THE LINCOLN-BRECKENRIDGE-DOUGLAS-BELL CONTEST
1860
In 1860 the nation proclaimed the third great political epoch of its history by an aggressive departure from Democracy to the Republicanism that has since ruled without material interruption. There have been two Democratic administrations since the Republican epoch of 1860, but though they, for the time, halted and modified the Republican policy, they never had the power to make a decisive reversal of Republican mastery. Thus an epoch of twelve years of Federalism, another of sixty years of Democracy, and another of forty years of Republicanism tell the story of the political revolutions of the Republic during a period of one hundred and twelve years.
When Fremont made his brilliant campaign of 1856 and narrowly escaped election to the Presidency, it was generally accepted by all the varied phases of politics opposed to radical Republicanism that the Republican movement was like a bee—biggest at its birth—and that it never could win a national victory; but all the chief events affecting the political sentiment of the country from 1856 until 1860 tended to strengthen Republican sentiment and to alienate a large portion of the intelligent elements of Democracy. The significant elections of 1858 and 1859, with the Kansas-Nebraska war convulsing the country from centre to circumference, steadily strengthened Republican lines, and when the leaders of the party came to face the great battle of 1860 they well understood that success was within their reach, and never did a party exhibit greater sagacity in leadership than was displayed in the convention that nominated Lincoln.
William H. Seward was the confessed Republican leader of the nation. He was admittedly its ablest champion and was among its earliest supporters. He had been long in the Senate, and was the peer of any in the discussion of all the grave questions which then agitated our national Legislature. He was not only the ablest of his party, but he was one of the most exemplary and courteous of men. Two-thirds of all the delegates elected to that convention were friends of Seward and expected to vote for him, and his nomination would have been inevitable on the 1st ballot had not the convention been restrained by considerations of expediency which were most reluctantly accepted. Lincoln’s own delegation from Illinois embraced one-third of positive Seward men. They were instructed for Lincoln without hope of his nomination at the time, and most of them expected to perform a mere perfunctory duty by voting for him on one or more ballots.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Horace Greeley had sounded the first note of warning against the nomination of Seward, and his paper, the New York Tribune, was then the most influential journal ever published in this country. It was the Republican Bible, and its weekly edition was more read in the West than all other Eastern papers combined. He startled the party by a series of dignified and masterly articles in favor of Edward Bates, of Missouri, for President, on the ground that Seward was not available, and that a man of the great ability and conservative attitude of Bates alone could win in that contest. But though the conservative element of the opposition to the Democracy was not enthusiastic for Seward and his “irrepressible conflict,” the true reason of Seward’s defeat was not presented either by Mr. Greeley or by any public discussion before the meeting of the convention.
I have read many romances about how, why and by whom Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President at Chicago, but the explanation is very simple, and when presented must be accepted by all as conclusive. Henry S. Lane had been nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor of Indiana, and Andrew G. Curtin had been nominated by the Republicans for Governor of Pennsylvania. These States voted for Governor and other State officers on the second Tuesday of October, and they were the pivotal States of the national contest. It was an absolute necessity to carry them in October to assure the election of a Republican President, and the first inquiry of the Republican leaders at Chicago, outside of those who were blindly devoted to Seward, was “Who can carry Indiana and Pennsylvania?”
Lane and Curtin were there solely for the purpose of getting the strongest possible national ticket nominated to aid them in their State contests. With Lane was John D. Defrees, as Chairman of the Republican State Committee of Indiana, and I was with Curtin, as he had charged me with the same responsible duty in Pennsylvania. Curtin and Lane decided that they could not be elected if Seward were nominated for President. They were not personally or politically hostile to him; they had but one thing in view, and that was their own election, which was essential to elect a Republican President.
Prior to 1860 the Republican party had never carried either Pennsylvania or Indiana. Opposition to the pro-slavery policy of the Buchanan administration had crystallized antislavery Democrats, Whigs, and Americans into the support of Union State tickets, and had elected them; but in Pennsylvania the Republican name was omitted from necessity, and the organization was entitled the People’s party. In both of these States there was an organized and powerful American party yet in existence, without which the Republicans could not succeed. It was the remnant of the American or Know-Nothing revolution of 1854, and they cherished their own faith with great fidelity and would not support any candidate who was friendly to the Catholics.
When Seward was elected Governor of New York in 1838 it was largely by the influence of Archbishop Hughes, one of the ablest Catholic prelates this country has ever had; and Seward, not only because of his gratitude to his Catholic friends, but because of his broad and liberal views generally, in a message to the Legislature urged a division of the school fund between the Catholics and Protestants. That was the rock on which Seward was wrecked. Had he been nominated, the entire American element of the opposition would have been aggressively against him, and Pennsylvania and Indiana would have been lost not only by the defeat of Curtin and Lane in October, but by the defeat of Seward in November.
The situation was earnestly presented by Curtin and Lane, and Mr. Defrees and I accompanied them in their conferences with various delegations which were devoted to Seward, but were willing to abandon him—not because they loved Seward less, but because they loved Republican success more. I saw several rural delegates from New England States shed tears as they confessed that they must abandon Seward because he could not carry Pennsylvania and Indiana, and certainly more than one-third of all the delegates who voted for Lincoln in that convention did it in sincerest sorrow because compelled to abandon their great leader for the sake of victory.
Under such conditions the Seward lines were steadily weakening, but never was a movement so ably led as was the Seward movement at Chicago. It was literally a battle of giants. Thurlow Weed, the master of masters in politics, led the fight for Seward, and he had around him Governor Morgan, Chairman of the National Committee; Raymond, of the Times, and many others of distinguished ability in such struggles. Weed invited Lane to drive with him, and, in the course of their conversation, assured him that if his delegation would support Seward all the money needed to carry his election in Indiana would be generously furnished; but Lane knew that no amount of money could give him victory in October with Seward as the national candidate.
The convention met on Wednesday, May 16, and George Ashman, of Massachusetts, was made permanent president. The first day was devoted to routine duties, and the second to the adoption of a platform and rules to govern the convention. The convention adjourned on Thursday evening profoundly impressed with the great battle that was to be fought on the following day, and both sides exhausted political strategy to gain the advantage. Weed organized a most imposing street parade of the Seward people. They had thousands of Seward spectators outside of the delegates, and it was one of the most impressive public displays I have ever witnessed. They paraded the streets for an hour or more before the meeting of the convention.
