A History of the United States

by Charles Kendall Adams; William P. Trent

435. Democratic Nominating Conventions.—The first outbreak of the coming storm occurred in the Democratic National Convention of 1860. This was held in Charleston, South Carolina, and lasted from April 23 to April 30. The delegates of the South were marshaled by William L. Yancey of Alabama; those of the North by Senator George H. Pugh of Ohio. The main contest was over the majority and minority reports of the Committee on Platform. While the Southern delegates demanded a declaration in accordance with Davis’s resolution that neither Congress nor any territorial government had the right to legislate in regard to slavery in any territory, the delegates of the North planted themselves firmly on the “Freeport Doctrine” of Popular Sovereignty. The storm raged with the utmost fury, in the midst of which Yancey declared that if the Popular Sovereignty doctrine were adopted, the Southern delegation would withdraw from the Convention. The followers of Douglas secured a majority, whereupon Yancey and his followers made good their threat, and marched out. This was the beginning of practical secession. Though the remaining delegates were a majority, they were not two-thirds of the Convention, and, therefore, no nomination under the rule of Democratic conventions could be made. The seceding faction adjourned to meet at Richmond, June 11, the others at Baltimore, June 18. An attempt was made to unite them at Baltimore, but both sides were firm, and the effort was fruitless. The consequence was that the Democrats finally made three nominations. John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, was the candidate of the Southern wing; Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, of the Northern; and John Bell, of Tennessee, of the Conservatives, who vainly hoped still to bring the factions together. Thus the predictions of Lincoln were abundantly fulfilled.

436. The Republican Nominating Convention.—The Republican Convention met on the 16th of May, in Chicago. Seward was the most prominent candidate, but the names of Chase[^[194]] of Ohio, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Dayton of New Jersey, and Bates of Missouri were all presented by the delegates of their respective states. Lincoln’s name showed great strength, as he was supported not only by Illinois, but also by many votes from Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and New England. The platform adopted was in strict accordance with all Lincoln’s private and public utterances. It advocated no interference with slavery where it existed, no extension of slavery into the territories, and no reopening of the slave trade. On the first ballot, Seward had one hundred and seventy-three and one-half votes, and Lincoln followed with one hundred and two. On the second, Seward had one hundred and eighty-four and a half, and Lincoln one hundred and eighty-one. The excitement was tremendous. The number necessary for a choice was two hundred and thirty-three. On the third ballot, Lincoln had two hundred and thirty-one and a half, while Seward had fallen back to one hundred and eighty. There was no resisting the tide. Before the figures were removed, a delegate from Ohio sprang upon his chair, and reported a change of four votes from Chase to Lincoln. In an instant, one of the tellers shouted, “Lincoln!” whereupon it seemed as if the ten thousand persons present had become insane with enthusiasm. A cannon on the roof of the hall announced the result to the city in accordance with a preconcerted understanding. The chairman of the New York delegation, William M. Evarts, then moved that the nomination be made unanimous. This harmonious result was welcomed by Republicans in all parts of the country.

437. The Presidential Canvass.—The campaign was conducted with a vigor and an enthusiasm that had not been known since 1840. Lincoln made no speeches and wrote no letters for publication, but made himself accessible at Springfield to all callers who might care to meet him. But such a course was not followed by the Democrats. No progress was made toward reunion. On the contrary, the Breckinridge, or Southern wing, waged unrelenting war on Douglas, both in discussion and in the promise of distribution of patronage. Douglas was not slow to retaliate. He entered at once on an extensive campaigning tour and made speeches in many states, both North and South.

438. The Position of Douglas.—The most important utterance of all the campaign was one made by Douglas at Norfolk, Virginia. He was asked in writing whether he was in favor of maintaining the Union by force. He declared, without a moment’s hesitation: “I answer emphatically that it is the duty of the President of the United States, and all others in authority under him, to enforce the laws, and I, as in duty bound by my oath of fidelity to the Constitution, would do all in my power to aid the Government of the United States in maintaining the laws against all resistance to them, come from what quarter it might. In other words, I think the President, whoever he may be, should treat all attempts to break up the Union, by resistance to the laws, as Old Hickory treated the nullifiers in 1832.” The South made the fatal mistake of supposing that this view was not held by a large majority of the Democrats of the North. In reality, it was this view, so frankly expressed by Douglas, that finally united an overwhelming majority of the Northern Democrats in supporting, with more or less heartiness, the Republicans in the great war that was at hand.

439. Result of the Election.—In the election, Lincoln received one hundred and eighty electoral votes; Breckinridge, seventy-two; Bell, thirty-nine; and Douglas, twelve. Lincoln received the vote of every free state except New Jersey, whose vote was divided, four electors voting for Lincoln, and three for Douglas. Douglas, in addition to the three votes from New Jersey, received nine from Missouri; those of the other Southern states were divided between Breckinridge and Bell.

SECESSION OF THE SOUTH.

440. Secession of South Carolina and Other States.—At the time of the election, the legislature of South Carolina was in session. As soon as the result was known, that body called a State Convention to meet and consider the situation. The Convention met, and on the 20th of December, repealed the Act ratifying the Constitution, and declared that the union between South Carolina and the other states was dissolved. Before Lincoln’s inauguration, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida had followed the example of South Carolina. They seized all the military posts of the United States within their territory, a procedure that had been made easy by the strange doctrine of Buchanan that, although a state had no right to secede, the United States had no right to prevent it from seceding and carrying United States property with it.

441. Opposition to the Seceders.—The first step in opposition to the seceders was taken by Major Robert Anderson of Kentucky, who abandoned the untenable Fort Moultrie of which he was in charge, and posted himself in Fort Sumter, which, being on an island, could be more easily held for the Union if succor were speedily provided by the authorities in Washington. The latter were vacillating, however, or else were in open sympathy with the secessionists. The President was at least strong enough to resist the demand of the South Carolina Commissioners that Anderson should be ordered to evacuate Fort Sumter, and he also refused to receive further communications from the commissioners. Finally, too, he surrounded himself with a loyal Cabinet, through resignations which were voluntary, but should have been demanded. Chief among his new advisers were Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State; Edwin M. Stanton of Pennsylvania, Attorney-General; Joseph Holt of Kentucky, Secretary of War; and John A. Dix[^[195]] of New York, Secretary of the Treasury.

442. The Star of the West.—The reorganized Cabinet insisted on reënforcing Anderson at Fort Sumter, but the attempt was made only with a merchant steamer, the Star of the West, which turned back at the fire of the Carolinian batteries (January 9, 1861). This rather weak step served the Southerners with matter for indignation and for charges that the North was bent on war. It also led to the discovery that Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, the Secretary of the Interior, had warned the South Carolinians of the intended reënforcement. Thompson at once resigned, and Buchanan arranged a sort of armistice with the Southerners still in Congress, by which he was to be allowed to finish his administration in peace, it being understood that the forts should be neither reënforced nor captured.