The Bloody Tubs or Blood Tubs were a 19th-century gang of opportunistic street thugs in Baltimore, Maryland , and Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , who worked primarily for Nativist Know Nothing politicians to commit election fraud .
88-481: Formed in the mid-1850s, the gang became known as the Bloody Tubs for their method of dunking political opponents in slaughterhouse tubs. Other sources claim it was derived from the "bloody oaths" members took upon joining the gang. The gang's violent tactics included blocking voting booths and attacking opposing voters, discouraging many people from the polls altogether. During the presidential election of 1860 ,
176-518: A Lincoln election. Nonetheless, loyal army officers in Virginia, Kansas and South Carolina warned Lincoln of military preparations to the contrary. Secessionists threw their support behind Breckinridge in an attempt either to force the anti-Republican candidates to coordinate their electoral votes or throw the election into the House of Representatives, where the selection of the president would be made by
264-535: A New Englander and former member of Franklin Pierce 's cabinet. This larger group met immediately in Baltimore's Institute Hall, with Cushing again presiding. They adopted the pro-slavery platform rejected at Charleston, and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, and Senator Joseph Lane from Oregon for vice president. Yancey and some (less than half) of the bolters - almost entirely from
352-624: A Union general, and Davis ordered him hanged as a criminal if he was captured. 1st Day of Presidential Balloting / 8th Day of Convention (May 1, 1860) 2nd Day of Presidential Balloting / 9th Day of Convention (May 2, 1860) The Democrats re-convened at the Front Street Theater (destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904) in Baltimore , Maryland , on 18 June. The resumed convention's first business
440-467: A ballot for Lincoln could theoretically have still voted for him by means of a write-in ballot provided his state had electors pledged to Lincoln and the voter knew their identities, casting a ballot in favor of the Republican candidate in a strongly pro-slavery county would have incurred (at minimum) social ostracization (of course, casting a vote for Breckinridge in a strongly abolitionist county ran
528-558: A biography of himself was published. He gained great notability with his acclaimed February 1860 Cooper Union speech , which may have ensured him the nomination although he had not yet announced his intention to run. Delivered in Seward's home state and attended by Greeley, Lincoln used the speech to show that the Republican Party was a party of moderates, not crazed fanatics, as Southerners and Democrats claimed. Afterward, Lincoln
616-508: A lead for Seward, but not a majority, with Lincoln in second place. The second round eliminated most of the minor contenders, with voters switching mostly to Seward or Lincoln. The convention remained deadlocked, however, and skillful political maneuvering by Lincoln's delegate wranglers convinced some delegates to abandon Seward in favor of Lincoln. Lincoln's combination of a moderate stance on slavery, long support for economic issues, his western origins, and strong oratory proved to be exactly what
704-510: A letter in which he stated that his health had been so poor that he had not been able to be away from home since 1858. Nonetheless, he remained popular in the party because he had helped inspire some of John Brown's supporters at the Raid on Harpers Ferry . In his letter, Smith donated $ 50 to pay for the printing of ballots in the various states. There was quite a spirited contest between the friends of Gerrit Smith and William Goodell in regard to
792-642: A national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the states that would become the Confederacy seceding from the Union . This marked the first time that a Republican was elected president. It was also the first presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in
880-424: A separate caucus before the convention. They reached a tentative consensus to "stop Douglas" by imposing a pro-slavery party platform which he could not run on if nominated. The "Fire-eater" majority on the convention's platform committee, chaired by William Waightstill Avery of North Carolina, produced an explicitly pro-slavery document, endorsing Dred Scott and Congressional legislation protecting slavery in
968-494: A span of two days, in which Douglas consistently won at least half of the delegates, the Charleston convention adjourned when it became apparent no candidate could secure the required two-thirds of all votes. The Democratic convention reconvened in Baltimore on June 18, but many Southern delegates were either excluded from the convention or refused to participate. The convention adopted a platform in which it pledged to abide by
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#17327799831591056-443: A thunderous ovation, surpassing his and his political allies' expectations. Lincoln's campaign managers had printed and distributed thousands of fake convention admission tickets to Lincoln supporters to ensure and increase the crowd's support. Even with such support from his home state, Lincoln faced a difficult task if he was to win the nomination. He set about ensuring that he was the second choice of most delegates, realizing that
1144-638: A traitor. Many of them openly predicted a split in the party and the election of Republican front-runner William H. Seward . The 1860 Democratic National Convention convened at South Carolina Institute Hall (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861) in Charleston, South Carolina , on April 23, 1860: the galleries at the convention were packed with pro-slavery spectators. Urged by Yancey, the delegations from seven Deep South states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) met in
