Opening - Part 1: For Douglas and Liberty Too!
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Part 1: For Douglas and Union Too!
1860 was a year of tense situations, however, tense would be an understatement.
The 1860 United States presidential election was the most consequential election in American history, and it'd also be the last. From the beginning, questions abounded across the young nation, many presumed, argued and theorized over her future repeatedly, however, one institution was particularly focused on the most, that institution, being slavery.
By the time of the American Revolution, the status of enslaved people had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry, the importing of slaves through the Atlantic slave trade (commonly known as the Triangle Trade) had been banned around the early 1800s, however, that didn't end the practice wholesale, neither did it end imports, which . Slavery within the US continued unfettered and brought many a profit to the pocket of the slaver and the planter class, who made large gains due to the power of the three-fifths clause, which gave slave-holders much more intended power than one would expect.
However, the North was a different beast unto itself. During and immediately following the Revolution, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states and a movement developed to abolish slavery across the Union, more moderate anti-slavery activists called for gradual emancipation, however, the more radical faction of the movement wanted a complete and total (and immediate) end to the institution, many radicals themselves either being former slaves, religious leaders, or immigrants from Europe, who saw the practice as barbaric.
For years, compromises and changes had been made across party and state lines to ensure the balance of slave or free states, so that conflict could be avoided, however, conflict would be many of the troubles to face the Union ahead.
But for now, an election was to be held, and a new president was needed. James Buchanan had been a president of harsh reputation, especially in the North, who saw him (rightfully so) as a "doughface", someone who was a Northern Yankee but had Southern sympathies, he had been a state's rights advocate and had brought about under his term many unpopular decisions, including Dredd Scott and the failed attempt to bring in Kansas as a slave state.
With Buchanan not running for another term and a failure to stop the splintering of the Democratic party, factions had grown in America, across and even within party lines.
The Republicans were a newly founded anti-slavery party headed by former Whigs and Northern Democrats who had united in their goal of seeing an end, be it immediate or gradual, of the institution of slavery. Originally many wanted a young lawyer from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln to be the party head, however, after losing bitterly to his rival Stephen Douglas in a 60-40 vote for the State Senate, Lincoln fell into a depression and politely declined to be the nominee, something that the Republicans begrudgingly accepted.
With Lincoln no longer an option, an unlikely candidate stepped up to the plate. Hannibal Hamlin, though originally intending to stay out of the race, had decided to join after Lincoln failed to enter, eyeing a chance at the Presidency, he took along with him his support from his home state of Vermont, and drove a hard campaign against the other nominees. As the convention developed, it was revealed that frontrunners Chase, Bates and Frémont had each alienated factions of the Republican Party.
Frémont, being both a native of Georgia and a Radical, had been painted as an "unwinnable" option for the Republicans; Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s by his support of tariffs and also for his radicalism, however, despite what he had on paper, was uncharming and generally cold to most audiences.
The conservative Bates was an unlikely candidate for many, but found support from the media giant Horace Greeley, due to a now rivalry with his former friend William H. Seward. Bates outlined his positions on the extension of slavery into the territories and his belief of equal rights stated as much within the Constitution, however, lost support amongst German-American supporters because of his extensive history with the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings.
With the front-runners out of the way, Hamlin found support by toning down his more radical beliefs in favor of a moderate position, favoring a gradual end with compensation, which, while unpopular with the smaller radical front, had huge gains with the majority moderates. William H. Seward was nominated for vice-president, defeating Cassius M. Clay and Bates for the nomination. Seward was famously surprised by his nomination, saying he was "astonished" by the choice and that he "neither expected nor desired it."
The Northern Democrats were a moderate wing of the Democrats of old, favoring "popular sovereignty" on the issue of slavery rather than full expansion or abolishment. Douglas, considered by many to be the favored candidate, due to his credibility as a moderate as well as the popularity of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, had just barely etched out a victory for the nomination, and, when given the choice between Southerners Andrew Johnson and Herschel Vespasian Johnson as Southern compromise candidates for the vice-presidency, Douglas reached out to both, and while Andrew accepted, Herschel had declined, instead favoring a run for the Southern Democratic ticket.
The Southern Democrats had simply one goal in mind in 1860, get someone in the White House who would either compromise whole-heartedly with their plans, or a Southerner who could expand and continue slavery. This group of Southern Democrats met immediately in Baltimore's Institute Hall and adopted the pro-slavery platform rejected at Charleston from the Northern Democrats, and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, and Senator Jefferson Davis (who had reluctantly accepted with coaxing from friends and colleagues) from Mississippi for vice-president.
