thumb|Stereoscopic image of South Carolina Institute Hall by [[George Norman Barnard]]
The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election.
The first convention, held from April 23 to May 3 in Charleston, South Carolina, deadlocked after failing to nominate a ticket: two subsequent conventions, both held in Baltimore, Maryland in June, ultimately nominated separate presidential tickets.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois entered the Charleston convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination, and while he won a majority on the first presidential ballot of the convention, convention rules at the time required a two-thirds majority to win the nomination, with Douglas' adherence to the Freeport Doctrine regarding slavery in the territories engendering strong opposition from many Southern delegates. Opponents of Douglas's nomination spread their support among five major candidates, including former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky and Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia.
After 57 ballots over a span of two days, in which Douglas consistently won at least half of the delegates, the Charleston convention adjourned when it became apparent no candidate could secure the required two-thirds of all votes.
The Democratic convention reconvened in Baltimore on June 18, but many Southern delegates were either excluded from the convention or refused to participate. The convention adopted a platform in which it pledged to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of Constitutional Law regarding slavery.
Douglas was ultimately nominated for president on the second ballot (the 59th ballot overall). Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama was nominated for vice president, but he refused the nomination, and was replaced by former Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia.
The Southern Democrats who had boycotted, or walked out of, the Baltimore convention held their own separate convention and adopted a pro-slavery platform, and nominated incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, with Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon as vice president.
While Douglas and Breckinridge received a combined 47.62% of the popular vote in the 1860 presidential election, they lost the election to Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln.
Charleston convention
Background
thumb|right|Wood engraving illustrating the Charleston convention
The front-runner for the nomination was Douglas, who was considered a moderate on the slavery issue. With the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act, he advanced the doctrine of popular sovereignty: allowing settlers in each Territory to decide for themselves whether slavery would be allowed—a change from the flat prohibition of slavery in most Territories under the Missouri Compromise, which the South had welcomed. However, the Supreme Court’s ensuing 1857 'Dred Scott' decision declared that the Constitution protected slavery in all Territories.
Douglas was challenged for his Senate seat by Abraham Lincoln in 1858, and narrowly won re-election, after the Lincoln-Douglas debates, by professing the Freeport Doctrine, a de facto rejection of Dred Scott, with militant Southern "Fire-Eaters", such as William Yancey of Alabama, opposing him as a traitor. Many of them openly predicted a split in the party and the election of Republican front-runner William H. Seward.
The 1860 Democratic National Convention convened at South Carolina Institute Hall (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861) in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 23, 1860: the galleries at the convention were packed with pro-slavery spectators.
The "Fire-eater" majority on the convention's platform committee, chaired by William Waightstill Avery of North Carolina, produced an explicitly pro-slavery document, endorsing Dred Scott and Congressional legislation protecting slavery in the territories. Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce, as Dred Scott was extremely unpopular in the North, and the Northerners said they could not carry a single state with that platform: this would end any Democratic prospect of retaining the White House, as no previous candidate had won the presidency without winning either New York or Pennsylvania, and only four (John Adams in 1796, James Madison in 1812, John Quincy Adams in 1824, and James Buchanan in 1856) had been elected without winning both. Douglas and supporters thus preferred the 1856 Cincinnati platform.
On April 30, the minority (Northern) report was substituted for that of the majority (Southern) report by a vote of 165 to 138. The question next in order before the convention was upon the adoption of the second resolution of the minority of the committee: on this question Alabama, Arkansas, one of Delaware's delegates, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas refused to vote. The Douglas party abandoned the vague second resolution, and it was defeated by an overwhelming vote of 238 to 21 (with 44 abstentions).
<br />
<gallery perrow="2" style="text-align:center;">
File:1860DNCMinorityReport1stResolutionVote.png|Minority Report Substitution Vote
File:1860DNCMinorityReport2ndResolutionVote.png|Minority Report<br /> 2nd Resolution Vote
</gallery>
Between April 30 and May 1, 51 Southern delegates walked out of the convention in protest: and declared themselves the real convention as the Institute Hall convention proceeded to nominations.
Since both the majority and the minority resolutions on the Territorial question were rejected, nothing remained except the Cincinnati platform as the Douglas faction had desired. The dominant Douglas forces believed their path was now clear.
Presidential balloting
After the convention resumed voting on a nominee, Douglas received of the votes cast on the first ballot (the 58th overall), and votes of the votes cast on the second ballot (the 59th overall).
A rollcall was taken following the second ballot, and it was realized that there were only delegates present, meaning that there were insufficient delegates for Douglas to receive the 202 votes required by Cushing's ruling at the first convention.
