The Whigs had been cheated out of a victory in the 1840 election. They had finally won the presidency, only to have him die after a month. His replacement, John Tyler, had been a Democrat but used by the Whigs to get southern votes. Tyler, who fought against the Whigs, was basically a man without a party for his four years and when 1844 came around the Whigs dumped him for the man they always wanted all along anyway, Henry Clay. The Whigs thought Clay could easily beat the unpopular ex-president Martin Van Buren, but the problem was in the end the Democrats ran a new up and comer instead, James Polk.