Chapter 67 1860 United States Presidential Election
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."- President-Elect Abraham Lincoln 1860
"I may have never liked Lamar or his policies but at least I accepted defeat with grace and allowed him to become my successor. Sadly it seems like our American cousins have forgotten losing is merely a part of democracy."- President Sam Houston 1860
"Stephen Douglas may have done his best to keep the status quo but he was a fool in doing so. There can be no compromise in both slavery and the power of the states. It is either one or the other. Ever since Harrison came into power the federal government has slowly become a swamp full of parasites that is attacking the sacred tenets of the constitution that they like to give false praise. With the election of Lincoln America is dead. It is time for a new nation to be born out of the ashes."- President Robert Toombs 1860
In the aftermath of Douglas' assassination the entirety of the United States was in shock. While both sides of the nation had been battling each other for the past decade over various issues such as slavery, state's rights, and economic platforms, and there were many people who hated Douglas and his policies, there were few who actually wanted him dead. The south would mourn the passing of Douglas as one of an American hero who fought for their interests. While the North would grieve the loss of one of their own as that of a tragedy with the killing of one of it's most able politicians. It only took for a few weeks however until tensions started to heat up again. The south naturally started calling out the North for letting Brown and his terrorist cohorts free all these years which lead to the President's untimely death. The North then started arguing back about how slavery had led to these tensions and Douglas' death proved that decisive action needed to be taken or more bloodshed will grow. Of course both sides wouldn't sit down with the other for the time of day and the same infighting spread again. However this time it was far more serious than any previous conflict in the 1850's. For better or for worse Stephen Douglas was a man who in 1850's America represented one of the few paths of compromise that were still available. With Douglas in office there was a path where both sides could roughly agree upon as the president sought to do his best to meet the needs of the American people as a whole rather than act upon sectional divisions. Now with Douglas gone there was hardly anybody qualified to take up his place as a mediator between both sections of the country, everyone who could being either too old or dead. And then there was the fact that the assassination took place straight before an election year. With Douglas' death there would be nothing to hold the Democrats together while the Republicans went on the warpath. Whatever actions the Democrats could've taken united or by siding with the Democrats ending all with one man, Robert Toombs.
In order to understand the mind and actions of Robert Toombs we must look at his career in its entirety. The man who would later be known as the worst U.S President in history was born and raised in Wilkes County Georgia, most of his adult life having been spent in public service either in the Georgia House of Representatives or as a member of the U.S Congress. Throughout his career Tombs was known as a firebrand speaker who could rally up a crowd with his passionate speeches and strong passion, though he had quite a temper and volatile personality that made the man rather unpleasant to deal with. Ironically despite his later actions, Toombs began his career as a member of the Whig Party, one of the south's only members at the time of its existence. Within the party Toombs acted as a heavy supporter of State's Rights though he would frequently call for national reconciliation and loyalty to the Union. Ironically he even opposed the Nashville Convention of 1850 for supporting secession, though his reasons at the time were not that such an act was wrong, but that in his words "The time is not yet right and the cause not necessary for secession.". At the 1852 Democratic National Convention Toombs was chosen as a part of Douglas' ticket due in large part to support from his friend and fellow Georgian congressman, Alexander Stephens. Toombs had a high popularity within the south at the time and was seen as a perfect balance to the ticket as he also held many of the same beliefs that Douglas had, while he had defected from the Whigs in 1851 which could draw considerable support towards their way in the election. Over the course of his six years as Vice President Toombs slowly became radicalized towards his support of the south, slavery, and state's rights. He increasingly saw the Northern Yankees as a bunch of radicals that would tear the nation apart if left unchecked due to their seemingly aggressive empowerment of the federal government and attacks on states rights. Toombs beliefs would be strongly reinforced by actions such as Smith's killing of Brooks and Keitt, Bloody Kansas, the Underground Railroad, and rise of the Republican party further reinforcing his stances on the matter. In Toombs eye he simply could not see why the North would want to attack the South's beliefs and resisted so strongly to the laws of the federal government that legally supported the extension of slavery and the protection of states rights. Over time Toombs began to see things in a matter of us versus them as it was a fight for survival with the Southern folk versus the Northern tyrants. Still there was a general hope in the man that compromise could be sought and that the South could emerge in the end through legal means, as Dred Scott had later proved. Though in appearance it seemed that Toombs was actively going against Douglas with his leadership of the Southern Wing, in truth it could be said that Toombs still held an high admiration and respect for the man, only wishing that Douglas could see his point of view. The point in his life where Robert Toombs could be seen as effectively siding entirely with the South was the assassination of Douglas. After Douglas was shot Toombs rushed to Richmond and tried to comfort his boss through the pain as his life was draining out of his eyes every day. According to American historian Russel Elliot, "The death of Douglas is what truly sent Bobby Toombs over the edge. His killing by John Brown was seen as the crossing of the final line where compromise could no longer be available. Robert Toombs had lost a great friend and mentor that day, and in his grief he blamed the North and the Republicans for this tragedy. All for wanting to go against the south and the will of the American people." After Toombs inauguration he became a hardened man who would in his view would do whatever it take to save the nation, by forcing the law of the land unto the people.
