Born near Jacksonville, North Carolina, the son of Christopher Dudley, a wealthy farmer and businessman, and Margaret Snead.

Nevertheless, this coalition of Van Buren's enemies, which had at first received support from National Republicans, would reemerge in the 1830s as the Whig party, of which Dudley became a member.

Dudley joined other eastern Carolina political leaders from both parties in agreeing to make limited concessions to the West, and the new constitution called for direct election of the governor.

He accepted the nomination, declaring Van Buren "a Northern man in soul, in principle and in action" (Raleigh Register, 23 Feb. 1836).

Southern sectionalism was a major Whig issue, and the party's support for distributing the proceeds of public land sales to the states, a measure Jackson had vetoed, greatly helped Dudley.

Whig senator Willie P. Magnum was replaced by a Democrat, and in November 1836 North Carolina voters endorsed Van Buren.

Dudley received 64 percent of the vote, the largest margin ever won by an antebellum candidate for governor.

He urged more aid to internal improvement and to public schools, but owing primarily to East-West sectionalism, he accomplished relatively little.

He remained a wealthy gentleman and an ardent Whig, and he entertained, among others, Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Senator Henry Clay.

Dudley remained an important railroad developer and Whig leader, fitting the pattern of business interest in the party.