1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

May 8, 1848 1849 →

Nominee Nelson Dewey John H. Tweedy Party Democratic Whig Popular vote 19,538 14,449 Percentage 55.62% 41.14%

County results Dewey:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Tweedy:      50–60%

Elected Governor Nelson Dewey Democratic

Elections in Wisconsin
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State government General elections 1995 2000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Gubernatorial elections 1848 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1865 1867 1869 1871 1873 1875 1877 1879 1881 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2012 (recall) 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant Gubernatorial elections 1942 1968 2012 (recall) Secretary of State elections 1978 2014 2018 2022 2026 Attorney General elections 2014 2018 2022 Treasurer elections 2014 2022 Superintendent elections 2013 2017 2021 2025 State Senate elections 1934 1996 2008 2010 2011 (recall) 2012 (recall) 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 State Assembly elections 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Supreme Court elections 2008 2009 2011 2013 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023 2025
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Kenosha Mayoral elections 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
v t e

The 1848 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on May 8, 1848. This was the election for the first Governor of Wisconsin, which became a U.S. state that year, as it was held concurrent with a public referendum to ratify the Constitution of Wisconsin.

Democrat Nelson Dewey, of Grant County, won the election with nearly 56% of the vote. Dewey defeated Whig Party candidate John Hubbard Tweedy, of Milwaukee.^[1] This is one of only three gubernatorial elections in which Walworth County has voted for a Democrat; it would not do so again until 1920.

Nelson Dewey was a prominent lawyer and real-estate investor in Grant County, Wisconsin. He did extensive business with the lead-mining industry, which was a major component of the economy of the Wisconsin Territory. He had been a member of nearly every session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, first as a member of the Territorial Assembly, from 1838 to 1842, then as a member of the Territorial Council from 1842 to 1846. He served as Speaker of the Territorial Assembly in 1840, and President of the Territorial Council in 1846.^[2]

Dewey was chosen as a compromise candidate at the Democratic Party Convention after delegates became deadlocked between the lead-mining region's preferred candidate, Hiram Barber, and the eastern region's preferred candidate, Morgan Lewis Martin.^[3]

• Hiram Barber, of Dodge County, was a businessman and investor. He had been a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention in 1846.^[2] Prior to moving to Wisconsin, he had been a Judge in Warren County, New York, for 14 years.
• Morgan Lewis Martin, of Brown County, had most recently served as President of Wisconsin's second constitutional convention.^[2] Prior to this, he had served as the Wisconsin Territory's non-voting representative to the United States House of Representatives for the 29th Congress. He served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature from 1838 to 1844,^[2] and had served in the Michigan Territorial Legislature from 1831 to 1835, when the land which is now Wisconsin was a part of the Michigan Territory.

John Hubbard Tweedy was, at the time of the 1848 election, the non-voting representative of the Wisconsin Territory to the United States House of Representatives for the 30th Congress. He had been a delegate to Wisconsin's first constitutional convention, and had served in the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly during the second session of the third legislature (Winter of 1841-1842).^[2]

Charles Durkee was a merchant, and one of the founders of Southport (now Kenosha, Wisconsin). He was a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly for the first legislature (1836 to 1838).^[2]