The Presidential Election of 1860

The Republican Party candidates:


Abraham Lincoln was a "dark horse" candidate for at the Republican presidential nomiation, but William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates, Lincoln's three much better known Republican rivals, made crucial mistakes in the months preceding the event. 

Chase and his political manger Thurlow Weed, positioned the editor of the New York Times for a New York state political position against Tribune owner Horace Greeley's desire for the office.  Greeley used his paper's influence to back Edward Bates at the convention over Seward.  Bates then hurt his campaign by writing he was for "equal rights" for everyone in the U.S.  That lost him the crucial border state votes he needed.

Chase's longtime friend and political ally, Gamileal Bailey decided to back Seward instead of Chase, and Chase never chose another political manager and therefore had no one to make the deals to get convention support.

Lincoln had kept quite for months, feigning disinterest in the Republican nomination.  Then, just before the convention, Lincoln went on an extended speaking tour of the western states defending Republican values as Seward takes a trip to Europe and the Middle East.  Lincoln draws large, enthusiastic crowds along the way and is greeted by a marching bands and cannon salutes in Cincinnati.  Lincoln rapidly became the spokesperson for the fledgling political party. 

In December, Lincoln had secretly lobbied to have the convention held in Chicago.  Out of many cities, Chicago won out and Lincoln was on his home ground.  Thousands of Lincoln supporters attended to cheer Lincoln on.  Lincoln's political friends printed short "biographies" of Lincoln stressing his humble background and downplaying his years as a lawyer for the railroads.

Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union speech,  Feb 27, 1860.



The 1860 Republican National Convention, Chicago, May 16 - 18

At first, Seward seems the overwhelming favorite for the nomination. Horace Greeley argues before conservative Republicans that Seward cannot win.  Resistance to Seward begins growing. 

Western German-Americans remembered that Bates had backed Know-Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore and worked against him.  Bates conservatism also ruled him out with the liberal Republicans.

Arguing against Seward as a viable candidate because of his extreme views against slavery, Lincoln's political team makes deals with delegates from undecided states Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Indiana to join Illinois for Lincoln.

Over the course of the three ballots, Lincoln drew votes away from Chase and Bates.  Finally,  New York went for Lincoln against their home state candidate.

     The1860 Republican Party Platform (text)

Presidential Ballot

Nominee	Home State	1st-ballot	2nd-ballot	3rd-ballot	3rd-"corrected"
William H. Seward	New York	173.5	184.5	180	111.5
Abraham Lincoln	Illinois	102	181	231.5	349
Simon Cameron	Pennsylvania	50.5	2	0	0
Salmon P. Chase	Ohio	49	42.5	24.5	2
Edward Bates	Missouri	48	35	22	0
William L. Dayton	New Jersey	14	10	1	1
John McLean	Ohio	12	8	5	0.5
Cassius M. Clay	Kentucky	-	2	1	1

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The 1860 Democratic National Conventions, The Charleston & Baltimore, and the Baltimore Breckenridge Conventions:    


Charleston - April 21 - May 3, 1860

The 1860 Democratic National Convention convened at South Carolina Institute Hall (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861) in Charleston, South Carolina on 23 April 1860. Charleston was probably the most pro-slavery city in the U.S. at the time, and the galleries at the convention were packed with pro-slavery spectators.

The front-runner for the nomination was Douglas.   But southern democrats were angered by his attack against the Lecompton Constitution and his Freeport Doctrine, a de facto rejection of Dred Scott.  Now militant Southern "Fire-eaters", such as William Yancey of Alabama, opposed him as a traitor.  Many of them openly predicted a split in the party, and the election of Republican front-runner William H. Seward.  Urged by Yancey, the delegations from seven Deep South states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Florida) met in a separate caucus before the convention. They reached a tentative consensus to "stop Douglas" by imposing a pro-slavery party platform which he could not run on if nominated.

The “Fire-eater” majority on the convention's platform committee produced an explicitly pro-slavery document, endorsing Dred Scott and Congressional legislation protecting slavery in the territories.  Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce.  On 30 April, the convention by a vote of 165 to 138 adopted the minority (Northern) platform, which omitted these planks.  50 Southern delegates then left the convention in protest, including the Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas delegations, three of the four delegates from Arkansas, and one of the three delegates from Delaware.

The departed delegates gathered at St. Andrews Hall on Broad Street, declared themselves the real convention, and awaited conciliatory action by the Institute Hall convention.  That didn't happen. Instead, the Institute Hall convention proceeded to nominations.  The dominant Douglas forces believed their path was now clear.

Six major candidates were nominated at the convention:  Douglas, former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia, Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon, former Senator Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, and Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. 

Douglas led on the first ballot, with 145½ of 253 votes cast. However, the convention rules required a two-thirds vote to approve a nomination. Furthermore, convention chairman Caleb Cushing ruled that two-thirds of the convention's whole membership was required, not just two-thirds of those actually present and voting.

Douglas thus needed 56½ more votes, or a total of 202, from the 253 delegates still present.  The convention held 57 ballots, and though Douglas led on all of them, he never got more than 152 votes.  In desperation, on 3 May the delegates voted to adjourn the convention, and reconvene in Baltimore six weeks later.  The bolted Southern delegates and their allies reconvened at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore.  The rump convention nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for President, and Lane for Vice President.

In Baltimore, June 18 -23, the resumed convention's first business was to decide whether to re-admit the delegates who had bolted the Charleston session, or to seat replacement delegates who had been named by pro-Douglas Democrats in some states.  The credentials committee's majority report recommended re-admitting all delegates except those from Louisiana and Alabama.  The minority report recommended re-admitting some of the Louisiana and Alabama delegates as well.  The committee's majority report was adopted 150-100½, and the new Louisiana and Alabama delegates were seated.  Many additional delegates now withdrew, including most of the remaining Southern delegates.

The convention resumed voting on a nominee. On the first ballot, Douglas received 173½ of 190½ votes cast. On the second ballot he received 190½ votes of 203½ cast. At this point, the delegates overrode Cushing’s earlier ruling. They declared by unanimous voice vote that Douglas, having received 2/3 of the votes cast, was nominated.

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U.S. Presidential Election of 1860, November 6, 1860    

	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote
			Count	Percentage
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	Illinois	1,865,908	39.8%	180
John C. Breckinridge	Southern Democratic	Kentucky	848,019	18.1%	72
John Bell	Constitutional Union/Whig	Tennessee	590,901	12.6%	39
Stephen A. Douglas	Northern Democratic	Illinois	1,380,202	29.5%	12
Other			531	0.0%	—
Total			4,685,561	100%