Republican National Convention (1860)
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| Republican National Convention (1860) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Republican National Convention (1860) |
| Date | May 16–18, 1860 |
| City | Chicago, Illinois |
| Venue | Wigwam (Chicago) |
| Nominees | Abraham Lincoln (President), Hannibal Hamlin (Vice President) |
| Party | Republican Party |
Republican National Convention (1860) The 1860 Republican presidential nominating convention met in Chicago, Illinois, assembling delegates from New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, the Midwestern United States, and the Far West to choose a ticket to contest the presidential election against rivals from the Democratic Party (United States), the Constitutional Union Party, and the Southern Democratic Party. Delegates and organizers arrived amid sectional tensions following the Kansas–Nebraska Act, the decisions of the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, and the rise of leaders such as William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. The convention's decisions shaped the campaign that culminated in the election of Abraham Lincoln and precipitated the American Civil War.
Background and Political Context
In the late 1850s the Republican Party emerged from coalitions of former Whigs, Free Soil Party, anti-slavery Democrats, and Know Nothing defectors in response to the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion controversies headed by figures such as Stephen A. Douglas and James Buchanan. The party coalesced around opposition to the spread of slavery into the territories, unifying leaders including William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, John C. Frémont, and Orrin G. Hatch supporters. The political environment featured the fallout from Bleeding Kansas, the influence of the New York Tribune and editor Horace Greeley, and electoral contests like the 1858 Illinois Senate election that elevated Abraham Lincoln to national prominence against Stephen A. Douglas. Regional alignments in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Indiana framed delegate strategies and the calculus of electability.
Delegate Selection and Convention Rules
Delegations were apportioned by state party organizations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Kentucky, and frontier territories, with contested slates from Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Rules were debated in committees chaired by delegates from New York and Pennsylvania, invoking precedents from the 1856 Republican National Convention and the earlier Whig National Convention. The convention adopted a two-thirds rule for platform approval and a roll-call balloting procedure influenced by parliamentary practice in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Credentials contests involved prominent operatives aligned with William H. Seward, Simon Cameron, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln, with tactical maneuvers by delegations from Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa.
Proceedings and Key Events
The convention convened at the Wigwam (Chicago), with presiding officers drawn from New York and Illinois Republican leadership. Early sessions featured speeches from delegates representing Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and procedural battles over seating rival slates from Missouri and California. Key events included the withdrawal of interest from William H. Seward supporters after intense balloting, the strategic maneuvering by Simon Cameron for patronage, and coalition-building by Abraham Lincoln's managers such as David Davis, William H. Herndon, Ward Hill Lamon, and Leonard Swett. The convention also witnessed the alignment of delegates from Indiana and New Jersey behind compromise candidates like Edward Bates and Salmon P. Chase before coalescing for Lincoln. Oratory from figures influenced by the New York Tribune and the Chicago Press shaped perceptions of electability in contests against Stephen A. Douglas.
Nomination of Abraham Lincoln
After multiple ballots, delegates shifted from leading contenders William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates to nominate Abraham Lincoln as a consensus choice acceptable to delegations from Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, California, and Michigan. Lincoln's managers, including David Davis and George Ashmun, ran a disciplined campaign of delegate counting and bargaining that capitalized on Lincoln's performance in the 1858 Illinois Senate election and his moderate reputation relative to William H. Seward and Salmon P. Chase. The ticket was completed when the convention selected Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice President, balancing regional interests between the New England anti-slavery contingent and the Midwest Unionist sentiment embodied by Lincoln. The formal nomination was announced with enthusiastic responses from delegations representing New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
Platform and Policy Resolutions
The convention adopted a platform asserting opposition to the expansion of slavery into the territories, endorsing the principles advanced by earlier platforms from John C. Frémont, and reflecting positions championed by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. Platform planks addressed support for a protective tariff favored in Pennsylvania and New York manufacturing districts, federal land grants for internal improvements advocated by Abraham Lincoln allies, homestead provisions appealing to settlers in Iowa and Kansas Territory, and support for Pacific Railroad policy to serve interests in California and Oregon. The platform synthesized positions supported by leaders such as William Seward's nationalists, Salmon P. Chase's abolitionists, and Edward Bates's conservative unionists to present a broad coalition for the general election.
Aftermath and Impact on the 1860 Election
The convention's nomination of Abraham Lincoln reshaped the national campaign, fragmenting the Democratic Party (United States), enabling the emergence of the Constitutional Union Party, and setting the stage for the four-way contest that included Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckinridge. Lincoln's electoral coalition drew strength from New England, the Midwestern United States, and key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, while failing to win in most Southern United States states dominated by John C. Breckinridge and Southern Democrats. The election outcome precipitated the secession of South Carolina, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana and contributed directly to the onset of the American Civil War. The 1860 convention established precedents in national campaign organization, delegate management, and platform crafting that influenced subsequent conventions of the Republican Party and reactions within the Democratic Party.