Stephen A. Douglas was nominated for president on the second ballot, receiving one hundred and eighty-one and a half votes of the one hundred and ninety-four and a half cast. Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, was named for vice-president. He, however, declined the nomination, after the convention had adjourned, and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, was substituted by the national democratic committee. The platform, as adopted by this convention at its session in Charleston, reflects the sentiments of Senator Douglas and that portion of the democratic party in the northern states who no longer support all the demands of the slave power.

The seceders, who held their convention at the same time in another part of the city, nominated for president of the United States, John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and for vice-president, Joseph Lane, of Oregon,' and adopted as their platform, substantially, the one rejected at Charleston by the original convention. It boldly denies the power of any territorial legislature to exclude slavery from its domain; and maintains that it is the duty of congress to protect slavery, to the fullest extent, on the high seas, in the territories, and wherever its constitutional power extends.

The second national convention of the republican party, met at Chicago on the 16th day of May, 1860-the fifty-ninth birthday of Mr. Seward. The convention was called to order at noon by Governor Morgan, of New York, the chairman of the national committee. David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, was chosen temporary chairman by a unanimous vote. At a subsequent session a permanent organization was completed by the election of George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, as president, with twenty-seven vice-presidents, and as many secretaries, representing each state and territory in convention."

A platform of principles was adopted by the convention with great enthusiasm and unanimity.' It recognizes the great doctrine of the declaration of independence "that all men are created equal,"

1 Mr. Breckinridge received eighty-one votes, and Daniel S. Dickinson twenty-four. Mr. Lane's vote was unanimous, one hundred and five.

2 The following table shows the number of delegates in attendance, entitled to votes, from each state and territory: Maine, 16; New Hampshire, 10; Vermont, 10; Massachusetts, 36; Rhode Island, 8: Connecticut, 12; New York, 70; New Jersey, 14; Pennsylvania, 54; Maryland, 11; Delaware, 6; Virginia, 23: Kentucky, 23; Ohio, 46; Indiana, 26; Missouri, 18; Michigan, 12; Illinois, 22: Wisconsin, 10: Iowa. 8; California, S: Minnesota, 8; Oregon, 5; Texas, 6: Kansas, 6; Nebraska, 6; District Columbia, 2. Total, 466. Pennsylvania, Iowa and New Jersey sent a larger number of delegates, but were only entitled to vote as stated above.

3 See Appendix.

and declares that the normal condition of all the territories is that of freedom; and denies 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.

On the third day of the session the convention proceeded to ballot for candidates for president and vice-president of the United States. On the first ballot for president, the votes were divided as follows:

For William H. Seward, of New York,..

66

Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, .
John McLean, of Ohio,.

Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio,..

Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio,.
William L. Dayton, of New Jersey,.

John M. Read, of Pennsylvania,.

Jacob Collamer, of Vermont,...

LL Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts,.

John C. Fremont, of California,. . . .

Whole number of votes cast, 465; necessary to a choice, 233.

1734

102

48

50

12

49

3

14

1

10

1

1

The following table exhibits the vote of each state on the first ballot :

There being no choice a second ballot was taken, Mr. Seward receiving one hundred and eighty-four and one-half votes, and Mr.

Lincoln one hundred and eighty-one; scattering, ninety-nine and one-half. A third ballot resulted in the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Seward received on this ballot one hundred and eighty votes; Mr. Lincoln two hundred and thirty-one and one-half; Mr. Bates twenty-two; Mr. Chase twenty-four and one-half; Mr. McLean five; Mr. Dayton one; C. M. Clay one. Before the result of the voting was announced Mr. Lincoln's vote was increased, by changes, to three hundred and sixty four.

The states which cast a majority of their respective votes for Mr. Seward on the last ballot were Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, Texas, Kansas territory and the District of Columbial

At the close of the third ballot, when the result had been an nounced, Mr. Evarts, chairman of the New York delegation, moved that the nomination of Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, as the republican candidate for president of the United States, be made unaniHis motion was seconded by Mr. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, Mr. Carl Schurz, of Wisconsin, and Mr. Austin Blair, of Michigan, and adopted by the convention.'

mous.

Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was nominated for vice-president. On the first ballot he received one hundred and ninety-four votes ; Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, one hundred and one and one-half; John Hickman, of Pennsylvania, fifty-eight; A. H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, fifty-one; N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, thirty-eight and one-half; H. Winter Davis, of Maryland, eight; Sam Houston, of Texas, six; W. L. Dayton, of New Jersey, three; John M. Read, of Pennsylvania, one. On the second and last ballot, Mr. Hamlin received three hundred and sixty-seven votes; Mr. Clay eighty-six, Mr. Hickman thirteen. Mr. Hamlin's nomination was then made unanimous.

