1851–52 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

• George S. Boutwell, incumbent Governor (Democratic)
• Francis Cogswell (Independent)
• Robert C. Winthrop, former U.S. Senator and Speaker of the U.S. House (Whig)
• John G. Palfrey, former U.S. Representative from Cambridge (Free Soil)

With the state still split in a three-way plurality and following the clear emergence of the Democratic-Free Soil coalition of 1850, both the Whig and Coalition forces focused on securing a majority in the General Court.[2]

The primary policy issue in the campaign was the coalition effort for a ten-hour workday. Whigs opposed the measure on as a threat to both economic efficiency and social mobility, arguing that labor regulation prevented motivated employees from contracting for more hours, accumulating capital, and reinvesting for themselves. Though some suggested emphasizing national issues instead to divide the coalition forces, the Whigs settled on a campaign led by Senator John W. Davis on state issues.[3]

The ten-hour debate came to a head in Lowell, a city more dependent on factory labor than any other. Despite the city's traditional domination by textile industrialists and the Whig Party, the coalition ticket headed by attorney Benjamin Butler campaigned explicitly in favor of the ten-hour day. With the secret ballot allowing workers to cast votes without their employer's knowledge, the ticket won a surprising upset in the usually-Whig city on election day. However, the Whig city government found irregularities in the returns and declared a new election. With the legislature split evenly between the coalition and Whig forces, the Lowell election would decide control of state government.[3]

As the Lowell run-off election intensified, Whig industrialists like Linus Child returned to old tactics, including threatening any employee who voted the Butler ticket with termination. At a rally in response, Butler told the crowd, “I am here to serve you and to save you from bondage"[4] and openly threatened to light the city on fire if a single vote were bribed or coerced:[5]

As God lives and I live, by the living Jehovah! if one man is driven from his employment by these men because of his vote, I will lead you to make Lowell what it was twenty-five years ago,—a sheep pasture and a fishing place; and I will commence by applying the torch to my own house. Let them come on. As we are not the aggressors, we seek not this awful contest.[4]

The Butler ticket won the late election, securing a General Court majority for the coalition and raising Senator-elect Butler's statewide profile.[5]

The Massachusetts House of Representatives certified the popular returns on January 12, 1851. The following day. As a result of the failure for a candidate to secure the needed majority to be elected through the popular vote, the election of the Governor was placed before the two chambers of the state legislature: the Massachusetts General Court. The four candidates that appeared on the ballot in the popular election all qualified as candidates from which the General Court could choose from. The process for the legislature to elect a governor saw the Massachusetts House of Representatives first hold votes to select two candidates from which the Massachusetts State Senate would then select a winner. The General Court held its votes to elect the governor on January 13, 1851.[7]

• Mulkern, John R. (1990). The Know-Nothing Party in Massachusetts: The Rise and Fall of a People's Movement. Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-071-0.
• Pierson, Michael D. (2005). "He Helped the Poor and Snubbed the Rich: Benjamin F. Butler and Class Politics in Lowell and New Orleans" (PDF). Massachusetts Historical Review. 7.