1851 Boston mayoral election



The 1851 Boston mayoral election saw the election of Benjamin Seaver, a former president of the Boston Common Council, as mayor of Boston. The election took three votes, as no candidate secured the needed majority in the first two attempts. In the third attempt, Seaver won the required majority by the margin of a single vote. Incumbent Whig mayor John P. Bigelow was not a nominee for reelection.

First vote (December 8, 1851)

 * Candidates
 * Jerome V. C. Smith ("Native American Party" –Know Nothing), physician
 * John H. Wilkins (Whig)
 * George F. Williams (Free Soil Party)
 * Adam Wallace Thaxter Jr. (Democratic Party), merchant and Democratic for mayor in the first vote of the 1844 election


 * Result

Second vote (December 17, 1851)

 * Candidates
 * Benjamin Seaver (Whig), former president of the Boston Common Council
 * Jerome V. C. Smith, physician
 * John H. Wilkins
 * George F. Williams
 * Henry B. Rogers
 * Adam Wallace Thaxter Jr., merchant and candidate for mayor in 1844


 * Result

Third vote (December 24, 1851)

 * Candidates
 * Benjamin Seaver (Whig), former president of the Boston Common Council
 * Jerome V. C. Smith, physician
 * Henry B. Rogers
 * Adam Wallace Thaxter Jr., merchant and candidate for mayor in 1844


 * Result