These nominations, as well as the platform adopted by the convention, received the cordial approval of Mr. Seward. In private and in public he promptly gave them his hearty indorsement. On the day on which the nominations were made he wrote for the Auburn Daily Advertiser, as follows:

1 For the eloquent remarks made by these gentlemen, and others, at the time, see Appendix

"No truer exposition of the republican creed could be given, than the platform adopted by the convention contains. No truer or firmer defenders of the republican faith could have been found in the Union, than the distinguished and esteemed citizens on whom the honors of the nomination have fallen. Their election, we trust, by a decisive majority, will restore the government of the United States to its constitutional and ancient course. Let the watchword of the republican party, then, be Union and Liberty, and onward to victory."

Two days afterwards he addressed the following reply to a letter from the central republican committee of the city of New York :'

"AUBURN, May 21, 1860.

"GENTLEMEN: I will not affect to conceal the sensibility with which I have received the letters in which you and so many other respected friends have tendered to me expressions of renewed and enduring confidence. These letters will remain with me as assurances in future years that, although I was not unwilling to await, even for another age, the vindication of my political principles, yet that they did nevertheless receive the generous support of many good, wise and patrictic men of my own time.

"Such assurances, however made, under the circumstances now existing, derive their priceless value largely from the fact that they steal upon me through the channels of private correspondence, and altogether unknown to the world. You will at once perceive that such expressions would become painful to me, and justly offensive to the community, if they should be allowed to take on any public or conventional form of manifestation. For this reason, if it were respectful and consistent with your own public purposes, I would have delayed my reply to you until I could have had an opportunity of making it verbally next week on my way to Washington, after completing the arrangements for the repairs upon my dwelling here, rendered necessary by a recent fire.

The same reason determines me also to decline your kind invitation to attend the meeting in which you propose some demonstrations of respect to myself, while so justly considering the nominations which have been made by the recent national convention at Chicago. At the same time, it is your right to have a frank and candid exposition of my own opinions and sentiments on that important subject.

My friends know very well that, while they have always generously made my promotion to public trusts their own exclusive care, mine has only been to execute them faithfully, so as to be able, at the close of their assigned terms, to resign them into the hands of the people without forfeiture of the public confidence. The presentation of my name to the Chicago convention was thus their act, not mine. The disappointment, therefore, is their disappointment, not mine. It may have found them unprepared. On the other hand, I have no sentiment either of disappointment or discontent; for who, in any possible case, could, without presumption, claim that a great national party ought to choose him for its candidate for the first office in the gift of the American people? I find in the resolu

1 See Appendix for the committee's letter.

tions of the convention a platform as satisfactory to me as if it had been framed with my own hands, and in the candidates adopted by it, eminent and able republicans, with whom I have cordially co-operated in maintaining the principles embodied in that excellent creed. I cheerfully give them a sincere and earnest support.

I trust, moreover, that those with whom I have labored so long that common service in a noble cause has created between them and myself relations of personal friendship unsurpassed in the experience of political men, will indulge me in a confident belief that no sense of disappointment will be allowed by them to hinder or delay, or in any way embarrass, the progress of that cause to the consummation which is demanded by a patriotic regard to the safety and welfare of the country and the best interests of mankind. I am, sincerely and respectfully, your friend and obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Congress adjourned on the 25th June, 1860, refusing to admit Kansas into the Union, to enact a proper tariff, or to pass a homestead act.'

Mr. Seward labored diligently to secure all these great measures. His speech on the admission of Kansas has already been noticed. In a brief speech on the tariff, he especially protested against a postponement of the question, remarking that

"The proposition to postpone involves the question of the true value of our present time, and also leads us to consider the prospects of a more favorable season at the next session of congress. We are here," he said, "in the middle of the month of June, which is yet one, or two, or even three months earlier than congress has been accustomed to adjourn. Before the adoption of the present salary system, no man would have felt himself bound to put off this question of a tariff, at this season of the year, because of a want of time. It is now of no consequence, as a question of economy, to the public at all whether we sit here till August or adjourn to-day. If we have not time enough to consider this question, somebody is responsible for that lack of time. Who is responsible? We were at liberty to sit here till the month of December next. But ten days ago a majority of the senate-a majority of whom were understood to be opposed to this principle of protection-fixed an arbitrary period, and shortened up the time of congress until Monday next, with the full knowledge that this question was to be acted upon."

But his counsels, joined with those of Mr. Cameron and other republican senators, were unheeded, and the subject was postponed. The attention of congress was, several times and in various ways, called to the alarming increase of the African slave trade.

A pro

1 A compromise homestead bill passed both houses, but was vetoed by the president. The vote in the senate, by which Kansas was kept out of the Union, stood twenty-seven to thirtytwo-Messrs. Bigler and Pugh voting with the republicans. Messrs. Douglas and Crittenden were absent the former having paired with Mr. Clay, of Alabama. The house voted to admit, by ayes one hundred and thirty-four, nays seventy-three.