Wooing, 1840–1844

Abstract

Chapter 4 examines the crucial four-year period from the rise of the Whig Party to national power in 1840 to the dissolution of the bachelor’s mess of Buchanan and King in 1844. During this period of intense partisanship, the friendship of Buchanan and King grew increasingly intimate. First in 1840 and again in 1844, each man aspired for his party’s presidential and vice presidential nominations, respectively. The struggle occasioned a great deal of personal gossip from their political enemies, including Sarah Childress Polk, wife of future president James Polk. In April 1844, King’s appointment as the American minister to France ended his mess with Buchanan. Nevertheless, the separation brought on a regular, if one-sided correspondence. The chapter devotes special attention to the surviving letters from this critical period of their relationship, including an especially revealing post from Buchanan in which he complains of his failure to woo new members to join him in his solitary congressional mess. Ultimately, Buchanan’s failure to attract new messmates paralleled the earlier failed efforts to obtain the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominations in 1840 and 1844.