Delta Force
Banned
What would a John Bell Administration have been like if he had been elected President following the 1860 United States Presidential Election going to Congress? What would have happened to the Constitutional Union Party?
How, exactly does he win? Of the four major candidates he had the least votes.
This splits the Democrat vote enough to switch LA (6), MD (8), and NC (10) from Breckinridge to Bell. The totals are Seward 145, Bell 67, Breckinridge 51, Douglas 44. Douglas is out.
The election goes to the House of Representatives. 15 slave-state delegations will never vote for Seward. The California and Oregon Representatives are Doughface (pro-Southern) Democrats. Republicans control 15 delegations; Douglas controls 1. The Democrats and slave-state ex-Whigs could unite for Breckinridge; or if the House remains deadlocked, his running mate Joe Lane is being elected VP by the Senate (rather handily). (This possibility was bruited by Republicans during the election - they asserted that the choice was "Lincoln or Lane".)
Good catch!Except that on this scenario Lane wouldn't be in the running.
The Senate gets to choose only between the first two VP candidates,
Maybe Lyman Trumbull. Chase is too much of a radical. Trumbull is a westerner and ex-Democrat. (Knock-on; if Seward/Trumbull won, that would leave Trumbull's Senate seat vacant. Could Lincoln get it?)... so the choice would be between Seward's running-mate (Lincoln? Chase?)...
President Edward Everett? But I think the House would not remain deadlocked if the South can't thereby elevate Lane. Either they'll try to push Breckinridge through, by co-opting a few KY and MD ex-Whigs, or settle for Bell, or the Republicans will preemptively push Bell.and Edward Everett.
What would a John Bell Administration have been like if he had been elected President following the 1860 United States Presidential Election going to Congress? What would have happened to the Constitutional Union Party?