The friends of Lincoln had been tireless in their efforts, and they displayed wonderful ability in handling their forces. The leaders in immediate charge of the Lincoln people were Colonel Medill, of the Chicago Tribune; David Davis, afterward Judge of the Supreme Court; Norman B. Judd, Chairman of the Republican State Committee, and Leonard Swett, who was almost a copy of Lincoln physically, and who was Lincoln’s closest friend until the day of his death. When they found that the Seward parade was to come off, they counselled how to meet it, and they finally decided that while the Seward men were parading they would fill the immense temporary wigwam—erected for the convention, and capable of holding five thousand spectators—with men who should go there solely for the purpose of hurrahing for Lincoln. They carried this plan into very successful operation, and when the Seward procession attempted to march into the convention hall they found it filled to overflowing, and very few Seward men outside the delegation could obtain admission.
Just before the convention opened I saw the New York delegation file in and fill the only vacant place in the immense building. They were appalled when they saw how they had been outgeneralled. Almost immediately behind the New York men, who were under the lead of Evarts as Chairman of the delegation, sat Horace Greeley at the head of the Oregon delegation. That new State, just admitted into the Union, was so far from civilization, as the iron horse had not yet been heard in either the Rockies or the Sierra Nevadas, that the Republican convention selected a number of prominent men in the East, including Greeley, to represent the State. I never saw a more benignant face than that of Greeley’s when the nomination of Lincoln was declared. It was known by the supporters of Seward that Pennsylvania and Indiana had both decided to support Lincoln, the Pennsylvanians having declared for Lincoln by four majority over Bates, after giving a complimentary ballot to Cameron.
With very little preliminary movement the ballot began, and Seward’s two-thirds vote of the convention dwindled down to 173¹⁄₂ when 234 were necessary to a choice. Lincoln, with Pennsylvania and Ohio giving complimentary ballots to Cameron and Chase, had 102 votes. As the ballots were announced, every vote for Lincoln was cheered to the echo, while there were but few cheers for Seward except from the delegates themselves. When the 2d ballot was called the Seward people felt that they must largely increase their strength or fall in the race. As Lincoln gained most of the vote of Pennsylvania, with important gains from other States, the wildest cheering greeted the announcements, and when the ballot was given with only 10 votes gained by Seward and 75 votes gained by Lincoln, it became evident to all that Seward’s strength was exhausted and that Lincoln was the coming man. The next and last ballot soon showed Lincoln as leading Seward, and from that time on it was difficult to announce the votes of the States because of the frenzied cheers for “Abe Lincoln.”
When the last State was called it was known that Lincoln was either nominated or very close to it. The vote as recorded was 231¹⁄₂ for Lincoln, being 2¹⁄₂ votes short of a majority, and 180 for Seward, with some 50 scattering. Before the result was announced Chairman Carter, of Ohio, got up on his chair to assure the attention of the President, and said:
“I rise to announce the change of four votes from Ohio from Mr. Chase to Abraham Lincoln.”
It was known then that this gave Lincoln the majority, and I have never before nor since witnessed such a scene as was made by the great mass of the Lincoln people who were in the hall. A large charcoal picture of Lincoln was presented in the gallery at the rear of the hall, and the whole vast audience, with few exceptions outside of the New York delegation, rose to indulge in the wildest enthusiasm for some minutes.
When order was finally restored, Maine, Massachusetts, and Missouri changed a number of votes to Lincoln, giving him a total of 354, being 120 odd votes more than he needed. When the vote was announced by the President cheers broke out afresh, but they soon quieted down to await the action of the New York delegation that was expected to move the unanimous nomination. There was certainly fully five minutes of dead silence in the body, as the New York delegates were mortified beyond expression at their discomfiture; but after a long wait that seemed to be vastly longer than it was, the tall form of William M. Evarts arose, and with reluctance that was unconcealed said:
“Mr. President, I move that the nomination of Abraham Lincoln be made unanimous.”
Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, rose as soon as he saw Evarts rise, and when Evarts’s motion was made Andrew seconded it, and with the unanimous vote of the convention and the heartiest huzzas from the many thousands who witnessed the proceedings, Abraham Lincoln was declared the Republican candidate for President. The convention adjourned to meet again in the evening to nominate a candidate for Vice-President.
As there will be general interest felt in the proceedings of the Republican National Convention that gave the country the first Republican President in Abraham Lincoln, I give the detailed vote of each State represented in the convention on the three ballots for President, as follows:
| STATES. | 1st Ballot. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seward. | Lincoln. | Wade. | Cameron. | Bates. | McLean. | Read. | Chase. | Dayton. | Sumner. | Fremont. | Collamer. | |||
| Maine | 10 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| New Hampshire | 1 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | ||
| Vermont | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 10 | ||
| Massachusetts | 21 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Rhode Island | — | — | — | — | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | ||
| Connecticut | — | 2 | 1 | — | 7 | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | ||
| New York | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| New Jersey | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14 | — | — | — | ||
| Pennsylvania | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | 4 | — | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Maryland | 3 | — | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Delaware | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Virginia | 8 | 14 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Kentucky | 5 | 6 | 2 | — | — | 1 | — | 8 | — | 1 | — | — | ||
| Ohio | — | 8 | — | — | — | 4 | — | 34 | — | — | — | — | ||
| Indiana | — | 26 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Missouri | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Michigan | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Illinois | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Texas | 4 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Wisconsin | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Iowa | 2 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | ||
| California | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Minnesota | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Oregon | — | — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Kansas | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Nebraska | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | ||
| District of Columbia | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Totals | 173 | ¹⁄₂ | 102 | 3 | 50 | ¹⁄₂ | 48 | 12 | 1 | 49 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| STATES. | 2d Ballot. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seward. | Lincoln. | Bates. | Cameron. | McLean. | Chase. | Dayton. | C. M. Clay. | ||||
| Maine | 10 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| New Hampshire | 1 | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Vermont | — | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Massachusetts | 22 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Rhode Island | — | 3 | — | — | 2 | 3 | — | — | |||
| Connecticut | — | 4 | 4 | — | — | 2 | — | 2 | |||
| New York | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| New Jersey | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | 10 | — | |||
| Pennsylvania | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | 48 | — | 1 | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | — | |
| Maryland | 3 | — | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Delaware | — | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Virginia | 8 | 14 | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | |||
| Kentucky | 7 | 9 | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | |||
| Ohio | — | 14 | — | — | 3 | 29 | — | — | |||
| Indiana | — | 26 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Missouri | — | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Michigan | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Illinois | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Texas | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Wisconsin | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Iowa | 2 | 5 | — | — | ¹⁄₂ | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||
