Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
Friends, this has become a sticking point with me. I need your input for my edification.
Lincoln was elected to the Presidency of the United States with the election going as follows:
All States: Lincoln 1,864,735 votes, 180 electorial votes; other three candidates 2,821,157 votes, 123 electorial votes
Free States (at this point there are 18) Lincoln 1,838,347 votes, 180 electorial votes; other three candidates 1,572,637 votes, 3 electorial votes
Slave States (at this point there are 15) Lincoln 26,388 votes, 0 electorial votes; other three candidates 1,248,520 votes, 120 electorial votes
As the campaigns got under way, Republican unity proved to be an incalculable bonus. They chose several issues to focus on, downplaying divisive questions of slavery and abolitionism, and emphasizing economics, particularly the tariff in Pennsylvania and internal improvements, like a Pacific railroad. They also ran against corruption in Buchanan's administration, which tainted some Douglas Democrats as well. For his part, Douglas broke with tradition and campaigned himself, arguing that he was the only national candidate.
As election day got closer, and Lincoln's election by a solid North seemed more likely, a near-hysteria gripped much of the South. Whites feared slave insurrections, and rumors of horrific poisonings and other uprisings filled the newspapers, especially the Democratic press, creating more and more support for disunion. Republicans chose to disregard warnings that Lincoln's election would lead to secession, and refused to issue any kind of conciliatory statement to the South. Of course, nothing short of declaring themselves in favor of slavery would have sufficed.
The only hope for the Democrats lay in fusing the two halves of the party with the Constitutional Unionists. Only New York and Rhode Island ran a complete fusion ticket; three out of New Jersey's seven electors also "fused." Some Douglas and Breckenridge Democrats were able to unite in Pennsylvania as well.
Here is my sticking point. I continue to hear from you gentlemen, that the South OWNED the Congress and the Supreme Court, however, in the overall scheme of things, the south (the slave states) had 123 electorial votes to cast v. 180 electorial votes for the Free States. Lincoln was defeated in the overall vote by nearly 1,000,000 popular votes and yet, because the NORTH, e.g., the FREE STATES, held the majority of the electorial college, e.g., the Congress of the United States, Lincoln was seated as the President. No hanging chads, no dimples in the electorial ballots, nada. Lincoln was not even on eight of the State's ballots and he was still elected President.
It comes down to mathematics, and this is what brought on the war. The Free States owned the Electorial College, e.g., again, the Congress, therefore, they owned the Presidency.
Neil wrote in another thread, "Consider that, prior to the election of Lincoln, the Presidency had been held by a succession of Southerners and "doughfaces". The South also controlled the federal judiciary and (for much of the prewar period) had significant influence in Congress. During that period the minority controlled the majority of the country. And that is just the truth/fact of the matter."
I am sorry to disagree with this, but the facts are ---> the Free States owned it all. Sure, the Democratic Party was in fact larger at the time of the election, but a large, large number of these democrats were FREE STATERS, and as such went with the free state vote, the free state determinations, the free state candidate for President.
Lincoln won, the South seceded, the South lost. That is the fact of it.
What's Up!! Let me ask you- If Douglas was the only Democratic candidate, meaning if there was no split, could he have beaten Lincoln? Why is it that there were many pro slavery presidents before Lincoln- like Buchanan, Tyler, Polk, and so on... if Northerners were the fate makers.
-Frank
That is what I am asking. How did the electorial college get 180 votes from the Free States? Does anyone know the electorial vote from the Free v. Slave states in 1856?
Thanks
Ron
Buchanan 174: Ala. Cal. Texas Tenn. Miss. Vir. N.C. S.C. Lou. Ark. missouri. Ky. Fla. Geo. Penn. New Jersey. Del. Ind. Ill.
Fremont 114: Iowa. Wis. Mich. Ohio. N Y. Ver. Mass. N H. Maine. Rhode Is. Conn.