A caricature of Toombs during his time as a Whig
Toombs first action when returning back to Washington was to immediately use every power he had to crack down on the abolition movement. Using John Brown as a scape goat for the entire cause, Toombs deployed federal marshals across the North to round up abolition leaders and crack down upon the Underground Railroad. The Slave Enforcement Act was followed to the leader and hundreds of slaves would be captured in the winter of 1859 while their white and free black liberators would be arrested and held to trial, the free blacks more often than not tried for the death penalty by southern courts. Federal troops were sent to Kansas by the thousands and were given strict orders to break up the abolitionist territory and enforce the law of the land. Various abolition leaders were also arrested over the course of 1859 and early 1860, and while most would be freed after a few months the ones in the south suffered a worse fate as they were often given long jail sentences or were sometimes hunted down by rogue mobs. Of course these actions were not taken kindly by the North who saw Toombs as something akin to a tyrant, the second coming of Andrew Jackson. The Republicans were united in its efforts to oppose Toombs and along with the efforts of a good number of Northern Democrats, sought to curb his power by blocking all forms of legislation from the south. Toombs in turn rejected any bills from the opposition and virtually nothing was managed to be achieved in congress as the south had half the senate and Toombs' opposition could not get a decisive 2/3rd's majority to override any of his vetoes. Throughout the nation both sides came to a gradual realization that greater action needed to be taken if they were to take control of the government and secure order in the country from the actions of the other side. With a great mindset of the survival of the country in everyone's minds, the American people looked towards the 1860 Elections to save the country. Unfortunately what would result would only be the opposite.
Federal Marshals hunting down members of the Underground Railroad
In Mid-May the Republicans met at the National Committee in Chicago to come together and try and find a candidate to take the White House away from Toombs and the South. At the convention there were four leading candidates for the Party. Abraham Lincoln, William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates. However with each of the latter candidates there were multiple problems that prevented each of them from winning a majority of the convention's delegates. William Seward was a man who was considered too much of a radical by the party establishment for his expressed full support of abolition, something that could be detrimental to their chances of winning an election with the recent actions of John Brown holding a negative light on the abolition movement. Chase was considered too much of a Democrat for the Republicans and he was facing much opposition even from his own state of Ohio for the nomination. Finally Bates was opposed by a majority of the party for his association with the Know Nothings, which would've dropped any immigrant support for the Republicans. Out of all of these candidates Abraham Lincoln was seen as the best shot for winning the nomination. Lincoln was a favorite within the party as he had been leading their efforts in the senate for the past 6 years and became one of its early leaders after the founding. He was known as a well spoken orator who was well educated on national issues and was a war hero for his time in Michigan during the Oregon War. In addition the adding of Lincoln to the ticket was seen as an essential step to winning the West much as Douglas had done in the 1852 election. After the course of a few days the party rallied behind Lincoln as their potential ticket for entry into the White House for the first time. In his acceptance speech Lincoln called for the nation to come together during these hard times and try and work out the problems of slavery and state's rights through compromise and negotiation rather than violence. He recalled his friendship with Douglas and that while they had disagreed on many things, one thing they held true to was the sanctity of the Union that it must be held important above all else. Lincoln also took the time to attack the Democrats for being a party whom he called weak and divided, blaming much of the nation's social problems in the past decade over their unnecessary pushing of slavery into national politics when it wasn't previously a problem, saying that they were clinging to an old archaic system that was dying off and pulling America behind the other nations of the world. For his Vice President William Seward was chosen as while the man was a radical, his place on the ticket was necessary in order to win the abolitionist wing of the party, for the Republicans were looking to capture an electoral majority of the North rather than appeal to southern voters. For the Republican platform of the election was one of bringing back law and order, national unity, support of a Homestead Act, continued building of the transcontinental railroad, higher tariffs, and limiting of slavery in the South. At the end of the convention both Lincoln and Seward along with many prominent Republican politicians and supporters hit the road to try and win over the votes of the North. Seward taking care of the East Coast while Lincoln appealed to the western states.
