Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/349

Rh tnent. The political control in the South was in the hands of men who had safely guided the &quot;Southern Rights&quot; movement of 1851 into the paths of acquiescence and satisfaction with the Settlement of 1850. Southern sentiment for the Union, the Constitution, the star spangled banner, the traditions and the glory of the country, prevailed with a strength, unanimity and unselfishness never appreciated. This sentiment was well enough understood by one leader, Mr. Greeley, whose facilities for gathering information were so peculiarly great as to authorize him to say that &quot;the South cannot be kicked out of the Union.&quot; Without designing to speak often uttered by Northern conservative statesmen.

Another event which familiarized yet more the public mind with the idea of division of the States was the disruption of the Democratic national convention, which met in Charleston, S. C., April n, 1860. There were present at this convention complete delegations from all the States, South as well as North, representing the nationality of the great party then in power, and harmonious on all questions, except on the application of the doctrine of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the territories. The power to legislate against slave property by the territorial legislature was affirmed by a close majority vote in somewhat evasive language, thus endorsing the doctrine of Mr. Douglas as against the position of the administration. Debate, dissension and further conventions followed, resulting in the antagonism of two Democratic candidates for the Presidency—Mr. Douglas and Mr. Breckinridge.

The Republican party convention met in Chicago in May, 1860, actually representing only seventeen States, all Northern. Three others were nominally represented, but in fact there was no representation of any Southern State. Thus, seventeen of the thirty-three States with drawing from party affiliation with the unrepresented