1232-413: A valid presidential ballot; however, what this meant in practice was that a candidate's campaign was responsible for printing and distributing their own ballots (this service was typically done by supportive newspaper publishers). Moreover, since voters did not choose the president directly, but rather presidential electors, the only way for a voter to meaningfully support a particular candidate for president
1320-450: A vice presidential candidate. Houston, never enthusiastic about running for the presidency, soon became convinced that he had no chance of winning and that his candidacy would only make it easier for the Republican candidate to win. He withdrew from the race on August 16, and urged the formation of a Unified "Union" ticket in opposition to Lincoln. In their campaigning, Bell and Douglas both claimed that disunion would not necessarily follow
1408-625: A vote of the convention in affirmance of the two-thirds rule: on his motion they resolved, by 141 votes to 112, "that the President of the Convention be and he is hereby directed not to declare any person nominated for the office of President or Vice President unless he shall have received a number of votes equal to two-thirds of the votes of all the Electoral Colleges." It was well known at the time that this resolution would render
1496-425: A voter the same risk). In the four slave states that did not secede (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware), Lincoln came in fourth in every state except Delaware (where he finished third). Within the fifteen slave states, Lincoln won only two counties out of 996, Missouri's St. Louis and Gasconade counties. In the 1856 election, the Republican candidate for president had received no votes at all in twelve of
1584-401: The 190 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes cast on the first ballot (the 58th overall), and 181 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes of the 194 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes cast on the second ballot (the 59th overall). A rollcall was taken following the second ballot, and it was realized that there were only 194 + 1 ⁄ 2 delegates present, meaning that there were insufficient delegates for Douglas to receive
1672-605: The 1864 United States presidential election . The 1860 election was the first of six consecutive Republican victories. Despite Lincoln's commanding victory, this was the first election in American history in which the winner has failed to win his home county, with Lincoln narrowly losing Sangamon County, Illinois to Douglas. However, he would win Gasconade County, Missouri , which as of the 2024 United States presidential election , has voted Republican ever since, marking
1760-520: The Democratic Party 's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election . The first convention, held from April 23 to May 3 in Charleston, South Carolina , deadlocked after failing to nominate a ticket: two subsequent conventions, both held in Baltimore , Maryland in June, ultimately nominated separate presidential tickets. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois entered
1848-727: The Millard Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union with the slogan "The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is." Liberty (Union) candidates: By 1860, very little remained of the Liberty Party , after most of its membership left to join the Free Soil Party in 1848 and nearly all of what remained of it joined the Republicans in 1854. The remaining party
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#17327799831591936-698: The Supreme Court ’s ensuing 1857 'Dred Scott' decision declared that the Constitution protected slavery in all Territories. Douglas was challenged for his Senate seat by Abraham Lincoln in 1858, and narrowly won re-election, after the Lincoln-Douglas debates , by professing the Freeport Doctrine , a de facto rejection of Dred Scott , with militant Southern " Fire-Eaters ", such as William Yancey of Alabama , opposing him as
2024-408: The election of 1876 ). 31.5% of the voting age population. Since Andrew Jackson had won re-election in 1832, all six subsequent presidents had only won one term, while the last four of those had won with a popular vote under 51 percent. 1860 Democratic National Convention The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate
2112-526: The inauguration in March. While Lincoln received no votes in 10 Southern states, this was not due to him being removed from the ballot in those states but rather because of the Republican Party's absence in those states. The American Civil War began less than two months after Lincoln's inauguration, with the Battle of Fort Sumter ; afterwards four further states seceded. Lincoln would go on to win re-election in
2200-451: The 1856 Cincinnati platform. On April 30, the minority (Northern) report was substituted for that of the majority (Southern) report by a vote of 165 to 138. The question next in order before the convention was upon the adoption of the second resolution of the minority of the committee: on this question Alabama, Arkansas, one of Delaware's delegates, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas refused to vote. The Douglas party abandoned