And finally was the Constitution Union party, The Constitutional Union Party was formed by remnants of both the defunct Know Nothings and Whig Party who were unwilling to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. The new party's members hoped to stave off Southern secession by avoiding the slavery issue altogether and fomenting a new compromise, much like the Missouri Compromise before it. Though the party had a nomination and convention, they would eventually be brought into the Northern Democratic fold, under the Democratic Union coalition, which promised moderate change under it's famous slogan "For Douglas, the Constitution and Union Too!" (Though the slogan would be shortened to the more famous "For Douglas and Union Too!" for the parody song by the Hutchinson Family Singers, abolitionists who toured the country in favor of Hamlin and the Republicans).
Douglas toured the North, cris-crossing across the Northern United States, painting the Southerners and Republicans as radical anti-Union traitors who want to destroy the Union, more so against the Republicans rather than the Southerners, though he did occasionally throw slander towards Breckinridge and Davis. Hamlin and Seward, meanwhile, faced an up-hill battle, being both painted as radicals by all sides, they simply stayed in New England, touring the states and proclaiming that Douglas was simply the same as before, compromising and selling out Northern interests in favor of Southern ones. This won over many New Englanders, who saw Douglas as a Western moderate who didn't understand New Englanders, especially the poor and the immigrant, Seward's former time as Governor of New York had also helped proceedings.
In the end, the race wasn't that close, if Douglas had perhaps lost Pennsylvania, it could have been a dead-lock, but no, most of the West, as well as Oregon, Virginia and Tennessee as well as Kentucky all went to Douglas, New England and California, meanwhile, went handedly to the Republicans. In the South both Northern Democrat and Republicans had been cast off the ballot, so the Southern Democrats won in landslides, with no opposition whatsoever.
All in all, 1860 marked a change in America, and it began a series of events no one could have foreseen, not even the most caught up pundit at the time could have guessed what was to come, when all it took was a bullet from a radical, a proclamation, and a group, hell bent on reshaping the Union into it's own dream, a dream where all were created equal.
― Abraham Lincoln
Part 1: For Douglas and Union Too!
1860 was a year of tense situations, however, tense would be an understatement.
The 1860 United States presidential election was the most consequential election in American history, and it'd also be the last. From the beginning, questions abounded across the young nation, many presumed, argued and theorized over her future repeatedly, however, one institution was particularly focused on the most, that institution, being slavery.
By the time of the American Revolution, the status of enslaved people had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry, the importing of slaves through the Atlantic slave trade (commonly known as the Triangle Trade) had been banned around the early 1800s, however, that didn't end the practice wholesale, neither did it end imports, which . Slavery within the US continued unfettered and brought many a profit to the pocket of the slaver and the planter class, who made large gains due to the power of the three-fifths clause, which gave slave-holders much more intended power than one would expect.
However, the North was a different beast unto itself. During and immediately following the Revolution, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states and a movement developed to abolish slavery across the Union, more moderate anti-slavery activists called for gradual emancipation, however, the more radical faction of the movement wanted a complete and total (and immediate) end to the institution, many radicals themselves either being former slaves, religious leaders, or immigrants from Europe, who saw the practice as barbaric.
For years, compromises and changes had been made across party and state lines to ensure the balance of slave or free states, so that conflict could be avoided, however, conflict would be many of the troubles to face the Union ahead.
But for now, an election was to be held, and a new president was needed. James Buchanan had been a president of harsh reputation, especially in the North, who saw him (rightfully so) as a "doughface", someone who was a Northern Yankee but had Southern sympathies, he had been a state's rights advocate and had brought about under his term many unpopular decisions, including Dredd Scott and the failed attempt to bring in Kansas as a slave state.
With Buchanan not running for another term and a failure to stop the splintering of the Democratic party, factions had grown in America, across and even within party lines.
The Republicans were a newly founded anti-slavery party headed by former Whigs and Northern Democrats who had united in their goal of seeing an end, be it immediate or gradual, of the institution of slavery. Originally many wanted a young lawyer from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln to be the party head, however, after losing bitterly to his rival Stephen Douglas in a 60-40 vote for the State Senate, Lincoln fell into a depression and politely declined to be the nominee, something that the Republicans begrudgingly accepted.
