Who Would You Have Voted For?

Who Would You Have Voted For (in 1860)

  • Abraham Lincoln (Republican)

    Votes: 185 55.7%
  • Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrat)

    Votes: 20 6.0%
  • John C. Breckingridge (Southern Democrat)

    Votes: 99 29.8%
  • John Bell (Constitutional Union)

    Votes: 28 8.4%

  • Total voters
    332

unionblue

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Member of the Year
Joined
Feb 20, 2005
Location
Ocala, FL (as of December, 2015).
It's 1860.

You are free, white, and 21 years or older, and a man.

Who would you have voted for and why?

Here are the party platforms for each candidates party.

Republican Party Platform (Lincoln).

http://facweb.furman.edu/~benson/docs/repplat6.htm

Democratic Party Platform (Northern/Stephen A. Douglas).

http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/demo_d.html

Democratic Party Platform (Southern/John C. Breckinridge).

http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/demo_b.html

Constitutional Union Party Platform (John Bell).

http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/union.html

Sincerely,
Unionblue

PS ole, I STILL want my McCormick's Reaper back.:smile:
 
Well, this Honest Abe fellow looks uglier than sin, but he tells good jokes.

Besides, he's the only one with anything resembling anti-slavery views and not kow-towing to the Southern howlers of "give us what we want or we will break away".

Assuming this isn't a (completely) joke thread, that's my answer...anything further requires hindsight or foresight.
 
Well, Mr. Lincoln was from my state and also Mr. Breckinridge. There are a lot of things named "Breckinridge" around here. I'd like to think I'd have gone with Honest Abe. I know I would if the election were today. There's a memorial to the Jefferson Davis birthplace just about 12 miles south of here right off the highway. I'm not sure if his name would have been on the ballot though. I think I'd still go with Abe.

Leland
 
I can see myself voting for Douglas - for the sake of preserving the Union - but like the Republican platform better. Might depend on whether I was convinced the fireeaters weren't bluffing about secession. Since I'm an incurable optimist I probably wouldn't have been convinced they weren't bluffing and therefore voted Lincoln on principle. Do you hear me thinking out loud? Mark me undecided, I suppose.
 
Undecided

I can see myself voting for Douglas - for the sake of preserving the Union - but like the Republican platform better. Might depend on whether I was convinced the fireeaters weren't bluffing about secession. Since I'm an incurable optimist I probably wouldn't have been convinced they weren't bluffing and therefore voted Lincoln on principle. Do you hear me thinking out loud? Mark me undecided, I suppose.
I believe this is an astute assessment of many people during the 1860 election. Now, in 1864 the (Northern) election was much clearer. And that's why Lincoln captured the vast majority of the active duty military vote. "Let's press on and get this bloody war finished."
 
Well, if this were 1860, I wouldn't be ALLOWED to vote (but that's another history lesson) and I probably would have to (at least publicly) agree with my husband's vote. I am also not now a Republican, though things have changed since 1860. Because of the slavery issue, I would have voted for Lincoln.

Pam
 
I'll see your Atilla, the Hun and raise you one Erik, the Red. Wouldn't it be fun to see those forces brace each other?

Here were a few of the nastiest. Nasty was the order of the day. The nastier you were, the quicker the peasants folded. To be realistic, you have a choice, either you will give it up or your babies will be slaughtered and you wives and mothers assaulted. Let's also consider that you don't own a weapon past a hoe or a spade. It doesn't get much simpler.

And now, I must wonder how this relates?
 
In keeping with the theme of the thread, I'll suppose that there were a few Scottish girls put into serviice while my guys wer doing some serious pillaging.

But it does remain anat there was, when they came over, a serious snit over buying someone to be of help. There is a record of hired men. Maybe they only got food and lodging. The food and the lodging couldn't have been all that good. But we might assume that the hired men saved up a few dollars and maybe got themselves a better position

Ole
 
Huh??

Okay, Ole, you lost me! Besides, I don't think Erik the Red would have voted for Lincoln. Just a hunch, but. . .

How cold ARE those temps in your neck of the woods, anyway???:smile:

Pam
 
What made many of the southern states angry Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot is some of the states.
New one for me, Mark. I had not heard that some of the states were angry that Lincoln was not on the ballot. Expansion?

Ole
 
The unusual thing about this election (the real one) was that Lincoln received only a shade under 40% of the popular vote. If he had been running against only one candidate instead of three (Bell, Breck., Douglas) he still would have won the election with that 40% vote and the other candidate with 60.
 
He got the requisite number of the electoral votes. A tactic that works today.

Ole
 
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