| California | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Minnesota | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Oregon | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Kansas | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Nebraska | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | |||
| Dist. of Columbia | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Totals | 184 | ¹⁄₂ | 181 | 35 | 2 | 8 | 42 | ¹⁄₂ | 10 | 2 | |
| STATES. | 3d Ballot. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seward. | Bates. | Chase. | Lincoln. | McLean. | Dayton. | C. M. Clay. | |||
| Maine | 10 | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | ||
| New Hampshire | 1 | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | ||
| Vermont | — | — | — | 10 | — | — | — | ||
| Massachusetts | 18 | — | — | 8 | — | — | — | ||
| Rhode Island | 1 | — | 1 | 5 | 1 | — | — | ||
| Connecticut | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | — | — | 1 | ||
| New York | 70 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| New Jersey | 5 | — | — | 8 | — | 1 | — | ||
| Pennsylvania | — | — | — | 52 | 2 | — | — | ||
| Maryland | 2 | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | ||
| Delaware | — | — | — | 6 | — | — | — | ||
| Virginia | 8 | — | — | 14 | — | — | — | ||
| Kentucky | 6 | — | 4 | 13 | — | — | — | ||
| Ohio | — | — | 15 | 29 | 2 | — | — | ||
| Indiana | — | — | — | 26 | — | — | — | ||
| Missouri | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Michigan | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Illinois | — | — | — | 22 | — | — | — | ||
| Texas | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Wisconsin | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Iowa | 2 | — | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | — | |
| California | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Minnesota | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Oregon | 1 | — | — | 4 | — | — | — | ||
| Kansas | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Nebraska | 3 | — | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | ||
| Dist. of Columbia | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Totals | 180 | 22 | 24 | ¹⁄₂ | 231 | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | 1 | 1 |
So keen were the disappointments of the New York delegation, and Mr. Weed, who was the Seward leader, that when earnestly urged to name a candidate for Vice-President, who would have been accepted by a nearly unanimous vote, they churlishly refused to do so. Governor Morgan would have been taken as the candidate to emphasize the desire of the friends of Lincoln to recognize the friends of Seward, but he peremptorily refused to accept it, and the convention then nominated Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, as a representative of the Democratic-Republican element; but New York divided her vote between five candidates, giving a bare majority to Hamlin from personal choice.
As the friends of Seward declined to indicate a candidate for Vice-President the convention reassembled in the evening to enter a free-for-all race for the second place on the ticket. Hamlin commanded nearly a solid vote from New England that attracted others. He was known throughout the country as the man who had resigned the chairmanship of his committee in the Senate in 1856 to declare himself for Fremont, although an earnest Democrat up to that time, and that he had accepted the Republican nomination for Governor and won out by an overwhelming majority. There was a strong sentiment in the convention in favor of Cassius M. Clay, not because he was personally preferred, but because it was thought wise by many to desectionalize the party by taking a candidate for Vice-President from a Slave State. Hamlin had a good lead on the 1st ballot, and on the 2d won an easy victory. The two ballots were as follows:
| STATES. | 1st Ballot. | 2d Ballot. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C. M. Clay. | Banks. | Reeder. | Hickman. | Hamlin. | Hamlin. | Clay. | Hickman. | |||
| Maine | — | — | — | — | 16 | 16 | — | — | ||
| New Hampshire | — | — | — | — | 10 | 10 | — | — | ||
| Vermont | — | — | — | — | 10 | 10 | — | — | ||
| Massachusetts | — | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | — | — | ||
| Rhode Island | — | — | — | — | 8 | 8 | — | — | ||
| Connecticut | 2 | 1 | — | 2 | 5 | 10 | — | 2 | ||
| New York | 9 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 35 | 70 | — | — | ||
| New Jersey | 1 | — | 7 | — | 6 | 14 | — | — | ||
| Pennsylvania | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | 24 | 7 | 11 | 54 | — | — |
| Maryland | 2 | — | — | 1 | 8 | 10 | 1 | — | ||
| Delaware | 3 | — | — | 1 | 2 | 6 | — | — | ||
| Virginia | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | 23 | — | ||
| Kentucky | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | 28 | — | ||
| Ohio | — | — | — | — | 48 | 46 | — | — | ||
| Indiana | 18 | — | — | — | 8 | 12 | 14 | — | ||
| Missouri | — | 9 | — | 9 | — | 13 | 5 | — | ||
| Michigan | 4 | — | — | — | 8 | 8 | 4 | — | ||
| Illinois | 2 | — | 16 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 2 | — | ||
| Texas | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6 | — | ||
| Wisconsin | 5 | — | — | — | 5 | 5 | 5 | — | ||
| Iowa | — | 1 | 1 | — | 6 | 3 | — | — | ||
| California | — | — | — | 8 | — | 7 | 1 | — | ||
| Minnesota | 1 | — | — | 1 | 6 | 7 | 1 | — | ||
| Oregon | — | 1 | — | 3 | 1 | 3 | — | 2 | ||
| Kansas | — | — | — | 6 | — | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Nebraska | 1 | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | 6 | ||
| District of Columbia | 2 | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | ||
| Totals | 101 | ¹⁄₂ | 38 | ¹⁄₂ | 51 | 58 | 194 | 367 | 86 | 13 |
The Chicago convention that nominated Lincoln for President was not only the ablest national political body that ever met in the country up to that time, but it exhibited the highest type of political strategy. It has never since then been equalled in ability and leadership, with the single exception of the Republican convention of 1880, in which the friends of Grant made their last stand to give their chieftain a third term. As compared with these two, all subsequent conventions were tame.
The following platform was unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations:
1. That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph.
2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution—“that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”—is essential to the preservation of our republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the union of the States, must and shall be preserved.
3. That to the union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home, and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for disunion, come from whatever source they may; and we congratulate the country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of disunion so often made by Democratic members, without rebuke and with applause from their political associates; and we denounce those threats of disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendancy, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant people sternly to rebuke and forever silence.
4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
5. That the present Democratic administration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in person; in its attempted enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the Federal courts, of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power entrusted to it by a confiding people.
6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans; while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metropolis show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded.
7. That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.
8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individual, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States.
9. That we brand the recent reopening of the African slave-trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity, and a burning shame to our country and age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
10. That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal governors, of the acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting slavery in those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.
11. That Kansas should of right be immediately admitted as a State under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by her people and accepted by the House of Representatives.
12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.
13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of the free-homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory homestead measure which has already passed the House.
14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.
