Jacob Collamer, of Vermont.
George Ashman, of Massachusetts, was chosen permanent chairman of the convention, and after the platform was read Joshua Giddings moved that it should be amended by inserting a part of the Declaration of Independence. This was violently opposed by another delegate in a rather sarcastic speech, whereupon George William Curtis, one of the great orators of America, and at the time editor of Harper’s Weekly, got the floor and in his mellifluous voice said:
“Gentlemen, have you dared to come to this convention to undo what your fathers did in Independence Hall?”
Curtis’s speech carried the amendment.
To impress all wavering delegates, an imposing political parade through the streets was organized by Seward’s friends. It was great in numbers and enthusiasm. Hundreds of marchers, among whom Tom Hyer, in his glossy silk hat, was a prominent figure, were drafted into the parade by the political wire-pullers, but it had no effect in determining the result on the floor of the convention.
Indeed, from my long political experience I have come to the conclusion that these public parades, while imposing for the moment, have no permanent influence upon the voters. The mob of spectators along the streets are there largely as a matter of curiosity, and are not to be swerved from their convictions by any mere spectacle.
While this outside parade was being carried on, Lincoln’s friends developed tremendous energy and skill in marshaling the delegates. Among the leaders of the “rail-splitter’s” cause were Joseph Medill, the celebrated editor of the Chicago Tribune, David Davis, the intimate friend of Lincoln, afterward appointed by him justice of the United States Supreme Court; Norman B. Judd; and Leonard Swett, remarkable for his close resemblance to Lincoln.
Greeley was an intense champion of Edward Bates, who had been a representative from Missouri during the administration of John Quincy Adams.
Greeley’s championship of Bates was remarkable for several reasons. Bates was born in Virginia, he had been a lifelong slaveholder, and in politics he was what was known as a “Silver-gray Whig.” Consequently he was conservative on the slavery question, clinging to the doctrine of the revolutionary sages that “slavery was an evil to be restricted, not a good to be diffused.” Greeley insisted that the position that Bates thus held made him essentially a Republican. While he believed that Bates would poll votes even in the slave States, he was confident that he would rally about him all that was left of the old Whig party.
Greeley, regarding trouble with the Southern States as probably inevitable, yet believed that the nomination of Bates would check and possibly avert an open schism. He did not at the time avow these reasons for supporting Bates, but afterward frankly admitted them. While these views may have influenced his opposition to Seward’s nomination, there is no doubt in my mind but that the real reason of his fight against Seward were the grounds hereinbefore stated.