2288-486: The 202 votes required by Cushing's ruling at the first convention. After the delegates unanimously voted to rescind that ruling, it was declared by acclamation that Douglas had received the required two-thirds of the votes cast, and he was therefore nominated. Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama was the only candidate for the vice-presidential nomination. During the call of the states, every vote recorded
2376-431: The 253 votes cast, the convention had required a two-thirds vote to win the nomination: further to this, convention chairman Caleb Cushing ruled that this was two-thirds of the whole membership , not two-thirds of those present and voting . This ruling meant Douglas needed 202 votes ( 56 + 1 ⁄ 2 more votes), or 80% of the remaining 253 delegates: this was all but impossible as it would have required several of
2464-687: The Alabama delegation: following them were the entire delegations of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, three of the four delegates from Arkansas, and one of the three delegates from Delaware. Six candidates were running: Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois, James Guthrie from Kentucky, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter from Virginia, Joseph Lane from Oregon, Daniel S. Dickinson from New York, and Andrew Johnson from Tennessee, while three other candidates, Isaac Toucey from Connecticut, James Pearce from Maryland, and Jefferson Davis from Mississippi (the future president of
2552-436: The Baltimore convention held their own separate convention and adopted a pro-slavery platform, and nominated incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, with Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon as vice president. While Douglas and Breckinridge received a combined 47.62% of the popular vote in the 1860 presidential election , they lost the election to Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln . The front-runner for
2640-709: The Blood Tubs reportedly planned to abduct, or possibly assassinate, President-elect Abraham Lincoln when he visited Baltimore. This was connected to the Baltimore Plot . At various times they also championed the Union cause . After the infamous Pratt Street Riot , the Blood Tubs could be seen sailing up and down the harbor flying U.S. flags. The gang operated for more than a decade before their brutal acts caused so much public outrage that politicians were forced to withdraw their political support, and after 1870
2728-614: The Charleston convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination, and while he won a majority on the first presidential ballot of the convention, convention rules at the time required a two-thirds majority to win the nomination, with Douglas' adherence to the Freeport Doctrine regarding slavery in the territories engendering strong opposition from many Southern delegates: opponents of Douglas's nomination spread their support among five major candidates, including former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky and Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia. After 57 ballots over
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2816-468: The Confederate States ) also received votes. Douglas, a moderate on the slavery issue who favored " popular sovereignty ", was ahead on the first ballot, but was 56½ votes short of securing the nomination. On the 57th ballot, with Douglas still ahead, but 51½ votes short of the nomination, the exhausted and desperate delegates agreed on May 3 to cease voting and adjourn the convention. While
2904-488: The Democrats convened again at the Front Street Theater in Baltimore, Maryland , on June 18, 110 Southern delegates (led by "Fire-Eaters") boycotted the convention or walked out after the convention informed them they would not adopt a resolution supporting extending slavery into territories whose voters did not want it. While some considered Horatio Seymour a compromise candidate for the national Democratic nomination at
2992-557: The Democrats in disarray and a sweep of the Northern states possible, the Republicans felt confident going into their convention in Chicago . William H. Seward from New York was considered the front-runner, followed by Salmon P. Chase from Ohio, and Missouri's Edward Bates . Abraham Lincoln from Illinois, was lesser-known, and was not considered to have a good chance against Seward. Seward had been governor and senator of New York and
3080-592: The Illinois senate race just two years earlier. That two candidates were from Illinois showed the importance of the West in the election. While Benjamin Fitzpatrick from Alabama was nominated for vice president, he refused the nomination. After the convention concluded with no vice presidential nominee, Douglas offered the vice presidential nomination to Herschel V. Johnson from Georgia, who accepted. Southern Democratic candidates: The delegates who walked out of
3168-483: The Louisiana and Alabama delegates as well. On June 22, the minority (Southern) report failed to be substituted for that of the majority (Northern) report by a vote of 100 + 1 ⁄ 2 -150. After the rejection of the minority report, two votes were taken on the reconsideration of the substitution vote. At first, New York revived hopes of adopting the minority report by voting for its reconsideration. But during
3256-834: The Lower South - met on June 28 in Richmond, along with the South Carolina and Florida delegations, at a convention that affirmed the nominations of Breckinridge and Lane. Besides the Democratic parties in the Southern states, the Breckinridge/Lane ticket was also supported by the Buchanan administration. Buchanan's own continued prestige in his home state of Pennsylvania ensured that Breckinridge would be