The bitter estrangement of Douglas and President Buchanan made an impassable gulf between Douglas and the radical Southerners who stood by Buchanan. Douglas had a desperate contest in his State for re-election to the Senate in 1858, when he was opposed by Lincoln as the Republican candidate, and was even more vindictively opposed by all the power of the national administration. Lincoln won the State, as he carried the Republican or Union State ticket, but the legislative districts were so gerrymandered that Douglas won the Legislature and came back in triumph to defy the President. There was no reasonable prospect, therefore, of Democratic unity in the campaign of 1860. Douglas, who was the most astute of all the Democratic politicians of his day, clearly foresaw that the violent attitude of the South must result in the defeat of the slavery party and the early extinction of slavery; but slavery had always been omnipotent since the battle began, and it would not learn that its mastery could be overthrown.
The Democratic National Convention was called for the first time to meet far South, in the city of Charleston, the home of Calhoun, the cradle of nullification, and the one place in the Union where secession ran rampant. It was obviously intended to environ the convention with an army of the ablest Southern leadership. The convention met on the 23d of April, 1860, and every State was fully represented, with double delegations from Illinois and New York. The few administration followers in Illinois had made a rump Democratic organization and sent an anti-Douglas delegation to Charleston, and in New York they had another contest between the “Hards” and the “Softs,” the “Hards” being opposed to Douglas and the “Softs” for him. Caleb Cushing was made permanent president, and it was decided that no ballot should be had for President until a platform was adopted. On the following day the convention did not get beyond the settlement of contested seats, admitting the “Softs” of New York and the Douglas men from Illinois, and the debates on even the most trivial disputes were unusually bitter. On the third day threats of bolting became common among the Southern delegates, as the admission of the Douglas delegates from New York and Illinois clearly indicated that the Douglas people controlled the convention. On the fourth day majority and minority reports were made on the platform, the majority by Mr. Avery, of North Carolina, and the minority by Mr. Payne, of Ohio. General Benjamin F. Butler, who was a prominent delegate in the convention, as he would be anywhere, and who voted for Jefferson Davis for the Presidency right along, presented a minority report of his own, and Senator Bayard, of Delaware, followed with a platform of his invention. On the fifth day Senator Bigler, of Pennsylvania, moved to recommit the platforms to the committee with instructions to report in an hour, and the motion to recommit was carried, 152 to 151, while the motion to instruct was lost by a very large vote. On the same day Mr. Avery, from the majority of the committee on platform, reported a new declaration of principles, and an elaborate discussion followed, and Mr. Samuels, of Iowa, presented a new minority report.
After a protracted and ill-tempered debate, it was finally decided that the vote on the platform should be taken on Monday, the 30th, and on that day the convention proceeded to vote without debate. Butler’s platform was rejected by 198 to 105. Next the minority report of Mr. Samuels, being the Douglas platform, was carried by 165 to 138. The report of the committee as amended was then adopted without a vote by States, upon which the Alabama delegation presented a written protest announcing the purpose of the delegates to withdraw from the convention. The Mississippi, Florida, and Texas delegations gave like notice, and the Louisiana delegation excepting two, the South Carolina delegation excepting three, with three of the Arkansas delegation, two of the Delaware delegation, including Senator Bayard, and one from North Carolina then withdrew from the convention. There were great pomp and ceremony in this proceeding, as formal protests and elaborate speeches were made by the retiring delegates. The convention was thus largely depleted, but a resolution, declaring that two-thirds of a full convention, being 202 votes, shall be necessary to make nominations, was adopted by 141 to 112. The convention then proceeded to ballot for President with the following result:
| BALLOTS. | Douglas. | Guthrie. | Hunter. | Dickinson. | A. Johnson. | Lane. | Jeff. Davis. | Toucey. | F. Pierce. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 145 | ¹⁄₂ | 35 | 42 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | |||||
| 2 | 147 | 36 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 6 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 6 | 1 | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | ||||
| 3 | 148 | ¹⁄₂ | 42 | 36 | 6 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 6 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 4 | 149 | 37 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | 12 | 6 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 5 | 149 | ¹⁄₂ | 37 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 6 | 149 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | 3 | 12 | 7 | — | — | — | ||||||
| 7 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 38 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 8 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 38 | ¹⁄₂ | 40 | ¹⁄₂ | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | 11 | 6 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||
| 9 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | 6 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||||
| 10 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | 4 | 12 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | ||||
| 11 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 38 | 4 | 12 | 6 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | ||||
| 12 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 38 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||||
| 13 | 149 | ¹⁄₂ | 39 | ¹⁄₂ | 28 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | 12 | 20 | 1 | — | — | |||||
| 14 | 150 | 41 | 27 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||||
| 15 | 150 | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||
| 16 | 150 | 42 | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||||
| 17 | 150 | 42 | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||||
| 18 | 150 | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 26 | 1 | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 19 | 150 | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 26 | 1 | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 20 | 150 | 42 | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||||
| 21 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||
| 22 | 150 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 26 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||
| 23 | 152 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 25 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 19 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | |||||
| 24 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 25 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 19 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 25 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 25 | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 19 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 26 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 41 | ¹⁄₂ | 25 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 27 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 42 | ¹⁄₂ | 25 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 28 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 42 | 25 | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 8 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 29 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 42 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 7 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 30 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 45 | 25 | 13 | 11 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 31 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | 32 | ¹⁄₂ | 3 | 11 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 32 | 152 | ¹⁄₂ | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | 22 | ¹⁄₂ | 3 | 11 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 33 | 152 | ¹⁄₂ | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | 22 | ¹⁄₂ | 3 | 11 | 14 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 34 | 152 | ¹⁄₂ | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | 22 | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | 11 | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | — | ||||
| 35 | 152 | 47 | ¹⁄₂ | 22 | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 36 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 48 | 22 | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 37 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 64 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | ¹⁄₂ | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||
| 38 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 66 | 16 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 13 | — | — | — | ||||||
| 39 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 66 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | — | ||||
| 40 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 66 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | — | ||||
| 41 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 66 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 12 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | — | ||||
| 42 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 66 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | — | — | — | ||||||
| 43 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 44 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 45 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 46 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 47 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 48 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 5 | — | 13 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 49 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 50 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 51 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 52 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 53 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 54 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 61 | 20 | ¹⁄₂ | 2 | — | 16 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 55 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 56 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| 57 | 151 | ¹⁄₂ | 65 | ¹⁄₂ | 16 | 4 | — | 14 | 1 | — | — | ||||||
Douglas had a large plurality of the votes, but could not obtain even a two-thirds vote of the remaining delegates. After the 57th ballot a motion was made to adjourn the convention to reassemble at Baltimore on the 18th of June. That was adopted by 195 to 55, whereupon President Cushing adjourned the convention to reconvene in Baltimore. The retiring delegates met at St. Andrew’s Hall, in Charleston, elected Senator Bayard, of Delaware, president, and after much discussion adopted a platform of its own. After spending four days wholly devoted to discussion, that body adjourned to reconvene in Richmond on the second Monday in June. This convention reconvened in Richmond on the 11th of June, with delegates from Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and Virginia. John Erwin, of Alabama, was made President, when it adjourned to meet again in Richmond on the 21st of June, and reassembled on that day and awaited the action of the Democratic seceders of the Baltimore convention, who nominated Breckenridge and Lane, when it accepted the candidates of the seceders and their platform, and adjourned sine die.
