They had absolute control of more than one-third of the convention; and, whatever might come, they were determined that Mr.Van Buren should not be nominated.

As the most effective mode of assailing his strength, they supported a Northern candidate against him, and gave a large vote for General Cass.

This wrought the intended result.

It demoralized the friends of Mr.Van Buren and prepared the way for a final concentration upon Mr.Polk, which from the first had been the secret design of the Southern managers.
It was skillfully done, and was the direct result of the Texas policy which Mr.Calhoun had forced the Democratic party to adopt.
To Mr.Van Buren it was a great blow, and some of his friends were indisposed to submit to a result which they considered unfair.
For the first time in history of any convention, of either party, a candidate supported by a majority of the delegates failed to be nominated.

The two-thirds rule, as Colonel Benton declared, had been originally framed, "not to thwart a majority, but to strengthen it." But it was remorselessly used to defeat the majority by men who intended, not only to force a Southern policy on the government, but to intrust that policy to the hands of a Southern President.
The support of Cass was not sincere, but it served for the moment to embarrass the friends of Van Buren, to make the triumph of what Benton called the Texas conspiracy more easy and more sure, and in the end to lay up wrath against the day of wrath for General Cass himself.