3344-593: The North was Douglas, who won the popular vote in Missouri, electoral votes in New Jersey, and the second highest popular vote total nationally. Douglas was the only candidate in the 1860 election to win electoral votes in both free and slave states. In the South, Bell won three states and Breckinridge swept the remaining 11. Lincoln's election motivated seven Southern states, all voting for Breckinridge, to secede before
3432-507: The Radical Republicans. But what he offered in policy he lacked in charisma and political acumen. The conservative Bates was an unlikely candidate but found support from Horace Greeley, who sought any chance to defeat Seward, with whom he now had a bitter feud. Bates outlined his positions on the extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his supporters in
3520-404: The South but opposed extension of slavery into the territories. The 1860 Democratic National Convention adjourned in Charleston, South Carolina , without agreeing on a nominee, but a second convention in Baltimore, Maryland , nominated Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas . Douglas's support for the concept of popular sovereignty , which called for each territory's settlers to decide locally on
3608-607: The South was not as monolithic as the Electoral College map would make it seem. Economically, culturally, and politically, the South was made up of three regions. In the states of the Upper South, also known as the Border South (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri), unionist popular votes were scattered among Lincoln, Douglas, and Bell, to form a majority in all four. In the four Middle South states, there
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3696-402: The Union and be controlled by Confederate armies, ballots for Lincoln were cast only in Virginia, where he received 1,929 votes (1.15 percent of the total). Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the votes Lincoln received were cast in border counties of what would soon become West Virginia – the future state accounted for 1,832 of Lincoln's 1,929 votes. Lincoln received no votes at all in 121 of
3784-500: The beginning of the longest active voting streak for any party at the county level. The 1860 presidential election conventions were unusually tumultuous, due in particular to a split in the Democratic Party that led to both Northern and Southern party conventions. Republican candidates: The Republican National Convention met in mid-May 1860 after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn their convention in Charleston. With
3872-500: The border states and Southern conservatives, while German Americans in the party opposed Bates because of his past association with the Know Nothings . Into this mix came Lincoln. He was not unknown; he had gained prominence in the 1858 Lincoln–Douglas debates and had represented Illinois in the House of Representatives. Lincoln had been quietly eyeing a run since the debates, ensuring that they were widely published and that
3960-412: The coastal city of Portsmouth . One key difference between modern elections and those of the mid-nineteenth century is that at the time the state did not print and distribute ballots. In theory, any document containing a valid or at least non-excessive number names of citizens of a particular state (provided they were eligible to vote in the electoral college within that state) might have been accepted as
4048-529: The convention at Charleston reconvened in Richmond, Virginia on June 11. When the Democrats reconvened in Baltimore, they rejoined (except South Carolina and Florida, who had stayed in Richmond). When the convention seated two replacement delegations on June 18, they walked out again or boycotted the convention, accompanied by nearly all other Southern delegates and erstwhile Convention chair Caleb Cushing ,
4136-512: The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of Constitutional Law regarding slavery. Douglas was ultimately nominated for president on the second ballot (the 59th ballot overall). Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama was nominated for vice president, but he refused the nomination, and was replaced by former Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia. The Southern Democrats who had boycotted, or walked out of,
4224-530: The delegates voted to adjourn the convention, and reconvene in Baltimore six weeks later. A few votes went to former Senator Isaac Toucey of Connecticut and Senator James Pearce of Maryland , while Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi (the future Confederate President) received one vote on over fifty ballots from Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts . Ironically, during the Civil War, Butler became
4312-430: The delegates wanted in a president. On the third ballot on May 18, Lincoln secured the presidential nomination overwhelmingly. Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine was nominated for vice president, defeating Clay. Hamlin was surprised by his nomination, saying he was "astonished" and that he "neither expected nor desired it." The party platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed slavery in
4400-579: The first round of voting at the convention was unlikely to produce a clear winner. He engineered that the convention would happen in Chicago, which would be inherently friendly to the Illinois-based Lincoln. He also made sure that the Illinois delegation would vote as a bloc for him. Lincoln did not attend the convention in person and left the task of delegate wrangling to several close friends. The first round of voting predictably produced
4488-437: The fourteen slave states with a popular vote (these being the same states as in the 1860 election, plus Missouri and Virginia). The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism and voter enthusiasm in a country that was soon to dissolve into civil war. Voter turnout was 81.2%, the highest in American history up to that time, and the second-highest overall (exceeded only in
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#17327799831594576-464: The gang was eventually broken up by police "head smashers" or "strong arm squads," as were many other gangs of the era. 1860 United States presidential election James Buchanan Democratic Abraham Lincoln Republican Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 1860. The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won
4664-493: The key driver in the successful effort to form a separate state. Hancock County (Virginia's northernmost at the time) returned Lincoln's best result – he polled over 40% of the vote there and finished in second place (Lincoln polled only eight votes fewer than Breckinridge). Of the 97 votes cast for Lincoln in the state's post-1863 boundaries, 93 were polled in four counties along the Potomac River and four were tallied in
4752-429: The largest enslaved populations, and consequently the smallest enfranchised free white populations. Among the slave states, the three states with the highest voter turnouts voted the most one-sided. Texas, with five percent of the total wartime South's population, voted 75 percent Breckinridge. Kentucky and Missouri, with one-fourth the total population, voted 73 percent pro-Union Bell, Douglas and Lincoln. In comparison,
4840-485: The major opposition to the Democrats. A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party , which sought to avoid disunion by resolving divisions over slavery with some new compromise. The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated Abraham Lincoln, a former one-term Whig Representative from Illinois. Its platform promised not to interfere with slavery in
4928-558: The minority report facilitated the collapse of the Charleston convention, were reported and adopted unanimously, amid great applause. After the adoption of the majority resolutions, the convention proceeded to select their candidates. Four names were placed in nomination: Breckinridge, Dickinson, Hunter, and Lane. Despite instructions from their state convention, the Mississippi delegation, with Jefferson Davis' concurrence, desired that his name be removed from possible consideration for
5016-485: The nomination for the presidency. In spite of his professed ill health, Gerrit Smith was nominated for president and Samuel McFarland from Pennsylvania was nominated for vice president. In Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, slates of presidential electors pledged to Smith and McFarland ran with the name of the Union Party. They received a total of 176 votes in the general election, 0.004% of the total. The People's Party
5104-712: The nomination of a little-known western upstart, they rallied behind Lincoln, while abolitionists were angry at the selection of a moderate and had little faith in Lincoln. Northern Democratic candidates: At the Democratic National Convention held in Institute Hall in Charleston, South Carolina , in April 1860, 50 Southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute, led by the extreme pro-slavery " Fire-Eater " William Lowndes Yancey and
5192-473: The nomination was Douglas, who was considered a moderate on the slavery issue. With the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act , he advanced the doctrine of popular sovereignty : allowing settlers in each Territory to decide for themselves whether slavery would be allowed—a change from the flat prohibition of slavery in most Territories under the Missouri Compromise , which the South had welcomed. However,
5280-549: The other six states of the Deep South made up one-fourth the Confederate voting population, split 57 percent Breckinridge versus 43 percent for the two pro-union candidates. The four states that were admitted to the Confederacy after Fort Sumter held almost half its population, and voted a narrow combined majority of 53 percent for the pro-union candidates. In the eleven states that would later declare their secession from
5368-453: The principal Democratic candidate in that populous state. Breckinridge was the last sitting vice president nominated for president until Richard Nixon in 1960 . Constitutional Union candidates: The Constitutional Union Party was formed by remnants of both the defunct Know Nothing and Whig Parties who were unwilling to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. The new party's members hoped to stave off Southern secession by avoiding
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#17327799831595456-593: The real convention as the Institute Hall convention proceeded to nominations. Since both the majority and the minority resolutions on the Territorial question were rejected, nothing remained except the Cincinnati platform as the Douglas faction had desired. The dominant Douglas forces believed their path was now clear. Before the balloting for president commenced, Mr. Howard of Tennessee succeeded in obtaining
5544-414: The reconvening convention in Baltimore, Seymour wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper declaring unreservedly that he was not a candidate for either spot on the ticket. After two ballots - the 59th ballot overall - the remaining Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois for president. The election would now pit Lincoln against his longtime political rival, whom Lincoln had lost to in