The regular Democratic National Convention reassembled in Baltimore on the 18th of June, and the first three days were devoted to a wrangling discussion on rules, platforms, rights of delegates, etc. The first disturbing questions the convention had to meet were the admission of delegates and the right of partial delegations representing States to cast the full vote of the State. The decision of the convention started another small tidal wave of secession and Virginia retired. North Carolina followed, then Tennessee, and a portion of Maryland. Later California and Delaware withdrew with a part of Kentucky, and President Cushing became so disgusted that he resigned his position and bolted himself. The convention finally proceeded to ballot for President, and two ballots were had, with the following result:
| STATES. | 1st Ballot. | 2d Ballot. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas. | Breckenridge. | Guthrie. | Douglas. | Breckenridge. | Guthrie. | |||||||
| Maine | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | 7 | — | — | |||||
| New Hampshire | 5 | — | — | 5 | — | — | ||||||
| Vermont | 5 | — | — | 5 | — | — | ||||||
| Massachusetts | 10 | — | — | 10 | — | — | ||||||
| Rhode Island | 4 | — | — | 4 | — | — | ||||||
| Connecticut | 3 | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | — | 3 | ¹⁄₂ | ¹⁄₂ | — | ||||
| New York | 35 | — | — | 35 | — | — | ||||||
| New Jersey | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | ||||
| Pennsylvania | 10 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | |||||
| Maryland | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | ||||
| Virginia | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | 3 | — | — | |||||
| North Carolina | 1 | — | — | 1 | — | — | ||||||
| Alabama | 9 | — | — | 9 | — | — | ||||||
| Louisiana | 6 | — | — | 6 | — | — | ||||||
| Arkansas | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | — | — | |||||
| Missouri | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | — | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | ||
| Tennessee | 3 | — | — | 3 | — | — | ||||||
| Kentucky | — | — | 4 | ¹⁄₂ | 3 | — | 1 | ¹⁄₂ | ||||
| Ohio | 23 | — | — | 23 | — | — | ||||||
| Indiana | 13 | — | — | 13 | — | — | ||||||
| Illinois | 11 | — | — | 11 | — | — | ||||||
| Michigan | 6 | — | — | 6 | — | — | ||||||
| Wisconsin | 5 | — | — | 5 | — | — | ||||||
| Iowa | 4 | — | — | 4 | — | — | ||||||
| Minnesota | 2 | ¹⁄₂ | ¹⁄₂ | 1 | 4 | — | — | |||||
| 173 | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | 10 | 181 | ¹⁄₂ | 7 | ¹⁄₂ | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | |||
As Douglas had received nearly the unanimous vote of the remaining delegates, it was finally resolved that as he had two-thirds of all the votes given in the convention, he was the nominee of the party for President. Benjamin Fitzpatrick, Senator from Alabama, was nominated for Vice-President, receiving 198¹⁄₂ votes to 1 for William C. Alexander, of New Jersey. Senator Fitzpatrick declined the nomination when notified of it, and the National Committee supplied the vacancy by the nomination of Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia. The platform adopted by this convention was as follows:
1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by the Democratic convention at Cincinnati in the year 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature when applied to the same subject-matters; and we recommend as the only further resolutions the following:
Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories—
2. Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions of constitutional law.
3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign.
4. Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, commercial, and postal point of view, is speedy communication between the Atlantic and Pacific States; and the Democratic party pledge such constitutional government aid as will insure the construction of a railroad to the Pacific Coast at the earliest practicable period.
5. Resolved, That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain.
6. Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave law are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effects.
7. Resolved, That it is in accordance with the interpretation of the Cincinnati platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, should be respected by all good citizens, and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General Government.
The seceders from the Baltimore convention, who were really representing the seceders from the Charleston convention then in session at Richmond, immediately organized a new convention in the Front Street Theatre, of Baltimore, with 21 States fully or partially represented. Caleb Cushing was made chairman, and after adopting the two-thirds rule, a ballot was had for President, all of the votes being cast for J. C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, by the following States:
| Vermont | ¹⁄₂ | |
| Massachusetts | 8 | |
| New York | 2 | |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | |
| Maryland | 4 | ¹⁄₂ |
| Virginia | 11 | ¹⁄₂ |
| North Carolina | 8 | ¹⁄₂ |
| Georgia | 10 | |
| Florida | 3 | |
| Alabama | 9 | |
| Louisiana | 6 | |
| Mississippi | 7 | |
| Texas | 4 | |
| Arkansas | 4 | |
| Missouri | 1 | |
| Tennessee | 9 | ¹⁄₂ |
| Kentucky | 4 | ¹⁄₂ |
| Minnesota | 1 | |
| California | 4 | |
| Oregon | 3 |
Breckenridge, having received the unanimous vote of the convention, was declared the candidate with great enthusiasm, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, received a like unanimous vote for Vice-President on the 1st ballot. The convention then adopted the following platform, being the same that had been reported to the Charleston convention by the majority of the platform committee:
Resolved, That the platform adopted by the Democratic party at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following explanatory resolutions:
1. That the government of a Territory organized by an act of Congress is provisional and temporary; and during its existence all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their rights either of person or of property being destroyed or impaired by Congressional legislation.
2. That it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority extends.
3. That when the settlers in a Territory, having an adequate population, form a State constitution, the right of sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States; and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union, whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of slavery.
4. That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain, at the earliest practicable moment.
5. That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave law are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.
6. That the Democracy of the United States recognize it as the imperative duty of this Government to protect the naturalized citizen in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same extent as its native-born citizens.