Lincoln campaigning at a Republican Rally in Ohio.
While the Republican Convention was a rather tame affair the complete opposite could be said for the Democratic Convention. Toombs actions in his presidency only helped to inflame the great schism of the Democratic Party, not heal it. For the Northern Democrats this put them at a precarious position as while they were completely opposed to Toombs, they were at the same time ideologically in opposition to the Republicans. For some members of the party there was a small sliver of hope that the National Convention in Charleston would solve the issue. The DNC met in April to decide such a case, unfortunately any actual moves for party unification were far from likely. The slave states and some members of the west were in full support of Toombs as they saw him as a man of action who would finally bring victory to the south in the epic debate that had been consuming the nation for the past decade. The Northerners were more skeptical of Toombs and some called him a radical firebrand that was only making the situation just as bad as the Republicans. However the Northern Democrats were unable to effectively find any clear candidate for the nomination since Douglas was in many respects the last candidate they had on the national stage that could appeal to multiple sections of the nation. What happened instead was a fracturing of the North while the South rallied effectively behind Toombs. It took many days for the Convention to decide anything, with a total of 73 ballots taking place. In the end Robert Toombs was chosen as the candidate by the slimest of majorities, with Secretary of State James Buchanan also nominated as the Vice President. Upon the announcement that the President had won the nomination, the Northern Democrats along with some delegates from the border states cried foul and walked off in protest. Disgusted by the actions of the South and desperate for any solution which could block both them and the Republicans, the Northern Democrats reconvened in Baltimore on June 11th to hold their own convention for a seperate candidate. After one week former New York governor Horatio Seymour was chosen as the Northern Democratic candidate with Herschel Johnson as his VP. Not wanting to associate themselves with either the North or the Southern Wing, a group of Democratic delegates made up of former Whigs, moderates, and border delegates gathered in Richmond on the same day as the start of the Baltimore convention. Convinced that their ticket was the only path to any sort of unity in the nation, this new group who called themselves the Constitutional Union Party, chose to nominate John Bell of Tennessee along with Edward Everett of Massachusetts. Their main goal was to simply appeal to the American electorate to not support any of the major party candidates and instead support their party so as to amend the ties in America and prevent any radical control of the White House. Upon hearing of both conventions, President Toombs called both the North and the Constitutional Union as traitors to the party and declared that he would fight them to the bitter end in the election and would never compromise with them in his administration. Thus began the beginning of the end of the Democrats dominance of American politics in the Second Party System.
The South Carolina Institute. Place of the 1860 DNC and the South Carolina Secession Convention.
