1860] Election of 1860 495 of the Know-nothings held a convention, and nominated ConstiGovernor John Bell of Tennessee for President, as the candidate of what they termed the Constitutional Union party. The Republicans held their convention at Chicago in May, 1860, and adopted a studiously moderate platform. They denied any intention to interfere with slavery in the states, which in their opinion was a matter for the voters of tutional Union party. each state to settle for themselves whenever and as often as they pleased. They demanded, however, that Congress should prohibit slavery in the territories- for them the Dred Scott decision had no validity. They also declared in favor of the protective system and internal improvements at the charge of the general government. Nomination The selection of a candidate for the presidency proved to of Lincoln. be difficult. Seward and Chase were the most prominent Rhodes's leaders in the party; but they had been "too conspicuous," and Seward was regarded as a visionary. Lincoln was com- 456. United Election of Lincoln, 1860. paratively unknown; he had few enemies, and was strong in the doubtful Western states which had been carried by the Democrats in 1856. His "availability," to use a modern political phrase, commended him to the delegates; but his nomination was hastened by the transfer to him of the votes of fifty delegates who were pledged to Cameron of Pennsylvania. This transfer was made in consequence of a promise given by Lincoln's friends that Cameron should have a cabinet position; it should, however, be said that this was in oppo Wendell Phillips sition to Lincoln's express direction. His nomination was received with some indignation by the abolitionists. "Who is this huckster in politics," demanded Wendell Phillips, who declared that Lincoln was "the slave-hound of Illinois." The Garrisons, in the biography of their father, have declared that "to the country at large he [Lincoln] was an obscure, not to say an unknown man." It is certain that few persons then realized the grandeur of Lincoln's character, his splendid common sense, and his marvelous insight into the real nature of things. The dissensions in the Democratic party, in combination with the growing sentiment in the North against the further extension of slavery, resulted in the election of Lincoln by an overwhelming majority of electoral votes. He polled fewer votes in the country at large, however, than his rivals, and his plurality in several Northern states was very small. 1860] Election of 1860 secession. Schouler's United 469; 497 327. Secession Threatened, November, 1860. - Alone of Threats of all the states, South Carolina adhered to the undemocratic practice of choosing presidential electors by vote of the legislature, instead of by popular vote, as in every other state. States, V, The South Carolina legislature assembled to perform this duty, Rhodes's chose electors pledged to Breckinridge, and remained in United session until the result of the election was assured. When States, III, it became certain that Lincoln was elected, it passed measures for the military defense of the state, and summoned a state convention to meet on December 17 (1860). To this latter action, it was urged by the governor, who had ascertained that other Southern states would probably cooperate with South Carolina in whatever steps it was deemed advisable to take. The legislature of Georgia assembled on November 8. In that state there was a good deal of opposition to the plans of the Southern leaders. Alexander H. Stephens, one of the foremost men in the South and long one of Georgia's representatives in the Federal Congress, made a strong speech in opposition, from which a few sentences are here given: "The election of no man, constitutionally chosen to the presidency, is sufficient cause for any state to separate from the Union. Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution . . . let not the South, let not us, be the ones to commit the aggression." Nevertheless the Georgia legislature followed South Carolina's example and summoned a state convention, as did the legislatures of several other Southern states. 115. 1860. 328. Compromise Suggestions. Congress met on Decem- Buchanan's ber 8, 1860, and listened to the reading of Buchanan's last message, message. The President appeared to think that the move- Schouler's ments in the South looking towards secession were partly United justified by the antislavery agitation in the North-appar- States, V, ently there was something sacred in slavery which placed Rhodes's it on a different ground from a rotten civil service or a United States, III, protective tariff. The "personal liberty laws" were also 125. mentioned as justifying the attitude of the South. Bucha 471; Crittenden nan did not believe with the Southern Democrats that secession was a legal right; on the contrary, he deemed it illegal. He thought, however, that there was no constitutional means whereby the secession of a state could be prevented. A state could not be coerced. It does not seem to have occurred to Buchanan that the Constitution had been expressly constructed to afford the general government the power to coerce individual men who interrupted James Buchanan the due execution of the federal laws. Later on, under the stress of war, the Northern Democrats invented a convenient doctrine that a Northern "sovereign state," as Pennsylvania, might wage war on a Southern "sovereign state," as South Carolina, through the agency of the general government. In his message, the President also suggested the adoption of amendments to the Constitution securing slav ery in the states where it existed and in the territories, and compelling the release of fugitive slaves. Buchanan was a Northern man, a Pennsylvanian; but he had been long under the influence of Southern leaders and seems at this time to have fallen in completely with their schemes. 329. The Crittenden Compromise. - Another and more promising attempt to arrange matters was proposed by Compromise Senator John W. Crittenden of Kentucky. He suggested that amendments to the Constitution should be adopted: (1) to secure the fulfillment of the Missouri Compromise; (2) to provide that states should be slave or free as their constitutions should dictate; and (3) to make it the duty scheme, 1860. Schouler's United States, V, 504; |