Whereas, One of the greatest necessities of the age, in a political, commercial, postal, and military point of view, is a speedy communication between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts—
Therefore be it Resolved, That the Democratic party do hereby pledge themselves to use every means in their power to secure the passage of some bill, to the extent of the constitutional authority of Congress, for the construction of a Pacific railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, at the earliest practicable moment.
A convention of delegates, representing the Constitutional Union party, met at Baltimore on the 9th of May and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. Two ballots were had, as follows:
| 1st Ballot. | 2d Ballot. | |||
| John Bell | 68 | ¹⁄₂ | 138 | |
| Samuel Houston | 57 | 69 | ||
| John M. Botts | 9 | ¹⁄₂ | 7 | |
| John McLean | 21 | 1 | ||
| J. J. Crittendon | 28 | 1 | ||
| Edward Everett | 25 | 9 | ¹⁄₂ | |
| William Goggin | 3 | — | ||
| William A. Graham | 22 | 18 | ||
| William L. Sharkey | 7 | 8 | ¹⁄₂ | |
| William C. Rieves | 13 | — | ||
Mr. Bell was declared the unanimous choice of the convention, and Mr. Everett was unanimously nominated without the formality of a ballot. The following platform was adopted by this convention:
Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that platforms adopted by the partisan conventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, and at the same time to widen the political divisions of the country by the creation and encouragement of geographical and sectional parties, therefore—
Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of the country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws, and that, as representatives of the constitutional Union men of the country in national convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies at home and abroad, believing that thereby peace may once more be restored to the country, the rights of the people and of the States re-established, and the Government again placed in that condition of justice, fraternity, and equality which, under the example and Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the United States to maintain a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
It will be noticed that the American party had entirely disappeared as a political factor in 1860, and what was called the Constitutional Union party had its origin from a number of old and conservative Americans who could not follow either of the old parties. The movement originated chiefly with the friends of General Houston, of Texas, who had separated from the Democratic party and was elected Governor of his State after he identified himself with the American organization. It was expected by those who did the preliminary work of organizing the Constitutional Union party that Houston would be made the candidate for President, and it will be seen that on the 1st ballot he was within 9 votes of Bell. The movement gained unexpected strength through the North, and when the delegates assembled at Baltimore a majority of them regarded it as a necessity to nominate two of the ablest, cleanest, and most conservative men of the country, and John Bell was taken because it was known that he could command a much larger vote from the old Whigs and Americans of the South, where the Republicans could have no votes, than any other candidate. The American party never reappeared in the political arena after 1856, when it succeeded in carrying the electoral vote of Maryland for Fillmore.
The contest was one of great activity, with much more bitterness exhibited by the Democratic factions toward each other than either displayed toward the Republicans. Douglas took the stump and spoke as far South as New Orleans, throughout the West, in various places in New York and other Eastern States. His speeches were the ablest and most aggressive ever delivered in a national contest. Lincoln, Breckenridge, and Bell took no prominent individual part in the battle. One of the peculiar features of the campaign of 1860 was the development of a war spirit in the North that was quickened by the organization known as “The Wide-Awakes.” They were Republican organizations uniformed by caps and capes, and each one carrying a lantern in night processions. Many of them drilled as military companies, for the threat of war came up with almost every echo from the South. The young men of the North, and especially the young men just from our colleges, entered largely and very enthusiastically into the Lincoln ranks, and in no previous Presidential battle was there such able and general discussion of public questions on the hustings. The slavery question had presented a new phase to the people of the North. It was not a mere battle against slavery, although that appealed very strongly to the convictions of most of the Republicans, but the South had, by the deliverances of its leading men, made the issue directly against the mastery of the free labor of the North. It was denounced by some of the ablest Southern leaders as unworthy of respect or recognition, holding that labor was menial, and that the North was made up very largely of “small-fisted farmers” and “greasy mechanics,” and Senator Chestnut, of South Carolina, who delivered the most honest and one of the ablest speeches on the labor question, compared the slave labor of the South most favorably with the “mud-sills of the North.” This attitude of the South logically brought the most intelligent labor classes of all conditions into the support of the Republican ticket to vindicate their own manhood and independence. The following table presents the popular and electoral vote:
| STATES. | Popular Vote. | Electoral Vote. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham Lincoln, Ill. | Stephen A. Douglas, Ill. | John C. Breckenridge, Ky. | John Bell, Tenn. | Lincoln. | Douglas. | Breckenridge. | Bell. | |
| Maine | 62,811 | 26,693 | 6,368 | 2,046 | 8 | — | — | — |
| New Hampshire | 37,519 | 25,881 | 2,112 | 441 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Vermont | 33,808 | 6,849 | 218 | 1,969 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Massachusetts | 106,533 | 34,372 | 5,939 | 22,331 | 13 | — | — | — |
| Rhode Island | 12,244 | 7,707[18] | ——— | ——— | 4 | — | — | — |
| Connecticut | 43,792 | 15,522 | 14,641 | 3,291 | 6 | — | — | — |
| New York | 362,646 | 312,510[18] | ——— | ——— | 35 | — | — | — |
| New Jersey | 58,324 | 62,801[18] | ——— | ——— | 4 | 3 | — | — |
| Pennsylvania | 268,030 | 16,765 | 178,871[18] | 12,776 | 27 | — | — | — |
| Delaware | 3,815 | 1,023 | 7,337 | 3,864 | — | — | 3 | — |
| Maryland | 2,294 | 5,966 | 42,482 | 41,760 | — | — | 8 | — |
| Virginia | 1,929 | 16,290 | 74,323 | 74,681 | — | — | — | 15 |
| North Carolina | ——— | 2,701 | 48,539 | 44,990 | — | — | 10 | — |
| South Carolina[17] | ——— | ——— | ——— | ——— | — | — | 8 | — |
| Georgia | ——— | 11,590 | 51,889 | 42,886 | — | — | 10 | — |
| Florida | ——— | 367 | 8,543 | 5,437 | — | — | 3 | — |
| Alabama | ——— | 13,651 | 48,831 | 27,875 | — | — | 9 | — |
| Mississippi | ——— | 3,283 | 40,797 | 25,040 | — | — | 7 | — |
| Louisiana | ——— | 7,625 | 22,861 | 20,204 | — | — | 6 | — |
| Texas | ——— | ——— | 47,548 | 15,438[18] | — | — | 4 | — |
| Arkansas | ——— | 5,227 | 28,732 | 20,094 | — | — | 4 | — |
| Missouri | 17,028 | 58,801 | 31,317 | 58,372 | — | 9 | — | — |
| Tennessee | ——— | 11,350 | 64,709 | 69,274 | — | — | — | 12 |
| Kentucky | 1,364 | 25,651 | 53,143 | 66,058 | — | — | — | 12 |
| Ohio | 231,610 | 187,232 | 11,405 | 12,194 | 23 | — | — | — |
| Michigan | 88,480 | 65,057 | 805 | 405 | 6 | — | — | — |
| Indiana | 139,033 | 115,509 | 12,295 | 5,306 | 13 | — | — | — |
| Illinois | 172,161 | 160,215 | 2,404 | 4,913 | 11 | — | — | — |
| Wisconsin | 86,110 | 65,021 | 888 | 161 | 5 | — | — | — |
| Minnesota | 22,069 | 11,920 | 748 | 62 | 4 | — | — | — |
| Iowa | 70,409 | 55,111 | 1,048 | 1,763 | 4 | — | — | — |
| California | 39,173 | 38,516 | 34,334 | 6,817 | 4 | — | — | — |
| Oregon | 5,270 | 3,951 | 5,006 | 183 | 3 | — | — | — |
| Totals | 1,866,452 | 1,375,157 | 847,953 | 590,631 | 180 | 12 | 72 | 39 |
The election of Lincoln was the second great political revolution in the history of the country, and it came with fearful import. The revolution won by Jefferson in 1800 simply displaced the Federalists, gave authority to the Republicans, and liberalized the policy of the Government. The revolution that brought Lincoln into the Presidency was the first popular expression emphasizing the purpose of the nation to halt the extension of slavery; and while the Republican policy meant no more than to prevent slavery extension, it was well understood in the South that it menaced the safety of slavery even where it was then undisputed. The Southerners had little tolerance for Republicanism. They had seen it grow from the despised Abolition cranks to the Republican party that had dominated Congress before it elected a President. Republicans in Congress were seldom treated with respect by their Southern associates, and often the most wanton and flagrant insults were given them not only on the floor of the House but on other occasions.
