I was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention, that met in Philadelphia on the 17th of June, 1856. It was also a mass convention, as the party had no organization, and States sent large or small delegations as was most convenient. I went to the convention, hoping to aid in the nomination of Judge McLean for President, who was sufficiently conservative to command both the Whig and American votes, and I had no faith whatever in the success of a distinctive Republican candidate and party. I was surprised to find the Republicans of New England and of New York who were attending the convention in favor of a radical Republican policy, and I was so much dissatisfied with the evident outcome of the convention that, although I attended its first session, I did not enroll as a delegate, and did not participate in any of its important proceedings. I well remember meeting Mr. Greeley among the first of those who came to the convention, and wondered how he had lost all his political cunning when he told me, in the most enthusiastic way, that Fremont would carry New York by 50,000 majority, and that the Republican party would be sufficiently strong to win the battle without any concessions whatever to the other elements opposed to the Democratic party. I had no faith in Fremont, either as a candidate or as a President. I shared the general conservative Whig sentiment of Pennsylvania that the Republican convention in nominating Fremont on a square-toed Republican platform was altogether too “wild and woolley” in flavor to win at the election. Greeley was mistaken as to New York only in making the Republican majority one-third less than it turned up on election night, when Fremont had nearly as many votes as Buchanan and Fillmore combined.
The nomination of Fremont was engineered by some of the shrewdest of the old Democratic leaders, most conspicuous of whom was the elder Francis P. Blair, who had been one of the most sagacious of the Democratic politicians during the administrations of Jackson, Van Buren, and Polk. They believed it best to take a candidate for the Presidency who had no political record whatever to antagonize the conflicting political views which must be united to give the party success; and Fremont was young, had served in the army with credit, had made what then were regarded as wonderful explorations in the Rocky Mountains, and had the distinction of having been forced to retire from the army for what was claimed to have been conspicuously heroic and patriotic action on his part. He had never said anything or done anything to offend any political prejudice. It turned out that he was strongest where he was least known. The old California Forty-niners, who were back in Pennsylvania, and some of them prominent in politics, did not enthuse over Fremont’s nomination. I distinctly recollect the trite summing up of Fremont’s qualities by one who had been with him in California by saying: “Fremont is a millionaire without a dollar, a soldier who never fought a battle, and a statesman who never made a speech;” but that his nomination was altogether the strongest that could have been made in the Philadelphia convention cannot be doubted by any who study the history of that contest and the marvellous political revolution it wrought. Henry S. Lane, of Indiana, presided over the convention, and a single ballot was had for President, as follows:
| STATES. | Fremont. | McLean. |
|---|---|---|
| Maine | 13 | 11 |
| New Hampshire | 15 | — |
| Vermont | 15 | — |
| Massachusetts | 39 | — |
| Rhode Island | 12 | — |
| Connecticut | 18 | — |
| New York | 93 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 7 | 14 |
| Pennsylvania | 10 | 71 |
| Delaware | — | 9 |
| Maryland | 4 | 3 |
| Ohio | 30 | 39 |
| Indiana | 18 | 21 |
| Illinois | 14 | 19 |
| Michigan | 18 | — |
| Wisconsin | 15 | — |
| Iowa | 12 | — |
| Minnesota | — | 3 |
| Kansas | 9 | — |
| Nebraska | — | 3 |
| Kentucky | 5 | — |
| California | 12 | — |
| Totals | 359 | 196 |
The nomination of Fremont was made unanimous with great enthusiasm, and there was only one ballot for Vice-President, resulting as follows:
| William L. Dayton, N. J. | 259 |
| Abraham Lincoln, Ill. | 110 |
| N. P. Banks, Mass. | 46 |
| David Wilmot, Penn. | 43 |
| Charles Sumner, Mass. | 35 |
| Jacob Collamer, Vt. | 15 |
| John A. King, N. Y. | 9 |
| S. C. Pomeroy, Kan. | 8 |
| Thomas Ford, Ohio | 7 |
| Henry Wilson, Mass. | 5 |
| Cassius M. Clay, Ky. | 4 |
| Henry C. Carey, Penn. | 3 |
| Wm. F. Johnston, Penn. | 2 |
Mr. Dayton was then declared the nominee of the convention by a unanimous vote, and the following platform was adopted:
This convention of delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present administration, to the extension of slavery into Free Territory; in favor of admitting Kansas as a Free State, of restoring the action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson; and who purpose to unite in presenting candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, do resolve as follows:
Resolved, That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution 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, shall be preserved.
Resolved, That with our republican fathers we hold it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior designs of our Federal Government were to secure these rights to all persons within its exclusive jurisdiction; 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 to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it for the purpose of establishing slavery in any Territory of the United States, by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States while the present Constitution shall be maintained.
Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the Territories of the United States, for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery.