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was impossible, the convention proceeded to vote for the presidential candidate. After the third ballot, Stephen A. Douglas was unanimously declared, by resolution, to be the regular candidate of the Democratic party. Herschel V. Johnson [Ga.] was nominated for Vice-President. Of course, the regularity of the nominations was denied by the Anti-Douglas Democrats.

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[Between the "Illinois Bantam" and the "Old Cock" of the White House] From the collection of the New York Historical Society

In regard to the platform Douglas had demanded the assertion of the principles of popular sovereignty and non-intervention in the Territories, and this was so done. An article was added declaring it the duty of citizens and the members of the other branches of the Government to submit to the Supreme Court's decisions, future as well as past, with respect to the authority of the people in the Territories over slavery. This declaration, seemingly at variance with his doctrine of popular sovereignty, was accepted by Douglas, evidently as a sop to the South; he did not even attempt to har

monize it with the rest of the platform by any device similar to his "Freeport doctrine" of "unfriendly legislation," indeed, in this omission he seemed to abandon the disastrous "Freeport doctrine" finally and absolutely.

The seceding Democratic delegates from this convention with those chosen by South Carolina and Florida for the Richmond Convention (which was never held) met in a convention of their own in Baltimore on June 28. They chose Cushing for their chairman, unanimously adopted the Charleston minority platform, and nominated Vice-President John C. Breckinridge [Ky.] for President, and Joseph Lane [Ore.] for VicePresident.

Horace Greeley, in his "American Conflict," thus sums up the positions taken by the various parties in the campaign:

Discarding that of the "Constitutional Union" party as meaning anything in general and nothing in particular, the Lincoln, Douglas, and Breckinridge parties had deliberately planted themselves, respectively, on the following positions:

1. Lincoln.-Slavery can exist only by virtue of municipal law; and there is no law for it in the Territories, and no power to enact one. Congress can establish or legalize slavery nowhere, but is bound to prohibit it in or exclude it from any and every Federal Territory, whenever and wherever there shall be necessity for such exclusion or prohibition.

2. Douglas.-Slavery or no slavery in any Territory is entirely the affair of the white inhabitants of such Territory. If they choose to have it, it is their right; if they choose not to have it, they have a right to exclude or prohibit it. Neither Congress nor the people of the Union, or of any part of it, outside of said Territory, has any right to meddle with or trouble themselves about the matter.

3. Breckinridge.-The citizen of any State has a right to migrate to any Territory, taking with him anything which is property by the law of his own State, and hold, enjoy, and be protected in the use of such property in said Territory. And Congress is bound to render such protection wherever necessary, whether with or without the coöperation of the territorial legislature.

The influence of the Buchanan Administration was cast for Breckinridge, and his electors were nominated in nearly every Free State with the evident purpose of defeating Douglas, since it was impossible to win any Northern State for the Southern candidate. However, a coalition of the anti-Lincoln forces was made in several Northern States, although this precluded any assertion of principles by the Democratic campaign speakers, who were forced to content themselves with personal abuse of "Old Abe," and with the prediction that disunion would follow his election.

Nowhere in the South would the Breckinridge party consent to combine with the Douglas party, and this refusal was certain to cause the election of the Bell ticket in a number of the Southern States.

With all these odds against him Senator Douglas made a "whirlwind" campaign, speaking with remarkable force and effectiveness in nearly every free State and in many slave States. Lincoln remained at his home in Springfield, making no speeches and writing little beside a short autobiography, copies of which, with his speeches on the slavery question, were widely circulated as campaign documents, thus making the people acquainted with his homely and simple yet strong personality and the clear honesty of his principles. Many of the Northern States held elections for State officers in September and October, and the almost unvarying success of the Republicans in these showed the certainty of Lincoln's election in November.

The election was held on the 6th of the month, and before midnight of that day it was known that Abraham Lincoln was chosen chief magistrate of the nation; having received the votes of every Northern State save New Jersey (which gave him four of her seven votes) and California and Oregon, from which returns had not been received. The Pacific States also gave him their votes, his total in the Electoral College being 180 votes to 123, which latter were divided as follows: Breckenridge 72, Bell 39 (Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee), and Douglas 12 (Missouri, and 3 votes from New Jersey).

Of the popular vote (4,645,390), however, Lincoln received only 1,857,610, which number was 930,170 less than a majority. Douglas received 1,291,574 votes, Breckinridge 850,082 votes, and Bell 646,124 votes.

CHAPTER IX

"SLAVERY THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CONFEDERACY"

[DEBATES AND SPEECHES IN THE SOUTH ON SECESSION]

Ante-Election Meeting of South Carolina Secessionists-Address of Governor William H. Gist to South Carolina Legislature-Speech of Senator James Chesnut, Jr., "Unfurl the Palmetto Flag!"'-Debate in the South Carolina Legislature on "Independent Action or Coöperation with Other Cotton States': in Favor of the Former, Mr. Mullins; of the latter, Mr. McGowan-Speech of Edmund Ruffin [Va.] at Columbia, S. C.: "Virginia Will Join the Confederacy"-Resignation of Federal Officers in South Carolina-Address of Governor Beriah Magoffin [Ky.] to the Southern States: "Remain in the Union to Fight for Southern Rights'-Ordinances of Secession Are Passed by South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas-The Other Southern States Refuse to Secede-General Winfield Scott Vainly Warns the Administration to Reinforce the Southern Forts-Resignations from the Cabinet-Unsuccessful Embassy of Caleb Cushing to South CarolinaPresident Buchanan Refuses to Meet Peace Commissions from South Carolina-Major Robert Anderson Removes Garrison in Charleston Harbor from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter-Seizure of Federal Forts and Other Property by Southern States-John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, Foiled in Attempts to Aid the Secessionists, and Involved in Charges of Defalcation, Resigns-Star of the West Is Fired Upon by the Secessionists-South Carolina Demands That the Government Surrender Fort Sumter-Famous Order of John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury, to Defend the American Flag-Surrender of the Army in Texas by General David E. Twiggs to the Secessionists-Summary of Federal Property Seized by the Secessionists-Organization of the Southern ConfederacyIts Constitution—Inauguration of President Jefferson Davis-His Inaugural Address-Speech of Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens on "Slavery the Corner-Stone of the Confederacy."

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WO weeks before the election (on October 25, 1860), a meeting of South Carolina statesmen was held at the residence of Senator James H. Hammond, near Augusta, at which there were present Gov. William H. Gist and the delegation to Congress,

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