Personal encounters disgraced the record of both House and Senate, and the most respectable term the South ever applied to antislavery members was that of “Black Republican.” Even in Philadelphia, that became the most loyal of all cities, nearly the whole commercial and financial interests were arrayed against Lincoln, because they regarded the Republican party as disturbers of national tranquillity and of all the interests of trade. So strong was the conservative element among the old Whigs in that State that the name of Republican had to be discarded. Curtin was elected Governor as the candidate of the “People’s party,” and the delegates to the Chicago convention represented only that organization. When Lincoln’s election was announced the Democrats could not reconcile themselves to the mastery of a party they had so openly and persistently despised.
I witnessed an interesting episode in Philadelphia, on the night of Curtin’s election. The Prince of Wales was then on a visit to this country, and had just arrived at the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia. My headquarters as chairman of the Lincoln committee were at the Girard House immediately opposite, and I saw the handsome young Prince, then a picture of manly vigor and beauty, stand on the Chestnut Street balcony for an hour, surrounded by his suite of nobles, watching what he regarded as the dying agonies of the Republic. The main streets of the city were crowded with shouting, wrangling, and rioting partisans, and the Prince obviously congratulated himself that he had just happened in this country in time to see its angry dissolution. He witnessed the riotous enthusiasm of the Republicans, and the much more riotous madness of the defeated party, until he wearied of it, and he was astounded the next morning to discover that the city was as quiet and serene as an average Philadelphia Sunday.
Lincoln brought to the Presidency the strongest personality that has ever adorned the highest trust of the nation. It is studied with increased interest as time passes onward in its flight, and it is worthy of extended notice here. I had not met Lincoln personally until after his election. I had attended the Chicago convention as chairman of the State committee along with Curtin, and bore some humble part in aiding the nomination of Lincoln; and my correspondence with him during the campaign would have made one of the most interesting of Lincoln relics, but unfortunately the letters were destroyed when Chambersburg, including my own house, was burnt by General McCausland.
Pennsylvania was the battle ground, and he naturally tried to keep in close touch with it. His letters were always kind and hopeful, sometimes quaint, and always going directly to the point of winning the State. He communicated with me every week from the time I opened headquarters early in June until after the election, and I prized more highly the Lincoln correspondence of that struggle than any of all the many valued letters I have ever received. I think it safe to say that he was as familiar with the details of the contest in Pennsylvania as I was myself, and knew every element of strength and every element of weakness in our lines. He was never enthusiastic or sentimental, but always thoroughly practical, with occasional flashes of his exquisite Western humor.
After such intercourse with Lincoln, lasting from the beginning to the close of the great battle of his life, I of course had formed what I supposed to be an intelligent and accurate estimate of the character and attributes of the man, but I never had a glimpse of the grandeur of Lincoln’s character until I met him personally at his home in Springfield on the 3d of January, 1861. A contest over the appointment of Cameron to the Cabinet, in which I took part, in opposition to Cameron, made Lincoln telegraph me on the 2d of January to visit him at Springfield. I was then a member of the Senate; the Legislature was just about to meet, and I made as hurried a trip as possible. I reached Springfield about seven o’clock on the evening of the 3d, having telegraphed him in advance that I would arrive at that hour and must return at eleven. I went from the depot directly to his house, and when I rang the bell the door was opened by Lincoln himself, and I saw no other person during my stay.
I think I did not well conceal my disappointment when I stood before him in the dimly lighted hall looking up into the face of the new President. There was nothing in his appearance calculated to make a favorable impression at first sight. He was illy clad, ungraceful in movement, and his rudely chiselled face, that was always sad in repose, clearly portrayed the fretting anxieties which his election to the Presidency to meet the severest trial of the Republic had brought upon him. He had then decided to appoint Cameron to the Cabinet, against which I had protested, and he had sent for me to know whether there were good reasons for a change of judgment. We sat down in his plainly furnished parlor, and for an hour or more he heard me patiently with evident interest. During this part of the conversation he said but little, but gave many incisive questions to be answered. He did not exhibit a single trace of humor, and it seemed to me most of the time as if I were making my appeal to a sphinx. He gave no sign whatever as to whether I impressed him or not, and when I left him I had not a single clue by which to judge what importance he had attached to my arguments, but before he retired that night he wrote a letter to Cameron revoking the appointment, and suggesting that Cameron should regard the position as tendered, and give a letter of declination.