Fillmore 8: Maryland
Participation of Eligible Voters: 78.9%
Alabama James Buchanan 46,739 62.1 John Fremont 0 0 Millard Fillmore 28,552 37.9
Arkansas James Buchanan 21,910 67.1 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 10,732 32.9
California James Buchanan 53,342 48.4 John Fremont 20,704 18.8 Millard Fillmore 36,195 32.8
Connecticut James Buchanan 35,028 43.6 John Fremont 42,717 53.2 Millard Fillmore 2,615 3.3
Delaware James Buchanan 8,004 54.8 John Fremont 310 2.1 Millard Fillmore 6,275 43.0
Florida James Buchanan 6,358 56.8 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 4,833 43.2
Georgia James Buchanan 56,581 57.1 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 42,439 42.9
Illinois James Buchanan 105,528 44.1 John Fremont 96,275 40.2 Millard Fillmore 37,531 15.7
Indiana James Buchanan 118,670 50.4 John Fremont 94,375 40.1 Millard Fillmore 22,356 9.5
Iowa James Buchanan 37,568 40.7 John Fremont 45,073 48.8 Millard Fillmore 9,669 10.5
Kentucky James Buchanan 74,642 52.5 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 67,416 47.5
Louisiana James Buchanan 22,164 51.7 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 20,709 48.3
Maine James Buchanan 39,140 35.7 John Fremont 67,279 61.3 Millard Fillmore 3,270 3.0
Maryland James Buchanan 39,123 45.0 John Fremont 285 0.3 Millard Fillmore 47,452 54.6
Massachusetts James Buchanan 39,244 23.1 John Fremont 108,172 63.6 Millard Fillmore 19,626 11.5
Michigan James Buchanan 52,136 41.5 John Fremont 71,762 57.2 Millard Fillmore 1,660 1.3
Mississippi James Buchanan 35,456 59.4 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 24,191 40.6
Missouri James Buchanan 57,964 54.4 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 48,522 45.6
New Hampshire James Buchanan 31,891 45.7 John Fremont 37,473 53.7 Millard Fillmore 410 0.6
New Jersey James Buchanan 46,943 47.2 John Fremont 28,338 28.5 Millard Fillmore 24,115 24.3
New York James Buchanan 195,878 32.8 John Fremont 276,004 46.3 Millard Fillmore 124,604 20.9
North Carolina James Buchanan 48,243 56.8 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 36,720 43.2
Ohio James Buchanan 170,874 44.2 John Fremont 187,497 48.5 Millard Fillmore 28,121 7.3
Pennsylvania James Buchanan 230,772 50.1 John Fremont 147,963 32.1 Millard Fillmore 82,202 17.8
Rhode Island James Buchanan 6,680 33.7 John Fremont 11,467 57.8 Millard Fillmore 1,675 8.5
Tennessee James Buchanan 69,704 52.2 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 63,878 47.8
Texas James Buchanan 31,995 66.6 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 16,010 33.4
Vermont James Buchanan 10,569 20.9 John Fremont 39,561 78.1 Millard Fillmore 545 1.1
Virginia James Buchanan 90,083 60.0 John Fremont - 0 Millard Fillmore 60,150 40.0
Wisconsin James Buchanan 52,843 43.8 John Fremont 67,090 55.7 Millard Fillmore 580 0.5
The swing states in 1860 were Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. These 3 state had sent their 51 electoral votes for Buchanan in 1856 and went for Lincoln in 1860. Why?
Several reasons are readily apparent.
1) Buchanan was from Pennsylvania
2) Lincoln was from Illinois
3) More importantly, Republicans had found an issue that would unite the west with the eastern states. Historically, the western states had tended to vote with the southern states as both were agrarian in nature and the east was primarily seen as favoring business and industry. Two issues combined to change this in 1860. First, the west was increasingly frustrated with the south's refusal to support spending programs they felt were neccessary to open up the west for expansion. Many felt that their support of southern interests had been repaid with a flat refusal to support western interests. Second, although most westerners were not in favor of or even interested in the particulars of abolition, they were also not in favor of the spread of slavery into the new territories. They saw this as unfair labor competition and were adamantly opposed to the influx of blacks in any particular.
Southerners insistence of their right to carry slaves into the new territories was seen as overbearing and proof of the "slave power" that many in the east had been complaining of in Congress for many years. The repudiation by southerners of Douglas' popular sovereignty ideas whereby the citizens of the territories would decide the question by vote further exacerbated westerners displeasure with the south. Rugged individualist tendencies had made allies of the west and the south. When the south refuted the right of the people to decide the question and instead insisted they had the right to force their own views on the west they played right into the hand of Republicans and they rode the issue unmercifully. Republicans put the issue squarely in the center of their platform and southerners helped them immensely when they split the Democratic party over the same issue.
The Free state V. Slave state mentality was simply not the litmus test for Republican V. Democrat before southerners made it that way in 1860.
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC (DOUGLAS) PLATFORM,
ADOPTED AT CHARLESTON AND BALTIMORE, 1860.
1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied to the same subject matters; and we recommend, as the only further resolutions, the following:
Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the Powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of Slavery within the Territories:
2. Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions of Constitutional law.
3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to afford ample and complete protection to all its citizens, whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign.
4. Resolved, That one of the necessities of the age, in a military, commercial, and postal point of view, is speedy communication between the Atlantic and Pacific States; and the Democratic party pledge such Constitutional Government aid as will insure the construction of a Railroad to the Pacific coast, at the earliest practicable period.
5. Resolved, That the Democratic party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain.
6. Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law, are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.
7. Resolved, That it is in accordance with the true interpretation of the Cincinnati Platform, that, during the existence of the Territorial Governments, the measure of restriction, whatever it may be, imposed by the Federal Constitution on the power of the Territorial Legislature over the subject of the domestic relations, as the same has been, or shall hereafter be, finally determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, shall be respected by all good citizens, and enforced with promptness and fidelity by every branch of the General Government.
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC (BRECKINRIDGE) PLATFORM,
ADOPTED AT CHARLESTON AND BALTIMORE, 1860.
Resolved, That the Platform adopted by the Democratic party at Cincinnati be affirmed, with the following explanatory Resolutions:
1. That the Government of a Territory organized by an act of Congress, is provisional and temporary; and during its existence, all citizens of the United States have an equal right to settle with their property in the Territory, without their rights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impaired by Congressional or Territorial legislation.
