Saturday, March 14, 2015

Chapter 7: The Revolution of 1860

Chapter 7: The Revolution of 1860

When the election year 1860 started, everyone was bitter with tension after John Brown's execution. Many yeomen and slaveholders were ready for war against Black Republican brigands. State legislatures made funds for purchasing weapons and some joined military companies. Every Yankee in the South was tarred and feathered and a few were lynched. In Kentucky, a mob drove 39 people associated with an antislavery school and church out of the state. Republicans and northerners, on the other hand, canonized him, since he was a martyr now for their cause. Democrats saw a way to bring the South back to their side by linking the Republicans with John Brown. Fearing political damage and other problems, Republican leaders began condemning Brown.


Image result for election of 1860After Douglas's speech, many southern Democrats went to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston to destroy him. Interestingly enough, some lower-South Democrats wanted a Republican president instead of Douglas so that the South's choices were clear. They did this by splitting the Democratic Party into two. The convention in 1860 told its delegates to walk out of the national convention if the Democratic party didn't adopt a federal slave code for the territories. Douglas supporters in several lower-South states organized rival delegations to Baltimore and the party split.

All Anti-Douglas southerners walked out, with a couple of proslavery northerners and upper South delegates. They organized their own convention and nominated John C. Breckinridge, the current vice president, for president. They used a slave-code platform; the Douglas loyalists were now even more angered at the northerners and Anti-Douglas southerners who had practically allowed the election of a Republican president who was for black rights.

By the time the Republican National convention started, Lincoln was revered as a strong gandidated. He was a former antislavery Whig and he was a moderate, even of his "house divided" speech. Lincoln opposed the Know Nothings (American Party) so he got the German (immigrant) votes, but other American voters still voted for him. He was also from Illinois, a primarily Republican state, especially if Douglas was considered the nominee of northern Democrats.

The election of 1860 was unique because it had two contests: Lincoln vs Douglas in the North; Breckinridge vs Bell in the South. Republicans were not allowed to be on the ballot in some southern states.

Even though the Buchanan administration and the South hated Douglas, he was still a significant figure in the election. He campaigned for himself and traveled so long that he died a year later. His message was that he was the only national candidate who could save the country from disunity as a way to get both the North and South votes. Still, Douglas Democrats were not much of a national party and Douglas only got 12% of the southern popular vote.

On the other hand Lincoln didn't expect for anyone to actually break apart the Union, but didn't offer anything to appease the South. He swept the votes north of the 41st parallel, getting 60% of the vote. Antislavery activists believed this was a revolution and they had finally gotten rid of the slaveholder dominance.

Key Terms:

  • John C. Breckenridge: the South's pro-slavery Democratic candidate in the election of 1860; when he was nominated, the Democratic Party split.
  • Election of 1860: Lincoln (Republican candidate) won because the Democratic party was split over the issue of slavery; after he won, the South felt like they no longer had power and many southern states seceded from the Union.
  • John Bell: Presidential candidate of the Constitutional Union Party; he drew votes away from the Democrats so that Lincoln could win; opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Lecompton constitution.
  • Constitutional Union Party: (1860) former Whigs and Know Nothingsformeda new party and nominated John Bell.


Questions:

  • Was John Bell's nomination only reason to pull votes away from the Democrats and give them to Lincoln? (since the Constitutional Union Party was not a national party)
  • Was there a tiered election in 1860? I didn't quite understand... Was there one contest between the two Republican candidates and then one between the two Democrat candidates and then they faced off? Isn't this just like how it happens now? (The book was kind of vague on this...)
  • Did any Republican leaders firmly agree with what John Brown did or did they condemn him because they were afraid of political backlash from the Southerners? Wouldn't they have not gotten southern vote anyway?


Citations

  • McPherson, James M. "7: The Revolution of 1860." In Battle Cry of Freedom, 202-233. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Accessed March 11, 2015. http://www.270towin.com/historical_maps/1860.gif.
  • Accessed March 11, 2015. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/artsandliving/civilwar/timeline-images/election-1860-candidates.jpg.

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