Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/48

34 much rancorous debate, instead of nominating candidates, split into two wings, one of which met in Baltimore, on the 23d of June, nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, for President, and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice-President, and declared in favor of leaving the question of slavery in the Territories to the voters of each Territory, or to the supreme court. The Southern wing of the Democratic party met June 28th, nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, for President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President, and declared that neither Congress nor a Territorial legislature had the right to prohibit slavery in a Territory, and that it was the duty of the Federal government to protect slavery in the Territories when necessary. The convention of the Constitutional Union party met in Baltimore, May 9th, and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President, announcing for its broad platform, "the Union, the Constitution and the enforcement of the laws." The Republican party held its convention in Chicago, May 18th, and nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois (a son of Kentucky and a grandson of Virginia), for President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice-President, and declared itself in favor of the prohibition of slavery in the Territories by congressional action.

The candidates nominated and the platform of each party defined, a fierce political contest was waged throughout the extent of the Union, during the months of July, August, September and October. The election was held on November 6th, with these results: Lincoln and Hamlin received 180 electoral votes, from eighteen States all lying north of Mason and Dixon's line; Breckinridge and Lane received 72 votes, all from Southern States, including Delaware and Maryland; Bell and Everett received the votes, 39 in number, of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee; while Douglas and Johnson received 12 votes, those of the single State of Missouri. Lincoln was declared elected, as he had a majority of the votes in the electoral college, but only 1,857,610 votes of the people, against 2,804,560 which were divided among the three other candidates.

This election of sectional candidates by purely sectional votes produced the most intense excitement throughout the Southern States and among all the people without