With Lincoln no longer an option, an unlikely candidate stepped up to the plate. Hannibal Hamlin, though originally intending to stay out of the race, had decided to join after Lincoln failed to enter, eyeing a chance at the Presidency, he took along with him his support from his home state of Vermont, and drove a hard campaign against the other nominees. As the convention developed, it was revealed that frontrunners Chase, Bates and Frémont had each alienated factions of the Republican Party.
Frémont, being both a native of Georgia and a Radical, had been painted as an "unwinnable" option for the Republicans; Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s by his support of tariffs and also for his radicalism, however, despite what he had on paper, was uncharming and generally cold to most audiences.
The conservative Bates was an unlikely candidate for many, but found support from the media giant Horace Greeley, due to a now rivalry with his former friend William H. Seward. Bates outlined his positions on the extension of slavery into the territories and his belief of equal rights stated as much within the Constitution, however, lost support amongst German-American supporters because of his extensive history with the anti-immigrant Know-Nothings.
With the front-runners out of the way, Hamlin found support by toning down his more radical beliefs in favor of a moderate position, favoring a gradual end with compensation, which, while unpopular with the smaller radical front, had huge gains with the majority moderates. William H. Seward was nominated for vice-president, defeating Cassius M. Clay and Bates for the nomination. Seward was famously surprised by his nomination, saying he was "astonished" by the choice and that he "neither expected nor desired it."
The Northern Democrats were a moderate wing of the Democrats of old, favoring "popular sovereignty" on the issue of slavery rather than full expansion or abolishment. Douglas, considered by many to be the favored candidate, due to his credibility as a moderate as well as the popularity of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, had just barely etched out a victory for the nomination, and, when given the choice between Southerners Andrew Johnson and Herschel Vespasian Johnson as Southern compromise candidates for the vice-presidency, Douglas reached out to both, and while Andrew accepted, Herschel had declined, instead favoring a run for the Southern Democratic ticket.
The Southern Democrats had simply one goal in mind in 1860, get someone in the White House who would either compromise whole-heartedly with their plans, or a Southerner who could expand and continue slavery. This group of Southern Democrats met immediately in Baltimore's Institute Hall and adopted the pro-slavery platform rejected at Charleston from the Northern Democrats, and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, and Senator Jefferson Davis (who had reluctantly accepted with coaxing from friends and colleagues) from Mississippi for vice-president.
And finally was the Constitution Union party, The Constitutional Union Party was formed by remnants of both the defunct Know Nothings and Whig Party who were unwilling to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. The new party's members hoped to stave off Southern secession by avoiding the slavery issue altogether and fomenting a new compromise, much like the Missouri Compromise before it. Though the party had a nomination and convention, they would eventually be brought into the Northern Democratic fold, under the Democratic Union coalition, which promised moderate change under it's famous slogan "For Douglas, the Constitution and Union Too!" (Though the slogan would be shortened to the more famous "For Douglas and Union Too!" for the parody song by the Hutchinson Family Singers, abolitionists who toured the country in favor of Hamlin and the Republicans).
Douglas toured the North, cris-crossing across the Northern United States, painting the Southerners and Republicans as radical anti-Union traitors who want to destroy the Union, more so against the Republicans rather than the Southerners, though he did occasionally throw slander towards Breckinridge and Davis. Hamlin and Seward, meanwhile, faced an up-hill battle, being both painted as radicals by all sides, they simply stayed in New England, touring the states and proclaiming that Douglas was simply the same as before, compromising and selling out Northern interests in favor of Southern ones. This won over many New Englanders, who saw Douglas as a Western moderate who didn't understand New Englanders, especially the poor and the immigrant, Seward's former time as Governor of New York had also helped proceedings.
In the end, the race wasn't that close, if Douglas had perhaps lost Pennsylvania, it could have been a dead-lock, but no, most of the West, as well as Oregon, Virginia and Tennessee as well as Kentucky all went to Douglas, New England and California, meanwhile, went handedly to the Republicans. In the South both Northern Democrat and Republicans had been cast off the ballot, so the Southern Democrats won in landslides, with no opposition whatsoever.
All in all, 1860 marked a change in America, and it began a series of events no one could have foreseen, not even the most caught up pundit at the time could have guessed what was to come, when all it took was a bullet from a radical, a proclamation, and a group, hell bent on reshaping the Union into it's own dream, a dream where all were created equal.
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