5632-426: The regular nomination of Douglas impossible. Six major candidates were nominated at the convention: Douglas, former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky , Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia , Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon , former Senator Daniel S. Dickinson of New York , and Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee . While Douglas led on the first ballot, receiving 145 + 1 ⁄ 2 of
5720-439: The remaining Southern delegates to vote for Douglas, who they vehemently opposed. Consequently, the convention held 57 ballots, and though Douglas led on all of them, he never received more than 152 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes. On the 57th ballot, Douglas received 151 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes, still 50 + 1 ⁄ 2 votes short of the nomination, though far ahead of Guthrie, who was second with 65 + 1 ⁄ 2 . On 3 May,
5808-453: The representatives elected in 1858, before the Republican majorities in both House and Senate achieved in 1860 were seated in the new 37th Congress . Mexican War hero Winfield Scott suggested to Lincoln that he assume the powers of a commander-in-chief before inauguration. However, historian Bruce Chadwick observes that Lincoln and his advisors ignored the widespread alarms and threats of secession as mere election trickery. Indeed, voting in
5896-457: The sake of harmony. The names of Hunter and Lane were subsequently withdrawn in the spirit of harmony and unanimity. After New York cast an obligatory vote for Dickinson, Breckinridge was declared the unanimous choice of the convention for president. After the applause for Breckinridge's nomination had subsided, the whole hall resounded with cries for Yancey for Vice President. After Yancey got on his feet, but before he could speak, Lane's name
5984-436: The same home state; the others have been in 1904 , 1920 , 1940 , 1944 , and 2016 . Lincoln's 39.7% of the popular vote is to date the lowest for any winner not decided by a contingent election . The United States had become increasingly sectionally divided during the 1850s, primarily over extending slavery into the western territories . The incumbent president, James Buchanan , like his predecessor, Franklin Pierce ,
6072-413: The second vote on reconsideration, New York switched back to its original vote. With the admission of the new Louisiana and Alabama delegates, 56 delegates - most of those remaining from the South, and a scattering of delegates from northern and far western states - all walked out of the convention in protest. After the convention resumed voting on a nominee, Douglas received 173 + 1 ⁄ 2 of
6160-714: The slavery issue. They met in the Eastside District Courthouse of Baltimore and nominated John Bell from Tennessee for president over Governor Sam Houston of Texas on the second ballot. Edward Everett was nominated for vice president at the convention on May 9, 1860, one week before Lincoln. John Bell was a former Whig who had opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the Lecompton Constitution . Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University and Secretary of State in
6248-471: The state's at-the-time 145 counties (including 31 of the 50 that would form West Virginia), received a single vote in three counties and received ten or fewer votes in nine of the 24 counties where he polled votes. Lincoln's best results, by far, were in the four counties that comprised the state's northern panhandle , a region which had long felt alienated from Richmond, was economically and culturally linked to its neighbors Ohio and Pennsylvania and would become
6336-481: The status of slavery , alienated many radical pro-slavery Southern Democrats, who wanted the territories, and perhaps other lands , open to slavery. With President Buchanan's support, Southern Democrats held their own convention, nominating Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky . The 1860 Constitutional Union Convention , which hoped to avoid the slavery issue entirely, nominated a ticket led by former Tennessee Senator John Bell . Lincoln's main opponent in
6424-676: The territories. Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce, as Dred Scott was extremely unpopular in the North, and the Northerners said they could not carry a single state with that platform: this would end any Democratic prospect of retaining the White House, as no previous candidate had won the presidency without winning either New York or Pennsylvania, and only four ( John Adams in 1796, James Madison in 1812, John Quincy Adams in 1824, and James Buchanan in 1856) had been elected without winning both. Douglas and supporters thus preferred
6512-589: The territories. The platform promised tariffs protecting industry and workers, a Homestead Act granting free farmland in the West to settlers, and the funding of a transcontinental railroad . There was no mention of Mormonism (which had been condemned in the Party's 1856 platform), the Fugitive Slave Act , personal liberty laws, or the Dred Scott decision . While the Seward forces were disappointed at
6600-481: The third and last person to date who refused their party's vice-presidential nomination. Since the convention had already adjourned, the executive committee was required to name a replacement for Fitzpatrick. On motion of Mr. Dick, the lone remaining delegate from North Carolina, the vice-presidential nomination was conferred on former Senator and Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia by acclamation. A second convention assembled at Baltimore on June 23, 1860. It
