Distribution of votes in the 1844 US presidential election
Neither of the major candidates received a majority of popular votes, with Polk and Clay receiving 49.5 and 48.1 percent of the votes respectively, however this translated into a 62 percent share of the electoral votes for Polk, making him the eleventh President of the United States. James Birney of the anti-slavery Liberty Party also received 2.3 percent of the popular votes, particularly in the north, and many scholars have since argued that his role was much larger than thought at the time, as he took votes from Clay in states where he otherwise would have won.