Whig nominee Zachary Taylor, a general in the U.S. Army and hero of the Mexican-American War, defeated Democrat Lewis Cass in the 1848 presidential election. Former president Martin Van Buren also ran as the Free Soil Party candidate, winning approximately 10 percent of the popular vote, although he did not receive any Electoral College votes. The 1848 election was the first presidential election in which every state voted on the same day.

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the presidential election of 1848, including government documents, broadsides, prints, political cartoons, sheet music, and newspaper articles. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the presidential election of 1848 that are available throughout the Library of Congress website. In addition, it provides links to external websites focusing on the 1848 election and a selected bibliography.

1848 Presidential Election Results [1]

Notes

1. Presidential Elections, 1789-2008. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010), 131, 221.