2. That it is the duty of the Federal Government, in all its departments, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the Territories, and wherever else its Constitutional authority extends.
3. That when the settlers in a Territory having an adequate population, form a State Constitution, in pursuance of law, the right of sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States; and the State thus organized ought to be admitted into the Federal Union, whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of Slavery.
4. That the Democraty party are in favor of the acquisition of the island of Cuba, on such terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just to Spain, at the earliest practicable moment.
5. That the enactments of State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.
6. That the democracy of the United States recognize it as the imperative duty of this Government to protect the naturalized citizen in all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lands, to the same exent as its native-born citizens.
Whereas, one of the greatest necessities of the age in a Political, Commercial, Postal, and Military point of view, is a speedy communication between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts; therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Democratic party do hereby pledge themselves to use every means in their power to secure the passage of some bill to the extent of the Constitutional authority of Congress for the Construction of a Pacific Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, at the earliest practicable moment.
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION (BELL-EVERETT) PLATFORM,
ADOPTED AT BALTIMORE, 1860
Whereas, Experience has demonstrated that Platforms adopted by the partisan conventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, and at the same time to widen the political divisions of the country, by the creation and encouragement of geographical and sectional parties; therefore,
Resolved, That it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognise no political principle other than THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNTRY, THE UNION OF THE STATES, AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS, and that as representatives of the Constitutional Union men of the country in National Convention assembled, we hereby pledge ourselves to maintain, protect, and defend, separately and unitedly, these great principles of public liberty and national safety, against all enemies at home and abroad, believing that thereby peace may once more be restored to the country, the rights of the People and of the States reëstablished, and the Government again placed in that condition, of justice, fraternity and equality, which under the example and Constitution of our fathers, has solemnly bound every citizen of the United States to maintain a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM
ADOPTED AT CHICAGO, 1860
Resolved, That we, the delegated representatives of the Republican electors of the United States, in Convention assembled, in discharge of the duty we owe to our constituents and our country, unite in the following declarations:
1. That the history of the nation, during the last four years, has fully established the propriety and necessity of the organization and perpetuation of the Republican party, and that the causes which called it into existence are permanent in their nature, and now, more than ever before, demand its peaceful and constitutional triumph.
2. That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution, "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the Rights of the States, and the Union of the States, must and shall be preserved.
3. That to the Union of the States this nation owes its unprecedented increase in population, its surprising development of material resources, its rapid augmentation of wealth, its happiness at home and its honor abroad; and we hold in abhorrence all schemes for Disunion, come from whatever source they may: And we congratulate the country that no Republican member of Congress has uttered or countenanced the threats of Disunion so often made by Democratic members without rebuke and with applause from their political associates; and we denounce those threats of Disunion, in case of a popular overthrow of their ascendency, as denying the vital principles of a free government, and as an avowal of contemplated treason, which it is the imperative duty of an indignant People sternly to rebuke and forever silence.
4. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of powers on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depends; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
5. That the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions, in its measureless subserviency to the exactions of a sectional interest, as especially evinced in its desperate exertions to force the infamous Lecompton Constitution upon the protesting people of Kansas; in construing the personal relation between master and servant to involve an unqualified property in persons; in its attempted enforcement, everywhere, on land and sea, through the intervention of Congress and of the Federal Courts of the extreme pretensions of a purely local interest; and in its general and unvarying abuse of the power intrusted to it by a confiding people.
6. That the people justly view with alarm the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensible to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans, while the recent startling developments of frauds and corruptions at the Federal metropolis, show that an entire change of administration is imperatively demanded.
7. That the new dogma, that the Constitution, of its own force, carries Slavery into any or all of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with contemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent; is revolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.
8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; That as our Republican fathers, when they had abolished Slavery in all our national territory, ordained that "no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States.
9. That we brand the recent re-opening of the African slave-trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity and a burning shame to our country and age; and we call upon Congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.
10. That in the recent vetoes, by their Federal Governors, of the acts of the Legislatures of Kansas and Nebraska, prohibiting Slavery in those Territories, we find a practical illustration of the boasted Democratic principle of Non- Intervention and Popular Sovereignty, embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and a demonstration of the deception and fraud involved therein.
11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a State under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives.
12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to the working men liberal wages, to agriculture renumerative prices, to mechanics and manufactures an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence.
13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the Public Lands held by actual settlers, and against any view of he Homestead policy which regards the settlers as paupers or suppliants for public bounty; and we demand the passage by Congress of the complete and satisfactory Homestead measure which has already passed the House.
14. That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our Naturalization Laws or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.
15. That appropriations by Congress for River and Harbor improvements of a National character, required for the accommodation and security of an existing commerce, are authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the obligations of Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
16. That a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interest of the whole country; that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction; and that, as preliminary thereto, a daily Overland Mail should be promply established.
17. Finally, having thus set forth our distinctive principles and views, we invite the coöperation of all citizens, however differing on other questions, who substantially agree with us in their affirmance and support.
(And even if you two had voted for Bell, would it have satisfied you when the results of the election came back?)
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
Linear Mode
