Chap. II.

more, perhaps, than any other cause to chafe the tempers of both North and South, and render the breach irreconcilable. In October 1859, a daring enthusiast who had fought in Kansas, and who, had he lived three years longer, would probably have made himself famous by the union of austere piety with the skill and dash of a partizan leader, made a desperate attempt to free and arm the slaves in North Virginia, and actually succeeded in surprising, with a little handful of devoted adherents, the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry.

As Mr. Buchanan's term drew to a close, it became apparent that at the next election an issue never distinctly raised before would be presented to the country; that this issue would be sharp and clear; and that it could hardly fail to complete the ruin of the old party organization. When in April and May 1860 the party conventions met, according to custom, to construct their respective platforms and choose their candidates, these anticipations were realized. The Republicans and "Americans" raised their former flags, the latter discarding their title for a more expressive one, and calling themselves the party of "Constitutional Union." But the Democrats now broke, as the Whigs had previously done, into two sections, the more moderate of which, including all the delegates of Free States, except those from California and Oregon, was content to affirm these two principles::

"That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions of Constitutional Law;

"That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign."1

1 "Minority Report" adopted by the Charleston Democratic Convention, Resolutions 2 and 3.

By the more advanced it was insisted-

"1st. That the Government of a Territory organized by an Act of Congress is provisional and temporary; and, during its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory without their rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by congressional or territorial legislation.

“2nd. That it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority extends.

"3rd. That when the settlers in a Territory having an adequate population form a State Constitution, the right of sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States; and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union, whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of slavery." 1

Both joined in denouncing the "Personal Liberty Laws," and in recommending the acquisition of Cuba.

The range of disagreement between the extremes on both sides may be measured by comparing the resolutions last quoted with those adapted at Chicago by the Republican Convention on the same subject:

"7. That the new dogma that the Constitution, of its own force, carries slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.

"8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of Freedom. 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, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States." 2

1 "Majority Report" rejected by the Convention, Resolutions 1, 2, and 3.

2 Resolutions 7 and 8,

Chap. II.

Chap. II.

There were thus four parties in the field, whose views on the question practically chosen as the test of political orthodoxy may be shortly stated as follows:

1. The Republicans, not content with affirming the moderate and reasonable propositions, that to exclude slavery from the Territories was within the power of Congress, and (subject to the supreme authority of Congress) within that of the Territorial Legislatures, and that the exercise of this power by Congress was expedient, went further, and maintained that slavery neither had nor could have legal existence in any Territory. The candidate of this party was Mr. Lincoln.

2. The "Seceding Democrats," as they were called, affirmed on the contrary that slavery had legal existence, under the Constitution, in every Territory; that the inhabitants, when formed into a State, could abolish it if they thought fit; but that it could be excluded in the meanwhile neither by the Territorial Legislature nor by Congress. The candidate of this party was Mr. Breckenridge, of Kentucky.

3. Another section of Democrats were understood to hold that it might be excluded by the Territorial Legislatures, but not by Congress. Their candidate was Mr. Douglas, of Illinois.1

4. A fourth party, declaring that experience had proved the mischievous effect of partisan platforms in misleading the people, and in widening party divisions and making them sectional, refused to recognize any other political principle than "the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws." This party was represented by Mr. Bell, of Tennessee.

The more moderate politicians-the men of less

1 This doctrine, commonly denoted by the phrases "Popular Sovereignty" and "Squatter Sovereignty," was not clearly expressed in the platform of the Charleston Convention, and is indeed hardly consistent with it; but it was the ground practically taken throughout the canvass.

absolute convictions or less unflinching resolution, by Chap. II. whom, in ordinary times, the action of parties is restrained and controlled-were in this way sifted off, and forced to mass themselves in separate bodies, whilst the two great opposing interests, each represented by its most thorough-going partizans, were brought face to face and foot to foot with one another.

About six months had yet to elapse before the day. fixed by Congress for the choice of electors-a choice which virtually elects the President himself, since the electors are all pledged men, and their proceedings a mere formality. This interval was spent in a feverishly active canvass, in the course of which many fruitless endeavours were made to effect coalitions. On the 6th November, 1860, the vote was taken throughout the Union with the following result:

NORTH AND WEST.

[These Tables are taken from Macpherson's Political History of the

Rebellion.]

1 In these States electors for Breckenridge, for Douglas, and for Bell, were combined in one ticket, and voted for in the lump by supporters of each of those candidates.

The events which immediately followed give importance to these figures. The candidate who had an overwhelming ascendancy in the North and West failed, as we see, to obtain a single vote in the Cotton States; the candidate who in those States occupied a corresponding position had an insignificant minority in the North and West. In the Middle or Border States the most powerful party was that of Constitutional Union. Here lay the strength of this party, which was feeble in the West and North, but in the Cotton States themselves mustered about half as many as the supporters of Breckenridge. Even in the Free States the two sections of the Democratic party, taken together, were to the Republicans in proportion of seven to nine, whilst in the whole Union

1 The vote of this State, in which the electors are chosen by the Legislature, was cast for Breckenridge. This should be taken into account in a comparison of numbers.