After the delegates unanimously voted to rescind that ruling, it was declared by acclamation that Douglas had received the required two-thirds of the votes cast, and he was therefore nominated.
Presidential candidates
<gallery perrow="2">
File:BradyHandy-StephenADouglas restored.jpg|Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
File:JamesGuthrieKentuckyCropped.png|Former Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie of Kentucky
</gallery>
Declined
<gallery perrow="2">
File:John C Breckinridge-04775-restored.jpg|Vice President<br /> John C. Breckinridge <br />of Kentucky
File:Hon. Horatio Seymour, N.Y - NARA - 528568 (cropped).jpg|Former Governor Horatio Seymour of New York
</gallery>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="3" | Northern Democratic Presidential Ballot
|-
!||1st || 2nd
|-
!Douglas
|style="background:#5cb3ff"|173.5
|style="background:#5cb3ff"|181.5
|-
!Guthrie
|style="background:#82caff"|9
|style="background:#c2dfff"|5.5
|-
!Breckinridge
|style="background:#c2dfff"|5.5
|style="background:#82caff"|7.5
|-
!Seymour
||1
|style="background:#d3d3d3"|0
|-
!Bocock
||1
|style="background:#d3d3d3"|0
|-
!Dickinson
||0.5
|style="background:#d3d3d3"|0
|-
!Wise
||0.5
|style="background:#d3d3d3"|0
|-
!Withdrawn / not voting
||112
||108.5
|}
<br />
<gallery perrow="2" style="text-align:center;">
File:1860NorthernDemocraticPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Ballot
File:1860NorthernDemocraticPresidentialNomination2ndBallot.png|2nd Ballot
</gallery>
Vice-presidential balloting
Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama was the only candidate for the vice-presidential nomination.
During the call of the states, every vote recorded was in favor of Fitzpatrick with no exception until Pennsylvania was reached. One of Pennsylvania's votes was announced for former state senator William C. Alexander of New Jersey. Upon this announcement, a New Jersey delegate informed the delegates that he had been authorized before the convention, by Alexander himself, not to allow his name to be presented as a candidate. The Pennsylvanian who desired Alexander cast one blank vote thereafter.
Vice-presidential candidate
<gallery perrow="1">
File:BenjaminFitzpatrick.png|Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama
</gallery>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="3" | Northern Democratic Vice Presidential Ballot
|-
!||1st (Before Shift) || 1st (After Shift)
|-
!Fitzpatrick
|style="background:#5cb3ff"|198.5
|style="background:#5cb3ff"|198.5
|-
!Alexander
|style="background:#82caff"|1
|style="background:#d3d3d3"|0
|-
!Withdrawn / not voting
||103.5
||104.5
|}
<br />
<gallery perrow="2" style="text-align:center;">
File:1860NorthernDemocraticVicePresidentialNomination1stBallotBefore.png|1st Ballot<br /> (Before Shift)
File:1860NorthernDemocraticVicePresidentialNomination1stBallotAfter.png|1st Ballot<br /> (After Shift)
</gallery>
Vice-presidential replacement
After the unanimous nomination of Fitzpatrick as the candidate for vice president, the convention adjourned on June 23, the sixth and last day of its session. On the same day, but after the adjournment, Fitzpatrick declined the nomination. Fitzpatrick's refusal of the vice-presidential nomination occurred sixteen years after Silas Wright was the first to turndown the honor. In 1924, Frank Lowden would be the third and last person to date who refused their party's vice-presidential nomination.
Vice-presidential candidate
<gallery perrow="1">
Image:HerschelVespasianJohnson.png|Former Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia
</gallery>
Since the convention had already adjourned, the executive committee was required to name a replacement for Fitzpatrick.
On motion of Mr. Dick, the lone remaining delegate from North Carolina, the vice-presidential nomination was conferred on former Senator and Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia
See also
- History of the United States Democratic Party
- U.S. presidential nomination convention
- List of Democratic National Conventions
- 1860 Republican National Convention
- 1860 United States presidential election
Notes
References
- Official proceedings of the Democratic national convention, held in 1860, at Charleston and Baltimore
- Proceedings of the conventions at Charleston and Baltimore. Published by order of the National Democratic Convention assembled in Maryland Institute, Baltimore, and under the supervision of the National Democratic Executive Committee. (Breckinridge Faction)
External links
- Democratic Party Platform of 1860 at The American Presidency Project
- Democratic Party Platform (Breckinridge Faction) of 1860
- Caucuses of 1860. A history of the national political conventions of the current presidential campaign: being a complete record of the business of all the conventions; with sketches of distinguished men in attendance upon them, and descriptions of the most characteristic scenes and memorable events by Murat Halstead