Could the Constitutional Union candidate have got elected without asbs?
How long does this posptpone the ACW
How long does this posptpone the ACW
Could the Constitutional Union candidate have got elected without asbs?
Could the Constitutional Union candidate have got elected without asbs?
At least four years. Secession is not justifiable when a slave-holding Southerner is President.How long does this posptpone the ACW
Splitting the electoral vote is easier, but it'd nigh-on-impossible for Bell to win a contingent election in Congress. Republicans controlled just short of a majority of state delegations, and anti-slavery Northern Democrats held the balance in enough states to break the deadlock and elect Lincoln.
Seriously wrong.
Republicans controlled, absolutely, 15 free states in the North:
ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, MI, WI, IA, MN.
IL was controlled by Douglas Democrats, who held 5 of the 9 seats.
The only other free states were CA and OR. All three of the Representatives from CA and OR were pro-Southern Democrats.
So we could end up with Lincoln as President and Lane as Vice-President. Could be interesting to put it mildly. Or would Lane refuse to serve, or if he did take office, would his pro-Confederate views lead to his impeachment?
Incidentally, all this brings significant butterflies for the early stages of the war. Presumably SC doesn't secede until Lincoln is definitely elected, so that when secession begins, Buchanan's term has only days to run. So Lincoln takes charge at a point when only one, or at most a couple of states will have seceded. Could he prod the South Carolinians into attacking Ft Sumter at a time when the Confederacy is not yet organised - and with what results? Could get interesting.
In spite of which, he remained a Lane ally.Oregon's sole representative was Lansing Stout, a Democrat who had been refused renomination for his seat due to a rivalry with Oregon's pro-slavery Democratic Senator Joseph Lane (Breckenridge's running mate).
After the war, in 1868. Political alignments shifted drastically in this period. Benjamin Butler was a "Breckinridge Democrat", and tried to get the 1860 Democrat nomination for Jefferson Davis. During the war he became a Radical Republican.IOTL, Stout was elected to Oregon's state senate as a Republican.
But in 1860, Republicans were pretty certain that wouldn't happen - they often asserted that if Lincoln did not win, the House would deadlock, and Lane would become President. According to John T. Elliff in the Lincoln Forum Bulletin, "Some campaign banners read 'Lincoln or Lane.' ". The Madison (Wisconsin) State Journal had 'Lincoln or Lane' as its editorial for Election Day....if Breckenridge came in second in the electoral collage, Stout's rivalry with Lane would incline him to cast the deciding vote for Lincoln or Seward rather than sustain a deadlock that would lead to Lane being sworn in as Acting President. That's 17.
Could you point me at your sources? It sounds like you've seen more detailed information than I have, and I'd be interested in learning more.