections in North America 1851 elections in the United States