In that letter, which can be found in Nicolay and Hay’s “Life of Lincoln,” he uses this language: “You will say this comes of an interview with McClure, and this is partly but not wholly true.” The result was that the position of Secretary of War was held open until Lincoln arrived in Washington, when Seward and Weed finally prevailed upon the President to give the position to Cameron. He advised me of his purpose after he had decided, and was much gratified for the assurance that no factional hostility would be made against either Cameron or the administration. Seward and Weed were much embittered at Curtin and Lane for defeating Seward at Chicago, and they dealt a retributive blow by securing the appointment of Cameron, as Cameron and Curtin were never in political accord after the bitter struggle they had for Senator in 1855.
It was not until after the question of the Cabinet appointment was dismissed that I had an opportunity to see something of Lincoln as he was. It was my part to do the talking on the Cabinet issue; after that it was his part to talk, and he gradually developed all the great and grand qualities of his character. He was appalled at the prospect of civil war being the sequel of his election to the Presidency, and above all things, he wanted peace if consistent with the line of duty. He fully appreciated that he was confronted by graver problems than had ever beset American statesmanship, and that he was compelled to meet the great issue of the threatened dismemberment of the Republic.
He was painfully and profoundly impressed with the fearful responsibility that devolved upon him, but the first great attribute of his character developed by this discussion, or rather by his statements of the situation, was his unswerving fidelity to duty regardless of all personal or political interests, and even regardless of life itself. He well understood that armed rebellion was apparently inevitable, and that he must meet the most appalling peril that ever confronted our free government, and one for which neither the history of this Government nor of any other Government of the world furnished precedents to guide him in his course. The right of secession had been claimed and denied since the formation of the Constitution with almost equal ability and integrity, and there he was, crowned with the laurels of the highest trust of the civilized world, with the prospect of a nearly united South in rebellion, and the North divided—and intensely divided—as to the power of the Government to maintain the unity of the States by force. I heard Lincoln in this conversation but a short time before I discovered that he had but one purpose, from which no interests could swerve him, and that was to perform his duty with fidelity and accept the consequences. He felt that as a Republican President he would owe it to his party to give it the advantages of power; yet he understood that the Government could not be maintained without the co-operation of the Democrats.
My next meeting with Lincoln was under circumstances well calculated to study his true character intelligently. I was one of a dozen or more who dined with him at what is now the Commonwealth Hotel in Harrisburg on the evening of the 22d of February, 1861. The dinner was given by Governor Curtin to the President-elect, and I believe that none of the guests are now living but myself. The story of Lincoln’s sudden departure on the memorable midnight journey to Washington from Harrisburg on that night has been many times told, and in no instance with entire correctness. He arrived in Philadelphia on the evening of February 21, and the published programme of his journey to Washington was from Philadelphia to Harrisburg on the 22d, and from Harrisburg to Washington by the Northern Central Railroad through Baltimore on the 23d. He was met in Philadelphia by Mr. Fenton, President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, and by Pinkerton’s detectives, who informed him that he could not pass through Baltimore according to his published programme without inviting assassination, that had been deliberately planned; and the son of Senator Seward brought Lincoln a letter signed by Seward and General Scott, insisting that he should change his route, because he could not safely pass through Baltimore if the time of his coming were known.
He was earnestly urged to omit his Harrisburg appointment and take the eleven o’clock train from Philadelphia to Washington that night, but he peremptorily refused, and left the question to be determined at Harrisburg. He hoisted the flag on Independence Hall early on the morning of the 22d, and delivered an address that betrayed none of the serious emotions which must have agonized him at the time. He arrived at Harrisburg early in the afternoon, where I was one of the legislators to receive him, had a reception and delivered a brief address in the hall of the House, and soon after five o’clock he sat down to the dinner at the hotel as the guest of Governor Curtin, who was there advised by Colonel Lamon and Colonel Sumner of the information received in Philadelphia the night before, and of the necessity of considering the question of changing his route.
Dinner was hastily served, when the servants were cleared from the dining-hall, and Governor Curtin stated the facts to the dining guests, and insisted that Lincoln’s programme should be changed. Every one present promptly responded in approval, and the only silent man at the table was Lincoln. I sat near enough to him to watch and study his face, and there was not a sign of agitation upon it, and when he was called upon to give his views, it was at once made evident to all that he thought much more of commanding the respect and honor of the nation than of preserving his life. His answer was substantially, and I think exactly, in these words: “I cannot consent. What would the nation think of its President stealing into its capital like a thief in the night?” His voice was clear and distinct, and his cool and earnest manner made his expression painfully pathetic.
Fortunately, among the guests was the late Colonel Thomas A. Scott, and when Governor Curtin declared that the question was not one for Lincoln to decide, Colonel Scott at once proposed to take charge of the new programme, and send Lincoln back to Philadelphia on a special train in time to make the eleven o’clock from Broad and Prime Streets to Washington that night. Scott was a master alike in keenness of perception and swiftness of execution. He at once directed the Governor to take Lincoln down to the front of the hotel, where there were multitudes awaiting to cheer them, and loudly call a carriage to take them to the Executive Mansion, as that would be the natural place for them to go. They entered the carriage, drove up along the river front toward the Executive Mansion, and then made a detour to reach the depot in thirty minutes, as instructed by Colonel Scott. I accompanied Colonel Scott to the depot, when he first cleared one track of his line to Philadelphia, forbidding anything to enter upon it until released, and with his own hands cut all of the few telegraph wires which then came into Harrisburg. A locomotive and a car were in readiness at the time appointed a square below the depot, where Lincoln and Curtin arrived with Colonel Lamon, and Lincoln and Lamon entered the car for their journey. When I shook hands with Lincoln and wished him God’s protection on his journey, he was as cool and deliberate as ever in his life.
Every precaution had been taken to prevent the knowledge of a change in Lincoln’s programme being known to any who might possibly communicate by telegraph, and when the wires were all cut we felt assured that unless Lincoln should be accidentally detected in Philadelphia, none would know of his journey until he arrived at Washington. But one person in Philadelphia was advised of the movement, and he was Superintendent Kenney, of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, still prominently connected with its service, who was instructed by Colonel Scott to meet Lincoln at the Pennsylvania depot and conduct him to the Broad and Prime station. Beyond Superintendent Kenney, no one outside of the few in Harrisburg who had arranged and started Lincoln on his journey had any knowledge of the change in his route.
He was received by Superintendent Kenney in a carriage, taken to the Broad and Prime station, where a section of a sleeping car had been engaged for him, entered it without attracting attention, and at six o’clock the next morning he was in Washington. We had a sleepless and a terribly long and anxious night at Harrisburg, but about six o’clock Colonel Scott reunited the wires in his railroad station, and received the despatch: “Plums delivered Nuts safely,” which announced the safe arrival of the President.
ANDREW JOHNSON