6688-405: The unanimous nomination of Fitzpatrick as the candidate for vice president, the convention adjourned on June 23, the sixth and last day of its session. On the same day, but after the adjournment, Fitzpatrick declined the nomination. Fitzpatrick's refusal of the vice-presidential nomination occurred sixteen years after Silas Wright was the first to turndown the honor. In 1924, Frank Lowden would be
6776-480: The vague second resolution, and it was defeated by an overwhelming vote of 238 to 21 (with 44 abstentions). Between April 30 and May 1, 51 Southern delegates walked out of the convention in protest: the entire delegations of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, three of the four delegates from Arkansas and one of the three delegates from Delaware. These delegates gathered at St. Andrews Hall on Broad Street and declared themselves
6864-543: Was a Northern Democrat with Southern sympathies . Buchanan also adamantly promised not to seek reelection. From the mid-1850s, the anti-slavery Republican Party became a major political force, driven by Northern voter opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford . From the election of 1856 , the Republican Party had replaced the defunct Whig Party as
6952-619: Was a loose association of the supporters of Governor Samuel Houston . On April 20, 1860, the party held what it termed a national convention to nominate Houston for president on the San Jacinto Battlefield in Texas . Houston's supporters at the gathering did not nominate a vice presidential candidate, since they expected later gatherings to carry out that function. Later mass meetings were held in northern cities, such as New York City on May 30, 1860, but they too failed to nominate
7040-598: Was a unionist majority divided between Douglas and Bell in Virginia and Tennessee; in North Carolina and Arkansas, the unionist (Bell and Douglas) vote approached a majority. In three of the seven Deep South states, unionists (Bell and Douglas) won divided majorities in Georgia and Louisiana and neared it in Alabama. Breckinridge convincingly carried only four of the seven states of the Deep South (South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas). The Deep South states had
7128-570: Was also called the Radical Abolitionists. A convention of one hundred delegates was held in Convention Hall, Syracuse, New York, on August 29, 1860. Delegates were in attendance from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Several of the delegates were women. Gerrit Smith , a prominent abolitionist and the 1848 presidential nominee of the original Liberty Party , had sent
7216-542: Was an able politician with a Whig background. Also running were John C. Frémont , William L. Dayton , Cassius M. Clay , and Benjamin Wade , who might be able to win if the convention deadlocked. As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that frontrunners Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of the Republican Party. Seward had been painted as a radical, and his speeches on slavery predicted inevitable conflict, which spooked moderate delegates. He also
7304-403: Was cast a ballot for citizens of his state who would have pledged to vote for the candidate in the Electoral College. In ten southern slave states, no citizen would publicly pledge to vote for Abraham Lincoln, so citizens there had no legal means to vote for the Republican nominee. In most of Virginia, no publisher would print ballots for Lincoln's pledged electors. While a citizen without access to
7392-495: Was composed chiefly of the delegates who had walked out of or boycotted the Northern Democratic convention. One of their first acts was to abrogate the two-thirds rule, as had been done by the Douglas convention: both conventions acted under the same necessity, since there were insufficient delegates remaining to allow the preservation of this rule at either convention. The majority resolutions, whose replacement by
7480-507: Was firmly opposed to nativism , which further weakened his position. He had also been abandoned by his longtime friend and political ally Horace Greeley , publisher of the influential New-York Tribune . Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s. He had also opposed tariffs demanded by Pennsylvania and even had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio. However, Chase's firm antislavery stance made him popular with
7568-463: Was in favor of Fitzpatrick with no exception until Pennsylvania was reached. One of Pennsylvania's votes was announced for former state senator William C. Alexander of New Jersey. Upon this announcement, a New Jersey delegate informed the delegates that he had been authorized before the convention, by Alexander himself, not to allow his name to be presented as a candidate. The Pennsylvanian who desired Alexander cast one blank vote thereafter. After
7656-478: Was in much demand for speaking engagements. As the convention approached, Lincoln did not campaign actively, as the "office was expected to seek the man". So it did at the Illinois state convention, a week before the national convention. Young politician Richard Oglesby found several fence rails that Lincoln may have split as a youngster and paraded them into the convention with a banner that proclaimed Lincoln to be "The Rail Candidate" for president. Lincoln received
7744-429: Was to decide whether to re-admit the delegates who had walked out of the Charleston session, or to seat replacement delegates who had been named by pro-Douglas Democrats in some states: other delegates had boycotted the Baltimore convention. The credentials committee's majority report recommended re-admitting all delegates except those from Louisiana and Alabama, while the minority report recommended re-admitting some of
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