In politics we tend to remember the winners. Yet some of the losing candidates in 19th century presidential elections came very close. And some, even though they lost decisively, could have been very good presidents had things gone differently.

Here is a list of men who seemed to have the proper credentials to be president in the 1800s. But, they never made it:

Henry Clay

No man who was not president ever exerted more influence on national politics than Henry Clay.


He first came to Congress in the first decade of the 1800s, and until his death in 1852 he was involved at the highest levels of American political life.

Clay once famously said he "would rather be right than be president." That's how it worked out for him, though he ran for the highest office in the land several times. He ran and lost in the election of 1824, 1832, and 1844.

Lewis Cass

Lewis Cass of served on the frontier in the War of 1812, and launched his political career as the territorial governor of Michigan. He later served as Andrew Jackson's secretary of war and in various other government posts before launching a run for the presidency prior to the election of 1844.

Cass sought the nomination of the Democratic Party but was nosed out by the first dark horse candidate, James K. Polk of Tennessee. Four years later, Cass secured the Democratic nomination but lost to Zachary Taylor, who had been a hero of the Mexican War. Cass might have won except the Democratic vote was split between him and Martin Van Buren, the former president who ran as the candidate of the Free Soil Party.

Samuel J. Tilden

Though he may have won the disputed presidential election of 1876, Tilden was denied the victory. The process of determining the winner went on for months, and in the end a special commission decided that Rutherford B. Hayes was the new president.

Tilden, who had a long career in politics in New York State, accepted his ultimate defeat gracefully. He was active in business and charitable causes in New York City, and he left a fortune of several million dollars to what became the New York City Public Library.

James G. Blaine

Following a long and distinguished career on Capitol Hill, which included stints as a Representative from Maine, the Speaker of the House, and a U.S. Senator from Maine, Blaine nearly won the presidential election of 1884.

Though he was coasting to victory, Blaine, the Republican nominee, became entangled in a horrendous gaffe near the end of the campaign. The phrase "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion" entered the political lexicon, and Blaine lost the election and returned to Maine.

Stephen Douglas

One of the most powerful men in the U.S. Senate in the critical decade of the 1850s, Douglas was involved in all the major political maneuvering which took place before the Civil War. In 1858, while running to return to the Senate, he debated Abraham Lincoln across Illinois.

Douglas ran against Lincoln for president in the election of 1860, but lost in a four-way battle which also included candidates John C. Breckenridge and John Bell.