Vice President Jefferson Davis had presidential ambitions for at least a decade. In 1868, he advertised himself as a moderate Southern politician. He would fill a similar role as Samuel Houston in 1860. He hoped to be able to compete in the North due to his more moderate stance on slavery. More extreme candidates included Senator Louis Wigfall of Texas and Representative Laurence Keitt of South Carolina. The four major Northern candidates were former House Speaker Horatio Seymour of New York, New Jersey Governor Joel Parker, Representative Asa Packer of Pennsylvania, and Representative George Pendleton of Ohio. Of the four, Pendleton had the best chance of competing in the South. Davis had the support of former President Franklin Pierce, and could count on the support of the New Hampshire delegates. In addition, Davis had significant support in the Midwest as well, notably in Illinois.
(Left: Laurence Keitt, Right: Louis Wigfall)
Davis opposed some in his party on the issue of Utah. While some fire-eaters were still committed to admitting Utah as a slave state, Davis was willing to let the issue go. He argued that new slave states would come from land acquired in the Caribbean and Latin America. He claimed he was also willing to annex Hawaii and make it a free state. This made him appear more reasonable in the North. On the first ballot he had the highest number of delegates, with Joel Parker and Horatio Seymour tied for second place. Pendleton’s delegates drifted towards Davis, as did Wigfall’s and Keitt’s. On the eighth ballot, Davis clenched the nomination. The Vice-Presidential nominee was Joel Parker. Many Northern Democrats were disappointed with the nomination of Davis, and this resulted in even more defections to the Whigs. On the other hand, there was another wave of Southern Whigs defecting to the Democrats. The remaining Southern Whigs consisted of people who were more moderate on the issue of slavery. They would join with the remnants of the Know-Nothings.
The Whigs held their convention in Philadelphia. This convention would be notable for its lack of delegates from several slave states. Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida would not send any delegates. In other slave states, only a small number of delegates attended. In 1864, the party had already decided that it was an anti-slavery party. There was no debating this in 1868. The question posed to delegates in Philadelphia was how they would combat slave power. William Seward declined to run for president, feeling that his moment had passed. Financier and nativist George Law was determined to run for the Whig nomination for a third and final time. He would not make it far, however, as nativist support was split between him and former Rhode Island governor William W. Hoppin. General John C. Fremont of California, a former Democrat, surprised no one when he announced his intention to run for president. There was Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio, who was seen as too radical by many, as was Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was seen as a more moderate choice. Cassius Clay of Kentucky was the only candidate from a slave state.
In the months leading up to the convention, there was great uncertainty as to who would win the nomination. But soon there was an apparent front-runner. Fremont won most of the Western and Midwestern delegates, along with many of the delegates in the Northeast. In previous years, the Whig Party made sure to include a Northerner and a Southerner on the ticket. In 1868, that didn’t matter. What mattered now was to win as much of the North as possible. As Fremont had recently been a Democrat, his running mate needed to be a lifelong Whig. Senator Schuyler Colfax of Indiana was chosen. He was likely selected because the Whigs had lost Indiana in the 1864 election. The Whigs would unite against the expansion of slavery and the enforcement of fugitive slave laws. The Southern Whig Party wouldn’t run their own candidate, but would instead endorse the Know Nothing/American candidate. The Know Nothings nominated elderly inventor and Conspiracy theorist Samuel Morse of New York for President and former Baltimore Mayor Thomas Swann.
(Left: John C. Fremont, Right: Schuyler Colfax)
