Representation in the Election of 1846
Table from the Ohio Senate Journal’s examination of the controversial election after Cox questioned the close results. It shows vote tallies for Cox, Willford, and Taggart in each of the twenty townships in the senatorial district.
From 1800-1850, farmers in Ohio usually lacked representation in governmental affairs, even though agriculture was central to the economy. The election of 1846 was the first time that farmers and poorer, rural residents of Wayne County gained representation in the state government and that politicians, like Joseph Willford, were able to represent farmers and their values. This new representation extended farmers’ sense of community to include politics. The mid-nineteenth century signaled the beginning of modern participant politics in America, a trend evident in Wayne County.1 Some farmers were able to participate in elections — Ohio’s residents had been able to vote since 1802, as long as they were white males who had lived in the state for one year before voting. Prior to 1846, Wayne County voters usually elected Whig candidates, who represented elite opinions rather than those of rural citizens.2
Willford’s name on the Greene Township section of the 1823 Census of Wayne County, which shows that he lived in a rural township in the County for more than twenty years before the election. Cox is not included in the census.
Levi Cox’s grave in the Wooster Cemetery, where he was buried in 1862. His large gravestone is a testament to his legacy left as a rich, elite member of the Wooster community.
On October 13, 1846, Ohio held elections for State Senate. The Wayne County senatorial district, which included Wayne County’s sixteen townships as well as four townships from Ashland County, elected Willford, a democrat, for State Senator over Whig candidate Levi Cox. The final vote tally was 2441-2440.3
This election was an anomaly in Wayne County. Electing Willford signaled a change in representation for Wayne County voters. Cox was a typical politician of Wayne County— he was an American-born, wealthy lawyer living in Wooster who was older than the average Wayne County resident. Willford was a new type of politician—a farmer residing in Greene Township in Wayne County for several decades, Willford had little political experience and lacked formal schooling. He represented Wayne County’s rural population.4 Wayne County had eight Whig townships and eight Democratic townships in 1850. The Whig townships had a larger population of eligible voters, but Democratic townships had a larger population of farmers (54.3% to 46.8%) and a poorer population.5 In electing a Democratic State Senator, Wayne County farmers gained a voice in Ohio’s state government. It’s no coincidence that the mid-nineteenth century is considered the beginning of participatory politics and the beginning of the relationship between agriculture and politics — Wayne County’s Election of 1846 is proof.
1 Kenneth J Winkle, The Politics of Community: Migration and Politics in Antebellum Ohio (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 4.
2 Ibid, 15, 136-137.
3 “Report of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections,” Ohio Senate Journal, Appendix, 1846-1847, 3.
4 Winkle, Politics of Community, 143-144.
5 Ibid, 148; “Privileges and Elections,” 24.