The issue dwarfing all others in the 1848 national elections was the disposition of territory acquired as the result of the Mexican War. Slave and Free states battled to add them to their ranks. Whig campaign pamphlets portrayed their candidate Taylor as anti-slavery in the North and as pro-slavery in the South. His opponent, Democrat Lewis Cass, was portrayed as pro-slavery in the North and anti-slavery in the South. The Democrats proceeded in a like manner. Here, for Northern consumption, Democrats demonstrate Taylor's "Southern face," i.e., his expressed comfort with Southern institutions and opposition to the Wilmot Proviso, barring slavery from the conquered territories.