For six months all four factions of American politics waged a very brutal and nasty campaign against the others. Unlike previous elections there was no cooperation between the parties and any attempt of a national debate was flatly rejected by all four, though Lincoln was privately open to one to show his oratory skills to the people. Four all those involved it was treated as a matter of life or death, if they did not win then there would be no hope for America. Across the South, primarily in the Deep South which would become the core of the Confederacy, many people began talking of secession from the United States should Lincoln win. The South feared that Lincoln was a dictator who could potentially wipe out the southern way of life in an attempt to give control of the country to the north. In reality it was far from the truth as Lincoln himself was born in Kentucky and only sought to limit slavery in the South, not abolish it. Indeed Lincoln even promised on the campaign trail that he might be open to a constitutional amendment allowing slavery, something that did not boil well with Seward. Still no matter what Lincoln said the Democrats would not listen as they saw the Republicans as the penultimate tool for the destruction of the south. However what all three factions of the Democratic party failed to realize was that by going their own paths they were only helping the Republicans to win. Indeed their total disunity drove many traditional Northern voters of the Democratic party into either staying away from the polls or voting Republican, as many were disgusted by the South's drive to enforce their agenda and the party's disunity over the matter. After all if they couldn't compromise on a candidate for the election how were they supposed to get anything done in congress? The GOP took complete advantage of this by campaigning across the North to push them to vote Republican by fact that they were the successors of the Whigs, which had two very successful presidencies, and they were the only party with a true solution to the nation's problems that could work for the far future. Douglas' death turned out to be a huge crutch to the Northern Democrats in this regard as without him there were few effective politicians who could combat the pool of talent the Republicans had to offer. Indeed the GOP was taking the time not only to win the presidency, but secure their takeover of congress and the states in order to secure their agenda. While Toombs was meeting some amount of success in the south, Bell's ticket was taking away several key votes and Toombs had very little to offer to the North. Were the election taking place today then it would've been clear to many that the Republicans would win the election, unfortunately for the Democrats each candidate was stuck in a bubble where they only saw their election as the right course of action to take. With all of this going on the nation was further collapsing into chaos as protests and riots were becoming commonplace and the economy continued to suffer from the effects of the 1856 Panic. Something needed to be done now.
Election day came on November 6th, 1860. In many areas of the south the sectionalism was so apparent that Lincoln wasn't even on the ballot for several states (something which would be considered illegal in modern times). Across the nation people showed up to their local polling stations in droves as the 1860 Election held the highest turnout rate in American history with an 87% voter turnout. In the coming weeks as the votes were counted and the nation trembled with anticipation, it soon became clear that Lincoln and the Republicans had won the day. The Republicans had managed to take control of the Senate with 32 Senators, a number that could easily be broken with a vote by the Vice President. At the same time the Republicans had increased their control of the House with 137 Representatives. Lincoln had managed to wipe out the competition at the electoral stage with a large 196 electoral votes, whereas had the rest of the Democrats united into one ticket it would only result in 109 Votes. Lincoln also managed to obtain a large pluarity of a respectable 44.5%. On the Democratic side was a clear result of the ticket split as Toombs only received the support of the Deep South and the Bahamas with his poor results in the popular vote showing that he probably wouldn't have been able to win anyways even if he had won the Democratic ticket. Seymour did suprisingly well in the popular section as he managed to become the most successful third party candidate in American history with the popular vote with a large 24.8%, however his inability to form a precise platform and the loss of the south along with the rise of Republican popularity resulted in him winning no states. As for the Constitutional Union while they did decent electorally they had the lowest of the popular vote with only the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia supporting them. Any wish for the election to be deadlocked would have been in vain as Republicans had control of the House so they would've elected Lincoln anyways. Across the North Republicans wept in joy for having won the presidency and complete control of congress in their second election, while the rest of the traditional Democratic supporters just hoped that Lincoln had what it would take to solve the current crises. Across the south was an entirely different story as mass protests broke out across the region. Across many southern cities and towns came a call for secession to form their own nation in protest of this apparent travesty. When Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House in December along with Seward he would soon be shocked to learn that Toombs had virtually skipped town before the end of his term. Where Robert Toombs would be was at his home state of Georgia, where along with four other states of the Deep South, concurrent state conventions were being formed to secede from the Union. Civil War was on the horizon.
1860 Presidential Election
Lincoln/Seward (R): 196 EV. 2,195,250 Votes 44.5%
Toombs/Buchanan (SD): 69 EV. 913,019 Votes 18.5%
Bell/Everett (C): 40 EV. 600,901 Votes 12.2%
Seymour/Johnson (ND): 1,220,202 Votes 24.8%
Le GASP, you plan on having Monty Oum not getting to avoid his fatal allergic reaction!?