The House’s failure to select a senator on its first ballot touched off a fiery two-month marathon, with bitter debate and intense maneuvering on both sides. Whig newspapers called on Sumner to retract his pre-election remarks about Webster and Fillmore, and when he refused, they called him a traitor. Dissenting Democrats asked for assurances from Sumner that he would not “agitate” the slavery question in the Senate, which he steadfastly refused to provide.
